Lunch with the Ladies

 On November 4, Dan took the 2 big kids off to an activity in Tokyo.  So I took  some girls out to lunch with my friends.  (Callie stayed home and worked on a school project.)  We had lunch at the Hawaiian Restaurant in the YouMe Town in  Hatsukaichi.  It has the most diving pancakes and delicious burgers.  (My mouth is watering right now as I write this!)

The girls got the pancakes with ice cream.  It looks bigger in real life, I promise.

Delaney wanted to try the mango juice.  She did not like it.  But I did! 

My amazing avocado burger.  So good! 

 Rylee's plate- all but licked clean!

Trick or Treat

 Halloween was a good time for us.  It was a low-key, fairly relaxed affair. Dan sponsored a family and went around the base with them.  The little girls went out with Friends.  Marian disappeared with her group of friends and I didn't see her again till bedtime.  Joshua hid and did homework.  I sewed and let Callie take charge of the candy distribution, and it was a satisfactory evening for all.

Rylee was a kitty.

As was Delaney 

Callie set the stage on the porch. This shot does not show all the murdered Barbie dolls, just the knife-wielding AG doll. 

Callie was in her element.  She was disguised and no one really knew who she was so she had a marvelous time passing out candy. 

She did frighten some of the small children. 

But a lot of the Japanese got a kick out of her, and I could hear the cameras clicking.  She loved it. 

Rylee and her friend. 

The neighborhood gang. 

Josh's Last Cross Country Meet- Sasebo

Josh's last Cross Country Meet was in Sasebo.  He ended up with a fairly light schedule this year- he missed the first two meets due to an injury.  He skipped out on one of the Tama Hills meets because he had a friend visiting.  And the last Tama Hills meet was cancelled since it was scheduled as an away meet on our Homecoming weekend. So Josh ended up going to Tama Hills twice (out of 4 trips), participating in the home meet, and going to Sasebo once (out of 2 meets).  Only the top 5 boys went up to Misawa and to the Far East Tournament, and he wasn't top 5.  It was a pretty laid back season for him.  Although he may not have felt that way!

But I digress..... We went to Sasebo!

There was no school that Friday.  Joshua and the Cross Country team got on a bus at 8am and departed then.  I got a call from Joshua, not from his phone, at 10:30am  "I can't hear you because it is too noisy.  Don't worry.  We are standing by the road so it is loud.  You probably got the email that the bus was in an accident.  Don't worry, no one is hurt.  Bye!"

Um, I had NOT read the email, so I ran off to do so. It said essentially the same thing, so that was not helpful.  And why didn't he call from HIS phone?! I had visions of his phone engulfed in flames on the bus while he watched.  And I worried and was concerned that I had no way to contact him.  He had said they were fine though, and no one said there was a problem. So I hoped there really wasn't one.

Dan took the afternoon off and we headed out at 1pm.  We did pass the bus 2 hours later- it was getting ready to be towed away.  No boys in sight.  We swung through the next rest stop 3km down the road.  It also was devoid of American high school students.  We continued on and reached Sasebo just after 5pm.  Joshua texted and said he had also just arrived.

We went out to dinner at Chilis and yum!  As we were leaving, the Cross Country Team was coming in, and we got the scoop on the incident.  The bus had slowed or stopped for traffic, just after a curve in the road.  Cars coming up behind them were unaware of the slower traffic, and the guy coming up right behind the bus switched lanes and the poor car behind him didn't know till it was everlastingly too late and he ran into the back of the bus.  The coach was thrilled to mention that the boys all got rides in Japanese police cars over to the rest stop. He said he had pictures, but he has not shared them, although I await eagerly to see this.

We stayed the night at the billeting on base and it was less pleasant than it has been on prior trips- bed with a dreadful sag in the middle and AC that clicked on noisily when it cycled on.

But the sunrise was glorious. And I enjoyed it fully as I went out to get lots and lots of Dunkin Donuts.  I wish WE had a Dunkin.

We opted to sleep in an extra hour rather than follow the bus to the meet site.  I had a pin on my phone and it managed to get us almost all the way there.

I remembered the last mile or so being narrow, but not THIS narrow!

Several miles up the mountain with no place to turn around, and we were starting to get nervous! There isn't room to even pass someone else.  Thank goodness we didn't need to. We get it all sorted out, with a bit of worry and luck and we did make it, with 15 minutes before Josh's race was to start.

Marian and Rylee posed in the lovely flowers. 

Joshua said he was ready. 

Them's my favorite boys! 

See rock, must climb! 

 Rylee wanted to pose with this guy. 

And they were off!  Our guys are in maroon.  They ran around a big lake, so there was no other place to really get pictures.

Not till the end, anyway.

Go Josh, go!

 Dan took pictures too.  It was fun.

 And then we hung around and waited for results.  The girls had a marvelous time.

Did I mention how much they liked this rock. 

And they asked for lots of pictures. 

So I obliged. 

And then we drove the 45 minutes back to Sasebo.  2 of the sister missionaries who served in Iwakuni (Jorgensen and Sundell) were currently serving in Sasebo, so we met with them for lunch.  It was awesome to see them and visit with them.

Rylee as we walked to the restaurant. 

Marian, enjoying her delicious fried rice.

And we saw cats.  So we had to take photos.

It was a very nice cat.

Then we went to pick up Joshua so he wouldn't have to ride the bus home and we drove the 4+ hours back to Iwakuni.  It was a good trip.

Zombies in the Rain

So, the base held a Zombie Run.  I had every intention of going.Joshua was suppose to run with the Cross Country Team in Leiu of the Meet they cancelled (because some idiot scheduled them an away meet over Homecoming weekend).  Sadly, the morning was cold and rainy.  Not drizzly, but pouring rain.  Delaney had her heart set of running in it and condescendingly told me "I'll be wearing a poncho!" when I suggested she may not want to go out.

Dan bravely took one for the team.  While I went to finish my laps for the swim challenge, he took Delaney and Rylee and Joshua off to the Zombie run.  My lovely friend Michelle sent me these photos of them.  While I'm sad I didn't get anything with the Zombies, I'm grateful she thought to take these.

It turns out none of the other Cross Country kids showed up, so Joshua was the only one representing.  Yeah, my boy is hard core!  He had a great run, and especially enjoyed finding out that he could outrun full grown men dressed as Zombies who really were trying to catch him. 

Oh, and he came in second place.

Checking his finish.  That bin is full of "life Belts".  Kind of like flag football flag belts, if you lost your flags you were "dead".  Except this was put on by the Red Cross, so to get your life back you had to answer some first aid questions.  Then you could continue. 

Rylee and Delaney were wet and cold and miserable.  Dan had to carry Rylee the last half, and Josh came back to encourage them home. 

Rylee was not happy to be cold and wet.  Delaney was shocked that her poncho did not actually keep her warm and dry.  She was especially unhappy that her feet were freezing and numb.

 

Medals went to the top 3 and the last runner.  Rylee was pleased to win for being last.

These were the cool Medals.  Joshua got one for his awesome second place finish as well.

Mini Marine Corps Ball

 They put on a pretty awesome event each year.  They do a Mini Marine Corps Ball.  It is just for the kids (ages 5-12) and it pretty much identical to the real Ball.  No parents.  The kids get escorted in by Marines in full Dress Blues.  They sit at tables and have a Pageant and Cake Ceremony.  They get dinner (buffet style for them), cake and dancing.  Delaney and Rylee really wanted to go this year, so I got them tickets and they were excited!

Delaney is her gorgeous Ball gown.

Rylee being silly. 

They wanted matching fancy hair and chose this. 

Rylee chose this dress.

Delaney was SO excited! 

Her fancy hair. 

And the back. 

I could not get good photos- too many people, too dark and too fast. But here is Rylee, getting escorted in, 

And Delaney. 

She went in with her friend Serenity.  It was so fun!

I didn't know I was allowed to go in, so I snaked the rest of the pictures from friends.  The cake ceremony. 

Just like the grown-ups Ball!

And the oldest and youngest KIDS got the first slices of cake.  Such a cool thing.

Sadly, Delaney was upset by several things. It was super-noisy (well, with 400 kids, I guess so!) and she couldn't see or hear any of the ceremony.  I also didn't think to feed her before they left and didn't realize dinner wouldn't be for another 2 hours after the event began.  So she was starving and grumpy about it.  Then she had to wait in the buffet line for-EVER and she was SO hungry.  Plus, apparently she asked a boy to go and he refused to dance with her.  "He DUMPED me!"  So her expectations were not met and she called me in tears to come and get her.  She never even got cake.  The thing I am saddest about is how awesome my kids are at being photo-ninjas.  2 separate professional photographers took and shared about 500 pictures each and not a single one has either of my girls in it!  How does that even happen?!  Hopefully next time will be better.