Alisha's Bridal Shower

Starting off the gift opening with Aunt Cynthia's gift....It was wrapped so pretty....Thanks so much for your thoughtfulness.
Thanks to Emily Dull , Marcie Smith, Ashlee James and Sherry Reimer for the BEAUTIFUL Bridal Shower they hosted for Alisha. Each of these ladies shared their beautiful decorating talents and it came together beautifully. Not to even mention the food was OISHI.
What a great gift basket for the kitchen...
Marcie used some more of her talents and made this recipe for Happy Home.
Alisha is so happy because these dishes will fit in their small oven.........yeah
Each table was decorated so very nicely and most elegant.

Myself, Alisha and Michiko "Alisha's Mom".

We had such a nice time. Thank you all for coming and blessing Alisha and our families.
Emily is like a sister to Alisha, spiritually and physically. What a blessing you are to us all Emily Dull. THANKS!

Family Fun in the Summer

Celebrating Alisha's 24th Birthday Hawaiian style....Hula Skirt hand made by none other than Bethany.
The evening servers were Tomo, Bethany and Juda dressed in their Wedding Attire...
Hey, Is there something on my head"?
We are so happy to be adding Alisha to the Smith girls real soon....Speaking of Smith Girls....This is how Tomo, Bethany and Juda reacted to hearing the news of Andy and Jillian's baby being a GIRL....

OH Nooooo!
Let me double take...Did you say GIRL....Blllbbblllbbbl
OK.....Peace
Yeah...Really.....We are all so happy to hear this news...

Tomo cleaning the Play Room....I mean Clearing the Play Room....
Woooo...that Clearning the Play Room wore him out. Now that Tsubasa is not needing this bouncer....Tomo's enjoying it for now..
Our 4th of July celebration dessert....Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream with fresh fruit that was delicious...Oishi
Ben liked his outfit so much he knew Tom would like it too. As Ben entered the room wearing his and sporting a Birthday Gift Bag....Tom says to him, "Ben I sure like your outfit", "Good then, here is your gift", says Ben as Tom opened his very own outfit. TWINS.....the boys are fun..
Tsubasa seems to be reading in Japanese or maybe he just likes the look of "Cars".

Our day of travels leaving Mainland Japan

Our taxi ride.. Just one more mode of transportation for Juda to ENJOY!
Here we are so proud to get everyone and everything up the escalator, no casualties or injuries even. So I say to Tom, "Let's get a picture of this Huge accomplishment". While he is taking the picture the train in the background pulls in and I am noticing on the schedule above his head there is no 9:35 train listed on this track that we are on. HHmmmmm. It is 9:;30 at the time we are putting this all together" YIKES...you can only imagine with GRACE and MERCY how we got down that escalator across to the other side and up yet another escalator SAFELY and didn't leave anyone behind.
We made it with a minute or two to spare. Must have been that lightening speed as panic sunk in that our train was "OVER THERE". The man behind Bethany is probably texting how he saw us on the wrong side of the tracks racing to get to the right side...


View on the subway. We re trying to go unnoticed like the rest of the culture.
We just don't blend in. Not sure what we are doing wrong, he he he he.

We are having our "Celebration" meal in the Fukuoka Airport. A taxi, shinkansen, subway, many escalators, elevators and stairs with this crew and all our loot. And to think we packed light.......Juda loved it most. He is a traveling man.
It doesn't get better than this....Riding the Shinkansen "Bullet Train" drinking a Fanta Grape....that Tom risked loosing the train over....another story for another day.

Ben Did Graduate a few months ago!

We are so proud of Ben receiving his Bachelor Degree in Business from the University of Maryland.
Here we are with Alisha and her Mom and Dad, Michiko and Dave.
"I feel so good about this accomplishment, it only lasted 5 years and 364 days too long", says Ben the new graduate in his relief statement.
Proud parents of Benjamin Lee Smith....Way to go, now let's go eat at Sam's By the Sea...mmmmgood.

Japanese School VIsit

Bethany was invited to enjoy a fun day with a 5th grade class at a local Japanese School. On the bleachers are her peers who take either Piano classes or Japanese Language classes from our dear Shimako sensei.



The English speaking kids are trying to find words in Japanese on cards on the floor. They have to enlist their new Japanese speaking friends for help. Then vise versa. It was a great opportunity for all of us to use what little language skills we have. Laughter is universal and that is what we did most of all. I had to be careful and not loose site of my Bethany among all those Japanese faces.

Summer time is HERE!

Let the WATER fun begin. No matter small, medium or large amounts of water, just bring on the water to keep these kiddos cool for the summer.
Official Water Balloon Fight with our friend Elizabeth to celebrate the boys last day of school

YIPPEE!!! Our last bus ride for this school year....
YEAHHHHHHH! Summer time is HEREEEEEE!
WHATTTTTT! I have to do laundry as a summer job. What is up with that! I'm Prince Charming, certainly there is a clause in the contract we can take a closer look at!
Let me get my glasses to take a closer look at that contract. Hey wait is that Bethany I see with an armband that shows she passed the swimming test and can swim in the deep end alone....WAY TO GO BETHANY.....
PROUD wrist band wearing Bethany to show she was brave this year and took the swim test to swim on her on anywhere in the pool. The independence of a 10 year old is priceless.



Don't forget about us little people in the shallow end. Come back occasionally and play with us.
Juda has utmost trust in those little puffs of air in his arm floats to save his little skinny body from drowning....we do too.....
In between trips to the BIG pool on base we have a LITTLE pool on the back porch to keep cool and amused.