We woke up at 5:30am on Saturday to the noise of all the windows rattling and the ground shaking. We jumped out of bed, ran to the windows and tried to figure out what was happening all at the same time as realizing it was an earthquake. I shouted “Run to the kids!” but as we entered the girls room we could see they were still asleep and the earthquake started to end. Hayden was already awake reading in his room and thought it was so awesome. He instantly wanted to jump on google and type in “Earthquake in Okinawa.” Fortunately there was no damage, although it was a significant quake around a 7. Sunday was exciting as well because as we were leaving for church we heard an announcement over the loud speakers on base saying there was a tsunami warning, predicted to hit at 3pm. The tsunami was caused by the earthquake in Chili. They forced evacuations of everyone living near the coast. We are about 2 miles from the coast but luckily up a big hill. So we had some people come over for the afternoon because they live right on the water but in the end nothing happened. Well nothing except all of Tom’s meetings were cancelled and he got to spend a Sunday afternoon home with us, it was very enjoyable and we even snuck in a nap!
Tom returned home from his trip to Washington anxious to get busy doing dentistry out in the “real” world. It’s going to make the next year and a half really long but I’m sure we’ll find ways to make it fun. We’re happy to have him home. He enjoyed bike rides, karaoke and eating out while he was away.
When I told Danica that dad would be coming home that night she said “Good, and he’ll never go again!” I couldn’t agree more!! Next time we vacation together! There were lots of ugly rainy days with cranky kids that were really lousy but we did our best to stay busy while he was gone. My best friend here had a baby on the Sunday Tom flew out so I was able to take care of her other two kids for a few days which kept me very busy. Hayden was thrilled because he gave up his bed to the other kids and got to sleep in my bed, something I never let him do because he snuggles me ALL night! It’s really funny to watch him move closer even in his sleep if I try to move away.
Hayden went on a fun field trip at school and both the kids got to attend their Valentine’s parties. I treated myself to a nice night out for a Valentine’s date with my friends and we got pedicures and went out for dessert. It made for a nice night. Hayden started taking piano lessons from one of my friends and seems to like it. Hayden got to miss school to go to the District Science Fair (I had to go to because first graders needed a parent present). It was fun to spend the day with Hayden and was a great experience looking over all the projects and different stations they setup for the kids to learn things. Then to make the day even better Hayden ended up winning second place out of all the elementary school projects in the district! (3 schools). We couldn’t believe it since he is so young but he was excited. I think he’s already planning what he wants to do next year!
We have signed up for a Half Marathon on April 10th. It’s on IE Island, the same race we ran last April. It’s been nice to have a training goal and my knee seems to be healing. I’m taking it slow and I wear a huge knee brace but we’re up to 8 miles and my knee is okay so I’m hopeful. Running only 13 miles seems so “easy” now that we’ve done a marathon! Crazy... I’ve also started training to be on the Navy Dragonboat team. In May the Japanese have a huge festival and as part of it they race Dragonboats. The military have a few teams and the Navy Women are on a 5 year winning streak. It would be a great experience to be on the team but so many people want to do it that if you miss any practices you probably won’t be on the team. Practice is at 5am out in the ocean, just standing in the water rowing, so it’s a big commitment to go to all those practices and then not actually race...I think it would be awesome to do but I already know I’ll miss a few practices and can’t decide if I am willing to try it. Plus, it means I won’t have time to bike. I told Hayden about it today and he was so excited for me to do it because he watched the races last year. But then I found out he’s just excited to go and get cotton candy again while watching the race... so maybe that’s what I’ll do too...
Well I have to go watch Survivor and fold some laundry... I hope all of your lives are exciting as well! I saw this picture of Alyssa as a baby and it made me smile...
