Apartment (belated)

Goodness, I added these pictures a billion years ago and never wrote or posted...so Adrienne and I have been living in Sierra Madre for 4 months now...but here's our cute place :)

My Ryuku glass lamp...I never got to show everyone before when I bought it...wishing I could head to the glass factory...my habit needs a fix!
My room - same ole same ole, with a new valance...there was a curtain rod so I had to do something with it!
Kitchen...with a stove!
Our glass collection (some of it!)
Bathroom...
the shelf that we put up in Adrienne's room...with NO help! Go us!
Adrienne's room
Our cute little wall stickers and picture collection!
The Ikea table that we put together one Saturday :) and our Japan valance!
The living room...and the TV that almost didn't make it up the stairs

A bit more traveling :)

So I went on a little trip a couple weeks ago to see Aimee, Kevin, and Jameson (cutest boy in the world) and then went on to see Jen and meet the fiance Jason :) Had a great time hanging out with Aim and the family...we did um, nothing really :) normal life stuff - baked, sewed, cooked, ate, played with Jameo, movies, errands, TALKED! It was just a good visit and I might be in love with Jameson...as Auntie I don't play favorites but the kid makes it hard!!

He managed to snag 2 cookies until Auntie caught him with the little grin!

He was helping me unpack...he also put some of his clothes in later...I think he wanted to come home with me! After nap every day he would wander into my room looking for me...melts my heart!
Here comes trouble up the stairs!

He'd ask me to read...not anyone else (I'm gloating!) A boy after my own heart with his nose in a book :)
Ohhhh I could just kiss him!
2 of my favorite people :)
My future stylist

I babysat one night and Jameo wouldn't go down...and then he crashed out on the couch
The PJ's we made for him...not bad :)


I got to see where Jen has been for the last year...I went to Japan and she headed to Kansas and now I'm going to be in her wedding soon :) Ahhh fun - met and like Jason, got to see "the dress", ran wedding errands, ate yummy food, hung out and talked, good times!
We went to a farm...there was a petting zoo
this is where you washed your hands (we're not in LA anymore Toto!)
This picture just reminds me of the movie The Prince and Me and the lawn mower races - I was so mad to discover that WI didn't have any...but Kansas has the kid version!
The happy couple and I :)

It was super funny on each of my flights I got to talk to people about Japan - Okinawa came up RANDOMLY in conversation twice! The whole trip needless to say made me happy...and now I'm back in CA, completely unpacked, mostly decorated in settled in the new place :) I'm registered for class and looking forward to September!

Back in the USA

Goodness, I've been in CA for a month already and life is full steam ahead...still getting used to being on this side of the Pacific though! Summer school is going well, seeing friends and family is nice, Adrienne and I found an apartment, did my official La Verne tour and I'm SUPER excited about school in the fall...all good things! Just a couple of pictures and perhaps when I'm more in routine I can get back to blogging...


Adrienne was looking for her Japanmate at our soon to be apartment :)
Welcome home!
Dining area which connects to the kitchen :)
KITCHEN!! normal sized counters, 4 burner stove, lots of storage - might be heaven on earth...
Living room
Angels game for the 4th of July
Dodger game thanks to the Smith family :)
our first trip to Target in a year :) yea, we spent an hour and a half there...

The end of Okinawa, Japan :(

Ahhh, it's taken forever to do this final Japan blog...oops! It's been kind of crazy to settle in and life is complicated when you have no place to live...but we're working on it! Anyway, the last couple days in Okinawa were busy and full of fun and laughter! Adrienne and I moved out of the wood box on Friday and in with Rocky and Gina which made life much simpler for getting to the airport in a non-stressed way :)

The wood box with the ugly curtains back up and everything closed up and dark :(
After we moved out we went to CocoK's for fancy pedicures...we'd been saving it all year because it's a bit pricey for our little budget but WELL worth the wait!!! Best leg and foot massage ever! It was a bit overwhelming because there's a billion chairs (ok 40) and it's really busy but it was nice to just sit after the flurry of cleaning and packing! We had to look through a 40+ page book to choose our design...it took me awhile!

I think I chose well though :)

Saturday was filled with exchanging money and last minute errands along with a stop for ice cream :) Sunday was our last day at Neighborhood and I kept myself together until Pastor called us up to pray for us...yep - I was sniffly as I said a little goodbye beforehand (don't hand me a mic!) but it's been an amazing year and we have been so blessed to get to know all these people! Afterwards we had a bunch of our favorite people over to Rocky and Gina's for yummy food and fellowship!

Grace and I...she's just too cute!

Michelle, her daughter Shay, Lisete, and Heather
Pastor Wes and Carol with Adrienne and I
Michelle and us...Tommy is training for deployment for the next 9 months
The Braund family - I think I cried most saying goodbye to them

Monday we got an AMAZING opportunity to fly the KC-135 simulator...WAY COOL! It was really fun and something that we'll never get to do again I'm sure :)

Me in the pilot seat!
Alex was our co-pilot - he ran the simulation for us

Gina and I got to push the freeze simulation button on the computer - they can do all kinds of different weather or mechanical failure - crazy!




Later Robert, Lisete, and Sage came over to say goodbye...they leave for England soon, we'd like to go visit!
checking our suitcases in at the airport, goodbye Okinawa...they later took our alien cards, which almost made us cry again!
Saying goodbye to Rocky and Gina - Gina kept reminding us all that we'll see them in Fresno :)
Our last Okinawa gate...ready to come home

Last week in Japan...

I'm finishing up this blog in the Taipei airport and I can't believe this year is actually done - we had a fantastic last week in Okinawa - spent it at the beach, with friends, and a couple of last excursions! I'll have a couple of other things to post - but my camera cord is packed so it will have to wait! As a sneak peek they will include pictures and video of me flying the KC-135 flight simulator (AWESOME!) and our last shindig with Neighborhood people at Rocky and Gina's.

Anyway, our last week was mostly rainy - but thankfully the beginning of the week was sunny and we got some good beach time in...pretty sure I'm tanner than I've ever been. So nice to just drive 10 minutes and see all this beauty!

Emma got an academic achievement award so Kim signed us on base to go see her - strange being in a military school environment - the kids were EXTREMELY well behaved :) They all sat like that unsupervised for about 45 minutes - crazy!

Adrienne had gone to the Botanical Gardens without me so we headed back so I could see too - really pretty to walk around...have to say it would have been nicer without the planes flying overhead every 5 minutes
HA HA HA we saw this hammock and decided to try it out - it sunk straight to the ground!


Who wouldn't want to climb a palm tree?

Pastor's Birthday party

Pastor's birthday was last week (yes I'm behind...finishing up in Okinawa had a lot going on!) and the church celebrated at the NCO club with snacks and a "Gina cake" The board did a rousing rendition of some southern gospel (lip synced thankfully) but the dancing was HILARIOUS! We had a really good time with everyone at church (of course!) and it was great to be able to be there with everybody for one of our last events in Okinawa.

The southern gospel group ;)
Pastor was doing a funny Q&A time...Isaiah just climbed in the chair next to him - super cute!


They let Pastor cut the cake...dangerous!

Finishing up at New Life Academy...

You might say Adrienne and I were a little excited about the last day of school - it's been an adventure of a year, that's for sure!

Our last day of school picture ( we had to contain ourselves so we didn't blind the camera with our smiles!)
My kids backstage before the promotion ceremony


Ryuki was TOO cute with his tie and little shorts :)


Mr. McGee handing out the promotion certificates while I called out every one's names
Mr. Elofson giving one of my two honor roll awards (they had to get all A's and B's ALL year...at least I had 2 right?)
There was one high school graduate this year - so random



Kai was having a tough time, her mom made her take a picture anyway
On Saturday we went to a staff picnic - yummy food and we were presented with little lacquer-ware vases as a remembrance of our year at New Life Academy...afterwards we wanted to spend a little time at the sea wall (Adrienne took a little nap)