Update from Arizona

Well, we've almost been here for 2 months now and we're still anxiously awaiting the arrival of our furniture. I think it must have been put on the slow boat from Japan. So, we're still hanging in here with our empty house.

Bryce has been keeping us busy with his weekly swim lessons and his art class on the weekend. He's a real fish in the water and his favorite thing to do is jump in and get everyone around him wet. He's enjoying his art class so our fridge is covered with artwork.

I've been slacking in the picture taking department lately so, don't have any of my own pictures to post. Thanks to Aunt Lori emailing pics she took while she was here, I do have some pictures to share...

Riding his bike...
Coolin' off in the sprinklers...
Decorating cookies for the 4th of July...
Rewarding himself for his hard work...
Trying to get the ball past the nose hairs at the AZ Science Museum...
Showing Aunt Lori where the organs go...
What kid doesn't love a box?

Baseball & Hiking

We took Bryce to his first baseball game this weekend. The Arizona Diamondback's stadium is amazing! It's enclosed with a retractable roof & air conditioning (you need that in AZ), a children's playground, an arcade, and an indoor swimming pool. Bryce enjoyed watching the game and seeing all the action on the Jumbotron (we were in the nosebleed section).

Then on Sunday, we took advantage of the "cooler" weather and headed out for a hike.

4th of July Weekend

Happy 4th of July! We celebrated the 4th at the Surprise Stadium where the Royals have their Spring training. Unfortunately, we didn't get to watch the fireworks at the stadium because of lightening storms that were going on around the area. On Saturday, we decided to take our first road trip and headed 2 hours north to Flagstaff. We started out at 8 in the morning when it was already 92 degrees in Surprise and drove past fields of cactus up into the mountains where the temperature gradually decreased and we started driving into tall aspen and pine trees. We walked around the town of Flagstaff and watched an Indian dance and then headed up to the Snow Bowl in hopes to ride the ski lift up to the top of the mountain. Once we got to the top though, it was raining & hailing and a very chilly 59 degrees so, we didn't get to ride to the top. Bryce was the only one of us who was prepared for the cold weather. We just couldn't believe that 2 hours could make such a big difference in temperature & landscape.

Our House

Here's video of our house here in Surprise, AZ. We looked at several different houses and like I said in a previous post, the deciding factor was the grass in the backyard. We're pretty "bare bones" right now since our household goods won't get here until sometime in August. (Bryce is enjoying the empty space to run around in.) I'll be sending out a change of address to everyone so you can update your address books with our new address.

Greetings from Arizona!

We all made it to Arizona and boy have we been busy from the minute we stepped off the airplane. First, I want to thank my parents for being such a big help to us! They met us at the airport and helped watch Bryce while Wayne & I picked up the Jeep, looked at houses and ran around. We picked up our Jeep last Thursday and drove it off the lot with only 4 miles on it, with all the running around we’ve done this past week, it already has 500 miles on it! So far, we’ve been to Mesa, Tempe, Phoenix, Glendale (saw the Superbowl Stadium) and finally, Surprise where we’re going to live. After looking at 5 houses, we found the house that we’re going to live in. The deciding factor was the grass in the backyard for Cody & Bryce. (We move into the house on Friday so I’ll post pics as soon as I can.) It is hot here and most everybody stays inside until around 7 or 8 at night. To beat the heat, we’ve gone to the splash park for Bryce to play at a few evenings…

Goodbye Okinawa!

Well, our bags are packed and in less than 24 hours, we’ll be leaving the place that we’ve had the opportunity to call “home” for the past 6 years. While we’re excited to be coming back to the states and starting a new adventure, we’re sad to be leaving Okinawa. This is such a beautiful place with wonderful people. We’ve had so many amazing experiences during our time here. Some of our favorites are: whale watching, seeing the Cherry Blossom trees each year, tangerine picking, Eisa Festivals, going to the fish market, exploring tunnels from WWII, visiting many different castle ruins, and visiting all the different tourist spots around the island. When I asked Wayne what his most memorable experience here was, he said the annual Eisa/Orion Beer festival. We did have a good time seeing all the dancers and interacting with the Japanese locals during the beer festival (and of course we can’t forget about the beer). My most memorable experience would have to be going to mainland Japan and climbing Mt. Fuji. That was the most challenging thing that we’ve ever done (it took us 6 hours to get to the top of the mountain and then 4 to get back down). I think if Bryce were able to say what his favorite thing here was, he would say going to the beach and playing in the water. So, if you have about 4 minutes, please watch the video of some of our favorite things from Okinawa…

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Last walk at the seawall

We took our last walk down at the seawall last night. It was a nice evening and the tide was out so we were able to play in the tidepools. Bryce enjoyed picking up the hermit crabs. By the time we left, he was soaking wet. As we were walking, I was soaking up the sound of the waves rolling in and the scenery because in just 2 short days, we'll be looking at nothing but desert.