T 'n T Family Adventures

January Musings

2012-01-26T22:45:00.000-08:00

Busy month as usual. Here are a few of the things we've been up to:

December 23rd: Hayden turned 9!!
He informed me a few weeks before that he wanted to invite some kids to his party. I didn’t know he was going to have a party so I scrambled to get something planned. Luckily, it was pretty easy once he told me what he really wanted was a video game party. He doesn’t ever have kids come over to play video games so this actually sounded like an okay idea. We ordered pizza, drank soda, ate cake and played all the rated E games. It was a hit!

(more about Hayden in his personal bio coming up)

I can’t completely forget about Christmas even though it’s been long over, here are some highlights from the year:
We bid on a beautiful tree at the Washougal Festival of Trees, a fundraiser for our local schools and we won the tree! So we loaded up this fully decorated amazing tree into our van and brought it home! Lucky we have a huge empty living room where we could put it!
On Christmas Eve we participated in the family Nog Run...luckily we were late and missed the actually drinking of the egg nog but still got to enjoy the run! Hayden survived the full 2 miles!

Christmas Eve was spent at our house, with the entire Stinchfield Clan minus Mike and Brooke! It was a fun night of food, games and Barb even helped the kids use puppets to tell the nativity story.
Christmas morning was wonderful as usual! The kids enjoyed it and were well spoiled.

The before:

The after:

This is what Tom wishes he got for Christmas! His brother Dave got a Boston Terrier puppy for his family

Christmas dinner was a formal affair at Kenn and Barbs and was wonderful. Then the kids enjoyed the “money drop” with the change that Papa has been saving all year. They all came home with a bag full of money! They are still saving it!

The rest of the break was spent with trips to JJ Jumps, OMSI, a trail run, and late night games every day. What a blast!

January started off with a bang as we celebrated with our friends the Balls. Our friendship started in Okinawa and they now live up near Seattle so it's been really fun to hang out! We had a fun weekend, although the cold wind kept us from getting out of the car after driving to Beacon Rock to hike! We had a fun time playing with the kids and actually changed all the clocks so they thought they were staying up until midnight, not 8pm....the neighbors did big fireworks at 7pm, it worked out really well!!

A few days later we got a visit from more friends from Okinawa, the Neal's!! It's ridiculous but I didn't take any pictures! We had a great time catching up with them and hiking in the rain and playing on the beach in the rain....where was my camera... it was so fun to see them!

We were sad to see our Okinawa friends leave but we took comfort knowing that we would seem them again. The Ball's invited us up for the 3 day weekend to spend time with another family, The Frank's who now live in Chicago. We all stayed with the Ball's and had a great time!! We ate, played games, went to the Children's Museum and even played in the snow!

Snow Day: Two weeks ago they cancelled school for two days due to the snow. The first day it was only raining down here in town so I didn't know and drove the kids to school only to find it closed! The second day it actually snowed down here! Tom and I tried to go running in the snow but it was raining and turning everything to slosh! Fortunately the kids still thought it was amazing and we had a good time out playing!

Concerts: We are keeping up with the fun of living near a big city with lots of great concert options all the time. So far this month we went to a City and Colour Concert and then saw the Milk Carton Kids again. Tons of fun!

Friends: We finally connected with a couple here in Washougal that we've wanted to get to know better. They came over for dinner and games and we had a great time! Hopefully we can start to do that a lot more often!!

Cape Horn Trail Run: Last Friday we had Anne and Peter stay the night with us and we went on a "legendary" trail run in the morning. We went to do the Cape Horn Trail like we did over Christmas break but this time instead of mud we found ice and snow. We persisted but it was such an intense run. It felt like we were literally running through someone's cooler of ice. Just stumbling over pieces of ice that would roll and slip under our feet. It felt like you were running uphill in deep sand for a few miles. Awesome... as we caused a disturbance in the forest the ice would fall from the trees. Fortunately, no one was hit in the head, I got hit in the hand and it hurt!!! We couldn't get near the nice viewpoints because it was pure ice and you could literally slip right off the edge. I'm the only one who slipped and although it didn't feel great at least I didn't slip off a cliff! The worst part was at the top of the mountain where there is a flat area that was covered in snow that had a layer of ice over the top. There was a freezing wind so you wanted to hurry but it was so slippery. You would slip on the ice unless you cracked through it to run in the snow. We had to run on our toes or heels trying to crack the ice with each step...again, awesome. Luckily, about half way through the snow lightened up and we ran on some mud and trail and got to enjoy being out. We made it back to the car just as some icy rain started to fall. Somehow, we still enjoyed ourselves and agreed we are glad we did it...

Well I think that's about enough on the events of the last little while... I'm sure I forgot something big but I'll figure that out later. Hopefully I can put together a little info on each member of the family and get that posted soon!!!

Ballerina Alyssa

2012-01-24T11:09:00.000-08:00

Alyssa LOVES to dance and especially enjoys her ballet class. They did a recital in December and of course it was adorable!!

Christmas Letter 2011

2011-12-22T14:31:00.001-08:00

As I look back on the crazy adventures and changes of years past it seems that nearly every year we have had something amazing or big to report, like a new baby or move. This year is no different except that it seems to be marking the beginning of the end of the adventure. I’m not sure I like that plan so I’ve decided I’ll just have to get more creative in the future creating new kinds of adventure!
The adventure this year was our big move from Okinawa Japan back to the United States. We have purchased our first house and are settling permanently here in the small town of Washougal Washington. It’s a great town located along the Columbia River Gorge just across the border from Portland. Tom is working for his brother at Discovery Dental. It’s a beautiful, well run practice and Tom looks forwarding to becoming a partner with his brother in the future. Here are a few of the highlights from this past year, including some of the things we miss about Japan and some of the things we are enjoying here:

January: We enjoyed celebrating the Japanese new year, a month long celebration!! Hayden changed from the second grade to the third grade and loved it! He fit right in and enjoyed the new challenges. Alyssa lost her two front teeth due to a fall and was fitted for some fake ones (it pays to have a dentist for a dad!) We enjoy lots of hiking and being outdoors!!

February: We took our BIG trip up to mainland Japan with Tom’s brother Dave and wife Adina.
We had a fantastic time in Sasebo, Nagasaki, Fukuoka, Kyoto, and Tokyo! Great food, beautiful, scenery and amazing people!

March: Tom and I got scuba certified and Tom began going every chance he got!! He’s in love and now misses it all the time! We even saw a shark!
Hayden was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints out in the East China Sea. I pulled the girls out of their preschool and we enjoyed home preschool with more time to spend together and to enjoy the parks and cultural experiences in Okinawa.

April: For the third year in a row we went and ran the Iejima Half Marathon and went camping on the nearby island. Later in the month we did a three day, 230 mile bike ride around the entire island of Okinawa. So amazing!! Oh, how we miss the beautiful island, the weather and the friends who enjoyed it all with us! The kids enjoyed lots of island sight seeing. Hayden enjoyed soccer and Danica tried it, but hated all the pressure. We were really panicking about not having enough time left in Okinawa for all the fun things we wanted to do!

May: Put in an offer on a house in Washington after seeing a video of it. Took more trips to fun places like Okuma. Enjoyed watching Alyssa‘s ballet/tap recital and spent every possible minute with our friends in Japan knowing that we were going to leave them all too soon.

June: The month is a blur of last minute adventures, packing, prepping, playing and saying good-bye. I was happy to say good-bye to my van and my house, both of which were literally junked and condemned when we left them. However, I wish I could have stayed with the people, the weather and the beauty. Nonetheless, mid month we began the jet lag, trying to drive on the other side of the street and adjusting to being back in the states. I remember just being cold all the time, feeling overwhelmed walking into the huge stores and wanting the stability of my comfortable Japan life to return. Fortunately, we had good friends and family here to greet us and help us begin to settle in. We moved in with Tom’s parents, finally saw the house we had put an offer on and began to process of waiting for it to close!

July: Tried to stay warm in the cool Washington summer, it was frigid compared to the temps we left in Okinawa. We took a great trip to Utah and spent time in the sun with my family there. The kids got reacquainted with their cousins and traveled so much they learned to sleep wherever we decided to call home. Poor Alyssa got confused every time we changed to a new location and would ask if it was our new house. At the end of the month we ran the Northwest Passage Ragnar with a team made of Tom’s siblings, spouses and mom! We said good-bye to July with our annual trip to a houseboat on Lake Shasta in California. Heaven.

Tom started working at Discovery Dental. The practice belongs to his brother Dave and its amazing. Fantastic staff, beautiful location, recently updated and remolded inside, and just run really well. It's been an adjustment after being in the military but it's a good one and Tom looks forward to being partners with Dave in the future. He's already got his name on the sign!

August: Alyssa had two great things happen on her birthday- she finally turned 4 and we closed on our house! It didn’t seem possible that my little sweet baby was getting so big but she couldn’t be happier. She is such a fun, smiley girl who wants to make everyone happy. She loves all the girly things her sister likes but also enjoys getting messy, being loud and playing with Hayden. We closed on the house, finally, and were thrilled to move in! Compared to where we have lived this house is so big and new. It’s been fun to organize and decorate. The neighbors are great and I think we’ll be happy here for a long time. I’ve been promising pictures for ages...sorry. In August we also ran on a Hood to Coast team and had a blast!

September: Hayden started fourth grade. He was nervous and it was hard to be the new kid but he’s settled in and is doing well. Danica started kindergarten and is in love with all of it except the chaos of P.E. Alyssa started at preschool and enjoys going and being a big kid but is happy when I pick her up and we get to spend the rest of the afternoon together. My parents came to visit and I was so excited to show them around and to let them experience how beautiful it is here. Of course it rained the whole time they were here. Tom did his first triathlon, a sprint, and totally rocked it. He is hooked and just signed up for a half ironman next year...intense!

October: We enjoyed seeing the leaves change colors as we up our miles during our marathon training. It was fun to run around exploring the area in preparation for the Leavenworth Marathon. The race was great, a lot of fun to run it together and I actually won! First place for women! A great memory. Danica is in love with riding her bike and the new gymnastics class she is in. She is doing really well and is set to start in the advance class at the first of the year. Hayden goes to Lego club and loves it, tried flag football and didn’t love it. Alyssa is doing ballet and has become best friends with a girl in her class she knows from church. We enjoyed great Halloween festivities and took the kids to a pumpkin patch for the first time in 4 years!

November: Thanksgiving was spent enjoying a wonderful reunion with my brothers and sister in Utah. We stayed for the week after Thanksgiving to have more time for skiing, sledding, bowling, museums, games, Temple Square and trips to the gym! It was wonderful being all together and hearing the cousins just laugh and laugh.

December: As usual it’s a crazy month at our house! Danica turned 6 years old and continues to be the sweetest, most loving and caring girl around. She can’t get enough of coloring, cutting, singing, dolls, and playing with her sister. Tom and I were fortunate enough to go to several great concerts bringing our concert total since moving here up to 8. Some favorites were Andrew Bell, Milk Carton Kids, Lights, Naked and Famous, Grouplove, and Young the Giant. We also celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary! Hayden turned 9 years old and enjoyed a day spent playing video games and nerf wars with his friends. He still loves to read and is finishing up the Harry Potter series right now. It’s been fun to see him spend more time playing with his sisters!

Christmas will be spent here in Washington. We are looking forward to all the fun and will post some pictures when it’s done!!

We hope the end of this year finds all of you happy and ready for whatever adventures come at you next!!! Please keep in touch!

November is Gone Already?

2011-12-14T21:47:00.001-08:00

Yet again, an overdue update, in reverse order. I know I have forgotten a lot... this is the stuff I had pictures of. I'll have to add in the rest when I remember it! And this has not been proof read...sorry for the inevitable mistakes!

DANICA IS 6!!!!! On December 12th we celebrated her birthday!! She doesn't have school on Mondays so I took her and Alyssa to a place called JJ Jumps that we heard about on Groupon. Some of her cousins met us there and then we all met up with Grandma Barb for lunch at Wendy's because Danica LOVES chicken sandwiches! Then for dinner she had her favorite food: Chicken and Broccoli Casserole.

Her favorite thing to do right now is to color with markers. She would do it all day. She loves art projects and any sort of craft. She loves to read, play with dolls and barbies, and have tea parties. She is very girly, still shy and very sensitive. A stern look or disapproving voice will leave her in tears. She's a great helper with doing her chores, is a master bed maker and fantastic at cleaning her room and taking care of her sister in every way. She goes out of her way to make sure that Alyssa is happy and well cared for. I don't think there has ever been a girl as lucky as Alyssa to have such an outstanding big sister.

She's such a funny kid. Over Thanksgiving she was sick with a stomach flu for several days and it has left her obsessed with washing her hands and not eating too much candy. She is very conscientious. She is such a responsible sick child that she is terrified to not have a bowl with her at all times if she feels like she might throw up. In fact, she had to sleep with it and I found her one night with her head literally using the bowl like a pillow...so sad!!

DECEMBER TO REMEMBER:
Last week we took Concert Fun to a whole new level during this amazing event where they have fantastic concerts every night! We managed to make it to three of them: Young the Giant, Awolnation and Group Love. It was a blast!

UTAH-- THANKSGIVING BREAK AND THE FIRST WEEK OF DECEMBER:

We spent our Thanksgiving day driving for 12 hours on the way to Utah. Eating options were scarce but the drive went well and we arrived as planned and prepared for a week of fun! I hadn't seen my younger brother in a couple of years and he was able to come to my parents house late that night and stay for the next week so we did the same. My brother that lives in Utah took time off work and pulled their son out of school as well so they could come up and spend the time with us as well. It all made for a fantastic week of vacation. I wish I had time to add more details but I need to get to addressing Christmas cards and making arrangements for a weekend trip so this short summary is all I can do. My summary looks very similar to the trip journal Hayden had to keep while he was happily out of school for a week!!
Friday: Hit some black Friday sales and then we played racquetball at the gym before enjoying our Thanksgiving dinner, just a day late! That night we rocked out to Karaoke! I hope someone will send the videos soon!
Saturday: Family pictures, a trip to the aquarium, then the adults went to a comical rendition of It's a Wonderful Life.

Sunday: We went to Temple Square after church- Tom's photography skills really show!

Monday: Matt, his wife Chelsea and Tom and I went skiing at Snowbird. My mom watched all the kids!! it was a great day although I went to bed that night with nightmares of skiing down the mountain and being unable to stop... I suppose I was little more scared then I wanted to admit! I haven't skied in years and years so it was a bit tricky!
Tuesday: Sledding!!

The kids had a blast, so much giggling!!! Alyssa couldn't believe there was so much snow. Growing up on a tropical island means that she had never seen real snow like that. It was fun to experience with her and watch her awe. Then we went bowling and my brother Ryan and his wife Amy made prizes for everyone. It was a huge hit! Then I had to take Tom to the airport to fly home to work.
Wednesday: Matt and Chelsea let me leave the girls with their new best friend- their cousin Isabel that they hadn't seen in years! I took Hayden up to the Natural History Museum at the U of U and had a nice time learning and exploring. Then we headed to Provo and spent the afternoon with my grandma. We took her to the Life Science Museum at BYU and Danica rode with her in her wheelchair. They loved it! That night we went to Ryan and Amy's house where they used their gourmet cooking skills to serve us authentic Phillie Cheesesteaks and homemade donuts. We also had a contest to make Turkey costumes. Hayden and I got to model them!!
Thursday: A low key day of packing and playing and celebrating Christmas with Grandma!!! The kids were all spoiled! Then we went to see Breaking Dawn while Matt watched all the kids (thank you again!)

Friday: Got up at 6am and drove all day. Kids were good and I enjoyed an audio book.
Saturday: Got up early and drove to Salem to run a 7 mile trail run with Tom's sister Anne and her husband Peter. Tough run. Very tiring after spending a week on vacation...although it may be tough any time!!!

There is much more to add and hopefully I'll get to it. But for today, this is enough!!

Happy Halloween 2011

2011-11-02T21:06:00.000-07:00

Our festivities were abundant and I was so sick of the kids eating candy before we even got to Halloween but they were loving it!!
It started two weeks ago when some of our Oki Family, the Balls, drove down from Seattle to spend the day with us! It was so nice to be with friends and we are so grateful they made the drive!! We went to pumpkin patch and the kids loved it. Alyssa kept saying how it was so great it was her first time going to a farm! We did all the standards with corn mazes, picking pumpkins, petting zoo, etc. But they also had this pumpkin sling shot where you tried to land them in a bucket. We didn't see anyone do it in all the time we were waiting in line but when it was Danica's turn they got it in. Everyone was cheering! Danica loved it!

We had a ward trunk or treat Friday night (I took the kids while Tom watched game 7 of the World Series...there will be other trunk or treats after all!) Saturday night we had attended the annual Stinchfield Halloween Party! We've heard about it for years but never attended and we were so excited to do it this year! We stressed about our costumes but never came up with anything amazing so the kids just chose their own. Tom and I tried to coordinate... it sounded better on paper: He was Steve Jobs and I was the dancing shadow from the iTunes ads.

Look closely and you can see Hayden in the middle...he is something dark and hooded every year...the girls were dying to be super heroes again... sounded good to me because I love the costumes and they cost a lot!!!

Some great food from the Stinchfield party:

Hayden made this and named it "Skello Jello" He thought he was pretty clever... I had to agree!

Sunday night we carved pumpkins. Can you guess which child designed and drew their own?

Monday we went to the Halloween parade for Hayden at school. Then I stayed to help with the class party and helped the kids all make carmel apples. That night we hit the streets and the kids got their loot. We went out with some cousins, Taylor, Parker and Morgan. When the little girls got cold and tired we came home and the big kids got to keep going. Hayden was loving it!!! All around a great year!

These are from back when we were in Leavenworth, we went on a beautiful hike. We had to cut it short due to the cold but we enjoyed it while we could!

The Leavenworth Marathon

2011-10-23T21:58:00.000-07:00

(Front: Adina- half, Barb-half, Tracey-full. Back: Dave S.- full, Tom- full, Peter- half, Dave O.- half)
Last weekend we set out on a great adventure to participate in the Leavenworth Marathon and Half Marathon. I wasn’t sure I would ever do another marathon after my first disaster but some how while we were still in Japan we decided this would be a good idea. The rest of the family was running it so we just tagged along. There were three of us running the full marathon and four running the half plus the amazing support staff who watched the kids making it possible for us to run! I am sure that everyone has their own unique experience to share but this is my blog post so you get to hear my experience.

It started Friday night when we drove the 5 hours to Leavenworth Washington after Tom got off work. We didn’t want to waste anytime or fill up on on hamburgers so I made a pan of homemade mac ‘n cheese, salad and some smoothies to eat for dinner on the way. It was great. Then we met up with everyone at the RV park, said hello and headed off to our hotel to try to get some sleep. Originally we had planned to get an RV as well but the price scared us off and luckily Dave found a hotel room at the last minute. At the hotel we laid out our gear for the morning, coordinated wake up and shower schedules, set alarms and then tried to sleep. It’s always hard to sleep before a race, add 4 adults and two little girls in one hotel room with loud drunk oktoberfest guests all around and it gets a little worse. But none the less, the three of us marathoners arose around 5:00 and headed off to catch the school bus to the starting line. (Big thank you to Adina who let the girls stay asleep at the hotel with her, she got them up and dropped them off to Anne at the RV park when she picked up the other half marathoners...the support was amazing!!! Never could have done it with out them!! Big thank you to Anne as well!!)

So Tom, Dave and I loaded the school bus and made the long dark drive up the canyon. We got off the buses and noticed two problems right off, it was freezing and there were only 4 port-a-potties...we got in line and hoped to make it through before the start. With only 4 minutes left before the start I gave up on the line and went to meet Tom and Dave at the start. I reluctantly peeled off my sweats and made then made the worst decision of the day. I took off my running gloves because I figured I would get too hot and then what would I do with them? Needless to say, I never got too hot. Lucky for my bladder the official announced a 10 minute delay for the start, the friends I had made while waiting in line for the bathroom were still there and they let me back in line. Phew. So now I was really ready. Ready for a marathon. It was still dark and cold, 7am and about 32 degrees. They yelled start and off we went. Tom and I pulled to the front fairly quickly, so excited and having a great time. Our hands and noses were so cold we wanted to cry but we pushed ahead. A mile or two into it was pretty light out and my nose had thawed. My hands were still aching though. Nonetheless, we were enjoying flying down the mountain with beautiful scenery all around. The runners had thinned out and we were just coasting along. Tom’s hands warmed up but mine still hurt really badly and at one point he took a hold of my hand and warmed it with his while we ran. I wish I had a picture of that. It was a great moment.

We both felt great and just kept going and going, enjoying it all the time. About 10 miles in we came out of the canyon and ran through the city until we caught up to the trails by the fish hatchery. Then we looped around on this dirt horse trail for a few miles and it was really killer. It was impossible to get solid footing and we had to slow down and it just hurt all our joints. I kept reminding myself it was pretty and nice to do something different...it sort of worked. Eventually we came out and ran past the starting line where the half marathon runners were getting ready to start. Kenn was able to get our picture as we ran by! This meant we were half way and now just had to run the half marathon course. We still felt great and were really excited to reach this point.

As the miles passed under our feet we just kept up our fast pace and talked while enjoying the scenery. I’m so glad I was running with Tom, it made the whole experience so much more enjoyable! At mile 16 we again passed a guy in a yellow shirt that we had gone back forth with the entire run. We chatted again briefly and then cheered when I saw the mile 16 marker. He murmured something about still having a long way to go and we started to agree but then stopped ourselves. Quickly we changed our out look and said, “Oh no, we’re doing great and we’ve only got 10 miles to go. How many times have you run 10 miles? We can do this!” And we took off. (Side note, turns out that guy was one of my best friends brother-in-law, they somehow made the connection after the race and she called me. Small world.)

The next 4 miles were still good, we nearly missed a turn but luckily caught it and enjoyed running through a river side park. Tom’s knee was starting to bother him more and he was beginning to feel the 20 mile "wall" coming. Our training program was not conventional and a little less than ideal. His knee had been causing him pain so he hadn't been able to finish training the way he had hoped and it was catching up to him. At that moment in my mind I was about the reach a great point in the race. I had told myself I was running miles in sets of 10/10/6. This summer I made a decision to change my short runs to being at least 6 miles, so I knew I could easily hammer out 6 miles, I just had to reach 20 first. I’m not sure what Tom was thinking but he was not getting the adrenaline rush I was getting. He began to lag behind a bit and I wanted to be with him but he told me to just go, to push it as hard as I could and to just do it. I looked down at my Garmin and saw that I was still well under 3 hours and the 20 mile mark was just up ahead. I swallowed my last gel chew, gulped some water and powered up the only hill on the course.

With just 6 miles to go I put my music on and forged ahead. I couldn’t believe I was really going to make it at my goal pace. I couldn’t believe I still felt good. I couldn’t believe that people on the sidelines were shouting to me that I was the first woman! This just made me want to run faster! So I went. The last two miles caught up to the sand trail again and it was agony. My hip flexor was over tired and the unsteadiness of the sand nearly did me in but I was so close I just kept thinking of my running friends that would be so happy for me. I wanted to so badly to finish and go call them so we could rejoice together! Thankfully I survived the sand, kept up my pace and crossed the finish line while the clock read 3:14:40. Faster than I had ever dreamed of running. The crowd was actually all cheering. I’ve never finished a race and had the crowd cheering. It was awesome. (There was a minor error in the course so my actual finish pace was 7:35, time of 3:20, still plenty fast to qualify for Boston's new time requirement of 3:35!)

I waited at the finish line and just 5 minutes later Tom came powering through with a time of 3:20. So amazing!!!! His knee gave him grief but he managed to push through it anyway and didn’t give up. He just kept going and going, dragging his leg along and PR’d by nearly 40 minutes!!! Outstanding! No one was at the finish line so we just hobbled around and got some snacks and such. My hip flexor was killing me and I was dragging my leg around but we made it back to the finish line in time to cheer for Adina, Peter and Dave O. as they ran in from the half marathon!

The stats were posted and we were able to see that in fact I actually was the first woman to finish the marathon! There were
only 9 men ahead of me. Tom came in close at number 14. He took second place in his age division! What an accomplishment!!! We waited around for the awards ceremony and it’s a good thing we did because we both got nice pint glasses for winning in our age divisions and I got a glass boot and a beer stein for being the first place finisher!!!

You can check out the race results here: http://www.accustatsportstiming.com/results3.asp?ei=108

After finally sitting down and taking a brief rest my hip felt better and I was just so happy and excited. The race was actually fun, enjoyable thanks to having Tom’s company and exciting in the end to actually win! Calling my friends and family was as fun as I had hoped it would be. It’s great to have friends who love you so much they are so happy for your success. All around a great race. We spent the rest of the day in Leavenworth but I was too tired to remember much of it. I do remember my favorite part was sitting around the fire eating delicious tri-tip. Thank you everyone. The list is long including the help with getting the hotel, the food, watching the kids, encouraging me to run, pushing me to run fast, and simply cheering from the side lines. For being such an individual sport it sure does take a whole team to make it happen!

Life in Washougal

2011-10-20T21:27:00.000-07:00

Life has been a bit crazy and stressful lately and I obviously haven’t taken the time to write but there is much to be grateful for and many happy memories to preserve so I need to take a moment to record them. This is in no way all inclusive but just a few snippets that come to mind. (We have misplaced a bunch of pictures, like the first day of school and such... so those will have to come later as well.)

The House: We all love the new house and are constantly busy trying to keep it clean while decorating and finishing the unpacking. It was quite the saga getting our stuff from storage in San Diego but after several months it finally came. I will post pictures as things get put together, if they ever do...

Washougal: I like the town we live in. It’s pretty and within 1/2 a mile of my house you are on beautiful country roads with deer, rabbits and so many other beautiful sights. Yesterday Tom and I went on a trail run that is just three miles from our house and went around a beautiful creek and some waterfalls. We can go to the beach of the Columbia River just 2 miles from our house and it is beautiful, with sand to dig in and water to play in. It’s not Okinawa but helps us get our beach fix!

Portland: Living near a big city is great, we’ve been to lots of great places to eat and are hitting the concert scene! We’ve seen The Naked and Famous and Andrew Belle. We’ve got tickets to several more coming up!

Hood to Coast: We were fortunate enough to run Hood to Coast on a team with Tom’s brother Dave, his wife Adina, their friends and Tom’s sister Anne and her husband Peter. It was so much fun. It deserves a post all on it’s own but somehow it didn’t get done. The runs were great, the company awesome and we felt great (except when we lost our beloved inflatable shark decoration off the top of the car..so sad...)

Tom: Aside from being a super triathlete and participating in a Tough Mudder he is busy getting settled in at work. He works Wed, Thurs and Friday with his brother at Discovery Dental. They got a new sign with Tom’s name on it and it looks great. He loves being there and is getting adjusted to the new staff and the different way things are done. Now he just keeps hoping for more patients. Is it okay that I pray for people to break their teeth?

Tracey: I have been running to stay sane and enjoy the variety of places to run here after running around Camp Foster for three years. I miss Okinawa dearly and miss my friends so much but have really enjoyed the chance to be closer to family. Although I have a million different places I could shop I find that old habits are hard to break and I always go to the Safeway down the street and want to do the rest online. I’m busy trying to get the kids settled in, helping them make friends and get involved. I am Hayden’s cub scout leader which is fun and challenging. I look forward to making some more friends here and having game nights again!
My parents came to visit in September and we had a great time! I have been trying to convince them that it doesn’t rain here all the time like they think it does and it was great weather leading up to their visit but then of course it had to start raining the day after they arrived. We still braved it and went up to Mt. St. Helen’s and luckily the clouds parted just in time for us to see the volcano. It was freezing outside, we nearly ran out of gas and the visitors center we went to was closed for the season but somehow it was just fun to be together and we found a nice lake to walk around. It was so fun to have them here, we picked wild blackberries and made a cobbler and my awesome dad even painted our living room for us!!

Hayden: Loves living close to his cousins and wishes he could just move in with them. We are one mile away from Dave and Adina and Morgan is actually in his class at school. School started off a bit slow but Hayden understood he was the “new kid” and it would take some time. Things are going well now and he’s got some friends in his class and we found two boys his age down on the end of our court that he is working on getting to know them. One advantage to not having many friends is that he plays with his sisters a lot. He’s even been training them on how to play the Wii and they all love it. But mostly he wishes he could just play x-box all day and gets mad when I force him outside on the days it’s not raining! I’m sure he’ll have plenty of inside days in the months to come! He's been enjoying reading the Harry Potter series lately and comparing the books to the movies. He's now on book 5 and just keeps finding more differences!

Danica: Has grown up a ton since starting kindergarten. She loves school and has made lots of friends. As usual it’s been funny to watch how her and Hayden are such opposites. Hayden and Danica usually sit together on the bus. But, one day she got off the school bus laughing and smiling talking non stop about the funny boy she sat with on the way home. Hayden got off that day crying because the bus driver made him sit with someone else and he didn’t like it. Hayden’s favorite class at school is P.E. Danica hates P.E. so much that she constantly asks me if it’s Tuesday and begs me to not make her go. The teacher lets her go and just sit and watch but that’s not enough, she still stresses non stop. I finally agreed to go with her today and it seems that she is afraid of the teacher who is a giant of a man...we’ll have to work on that. She still loves gymnastics and has been going to a gym here. Last week they approached us and said that Danica is doing so well they want her to try out for the advanced group. She tried out yesterday, did well and enjoyed it although it was 2 hours long and she got tired. Now we just have to decide whether to take on one more big thing. When we are home her favorite thing to do is ride her bike, she always says "I just love it mom, I just love it!!"

Alyssa: I don’t know where to start with her. She is my smiley little buddy. Quick to give hugs and wants to make sure that I am always happy. If she sees me sad she rushes in to assure me that I will be okay soon. She goes to preschool two mornings a week and goes to ballet on another morning. It’s perfect for her. Some days she wishes she were 5 and could just do everything Danica does but she enjoys our one on one time as well. But no matter how much fun we’re having she still loves to go to the bus stop to wait for the kids to get home. She is learning to read and loves being big like every one else. Her goal in life is to make everyone laugh. The first weeks of ballet she kept acting silly and not following directions and I kept talking to her about it until finally she said “But mom, I have to make them all laugh!” I now see this in so many parts of her life, it makes all of her behavior so much easier to understand. She was the first kid to make a new friend here and loved to go around talking about “my friend” this and “my friend” that. She didn't know her name. There are little kids in our cul-de-sac and she just loves to go out and ride her scooter and bike with them.

Okay, I”m sure I have a ton more things to add but they will have to trickle in... I need this post up there. House pictures coming soon... honest... I am lucky enough to have guests coming this weekend so I’ll have to clean! :)

Aluminum Man Triathlon

2011-09-12T17:25:00.000-07:00

Posted by Tom

On Saturday the 10th, Adina, Peter, and myself were able to participate in the 24th, wait, check that, the 23rd annual Columbia Gorge Aluminum Man Sprint Triathlon. It was as beautiful a day as you could ask for. We headed out there early to get our packets and such. It was a beautiful ride out there as we passed over the Bridge of the Gods and through the lush vegetation that Washington and Oregon both have to offer. The race took place in The Dalles, OR, previously known only for its location on the 84 as you travel out to the east. There were 111 men and women participating in the event. It was composed of a 550 m open water swim in the Columbia River, a 13.2 mile bike ride, and a 5K. So, not great distances but when you put them all together and try to do it as quickly as you can, it can push you. We started at 930 am for the men and 935 am for the woman. Suffice to say, we all had a great time. The water was cool but very refreshing and nice. The bike ride was totally manageable and pretty through the country. Peter was constantly mocked as he rode his mountain bike amongst all the road bikes. The run could have been better but all in all we were all very happy with how we did. Since it was my first Triathlon I was not sure what to expect but I was able to do it much quicker than I thought and finish ahead of all the other people in my age group and get 17th overall. Adina was 4th in her age category and missed getting a medal by only feet. Next time she will be there. We will be there next year for anybody interested. Thank you Tracey for all the great pictures.

Summer 2011

2011-08-14T19:29:00.000-07:00

(I started this blog weeks ago and have been waiting to get the computer set up to get pictures and such... I just need to post it and move on!!! So here's a few pictures, more details and fun to come!)

It's been a whirl wind and impossible to really summarize but I'll give it a try. Of course it started with moving from Okinawa Japan the day after school ended in June. We stayed with friends and then moved in with Tom's parents. Life was instantly busy and fun and crazy and exhausting all at the same time. Amidst it all we continued to wait to close on our house in hopes of getting in before school started. While we waited we kept busy, here are a few highlights:

TRIP TO UTAH:
We enjoyed our time in Utah with tons to do and lots of family to visit. The mountains were beautiful, the sunshine warm, and wonderful memories made. What I learned:
Mom's cooking will always be the best
There is nothing as wonderful as the sound of cousins laughing together
Utah summers are the best, warm and dry
My parents are amazing and so full of fun and excitement, they kept us really entertained!

NORTHWEST PASSAGE RAGNAR:

Tom's family is full of runners and this year for the first time they put together a Ragnar team consisting of his mom, some of her children and their spouses. Tom and I ended up joining the team taking the spots of a few people who couldn't do it and ended up having a blast. It was a 190 mile run starting on the border of Canada and winding down to Langley Washington. We each ran three different legs of the race with some eating and attempts at sleeping in between. It was great! Thank you to all the awesome family members who ran, drove and watched the kids so we could have so much fun! What I learned:
You can take a "shower" in the back seat of a suburban with a washcloth and towel
It's more comfortable to sleep in the car than outside on the cold sloped ground
Croissants with meat and cheese are delicious
"Killing" is good
You don't actually need a good nights sleep and good food in order to run

LAKE SHASTA HOUSEBOAT:
After only spending one month of summer here in Washington I was already done with it and can't believe they have the nerve to call it summer. I have a feeling this is payback because I spent so much time complaining about the heat in Okinawa. I continue to be cold almost daily. So our trip down to Northern California for a week at the end of July was much needed! It was hot and sunny everyday!! We stayed on a houseboat and had a fantastic time. We swam, skied, wake boarded, tubed, ate, sat, swam again and played games. It was blissful and will definitely be an annual tradition.

ALYSSA TURNED 4!!!
I can't believe my baby is 4. I am imagine I'll be saying that a lot in the years to come. She's is just the most fun and exciting little girl ever. She is all smiles and happiness and is just the best friend to her big sister. She loves to laugh and tries to tell jokes and do silly things. One of her favorite expressions is "that is freaky!" Scooby Doo is her favorite show and she is in love with ballet and dancing. Her and Danica play "mom and dad" all the time and Alyssa likes to be the mom and calls her daughter "honey" and "sweetie" all the time. She has a great imagination and loves to play with action figure type dolls, characters or animals. When she can't find any she will use whatever she can find and one day used a dew screws and little mom and dad dolls. At the park her favorite thing to do is the swing and she just learned to swim and things it's the best! Truly she just lights up our family and is so much fun to have around!!!

THE HOUSE:
In the interim we've enjoyed time just letting the kids ride their bikes, playing on a co-ed softball team, getting ready for the house with things like buying a washer and dryer, kitchen table, etc. Finally, after much drama and several ridiculous delays we closed on the house August 18th. We love it and can't wait to get settled!

What's New....

2011-07-10T15:55:00.000-07:00

Life in the U.S. continues to be wonderful and we are having a great time. We really miss our friends in Oki and were freezing most of the time we were in Washington but just keep pretending we are on vacation! Here are some pictures of the fun we had up in Sammamish. We never got a good group shot so these will have to do. It was great the way things picked up where we left off. We had a fun at the park, it was nice and cool, I even brought jackets!

We went to the Science Center in Seattle, it was awesome. Here is Tom and Randy (also a dentist) at the phobia exhibit

We road on this bike that was balanced way up high and wasn't attached but couldn't fall off do to the balancing weight... it was a lot of trust to put in science and very scary!

Lunch by a fountain

We went swimming in the lake by their house. Alyssa was brave and enjoying it.

Danica agreed with the rest of it: It was COLD!!! Where is our warm Okinawa water?

After enjoying a full week with the Ball's it was finally time to leave and we headed down to Vancouver to "move in" with Tom's parents. We had lots of fun hanging out with all of Tom’s family while in Washington. The kids loved seeing their cousins and getting reacquainted.

We did Karaoke one night, did a beautiful trail run around some waterfalls, played games and lots of fireworks on the 4th of July and tons of other things. We finally got to see the house we are buying and walked through it for the first time. We LOVE it and thankfully just got the letter accepting the short sale so we have a closing date of August 17th. Hooray!!! We can’t wait for the day to come but luckily have a ton of things planned between now and then!

Our vacation continues and we are in Utah right now hanging out with my family and having a good time. We've been to Lagoon, a waterfall and the fair. My mom keeps making fantastic food and taking such good care of us!!! It's so nice to be here! I've been spending time with my niece and nephew who are both adorable!
Apparently Hayden didn't get enough military stuff in Oki and was enthralled by this army tank and it's guns!

The girls worked hard and made all sorts of awesome crafts at the fair.

Next week we are going 4-wheeling and to Snowbird and visiting more family and friends among other stuff. The kids have really enjoyed their cousins and all the time with grandma and grandpa. Poor Alyssa gets so confused, every time we go to a new place she asks if it's our new house and if we've finally moved. It started with the Westpac and hasn't stopped. Even the hotel we stayed at in Boise on the drive to Utah she asked if it was her new house. Her birthday is August 17th so that will be a wonderful day to get the new house then!!

I haven’t done much shopping but did hit Target once and thoroughly enjoyed Costco and bought so much stuff just because I couldn’t believe it. Hayden finally said “Mom, really, when are you going to stop be so amazed by everything.” But really Hayden, did you see the price of those apples??!!! Getting used to driving has been okay, only once did I go to the car and get in on the wrong side. Tom's done it a few times but just gets to pretend he's a gentleman opening my door. I still have moments when I try to make sure I have my I.D. ready for something but that is fading. I'm okay with some things fading away but look forward to hanging on to some of the memories forever! Here are a few pictures from some of the memories of the last days:

Here are Danica and Alyssa with their great friends on our last big outing to a Japanese garden, the spot on our bucket list!

My most amazing next door neighbor and our crew. This is moments before they left on the shuttle to the airport the day before we did!
On our last night on the island we went to Coco's Curry House and got great food and took it over to eat Araha Beach with all our friends. Although many members of our wonderful Oki Family had already moved we still got some fun pictures with the rest of the gang. I can only hope to have friends even half as good in the future!

Spoiled in the U.S.A

2011-06-19T16:04:00.000-07:00

We made it. After three amazing years in Okinawa Japan we left on Saturday June 18th and flew back to the U.S. for the last time. Life was really busy and we packed in tons of last minute fun while dealing with all the packing and checking out. I tried not to think things like "oh, this is my last bike ride" or my last run, last time going here or there... but it happened anyway. It was really hard to say "see you later" to our friends there because they were so much more than friends. Moving away from family is tough, moving to a foreign country is even tougher and our friends truly became our family and support network. It was hard to leave when we don't know when we'll see them again. Hopefully sooner rather than later. Everything went fairly smoothly with the packing out and prepping. I'd have loved to go on one more dive and a few other things but we left with no regrets and tons of great memories. We were spoiled by our friends there who helped us out so much as we got ready to go. Our next door neighbors, who were some of our best friends, went so far as to even move at the same time as us so we could stay in the on base hotel together! It was awesome because Hayden could still walk to school with his best friend, they would just leave from the hotel together in the morning!! Other friends spoiled us with meals, child care, cars to use, game nights and a great last night at the beach with everyone together. One of our first nights in Okinawa 3 years ago was spent at Araha Beach, so that is where we went for our last night.

Our flights went well, the kids were good and aside from the crying baby and loud flight attendant who kept waking us up it was great. Once we arrived in the U.S. we have continued to be spoiled by our great friends the Ball's who picked us up at the airport. They are some great friends we were with in Okinawa until they moved a year ago. Happily, they picked us up in our very own new (to us) car!!! We knew we wanted an Odyssey like the one we sold before moving to Okinawa and found the one we wanted on Craigslist. So they went and test drove it for us and took the check and picked it up. For three years I was dreaming that when we moved back someone would pick me up at the airport in my new Odyssey, hand me my iphone and drive me to my new house. That almost came true as Saturday afternoon we went and picked out our new iphones. We are staying here, near Seattle, with the Ball's for a few days while Tom's does his final check out from the Navy. The Ball's are the best hosts ever, truly spoiling us with great food, good company and fun. But most of all they gave us the gift of sleep, the most precious thing you can give a jet-lagged traveler. The kids slept upstairs and we were downstairs with a loud fan on so we wouldn't hear the kids in the morning. Melanie said she'd grab the girls if they had to go potty and we figured they'd sleep all night because we kept them up all day. But jetlag doesn't always work that way and they woke up at midnight and couldn't go back to sleep until 4! I had no idea until the next morning because Melanie stayed up with them getting snacks and movies and such. WAY TOO NICE TO US!!

The kids stayed jet lagged the next night but finally last night they slept through the night. Hopefully tonight they'll do the same and we'll be back on schedule. We're having a blast here on vacation with them, it's a good transition into our new "real" life in Washington. A little taste of Okinawa right here. We were freezing for the first few days but have finally warmed up and enjoyed the sunshine today!

I'll post more as our adventure in the US continues and once I get the pictures!!

Typhoon Songda and Our Bucket List

2011-06-01T00:58:00.001-07:00

Well, if we had put “experience a tropical typhoon” on our bucket list we would now be able to check it off. This past weekend we had yet another typhoon warning, we got the yard ready like usual and didn’t expect much since nothing usually happens. But this time, the storm actually hit and made for a crazy night! It started around 9pm and the wind kept picking up and was so loud! Things just kept blowing by and tree branches were going everywhere. We were having fun watching the shed shift around until it started actually lifting the roof off and we realized the shed was going to blow apart!! We had some friends over so they dashed out with us and just as we got to the shed the back wall pieces fell to the ground! We grabbed them and put them in the house and started unloading everything from the shed into the house. We were dragging the bikes, hoses, shovels and everything else as fast as we could because the wind was picking up and it was just crazy outside. We pulled all the pieces of the shed inside as well. Crazy.Sunday morning church was cancelled because the base was still locked down with the typhoon mess and we went out to assess the damage. Trees and debris were everywhere. So many big trees just completely uprooted and large tree branches just hanging down everywhere from where they had been simply snapped off. We put our shed back together and only a few minor things were broken so it still works. Thankfully no one was hurt, we all live in cement bunkers that could survive anything and on that night, I was really thankful!

The Bucket List:

**Ride the huge ferris wheel in American Village- complete with tiny cans of beloved Fanta Grape that came with the ride! Alyssa was nervous for everyone and kept telling Hayden to sit down so he wouldn’t die but we all survived and had a great time!

**Alyssa’s last day of ballet with Ms. Debra.
**Danica got a “real” haircut. I paid to take her to my hair lady, she loves it!
**Karaoke with the Kisers...we love Big Echo. The hit song of the night was “The Sweater Song.” Who knew we all loved it?
**We hosted our last “see you later” party for friends who are moving. We said a sad good-bye to the Kisers, friends we’ve known since dental school! Now we are the next move....
**Took the girls to ride the monorail after telling them for over a year that we would do it. We did it for letter T day of home preschool: We learned all about transportation and then rode the train to the airport to watch the planes! They loved it and there were some tourists on the train who just couldn’t get enough of the little American girls and took a dozen pictures and gave them chocolate and candy. How said that it won’t be long before they aren’t celebrities anymore.
**Pedicure at Cocok’s. A wonderful island treat I will really miss. I got my toes painted with a scene of Okinawa in the color of the water here. A great souvenir complete with IE Island, a palm tree, flower, clouds, sand, etc.

I went with my great friend and neighbor Tatyana. We spend all our time dealing with kids and helping each other run our households and NEVER take time to just be together. It was great, we got lunch and then relaxed. I truly don’t know how I’ll survive without her as my left hand picking up the slack on everything I do. I rely on her for everything and the rare time she isn’t home I don’t know what to do! My kids practically live at her house. Any service or help I am able to give to others is the direct result of her serving and helping me. She is moving the day before us. At least we get to go together!
**Biking: I've enjoyed two great bike rides this week with my great friend Megan. I'm convinced I "prayed" her to the island. I was wishing I had a friend who liked to bike and run and had kids my kids could play with and "tada" here comes Megan. It's been so awesome and I wish she could move to Washington with me. I will continue to insist that today was not our last bike ride, it will simply be a while before we have another one. We rode out to Kurishihi Dam on Monday morning and had a peaceful, relaxing time. Today we rode out to the lighthouse at Cape Zampa. Nice. We even got my favorite Okinawa Salt Cookie Ice Cream!

**Beach Trip: Spent Memorial Day out an yet another new beach on the coast of one of the small islands connected by bridge. It was a great day!
The Move Prep
Speaking of the move... things are moving along well as we get ready. I've got a "to do" list clipped to my calendar and packing/sorting list stuck on the desk to keep track of what goes with the express shipment, what goes in the suitcases and then everything else. We've been selling all the outdoor equipment like sheds, playhouse, and swingset. We were going to sell the trampoline and the day before someone came to look at it the boys were out jumping and the pole broke. It simply rusted all the way through and snapped. Only Okinawa could have weather extreme enough to destroy a brand new trampoline in only 2 1/2 years!! So we dismantled the trampoline and threw it in the trash.
My thrift store pile keeps growing and I enjoy the purge of useless stuff. We have the movers coming next Friday the 10th to pack up our goods and we move into the hotel on the night of the 12th. We fly out on the 18th, landing in Seattle and staying with some of our Oki friends, the Balls for a few days while Tom does his check out from the Navy.... I hope I'm emotionally ready to leave by then because I'm not ready yet!!!

Home Ownership?

2011-05-18T04:20:00.001-07:00

Some really big news... I don’t know if it’s bad luck to announce something like this before you have the key in hand...I guess we’ll find out...we put an offer on a house and it was accepted!!! We’ve been looking for months and can tell you about every single house that is for sale in the Washougal/Camas area. We’ve looked seriously into a few but they weren’t the one. Then we decided we’d keep looking but back off and wait to look more seriously once we arrived. But then it happened- we found The House. We’d seen the house and liked it but decided to just put it on the list to go see when we arrived. Then just as we decided to change our search to much cheaper houses than originally looking at we got an email saying they had dropped the price from lower, to really low. How could we not look again? The more we looked the more we loved. This house just felt different, better.

Then we realized the house was a short sale and that it could take months to buy. So our amazing team of Adina and our realtor went and took video of the house so we could decide whether to start the short sale process. They took awesome video and we just fell in love with the house even more. It’s on a cul-de-sac only a mile from D&A so it’s close to the cousins, school and the practice. It’s got everything we need, nearly 3,300 square feet, 4 bedrooms, a den, a bonus room, nice great room, beautiful kitchen, two walk in closets in the master, an awesome pantry, and more. After viewing the video we looked back through all other houses on our list and we just liked this one the most. When we had thought of buying other houses it just felt crazy and stressful. This house felt great.

On Monday night we went to bed and then I felt like I should get up and email our realtor right then to tell her our decision to make an offer on the house. Afterall, it was almost Monday morning in the states. So I got out of bed and sent the email. Then just before 5:00am I got up to go running and found an email labeled “Urgent.” Turns out there was already another offer in on the house but it was waiting for loan pre-approval and if we hurried they would consider our offer as well. So we hurried, our awesome realtor scrambled to get it all put together right away, we signed, scanned and submitted within a few hours. Then we waited... but the wait was short. We found out the next day they took our offer! We knew we really wanted the house so we were a little aggressive in our offer and are glad we were!!! Our realtor keeps reminding us that being a short sale things could still go wrong but the bank already said they’d do it, they said within two weeks we should have the official acceptance from the bank and can close 45 days after that. That puts us moving in around mid-July! Our furniture will still be on the boat coming from Japan but we’ll have a house!!! We can’t wait!! The pictures on the listing don’t do it justice but feel free to check them out anyway. http://www.estately.com/map#/listings/info/p5177-m-ct

Ballet, Soccer and Okuma!

2011-05-18T04:08:00.001-07:00

Time is going way too fast. We’re having a blast, here are some of the pictures from the recent fun:

We had planned a great trip to the Kerammas (nearby small tropical island with great beaches, snorkeling and diving) but then a typhoon decided to hit so we couldn’t go. Instead we went out to Round One and played all day. Alyssa was really good at the tennis, Dani tried her talent and skating and Hayden...I didn’t see much of Hayden he was so busy running around having fun! Check out this “claw game”, the prize is cans of Pringles. Japanese games are so awesome.

The next day we went to Okuma with all the friends who had planned to go to the Keramas. It was still rainy but to get to the Keramas you have to take a ferry which is awful in bad whether and it’s a really expensive trip so not worth the money in bad weather. Okuma is the Air Force resort and it’s cheap and fun. We rented a condo that had 7 bedrooms and we filled it with 7 families. 21 kids total... shortly after arriving on Thursday we loaded in our cars to go hike to a waterfall when the rain started to pour down. And when it pours here I really mean pour, like buckets of water. So we had lots of fun game and movie time inside all day. The weather was better the next day and we got out to ride the bikes, play on the playground and hit the beach.
Tom and I went on our first boat dive. The boat took us out about 15 minutes to a big coral reef. However, the weather still wasn’t great and the boat was rocking like crazy. As we got ready to dive I turned on my air tank that came with the boat and found the tank was only half full. Ugh. So the boat driver had to radio in for them to bring out a new one and I had to sit around on the rocking boat trying not to throw up. Even Tom got sick. Luckily we got the new tank, fell over backward off the side of the boat and headed down. It was different than other dives because we were really all alone and far away from shore. My mask was foggy and I had to flood it and clear it while down at 40 feet but it all worked out and I feel like a better diver now that I have the confidence that I can handle stuff like that when I need to. Not our favorite dive because we were both so worried about losing the boat and not being able to find out way back but Tom was awesome and kept us going the right way and things worked out well.

Saturday we had the kids last soccer games. Hayden did well but is glad it’s over and probably won’t play for a while. He’s going to focus on running and other things. Danica agreed to play in her game after having refused for the last several. She did okay and even kicked the ball twice! In the end, she got bumped in the nose and came out crying but went back when it was her turn again. This time she got tired and started to cry but at least she tried. I don’t see soccer in our future for a while...

Saturday afternoon was Alyssa’s first dance recital. She is in love with ballet and has been so excited for her recital. After getting over her nerves at the beginning she skipped out there with her class and had a blast. Through out her dancing she just kept flashing us her big cheesy smile and was clearly loving it! She did a ballet number and then later a tap dance. She has so much enthusiasm, concentration and skill. She’s one of the youngest in the class but does really well. At the end each girl in the show got to go out on stage alone to curtsy. Most of the girls walked out slowly and did a small curtsy. Alyssa was unsure of what to do but when it was her turn she used her newly acquired and much loved skipping skills to skip out, curtsy and blow a kiss. It was way too cute! She has so much personality! I tried to upload video but it took two days and still didn’t load so I gave up. You’ll have to take my word for it that she was fantastic!

The Excitement Never Ends!

2011-05-07T06:19:00.001-07:00

Today was the last Parent’s Day Out, the free once of month thing at the daycare. We dropped the kids off (they are so happy it was their last time but we’ll certainly miss it!), anyway, we dropped the kids off and headed out to a great dive spot called “toilet bowl.” Lame name, awesome place where you walk about in about 2 feet of water for a few steps and then step off the ledge into a deep bowl that leads around to a long coral reef. You can only dive it when the wind is down and today was perfect. It was finally hot and that was nice, the other dives I’ve been on have been really cold where I am shivering and couldn't feel my toes. Today was perfect. We swam out until almost the time to turn around (half way through our air supply) when Tom spotted a small cave. He peered in and motioned for me to come check it out. I approached thinking I could see a sea snake on the wall, which we see all the time so it was no big deal. But as my eyes adjusted to the dim light of the cave I realized that right on the bottom, less than 10 feet away was a SHARK!!!! I couldn’t believe my eyes, if I were a cartoon character my eyes would have shot out of my head. It was about 8 feet long and just laying there. It was either a Reef Shark or a Nurse Shark, we didn't have a camera but it looked like this. For a second I thought I’d be okay and that I wanted to stay and check it out. But then I started picturing us accidentally waking it up and it deciding to swim out of the cave. That I couldn’t handle so when Tom asked if I was okay (using the basic “ok” hand single since you can’t talk while scuba diving) I motioned no and started to swim away. I wasn’t freaking out and needing to race to the surface but I didn’t really want to stay by the shark. So, being the good husband and dive buddy he took my hand (he told me later that was because he was afraid I would freak out and surface to quickly) and we swam away... checking behind us a few times. Just a few minutes later I spotted a huge sea turtle swimming our way. It came right in front of us and started swimming the direction we were going so we got to follow it for a long time. It was great to see it flying through the water. As we swam over another deep crevice I reluctantly looked in and saw another large form in the shadow. I was nervous thinking it was a small shark and wanted to swim away but it turns out it was just a 2 foot long fish. All around it was a great dive.

I wish I had stayed longer to let Tom check out the shark, he wishes he’d had his flashlight with him so he could see it better but I could see it plenty well. We were less than 10 feet from it... that’s enough for me. He’s actually off on another dive right now. A night dive with some buddies from work. Lucky for him I have no desire whatsoever to dive at night, it sounds like a real life nightmare to me to be out there in the pitch black looking for scary creatures with a flashlight. It terrifies me to think about it. Not to mention, sea snakes, the poisonous snakes we see on the bottom all the time, are nocturnal. No thanks. So he’s gone out several times for these night dives and is loving it. He’s definitely making the most of the last of his dive time here. I think for our 15 year anniversary we’ll have to finally do something to celebrate and take a diving cruise or something!

I had a fantastic birthday on the 29th. It started with an early run and then I sent Hayden off to school and Tom left for work. As I was coming back inside from seeing Hayden off when Tom pulled in the drive way. He jumped out and said “Oh, I forgot I don’t have to go to work today!” It was all a ploy. He’d arranged for a friend to watch the girls and we went and played tennis (which I am still terrible at), went out to brunch and then went shopping for souvenirs and furniture. It was awesome. When we got home that afternoon I took a nice nap, actually in my bed, it was great. I woke up and we all went out to dinner and had a nice time. We stopped by to get an apple pie because that is what I really wanted for dessert. Tom rented a movie so we could put the kids to bed and just relax. We got home and when I walked in the living room I heard a baby cry. I was so confused I just stood there in the dark for a second and then suddenly all my friends jumped up and yelled surprise! It was awesome, I had no idea. Tom had been setting me up all day. So he put the kids to bed and we hung out and played rock band with our friends all night. It was a fabulous birthday! The next morning we got up early, dropped the kids off with a friend and went out scuba diving. It was great!

One of my favorite things about my birthday was the constant birthday hugs and kisses the girls kept giving me. And Alyssa was the cutest, she said, “Mom, when I turn 4 I want a ballet cake. What kind of cake do you want?” Me, “umm...” Alyssa, “Do you want a watcher cake because you like to watch me do ballet?” What a great idea. I do like to watch her do ballet!

When I was tucking Hayden into bed he said to me “I wish you could just stretch forever so part of you could stay in here and I could hug it all night and the rest of you could go do the laundry.” Boy did I ever wish I could do that too!! He’s currently got this idea that he can get anything he wants if he gives me a hug... it sort of works. He wanted me to come with him on his school field trip so he was all hugs and smiles and then later told me “I knew you couldn’t resist if I did that!” We had a nice time on the field trip learning all about transportation and taking the bus and monorail down to the airport.

Danica is the sweetest, nicest, mostly loving girl ever I sometimes need to just remember that is a good thing I don’t want her to change. She is still so shy and sensitive and I just don’t know how to give her confidence. She is refusing to play in her soccer games because it just stresses her out to much, it’s too much pressure or something. Being fairly competitive athletic people it is hard for Tom and I to handle the fact that she is the only child standing out on the field crying for her mommy. But alas, like I said, she is such a sweetheart and competitive sports aren’t for everyone. Maybe when she’s a little older it will go better. In the meantime, she is continuing to excel at her gymnastics. She is the oldest and best in her class so that gives her confidence. Hopefully eventually it will sink in deeper and she will be able to handle being in a class where she isn't always the best... if anyone has ideas on how to help build her confidence levels I would love to hear them. I see other parents just saying “stop crying and get out there and play” but that doesn’t work on Danica. I don’t know what does.

Well, we are busy as ever getting ready to move, having way too much fun. Our week of spring followed by a week of rain left things officially hot the last few days. Even at 5am I am going to have to run in tank tops I am dripping so much sweat. So summer has started and I suppose that is good because it will help make me happy to leave. It is so hot!

They had the Hail and Farewell last night for Tom and everyone from the Dental Command got together and said some nice words over dinner. He’s really going to miss a lot of the great things about being here and some of the good people he’s learned from. It’s been great. I've been released from the Relief Society Presidency and asked to teach Alyssa's sunbeam class for our last 6 weeks here. Everything is winding down. We're playing hard and enjoying every minute of it!!

Funny Video

2011-05-02T01:09:00.000-07:00

Just a video I found of Hayden while I was looking through old videos.

The REAL Tour de Okinawa

2011-04-27T21:35:00.001-07:00

DAY ONE: 90 miles DAY TWO: 68 miles DAY THREE: 72 miles

Last weekend we were fortunate enough to have one of the greatest experiences ever! Thanks to the great idea of one of our friends we took our own bike trip around the entire island!! Words cannot convey the amazing experience it was. You had to be there to experience the views, feel the wind rushing past, and sense the thrill from making it up yet another huge hill. Tom is making a DVD of the experience and we’ll share that once it’s done. For now, I’ll try to do it justice, but just know, that most of what we saw and did we couldn’t take pictures of!! I wish you could have just come with us!!!

Before I start I must give a special thanks to my amazing friends who made this possible for me. I wish that my friends could have come and biked with me but only one of them is a biker and she has a small baby. I had to leave the kids for three days in order to go on this epic ride so all of my friends (the wives of the other bikers) took over in my absence. One friend watched the girls, another took Hayden so he could still go to school, yet another watched them all on Saturday!! It was awesome to know I didn’t have to worry about them. And the ride would not have been possible without our support driver, another wife who brought all our gear and food for us. She met us each night, cooked us dinner and then cooked us breakfast again in the morning. The food was fantastic and I was so happy to have some female company!! What awesome friends!!!

Here's the team:
Tracey
Tom
Erin
Rob
John
Derek

Day One:
We left from Camp Lester, 6 riders all fresh and eager to get the 90 miles underway. As with all good activities we started with a prayer and then headed off!!
The excitement was so tangible as we started. Within a mile we had our first, and just about only, near accident when Erin's iphone fell off his bike. I was riding behind him and saw it happen. Acting fast I stashed my bike quick, ran out in front of a big truck and snagged it before it got run over. That would not have been a good way to start the trip. Luckily, it was fine and we were on our way again.
About 8 miles down the road we stopped for our first picture at a nice bridge. We were riding toward the city through rush hour traffic so it was a lot of stop and go. The far left lane, where bikes go, is also the bus lane so that was complicated and we continually got stuck behind and next to the big busses. But we maneuvered our way through the city okay and eventually came out on the other side. We crossed some great bridges on the way and then stopped at a memorial for some of the students in the Battle of Okinawa because it caught our eye. It was great not to be on any schedule and to just stop and look and take pictures whenever we wanted. We enjoyed the view as we rode high above the coast for a long time.

By mid afternoon we were all starving, the day had started early with getting the kids all on their way before we even started riding. We really wanted to go to Coco’s for lunch for curry but couldn’t find one. We kept riding and riding and hoping we’d see one and finally we just had to give up. Instead we settled on a Jusco food court (a mall). All the other guys went for Chinese food but I was so hungry I needed some “real” food so Tom and I went to McDonalds. Let me tell you, french fries have never tasted so good! I also got an ice cream cone of new favorite flavor at Blue Seal, it’s called Okinawa Salt Cookie and it’s heavenly. I loved that I didn’t care one bit how many calories I consumed because I knew I still had another 40 miles of riding ahead of me!
We’d been going at an easy pace enjoying what a pretty day it was. We kind of pushed it a little toward the end of the ride when we had some hills. They weren’t huge but big enough to challenge us and make us feel tired. I smiled when I saw Tom with the camera as I came up one of the final hills but I really felt like this:
By the time we reached Camp Schwab, our destination for the evening, I was definitely ready to get off my bike. But I felt great knowing that I had kept up all day and really enjoyed the ride. Ali met us with our suit cases and a fantastic dinner. Then we all headed off to bed to get ready for the big ride the next day!
A few more shots from day one!

DAY TWO:

I think it’s safe to say we were all a little bit nervous for day two. The northern end of the island is beautiful, but very hilly. I knew I could do it beceause we rode it during the big Tour in November but that wasn’t the day after a 90 mile bike ride. We got a start late in the morning, around 10:00, hoping to find somewhere in the hills to stop for lunch. Here we are, ready to start!The scenery is breathtaking, the hills and tunnels were so much fun. The uphills were killer but everyone was awesome and just kept chugging along. From mile 20 to mile 30 in the ride it’s all uphill...it was insane but such an adrenaline rush to know we did it! Check out this shot of the elevation climbs on this ride. Killer.
The down hills were great but had me white knuckled and praying to survive. The views were beautiful, the scenery so peaceful. We saw very few cars and never found anywhere to eat lunch. The last cafe we had hoped for was closed so we never got lunch that day. Nonetheless, it was an amazing 68 mile ride. My favorite bike ride ever. I imagine it will keep that title for a long time to come. Tough day, but really satisfying. The pictures don’t do it justice but they try!

At last we arrived at Okuma, our stop for the night and again met Ali and some great food we were dying for!

DAY THREE:
We slept in the cabins at Okuma and heard the rain pouring down all night. After two beautiful days we knew we were due for some traditional Oki rain and we got it. It couldn’t be a true Tour de Okinawa without at least one rain day. After a filling bowl of oatmeal we reluctantly, yet eagerly, set off for the final adventure. Here we are, the final day. It was cold and wet but we rode strong and had no accidents. As we rode along the coast I kept reminding myself to look through my rain covered glasses and check out the view. When we stopped to refuel we all cooled off and ended up shivering like crazy until we got going again. Thankfully the sun came out about 40 miles into the ride and brought us home warm and dry. We stopped at a beautiful look out point and then at last, nearly 230 miles into our ride we finally got our Coco’s curry. Just a few miles up the road from home, we stopped for a late lunch. It was fantastic. Then off again, we finished up the last few miles, with an additional rider who joined in for the last day, and ended up back at the start. What an amazing experience.... something I’ll never forget!

Happy Easter

2011-04-26T15:15:00.001-07:00

We enjoyed a beautiful Easter and tried to focus on our Savior and our love for him while enjoying fun family time together! We hope you all had a wonderful weekend as well!

Iejima Half Marathon 2011

2011-04-14T00:49:00.001-07:00

Last night while sitting at Danica’s soccer practice Alyssa and I were playing pretend. First she wanted to pretend she was my baby, as she always wants. But then she said “I want to be the mom, see look, I’m running so I’m the mom!” I’ve never been more proud. I’m glad she got to see me running this past weekend as we ran the IE Island Half Marathon again.
This was our third time to run this race and we decided to take the kids and try camping for the weekend. It turned out to be beautiful weather and we had a fantastic time with great friends! I’ll begin with the details on the race, since it was the root of the trip although it only took a few hours of the weekend.

We nearly missed the start of the race because we spent too much time hanging around seeing the island on Saturday and by the time we got back to camp, got ready and coordinated the logistics of it all we left late to head over to the starting line. Then we got caught behind a 3K fun run and couldn’t go around... we finally took a small side street and parked figuring we were close enough. We were dragging the kids down the street, turned a corner and kept going until I finally got nervous wondering how far we really had to walk. So I left Tom with the kids and ran back to the car (my warm up lap). I picked them up and we drove another mile or two before getting caught by the fun run van again. We were so far away, we never would have made it if we’d just kept walking!! Still we couldn’t get as close as we wanted but the race was starting in like 10 minutes so we parked quickly, jumped out and carried/pulled the kids up the big hill, past the people finishing the fun run. We settled the kids quickly, hit the bathroom and looked around for our friend who was going to watch the kids. The race as going to start in about 3 minutes....could we just leave the kids?..would our friend show up? His wife was running it with us, would she make it?.. oh the stress... nothing like a little pre-race adrenaline. Finally we spotting them racing toward us. We hollered thanks as we passed and dashed to join the others at the starting line. With barely enough time to stretch my hamstrings the gun went off and we headed down the hill we had just trudged up....

I have been training hard with running, biking and cross fit and was really excited to go into this race injury free. No knee pain at all, probably due to being stronger and my awesome new shoes Mizuno Waverider 14’s... I love them. Anyway, I kept going back and forth between trying to run it fast and just enjoying it and in the end I did both: I enjoyed running it fast. I’ve been doing my intervals and tempo runs and it paid off. From miles 6-11 I felt like I was flying through a flat/downhill portion of the race. It was an exhilarating feeling. I wanted to sing along at the top of my lungs but managed to retrain myself as I ran. As I approached the final hill up to the finish line I was nervous to look at my time but couldn’t resist a glance. To my amazement it said 1:37. I realized that If I really powered through the hill I could finish in under 1:40. The song Power of Love (you know, the one from Back to the Future) came on and I put my head down and climbed. At the top I saw the kids cheering on the side line so I started yelling and waving as I sprinted in the finish area crossing the line 1:39:11. Average pace 7:28. I was thrilled and felt great! It was a good race for me.

It has proven to be Tom’s nemesis as each year things have not gone well for him and he has yet to show his true potential. He is fit, strong and fast right now and has been training well. For most of his runs he hovered right around 7:30, usually below it and even did one of his 10 mile runs with a pace of 7:24! Insane. He was ready to rock this race but murphy had other plans and on Friday morning as we were packing and prepping to head out to the island he just started coughing and wheezing, his voice became weak and hoarse and it got worse as the day went on. That night he could hardly breath so he couldn’t sleep in the tent and ended up sitting upright in the van all night...ugh...I tried to convince him not run the race but he wanted to at least try. Somehow he managed to still crank it out and finished in 1:47. A very admirable time for tough, late afternoon race even if you aren’t sick!! I don’t know how he managed to do it so fast when his lungs were so sick. He’s disappointed because we know he could do it faster if he were healthy but I am still amazed he did it!!! We look forward to the next half being in the states, on a nice crisp, clear morning where he can really shine! He’ll smoke us all.
As for the rest of the weekend, the camping was fantastic. We left Friday morning and headed up to the northern port, just past Nago where we got on the ferry. It was a smooth ride with no seasickness and we were there in 30 minutes! We drove to the campsite and set up. As we talked around Hayden said “it doesn’t feel like I’m in Japan anymore.” He was right, it felt like we were in a beautiful mountain forest. However, upon further exploring he discovered the beach was also just down the hill! Paradise. These are not good pictures of me and my friend Ali prepping to cook spaghetti (the meal the night before the race) but I included them because in the first shot you can see the tents set up behind us in the shade of the trees. In this second shot you can look past us and see beach through the trees, it was that close!! We don’t have any other pictures of the campsite... I’ll have to see if any of my friends got good shots. We were too busy relaxing to take pictures I guess!

The kids climbed trees, played in the sand, caught crabs and cooked s’mores. We enjoyed great weather and with the exception of poor Tom we all slept pretty well. The next day we hiked around through some caves and tried to steady the pre-race nerves. During the race the kids all played on the playground at the finish line. Then we headed back, showered in the beach shower and went back to the race party to get American Dogs (corn dogs), Yakitori, Taco Rice and Fanta Grape for dinner. That night we made s’mores again and Hayden and his friend Landon stayed up late playing in the fire and getting so dirty they had to bath in the faucet. It was a dream come true for him. As a reward for running my friend Ali made a huge chocolate chip cookie dough CHEESECAKE!! It was a dream come true for me.

We headed home the next morning. On the way back to the port Tom and Hayden walked to the top of a small volcano in the center of the island and enjoyed the view of the entire island surrounding them. We listened to Conference all the way home and enjoyed a peaceful day. What a great trip to a beautiful place!!! I wish were going to be here to run this race again next year!!! (Although I won’t miss the 3:10pm start time!! Ugh!)

April Already?

2011-04-04T05:33:00.001-07:00

Time is going way too fast... I need it to really slow down because I am having a great time and am not ready to leave yet! After nearly 3 years of being anxious to get off this island I now want to stay... life here is too easy... no decisions to make... I just live in the house they gave me, go to the school nearby, shop at the only store, drive the cheapest car we found on the lot that was big enough to fit the double stroller and we spend our free time exploring paradise! Who would want to leave? I think that all my family and friends that I miss so much just need to move here and then it would be perfect!
It’s just barely starting and I”m already stressed out thinking about which house to buy and in what school district, what kind of car to buy and where to get it....and that’s just the big stuff...I”ll need to furnish a house, get a cell phone, buy a washer/dryer, lawn mower, etc.... it’s just too much.... listen to what we’ve been doing here and you’ll agree we should just stay put and live on vacation!

Yesterday we got home from church and it was so beautiful out that we had to have a family adventure. So we set off toward Ikei island, a small island connected by a bridge that we’ve ridden our bikes to but never taken the kids or gone with time to explore. On the way we passed some castle ruins and suddenly stopped and got out to walk around and enjoy the view.
Then it was off to the islands where we looked at the fish, the gorgeous water and serene beach... it was heavenly and a great way to spend time together. We had the whole beach to ourselves!

Saturday we enjoyed the kids soccer games in the morning. Danica has come a long way since the last game where she cried the minute the game started and this time she actually touched the ball twice!! Hayden did well and is learning to be more aggressive. After that we dropped the kids at the once a month free day care and were prepping for nice bike ride when Tom got called into work. So I called my great friend here and talked her into riding with me. We set off on a 46 mile ride out to Ikei island. It was a beautiful, tough, long ride. I felt so lucky to have a friend to come with me and gorgeous place to ride...Tom picked up the kids and we watched Tangled and had Pizza Hut for dinner.

A few other fun things we've been up to:
On Wednesday we found a new park, called the Treehouse park. The girls had a blast running around and sliding down.

In other news... Alyssa got her new teeth on Tuesday. She didn’t want them and cried through the appointment but was still compliant. It took a few days before she got used to them but now she’s back to normal and they look great!!! We’re really excited that she was able to get them!
Before:
After:
Hayden has been running a mile every night with Tom. It’s been a great experience both physically and mentally. He literally cried through the entire first mile it was so hard and he was so angry. We decided he needed to work on running after watching him at his first soccer game where he was just so winded, gave up chasing the ball quickly, and had no form. After the first few nights of runs he began to improve and started to like it. Now he asks Tom when they are going to run and is working on getting faster. I hope this lesson can help in other areas in his life because is a chronic “quitter” who only does things that are easy. This is a clear example of sticking with something hard and the benefits that come from it!
He participated in the science fair again this year and was able to go to districts again. It’s a great experience for him and he enjoys the day of learning and fun activities. I was able to go with him and loved watching him in action!
Danica is loving her new gymnastics class!
That about sums up things here... we are looking at flying out of here on June 18th, just after the last day of school...we'll keep you posted as the details come together!!!

My Children

2011-03-22T23:46:00.000-07:00

I was scooping their ice cream last night, based on their individual requests and just had to laugh as I realized how much it is a commentary on their personalities. Hayden and Danica could not be more opposite and Alyssa is somewhere in the middle. But just like Vanilla and Chocolate, they're all good!

Tom's Dive

2011-03-22T23:45:00.001-07:00

We were about 2-3 away from him at this point. The guy I was with had a camera with a nice flash to get some pictures.

Da..Dum....Da....Dum.....

I had the chance to go diving with some friends of mine after work last friday. It turned out to be a beautiful day. I just kick myself every day that I did not get certified earlier but that is life. I want to take advantage of the last few months we have here to do as much as I can. Here are some pictures of the dive. The second dive we saw this cool cuddlefish and also a sea turtle. You can see how the cuddle fish changed its color as it back away. It was just a really cool experience.

Hayden's Big Day

2011-03-20T06:11:00.001-07:00

This is a very special day in our family. Today Hayden was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. He has been looking forward to this day and is excited for what it means. I would like to take the time to write more but I know the grandparents are anxious for a report so I will hurry and share the basics now. Hayden chose to be baptized in the ocean, an Okinawan tradition that is still an option because there is not a good font to use in the church building. We tried to do it back in February but the wind was so strong that the current was to rough and the waves were too big to get in the water. So after much waiting, it was finally today. The weather made us nervous a few times today but it held out and ended up being wonderful. It was warm enough and the wind stayed down and it didn’t rain. We had only one set back, the tide was really low. Although we tried to read the tide charts and understand what they meant in the end we just to pick a convenient time that was after church and before dinner. We didn’t get it right and the boys had to go out really far into the ocean to get deep enough. They were lucky to have strong dads to carry them! First we sat up on the beach and enjoyed a talk about baptism. Then we moved down through this opening toward the water. At higher tide the water comes right up to this spot.
We stood here on this sand and they walked out until the water was deep enough, about 50 feet.

Once Hayden was settled in the water things seemed to really calm down and we were able to hear the prayer and watched as Hayden was put under water. His leg floated up, perhaps due to the current, or salt water, or his anxiousness to get out, who knows. So they got to do it a second time and it went smoothly. Tom then carried Hayden back to the waiting dry towel. Then I got to snuggle him to warm him up while we watched his friend be baptized.
While they all went to change we moved up off the beach and to a covered pavilion for the rest of the service. We felt very loved and there were a lot of families in attendance so we all sat and sang primary songs while we waited for the boys. Once they returned I gave a talk about the Holy Ghost and the boys had to try to crush a soda can that was empty and then one “filled” with the Holy Ghost. They were then confirmed members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and were given the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Hayden said he had a great day. He got to choose chocolate chip pancakes for lunch and pizza for dinner and all his friends came to the baptism. Once the girls were in bed I sat with him for a while and we talked and he said it felt good. Most of all he said he was surprised that he didn't feel cold when he went under the water. He was so worried but he said he just felt warm. It was wonderful for me to be able to see Hayden take these important steps and I felt so proud to be his mom. At the same time I am overwhelmed at the responsibility to care for someone so important. He truly is amazing and has the potential to be anyone he wants to be. I want him to stay little forever but as he inevitably grows up I look forward to seeing the young man he will become!

The Earthquake and Tsunami

2011-03-17T22:33:00.000-07:00

I know a few people have been wondering about things down here in Okinawa so I thought I would type up a quick report. Fortunately, we are doing well and have been physically unaffected by the quake. We did not feel it and although most of our friends were evacuated from their homes due to the tsunami warning, we live on higher ground so they all came here and spent the night. I curse our big hill every time I am coming home from a run or bike ride but it was a blessing that night! The tsunami did not hit and they were able to go home on Saturday.

The command released an official statement today saying we are not yet in any danger due to radiation and they will continue to monitor it very closely but do not expect it to be a problem as we are still a safe distance away.
In fact, we are such a "safe" distance they have extended the invitation to those families living on military bases up in mainland Japan who would like to relocate, to come here. Families on mainland Japan are being allowed to relocate but that option is not extended to us. In fact, just the opposite. They are not allowing any families to PCS (move) out or in.... so it will be interesting as all the families with orders to move try to figure out if they really can. That does include us, hopefully they will want us out of here soon to make room for the mainland families moving down but we'll see.

In the meantime, we are very thankful to be safe and continue to pray for the many, many people who are experiencing such heartache and loss at this time. Lots of people from here have gone up to help and we wish them the best! We'll try to take care of their families as best we can while they are gone. Men who were scheduled to come home are now staying out longer and I feel the strain that puts on their wives and kids. Pilots who were supposed to come home and been rerouted up north. One woman is about to have a baby and her husband was supposed to be home in time and now will not as his ship has turned and headed up north. So yes, we didn't feel the quake but we certainly feel its aftermath.

Overdue Update

2011-03-08T14:53:00.001-08:00

I can't see a cartoon like this and not think of our family:

Well we are way behind and have enjoyed so many updates from everyone I figure it’s time we share!

In January we went to this bull fight. It's not the type you might think, it's where the bulls fight each other. They moved very slowly and were somewhat controlled by their handlers. Very odd... there was more dancing between matches than actual action. Made for an interesting night anyway!

Hayden: He was supposed to have a big and special day this past month. His baptism, into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was scheduled for Feb. 12th but had to be postponed due to the weather. Here in Okinawa most people are baptized in the ocean and Hayden decided he wanted to do that also. However, on the 12th the wind was so bad that the season conditions were at their highest warning level (Red) and no one was allowed out in the water. Tom drove out to the beach just to make sure and saw the waves crashing right into the cove we had planned to use. So we have to wait. He has a good friend who turned 8 just a few weeks after he did so they want to get baptized on the same day. Unfortunately, his friends dad went out of town right after the 12th and won’t be back for a while so the baptism has been rescheduled for March 19th or 20th. We’re really hoping for decent weather!

Third grade is working out very for well for him and other than “cursing cursive” all the time he enjoys it. He fits in well with the kids and is really happy at school and enjoys the freedom and flexibility of being “older.” We’ve had a few instances of getting ready for school and him suddenly remembering an assignment he didn’t do and freaking out about how it will affect his grade. In second grade I had a list of his homework for the week. Now he is on his own and it’s a learning curve to be sure. He was chosen for the third grade spelling bee and had fun with that. He didn't want to practice the technique of saying the word and then spelling it and saying it again and in the end that's what got him. After making it a few rounds he spelled the word right but had forgotten to say it first so they cut him out. It was funny to watch him trying to reach the microphone set for the generally taller third graders!
He’s been grouchier at home and when I ask him about it he says it’s the stress at school and the fact that I want him to do more chores at home. However, when we really sat down and talked about how he is feeling it seems manageable, he’s just not used to having to work at anything and it’s an adjustment to have to actually try to do cursive and multiplication. Fortunately, he complains to me and drives me crazy but then he gets it done and is still at the top of the class where he likes to be. Basketball ended and now he’s started soccer, I look forward to a lot of fun time running around outside! That always makes everyone feel better!

Danica: When she turned 5 she advanced in gymnastics to a class where they are grouped by skill. She did so well on her first day that she was invited to join the Firecrackers. A group of serious girls who meet twice a week and work on more advanced skills. I was excited for Danica and we went and watched the Firecrackers practice one day and Danica liked it so forked over the money and signed up. We knew Dani would be the youngest and at the bottom of the class but the coach felt she had the potential and teachability to do it. Unfortunately, it turned out to be very overwhelming for Danica. She was intimidated by the number of girls, the fact that they were all bigger and older and could do thing better than her. She was afraid to do the things she knew how to do for fear they would laugh (even though they were all very nice) and a few times she got brave and tried something new but it didn’t always go well and she would end up in tears. She started to hate gymnastics and I hated taking her and fighting with her to go out on the floor and try things. The other mothers must have thought I was so mean making my daughter cry all the time not knowing that I only have to frown at her to make her cry. She got to the point where she wouldn’t even go stretch with the girls because she couldn’t do the splits as well as some of them...ugh...what was I doing wrong? It was a tough parenting time for me as I had to come to terms with the reality that she has her agency and I can’t force her to do it even if I know she is capable. If she doesn’t want to “try” then there is nothing I can do. So we transferred back into a preschool level class, a small one for advanced preschoolers. She was timid the first day and we ended up needing to say a prayer right there in the gym to give her the courage to go out and join her class of three other little girls but once out there she warmed up quickly and loved being the biggest, oldest and best in the class... I hate to regress and waste the time and money but at least she’s happy.

She also started soccer...that’s going to be interesting as well...first it was a fight over what to wear. She didn't think her pants were cute enough. Then she was so nervous she wouldn’t get out of the car at the first practice. I’ve learned that I need to explain in great detail everything that is going to happen... “the coach will call the team together, he’ll tell you to kick the ball, then...” and that seems to help a lot. Tom took her shopping for some cute pink Addidas pants she loves and in the end she did fine at yesterday's practice. I don’t know why she is so afraid of the world. Maybe it goes back to the c-section 2 weeks early....she was so shocked when she was suddenly pulled out of my stomach by her feet that she didn’t breath at first. I hope some day to help her have the confidence she deserves! She is so smart and capable, I don’t know why she is so afraid. A few weeks ago she was asked to share the scripture in primary. I was so proud of her because when we practiced she could actually read the verse all by herself and was very excited. Luckily, on Sunday, after nearly chickening out she was finally willing to read it in Primary, so quiet that no one could hear her but at least she did it!!

Alyssa: Her new nickname is “toothless.” Her other front tooth was removed in preparation for getting her fake teeth. The tooth was loose and bothering Alyssa so although she didn’t love the experience of having it removed she behaved really well and was happy afterward. She looks a little funny but adorable at the same time. She says the funniest stuff all the time, she has a great sense of humor and loves to make jokes. She reminds me a lot of Hayden without all his intense anger he had as a 3 year old. It’s nice. The other day we took the kids to the daycare for the free parent’s day out and Danica was in tears and just sobbing because she was afraid to go. Alyssa put her arm around her and said “Danica, don’t worry, I’ll be with you.” That about sums her up.
She’s obsessed with ballet and wears leotards and tutus all day every day. She loves her ballet class and is working hard to learn the dance for her recital. It’s so cute to see her try so hard to follow the teachers directions. Such a contrast to how she was in gymnastics where she didn’t want to try anything!! She’s found her love.
Tom: The big news is that he is finally scuba dive certified!!!! It’s been his dream for years and it’s so great he’s finally done it! I was lucky enough to tag along and got my certification as well so that some day we can go on trips and cruises together and enjoy diving! It was a great experience and so surreal to be down there swimming with the coral and all the fish. We did private lessons so it was just Tom and I with the instructor, a great lady who was a patient of his. The first day I didn't have enough weight on me and kept floating up so Tom had to hold my hand as we swam around, it was great! Tom just kept saying how much he couldn’t believe it and had that look of excitement constantly in his eyes!! Now he’s pursuing getting deep water certified, he’s definitely hooked!
He’s spending all the rest of his free time running, biking and looking at houses online while reading “Mortgages for Dummies.” We get so excited and so nervous about buying a house and wanting to find the right one!

Tracey: We made the decision to pull the girls out of preschool so I could spend more time with them. They liked it there but I felt like I had all these ideas of games to play and activities to do but never had the time to do it. Even with only three days a week I was always running out the door to drop them off or pick them up and then feed them lunch and take a nap, and then the day is over. It’s been fun having them home and we are enjoying the together time. Our preschool time isn’t perfect, we have arguments about who goes first, who gets to do what, etc. but we’re working out the kinks and enjoying it. I am sure I’ll miss my “me” time but that’s okay, I’ll find other ways to get it! We plan to use the extra free time for more island exploring as well! There are parks and beaches with our names on them! Friday we're going to the zoo!

Time here is winding down and we have a lot we want to do here and a lot we are looking forward to. It’s going to be a fun three months!!!

The BIG Trip

2011-02-07T07:09:00.000-08:00

What do you get when you add two airplanes, two bullet trains, one borrowed car, one rented car, 5 taxis, 4 buses and so many subways I can’t even count them? A fantastic trip around mainland Japan!!

Tom's brother Dave and his wife Adina came to visit us at the end of January and after a few days of enduring uncharacteristically cold weather here in Okinawa we left the kids with some very kind and generous friends and headed for the mainland! While they were here we did the best we could after canceling our plans for snorkeling and cherry blossom viewing. Instead we perused the 100 Yen Store, ate at Co-Co Ichibanya (a great Curry House that Tom had been refusing to try.... turns out he loves it!) Then we headed up north and went to the Ocean Expo Park Aquarium and saw them feed the whale sharks. The next day Dave and Adina went running while Tom took Hayden to his first Pine Wood Derby. He came in second place and had a great time. After lunch it was finally done raining and we dropped the kids with a friend and went to the Forest Adventure Park where we zip lined around the jungle.

It would have been better on a sunny warm day but we still had a great time! That night after putting the kids to bed we headed off for a great round of Karaoke at Big Echo.

After church on Sunday we drove south to Peace Prayer Park where we spent time remembering those who lost their lives in the Battle of Okinawa. It was very humbling to see the magnitude of loss that occurred during that horrible time.
That night Tom treated everyone to some of his nearly famous BBQ’d Bubba Burgers. He’s getting really great on the grill.

Monday was the big day- leaving the kids for 6 days. I was so excited for the trip and so nervous at the same time. I had pages of detailed itinerary, routines and menus and had tried to plan for everything. Thank you to wonderful friends the kids were able to stay here at the house. The first two nights a friend who has no kids and her husband is deployed, came to stay with them. After that an Okinawan friend, a young return missionary we met through church, stayed with the kids. She babysits for us a lot and can drive on base because she works at the day care here. While she was at work the kids spent time with different friends. Hayden loved it, it was like a vacation all week with friends every day and no chores. Danica and Alyssa didn’t love it quite so much, in fact Danica spent a lot of time the first few days crying any time she remembered I was gone. She wasn’t sleeping well so it was just getting worse and I was having a hard time not worrying about her. Fortunately, eventually she caught up on her sleep and started feeling better. In the end, they were fine. They spent Sunday morning in awe that we were home, Alyssa kept saying “No more wake up days!” and looking back and forth between Tom and I at church saying “mommy, daddy, mommy, daddy.” But everything is back to normal now.

Fortunately, I knew the kids were in good hands and I really didn’t have much time to worry them because we were having too much fun! We left Monday morning and flew into Fukuoka. We took a bus from the airport to Sasebo and then a taxi onto the Navy Base there. We stayed at the lodge and had a friend there help us rent a car. That night Dave and Adina took us around their old stomping ground. We went to dinner at Tonchinkan, a yakitori restaurant (like shish kabobs) and it was so good. My favorite meal of the trip. We walked the ginza before heading back for a fantastic game of Phase 10.
Tuesday morning we started off with a run in the brisk cool air around the city. I loved running passed the fruit stands, a woman carrying her baskets dangling on stick over her shoulders, a beautiful temple and the ship yard with HUGE boats being built. Then we bought a dozen donuts and took off in our rental car for Nagasaki. On the way we stopped by Hario, where Dave and Adina used to live and then Saikaibashi, a great park. At the park we couldn’t resist renting a few lawn sleds and taking some trips down this huge plastic grass hill.
It was all fun and games until Dave and Tom took Adina’s advice and tried to go down on their feet... Dave’s hip and elbow will never be the same again.
We couldn’t find a Co-Co’s so we stopped at McDonald’s and Tom and Dave had an Idaho Burger, a burger with a huge hash-brown potato and horseradish on it. Then we walked through the Atomic Bomb Museum and the Peace Park. It was intense seeing all the evidence of the destruction. It was also interesting to see that there was no information anywhere as to what happened prior to the bomb being dropped or the reason for it’s drop. But no matter the reason, the devastation was tragic and truly horrible.

A little history of the photo with all 4 of us. Dave had us wait until the last second before the timer went off on the camera and then told us to act like superheroes. So, That explains our poses. Dave said he froze up. We could not figure out what he was doing, especially since he knew what we were going to act like. We had a good laugh about it.

Driving through the country side to and from Nagasaki was one of my favorite parts of the trip. Out the window you could see rice patties everywhere and the homes were fairly large with beautiful architecture. It’s the part of Japan where I would like to live. We arrived back in Sasebo and went to Co-Co’s for dinner and then played cards again until late.
Wednesday we woke early and took a bus 2 hours back to Fukuoka where we got on the Shinkansen, a bullet train. The train was incredibly fast (and expensive!) but we had a nice ride. We spent our time through that train ride and countless others going through a set of conversation cards and learning more about each other than we probably wanted to know! Someday if you really want I can give you lots of insights into Tom, Dave and Adina... for instance, what are they willing to do for a million dollars? We got off the bullet train rested and ready to go. We caught a bus to a Japanese hotel that Adina had booked for us and got settled in. Our time was short and there was a lot to see so we took a taxi to Fushimi Ihari Shrine, where they have 1000 Torii gates!! It was an amazing sight and a great experience as we learned about the shrine and the Shintu rituals.

From there we took another taxi to the Yoshida Temple to join in the Setsuban Festival, a bean throwing ceremony the day before the beginning of spring. What an experience! We tried lots of new foods and gorged on our new favorite a little pancake stuffed with cream. We saw a huge pile of amulets and tokens from the past year that were being prepped to be burned by the monks. There was a play going on and as we tried to watch the crowd got so thick we got seperated and Adina and I were literally being moved around by the crowd and being pushed in opposite directions. Thank goodness Tom and Dave are so tall we could spot them and eventually found our way back! That night it was back to the RIGHA Royal Hotel but we weren’t ready to settle down. Another taxi ride took to the Gion District where we walked around until we were rewarded with an actual Geisha spotting! She got out of a vehicle and walked quickly down the road into a tea house where she apparently had an appointment! We felt like the paparazzi but could’t resist getting a photo!
Thursday we ate breakfast in the bus station where we enjoyed some pastries. It seemed like there was a pastry shop on every corner that we passed. In fact, as we sat here eating our breakfast there was a japanese guy taking our pictures from every angle. He was kind enough to show us his handy work and also share some of the other pictures he had taken with his cell phone camera that day. Gotta love these people. We never once felt any fear as we walked the streets in these big cities. There is something they are doing right here. We talked with our home teacher on the way home from the airport about how nice it was to be on the subway and never be worried for our safety. People are so kind. Adina made the observation that it was really difficult to find somebody that was overweight on the subway. Even with the pastry shops, they are doing something right .
Then we took the bus to one of the most beautiful places I’ve seen. It’s called the Golden Pavillioin and houses the Kinkaknji Temple, a magnificent buddhist temple plated in gold. It is surrounded by the well named mirror pond and beautiful zen gardens. As we approached an area for worship we suddenly heard drums and horns and a group of monks came and began a ceremony we were able to observe. I have such an appreciation for their dedication and the peaceful life style they portray. We should have stayed longer and walked through the grounds again. But alas, we got on the bus again and headed over to another shrine that was supposed to be having a great Setsuban festival. It wasn’t all we hoped it would be and we spent a lot of time waiting for something to start that turned out to be some sort of archery ceremony. We were still able to learn more about their beliefs and customs and appreciated the opportunity to be there. We were the only American’s there. Adina made an offering to the shrine for a happy marriage so her and Dave are pretty well set. I tried to use the bathroom and found only squat potties and a machine asking 100 yen for toilet paper. Bummers.

For lunch we ate in a really smoky restaurant at the train station while we waited to board another Shinkansen. This bullet train took us to the station in Tokyo where we spent quite a while completely confused about how to find our desired subway. Turns out we needed to go outside and down into in a different station.... I don’t know if we could have figured it out even it had been in English! Fortunately after that Dave took over and flawlessly guided us through dozens of subway rides throughout the city. We checked in at the military hotel, the New Sanno and then headed out to find some food. After much indecision we finally ended up at Plates, an Italian place where we enjoyed a great japanese version of Italian food. Then is was back to the hotel where we played Hearts until way too late.

Friday we ate a delicious breakfast at the hotel and took to the subways again. First stop was the Asakusa where we did a lot of shopping at the souvenir stands and then visited a Senso-ji Temple. At the temple we decided to make an offering and receive a personal fortune. While shaking the canister of bamboo sticks we made wish and said a prayer and then pulled out the stick that would correspond to our fortune. Sadly Adina received THE worse fortune, it actually said that at the top and proceeded to tell her that everything would be bad, her request would not be granted, her patient would not get better, her lost article would not be found, the person she waited for would not come, marriage and employment would be bad, etc... it was a sad moment made worse when my fortune came and said just the opposite. It was THE best fortune and pretty much assured me everything will be great. I’ll let you know when my request comes true. Tom and Dave’s fortunes fell somewhere in between. Tom’s actually said “Half Fortune.”

Adina tried to shake off the bad news while we took another subway and went to Akihabara, the electronic district. We walked around for a while looking at odd electronics and trying to convince Dave not to pay a crazy amount for a bunch of LED lights strung like Christmas lights. After way too long there (sorry Dave) we left and took another subway to the Ginza (shopping area). We walked around for a while and then we turned a corner and I could practically hear some sort of theme music kick in as we saw the Apple Store and Tom’s honing beaker went off. But at this point we were starving so we went in search of somewhere to eat first. Happily we wandered down into some sort of club with a great buffet lunch. The place was very hip (does that make me sound really old and lame?) and we enjoyed a short respite after lunch. Then it was off for more shopping. We gaped at the Apple Store then took another subway and went to Shibuya where we saw so many people it was in sane. People were moving around like water flowing across the crosswalks! I had the luxury of shopping at H&M and bought a stellar jacket. Then we walked past a Big Echo and had to jump in for a quick hour of karaoke. For future reference, karaoke in Tokyo is very expensive.

But now we were exhausted and after taking a few subways back home we decided to try to eat at the New Sanno and enjoyed a late night dinner before another game of cards.

Saturday was bitter sweet, our last day. I was excited to go home to my kids but sad to leave such great company and the bliss of vacation. I hadn’t cooked or cleaned or card for a child in an entire week! We ate the hotel again, our new favorite place and then set off to see the Tokyo temple. It was crazy to think about how small it is in a city with so many people. Then it was back to the hotel to pack up and say good-bye. We had booked a bus to the airport and luckily I realized just before it was too late that Tom and I were actually flying out of a different airport! So we parted ways and they left on their chartered bus, an airport limousine, and we walked down the street to wait for a city bus to take us back to the train station where we caught a private train to the airport (thank you to the concierge for telling us how to get there!)

Our flight home was uneventful and quiet, just 3 hours. As we walked past the spot in the airport where we had sat waiting for our flight at the beginning of the week Tom commented on how that sight made him feel nostalgic already. He was ready for the trip to start all over again (minus the part where he dropped egg salad sandwich on his jacket.) It was funny to look over at the small store where we bought lunch while waiting for our flight out and seeing it as “foreign” again. I was back to my regular life where I didn’t eat out for every meal and most of my food comes from the American commissary. The girls were asleep when we got home but I got a big hug from Hayden. Sunday morning the girls greeted me with big hugs and snuggles and we enjoyed the day together.

Now that I’m home and everything is going well I just can’t wait for the next adventure to begin!
P.S. You can't travel with two dentists without noticing every dental clinic you pass... this one really caught our eye!

January so far...

2011-01-18T14:56:00.001-08:00

(The line up on Christmas morning.)
So far the new year is treating us just fine. Christmas was wonderful, the kids enjoyed it and we were able to have a bunch of the young soldiers from Tom’s clinic over for dinner. I managed to be slightly less busy this year than last year which gives me hope that maybe next year I’ll do even better and actually have time to enjoy the holiday season! We also decided, as we do every year, that the kids get way too many presents and we won’t buy as much next year. (Alyssa got a white kitten to replace the one we rescued and had for a few weeks.)
(Danica got this Arial doll that is all tall as Alyssa. I often find her wearing the girls clothes and we regularly get spooked by her when we walk into the girls room at night.)(This is Hayden's expression the moment he realized he got a Lego set!)

On New Year’s Eve we had our friends over for a party. We let the kids stay up and cheer at 8:30, we had them all in bed by nine. There were 13 kids sleeping in the bedrooms of our small house, quite remarkable. We enjoyed the evening playing games and then at midnight we grabbed Hayden out of his sleeping bag and took him outside to see the fireworks because we promised we would wake him at midnight. He lasted 1 minute and asked to go back to bed! Maybe next year we will let him actually stay up.
Hayden started third grade and is loving it so far. He still complains about homework like always but loves the class work especially learning cursive. His best friend, who lives next door to us, is in his third grade class so that is great. I asked if he’s made any other new friends and he said “well, I have an acquaintance named Pete, I think eventually he’ll be a friend.” He continues to plow through Percy Jackson and is on the 4th one now. I’m still trying to teach him to play the piano and hope that I’m not doing irreparable damage. I plan to get him a real teacher once we move. Here he is admiring the rain on the hike we did the other day.

Danica got new teachers at church, the parents of one of the really unruly kids in the class. On the first day the dad, a marine, was explaining what will happen if you’re bad in class. That night Danica dreamed that she was being bad at church (something that has never happened.) In her dream she was talking to her friend so she got put in the “green chair” and then kicked out of class. She woke up very upset and for the rest of the week she would, at random times, say things about not liking her class. Apparently her teacher really got his point across. I should have given him the heads up that with Danica all you have to do is imply that you might frown at her and she will do anything you say! (I have since then talked to the teachers and they talked to Danica and assured she won’t go in the green chair. She’s fine now!)
Alyssa has sadly lost a tooth. She hit it really hard a year or so ago and we worried she’d lose it then but it seemed fine. Since then she’s hit it a few times but been okay. Then last week Tom was brushing her teeth and realized it was VERY loose! After he spent the whole night unable to sleep because of nightmares about her tooth he took her to work with him and did some x-rays which revealed that she had no root and the tooth was on the verge of falling out. Within a few days it was wiggling so much it was hurting her and she should wouldn’t eat so Tom just pulled it out. The x-ray revealed that the other front tooth has a very short root as well and will fall out soon. So lucky for her she’s in the right family and will be fitted with some little prosthetic teeth once they arrive on island. Once we realized it was loose Tom took her out for one last photo shoot... here are the before and after shots. We’ve got her convinced her lost tooth is adorable so she loves to show it off! Plus, the tooth fairy brought her a lollipop so she thinks this is the best!

Tom had the prosthodontist that he works with do a soft tissue graft on his front tooth (#9 for those who care.) It’s been a bit sore but he’s been downing the percocet so he’s been happy. A few weeks ago I went on a tour of a shrine that is all decked out for the ongoing New Year’s celebration. I learned a lot of cool things about how the holiday is celebrated here. We passed this idol that is supposed to bring good fortune with having children. I was really tempted to leave an offering. Then we all got our own written oracle (fortune) and after reading it had to tie it to the tree.

We are getting excited for our visit from Dave and Adina and our trip up to the mainland. We’ve nearly worked out all the little details. It’s going to be an awesome trip. I’ve been working on convincing the girls they are really lucky to have a babysitter sleep over for a week... so far they like the idea! We enjoyed a long holiday weekend and realized this was the last time he’ll get two days off for Martin Luther King day.... there are some perks to being in the military!! On Monday we hiked up Mt. Nago. It was a little too cold and rainy but we made it. We went with a few other families and Hayden had a great time running up and down the mountain with his friends. It was all perfect until Tom slipped in the mud on the way back down and took a hard fall! Too bad I don't have pictures of that!
(You'll notice Tom can't smile due to his surgery.)

Happy Birthday Hayden!

2011-01-04T04:52:00.000-08:00

Even though we’ve been busy with the holidays we can’t forget to say Happy Birthday to our favorite boy!! Hayden turned 8 years old on Dec. 23rd and is loving it! This past year has been a lot of fun for him. I’m not sure where to start with Hayden because there is so much to say about him! He’s such a fun, energetic, smart, funny and intense boy. He loves to read and is currently devouring the Percy Jackson series. He enjoys reading science books and watching Planet Earth, which has turned into a bad thing because he’s now “too smart” to go in the ocean where there are dangerous creatures lurking... we go to the beach a lot and he just digs in the sand or reads a book. Hopefully eventually we’ll get him back in the water!
He’s got great friends in the neighborhood and they love legos, computer games, climbing trees, making clubs, riding bikes and everything else boys do. He's playing basketball right now and looks forward to soccer season starting up. Hayden hates to do homework and will complain for hours before doing 5 minutes of work but he likes school and enjoys learning. He writes fantastic stories at school, with great detail and drama. To his excitement he just recently got to “s.a.g.”, his made up name for skipping a grade. After Christmas he went to third grade instead of second grade. So far he really likes it and hasn’t missed a beat. Hopefully it will continue to be a positive thing for him.
One of my favorite things about Hayden is his sense of humor. He’s always loved jokes and I took great pride in making a comment that was rewarded with “good one mom!” His current thing is to mimic a drum and say something like “ba da chee” in response to a witty comment. It’s awesome and I live for it. He still enjoys challenging me as the authority figure but more and more we will battle it out and in the end he’ll say “yeah, you’re right mom.” It's giving me hope that we will survive the teenage years. I wish I had the video camera rolling all the time. The other day he couldn’t find his ipod and I suggested he check the pocket of the pants he put in the dirty clothes. A minute later I was caught off guard by a huge thank you hug. Love it.
Hayden will tell you that he thinks his sisters are annoying but I know the truth. He plays with them all the time and they have so much fun together. Every morning before school he tries to coax one of them to get under the blanket and snuggle with him to stay warm on the couch. He loves long hugs before bed time but usually treats me to a head butt when I try to hug him at the school. He finally lost one of his top teeth... actually Tom yanked it out. Now we’re working on the other one. Here is the last picture of Hayden with his top baby teeth.
For his birthday party this year we did a movie party. Very easy. In true “Tom” style it couldn’t just be a regular movie, it had to be huge, like a real theater. It turned out really well. We did the party early in the month before his best friend left town. Then closer to his birthday we enjoyed going bowling together as a family. On his birthday he took a friend and we went to the zoo and the science museum there. Here they are feeding the elephant at the zoo...so dressed up! Later that night we went to a lights display at a botanical garden, it was awesome. All around he had a fabulous birthday!!! Hayden just seems to get better every year. I can't wait to see what this year brings!!!

2011

2011-01-04T04:34:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year, the Year of the Rabbit!

Christmas Letter 2010

2010-12-19T07:04:00.000-08:00

Dear Family and Friends,

We have enjoyed a wonderful year full of fun and adventure! It was our last full year in Okinawa and has really flown by! I can’t possibly summarize all of it so I’ll share just a few of the highlights! Most of these activities were made even more memorable by the fantastic friends we’ve made here in Okinawa. They’ve become our family while we are so far away! We’ve been sad to lose so many of them this year but are grateful for the technology that allows us to keep in touch with all of them and the family that we miss so much!

Some of our favorite things this year: (details on all of these fun times can be found on our blog!)

** Visit from Papa and Grandma Barb in March!!!
** Karamas: A trip with friends to a small chain of islands. We stayed in a traditional Japanese tatami room and had the best snorkeling ever! We saw huge sea turtles and even a manta ray!
** IE Island Half Marathon: Tom and Tracey ran it together!
** Trip back to the states: Lake house with the Stinchfield’s in Washington and tons of shopping then off to Utah for the 4th of July with the Rowan's, seeing old friends, going to the temple with my sister Rachel, relaxing in Park City and playing at Lagoon!
** Iheya Island Marathon: Tom ran and met his goal of under 4 hours! While on the island we went exploring and found the most amazing beaches!
** Tour de Okinawa: Tom and I trained for a participated in a 110 mile bike ride. It was pouring rain and there were insane hills but we had a great time!
**Parks - Karaoke - Beach - Snorkeling - Aquarium - Rain - Dragonboat races -Water slides - Cultural sites - Fish market - Bike rides - Races -
Hayden: He continues to amaze us with his mind and abilities at school. We were sitting around one night after dinner trying to solve some riddles and Tom and I were both stumped when suddenly Hayden blurted out the answer. I imagine it’s not the last time he’ll show us he’s smarter than we are! He took first place in the school science fair and placed second at district. He’s a reading machine and recently finished the Fablehaven series. This past year he played soccer and basketball and likes them both. Most of his time is spent creating with legos, playing computer games, doing science experiments and running around with his friends in their imaginary world!
Danica: It’s been a really big year for Danica as she has grown a lot physically and emotionally. Her confidence and enthusiasm for life has really grown. She’s doing at gymnastics and can’t get enough of her time at preschool. A while back she began begging me to teach her to read and she loves it! During the summer she learned to swim on her own and has now taken the training wheels off her bike! She spends all her free time coloring with markers and playing “mom and dad” while dressed like a princess. Last week she turned 5 and tells everyone she can find!
Alyssa: She has such a great outlook on life and approaches every new situation with a smile and sense of adventure. In August she turned 3 and in September she started preschool. Although she’s the youngest kid at the school she loves it and is doing really well. Her teachers report that is always full of smiles and hugs, constantly telling them she loves them. If it were up to Alyssa she would have me push her in the swing all day, going “super, super high!”
Tracey: I’ve had a busy and fun year with not enough time to sit and read. I was the Girls Camp leader which was a new and exciting experience. For Christmas last year I got a road bike and I spent this year learning to ride it, culminating in the 110 mile ride in November. I’ve been very busy at church, the kids schools and running my family. To stay sane I have kept up on running and exercise. I listen to audiobooks throughout the day while doing housework and love the multi-tasking!
Tom: He has spent all of his free time this year in training for one event or another. It started with just a half marathon but then he decided to do a marathon in October and the bike race in November. He was faithful to his work out schedule and succeeded in both! He’s also in the progress of getting scuba dive certified and found a new interest in racquetball. He officially turned in his separation from the Navy and will be getting out this next summer. Although he has enjoyed his time serving in the military and all he has learned he is looking forward to the next adventure in life!
We truly are so blessed and recognize the hand of the Lord in our lives daily. He watches us over always and we feel his love. It is our hope that you to have found peace and happiness in 2010.

Love,

The Stinchfields

10 Amazing Years

2010-12-15T22:43:00.000-08:00

Happy 5th Birthday Danica!

2010-12-12T05:24:00.001-08:00

We’ve had a fantastic time celebrating Danica’s 5th birthday! I can’t believe she is growing up so fast. She is our little sweetheart and just the nicest girl ever! Her smiles are captivating and she is so loving, considerate and caring. Alyssa quite possibly has the best big sister ever. Danica spends a lot of her time taking care of Alysss and playing with her. I can always count on Danica to help me out when I need it. Today we took a snuggle nap together on my bed, I loved it! She won't leave the house without a hug and kiss. She loves to play polly pockets, baby dolls and dress up. She loves to color, cut and draw. This year she has taken the training wheels off her bike, learned to swim and learned to read! It’s been so much fun but I wish we wouldn’t grow up so fast!

Her party was early in the month, we had a princess tea party theme with lots of little girls and two boys. She doesn’t like cake so we made a huge cookie and put candles in it- that was a big hit! We drive past the Macaroni Grill on base several times a day but never go there and Danica always asks to. So, Saturday night we finally took her there and we had a great time. The kids thought it was so fancy.... I guess we need to take them out more often! Today she got to open her presents, wear a fancy new dress Grandma sent and eat her favorite dinner of chicken and broccoli. What a great birthday!

The girls did a photo shoot with dad while they were in their new princess dresses!

Tropical Island Thanksgiving

2010-12-07T23:06:00.000-08:00

Again this year we went up north to Camp Schwabb and stayed at the cottages on Oura Wan beach. It was fantastic. We had 7 families, tons of kids, tons of food and great fun. The kids biked, played, did a treasure hunt and just ran free. Every night we put them all to bed and gathered in one of the cottages for games until late. We pulled all the tables outside for our Thanksgiving dinner and it worked out great. I cooked the turkey the day before because we had no oven up there and it still tasted good! We had an awesome turkey bowl with real flags and some serious competition!

One of the days we went over to the Neopark and had a blast checking out all the animals and the unusual petting zoo with dogs, ponies and guinea pigs! We had a blast!

The Tour de Okinawa

2010-11-15T06:22:00.001-08:00

Well we did it! We rode our bikes for about 7 hours and covered nearly 110 miles with some amazingly huge hills! Here’s is the break down of our Tour de Okinawa experience:

The Prep: Tom is a very talented rider and is in incredible shape right now due to his diligent marathon schedule so his training included a few long rides and biking to work on occasion. I on the other hand, had a lot of work to do to be ready for such a trek and have focused all of my workouts on biking. I would get up at 5am and ride in the dark, I would ride longer distances when the girls were at preschool and on Saturdays. I started going to spin classes as the weather got worse and just really put a lot of time into it. I went on a few 45 mile rides all alone because there was no one to go with and I needed to get it done. All along I kept worrying that I wouldn’t be fast enough (they ask that you be able to maintain an average of at least 15) or that I wouldn’t be strong enough to handle all the hills. I started doing hill workouts where I would just go up and down and up and down the biggest hills I could find. But I still didn’t know if it would be enough and started looking for someone who wanted to take my spot. Thankfully, in the end I decided I would just give it a try.

The Tour: We had great friends take the kids Friday night so we were able to go to bed and then get up at 4:30 and head up to Nago. As we got close we started seeing some people riding to the starting line and we both started to get nervous. The weather had been beautiful the entire week but of course it started to get windy and was sprinkling as we approached. Nonetheless we got our bikes ready and headed to the starting line. There were several different rides going on at the same time but we fortunately found the correct start and at 7:00 the gun went off. It was a little crazy as the crowd thinned but eventually we fell in line and started riding through the city. They didn’t close the streets so we were still subject to cars and traffic lights (it wasn’t a race so it didn’t really matter.) Tom and I were riding together for the first 6-7 miles but then he decided to race ahead to catch his friends and I didn’t want to wear myself out so we separated.

The first 35 miles: The beginning of the ride wound through the city and then out along the coast. It sprinkled a bit and was windy but the terrain was pretty flat. It was hard to navigate around people and I kept finding myself just riding leisurely behind someone unable to pass but wanting to go faster. In the end, it was probably good I didn’t push so hard and still maintained a good pace (averaged nearly 17). The first break was at 35 miles and Tom and his friends were waiting for me. We enjoyed some fruit and Okinawa donuts. So, This is Tom, the first 35 miles was pretty cake. There was this one guy that while we were going up this small hill, he was pushing his wife/girlfriend up the hill. Tracey was around them longer and said that he would occasionally flip from one side to the other so that he was using different arms. Uh, I wanted to say, thats not going to work.....There are much bigger hills than that. I just ended up hooking up with a big group of people until I was able to catch up with the rest of the group. It was windy, but bearable. No rain at that point. We passed a lot of the sites in Okinawa...it is a tour after-all.

The next 22 miles: After a short rest we mounted up and rode all together out along the coast. It was beautiful but raining pretty hard so it was hard to really appreciate the view. However, it was still fun and I was keeping up the the gang no problem so I felt really great and was having a good time. At 50 miles we had a short stop before climbing the first hill. Tom took off flying and all the rest of us made our way up the hill to the lunch stop at 57 miles. So I was glad that we stopped because it gave us a chance to bring Tracey along with us. I was really happy to see her come into that rest stop. I just kept holding my breath that her knee was going to hold out. We stopped at 50 but I was ready to get to the hill. We started the hill in a really long tunnel and I told Tracey I was just going to take off. I had done this hill before a year ago and I felt awesome. It is about a 2-3 mile climb where you go up about 650 feet. Not a huge climb but you get the altitude pretty quick. I was feeling so strong, passing people left and right. It was very motivating. The music was awesome.

Lunch was great. The best curry I’ve ever had in my life...only problem is we were all soaked and freezing! So we didn’t linger to long before mounting up again. Tom was feeling fantastic and itching to go fast so he flew out of there to enjoy a solo journey the rest of the way. He had three friends riding so I sort of stuck with them on and off for the rest of the ride. Curry=Good, but I was cold. I just wanted to get started again. It was about to start raining

Another 22 miles: Mentally I broken the ride into two completely separate rides. The before lunch leisure and the after lunch torture. I had one down and was ready for the agony. Truly I had heard nothing except that there were so many hills you wanted to die and just when you didn’t think there could be another hill there would be 6 or 7 more... I was not looking forward to it and yet I was.... could I actually do it? When I told people I was going to ride the Tour de Okinawa they all seemed surprised and would talk about hard they heard it was. So it was my moment of truth. Thankfully my super fantastic amazing husband ordered me a new sprocket cluster for my back gear... I don’t know all the technical details but I do know it was designed to make it easier to climb hills because I drop into a lower gear. So I had done all my training on a gear that only went to 23 and now I had a 27.... it arrived a few days before the ride so I had never used it but soon found myself wanting to kiss it! I powered up the hills, passing people!!! I was the girl who got left behind on all the group rides and always went home frustrated so I started riding alone... and now I was actually passing people! I even passed two of the guys I had ridden with before! I began to believe that all my training was actually going to pay off and that I was going to be able to do it!!! So, I just took off on my own after lunch. I needed to just be pushing myself and I was not sure how Tracey was going to do, or the other guys. I am glad we were able to get the sprocket on and it is something I will look into in the future as we get more serious with biking. It can totally change your ability to complete a ride. I felt great though. I stopped once for a banana but I did not wait up. It was pouring and I felt great. The music was awesome.

The rest stop at 80 miles: I stopped to refuel and met up with the other guys. While we stopped the rain changed from a drizzle to a torrential down pour. I was so cold I couldn’t stop shivering long enough to even open my snack. The last thing in the world I wanted to do was to step out from under the tent into that down pour. I really questioned the wisdom of doing it... but I was feeling great (minus the freezing part) and knew I could finish the ride if I just tried. So once we realized it wasn’t going to let up we just mounted our bikes at set off. I did not stop at 80, I broke at 84, but then went on until I was done with the race.

The next 20 miles are a blur of rain, wind and hills and more hills and more hills. The hills were huge and just kept coming. We went up one hill that last for 4 miles and went up 800 feet. The others weren’t much better. It was raining so hard there was a constant stream coming off the front of my helmet. When we were near the coast the wind would blind me. Luckily, on the up hills I could see enough to watch the river of water running down the hills and over flowing the huge gutters on the sides. Coming down the huge hills was so precarious I don’t know how to describe it. I was mostly just terrified and constantly chanting “I love my kids, I love my kids, I love my kids” in hopes of living to see them again. The speed made the wind and water so bad I could hardly see and my breaks were so wet I kept them on constantly but couldn’t actually stop. It was only the fact that I could see riders in front of me surviving that kept me going. I figured that if they could do it I could do it... and thankfully we all survived. I went slow, only about 21 mph down the hills, but it felt so fast in those conditions. Tom is more experienced, more gutsy and just plain crazy and was still flying down at 30 mph. I am thankful he survived! He said that several times he realized that he couldn’t stop or control anything and just had to hope that there were no cars coming as he tried to make it around the bends in the road.

MILE 100: What a glorious moment!!!! I kept rubbing the rain off my odometer so I could see it and tell how close I was getting to 100 miles. Finally, while going down a hill and singing “Livin on a Prayer” at the top of my lungs I watched it change over to 100. That song was then stuck in my head all day....it was fantastic to know I was so close!!! By then the riders were all scattered along the road and I don’t think anyone could hear my singing over the wind and the rain. Even if they could, I didn’t care at that point! I was a little out of my mind, a combo of adrenaline, terror, excitement and hypothermia all at once left me talking to the wind, yelling at the rain, singing to myself and mistaking the trees for people.... Going over 100 was a pretty cool experience, although, I really wanted to remember what song was on but I forgot already, bummer.

The last 10 miles: At mile 103 there was another rest stop but I decided to pass it by knowing that I would only start freezing if I stopped and I was feeling so good I knew I could make it the last 10 miles. I nearly missed the turn off because there was split where the riders on the two day tour went one way and the “century” riders went another. It’s tough because all the signs are in a Japanese and there was a man with a large megaphone but I could’t understand him so I just flew on past and then back tracked and asked which way to go and was pointed in a different direction than I had been going. Tom said he did the same thing, skipped the stop and nearly missed the turn. Luckily we both found it and shortly there after found ourselves climbing an endless hill. It was never ending and I kept thinking “Don’t you dare call this a century ride! If you’re going to give me a 3 mile, steep hill from mile 104 to 107 then you had better not call it a mere 100 mile ride!!!” I actually managed a few “kills” up the last hill and was so enthused at the fact that I was going to finish and I wasn’t the last one of our group! Coming down the last hill truly was insane. The wind and rain were blinding as we crossed over these amazing bridges back down into the city. I bet the view was phenomenal but couldn’t open my eyes wide enough or take my eyes off the road long enough to take it in. And then suddenly I was back in Nago. There was traffic every where and I didn’t know where to go. I finally spotted another rider and followed him to the finish line (thank goodness he could read all the Japanese signs.) As I approached I saw Tom standing in the rain at the corner and I got so excited!!! I had done it! I had actually done it! He said he was surprised and excited to see me so soon as well! Ok, the last hill was nuts, really steep as you can see on the Garmin thing. But, once I got to the top it was all downhill into Nago. It was a great feeling. It was a very poor ending, there was a scooter staff guy that was guiding me into the city. It was not a race but in my wild imaginations I thought I may be one of the first to finish and I was expecting a heroes welcome. No such luck, we ran into traffic, I went up the left side of the traffic and ended up falling over on a grate. It was not my brightest moment. I felt like a fool. But, I was trying to figure out where the finish was and failed. I passed a few barricades and ended up at the start line that said START/FINISH. Well, it was not the finish, and nobody was cheering. Here I felt like I had really accomplished something and nobody around me even understood me or cared. Oh well, I cared. Eventually I made it over to the car to change out of my wet clothing. It was an amazing feeling to see Tracey come around the corner not too long after I made it there. And she was not dejected. She was full of energy. It was a great way to finish.

The Finish: So we both made it, felt great, jumped in the car, tried to warm up, drove home, picked up the kids, ordered pizza and went to bed!!!

Seriously, look at those hills!
Tom's Stats: GPS not on at the beginning so you can't see the total elevation gain.
Tracey's Stats: forgot to start it a few times, hence the shorter mileage

Happy Halloween

2010-11-01T22:31:00.000-07:00

After planning to be princesses the girls changed their minds at the last minute and went as Superheros. I was so excited. When I saw these costumes I had to just ignore the price tag and buy them because they were so cute. Maybe next year I'll resurrect my old Wonder Woman costume and dress up with them. Alyssa kept telling everyone "I'm Wonder Woman, and I'm to the rescue!"

Hayden has loved Halloween ever since he was a toddler and LOVES scary things, although his imagination is so active now we have to be careful what he reads and watches or he'll have nightmares! He's not sure what his costume was, just that it was scary. He had a special glow stick mouth piece that was the final touch. We went up to the Air Force base because they were doing their trick or treating on Saturday night and Hayden's good friend lives there. His friend was a mummy so they walked around telling everyone they were the"Dead Group."
We saw this bat hanging in the tree above us while the kids were up at one of the doors! Real life decorations!

On Halloween night Hayden planned to scare all the trick or treaters. He did a fantastic job. He sat back on the porch and the kids reluctantly approached, not sure whether he was real or not. As they tried to take a candy he would reach out for them. So many kids screamed and laughed. Groups of people stopped to take pictures of him to remember the fun. Many Japanese families came on base and they just couldn't get enough of him, laughing and taking pictures. The next day I was helping the kids in Hayden's class edit their stories and one of the boys wrote about trick or treating to Hayden's house and getting scared. It was a successful year for him!! Here are the girls standing inside the front door trying to watch Hayden scaring everyone outside! (Alyssa had just gone potty and tucked her skirt into her undies...to cute to resist the picture!)

On an unrelated note:

We had a typhoon hit the island last Thursday. School and work was cancelled so everyone could be safely inside our bomb shelter homes. They are ugly but they sure are safe (as long as the ceiling isn't falling in due to termites). Anyway, the wind was really going and we worried but all of the things in our yard stayed safely anchored to the ground thanks to ropes and sand bags. But we did lose a big tree. The wind was so strong and constant it ended up just tipping over and roots came up!

Friday night we got a great group of friends together and went to do some Karaoke. We had a blast! On Saturday I went on a 46 mile bike ride by myself to help prepare for my bike ride. It's a week from this Saturday... I"m getting excited! I go to spin class a few mornings a week because I"m tired riding in the dark and then I go out riding while the girls are at preschool. I hope I"m ready! Either way, it will be an experience I am sure I'll never forget!

Iheya Island: Paradise

2010-10-27T00:36:00.000-07:00

As you know, we traveled to Iheya Island for Tom’s marathon, now it’s time to talk about the island itself. It was truly stunning and will go down on my list as one of the best vacations ever. It was very hard to find information about it in English before we went so I plan to write a detailed account of the island. But for this blog, you’ll also have to endure a travel log of the family fun we had! So I’ll start at the beginning of the journey which was actually a few weeks ago when we tried to look at the ferry schedule and realized they had pre-sold tickets (last year you could not buy in advance). So all the ferry’s were full except the one leaving on Friday at 9am and returning on Monday at 9am. We were now panicked wondering where would could stay for so long. The original plan had been to simply throw up a tent at the marathon site for one night. After much searching we found someone who helped us locate and reserve a spot at a Yonesaki Campsite. Then we still needed info on issues such as building a campfire, buying wood and ice, etc. The kind of info that is easy to get if you speak Japanese and know who to call.... luckily, Tom got a tech at work to make some calls and we got all the info we needed. So we packed the car to the brim and headed out!

The Boat Ride: We started off happy and excited to be on the ferry. Alyssa was loving the view and the fresh air. However, as we got out to deeper waters a storm picked up and pretty soon everyone was sick- very sick! The waves were rocking the boat like crazy, splashing way up over the sides. I’ll spare you the details but just say it was the longest 90 minutes of my life, wishing to die as each second ticked past. Hayden started throwing up first and spent the entire ride in the bathroom afraid to come back... luckily they place plastic bags all around the boat....ugh... once we got off the ferry I started looking for somewhere to live because I was quite certain I would never get back on that boat. (Just one of the reason I was not running the marathon again this year!)BEFORE:
AFTER:(sorry it's gross!)

Yonezaki Campsite: The campground was beautifully nestled in between several beaches on the narrow southern tip of the main island right by Noho Bridge. I wasn’t sure how we would check in but luckily the guy was expecting an American and said “Tracey San?” to which I said “Hai” (yes) and that was our entire conversation. He did some paper work I couldn’t read and pointed out some spots on the map and we headed out. When we first arrived it was rainy and windy so were pretty worried and decided to wait it out and went back to the port to each lunch at a restaurant there. We all enjoyed our Yakisoba and Kadsudon (although I was still queasy from the boat!) Then there was a break in the rain so we hurried back to the campsite. We pitched the tents on grass, set up the food canopy and could not have been in a better spot. It even had new bathrooms and showers.

Once we got all set up and headed off to explore some beaches!

The Beach: Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful! The water was refreshing and so clear and blue. We were the only people on the beaches and felt like we were on a private island paradise vacation (which we were!) We kept telling the kids how lucky they were, trying to get them to understand that most people go their entire lives without ever seeing such a beautiful beach, let alone having it all to themselves! We could have stayed for a week or more just exploring beach after beach...

Kumaya Cave: Great family bonding while we explored this cave down into the heart of the mountain. We had some rough spots but in the end everyone was glad we did it. To enter the cave you had to squeeze through a narrow rock opening, that was covered in little millipedes. Turns out Danica is terrified of millipedes and was hysterical as we forced her into the cave anyway. Once inside it opened into a large area full of sand and a monument about peace. At the bottom was a pathway leading deeper into the cave. We tried to get the kids to explore with us but they refused. Hayden was so scared that as Tom went in to check it out Hayden got hysterical with worry and kept yelling “Dad come back!” Being the nice dad Tom is he turned off the lantern he was carrying and scared Hayden... who fortunately laughed about it. Danica was terrified again passing the millipedes on the way out and while trying to pose for the picture at the opening but Alyssa came to her rescue and was trying to step on the millipedes for her. That’s what sisters are for.Here is the view looking down into the opening of the cave.Here is the view looking out from inside the cave.

Even after the whole ordeal there are still smiles on everyone's face as we posed for a quick picture just outside the entrance of the cave before heading down the stairs to the road below.

Iheya Light House: We drove to the top of a VERY steep hill (the car actually overheated). These pictures are the view from the top of the building next to the light house. These pictures don’t do it justice, it was really breathtaking.

Nentou Hiramatsu: This is a very special, protected tree that we visited. I can’t remember why it’s so special but we enjoyed a nice afternoon picnic at the park.

Sugahama: While driving around the island we saw this little sign and decided to go check it out. We drove down a tiny dirt road through a sugar cane field and emerged at the most gorgeous beach yet! We were there long enough to enjoy the clear water, some awesome rock climbing and jumping and then the sunset!

On Monday morning we got up early to enjoy the sunrise before breaking camp. We walked from the tent down onto the beach and I'm so glad we did! It was the perfect end to a fantastic trip!

Iheya Island Moonlight Marathon 2010

2010-10-26T21:36:00.000-07:00

Ferry tickets for a car and 5 people: 22,000 yen
Campsite for 3 nights: 3,000 yen (but free for runners)
Food and camping supplies: $150
Marathon Entrance Fee: 5,500 yen
Watching Tom cross the finish line in under four hours: Priceless

Tom is amazing. Truly amazing. I have watched him for the last several months just plow along following a very grueling marathon training schedule. We’d get the kids in bed after a long day and he’d lace up his shoes and head out the door. Every Saturday morning while we all slept he would run, and run and run. It was truly incredible (and exhausting) to watch! He had decided to run the same marathon that we did last year. For many reasons I decided not to it this year which meant we could bring the kids and make a weekend of it!
The race was on Iheya Island, the northern most island in the Okinawa chain. The course covers the perimeter of the entire island, then you cross a bridge and run out a few miles onto a smaller neighboring island. I have looked everywhere to get an online version of the race course but have had no luck. I suppose given that I only saw 5 Americans, two of them being Tom and his friend Scott, I shouldn’t have expected to find much in English! The race course is breathtaking, the weather was cooperative, not too hot or windy, and Tom was great!! His good friend Scott also ran the race. Scott just returned from a 7 month deployemnt to Afghanistan. It was great to spent the weekend with their family. Before the race they have a fitness instructor get up on stage and lead everyone in these great stretches. You can see the whole group behind them.
Here he is at the start of the race- easy to spot since he’s much taller than everyone else! Then we followed the runners to a spot on the course were they actually circle back and cross again at mile 7 so we set up camp cheered on all the runners! We got so excited as we saw Tom approaching, right on schedule. (Again, he looks like a giant next to all the Japanese runners!).

The kids gave him a high five and he plowed ahead to the nearby water station. After high fiving all the other runners and the 1,200 who ran by for the half marathon we hurried back to the finish line to eat dinner and wait for the runners.
This is the part where you need to know what Tom was going through as he was running, and running and running! He was well prepared but there are still always the race day jitters and he said that by the time he was climbing a big hill at mile 10 he was getting worried. He said he kept looking down at his legs wondering when they got so big and heavy! But he made a deal with himself that he wouldn’t walk except at the water stations (which is what Hal Higdon says to do). He argued with himself and just kept going. He was so happy to finally cross the bridge, reach the end of the little island and then head back toward the finish line! At this point it was finally starting to get dark, he was 20 miles into the race. The sidelines were covered in blue lights to mark the path and the full moon finally came out from behind the clouds. Checking his time he knew he could make his goal if he just kept it up.
Back at the finish line the kids and I were getting excited and I was getting nervous and the minutes ticked toward the 4 hour mark. But then around the corner we saw him coming up the hill! The kids started yelling and trying to give high fives!
I was excited and I was trying to take pictures (sadly without the flash on so they are all blurry) and shouting at him at the same time! Here he is just about to cross the ribbon at the finish line: 3:56:20. It was fantastic to see him do!!! We couldn’t be more proud! He was hot, sweaty and tired but happy! He took off his shoes, laid on the grass and ate the rice and stew they gave the runners. In the end, he said it was truly a beautiful race and one that he is so glad he did!!!

The Day to Day...

2010-10-20T22:26:00.001-07:00

Here’s the short answer to what we’ve been up to: Bat Cave, Snorkeling, Bike Rides, Slide Park, Yard Work, Church Halloween Party, Slip ‘n Slide party and a 67 mile bike ride! If you want details (like my mom), keep reading:
Halloween is fast approaching and we are having fun getting ready. Hayden is currently digging through the boxes of decorations I unearthed from behind the dryer and is running around setting them up everywhere. I kicked off October by hiking through a pitch black BAT CAVE on the first! A few of the women at church decided they were tired of the men always having the fun so they planned a river hike and cave excursion. It was a lot of fun and very spooky. I know first hand the kind of “critters” that live around here (spiders, snakes, and bugs so huge it seems they are all on steroids!) Luckily, it all went well with just enough fear and excitement but no major incidents. The cave was literally pitch black and if you turned your light up to the top you could see it covered in bats. But you didn’t leave it pointed up there for long because they would fly toward the light. At parts we had to duck down low and trudge through murky water but we made it! What an adventure!
On Oct. 6th we went out snorkeling and exploring at Maeda Flatts because Hayden had the day off school. The girls were at preschool so I got to enjoy some fun time with just him! I took a friend who had relatives visiting so they got a taste of Okinawa fun as well. Hayden and the other boys found a dark brown jellyfish stuck in a tide pool, it was very fascinating!
We enjoyed watching Conference. We watch it a week late due to the time difference. It was very nice and peaceful for a lot of it and afterward I went to check on the girls and discovered why. I told Hayden I would title this picture "The Price of a Peaceful Conference Session."
A few weeks ago Tom killed a habu snake in front of our house. He was out stretching after a run and a car drove by and saw the snake in its headlights. Tom, being the awesome, courageous man of action he is, ran for his ax and cut it’s head off. They are very poisonous! Afterwards I was all freaked out thinking of the danger he was in but so grateful knowing it was not going to be around to threaten the kids!! So, in the spirit of getting rid of snake habitat we spent Columbus Day weekend tearing down a bit of the jungle that has grown in the backyard. It was beginning to grow over the kids playground and was just scary.... long, grass and weeds everywhere. So we braved the spiders and snakes and got busy. We cut down and hauled out 2 HUGE piles of stuff. The mounds we left by the curb for pick up were the size of a car. It was crazy. Luckily, we saw no snakes, many spiders and lots of insects on steroids, like huge grasshopper and praying mantis. The yard looks much better, if it will stop raining we will go out to enjoy it.
We did do a few fun things over the holiday weekend as well. We took some new families out to one of our favorite parks and we had so much fun we put one of our friends into labor! As we were leaving the park she called and asked if we could get the kids because they were headed to the hospital! So we had a fun time with their kids sleeping over.
I went to school with Danica and Alyssa one day, just to sit in on their classes and had a great time! They both have such wonderful teachers and their classes were calm, and relaxing with a lot of singing and dancing. Alyssa knew all the moves to the songs, it was awesome! Hayden has grown to really love his class. He says he doesn’t love all the kids in his class but his teacher is good and it’s a great environment. I’ve been able to start helping out in there and enjoy seeing how smoothly she runs things.
We’ve had a great time with parties. We helped run the branch Halloween party which turned out well. My apple cream pie even won an award! Last Saturday we enjoyed a birthday party/welcome home party for our good friend Scott who just returned from 7 months in Afghanistan. The rented this huge double water slide for the kids but we had more fun on it! The competition was fierce and we raced to slide up and down the muddy track! It was nice to feel like a kid again! That afternoon we got a babysitter and Tom and I set out on our longest bike ride yet. We mapped a route that was 67 miles! We started in a terrible head wind and I was getting really discouraged but about half way through that lightened. It had tons of hills and my knee was sore but overall I was feeling good and excited that I was able to do it at a good pace. The only bad part was that we left a bit late and ended the ride in the dark, with tons of traffic. Not ideal!
Okay, I think that brings us up to today. The big thing about today is that Tom is running a Marathon in just two days!!! He has been training so hard! He is so dedicated and goes out there every evening and on Saturdays for long runs. It’s been hot, and rainy and he has done it all anyway. He’s going to do so well. It’s the same marathon we both ran last year. It’s on an island that is a 2 hour ferry ride. Since I”m not running it this year we are taking the kids. Today I am busy packing for a 4 day camping trip. We leave early Friday morning and couldn’t get a ferry coming back until Monday. The arrangements have all been very complicated because it’s a fairly rural, small island with everything in Japanese but as far as we know we have reservations to take our cars on the ferry, then we have a reservation at a beach campsite.... let’s hope it’s all true and that it doesn’t rain all weekend like predicted! I’m excited for the adventure and will bring my “Survival Japanese” book! We will post pictures of all the fun when we return!!! Wish us all luck!

Kokesai Street

2010-09-29T22:24:00.000-07:00

Pretty normal week around here. Hayden had school every day, we fought about his homework every afternoon before he ran outside to play. Then he came in for dinner, piano practice, and chores. Today however he came home excited because he saved up $1 in play coins he earns for doing things at school and bought a homework pass so he doesn’t have to do his homework today. It’s the best thing on earth to him. Now I just need to figure out a system like that for during homework time so we are not battling so much. He spends ten times more energy complaining about the homework than actually doing it! I’m open to ideas if anyone has one. I’ve tried setting out a bowl of jellybeans and every time he argues or complains I take one away. That sort of worked... any other ideas would be awesome.

The girls are happy and healthy this week and have enjoyed preschool. Alyssa is talking so much more now it’s hilarious. She likes to try to make jokes and they are usually nonsense. The other day she said “I don’t want to go school.” When I asked why she just busted up laughing and saying “I was just joking!” Her and Danica are supposed to be taking a nap right now but I can hear them back their messing around. I”ve gone back like three dozen times and now it’s so late in the afternoon I just have to give up or they’ll never go to bed. I figured they would be extra tired today because we just got back from an outing but I suppose I am the only one who gone worn out!

Our outing was part of a new group I started with church called “Explore Okinawa.” We just go around to different parts of the city and explore. You can bring kids or just come alone. Today we went downtown to Kokesai Street, a large touristy, shopping market. The highlights were the fish market where the kids got to touch live lobsters and all sorts of unique fish. I should have taken photos of the puffer fish you can buy and the bright colors of the other unique fish. You can buy fresh stuff, walk upstairs and the restaurant will cook it for you. We opted not to buy our own fish but still went upstairs to eat. The food was good and we enjoyed our day!

Alyssa did a really decent job eating her food with chopsticks. She was very adventurous and ate all sorts of unidentifiable stuff in the bowl of rice and veggies I ordered.
Here are just a few of the kids who came on the outing!

The kids had to play with this cool dragon fountain we found!

I’ve been biking every day this week. I’m trying to fit in another 40 mile bike ride, hopefully tomorrow. I am having a hard time finding the time for it because I have to take Tom’s car in for an inspection and it’s pretty complicated. I was busy this week helping with two fundraiser lunches at the girls preschool. It was our first big thing and seems to have gone pretty well. All right, I keep falling asleep at the keyboard, I suppose it’s time to give up. I’m going to get the girls out of bed and take tired girls to the car insurance place and the commissary.... wish us luck!

Kouri Island

2010-09-26T04:31:00.000-07:00

I am actually going to write about something that just happened, maybe I can keep this blog current! We fought the stomach flu this past week but in the end we got over it and yesterday we went on a fantastic adventure out to Kouri Island. It’s another little island off the northern tip of Okinawa. This one is connected by two bridges. Tom and I were able to ride our bikes out to the island thank you to many amazing friends who did things like attend a church meeting on my behalf, watch our kids in the morning and drive our van and kids out to the island. It was a 47 mile ride with a lot of great scenery, moderate hills and some very tired legs (well mine were tired at least.)
We rode out through the city to the far coast and up for a while. Then we crossed back over the island to the other coast, yes we crossed the entire island, it’s not very wide but was relatively steep. Then we road up the coast to the city of Nago, through the city, out the other side, through the little village areas and across the bridges to the island. Quite a nice ride, we’re very lucky to live in such a unique place. We took some shots of the coast we were following. In the pictures of me you can see the ocean in the background, I include these pictures because I’m so impressed Tom took these pictures while riding in front of me, he didn’t even slow down. Next time we’ll have to get some photos of the bridge we were on, it was spectacular.

I would have liked it even more if we had slowed down a bit and I could have enjoyed the scenery more. Tom would have liked it more he could have sped up and not had to drag behind waiting for me! I was hoping that my recent training surge would be enough to help me stay up with the pack a little better and although I was more comfortable and confident on my bike I wasn’t too surprised to find that I still need to get faster and stronger. I don’t know if I can get fast enough in time for my big Tour in November but I’ll keep trying. It was the first time I’ve ever ridden that far on my bike.
Once at the beach we enjoyed a dip in the water and some swimming around. Sadly the waves were too strong to allow us to get out to snorkel. But the kids had a blast splashing and playing in the sand. We were happy to be out with friends in the sunshine. Especially because there was a power outage at our house from 8am-6pm. We got home from the beach, stopped at the commissary for some much needed groceries and arrived home right at 6:00. Unfortunately the power didn’t come back on until 8:30 so we put our food in the nearly warm fridge, couldn’t shower or cook dinner. Luckily, Taco Bell and some good friends came to our rescue. We got home just as the power came on and we put everyone to bed!

Overdue Update

2010-09-22T04:00:00.000-07:00

Adventures: Busy as usual we’ve had a lot of fun in the last month. It rained on Labor Day so we had to post pone our annual trip to Sesoko Island. We went to Round One instead and all the adults signed up to do this little dirt bike race. We were going so fast that all the action shots are blurry! The following Saturday we made it to Sesoko Island and set up camp in the shade of the cliff and had a great day. Sadly they didn’t have the shuttle service so we had to lug our stuff really far down to the beach and they had made a netted off swimming area and made us get out of the water when we tried to go out snorkeling too far. We still managed to see some good stuff and no one got stung by jelly fish (the presumed reason for the net). Hayden refuses to go out in the ocean for fear of what's out there... but he enjoyed catching hermit crabs, exploring caves and of course reading!

Last Saturday I unintentionally ended up at Kurashiki Dam alone with the kids and had a fantastic time! I had ridden my bike out there and really wanted to take the kids. But it was raining on Saturday and then Tom got called into work so it just wasn’t working out. However, I had to drive out near it anyway to pick up a new guitar for Rockband so I decided to take the kids over just to check it out for a minute. Hayden was complaining all the way there that he would have no one to play with because we were just a bunch of girls and it would be boring. But I was determined for some forced family fun! It was still drizzly and windy but that just added to the adventure as we ran around exploring. I made up a photo scavenger hunt and we had to find all sorts of items while running on trails, bridges, and the dam. We could see a tower all the way across the park and made our way to it. Much to our delight it had an elevator inside that took us up to the top where it was windows all the way around. It was perfect timing as well because it had just started pouring rain when we ducked inside! We didn’t see any other people the entire time we were there so we really felt like we were explorers. Hayden made a team of him and Danica and they had some silly name and were running everywhere together. He just kept saying “Mom, you were right! This is awesome.” I don’t think I”ll ever get tired of hearing things like that. There is nothing better than watching your kids loving each other.

Tom: He’s up to his 20 mile runs with his marathon training. I really admire his dedication and all the hard work he is putting into this training. It is not easy, especially with how hot it is here, but he continues to plow ahead. The race is on Oct. 23rd, on Iejima (the island where we ran the marathon last year.) We’re going as a family to camp and support him on the race, we can’t wait!
He’s still busy at work and continues to get rated as the top producer in the command. It’s awesome to see him recognized for such good hard work. He likes many aspects of it but has officially turned in his resignation form and is set to separate from the Navy next summer. We will move to Vancouver Washington where he plans to join his brother’s dental practice.

Tracey: I’m still as busy as ever but slowly learning how to manage it all. I keep thinking I see the light at the end of the tunnel and really think I may actually reach it. In fact, just the other day I dropped both girls off at preschool and then spent a leisurely morning reading a book while getting the oil changed, reading at the park, and early Christmas shopping just for fun. Way back in March I volunteered to serve on the Board at their preschool. I didn’t realize what I was getting myself into (and didn’t know I”d be so busy with a new church calling!) It’s nice to be a part of their school but it’s WAY more work than what I was led to believe. Fortunately, the other women are great and I will just have to work hard to be realistic with what I offer to help with. It’s all a learning experience!
I am training for the Tour de Okinawa, a 123 mile bike ride in November. I can tell I am getting stronger and more confident on my bike but am grateful I still have time to train. Both girls are now in preschool so I can use some daylight hours to go on long rides. It’s great since I get tired of always riding at 5am when it’s so dark out! I just finished The Mocking Jay... still not sure what I thought. I like that it wrapped things up but not sure what I think about all the rest. We need a book group discussion!

Hayden: Here is Hayden on the first day of school. This picture is classic Okinawa, it's so humid the lens just fogs up! He came home from the first day of school and announced “second grade sucks.” Not a shock coming from “Mr. Negative” but it’s been nice the last week when he comes home admitting that he actually had a good day and likes school. He had become ridiculously negative and anxious toward the end of summer, constantly sure that terrible things were going to happen. I was beginning to get really worried but the routine and structure of school seem to have helped a lot. He still hates the torture of practicing his handwriting or the piano but it’s just normal kid complaining.
Hayden recently finished the Fablehaven series and loved it. I’ve started reading it also and am enjoying talking to him about it. He is excited to start into Percy Jackson. Reading and computer/video game are still his first loves in life with legos coming in a close third. Right now he is in the backyard with the neighborhood crew of boys playing some sort of game about wizards and secret potions.

Danica: She is back in preschool with her beloved Mrs. Weathers. She has the same teacher and some of the same friends and couldn’t be happier about school. Now that she has learned the pattern of her three days a week schedule she jumps out of bed on school days and gets dressed and ready to go! She loves to pretend she is Alyssa’s mom, loves to wear princess dresses every day and her and Alyssa insist on wearing "twirly" skirts and dresses every day. She is still enjoying learning to read and gets so excited every time she unlocks the mystery of what a new word says.
We have several new friends that have moved to Okinawa. One night we were babysitting for one of the families and our girls had to take bath. The other girls just got undressed and jumped in as well. They had a blast and even got to eat their treat while in the tub, it was too cute! Danica loves to tell me that she loves me as much as she loves her blankie (quite an honor I enjoy receiving) but today she told me she loves me so much she wants to break her tooth out...uh huh... haven't figured that one out yet.

Alyssa: My “baby” is now three and with that comes so many big girls things. She is going to preschool as well. The same days as Danica. She loves it and thinks she is so special that she gets to go to. On the way to school she sits and talks about how she can’t wait to give her teacher a big hug and kiss. I asked her if she played with any kids on the first day of school and she said “no, I was too shy.” I know that won’t last long, she is such a smiley social kid. She didn't get to go yesterday because she was sick and she was so sad. Here is their first day of school picture, I wised up and put the camera outside in advance!

Alyssa was able to switch out of our mom-and-me gymnastics class and now she is in class with Danica. They enjoy it and Alyssa is doing well at following directions and trying the new skills, it’s a good change and I still get lots of hugs because she can’t resist running over to me from time to time.
We were "kitty-sitting" for two weeks. This is Clementine, named by Danica. She was found in the dug out of the baseball field behind our house. Tom and Hayden saw her and thought she was dead, her eyes were crusted over and she couldn't move. I got my neighbor Tatyana to help and we brought her in. I slowly nursed her back to health. As she got stronger I taught her how to use the litter box, took her to the vet, got rid of her fleas and meticulously cleaned my house to make sure none were left around. Needless to say, I put a lot of time into taking care of her. However, we had no intention of having a cat. We move in less than a year and don't want to try to take her with us. Alyssa couldn't keep her hands off her and kept getting bitten. Danica and Hayden were too scared to touch her. So we put her up for adoption and she was picked up by a nice family that really love cats. Overall, it was a good experience. We rescued her and now she's in a loving home!
Okay this is random but it was too strange not to take a picture of. This is a light on the side of a building... we can only assume it's so no birds land on it?

Last thing, I was driving behind this car the other night. I'm not quite sure how the driver can see the road with 5 TV screens to distract him... crazy... no seat belt laws, no car seats and no rule about TVs. Good thing the speed limits are so much lower!

Life in Okinawa is good. We are really enjoying this last year and all the great things the island as to offer!!!

Alyssa's Birthday

2010-09-19T05:28:00.000-07:00

This just has to be done.... I’ve started this blog a dozen times in the last month. I will not sleep until it’s posted.

Alyssa turned 3 on August 17th and we had a fantastic day! The day before her birthday she started telling me all her friends were going to come over for her birthday. This was not the plan but I could tell she was so excited so I quickly called a few and invited them to come for lunch the next day. On her birthday I took her to a little dance class at the church that she loved. Then her friends came over and I had her go in the back to watch a movie for a minute because Hayden REALLY wanted to do a surprise party. I snuck the kids in and then called Alyssa to come out for lunch. We yelled surprise and she got scared and sad... oh well, Hayden loved it. She had a blast with her friends, we did the cake that she decorated herself and she blew out all the candles. Once she was all rested up we waited for Tom and then all headed out to Cocok’s Spa where her and Danica got pedicures! She was so excited because Danica had been telling her about the time she had gotten it done and Alyssa loves nail polish.
Here she is trying to pick a design

After the fun and relaxing we went out to dinner and then home to presents.
Alyssa is such a fun loving, quick to smile, loves to laugh kind of girl. She is constantly launching herself on me for hugs and is the best snuggler. She enjoys pretending she is “mom” and walks around calling me “honey.” Her imagination is vivid and she loves to pretend and gets scared easily worrying about monsters and spiders. Her favorite game is “mom and dad” with Danica and Alyssa is usually the baby. She has mastered the art of giving a big huge grin to get out of trouble followed by “Are you happy mommy?” She’s even gone so far as to smile and say “I love you mommy” when I catch her doing something wrong. Good thing she is usually such a sweetheart!

August

2010-08-16T22:24:00.000-07:00

We're half way through August, I can't believe it! I am currently suffering from "toomuchtodoitis" and can't seem to find a cure for it. I would say it will slow down when school starts but I remember saying that I could't wait for summer so that life would slow down... hmmm. Anyway, I will post later about Alyssa's birthday but right now I want to remember summer time here, since returning from our trip.

It's been extra rainy but we've still managed to get out to the pool and beach a lot. We took our new friends the Palmers snorkeling and it kept pouring rain and then stopping, pouring again, stopping. The conditions were terrible but they still managed to fall in love with snorkeling and we can't wait to take them on a good day! Hayden is terrified of sea life, like jellyfish, and won't come in the water at all. But they are doing swim lessons right now and making some great improvements. Danica was afraid to even put her face in the water at the start one week ago and today I watched her let go of the wall, put her face in and swim to her teacher all by herself! I can't wait to go to the pool with her tomorrow to see if she will swim to me! Dani and Alyssa are the only kids in her class, it's nice to get private lessons!

Tom is busy training for a marathon at the end of October. He plans to run it in under 4 hours and is working really hard on his training. I am skipping the marathon this year for a number of reasons (one being the ineveitable ferry ride that left me puking last time I ran it) and instead have switched my focus to biking. Tom and I are signed up for the Tour de Okinawa, a 117 miles bike ride around the northern end of the island with a million hills. I have a lot of work to do to be able to keep up on the ride so I am running less and biking more.

Here is just a collection of pictures from the last few weeks!

I was cleaning the back room and then discovered this little guy... I must have disturbed his slumber. Can you tell how huge it is? It's bigger than the binding on the photo album. It's called a wolf spider, they bite but it's not poisonous any more than a regular spider bite, it just hurts more because it's so big. Tom chased down, through the play room before we finally smashed it. I see them outside when I weed or clean the patio but in the house...ugh...I've been needing to clean that room again and for some reason just don't want to...

Danica and her best friend Maeko at the splash pad at one of the beaches.
Tom and I went out to a Korean BBQ on the last Parent's Day out. You pick your food and cook it on the grill at your table. The pineapple was my favorite!
Some new families moved in so we took them to Jusco, the Japanese mall to look around and then to eat at the food court. This way the kids could get McDonalds and the adults could try some Japanese food. There is also a huge arcade that the kids enjoyed.
We took the new families to a park with a large cement slide. It was great but when I got home I realized Hayden had worn a hole in his pants from sliding so much!!

Alyssa can't get enough watermelon. Luckily, it's been on sale lately so I've been buying it. Last year we couldn't get a watermelon for less than $20, it's much better this year!
One rainy day we went to Wago Family Land. It's like Chuck E. Cheese on steroids. The girls loved this room that is just full of balloons blown around by fans. Hayden was playing a video game where the object was to use this huge samurai sword to cut fish. Awesome!

Tom and I attended the annual Dental Ball, instead of formal wear they did a Hollywood theme. Everyone dressed up like their favorite characters. Tom went as Chuck and I was his super spy girlfriend Sarah Walker. Sadly, hardly anyone had seen the show. It's not even broadcast over here. We just told them all they were missing out!
My best friend Joy is finally back!!! Her house was part of a power outage so I had the kids over to watch a movie in the a/c. It was fun to see them reunited after 5 months of her being back in the states while her husband is deployed.
Well that's all for today. Soon I'll write about Alyssa's birthday!!

Our Trip to the States

2010-08-04T04:59:00.000-07:00

I think it’s a good sign that I haven’t had time to blog for last two months. It means I have been having way too much fun! Just to keep the memories alive I want to try write everything down but that would be impossible, I’m still having too much fun to take the time to do that! So here are some random ramblings about all we’ve been up to. It started back in June, we flew out on the 23rd. We had a layover in Tokyo where we were literally running through the airport because our flight had arrived late, then flew the 9 hours to Seattle and due to the magic of time zones we arrived at exactly the same time that we left Okinawa, Wednesday at 9am. The kids were awesome on the flights. We made the three hour drive to Tom’s parents house and I got out and enjoyed just laying down on the nice grass that was not infested with insects and enjoyed the warm sun with no humidity. Blissful. The trip started off great and continued to be great the entire time. We visited with family, did TONS of shopping in one day, went to the Portland temple and then left to spend a week at a condo with most of Tom’s family. Hayden was in cousin heaven the entire time.
The condo was at Mayfield Lake and it was great. Too cold to really enjoy the water although a few of us brave souls enjoyed some good waterskiing and wake boarding. (Just Tom and I and our nephew Isaac to be exact.) The kids all went tubing fully dressed with tennis shoes and jackets because they were cold but had such a blast. I can’t believe we didn’t take any pictures of it! We enjoyed lots of game time, hanging out, running, horseshoes, water balloon volleyball and even a polar bear swim! It was freezing but fun!

The trip was awesome and we had so much fun relaxing with family it was hard to leave. But on July 3rd we flew down to Utah to spend the 4th of July holidays with my family.
As we flew into Salt Lake Danica looked out the windows and kept saying “It’s so beautiful mommy!” Oh, my home sweet home. My grandma lives in California but had flown in to stay with mom so we could see her during our visit, it was great!
We spent the weekend seeing my brother and his family, my other grandma, cousins and tons of relatives along with great fireworks and a parade. During the parade Danica was so funny every time she would see a float go by with a pageant winner like Miss Provo she would run out and wave and smile. At one point she turned to us and said “It’s a dream come true!” It was princess heaven. Later, Tom and I drove around Provo reminiscing about where we first met, lived as newly weds and where we had Hayden while my parents took the kids fishing. The rest of our time in Utah was packed with so much summertime fun. As you read this list you’re going to think “they seriously did all that in a week?” We went 4-wheeling up in the mountains and loved it. We got together with the Debaltzo’s, Tom’s cousins that we lived near in Cleveland and hardly recognized because the kids seemed so much older! Wednesday, we went to Seven Peaks water park and couldn’t get enough of the lazy river and tube slides. Thursday, we went downtown and visited Temple Square (a first for the kids),
then my parents met us and we went to the children’s museum while the boys went to the planetarium. Then we met up with some of our great friends from our first few years of marriage in Provo. It was so fun to see them and see how things have changed since adding so many kids! The next day we headed off to Lagoon and had way too much fun. Grandma took the kids on all the spinning rides that make me sick and we all got soaked on the river ride!

Saturday was a special day, my little sister went through the temple for the first time. It was fantastic to see her there and to see her surrounded by so many people that love her the way I do! We went out to lunch with her and enjoyed our favorite, Red Robin! That night we went to visit my grandma again and then spent some time with some friends of Tom’s from his mission. They have 5 boys, Hayden was in heaven!
Sunday evening we drove up to Park City and checked into the luxurious Marriott vacation resort, compliments of my sister who works for Marriott. We spent the next two days swimming, alpine sliding, outlet shopping and playing games. It was blissful. Tom and I even went on a date. On the way home on Tuesday we stopped off and watched the ski jumpers practicing. Once home we scrambled out to do the last bit of shopping possible in the U.S. for another year and tried to cram it all in our suitcases (thank you mom and dad for loaning us an extra one!). Then before we could leave the U.S. we had to go to Cafe Rio. YUM!
Wednesday morning we woke up at 5am and started the long journey home. We flew up to Seattle, had a long layover in which we got to see my friend Cori, and then boarded the plane to Tokyo. The kids were great on the 11 hour flight, our layover in Tokyo was grueling because we were exhausted but everyone was good and there were no major delays. We passed out on the next plane and woke up 3 hours later in Okinawa. I was pleasantly surprised that the humidity didn’t knock me down. I guess I was expecting it. Our friends had left our van at the airport so we simply loaded it up and drove home.
Now here we are. We’ve been home for almost a month, I started this blog two weeks ago and can’t seem to find the time to get it done. Now we need to go to bed but at least I got this much accomplished! Next time you can hear about the summer fun in Oki!! Thanks again to everyone who made our trip to the states so fantastic and absolutely worth every single cent, of which there were a lot!!!

Home Again

2010-07-20T16:22:00.001-07:00

We just returned from a FANTASTIC trip back to the states. It was perfect, so much fun seeing family, shopping and playing hard, non stop. The kids did great on the long flights and are finally over the jet lag after days of waking up at 3am. I can't wait to post pictures and relive all the fun we had. However, I have been sick the last few days with a fever and sore throat leaving me all achy and tired so I am way behind on the unpacking, cleaning and such. The updated post will have to wait, hopefully not for long, but at least until I get some laundry done. I hope your summer is going well and that the cicadas are not nearly so loud at your house at they are at mine!

Here Comes Summer!

2010-06-15T16:09:00.000-07:00

Wow, has it really been an entire month since I last posted? I would say that it has flown by but I have also done so much that it seems to have lasted forever! I hate doing this timeline style but it’s the quickest way I can think of to remember what we’ve been up to. So here goes:

In the middle of May we started the beginning of our sad season to say “see you later” to many of our friends. Many members of our Okinawa family are moving and I just try not to think about life in Oki with out them. We had a big “see you later BBQ” with Randy and Melanie Ball before they left. They were so stressed with flying out the next morning that I don’t know if they remember it but we had a great time.

Hayden finished the soccer season, much of it was cancelled due to the crazy amount of rain we’ve had this season but he still had a good time. Danica finished preschool. She has loved her teacher and class and it’s been a great experience for her. They did a little program on her last day where they were singing and she started out happy and smiling and part way through the song she realized how many people were watching her and just ended up crying and nervous... it was just “so Danica.” Here she is with her two teachers, one American one Japanese. She learned a lot of great things in her culture class and sings a cute little Japanese song.

We’ve had a lot of fun exploring Japan and participated in a lot of cultural exchange activities with local members of our church. They took us around and showed us the true Okinawa side of things. We really enjoyed it and learned a lot! These black snakes are really expensive and you buy them to make things like snake soup. The kids were thoroughly disgusted and fascinated by the pigs heads and crazy fish. Alyssa was terrified the lobster were going to crawl out and get her! Danica developed a little "crush" on a boy named Levi, he's the son of the woman who was the district camp director so they spent a lot of time together while were we getting camp things planned. She hadn't seen him in a while and was so happy to spend the day with him!

Alyssa is completely adorable and I have fun taking her around everywhere with me. She's my little companion while Danica is at preschool. She is talking up a storm and loves to smile and ask me "you happy mommy?"

Tom got to DJ the youth dance last month and we had a lot of fun. Although it was pretty stressful trying to screen all the songs to make sure they were appropriate. I offered to host Hayden’s class for the end of year family picnic. It sounded easy enough, I would put together a few water games, throw out some chairs and blankets and have a good time. So I spent all week weeding and prepping the yard and getting it looking as nice as it can. Then of course the forecast was very rainy. At the last minute we rented some huge canopies for the yard and had quite a headache picking them up, setting them up and then taking them down...ugh...won’t do that again. But they saved the picnic. It’s warm even when it rains so the kids still rain around playing games, doing the slip ‘n’ slide and sprinklers while the parents stayed dry under the canopies! Hayden is done with school this Thursday and although he has loved his class this year he is dreaming of waking up and playing video games every day.... his dream life.

Over Memorial Weekend we watched our friends kids and so in return they watched our kids this past Friday night. Tom and I didn’t go anywhere but lived a life of “freedom.” We went out to dinner, did some shopping, and then went to karoke. We went to bed late and then woke up early and ran a 5K race and then went on a 20 mile bike ride before picking up the kids. It was nice!!! Saturday night we spent at the church at District Area Training. It was a long meeting but was good information.

We've enjoyed a lot of fun activities. Great beach days, park days and indoor play days. The girls play "mom and dad" all the time and I never know for sure whether to call them mom, dad or baby... I never know who I am supposed to be that day.

Now we are prepping for our big summer trip back to the states. We leave on June 23rd and will be there for three weeks. We can’t wait to see family and friends and to be in America, we miss it all!!!!