Dog's - Man's best friend

Enjoying another Saturday afternoon at Pallet, this was Tom's first visit, he had so much fun with the children. We did not have a translator today, we managed. Again, no telling what we agreed to, we think we are invited back in two weeks, we'll see. Tom and Shuji pretending to be FROGS.

Fuji was not sure about the dogs and preferred to be held.

The children loved rubbing and petting the dogs as they were so soft. They also enjoyed throwing their balls for them to catch/chase/retrieve.

Asatosan thanking us for coming to"Pallet" again today with Elizabeth and her therpay dogs. Two beautiful French Poodles, Alex and Kallie. The kids and the adults loved them. Big dogs are not the usual pet for Japanese folks. They like the toy class of dog much better, fits better in their houses/cars/arms. So we weren't sure how they would react to such large dogs, but they are trained therapy dogs and did a great job and are invited back in two weeks, at least that is what we think.

Nana loving on Tomoyuki. We said Tomoyuki was a therapy baby for these children, they loved on him just like before.

These girls live in the neighborhood and spend as much time as they can at Pallet. Just what Asatosan wants from the community.

Juda went immediately to the big trucks and made himself at home.

Mad dash to OKUMA

We finally made a trip to the Aquarium on island. It was great. I think every Japanese person from mainland was there too. A few times we lost sight of Bethany, kindof scary. There is always hope of us standing out for her benefit as she certainly blends in.

Juda must be thinking to himself, "What is so PEACEful about these big sharks."

"Garden Eels", were exactly what they looked like. As if someone had planted them in the sand just a few inches apart from each other with there heads bobbing around saying "HELP", get me out of this garden of sand".

Juda is attempting to "Peace" us, however it didn't work. Check out those HUGE fish in the tank.

HOT, while waiting to see the Dolphin show.

There is that "Peace" sign we were looking for.

My cheeks look a little flushed don't you think.

One of the blessings of being on Okinawa is the beautiful view of the ocean we get to experience daily.

We spent a few days/nights at Okuma and enjoyed the nearly private beaches. I tried to capture a "Rainbow" that was bowing over this hillside, but it faded faster than my battery.

But I did capture this rainbow fish. She is a mermaid, truly.

Juda is getting more and more sure of himself in the water. He is trying body boarding here. Not really, I think he fell down, with a smile no doubt.

Washing off their beach treasures to bring home.

We made a mad dash to Okuma before school starts in a week. Usually they are all booked up, but we were so glad some folks cancelled at the last minute and we got to enjoy for three nights and 4 days. Ben was able to join for one night, then back to work, Caleb stayed for two and helped us with Tomoyuki during the day, allowing him to nap and Caleb to watch movies in the A/C while we played in the sun with Bethany and Juda. What a very relaxing vacation we had, no phone, no cell phone either (I forgot the charger, nothing new for me). Just fun/fun/fun.

We were taking "Funny Fotos" and captured this one, kindof like those up close photos of pets with big noses.

That Juda, always clowning around, even on Ben's head.

It wouldn't be a vacation complete without "Putt Putt" Golf. Let's just say, it was an adventure to play with Juda.

Say "Cheese" or is it say "Yuk".

Do you see the resemblance of father and son. Check out Juda's hand wrapped around Tom's neck, what a guy.

Game Day Central VBS

Bethany enjoyed a week of VBS with her friend Courtney and many others. She learned a host of new songs. It was a good time for her to attend all by herself as we opted not to send Juda this year as it is just too overwhelming with too many children, which is a good thing, but not in his case.

Hello Kitty Cake

Zoe spent the day with Bethany and they baked a "Hello Kitty" cake. As you can see they enjoyed mixing the cake then sampling the batter. The only decorating I did was the white icing trim, they did all the rest. Didn't they do a GREAT job.

Tomoyuki is on the "Patch"

I took Tomoyuki back to the dr. yesterday as he was showing signs of traveling down the road we had just gotten off of a week ago. Dr. Kinjo put him on the "Patch", ha ha ha. Tom's remark was, "I didn't know Tomoyuki had a smoking problem". It is a 1 cm X 1 cm size sticker/patch applied to his chest/back alternating, to help with his breathing/wheezing. We will try that for now, could be early signs of alergies/asthma. My friend/translator/Ai no Kesshin volunteer Rika had a dr. appt herself and could not accompany me and Tomoyuki to Chubu Hospital. Well, we didn't forsee that being a problem because Dr. Kinjo speaks great English, however, we failed to calculate all the people I'd encounter before/after seeing the dr. What a challenge that was, but, we survived and I felt so accomplished when I left there all in one piece, of course who knows what I agreed to just to end conversations. I'm sure Rika can clean any mess up that I made, ha ha ha.

Wendy has arrived on island in town, not on base

Near gate two street outside Kadena Air Base a new music hall opened, "Koza Music Town". Pretty hip new place to hang out. Much to our surprise they opened a "Wendy's" too. We haven't had Wendy's in years. We talked my japanese Sunday School ladies into going with us after church yesterday. They had never had Wendy's, we convinced them that it was great, high calorie, but necessary to the american/japanese diet. Every american on island must have thought the same as we did, they were all there waiting in a LONG line to get their Wendy's burger/fries and don't forget the FROSTY. It was so fun to have such comfort food and share in the delight with our japanese friends. They enjoyed too. Sorry no pics, didn't have my camera. I assure you, there will be another opportunity to go and then we will take pics.

Summer Swimming Fun

Bethany and Juda are having fun in the water this year. Bethany continues to exhibit signs of being a mermaid and Juda is growing into an olympic pool walker. HHmmmm, pool walker...what could that possibly be. Well, when you don't want your head to go under water or let your feet leave the bottom of the pool, you pool walk. His latest visit to the pool on Sat evening proved to be successful. No more floaty for him. Sometimes he uses a life vest, but that is so cumbersome to him, he'd rather be free of any life saving devices. Of course our guess is that if he lost his balance and his head went under water that the pool would be sucked dry by him in his moment of panic and fear as he inhaled to let our a scream. So far we haven't experienced that, only anticipating it to happen. We'll keep you posted.