Rick's Mt Fuji Hike....amazing!

A view of the sunrise!

Lots of clouds, no end in sight.
A view into Mt Fuji's huge crater.

Torri gate near the summit.

Tokyo!!

Our Tokyo trip was fabulous!! Since we packed so much into this trip we will have to blog it by day.

It's a 2 1/2 hour flight north to Tokyo. Compared to a 12 hour flight home, this is just a little hop. One movie and we're there!! My traveling motto is "plug them in", they love it and daddy gets to sleep :)

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To get around we took the subway. Good thing our friends had been to Tokyo and were familiar with how it all worked. This was Rick and my first time ever riding the subway!! The kids had a blast not having to wear seat belts.

We have really missed eating at some of the American restaurants so we went to the Roppongi District to eat lunch. We ate at the Hard Rock Cafe.

The Tokyo Tower is Japan's version of the Eiffel Tower. We went up to get a good view of Tokyo. You don't realize how huge this city is until you get a birds eye view of the skyscrapers going on in every directions as far as you can see. It makes L.A. look tiny.

We let the kiddos run around the Imperial Palace lawn while we relaxed.

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Still to come.........the fish market, the zoo, Tokyo Disney, and Rick's hike to the top of Mt. Fuji!!

Tokyo Subway?!

We are getting ready for our trip to Tokyo on Thursday and thought it would be nice to familiarize ourselves with the subway system since that is what we will use to get around. Here is a map of the Tokyo subway.



AAAHHHHHH!!!!!

If you hear of an american family that got lost for a week in the Tokyo subway..........it was probably us.

WISH US LUCK!!!!

Janna's Visit!!!!

Our first visitor!!!!!!! So this was Janna's first time flying. I don't know who was more nervous the day she flew here, Rick and I, Janna, or Houston and Martha. Let's just say when Janna got here safe we could all finally relax.

We are having so much fun with Aunt Janna! The kids love her. They think she is too much fun. Here are a few of the highlights of her visit so far.

Forest Adventure Park


Pedicures at Cocoks!!


Shuri Castle

We will be sooooo sad when she leaves. It's been neat being able to share our "world" here with someone from back home :)

Summertime Adventures

It's summer time! Some pics for your viewing pleasure. Will turned 2 this month. At his 24 month check up we were told he's in the 90th percentile for his height, the kid is a beanstalk! Summertime means Rick wears his white Navy Uniform now, the white's look nice, but they're hard to keep clean.
Will got quite a sunburn earlier this week. He and Evelyn were being watched by our neighbors while Wendy went to a dental appointment...they played in the kiddy pool for about an hour. The picture shows you the end result, oops! The kid burns easy and we didn't give our neighbor fair warning. The picture makes it look worse than it really was. Will never complained of any discomfort, and he didn't blister or peel (lucky for us).
Also included are some pictures from Rick's last SCUBA dive, we live in such a beautiful place. The first pic is a crown of thorns starfish (very poisonous, try to avoid stepping on them!), second are a pair of lionfish (also very poisonous...a sting from one of its spines is supposed to induce extreme pain, lucky for Rick the fish is non-aggressive. The other pic is just of a cool starfish (not sure of the name??).
Lastly, we've included a couple pics of Nakagusuku castle ruins. There are several castle ruins that you can visit here in Oki, but this has been are favorite thus far. Come and see us, we promise to take you there.

Bios on the Hill Nature Park

Bios on the Hill is a natural botanical garden themed after Okinawa's forests and orchids. The dragons and houses that are designed into the gardens are beautiful.

The kiddos had a blast running around and playing on everything. We took a guided boat tour through the park. It would have been extra special but we couldn't understand one word that the tour guide was saying, hehehe :)

Kuwae Preschool Graduation

Evelyn's last day at Kuwae Preschool was wonderful. Her class sang all of their favorite songs, received "graduation" certificates, and had a cookie party. It was neat to hear her sing a few of the songs in Japanese. She is going to teach them to me so we will never forget them.




Mrs. Blodgett and Ryoko-San were wonderful teachers and Evelyn loves them. She will miss them very much.

Ie Island Trip

This last weekend we made a trip out to Ie Island (a small island just off the coast of Okinawa). The motivation behind our trip was so Rick and a few friends could participate in the Annual Ie Island Half Marathon. Ie is only accessible by ferry, and it takes about a half hour to ride over. The Island was absolutely beautiful. We have attached several pictures showing where we stayed and some of the sites.

Ready for Summer!

Evelyn got her cast off! She was such a great sport through it all. She loved putting on the goggles and having her cast sawed off. Right after having her cast removed she said, "Mommy, my arm is floating". Her arm felt so light she thought it was floating :)

I change my hair every couple of months. I ventured out and got my hair cut in town by a guy named Miyagi. Short again for the summer. Good job Miyagi San!

We went with some friends up north and camped at Okuma. We stayed in a cute little cabin that was a short walk to the beach. We got to take a tour of the area in a cool buggy. Fun Fun Fun.

Introducing...Robot Girl!!!!

Evelyn started out Friday night as a normal girl but came home as "Robot Girl" with a super powerful robot arm.

We were at Big Dip getting some ice-cream and Evelyn fell off a pretty high stool. As she was clutching her wrist and crying in my arms I asked the question that no parent ever wants to ask...."Do you think it's broken". The swelling was instant and she was shaking with pain so off to the ER we went.

The x-rays were clear...it's broken. The good thing is that it's a "buckle brake". Her bones are soft so instead of breaking the bone buckled. The x-ray showed a bump on her bone (distal radial to be exact). It should heal pretty quickly.

She has a temporary cast with a sling right now. On Tuesday she will go into Orthopedics, get new x-rays and a permanent cast. Fun, Fun, Fun!!!

Evelyn has been a super kid through the whole thing. To look at her you would think nothing ever happened. Super Robot Girl to the Rescue!!!