Thursday - Citizen's Forestry Park

We went to Citizen's Forestry Park on Thursday. The girls THOUGHT they'd been on all the types of slides we have in Japan...but they hadn't...by a long shot. LOL Check below for videos of the slide. 

The Cherry Blossoms were still blooming.....I took advantage of them to take these lovely blooms coming out your head shots...

This is a brand new play structures at Citizen's Forestry Park.....it's very nice.

Lake Ogawara ( in the background) is pretty, the beach is nice and quiet, the park is new, they have cabins that are not full of spiders and they have tent sites right on the lake. We will be back....

We ended the day by meeting Michael on base for dinner. Tina and Randy happened on a great sale on laptops and we went and grabbed one for Jared's graduation....our standard grad gift....for $189.....a much better price than our standard price. ::snort::  Guess, we'll buy something else to go along with it too.  Stacia had been saving for a new doll and so she, Michael, Zander, Arielle and Bre went to pick it out while Krista, Nolan and I executed a commissary run! LOL

Another very full day with the girls here. My heart is happy when the older kids come home.  I was relieved to have another day at Citizen's without any broken bones. It's really quite amazing. 

Videos:

Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Catching up - Shipwreck May 16th

I was SO happy that I'd prepared my session slides, notes etc before the girls arrived - this allows time to play in the days before retreat - this and the fact that Misawa has an awesome retreat coordinator this year - and it's not me. LOL  Resting in Susan and her team - and knowing that my part was ready to go - we played while Michael worked to fund our play. 


I downloaded AWESOME directions for Shipwreck Beach here! They turned out to be the way Michael goes so we did well.  The tide was very high, the waves were high, it was windy and cold....but we had fun. 

On the way home we stopped at Lake Ogawara Park - in Kamikita. I had been here once before but couldn't find it when I tried to take Michael and the boys back. We found it! It was a GREAT day for the directionally challenged. 

Can you find all 7 Gherkins

Four Sisters

Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Interesting Day

What to do; what to do...  A couple of options popped up.  We could go to Miss Veedol beach - I have not seen it since it was repaired.  Jared suggested we go to the base and let him drive around a bit.  Hmmm.  We decided to do both.

We drove out to Cummings Elementary and while Nolan, Alex and Stacia played in a nearby playground, I began teaching Jared some of the fundamentals of driving - mirrors, signals, brake and gas pedals, looking for traffic/people.  We then loaded everyone up and Jared drove us out to Falcon Gate.
From there I drove us on out to Miss Veedol beach.  It appeared to be a bad year for birds.  There were bird carcasses all over the place - Yuuki was the only one showing any interest.  We walked out to the end of the jetty.  The ocean was fairly calm.  We did spy out a place that would work for a tent camping spot.  Have to keep it in mind for the summer.  They really have done a lot of work to bring the beach back into use.  Those of us who remember it pre-tsunami, though, know the difference.  There is a lot of work left to do - a lot of work...
We had the added bonus of having a couple of guys out with their RC helicopters and a plane.  They did a great job with them. 
After a quick bite to eat, we headed back to the base.  Jared took over the driving as we headed back in through the Falcom Gate again.  He drove us around through the North side and around to the BX (he works tonight).  There just is not a lot you can do to get driving experience on-base.  All said, he really did do a good job even if this were not his first time out.  I think he is going to catch on quickly.
We checked out a case lot sale - about what we had gotten used to at Misawa - disappointing to say the least, either that or all of the good stuff is already sold out.  Then we went home, cooked up some lasagna and broccoli - the broccoli was, apparently, for me alone.  The kids are angling for another movie, but I am planning on going to bed early.

By Grace
Michael
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

You Won't Believe It!

I'm working hard to focus, focus, focus and make the most of my early a.m. hours to prepare for speaking and W.I.L.D. and simply ministry correspondence.....focus...focus...and THEN

WHAT?

Not every day someone parachutes into the field next to you.  Now...FOCUS!


Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Stalked!

Decades on yahoo groups, chat rooms, Facebook, blogging...and I finally have a real-life-stalker. This must be documented. It seems you can get messages from "friends" on Facebook and you get messages from "others" on Facebook. I'd never noticed this before last week and didn't realize how many messages I had in there. 


An older widower has worked hard to get his body back in shape and has found me on Facebook. He is a CAPTAIN in the Army - in charge of an Army Regiment. ::snort::  (Totally not the right phrasing - c'mon!)


He is desperately smitten with me as I'm a "darling widow" with a "happy and healthy demeanor."  And here I've been thinking I'm far to fluffy and need to shed some of this "healthy demeanor." 

Life only gets stranger as you enter middle age - and yes I think 48 is about middle age. We have no clue how I got listed as a darling widow and Michael assures me this new label doesn't fit. LOL 


Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Terrific Tuesday (Terrifically Harried?)

Wow - we were wading through sludge this a.m. - but God is good. Arielle, Krista and I went to PWOC. The others slept in.  We have a great local team and they had tables set up...one distraction after another but it all worked...and I even made it to the prayer time beforehand. Devotional was great (way to go Mandy) and our e-100 continues to be a huge blessing. Christie taught today and knocked it out of the ball park. She'll cover for me next week as well. I suspected I'd be harried about now. 

But BEFORE PWOC there were several ministry emails, several PORs to be tended too and emailed out and a skype with my leader....love skype. 


Lots of fun retreat prep going on - it's going to be good. Lunch with my boyfriend (and the girls)....back at home....

Boys activities....video games.....school is OUT for the year and they are vegging....

Girls.....well nails all around and hair...they even did YUUKI'S nails......

Michael got home as dinner preps were in full swing. Interesting to fit 9 of us in our dining room. ::snort:: We watched a bit of Hogan's Heroes....Michael helped me scan PORS to Camp Zama.  The early risers......are out - all 3 of them.

The night owls....are still busy....

I'm going to go see if I can read in bed.....or maybe I'll google for directions to Shipwreck...never done it alone...but the kids would like to attempt it tomorrow....or maybe Morioka....stay tuned.....


And I need to take a photo of my new necklace...totally awesome! You won't believe the story. 


Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Ortho, Tricks and Games

• "What time DOES the sun come up around here?" Krista up with the sun as is her mother...and the answer...04:18 this a.m. 
• "Now you can see how beautiful this place is without snow!" Zander loves Japan and is happy to share it with the girls! 
• Zander's accident was private ..... VERY private! And he had us all in stitches retelling it at dinner!

Arielle saw the ortho today! UGH. He said she is only the second patient he's seen in his practice who has had this happen...I knew I didn't want to hear. Her bite has WAY over-corrected. I knew this. She is having trouble talking, she can't chew....He had said they purposefully over-correct as the teeth move back after they are done...but hers don't even match now....so....instead of getting braces off she will go a month without rubber bands...and then if it isn't where he wants it she will rubber bands again - THIS time in reverse. 

The girls and I ran to the mall today. Always fun...Krista has some ideas for journals that I want to try for WILD....not being crafty I'm leery - but SHE makes it sound easy. ::snort:: 

The kids have been working to re-teach Yuuki how to roll over. Ms. Susi told us she USED to do this trick....She really likes to sit, stay, and shake...the commands we have used....she's a bit rusty on rolling...

 By the end of the day....

Dinner was Gyudon, rice, fruit and salad....and it was fun to have a host of folks in the kitchen helping and simply talking while I worked. I miss that greatly.  The kids played games....

All have gone to bed. I stayed up to do a bit of WILD work....and am heading to bed as soon as I hit publish and switch the load in the washer to the dryer.

Choosing Joy!
©2012 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...