Time to say goodbye...

This is going to be my last post for a while. The time has come for us to move back to the US! We will have movers here Monday and Tuesday. We are also staying with our dear friends, the Deavers, on Monday and Tuesday. Then, we will go into the TLF (on base hotel) for 10 nights until we fly out on the 16th. When we did the numbers, it was cheaper for us to go to the TLF than to pay rent everyday. :)

The computer is being packed up tomorrow, so I won't be able to blog though I plan to still take MANY more pictures in the days (weeks) to come. I will have a lot to catch up on!

We have truly loved our time here on this wonderful island. We really had no idea what to expect, but we have been pleasantly suprised. Of course, it had its challenges. I realized today that even after two years, I still can't figure out the lint catcher on my Japanese dryer. I can't read the buttons on my dishwasher or AC. I never realized how much I am in love with having a garbage disposal, as it is one of those items that you miss once you haven't had it for a while. We have missed family terribly, but we found a special closeness within our own little family and that has made home quite the haven. The boys have only had themselves to be with for the majority of the time and they have formed such a strong bond of brotherhood.

We will miss the people here and their gentle, kind and humble personalities. We will miss the simpleness here. The Okinawan's are not into having to have lots of "stuff" and that has been such an eye opening and wonderful lesson for us. We will miss the way that this culture always treats everyone with respect and kindness. The way that everyone here just obeys the law, because it is the law.

We are looking forward to our new adventure in California; to being able to be with family once again on a more (hopefully!) regular basis. But, we will have a warm place in our hearts for this wonderful little island out in the East China Sea.

Family Pictures

A few girls from the branch offered to take a few family pictures of us on the beach here in Oki. It was just perfect for pictures...and by that I mean the sun was far too bright in our eyes, it was raining AND is was horribly windy. :)

But, with lots of patience from everyone, we were able to go to two different locations and take a few pictures. Thank you so much to Bambi and Fayette for taking these for us!

I won't give a running commetary on all of these pictures but if are wondering what we are all looking at in our hands it is hermit crabs. The beach was crawling with them and we all had fun catching them and comparing whose was best.

Mona Kids Jungle

Mona Kids Jungle= Kid Heaven

It is an indoor playplace that is...actually....downright....CLEAN!! (my germaphobe fears did not rear its ugly head even once! Yay!)

They could fly...

play drums...

and even lounge in a ball pit (without getting stuck by hypodermic needles, eaten by scary creatures, or attacked by some unknown virus).

Easter

Better late than never right?

We enjoyed a fun Easter with our dear friends, the Deavers. What will my kids (and me!) do without them when we leave?

After much convincing (of Josh) we did finally get a picture with the Easter bunny. Josh is so ready to bolt and not happy to have the creature touching him in any way. Good thing Logan has a nice strangle hold on him to keep him steady. :)


After a delicious dinner, we enjoyed an evening Easter egg hunt. I love seeing the East China Sea in the background here!

Logan and his almost full basket!

Andrew and his best friend Lucy.

It was serious business for Josh. He was not wasting any time getting to the "goods" laying wait inside the egg. He loves his chocolate!

The kids searching for the last of the eggs.

Finally Done

I have finally finished the last of my quilt squares! I am glad that I didn't know how much time overall that doing these squares would take because that would have really made me hesitate. But, I am happy with the finished product. All in all, I made 20 of the sanshin square, 5 (and thank heavens ONLY 5) of the Shisa square and 2 of the sugar cane and rice hat. Overall, I will have 25 different squares (from the others in my groups) for a wonderful memory quilt.

Now to find some nice quilting lady that would like to piece together all of these squares for me. There is NO WAY I am going to learn to piece a quilt on something that has this much "sweat equity" put into it.

I am trying not to panic...

But, I only have 1 week left in my house! Here I am thinking I am getting all prepared in plenty of time and then it hits me- YOU HAVE 1 WEEK TO GET YOUR LIFE IN ORDER, ack! I gotta tell ya, there is nothing like an organizational kick in the pants than trying to move your life across the planet (again).

On another note, my kids have said and done a few things that have been so cute and sweet that I knew I would need to "blog" about them before they are lost from my mind forever.

I'll start with Andrew:
Andrew is my scientist at heart. If he isn't learning about anatomy then it is natural/earth sciences. If it isn't either of those, it is astronomy or marine biology; and if those aren't floating his boat at the moment it is chemistry. And right now, we are talking a LOT about chemistry in this house. Andrew's favorite evening pastime is to go onto youtube (WITH mom and dad of course) and watch chemisty experiments (how would I have even guessed that I would be trying to explain the periodic chart of elements with my 8 year old?). His favorite experiment at the moment, is one of a college professor putting some sulfur into water and watching the "explosive" reaction...good times I tell ya. Anyway he is always asking how old he has to be until he can go into THAT college class and talk to THAT professor about chemistry. Love it. He said to me the other day as I was driving the boys to school "Mom, when I am in college and you come and help in my class (I help out in his class a lot) I will get to show you all of MY experiments." Ahh, it makes a moms' heart melt to hear that my son wants his mommy to come to his college class to see his work. I know it will pass but I will relish it for the moment.

Next is my Logan. He is my creative little one that craves learning and projects. He is such a little Dana in the fact that he is a perfectionist and just seems to intuitively "get" how things work. He is so loving and loves to project his love in works of art. If I am gone for even just a little bit and he is home with Dad, I always find a picture taped to the door that Logan has made for me. Of course, I save every one and have quite a stack built up now; such sweetness.

Another little habit he has picked up is that he meticulously folds his pjs each morning and gently places them into his drawer before getting dressed. I really need to get this on tape. He lays the shirt down on the bed, smooths out the wrinkles, folds in the sleeves and then folds the shirts in to thirds. Then, the same routine with the pants. EVERYDAY. Where did he get this? Should I be worried?! I am more of a stuff and grab kind of a girl and even Dana isn't that concerned about his folding (though admittedly, more than I am).

My third and final cute memory is something Joshy (my wild card) said to me this week. He is SURE that I need another baby in my tummy (I don't). In fact, we were standing in line at the military post-office on base together in a LONG line of quietly patiently waiting soldiers. Out of the blue, Joshy says in his much too loud at that moment voice, "Mom, you gotta get a baby in there!" as he pats my tummy...ya, thanks kid. That wasn't embarrassing even one little bit.

Then, the next day as we are driving in the car, once again the subject comes up about babies in the tummy (you would think I have a daughter...where is my little rough and tumble son getting all this?) and that babies grow bigger while they are in there. Well of course Josh says to me, "Mom, I gotta get back in there right now!" Confused I say, "In where, my tummy?!" "Yes" Josh says, "I need to get back in there so I can get bigger and stronger now!" Ha! I had a good laugh outta that one.

Home Sweet Home

I had a busy week last week. Well, let me back up a little. Dana was in Thailand for 3 weeks. It was long and crazy all rolled in together. Then, one week later, I was on a plane to come back to the States to try and find a home at our new assignment; and I did!

We did our homework and I flew out with 20 homes that I really wanted to look at with the agent that was waiting to give me the grand tour. At the start of that first day, a whopping 3 were left of the 20; they had all been sold. The buyers market was quickly being gobbled up by investors. After a frustrating first day of looking at overpriced very dirty and or stripped houses I was feeling a bit discouraged to say the least.

On the second day (I only had a week planned for my trip) this lovely little gem of a home fell into my lap. It was a case of being in the right place at the right time (or an even better view would be divine intervention).

We are looking forward to actually being able to live in our own house for 4 years! That is the longest we will have lived in any one place in our 11 years of marriage, yay!

(Oh, and Dana just walked in the room and said,"What? Are you blogging?" A sure sign of being REALLY behind in doing something that I love.)