One day at a time

Update...

2011-12-04T19:59:00.000-08:00

Well, I've officially lived in Colorado for five months...where has the time gone? Although I have spent A LOT of time in CA considering I don't live here anymore! I've finished grad school with straight A's. I won't get my paper back until graduation...I'm rather curious about the notes in it :) Graduation is in about a month and I'm SUPER excited about it! Hmmmm let's see, I LOVE my job...I can't imagine anything better than teaching kids to read all day long. I have some rather funny stories that make life more interesting, but the kids are great and I've been able to implement my Readers' Theater project in a modified state so that's super exciting! Now that classes are done I plan on getting a few more features hammered out, it's also nice that the other literacy teachers and a few of the classroom teachers are branching out into Readers' Theater too! I've found a church I like and a hairdresser (which if you know me at all, you know that's a big scary one for me!) I'm starting to do things with people from work...looking forward to getting involved at church...loving being closer to Aimee and the family! I've survived the snow and I seem to be adjusting to the weather. I fell the day after the first snow on some ice and had the bruise to prove it! I have since purchased practical boots, a down coat for dismissal, and multiple pairs of gloves :) All in all, it's been a good few months and it's starting to feel like home. I'm back in CA for the holidays and it's been SO nice to relax and just hang out with people - no homework, no grading!! WOO HOO!!! I've read a few books, I think I've recovered from the reading overload of the last 2 terms of school :) That's about all for the update...sorry no pictures, I haven't been great about taking many lately.

First days of school!

2011-08-24T22:14:00.000-07:00

So I'm realizing how spoiled the life of a specialty teacher is...yes I know I put my time in to get to this point in my teaching, but WOW...there's so much less to do...only an office to organize and decorate (which now that it's decorated never needs to be changed), no bulletin boards, no grading, very few conferences, no lunch count, half the school emails don't apply to me, getting to leave soon after the day ends....UM, YES PLEASE! In summary, loving my new job...we're stuck in testing chaos right now, but once it's done we get to make our groups and things settle down a bit. The one downside is keeping track of 3 different grade levels and 15 teachers...but again, when testing is done I'll have my 2 kindergarten teachers and my 5 other 1st and 2nd grade groups :) Oh, and did I mention that I have 45 minutes of planning time every day (really it's 30...who can get more than a bathroom break and email/voicemail checked in 15 minutes?) I still don't have an employee number which means no school email (hating getting everything on my personal one) and the no number thing means I can't set up a slew of other things...but I do have a copy code and an ID tag and keys - I just got the last of them....well that's really all, the joys of a lot of new staff, a new building...I also got to pick a lock (which I'm not good at) because we don't all have keys to everything and we'll just say there was a little adventure when the key elf locked testing materials and a lunch in the cupboard!

So here's my picture recap of this last week :)

Back to School Night...meet and greet with the parents at the "picnic" beforehand and after that all I had to do was direct lost people and try to answer questions (usually I had to go find out the answer since I seem to know nothing yet!)

First day of school outfit...have I ever mentioned how happy the 1st day of school makes me?
Good day...full of testing and meeting my kindergarteners

THE OFFICE! Since it's a brand new building we're not allowed any nails or sticky tak, just those removable tabs and hooks...made it work :) Still waiting for my white board so I may have to get creative when I do writing!

Cupboard, pocket chart, door (everything in the building is nature themed so our doors have this tree look...you can tell more in context, but just to say the whole building is so pretty!)

Resource wall - reading strategies, sight words, better word choices...etc and my desk...it's HUGE and takes too much space, this from the girl that's never had one before!

My too cute for words, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Tree! I was so excited when one of my K teachers told me she does a whole project based on the book too! Cute and a good reference for them :)

Bookshelf, my centers rack turned supply rack, small group table!

Off to enjoy my weekend...cause specialty teachers have time for free time and don't have to go to school on a Saturday!

The apartment tour

2011-08-21T19:02:00.000-07:00

I'm ALL unpacked and decorated (at least my apartment) my office is ALMOST done...hopefully tomorrow...especially since it's Back to School Night (not that I really have to do anything other than mingle! Might be the best Back to School Night EVER!! Anyway, back to what is finished...my lovely apartment! I have a few things that I don't love where they are but as I live here I can rearrange, but for now it's cute and unpacked and I'm a happy camper!

So here's the "tour" excuse some of the photography!

The window wall in my bedroom
The open door is my closet - this is the wall across from the window

Wall across from my bed

My bed with my new comforter and pillows - LOVE!

I had several unpacking injuries: box cuts, scrapes, bruises, and I dropped my bathroom cabinet on my poor foot :( The bruise/lump didn't come out to well in the picture but it HURT!

My bathroom - it has a HUGE garden tub which has been handy a few times already! I'm loving all my shades of blue/green...my touch of ocean in the middle of the country and my picture of Cape Hedo helps too :)

Love seat, new TV, Japan pictures, and wall stickers - best invention!

Couch, a bit of my balcony (it still has boxes on it and there are a few boxes next to my couch that need to go to my garage)

LAUNDRY ROOM!!! in my apartment - so exciting! People in Colorado don't seem to cook (or at least those that live in apartments) so my kitchen is tiny...my solution was to be put my appliances in the laundry :)
Tiny kitchen
The other side of the tiny kitchen, but it does have a DISHWASHER! ahhhh heaven, I haven't had one of those in 10 years!
This is the little desk space next to the kitchen in the dining area - good place for my Okinawa glass

Dining area and front door - there's a little coat closet to the right of that
So that's the tour! Loving exploring the area - TomTom has been extremely helpful, I've tried to go without using "him" when possible...it usually results in an adventurous detour but I am getting the hang of it. Aimee brought the boys up this weekend and we used the pool - it was nice to have my first visitors! Hopefully more are to come :) I'm loving work so far and everyone on staff has been great - it will be fun to get to know everybody! Still looking for a church, 2 strike-outs so far, but I have a few more on my list. I think that covers everything for now. Once my office is finished I'll give the VERY small tour of that and maybe some pictures of my new beautiful school...I have to say it's super kid friendly and adorable!

Moving up 5,000 feet and over 2 states

2011-08-17T20:22:00.000-07:00

I keep waiting for things to slow down, but they really haven't...I finished another term of grad school - ONE TO GO!!! Passed my Reading Specialist exam...it kicked my butt, but I'm glad it's done! I finished teaching summer school and tutoring - I don't think I'll be returning to SGCS, but I suppose one never knows...it was a strange feeling to walk out those doors, I grew up as a teacher there. Anyway...

And now I'm in Colorado! I'm still a little in shock...the movers came July 28 and the whole experience was miserable, I don't want to talk about it - I had used the company before and was completely disappointed (the drop off was better, but couldn't make up for everything else...). So my stuff left, I took a trip to Visalia for Jen's baby shower - she's lovely of course! and I got to see her and Jason's house and spend time with Holly and her adorable little boy!

After that I cruised over to Atascadero to spend some time with my parents, Kevin, and some friends...and study my dreaded note cards - I apologize to all of you that had to hear about the history of reading, or the stages of spelling, or whatever set of cards I happened to be studying when I talked to you...I got some much needed beach time in before heading back to Pasadena to stay with Edith and Duff (thanks again!) until my exam...the last few days in CA included studying, a chiropractor appointment, studying, lunch with Adrienne, studying, walking with Kim, studying, and class...no biggie :)

Don't laugh at the giant jackets...it was a little chilly and that was all that was in the car!

After the exam, before it sank in that I had written 13 pages in less than 6 hours I drove to Vegas to meet Aimee and the WHOLE family - cause she's crazy like that to drive 12 hours to meet me to caravan to Colorado with me...love her! Had a yummy dinner with them, crashed out, and got up at 6 to start our trip to CO, I mean home...weird! We were going to try and make it the whole way and did! For those of you that know me in the car...I'm VERY proud! I seem to have the attention span of a 5 week old so it was nice to be able to get out of the car every 2 hours when Tobin needed to eat :) I didn't get my stuff until Friday night (more irritations) and in the meantime, I spent some time relaxing with Aimee and the family, worked 2 days testing 2nd graders, getting my CO plates, and taking care of a few other things! Below is our trip pictures and some moving pictures - I'll take apartment pictures soon - I'm all unpacked...just need to hang things! So far I'm LOVING the job - more to come on that next time!

Most of the drive looked like this...

Utah had a little more variety :)
FINALLY we got to Colorado
This is my new school!
I'm not crazy about the Ms. but it's rather exciting to get my own door plate!

How my office looked when I got there (it only looks slightly better now, but it's coming along and I'm super excited for my plans for it!)
My CA plates expire this month so I had to hurry and get my CO plates...weird!

Crazy Train...

2011-06-27T22:52:00.000-07:00

Goodness, I don't even know if I've had time to breathe these last 6 weeks! Finished Jr. High, finished and started another term for grad school, starting to pack, found an apartment in CO, saw Christina graduate (as valedictorian!), had a great girls weekend with my lovely 3rd South friends, sorted through/got rid of/repacked all my classroom stuff, and started summer tutoring/teaching summer school...a little busy! So I have a gorgeous new apartment 5 minutes from my new school in Colorado (pictures to come in August...or so...), got to spend time with some of my favorite people while I was there, can't wait to be able to see them all more often! I have to say Aimee and Kevin live on one super fun block and have one (soon to be 2) super cool kid! Jameson woke me up, rather early even for me, every day with a smile and a "it's a sunny day Auntie!" And it was! The weather was great, apartment hunting was fairly painless, we laughed, we talked, we ate, we played, we walked, we BBQ'd, we went to a movie...all a perfect kick off to summer!

Jameson and I making silly faces
Mr. PDA :) Love it!
We occasionally still take really good pictures...not at the airport!
The following week was typical busy followed by a trip up to Atascadero for Christina's graduation...what fun to help her write her speech :) Sorry no pictures...I was too busy enjoying the occasion! The following week wound down tutoring at San Gabriel, starting my new term, taking the Praxis for my NCLB compliance in CO...no comment. That weekend, Sara, Jen, Lish, and I had ALL managed to coordinate the weekend to spend just us! I don't think we did anything but talk, laugh, eat, and walk...PERFECTION! I miss seeing these girls all the time :)

At brunch on Sunday
After that I finished teaching Jr. High...NEVER again and that would be too soon! But I survived (and so did they). I also started my summer tutoring, I have my 6 boys and am having a ball with them so far! My grad class is rolling right along...reading specialist exam August 6. I've also spent a weekend in Atascadero consolidating my 2nd grade classroom into must keep books and resources versus the get rid of or hang onto a little bit longer, just in case :) I have to say it was a little emotional at times, just for all the memories each box seemed to hold. I'm thrilled about the next step in my career and I wouldn't change this new adventure for anything, it just was a little hard to make the transition step. BUT all done and repacked into 35 (VERY small) book boxes and ready to move! I've also started packing my apartment things that I don't need in the next 5 weeks cause I know with everything else, time will fly! hmmmm...Oh, started yet another summer of Reading Lab, trying out my Master's class intervention program on them...FUN! I love Readers' Theater :) I THINK that's a pretty good summary of where I'm at right now - BUSY BEE!!! Off I go again...

PS I forgot to post this and now Tobin Joseph has graced the world with his cute little self...can't wait to meet him in a little less than 5 weeks when I move to his neighborhood!

It's been awhile...

2011-05-17T16:08:00.000-07:00

I will graciously accept the world's worst blogger award...I feel like I blink and a month flew by lately! I'm near the end of my Master's/Reading Credential and can hardly believe there are ONLY two classes left! Oh my...but can't wait for that cap and gown! Anyway, school is good and flying by...my time with my tuttees is winding down...less then a month of school, thankfully I have a few favorites over the summer! My drama job has been DRAMA and I am not gifted in the jr high department, God bless those who are...I'll take my little ones any day! I'm thankful for the learning curve of that job and I think the kids and I all learned something! Speaking of little ones, I think there's something in the water right now, babies seem to be popping out all over - looking forward to meeting some new additions this summer! As most people know (not that too many people still check my blog!) but Soba was killed by another do a couple months back...miss having my buddy around to play and snuggle with :( He did get to meet his little brother from another litter because Edith added Butterscotch to their household so that was fun to watch them play together!
On a SUPER DUPER exciting note...I am officially a full time teacher again! I will be moving to Colorado to begin a new adventure as a Literacy Specialist (sounds important huh?) I'll be teaching K-2 students in a small group format and all I do is reading and writing...perfect huh??? I'm going apartment hunting next week and hardly believe that in 3 months I'll be a CO girl instead of CA....yikes! I realized that I'm going to need some serious shoe shopping, my California girly shoes won't work in the snow and cold....the weather opens up a whole new category of sweaters and coats for me too :) How terrible to have a reason to shop.
Hmmm what else...had a nice Easter with family and friends, went to a wedding with Kevin, I've started taking Zumba a few months ago.....COMEDY...I have zero coordination and it's makes me laugh but I figure it's all good exercise! I think that covers the basics :)

Kevin and I @ his birthday party

Butterscotch and Soba...Butterscotch did NOT want to stay still!

Christina, Emily and I at the wedding...trying not to freeze!

A little update...

2011-01-20T13:10:00.000-08:00

Goodness, it's been a long time since I've posted anything...not that I've had a lot to report that anyone really wants to read about! The last 6 months have been filled with school...can't believe I can already say I'll be done this year! The homework is all consuming at times...as stressful financially (and on my routine) as it has been not to be teaching full time, I am often thankful that I have the time to devote to doing well in school! Proud to say I still have a 4.0! Anyway, school, homework, 11 tutoring students, teaching middle school drama elective, Soba, and managing to have a life every once in awhile seems to fill most of my time! The drama class has been...drama...I have learned a great deal of humility with that group...jr high is not my age group! I'm VERY much looking forward to having a new group next month! Hmmm what else? Just typical day to day stuff I guess. I had a wonderful time over the holidays with friends and family and can't believe that the first month of 2011 is almost over! As application season begins in the education world...hopefully I'll have something more to report!

A smattering of pictures...
Jameson and I in the car...love how he has to pull me closer :)

1 Angel, 1 sheep, and me @ the Christmas program

Excuse the sweater...all my grad school friends and I had presentations to do at the CA reading association this year....yikes!
Literacy Gala
Soba is so helpful while doing homework

I'm 30!

2010-07-11T09:27:00.000-07:00

What better way to celebrate the big 3-0 then in the backyard with all my favorite people?? And I seriously had almost everybody all together at one time...I am a very blessed girl! Adrienne worked SO hard with some help from Cheryl to make my day extra specials and I'm so thankful for some of the best friends a girl could ask for!

Soba of course got to attend...I got to keep him for approximately 5 minutes of the party...here his is with Tyler and Ian...I heard later that there was an ear incident and squealing...poor Soba, he's a good sport :)
Jen and Jason drove down from Porterville...can't wait to see more of them now that they're living in CA!
Ruth and Ian
Cheryl and I...celebrating 20 years of friendship, I personally think we deserve an anniversary party!
ice cream cake...2 kinds :)
Mom finished my Japan quilt - love it!
Big Sis, Lil Sis, and Middle Sis....miss working with these lovely ladies!
Ok Seriously...the Braunds happened to be on vacation in CA for my party...how lucky am I to have Okinawa friends come??? :)
Kevin put himself firmly on the "favorite husband" list by driving 12 hours out of the way JUST so they could come to my party - soooooo good to see them, but never long enough :(
A picture I was convinced I might never get...or at least not until I get married...all my babies, all in one place!! It was nice to see them all running around playing - love being an Auntie!
And then there's my Japanmate...there aren't words - love you!
Adrienne's dad and my dad and Gil at the man table
Lisa, Edith, Kim...and the 5 minutes I got Soba
Lindy, the Wolfs, the Archers, the Browns, and the Farinos
Jameson and Ellie on their first date...they have an arranged marriage (by me!)

My parents came down and part of the Andrews family made an appearance...it was wonderful to see everyone, good to be 30 and hopefully a good time had by all! Thanks to everyone for making my birthday special - love you!

Disneyland with the girlies

2010-01-30T20:18:00.000-08:00

Cheryl and I took the girls to Disneyland for Bella's birthday and had a great time! No mishaps until we left and we had one royal meltdown...but still a good day!

Ellie is my kind of girl...won't get NEAR any characters so we took our own picture while we waited for Bella and Cheryl
This was as close as she would get...and I didn't even tell her Goofy was in the pic with her ;)

Good timing...Minnie was walking out when we walked by so Bella got to hold her hand the whole way to the picture spot!
Ready for the Toy Story ride

Ellie was so excited to be tall...it takes 2 short girls to make a tall one I guess :)
The cutest picture ever! Love them!

Fancy Nancy birthday party

2010-01-30T20:15:00.000-08:00

So I was getting another post ready and realized I had several posts ready with pictures....so why not post? So this was Bella's 6th birthday party - Fancy Nancy! Oh they were all so cute, Cheryl and I had a ball putting it all together!

Ellie and Auntie :)

The girls in their cute dresses!Birthday girl!
Adrienne was the resident photgrapher
GIANT cupcakes...so fancy!

Soba

2010-01-29T21:20:00.000-08:00

I haven't had a dog since living at home and I've been wanting a pet for who knows how long...and now that I'm home more it makes sense to have a dog :) A former student/family offered me a teacup poodle from their recent litter and I couldn't resist (after asking Adrienne of course!) Anyway, I've had Soba for about a month and he's been a lot of fun....usually a good boy....we're working on the potty training still though!

I was getting ready to do laundry and came back out to find him on my sheets...he might be a little spoiled!
Bella and Ellie like when he comes over (Bella is getting over her fear of him and Ellie calls him Hoba)
Ellie and "Hoba" she seems to think he's hers and cries when anyone else holds him
He wouldn't stay still for pictures...

New Year's Eve

2010-01-07T20:27:00.000-08:00

Apparently it is important to sleep out on the Rose Parade route once in your life...it wasn't quite what I had envisioned based on the Christy Miller series, but fun all the same! We started off our adventure by bringing pizza to some of Adrienne's family who had staked out our spot that morning and we all took turns keeping it "safe". Cheryl had brought the girls for a trial run and we had dinner together at Islands and then she checked out the spot so she would be able to get back in the morning. We had company until about 9pm when it was officially Adrienne, Kristen, Kelly, and I's watch for the night. It never got too cold which was nice, but I have to say I'm past the age of staying up all night (although I slept more than I thought I would!) and it wasn't SUPER crazy...church groups on either side helped! Although, I did witness my first arrest...not sure for what, but part of the adventure :) We survived until morning...only had to brave the scary port-a-potty a couple times (there was a line by us ALL night) and we'll just say it involved some people picking the locks/breaking and entering going on. The parade was fun and I've
never been so excited to go home and shower!

Early on in the evening

Our slightly homeless look around midnight

Camping out
Bella and Ellie enjoying their breakfast

LOVE her!

She was waving back to the floats...how cute is she??

It had been a LONG night...Ellie is looking fresh and cute though!

Bella is quite handy with the camera
Seriously, can she be cuter? She was saying look Auntie, hat, hat Auntie...melts my heart when she repeats Auntie over and over whenever she sees me!
Sierra Madre's float - they had it on display in the middle of town after, it was cute :)
I LOVED the origami dragon!
Cal Poly always does a good job

Bella wanted her picture with the skater and the helper...who knows about that man, it made us all laugh though!

Jackie Chan was on one of the floats...apparently it was a big deal that he got stuck in front of us, they offered to let him off, but he stuck it out - such hard work ;)
Japan!! made me happy!

Holiday fun :)

2010-01-03T20:44:00.000-08:00

I think this Christmas I managed to any and all holiday things to make up for missing so much last year! I went and saw lights 3 or 4 times, a Christmas party, friends, relatives, the works :)

Cheryl, Adrienne, and I even went to the Americana for the fake snow - it was pretty all decorated and we were waiting for the trolley and all these people started gathering....apparently we had found the snow spot and didn't know it!

The giant chandelier above the middle of the street was kind of funny

My silly girls finding the most obnoxious things to try on....I put on some hideous shoes that made me almost as tall as Adrienne!
I went to see the Grinch at Pantages with my parents on Christmas eve day - fun! and that night we went to PazNaz for their service - may have been the best I've ever been to. We spent Christmas at my aunt and uncles house and then on th 27th Adrienne and I trekked up to Atascadero for a few days

We went to Pismo with Kevin
Went on a hike at Bishops Peak....yes, me too :)
For those of you city people - this is called wide open space....there's lots of it in SLO county
We made it ALL the way to the top!

Overall, an excellent series of events and now I'm back to school!

Oh Christmas Tree

2009-12-05T22:47:00.000-08:00

I'm on a mini blogging roll...I've missed having things to blog about...but I don't know how exciting my statistics class is to anyone or that I've become domestic goddess or that my income lately comes entirely from tutoring (which I have to say has the potential to keep the bills paid!) Anyway, back to the blog at hand :) So growing up we always went to the tree farm and Dad was sure that I looked at every tree in my search for the perfect one...well Adrienne and I decided it would be fun to cut down our tree this year. What a change from our 100 yen tree that the TV dwarfed ! hee hee :) So I did a little bit of googling, because I have NEVER seen a tree farm in the middle of the city! So I found a website that lists all the tree farms in the state listed by county and there happened to be one in Claremont and another in Rancho Cucamonga! Adrienne printed directions and a coupon for one of the farms and away we went...it was like a tour book day minus the turn right at the gas station directions! We arrived at the first farm with no troubles, unfortunately all the trees except for the ENORMOUS trees had all been reserved, who knew this would be so popular?

Too small...maybe next year!

TOO BIG...where do you think we live??
We set off to find the 2nd farm...and got a little lost...apparently we (I mean Adrienne) had looked up the wrong address, I tell you, that girl needs a GPS! We re-looked up the directions on her phone (wish we could have done that in Okinawa a few times!) and off we went again and found it! This farm was MUCH bigger and we got to tromp around looking for the perfect tree - it was hard with so many choices!

We finally picked one and went to find a worker to see what we did next - apparently we're not allowed to actually cut it down ourselves...I think that was a general rule, not a judgment on our ability to use a saw. Jamal cut down our tree while I got the car and then he just tossed it on top...let me tell you, we were wishing for some bigger muscles later on! We then had to tie down the tree ourselves, apparently it's a liability to do it for us!?!? Sigh....

Let me tell you, it was really hard and I worried about the tree the WHOLE way, which is at least 30 miles...we even stopped once to check it and every once in awhile we would open the sun roof and Adrienne would say, "It's still there!" "Has it moved" " ummmm, I don't think so" She finally learned to just say No! so I would stop worrying.
Once we got home we had the lovely chore of hauling it up the stairs...

And then getting it into the tree stand...it got stuck and then we couldn't get it centered and....OY
Finally up and ready for decorations! Yes, there is a SLIGHT lean....but not bad for a couple of rookies
All done and we're ready for Christmas!

Jen's married!

2009-11-25T12:17:00.000-08:00

This is SOOOOOOO outdated, terrible blogger that I've been BUT... One of my dearest friends from college is now married! I couldn't be happier for her and the whole thing was absolutely perfect...not that I would expect anything less from Jen! Sorry the pictures are backwards :)

They left the reception after dark and the sparklers were sooo much fun!

Jen and I - my 7th or is it 8th time as a bridesmaid? I was reading why they say 3 times a bridesmaid, never a bride - apparently it used to be thought that bridesmaids were to ward off evil for the bride and that in the process they absorbed some of said evil and after 3 times as a bridesmaid they had absorbed too much evil to be a bride....maybe after 6 it works in reverse! ;)
The very lucky groom with all the girls!
Yea for good friends!

These dresses caused a bit of heartache....let's just say they came a bit big for all of us! I'm thinking of shortening it and wearing it again...yes just 8 dresses, not 27....but actually I think it would be a fun dress shorter and with straps - might have to try!
Jen and her mom
The reception began at sunset - sigh....I miss living in SD
Whenever I'm in SD I try and go to Shelter Island and watch the boats - I took a burrito from Santana's, my homework, and a book - felt just like I was back in college again (oh wait, I am!)
The girls after our pedicures...my 1st back in the states...not as fancy as mine in Japan, but fun!

Apartment (belated)

2009-10-22T21:48:00.000-07:00

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 :)

2009-08-09T19:58:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-09T21:51:00.000-07:00

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 :(

2009-06-27T12:45:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-06-13T15:35:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-13T15:29:00.000-07:00

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...

2009-06-13T15:22:00.000-07:00

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)

The end is near...

2009-06-05T00:05:00.000-07:00

Time to say goodbye...I was sure this day would NEVER come! And now that it has I'm sad. It's been a hard year - but good in so many ways...growing pains aren't always fun when you're in the middle of them! My pictures are in reverse order...sorry!

My class and I went to Chula-U for our end of the year party, it's a bathhouse...pools, hot tub, healing warm water, Dr fish! We had a great time swimming and relaxing! There were life guards on duty and none of the pools were taller than the kids so I was able to relax and enjoy the day.

The warm healing waters pool - super relaxing (no Dennis is not drowning Lauren)
Swimming pool - with a 2nd level up top that was even more shallow
Kounosuke and Ryuki at the Dr. Fish (they were braver than Adrienne)
Kiana, Mai, and Risa - Mai is so funny!

Our JCI (kind of like car check up/registration) was expired and they tried to tell us we could drive the school van for the next 2 weeks...NO, where we would even park that thing around here, I don't know! But Thomas was taken to the shop and we got a RENTAL CAR...with air conditioning, 4 doors, a cd player that works, automatic windows, no bad noises, it accelerates (sort of) WOW, styling now :)

In front of the rental place
Our little space ship rental car :)

The church had our Sayonora Dinner for us, combined with one for Gerard and Colleen, and Earl since we all leave within a few weeks of each other - fun time as always :)

Alisia, Matthew, and I
I let Matthew take pictures - he's not exactly pro yet, so I didn't get many...but he did catch Kim with the, why are you crazy enough to give my son your camera look :)
going to miss my buddy!

Camping/Hiji Falls

2009-06-04T19:44:00.000-07:00

There was a plan for us to go camping (yes, me camping) Unfortunately, it was raining like crazy so we ended up in a little cabin with Lisette, Sage, Gabby, and Adrienne and I - we had a lot of fun having dinner with together with the Rice family and Gina and Rocky - yummy BBQ! After that we headed to our cabin and Rocky got a fire ready, much to Adrienne's excitement! We had smores and chatted until bedtime.
The smores had almonds in the chocolate - an excellent addition!
We're cute :)
The next morning we got up, had breakfast and got packed up and checked out of the cabins...then we were off to Hiji Falls - we've tried to go before, but the trail was under construction so I'm really glad we got to do it before we left! The walk was really pretty and pretty tiring...up the stairs, down the stairs, up the stairs, across the bridge, up the stairs, down the stairs ( you get the idea!)

At the beginning of the hike
How cute are Sage and Gabby with Rocky?
On the really cool suspended bridge

I commented to Adrienne that before we came here I didn't really know what to think Okinawa would like...this was not it though - nothing about this place has been typical, but most of it has been far better :)
One of MANY sets of stairs

Hiji Falls - very pretty!
Gabby, Adrienne, Sage, Gina, Lisette, me, and Rocky by the falls
Japanmate picture :) HOT and SWEATY! but still smiling :)
Gabby leaves soon to go to Washington state and Sage will leave next month for England...crazy how much these kids move!
I about died holding in my laughter when I saw this lady in a SKIRT - I was hot and sweaty and dusty and here she is in a skirt - huh
On the car ride home - we played the silent game for about 40 minutes even I was wanting to talk!

Memorial Day Weekend

2009-05-25T06:54:00.000-07:00

I found that being surrounded by military people for the last year and growing attached to so many of them and their families that Memorial Day meant so much more to me this year...it's amazing to me the sacrifices that they make each day - it's like that one bumper sticker...if you can read this thank a teacher, if you're reading this in English, thank a soldier...I look around Japan, which is a fairly free country and I marvel at how many freedoms we take for granted and how ungrateful we sound when we start complaining about war and this and that bill or politician. Anyway, off my little soap box - thank a soldier the next time you meet one for all the freedoms we are provided!
Onto my weekend...Friday was Spring Concert as I said in the last post and Saturday was the church picnic and baptism service. Now I've thought a lot about this - I was baptized as a baby so I left it at that until now. I have come to realize that for myself, I need to make my own public statement of faith by being baptized on my own accord, claiming what I've always believed and making it completely mine. This year has been one of growth and complete trust in God. I look back over the year and realize how much all of this craziness was part of His plan for me...I've been amazed at every turn how I've been provided for mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually...in ways that have surprised me, blessed me, humbled me, and just made me feel loved! Anyway, all that to say I was baptized in the East China Sea on Saturday as a reminder of all of that!

Before we started Pastor Clay reminded people of John baptizing Jesus by submersion and we are commanded to do the same

Getting ready to go under...I think this was the point that Pastor talked about us leaving and what a blessing we've been to the church...I cried coming to Japan and am crying leaving...can we say EMOTIONAL?

Rocky and Gina with us after the baptism
The WHOLE group :)
My Japan-mate, soon to be CA-mate, and I...LOVE YOU!!!!
On Sunday we headed to Kim's house for yummy food and fun! We had a great time hanging out with her and the kids (as always!) I would appreciate prayer for their youngest (Matthew) they found polyps of some sort in his throat and one under his armpit and the doctor's assistant wasn't very positive about it so they're running tests - pray for peace and that it turns out to be nothing or easily taken care of! On Monday we headed back to Forest Adventure with Lisette, Robert, Sage, Rocky, and Gina -SO FUN with a group!!! We laughed and talked the whole time...Adrienne and I were total pros this time around...MUCH better on the landing!

In the bus
Gina doing her test before heading out on the course
Sage and I waiting our turn
Adrienne on the net bridge
Lisette making a landing!
Part of the obstacle course at the end with Sage and Adrienne
Robert and Lisette
Best view of the day :)
ahhh Rocky and Gina are doing 35 new things for their 35th anniversary - this is number something :)
Japan-mate and I (again)
Afterward we headed to Pizza in the Sky...followed a truck of pigs for awhile...so random!

Adrienne napped...AGAIN...I have a whole page of Adrienne napping...in the car, on the chair, in her bed, in Osaka, in Tokyo....I should write a kids book about napping.... :) I will nap in a chair, in a lair. I will nap on a bed, with something red, I will nap in the car, I will nap with a star...
At Pizza in the Sky with Rocky, Adrienne, Robert, (front row) Gina, Lisette, and Sage

As we're waiting for everyone to finish in the bathroom Rocky walks over with this frog that he found...I started laughing at how casual the whole thing was...

...then he put it in front of the door of the bathroom - Adrienne and Gina got a good laugh as they came out!
More Pizza in the Sky - it's a converted house and the first restaurant in Okinawa to be owned and run entirely by women...YUMMY food!
Overall, a GREAT weekend - lots of fun, food, and friends :) Not many left here in Okinawa!

Spring Concert

2009-05-25T06:36:00.001-07:00

Spring Concert...makes me miss San Gabriel - different being just another teacher rather than being in charge...another time, another place. Anyway, it was crazy with 18 recorders, 3 costume changes, and all the usual craziness backstage - ahhh theater life :)

Backstage for rehearsal...

Poor Mai was the dog...this costume was SO hot...I ended up fanning her every time she came backstage!

Concert Day - Sarah you would have died...this whole set change, that took about 5 minutes to do, was for a 3 minute scene...think realist to the max! OY!

My little class
The whole group
Some of you know that the recorder has been the bane of my existence at school this year - a HORRID instrument in my humble, non-musical opinion...they turned out ok, but seriously - no one should have to hear this EVERY day for the last 166 days :( Enjoy...insert evil laugh here!

Last tour book day...

2009-05-19T23:55:00.000-07:00

I started this blog with lasts and here I am at lasts again...sad. Saturday was our last planned tour book day and unsuccessful! OH MY did we turn around a lot! Thankfully we've seen so much already that it was just another funny day spent in the car together. We decided to start the day with lunch at Charlie's Tacos - always yummy!
After lunch we headed further south on the 329...a road we had not yet explored (I know, there are some!) We were going to find the Banyan Tree tunnel and then head farther south for some castle ruins and end the day at the glass factory before heading north...WELL...ummm....yea

We turned around here...
Passed this several times driving in circles
Turned around here
Asked for some directions before finally stopping here in hopes of finding it...no luck, but Thomas made A REALLY BAD NOISE and we were SURE we were going to have to bury him...

...here...thankfully the noise stopped and our car started up again. We never did find the tunnel though...we laughed so hard we cried, it would have been fitting for Thomas to kick the bucket on our last tour day! We were a little nervous that no one would ever find us to come rescue us though! Thankfully it was ok and we continued south to find the castle ruins...
This view was on the way...rough I know
You can barely see the motorized parachutes - but it looked pretty exciting! Anyway - we followed the signs to find the castle, no luck and did I mention that the air conditioning in Thomas is no longer working and the heat and humidity is back?
Anyway, no luck so we continued onward to the glass factory - I realized that on the way we would be passing a cave site of where part of the Battle of Okinawa took place - it was an underground hospital and also where the students/nurses took their lives after some false propaganda was issued near the end of the Battle. It was an extremely graphic museum - the retellings were heart wrenching and most of the girls were high school and college age - the things they had to see and do were horrific.

This is the top of the cave outside the museum
After the museum we went to our beloved glass factory - Adrienne found a lamp that was calling her name and it was even on sale :) Everyone will have to come visit and see our collection...if I ever win the lottery (might need to start playing) I'm coming back for more glass!

The whole outside is covered with different colors of glass pieces - it's own work of art!

Goings on...

2009-05-18T14:53:00.000-07:00

Aimee and I were just talking about how hard it is to start blogging after a break...I also think it's hard to blog when you're busy! With things winding down here in Okinawa we've been here and there and everywhere...so here are some of the goings on lately :)

We had Pastor Clay and Marlene over for dinner and games - we played Hearts! It was a fun night of laughter and fellowship...Marlene is a licensed counselor and she didn't go running from the room at any point, so we must not be crazy (or at least not certifiable!)

We also had dinner with Rocky and Gina...we were trying to go to Arin Karin (the Garlic House) BUT they had "an extra holiday" ONLY in Japan!!! We ended up at the Pizza House which was good too, we always have a fun time with those two...young at heart as Rocky would say :)

The All Mothers/All Daughters...AKA All female tea was last Saturday at the Globe and Anchor Officer's club.
Pauline read a story and did some "table talk", Eva gave a short message after Kim and the girls did a little skit - Kim hadn't learned her lines, so the cue cards were really funny!

After that we were supposed to design a hat for the cat walk - ummmm, yea, I'm not crafty at all, but I did make a large fan to put on top :) Adrienne and Shay were busy trying to figure out what to do with our supplies!
Poor Emma was voted to be the model (youngest one wins!) The pink thing is my fan...nice addition huh?
I was amazed at some of the other hats - the Japanese ladies are super crafty with paper! I'm pretty sure they actually could wear their hats in public :)

After the tea we were having Alisia and Emma over for a slumber party - first stop beach, next was shaved ice (YUM!) unfortunately there was a long wait (not to pay, but to get it) and quite possibly the worst music in ENGLISH ever...I've never even heard this stuff at home - yikes! After that we decided to go up on the Ferris Wheel - it's been on our list of things to do and it was a beautiful day out...why not?

All the girls
The view from the top
Emma and I - she was a little nervous about heights so pictures were a good distraction!
Adrienne and Alisia practicing their gangsta style!
And a few words from my classroom...I taught a yen lesson and they were working with their yen to solve the problems - so focused, it was pretty funny!

We finished our bodies! Kiana's look is PRICELESS...her body must be doing something for her to make that face and Kounosuke's isn't much better...you'd think I'd asked them to hold up something dead :)

Cake Decorating with Gina!

2009-05-10T04:54:00.000-07:00

Somehow it had come up with Rocky that Adrienne and I had wanted to take a cake decorating class...but we came to Japan instead :) Anyway, he informed us that Gina was a pro...you should see her cakes, they're AMAZING - people order them for everything!! So Gina offered lessons and we gladly accepted! Lisette baked cakes for us and the three of along with Mika (one of the Japanese ladies from church went over to Gina's last week for our "class" We had such a good time...I need more practice, but we got a lot of good tips and I think my cake turned out pretty well for a rookie!

Learning how to make the frosting smooth
There are apparently millions of different frosting tips in all sizes and shapes!

Practicing my border...it was tough to make the scallops all the same!!!

My finished border
Next I had decided to spoil my kids and take them cake for Kite Day...so I cut out a kite shape and forked the outline so I could do the frosting
My finished cake! Cute huh?
All the finished cakes - we learned how to do roses, trees, borders, filling in shapes...so fun!
My cake and I
The class and our teacher :) We had a great time!

Kite Day and other classroom ramblings :)

2009-05-09T18:19:00.000-07:00

Another busy week with the kiddos...Risa had her birthday cake on Monday...I like Japanese cake SO much better than American cake (yes I know I'm not much for cake...but this is good!)
On Tuesday Samuel's mom came to our class to do some fun hands on science...we made silly putty, learned what reacts with baking soda and water to make "invisible ink" appear, and even got some cool sand that doesn't get wet! The kids and I had a great time :) It was nice to do all the hands on science stuff that I'm used to in the States!

Writing their invisible ink messages
If I had gotten this on video - the squeals of delight were priceless when they realized that the glue turned to silly putty!

I'd never seen this sand before, but it's hydrophobic and you have to push it to the bottom and then you can sculpt it, but pick it up out of the water and it's dry! Super cool...might need to order some for my future classrooms!
On Wednesday we had Kite Day - May 5 is Children's Day (formerly Boys Day) in Japan, and Adrienne's campus celebrated with Kite Day, and my campus celebrated a day late with kite flying competitions, a picnic, and park time.

This slide terrified me and NO I did not go on it...that's cement!!! One of the mom's and I were talking about how you would NEVER see this in the States and she laughed when I was trying to explain that it was a law suit waiting to happen and she replied with " but don't parents say, you're ok, and take them to get better?" You'd think huh? Anyway, terrifying!! But no one got hurt :)
My kis waiting to get their kites
Ready to fly!

It was kind of chaos watching my class - this was the "finals" My kids didn't quite get the hang of it!
The two champions with Mr. Elofson the principal

Beach Days!!

2009-05-03T20:20:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty sure we couldn't ask for better weather lately! It's been perfect - nice and warm, not too humid, and a good breeze! One of the things on our list before leaving the island was to go to one of the other islands in the Ryuku chain...so we headed up north and went to a couple that you can get to via bridge SO pretty! It was a wonderful day of relaxing with a book (while Adrienne napped of course!) I couldn't believe how the water look - so clear and turquoise - it almost glowed! On Sunday after church ( I did children's church on my own with someone to help with games...went well!) it was another beautiful day and Adrienne and I had decided if it was nice we would go to Transit Cafe for lunch and then home to change for the beach...well Robert and Lisette wanted to know what we were doing, so they decided to come to...and then Clay and Marlene were coming....and then they invited some visitors to come too!!! OH MY 10 people are not going to fit...so after a few other options we all ended up at Kadena Marina for the buffet, not bad...to much food (it's American of course...) After lunch Robert and Lisette invited us to go snorkeling so we headed home to change and then attempted to snorkel at a couple of places - the first one was a little too rough - I kept getting water in my spout! The next spot was not rough...but had nothing but sand and sea cucumbers. We headed back in because we were all in need of a shower before evening service - we'll try again next week. Sage and I were playing on the way in and I wasn't watching so I walked straight into a rock of coral...my first thought when looking at it was, God you have to stop the bleeding, I don't want to go to the Japanese hospital! Anyway, got out of the water, examined it - thankfully the salt water helped clean it and dry it up quickly!! Praise God! I have an extremely cool war wound though :) Excellent weekend and so far a really good week! Sorry my pictures are all in a funky order - I loaded them at different times and didn't feel like arranging!

Adrienne and I at the sea wall
From front to back - Sage, Marlene, me, Adrienne, Clay, and Robert making faces!
My gash! I'll post pictures of it in all it's glory now - it looks even worse!!

Lisette, Robert, Sage, and Adrienne and I before snorkeling The view from Kouri Island - doesn't even begin to show you how beatiful it was!

This guy was taking a picture of his motorcycle - I thought it was hilarious to drive out on this gorgeous spot, take a picture of the bike and leave, but what do I know?
Some sort of clam nets

The island is mostly farmland...

Kids catch up...

2009-05-03T19:23:00.000-07:00

We had SATs 2 weeks ago (if teachers are in hell they will have to give the SATs to young English language learners....it's worse than in the States if that's possible!) So last week was Spirit Week and oh my was everyone in fine form!

My kids for Heritage day...basically wear your flags colors
My kids working away on their human bodies - we're almost done, just need to label!

Twin/look alike day....apparently Mana, Milena, and Kai were bunnies!

My twins were twins :) I didn't even ask them to pose like that!

Favorite character day

YES, I went insane that day, no I did NOT allow the ninja to stay like that the whole time....seriously? no comment
Friday night we babysat at church for the Love Dare - a good time with the Braund kids and Alissia :) They make me laugh!

Adrienne was learning to Tango

This week has been much more mellow - a nice change :) We have Kite Day tomorrow so I'm looking forward to a beautiful afternoon outside!!

Ladies Retreat

2009-05-03T19:10:00.000-07:00

I'm 2 weeks behind in my blogging and I don't really know how that happened! Ok, I do...I was busy with school and friends and life...go figure! I think back to the beginning of the year and how much time we had on our hands and now we're running out of time to do all the "last" things! Crazy! Anyway, 2 weeks ago we headed up north to Camp Schaub for our Ladies Retreat - Intimacy with the Almighty - based off the book by Charles Swindol (good book by the way) After we checked in we did a potluck dinner with my cabin and Adrienne's cabin (yes they separated us!)

Our kitchen...I think it's bigger than the whole wood box!
Our view...rough life I know!
That night we had our first session with Marlene - awesome time together :) The first principle we talked about was simplicity (there were 4 simplicity, silence, solitude, and surrender) That night we stayed up entirely too late after our cabin devotions - I was in a cabin with Kim and Lori and it was amazing to me how 3 people in various stages of life had SO much in common...let alone that much to talk about! The next day after morning devotions (outside with an ocean view!) we headed to our next session where we talked about silence...not my best quality) Later we had a YUMMY BBQ lunch cooked by Pastor Wes and Clay :)

Eva and I were table buddies for the 2nd session
Waiting for food

The whole group - some of my absolute favorite ladies!
Our afternoon activity was crafts...so not my thing but I had a good time visiting with everyone :)
Later we had our 3rd session talking about solitude - we had spent the afternoon having some time to reflect, journal, and pray. That night we had our PJ party - each cabin had to do a little skit to summarize the weekend...some of them were hilarious!

Michelle, Irma, and Wendy did a rap
The Japanese ladies did a song with sign language

Saturday morning we had communion and our closing session - it was an amazing time - as Gina put it - reflection, restore, and refresh!

Cabin Mates - Lori, me, and Kim

Busy week = Straight hair!

2009-04-18T01:58:00.000-07:00

Back to regular programing... spring break wasn't quite long enough! We kept busy with Adrienne's mom here until Thursday - we were sad to see our last visitor go and reminded ourselves - TWO MONTHS! WOW! We're not sure how we're going to get all our stuff back we found out that it's MUCH more expensive to have extra luggage to go home than it was to come here - but we're having faith that it will work out somehow! I took a nasty spill down the stairs earlier this week - bruised myself up, but thankfully didn't break anything. Note to self - falling on cement stairs HURTS! We started making our life sized human bodies this week - the kids laughed SO hard when they were tracing each other - we all had a lot of fun!

The first thing we've learned about were our bones so we added a skull and our arm bones!

Mai had a birthday this week - yummy cake!

The big event for the week! As we've all seen my hair is enormous in Okinawa and now that the humidity is back...well let's just say my hair and I have not been happy campers! I decided it would be a good idea to professionally straighten it permanently (or at least until it grows out!) I was so excited about it all week! Adrienne and I headed to the salon and an entourage began to assemble for my hair - it was quite the experience!

Me waiting in the chair with my before hair!
Once they had me in my cape and towels I was equipped with ear caps! I look like somebody off Star Trek :)
After that two people started applying the first of two chemicals onto my hair - speedy! I then had to sit with plastic wrap on my head for awhile. This is one of my 6 hair helpers!

After I sat in my plastic wrap they washed out my hair, dried it and I was still looking at my puffy hair...hmmm...then 2 people (1 the same, 1 new) used a straightener and did my hair, then another person came and said 2nd chemical and away we went with another chemical, more plastic wrap and more waiting. Another washing, conditioning, more plastic wrap and a rotating heater...washing...drying - MASSAGE! hair trim - I did not panic that someone I can barely communicate with was cutting my hair I just breathed deeply! After that I was all done! My hair has never been so straight - who knew? Anyway, Adrienne came back to pick me up and with the windows down and my hair blowing I was amazed that my hair didn't expand in size - so great!

We had a meeting for the Ladies retreat for church (which is next weekend!) today at the Loop...cute tea and coffee place, we might need to go again! I'm really excited for the retreat though - should be a wonderful time with some of our favorite people!

A not so successful tour book day...

2009-04-13T05:57:00.000-07:00

I figure I better tell my side of this story first before it turns into and unflattering tale by Adrienne :) Before I begin I'm sharing yet another of Adrienne's "gangsta" pictures...she seems to be going through some sort of phase...
Back to the tale....Saturday was a beautiful day to head south - we had Monkey bread thanks to the biscuits Kevin bought when he was here and then got in the car with the plan of going to Kokosai Street (tourist trap shopping) having lunch at Charlie's Tacos, going to the glass factory (most likely for the last time) and ending the day with an infamous historical walk which was to include a quick stop at a rice paddy before we went to some castle ruins...yea, sometimes the best laid plans go awry! We had a wonderful time wandering on Kokosai Street, had yummy tacos, and got a few more gifts at the glass factory and just when I had announced that I had everything I wanted my lamp called out to me...I had looked for a lamp and hadn't found one and was ok with that...but then we found each other and bonded instantly...went to pay for it and it was even on sale!! Sigh...yes, I have one entire suitcase devoted to glass I believe and I'm just fine with it! We set off for in search of our historical walk - with a small detour to the Peace Park...just the outside - who can pass up the view?????

Onward we go to the rice paddy! I'm carefully following the map - I read the instructions aloud and we're all looking for a sign or the landmarks given...we realize we're to far, turn around and see a sign!

We turn and then I'm looking for the white post - no white post....driving along and it says to veer left and then drive on a dirt road...perhaps it's this way!
NO - it is NOT this way and Adrienne had to do a million point turn to get out...I'm laughing hysterically and she is not mad...we're doing well so far :)
We turn around and go back out and turn into a parking lot and I decide to go ask some people if they know where I'm supposed to be going....OH MY....there is MUCH discussing, then there is some gesturing, and pointing, and then a phone call, another car arrives and the tour book is handed to this man in the car, more gesturing, and pointing, and then pointing at me, then him, then the car and a driving motion. So I went back to the car and said, I think we're supposed to follow him. SOOOOO we did...cause that makes sense....
I'm still amused, Adrienne at this point is not as amused...so we follow this man all the way back up and down a different road...and then to a dirt road, white sign post included...down and around we go and I notice another car is following also - random tour caravan? We finally arrive to a paved parking lot, why in the middle of nowhere is there a paved parking lot? We find the shrine and the monument that was also on the tour and NO rice paddy...the other people that were following went to worship the shrine which was rather uncomfortable as I'm reading the tour book and trying to figure the whole thing out...sorry I just took more ocean pictures and I STILL haven't seen a rice paddy - SAD! We ended up making another wrong turn after we left and decided against continuing tour book day...Adrienne was no longer interested in historical walks...better luck next time!

going up north

2009-04-11T01:29:00.000-07:00

On Thursday we headed up north with Adrienne's mom - the day started out rainy, but turned out to be pretty nice weather! We went to Ryuku Mura for the first time which is a recreation of a traditional Okinawan Village, interesting to see...nothing to exciting though. I did enjoy seeing the sugar cane pulp being squeezed out by the machine that was being turned by the bull - who knew?
The bull, I got to pet him too

After that we did our trip up to Cape Hedo, the national park, and of course ended with the Pineapple Park...don't ask how many times that makes (we already have plans to make one more trip before we leave for cookies and face wash)

I love the ocean no matter the weather!

OH MY - see it's not just Adrienne that walks ahead of me!
The flowers were blooming on the side of the road - they looked like pink poppies - pretty!
At the national park we did the big and strange rocks walk...I made Adrienne try and go through this very small space (such a good sport!)

Adrienne being a lizard next to the lizard rock :)

I like how I'm roaring and Adrienne looks nervous...hmmmm
NAPPING at Pineapple Park
...ha ha ha ha - ok it was technically posed...but she did close her eyes for a minute and talk about napping...but the picture was to good to pass up!!

Kyoto (Day 4)

2009-04-08T05:34:00.000-07:00

Day 4 is a reflection of how brave Adrienne and I have become in the last 9 months! First of all, I never expected to be in Japan...but now that I am it's been great to see as much as we can! We hadn't planned our Osaka trip in great detail (I know, what has happened to me?!) and everyone told us Kyoto was worth seeing. Our hotel had the subway route mapped out to Kyoto so we figured why not, how hard can it be after that? Well, apparently Kyoto is MUCH bigger than we expected and everything is harder when you don't speak or read Japanese! I'm examining our "walking" map the hotel gave us and finally figure out there appears to be a subway station somewhat close to the Golden Pavilion that perhaps might get us to our destination??? So we find a worker and point to our destination and the station and they nod and point and look through a book and point out which subway line we want and send us on our way - after asking a few more people we get to the right train and know that we're going to the bus station and to buy a bus ticket there, we buy our tickets and get on the train. I'm pretty sure this was our finest moment thus far in Japan.

At the Kyoto station! So proud!
Next we got on the city bus...an have no idea what to pay or when we pay...but here we are on the bus. I start watching all the people and looking around - I finally see a sign that says 220 so I assume that's the price of our ticket and we figure out that you pay when you get off, the on and off is 2 different doors so it all works out.
We arrive at the bus stop and take a short walk to the Golden Pavilion. It was absolutely gorgeous! The grounds are beautifully landscaped, the Pavilion amazing - the whole thing was worth the Independence trip!! The bottom floor isn't gold and built in the palace style while the other 2 floors are built in the samurai style and Zen style with gold leaf lacquer.

My Japanmate flinging her arms around (skipping style) Makes me laugh every time!
Afterwards we sat down for a bit with some soft serve (cherry blossom soft serve is better than cherry blossom ice cream) I convinced Adrienne we couldn't come all this way and not keep going - our feet were TIRED today! So the next stop was the Ryoanji Temple. Now the map made it look pretty close and when we asked for directions the man said it was a 20 minute walk....hmmmm...ok....sigh. Our walk wasn't to bad but going downhill made me think of going back uphill afterwards :)

Walking behind Adrienne (again!)
In front of the main part of the temple

And of course when we get inside we need to take off our shoes! It felt great to walk around for awhile with the cool wood and no shoes :)
I didn't know that these paintings are made on paper and the paint is made of ground up colored rock and glue - YIKES - talk about a 2nd grade craft on steroids!
Inside the temple was the zen rock garden - it was a little weird to see everyone just sitting and staring at them, the tourists stuck out like a sore thumb with the cameras!

When we left I thought it was kind of ironic to see a traditional Japanese lady in her Kimono and the car parked our back.

After that we walked back up the hill to the bus stop - a short stop at a couple of shops for a cute new bag (to be used as a lunch box) and a beautiful hair tie. We got back on the bus, back to the station and we were heading back towards Kyoto Station but stopping shortly before that to change trains to go to Nijo castle which I think was my favorite stop - inside the castle was amazing, but no pictures allowed - sorry you'll have to go see it yourself! It was the capital in between Tokyo and Osaka (I think I got that right). It's amazing to me how well preserved it looks considering it's over 400 years old!

Once you go inside you take of your shoes of course and walk through each part with the floor squeaking below your feet. There was a neat diagram that showed how they built the floors so they would squeak and no one could sneak up on the shogun. There were lots of paintings done in the colored rock and also gold leaf. The carvings were also very beautiful.

After touring the inside we walked around the gardens - yea for cherry blossom season!

Not only do I have a lot of pictures of Adrienne period...I have a lot of her with her arms flung out doing something :)

All in all - a very successful trip and I'm extremely proud of us for finding our way around without a single mishap! On Wednesday we headed back to Okinawa - surprisingly glad to be back "home" for now! Great trip and now Adrienne's mom is visiting so we're trying to show her as much of the island as we can before school starts again...about 7 more weeks of school left! Love and miss you all - see you soon!

Universal Studios (day 3)

2009-04-08T00:52:00.000-07:00

On the third day in Osaka we headed first to Tully's for a hot breakfast sandwich - YUMMY! and then we were off to Universal Studios via the train...which if I do say myself we have mastered the train system in Japan! We discovered that there was a City Walk outside the park like there is in the states with a Bubba Gumps...I had never eaten there and Adrienne said it was good so we decided dinner that night would be there :) Next we see ANOTHER Golden Spoon...yes we stopped for one - a mini since it wasn't that much later than breakfast (we ate a lot for Japan standards on this day!) The lines to get tickets were rather ridiculous, but we finally made it inside.

Adrienne wanted to do the Hollywood Dreams roller coaster and I said I'd do it if she held my hand - the whole thing was terrifying, I was convinced that I was going to fall out the whole time, the lock in system was NOT very snug....they did give me little purple bands to put on my feet to keep my shoes on though - they were so funny I had to keep them!

That tall thing in the back - that's the drop...AHHHHH!

After that we walked over to find out what time Wicked was playing - we'll just say you haven't seen Wicked until you've seen the summary version in Japanese....WOW! We had until 2:30 so we went on ET and got lunch in the meantime - it was funny to know a movie but have no idea what's going on because everything is in Japanese!

Hello Kitty hat - made me laugh!
Wicked...gotta love the munchkin costumes!

They did a pretty good recreation of the set!

MMMMHHHHH - Melon Float! I matched Wicked perfectly!

The Wicked experience was quite hilarious - thankfully it was a mix of Japanese and English (and Adrienne and I have the soundtrack practically memorized) But it was HILARIOUS to see Japanese (and a few non-Asian) people putting this thing on...Japanese people shouldn't wear blond wigs...not really flattering. Anyway, it said no filming, but I sneaked a clip of the song Popular in Japanese....it's short and not much to look at but it's in Japanese!

Spiderman was kind of intense 3-D ride

The glasses are always super cool!

Ok, for those of you that pay attention to the blog I have who knows how many pictures of Adrienne walking in front of me - I'm proud to say this is my first of her behind me (the little brown bit at the bottom is my hair) Apparently I should walk in front more often and pretend I don't know her...funny girl!

These were the cards from the scary roller coaster After going on Back to the Future and checking out the shops our feet were tired and we were hungry...and there's no re-entry into the park (weird!) so we finally headed to Bubba Gumps - I had amazing Mahi Mahi and shrimp - I think it looks like a beach scene :) After that we headed home! Good day - exhausted!!!

Videos: The one on the right is a Hello Kitty show...I took several videos but I think this is the best one....it was apparently a show about them getting married??? The guy is American (we think) and we felt SO bad for him...apparently he couldn't get a job anywhere else????? The video on the right is my Popular video from Wicked

Osaka Tour (Day 1/2)

2009-04-07T23:05:00.000-07:00

Ahhh SPRING BREAK!!! I'm a little excited (especially since I'm still on it!) Adrienne and I headed to Osaka early Saturday morning - we were supposed to go on a tour Sunday, 1 day of Universal Studios and if we were feeling brave, Kyoto! We had a great time and I'll post everything by day so it doesn't get to long of confusing! I have officially decided that if you are ever going to visit Japan - 1. Okinawa (seriously, beautiful!) 2. Tokyo 3. Kyoto 4. Osaka(just not as pretty as the other places!)

Okinawa from the air...so little, but so pretty!
Our flight was good and the first thing we saw in the airport was Golden Spoon!!! So excited and so yummy :)

We got the train out to our hotel Swissotel and got checked in - our view

our room - rough life, yet again! Our beds were VERY low to the ground though and pushed together - Adrienne liked to put her head in the middle and say hi - it makes me laugh that we spend SO much time together and what do we do at night? Lay in bed and talk!

After we checked in we did some browsing - VERY expensive stores with nothing of interest so we headed back to the hotel to settle in (take a bath!) and get ready for our tour on Sunday.
We took the train over to Hotel Granvia to meet up with our tour - thankfully it wasn't to complicated! Our first stop was the Umeda Sky Building which has the Floating Garden Observatory. You go up 170 meters via escalators and elevators and you can see the WHOLE city! It was kind of a gray day, but it was still and amazing view!

Those are the escalators you go up

My Japanmate...I kinda like her :)

Us at the top!
This was quite the date place...at the gift shop you can get these little heart locks and engraved with the couples names on it and then you go and put you lock on...overlooking the city of course!

Inside they have these little private booths...they made me laugh, Adrienne and I enjoyed the view. I bet they're a hot commodity at night though!

The Umeda building from the ground

In the garden

After that we walked back to the hotel for lunch - YUM! I'm proud to say that Adrienne ate fish - and LIKED IT! I know, shocking, but it was really good! We sat with a couple from Texas who were visiting Japan. They were doing some touring before heading north to visit their son who is teaching English through the JET program. It made us very thankful to be in Okinawa with an American population after hearing about his experience!

Next stop was Osaka castle - back in 600 it was the capital...you can tell the city is much older than Tokyo or Kyoto (pictures to come). It's much darker and not as clean seeming. The feeling is much different than Tokyo as well - not as many black suits, less organized, and the trains were harder....anyway, back to the castle. We walked around the outside for a bit, taking pictures and then we had to wait in a VERY long line to get a western style toilet - not brave enough for the squattie-potty! Afterwards we didn't have much time to get to the top of the castle and the line for the elevator was VERY long...so we climbed all 8 flights of stairs in record time! My legs were a little shaky on the way down!

Guard station

My Japanmate on the top floor of the castle
The view - it's cherry blossom season on the mainland so it was SUPER crowded!
In front of the castle
Osaka Castle
The cherry blossoms in Osaka were white - fluffier than the Okinawa ones, but the pink is so much prettier...these were still nice though!
After the castle we boarded a boat to take a scenic river tour. It was really crowded - we had 4 to a row and since the seats were Japanese sized it was really squished (even for the Japanese men across from us!) Adrienne of course took a nap...I should stop going on boats with her, I know!
The whole river was lined with Cherry Blossom trees - so pretty!
So at one point our tour guide tells us that the water is high and in order to go under the low bridges the ceiling will need to be lowered - odd, but ok...anyway, this is Adrienne before the ceiling was lowered!
This is her after....kind of claustrophobic feeling!

Adrienne was really into the map trying to navigate our way through the city - I meanwhile am frantically hitting her...There, look there! It was a Tully's!! AHHHH, yummy hot bagel sandwich and a mocha - perfect snack! We had to buy a Tully's mug (yes we know it's in America, but we found it in Japan and our mugs say so too!)

After that the tour was over and we asked for directions to the "mall" and the Ferris wheel. We trekked over and did some shopping (cute dress from Gap...yes Gap...but trust me still Japanese!) and then we headed to the 8th floor and rode the Ferris wheel, it was pretty high up there, I got nervous for a second...but started laughing when I remembered a gondola trip Adrienne and I had taken with Cheryl and Sarah (they screamed in terror the whole way) - perfect timing right at dusk!

To be continued...

Not much...

2009-04-02T02:49:00.000-07:00

Well, 3 quarters down - I can hardly believe that 3rd quarter parent conferences are tomorrow! At the beginning this day seemed so far away and now the year is counting down. We have about 40 school days left and 74 days until we arrive back at LAX (June 15 8pm!!!!!) It's funny thinking about how Adrienne and I now say we'll miss this or that here but overall we're so excited to be going home and seeing everyone!! It's been a quiet week - I had one out due to an extended trip to the States (jealous!) and several others in and out due to sickness or one to celebrate the death of his grandfather last year...the family is Buddhist I think, not for sure on that one though...so many customs to keep track of! I've barely had time to think about the fact we leave for Osaka on Saturday but I'm really excited to see some more of Japan...pictures to come! I'm also excited to have a break from the every day and from school (never thought I'd say that huh?). Adrienne's mom comes to visit next week when we're back from Osaka so that should be fun too. I've been busy collecting the last couple of things concerning grad school but I think everything is finally settled and now it's just wait time...worst part for sure! Not much else going on - I'd appreciate prayer for wisdom and a listening ears for conferences tomorrow :) Love and miss you all!

Dr. Fish and the rest of Kevin's visit :)

2009-03-26T00:35:00.000-07:00

So Kevin got dragged to school most of the time, but we did try and get out to all our favorite restaurants and have a little bit of fun at least :)

Here we are cooking our own food at the flashy light restaurant (I don't know the name, it's in Japanese!) YUMMY food!
The Dr. Fish! OH MY - so I saw somewhere that the Dr. Fish were very popular in Japan and I've been harassing Adrienne to go for the last 7 months and Kevin said he was up for whatever so she was outnumbered!!! Anyway, we paid our 1300 yen...you could go in the pools and whatnot also...but they were all labeled naked zone so we passed on that! Anyway, I was THRILLED with the whole thing, giggled through the whole thing (which I'm sure you can hear in the video) Our feet came out not quite callus free, but well on their way (I'd do it again, Adrienne says NO WAY!...we'll see!)

My kids talked Kevin into playing dodge ball - I found it hilarious!

For Saint Patrick's Day it was Green Day...AKA no uniforms, wear as much green as possible! Here are my little green munchkins! I put up my traditional green feet and they wrote stories about the leprechauns coming to play - they didn't notice for over an hour that these little footprints were ALL over...so much for their detective skills ;)

End to End

2009-03-20T15:53:00.000-07:00

Kevin came to visit me which has been really nice to have a face from home - good change of pace! He saw A LOT of Adrienne and my classrooms but we did get out and about and we did the island end to end for the first time for Adrienne and I (took him a week, us 7 months!) I took Friday off and the 2 of us headed north for Cape Hedo and Naha - it was kind of rainy but thankfully it was only on the drive! We go up to where the East China Sea meets the Pacific Ocean and it was really pretty out and VERY windy!

We were sad that Adrienne couldn't come too...she was stuck with her 4 year olds :(
Really? This is where I live...absolutely beautiful no matter what the weather is!

Next we went trooping through the National Park and saw the unusual rocks and the mandatory banyan trees :) Good times!

And what visit is complete without a visit to the Pineapple Park - I think Kevin was a little shocked at how good all the samples were! I'm telling you, it's a must do!

After our glass blowing experience we wanted to down to the southern most tip of the island so we can say we've covered the WHOLE island end to end, but it was pouring rain. When we came down to pick up our glass it was gorgeous, so off we went! I have to say the southern tip is NOT as pretty as the north - but it did make a very nice sunset!
Yep - there's really nothing down south but a field we walked by - some people were planting something...
Adrienne walking ahead...again! Ok ok, this was actually posed, but I promise this is how I live my life here...

Kevin had to put up with a lot this visit - not the best school days for sure - thankfully he survived with a smile!
There was a fence so we decided to do a timed group shot...it was pretty funny trying to get us all in and not fall off the wall!
The HUGE hair is back - hate humidity :( I had to take like 8 pictures so that my hair wasn't taking over Adrienne's face...the wind wasn't helping matters either - but we finally managed to keep the hair out of the picture - poor hair!

Glass Blowing!!!

2009-03-20T15:10:00.000-07:00

So for those of you that have previously missed it - I have a glass PROBLEM! I love the glass here...I admit to the fact that it's most of my souvenir items - it is also my gifts for some lucky people but I admit it...I have acquired a lot of Ryuku glass on the island...not sure how it's all coming home, but the numbers are in my favor! Anyway, I had read in the trusty tour book that you could do it yourself and for only 1500 yen ($15) a bargain for sure! So last weekend was the day - Kevin who has been visiting (more on that in another blog) and Tom joined us for the little trek down south too! We arrived, chose our colors, and were VERY thankful for someone that spoke enough English to explain what to do!

The orientation...this is what it will look like after you blow in that pole and they put it in the fire (a loose translation on my part!)
Adrienne's safe in her gloves!

Adrienne and I with our gloves and little paper cup that we blow through the pole with...basically and ice cream cone slip
After you blow in the pole with your little paper mouthpiece you have to roll it out poking the LARGE tweezer like things into it, while rolling the bar....I admit it was hard to do it and almost set my glove on fire....ooops!
Going into the fire!
My lovely glass that I can't put in the dishwasher or microwave, I also can't put hot liquid in it and based or silverware, based on the pictures I'm not even sure if I should have photographed it! Anyway, the whole thing was random fun - one more thing to mark off the list :)

Me rolling out my glass - watch for the glove to start steaming!

Zip line video

2009-03-08T06:29:00.000-07:00

Ok I've tried a half dozen time to get the spiderwoman video - no harm I suppose...less of me being a chicken :) Anyway - fun times...wanted to share!

Forest Adventure

2009-03-07T01:08:00.000-08:00

So we had a different sort of adventure today - REALLY fun though! Tom invited us to go on zip lines adventure course...only in Okinawa, we'll just say that! We signed out life away, got on a van and headed out to the course! There were 7 zip lines on the course and a few bridge type things, and lots of exercise (at least for those of us lazy civilians!). We first got our harnesses on and our safety course and then we were off! We went through the course twice and the adventure course once (I refused to jump off spider man style twice - it was a bit intense!) I'll let the pictures speak for themselves...no other way to explain this one! We were extremely thankful that the rain held off till the end...a little damp, but still laughing! The pictures are out of order (again) sorry!

Me landing on my butt - so graceful!
Zip zip - it was hard to not get turned around!
Clipping in - it got easier after awhile

I always get left behind...they were figuring out Adrienne's pace count

LOVE this face - she was climbing up to get to the zip line
I went first - they're back on the other side getting ready to go...yep there's the jungle below...CRAZY!
I'm pretty sure the building in the distance is Kim's house...yes, everywhere we go has an insane ocean view!

Part of the adventure course - this was after the spider man jump - I avoided the ring part (see the video's at the bottom for comic relief of Adrienne crossing!
The Spider Man Jump - ok that tall thing straight across is where you stand, you jump, fly across and run into the net...I couldn't hold on to the net so I ended up back half way across kicking my legs to get back - I was terrified!
Crossing the swinging bridge
Adrienne about to do the Spider Man jump
This is the view before the last zip line
This bridge was my favorite - I like to bounce!
This was my least favorite - it was hard not to get stuck it was so narrow
I landed on my feet a couple of times, my butt most of the time - Adrienne on the other hand managed to regularly land on her back - talent and grace I say!
Zipping along!
The adventurers!
The view from the beginning - we were getting our little training
My self portrait skills was a little off today :)

The video is taken while I'm on the zip line - it's just the view. I'll try and get a copy of the video of me being a big wimp doing the spider man jump :) The whole day was hilarious - lots of laughs!

Jameson is 1!

2009-03-02T16:47:00.000-08:00

Make a Smilebox greeting

Because Adrienne asked me to...

2009-02-28T22:58:00.000-08:00

I didn't have much reason to blog...but Adrienne wanted something to read...and I always can ramble on about something :)
It's been a mellow weekend...following a regularly crazy week :) Monday we went back to the hot stone place - YEA! and Yukari our school secretary helped me make back and shoulder massage appointments - which was REALLY nice...much better than our other massage experiences here! Kevin comes in a little more than a week - SUPER excited to have my first Okinawa visitor :) It will be a perfect way to break up the very long month of March! School has been a struggle to get my kids into the swing of things with Samuel...it seems to have thrown us all off, but each day it's a bit better, so I'm hoping to turn a corner next week. I've been busy with conferences...that's what I get for sending progress reports - 11 reports, 11 conferences :( yuck! We have real conferences next month for the end of 3rd quarter - can't believe how close we are to the end of the year! Those conferences are the ones I'm dreading most though - I have to decide by then if my 2nd graders become 3rd graders. I know how far they've come but there are many of them that I don't know if they've come far enough...and retention isn't always the answer...all that to say, there is much work still to be done! We had our first D.E.A.R. Friday this week - drop everything and read...the kids all checked out library books and brought snacks and pillows and we all camped out to read the last 45 minutes of class - the peace and time to grade...I know, I should have been reading too...but it was all so nice! We went to Heather and Dustin's house for games and dinner with their friend Tom. I got to make my turkey pesto wraps - YUM, I've missed those things! Heather made these molten chocolate cakes for dessert - really yummy with ice cream (the ice cream caused a bit of a problem when Heather kept flipping it onto the floor, Dustin got extra ice cream!) We had a good time talking, laughing, and playing - stayed up WAY to late though! The next day Adrienne slept late...I even slept till almost 9 - WAY late for me! We kind of puttered about the house before finally doing our grocery shopping and some other errands. That night we were back at Kitakisen for a good-bye dinner for Adrienne's aide, Azusa. Friday was her last day - Adrienne is already dreading what this means for her and the 16 four year olds - I predict more naps when she gets home :( Be praying for both of us with our kids for the next few months - it's been a challenging year. Today in church Pastor said something though that really struck a chord. When we have faith that God is planning for our eternal life we can have amazing peace even when we don't know the outcome. I may have botched the exact quote...not much of a note-taker - but you get the idea. I think that is one lesson well learned here - that amidst everything else, peace comes from God...our only job is to keep that in mind each moment.

PS for your viewing pleasure Adrienne wanted to "skip over" to the 100 yen store and I didn't really want to go...I said I'd go if she really skipped over and I got to video it...and put it on my blog! Anyway, it was dark, sorry - but you can still tell Adrienne is skipping and flapping her arms for some reason...yes, we're silly...it's really rather freeing knowing that no one can tell you that you look ridiculous (or at least we can't understand it!)

Hot stones, Ostriches, Pineapples, and Spaghetti...hmmm

2009-02-20T22:32:00.000-08:00

Trying to catch up from the last week or so :) oops...Adrienne even said, you FINALLY posted a blog...so dramatic :) We went to this Japanese hot stone sauna place AKA ganbanyoku - it was fantastic...I could so get into this! First you get your towels and you go shower before putting on these oh so attractive pj type things. After that you go in this room and lay on these super hot slabs of stone and my whole body just kind of sighed - it was super relaxing (and not a bad way to lose 600 calories every 20 minutes! I googled it of course and supposedly it detoxifies the body and helps with circulation - my skin was super soft for several days and I felt great afterwards - when (not if!) we go again we might get a 20 minute massage to top the whole thing off. Itsuko (a Japanese lady from church) says they also do a stomach massage...apparently it helps with heart burn so I might need to try that sometime...we'll see! It was really fun - we might go again this week :)

The diagram to healthy living in Japanese :)
Gina was already to go!
Last Saturday we had visitors for tour book day! We had invited Gina and Rocky, who are looking after Sage while her parents are on vacation to go to the ostrich farm. The all-knowing tour book said you could ride ostriches - random, but fun right?!? Anyway, we had them over for lunch and Alisia, Pauline, and Benny came too so our little wood box ended up being a full house for tacos - good times! We headed up north with the girls in the back and the "grown-ups" in the other car. The rain started to come down, but we decided to keep going and hope for it to clear up. Once we got there we discovered you can't ride the ostriches, but you can feed them - after seeing them we were all glad that riding them wasn't allowed, they seemed a bit scary! It was hilarious watching everyone's reactions to the lunging towards the food!

I made Sage put the sunflower from the chocolate covered sunflower package on her head - she only agreed if I did it too
Gina was laughing so hard at Rocky and Benny - they got surprised by the ostrich!

That's my ostrich - he was very polite...no lunging!

We come as a pair - last Sunday night we were even the "couple" to be interviewed for service...don't ask.
From left to right...me, Alisia, Pauline (Sage in front), Benny, Gina, Rocky, and my favorite person in Japan :) Adrienne
The tourist picture from Pineapple Park...yes, we are addicted, yes we will go at least twice more (once when Kevin visits and once when Adrienne's mom comes) We might go once more just for fun! We were shocked because Pauline, Benny, and Alisia have been here for nearly 3 years and had never been - apparently we've been more places on this island than the average person - what can I say, our tour book has served us well! (I had a question about the pineapple park - if you missed the original post you can look back here)
We all squished into one cart - Adrienne and I rode backwards and almost fell out going up the little hill!

All caught up now :) This weekend we helped with LON spaghetti dinner - sorry no pictures, we were to busy making pasta and bread and salad! It was a lot of fun to decorate and cook and of course eat and fellowship! The Okinawa marathon traps us at church (heaven forbid!) so the ladies use the opportunity to do a fellowship fundraiser - good times! Off for another week in Japan - regular scheduling this week I think!

100th blog!

2009-02-20T14:48:00.000-08:00

How fun...my 100th blog! I apparently ramble on more than Adrienne :) or I
m just an excessive blogger - but it's been such a good way to share all my goings on in Japan and there always seems to be something new and different! Part me can't believe I've only been here 7 months and part of me thinks the time has flown - it's been a roller coaster for sure, but a learning experience and one I wouldn't change for the world (ok I might have chosen a different country in retrospect ha ha) but overall such a good experience for me! Thanks to all of you that have shared every word and picture of it with me so far. I appreciate your comments, emails, packages, skype messages...love and miss you all! Anyway - here's my top 10 likes and dislikes in Japan...no particular order!

10 things I love about Japan

1. My Japanmate
2. Tour Book Days
3. Reading at Starbucks
4. Neighborhood Church
5. The sea wall
6. Italian dressing (can’t read anything else on the label though!)
7. Pineapple Park
8. The ocean
9. Ryukyu glass
10. The Japan diet

10 things I hate about Japan
1. Milk
2. Sour cream...it's just wrong that it looks like cream cheese
3. Thomas the car...overheating at a stop light and changing out of gears when it's an automatic is just wrong
4. the wood box AKA our apartment
5. clothing sizes and styles
6. humidity
7. Labels I can’t read
8. 17 hour time difference
9. rain
10. eating lunch with my students

Back to regular programing...still haven't finished my blog from the week - but I'll get caught up soon!

Valentines, Family Fun, and Birthdays....

2009-02-16T03:11:00.000-08:00

We've had a busy week at school this week, new student,Kounosuke had a birthday, Valentine's Day, and Family Fun Day at the park. Sorry the pictures are in reverse order :)

Family Fun Day was on Friday - we were supposed to be at the park by 9, so we left at 8:30 which should have been plenty of time...we got officially lost for the first time though! We finally pulled over and used a pay phone to call Pastor - he told us we were on the right track so we were praying for a car we recognized or a sign we could read - thankfully we saw a car we recognized and did a u-turn to follow it into the OTHER side of the park - this place was huge, we never would have found it on our own! Each teacher was paired up to do field games - Rachel and I did Beetle Bug (a SGCS favorite of mine!), the T-shirt game (you put a shirt on the first person and they hold hands with the 2nd person and the rest of the team pulls the shirt off the first person and onto the 2nd person...all the way down the line), and Spoon Zoom with cotton balls and eggs - all in all fun times :) I even got to watch Adrienne do the chicken dance with her class - made me laugh!

The day ended with a tug of war teachers vs students...we didn't stand a chance!

My class watching the other events
Caterpillar race - HILARIOUS!
Beetle Bug - it took them awhile to get the hang of it but they finally got it!
Kristopher, Kounosuke, and Dennis hanging out
Kyle doing the Spoon Zoom...cotton balls are willy little things!

The T-shirt game was hard work!
Kiana, Ayaka, and Serina waiting for the games to begin.

Valentine's Day was fun all decked out in our pink and read - we delivered our Valentines out in the hall, decorated cookies, and ate our yummy snacks - good day!

My goofy class - Samuel's our newest addition on the bottom left,
Delivering Valentines

My kids took decorating cookies VERY seriously - they had never done it before so we had to have frosting lessons...we might have to do it again they were so cute about it.

Mana might be my favorite (I know, breaking teacher code) - watching her giggle about who knows what we were talking about made me happy
Banri took it VERY seriously - he must have held up the sprinkles choosing what went together best for at least 2 minutes!

Kounosuke had a birthday on Wednesday - pretty good cake, every time I turned around his mom had added another piece to my plate to take home - she was cracking me up!
That covers the kids this week - I'll post the rest of the week later :) Love and miss you all!

WWII Peace Park Memorial

2009-02-07T21:33:00.000-08:00

On Saturday Adrienne and I headed south on a beautiful day :) to go to the Peace Park the commemorates the Battle of Okinawa during WWII. It's been perfect weather lately, but everyone says that if it stays warm it could get HOT sooner...not good, but I'll enjoy the pleasant weather for now! We walked around a bit outside before going into the museum. When we got inside we got the little headsets that explained things in English which was extremely helpful! As we were walking through my heart just felt heavy thinking about how awful the war was for everyone and as I've been researching Japan/Okinawa to correlate with our History lessons it amazes me how shameful the general population finds their involvement in the war. Most people didn't want to be in the war and don't like the Japanese flag due to the fact that it began as a military symbol. Bird walk...anyway, the pictures of the war were much more graphic than anything you would see in the states and there was a replica cave of where people hid from the US soldiers - I had chills standing there in the cold and damp looking at the "people" huddled together and the mother covering the baby's mouth. Every so often a "military vehicle" would rumble overhead and I think I jumped at each explosion. As shocking as the museum was, it painted an interesting picture of the island's history - as well as it's future. The US took this place over for so long and has since made their economy dependent upon the military...it's strange thinking that the US and Japan were enemies, but I've been welcomed so wonderfully into this place. I know there are pockets of people that are resentful that the US is still here, but that isn't a general consensus. The peace park makes so much sense for this place - I've never been to a place that really seems as content as the people here are.

The view from where the Peace Bell is (there was a museum too that has the largest lacquered Buddha in the world...but we passed on that)
The peace bell - Adrienne asked if we were allowed to ring it, we figured it would be bad to get kicked out of the peace park though...

I thought this world map was really cool with all the kids pictures representing each country.

We saw this and realized that we're about 15,000 miles from home and got in this whole discussion if we could be any farther from CA...I looked it up - if we lived in northern New Zealand, we could be farther from home, I'll pass on more distance
You all are out that window - I waved...it will get there eventually :)
The back side of the museum
The Pacific Ocean :)
There were 4 groups of 7 rows of plaques that looked like this for the Japanese and 1 group of 4 of Americans - it was commemorating people that had either died in Okinawa during the battle and/or the Okinawans who died during the Pacific War - some were more recent though so I'm not sure about those people.

Seriously?? Always a beautiful view here!
Rows and rows of memorials

Afterwards we went to the Ryukyu glass factory - I LOVE that place! If you want to see the glass they make here you can see it at: http://www.wonder-okinawa.jp/009/english/

Good weekend - busy week, Valentine's Day party, Family Fun Day at school this Friday...a new student...hmmmm :)

Kids 100 days later!

2009-02-07T05:19:00.000-08:00

OH MY OH MY...it's been a busy week of kids :) Wednesday was Alyssa's last day of school here so I had helped the class make a book for her and baked a cake in the toaster oven and we had a little Sayonara of our own - I hope she enjoys being back in the States!

Alyssa eating her Funfetti cake - my class was fascinated by the little dots of color...took multiple explanations for them to understand how I had done that!
This was the silly picture...my little hooligans!
Friday was the 100th day of school and I had built it up for the last couple of weeks so we were REALLY excited that day...but I think it was one of our better days so that made it nice all around. Our morning was pretty normal until after our spelling test and then we started making our 100's snack - I put everything out that they had brought in...the Japanese don't quite get trail mix, so we had some interesting choices, but the kids liked it and we had a good time! I tried some new yummy snacks too! They all worked on their 100's day books while the others made the snack.

Kai and Mana
Nathan and Kyle
Kiana and Kristopher...serious business!
Mai and Shuan (Shuan had to examine the Snickers VERY carefully...my kids didn't know what they were!)
Dennis and Ayaka
Ryuki and Lauren

Banri and Serina - this was their 2nd picture, I had to make silly noises and faces to get Serina to smile and that's the best I got out of Banri :)

Kounosuke and Milena
At recess we took 100 small steps, 100 giant steps, and jumped 100 times...we ended the afternoon with the goal of reading 100 books (didn't quite make it, but we had fun anyway!
Seriously, how cute is she?
Kounosuke sits like this often, it seems to help him think!

Milena's reading has improved so much this year!

That night we went over to Kim's house to kid sit...OH MY, the apartment is lovely and has the BEST view ever...thing 300 degree ocean - not quite 360 but close! We ate pizza (yum) tried the new root beer float in a bottle (interesting) watched (I use this term loosely) Prince Caspian. Then the move ended and the escapades began! There was MUCH picture taking, dancing, running, hokey pokeying, and who knows what else - but we had a really good time!

Matthew has a floating head

We were getting worn out - had to rest before the craziness continued!

I'm not sure what's happening here really
Matthew and Emma with Adrienne
Samuel cut Emma's head off...might have been on purpose, but he said we all looked beautiful, so who's to argue?!?
It's a hat I guess :)

Sayonara Dinner

2009-02-05T01:25:00.000-08:00

Monday night Adrienne and I went to our first Sayonara dinner...not for us...the church goes to Kitakisen (I'm sure I spelled that wrong, Adrienne corrects me often, but I'm ok with it!) Anyway, it's this Japanese restaurant that has some of EVERYTHING you can think of from sushi to yakitori to pizza (japan style). Anyway, we didn't know what to expect - 2 families were leaving this week, one being the Delacruz family (Alyssa is in my class) so I felt it was important to go :) We get there and pull up chairs next to Rocky and Gina (yea!) and start looking at this massive menu - we picked out beef kabobs, yakitori and rice, and shrimp tempura - YUM YUM! In typical fashion, Gina insisted on sharing their food too - the seafood salad was yummy, so were these cheese things, the fried rice with chicken, and they had a Kitakisen roll....totally a California roll :) Everything was really yummy - but after we ordered it got SUPER crowded...at least 80 people jammed in this room. Everybody is laughing and talking and wandering around trying everyone's food - so fun! In Japan every food place you go to gives you wet wipes to use before dinner (and after too!). I think these are the best things ever, Adrienne laughs at me! Anyway, some places give you disposable ones, and some places give you wash clothes. This was a wash cloth restaurant. Well, at some point someone decides to throw the wash cloth across the room - it nearly landed on Adrienne's head! So instead of a food fight there was an instant wash cloth fight...I laughed hysterically and later when I went to get into my purse I discovered one had landed in there too! Good food, good company, and LOTS of laughter!

Adrienne with Alyssa and Sage (we're still waiting to go to Toys R Us and find our husbands)

Gina is the official cake maker and I, who am not a huge cake fan, like her cake. So Rocky says, you have to sit down, or you don't get cake...since the room was so crowded Robert sat on the floor so that they couldn't deny him his cake!
Gina and Adrienne - Rocky threw the tomato in the picture just as I snapped it - Talent!

Rocky in his loud shirt...there were a million pictures taken because Gina was trying to get the tomato in the picture... her timing wasn't as good so Rocky started making faces after awhile

Wordless Wednesday

2009-02-04T14:54:00.001-08:00

Alyssa is going back to the States - Bye silly girl!

For more Wordless Wednesdays
http://www.5minutesformom.com/5472/ww-discovery-cov/