Danica

She loves to tell me that she's not shy anymore- and it's true! She talks and laughs and smiles, it's fantastic! Her personality is really blossoming and she's just adorable! Tom likes to use her as a model to figure out the settings on his new camera and she just loves it!

Okinawa Zoo

Hayden had a field trip to the zoo so the girls and I went along to help out. It was our first trip to the zoo and we had a great time. There is also a discovery museum with all sorts of hands on learning that the kids loved! I'm not exactly sure why we haven't been sooner but I have heard a lot of people complain that the exhibits and enclosures for the animals are just too small. I was impressed with the zoo being cleaner and more modern than many of the other places we have been here. I do agree that some of the animals enclosures were small but while I was driving home from the zoo and thinking about it I came to the conclusion that we are taking our western mentality to the zoo. EVERYTHING here is small, from cars, to houses, to yards and food portions- it's all small. So why would they then give the Tiger a big living space? Clearly they believe that you don't need that much space to survive and be happy and the zoo is no different. They could probably have several families living in the space allotted to the tiger whereas one American family would feel cramped! This is just my observation. Even the museum is space conscious, it has one level above ground but then extends leave levels underground, so it looks really small on the outside! Anyway, we really enjoyed the zoo.

Hayden: "My favorite part were the Habu snakes!" (This is the dangerous, poisonous snake said to live all over the island including our backyard bushes. They hibernate in the winter so we let the kids in the bushes and trees right now but not in the summer!) I think Hayden should have said his favorite part was when the chimpanzee got angry and threw a fist full of dirt right at Hayden! He jumped a mile!


Danica: "My favorite was seeing the mommy kangaroo with a baby in her tummy!" She brought her kid tough digital camera and had a good time taking pictures of the animals!


Alyssa: "Ahhhhh- Ehhhhhh- Oooooo-" said while pointing at the crocodiles (they really were cool looking.)

Tracey: "My favorite was the giant anteater! I didn't realize I had never seen one in real life until I came face to face with it and saw it's long pointed nose and watched in vacuum up the ants... can it come live in my kitchen to catch ants and crumbs?"

Hayden said his favorite part of the day was the discovery museum, it reminded me of all the good times we had going to the children's museum the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland. I think all the kids loved it there and we will definitely get a pass so we can go back often!

Let's Rock

Come one, come all- to the greatest concert this side of the East China Sea! Introducing for the first time, live on stage: T 'N T!!!

Big D on the Drums

Aly Star on Bass

Hip Hop Hayden singing lead!

I love BOB

Some of you have met BOB, he’s amazing. He is so helpful, I truly love him. BOB is the double jogging stroller that joined our family after Danica was born. He has been on several family vacations, trips to Cedar Point, Geauga Lake, Disneyworld and Disneyland, SeaWorld, Legoland, Knotts Berry Farm, half a dozen zoos and was key to our survival through endless customs lines on the move and the weeks of being carless upon arrival. In fact, BOB is the reason we bought the van we did, none of the other Japanese cars had a large enough trunk, we actually took BOB car shopping to make sure he would fit! Needless to say we’ve put miles on him! Currently, I have the luxury of not running with him but I use him every day to walk Hayden to school. I noticed a small tear in the seam of one of the seats and emailed the company to ask what I should do about it. Within a week they had sent me an entire new seat for FREE! That’s customer service! Now BOB looks brand new again. As Tom has been trying to teach me for years- you get what you pay for! BOB was, and is, worth every cent!

“Why do I do it?” I’ve been asked this question several times in the last few months and have decided it’s time to answer it. My current "passion" in life is running. I’ve enjoyed running before but things always seem to get in the way (like babies, snow and moving) and so the answer to the question “Why do you get up at 4:45am to go running?” is “because I CAN!” I live on a tropical island where even in January I could go at 5am and have the weather in the 60’s. Currently it is usually 70 degrees at 5am. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, in a few short years I will give up this luxury and I can’t afford to waste it! Secondly, I do not have a have newborn, I am not nursing and I am not pregnant- it’s been a long time since I could say all of those things at the same time! Plus, I live on military base with street lights, video surveillance and heavily armed guards at all the gates! I can run alone in the dark with ever so stylish reflector belt- It doesn't get any safer! Tom leaves for work at 5:50, so if I get up before 5 I have just enough time to get ready, eat and hit the road. I can do a quick 5 miles and be back before he leaves. Then I have about 30 minutes to cool off and read my scriptures in a quiet house before everyone gets up and we get ready to take Hayden to school at 7:00. It’s fantastic and leaves me a happy healthy person for the rest of the day.

Tom and I are training for a half marathon on a nearby island called IE. We will take a ferry over to the island and then the half marathon runs all around the coast of the island. Pretty awesome. It’s on Saturday April 11th. I’ve often been a consistent runner but never a distance runner so this is new for me. We are doing Hal Higdon’s training schedule and it’s going well. It seems to be working since we are both improving our speed (every time I get faster Tom feels the need to get faster too!) This week for our training we run 10 miles, I’ve never actually run 10 miles so I am really excited for it. We’re looking to do a marathon here on Okinawa in November, it’s a twilight marathon that starts at 3:00pm on a Saturday. Hopefully it will work out so we can do it. It would be so great to do a marathon (I think, ask me again after I do the half!)

Tom and Scott

Well, as they say, when in Japan do as the Japanese...or something like that. We had a branch activity at a restaurant that also does karaoke. Tom was loving it and jumped for the microphone anytime there was a break. They were loud and awesome. It wasn't until we were leaving that we realized that the room we were in was connected to the rest of the restaurant, packed with Japanese and Americans, by only a thin wall and they were all "enjoying" the singing as well! Too fun!

You might ask, "Who is Scott?" so I must start this off with a short tribute. It started with the much needed invitation "Hey, do you want to come to dinner after church?" We were still living in the little hotel room, jet lagged and confused. Scott just happened to catch us in the hall after church and offered to pick us up to bring us back to their house for dinner (we didn't have a car yet.) The chain of events to follow is nothing short of a fantastic blessing. We had great food and the start of a great friendship with Scott and his wonderful wife Joy. In addition, we loved their house and the next morning Tom went to the housing briefing and put in a request to live here instead of over on another base where we knew some people (who we fortunately still get to see often). Our request was granted and we got our "dream house." (there aren't very many so we are very blessed to be living here.) Now we live down the street from Scott and Joy and truly I don't know how we would survive without them! Joy is an amazing friend and wonderful example as a mother, she has been my guide at adjusting to military life and Japan and my much need stress relief for babysitting, chats and even dinner. (I called last night to see if they wanted to go out to eat and ended up getting us invited over for dinner at their place!!) So, in answer to the question, this is Scott, I like to think of him as Tom's only "short" brother. Seeing as how so many of you have experience in living far from family I know you can all relate to the importance of these kind of friendships.