We went to the beach by our house last week...here are the pics.  Sofia loves the ocean!  It was a little chilly, but she did not seem to care!  Thanks to Auntie Katie for the hat and swimsuit! 

Hi all! We have recently experienced a broken camera issue...so there will be a delay in photos! Sofia is such a big source of joy in my days! Her personality is emerging, and I love it! She is hysterical!! She got scratched pretty bad by 1 or our cats...she kept pulling the cats fur out...so wasn't like she had it coming. It has happened before a few times and she still goes back for more. This time though she has been pointing to her arm for about a week telling us "owww" and then pointing to the bedroom where it happened! I think she finally will stop pulling the cats hair! During my life I never expected I would utter the phrase "Sweetie...will you please stop trying to kill the cat"...yes I say this a few times a day when Sofia has "other cat" or "nigiri" in a choke hold trying to carry her somewhere! Crazy! She has recently mustered the strength to pick up black cat....he is way too old to fight...he just looks at me like "please help!" Another thing I never expected....the dreaded minivan! So long to the girl that liked fast cars and motorcycles...and guys with motorcyles of course! Anyhow...now I am having visions of a Honda Odyssey when we return. Uhhhhh...what has happened?! This all stemmed from Tom junking his old POS....thank you above for getting that thing out of our hands! hahhahh! Our friends PCS'ed and we bought their minivan...it was really clean...I had driven it before when Hiroshi and Akemi came to visit, and I figured if Tom didn't like it we can always sell it to someone coming in this summer. Well now I am really liking this thing...makes total sense...is a comfy ride and great for hauling stuff from Home Depot or maybe camping gear in the future...won't be getting any G's in a turn, but sad to say... I am OK with that because of my kid that is in the back seat. WOW! Motherhood is scary!

Awwww!

Came home the other day to this! Adorable! Sofia has a Rhinovirus (common nose clogging cold). Yes that is the new kitten! She apparently just climbed up, and Tom couldn't move her!

I love this kid!

Sofia likes to try and put this hat on...she got it once...the sunglasses she has mastered! Yeah that is blue Sharpie pen marks on her face....don't ask!

How Many Zip Ties Does A Man Need??

It's been a while!

Hello all!
So many things have happened in the past few months...I am still catching my breath! Here is a recap...

We went to California for the holidays...spent 3 weeks and had a great time! 3 days prior a stray black kitten with a missing back toe found us! Grandma came back with us to Okinawa and we have been settling in!

Sofia has grown so much, but still not too much hair! She is starting to understand the potty! We are still working on the letting me know before and getting our pants down in time, but she has totally mastered the sitting and putting toilet paper in the toilet!

She says "mommie", "daddy" and "uh oh" and is working on "kitty" and "cat". She keeps us very busy with general reorganization of the house. Found my camera yesterday in the bottom drawer in the kitchen inside my bamboo steamer baskets!

I am signing her up for day care 1-2 hours M, W, and F for some activities and socialization, and mostly for my sanity...I need to have some work out time! Daddy is going to hang with her at lunch on Tu and Th for some library and whatever else dad can come up with time!

We have decided to return to the states if we can get San Diego or Virginia for our next station. If not we will extend here a year and then come back. We are also looking at Tom's first retirement, which will be possible in about 4 years. Not sure what he will decide he wants to do, but we are checking into Harrisburg, PA as our final location. Of course Tom is going to aim for company management or other type job...trained killer is still in the air, too...ahahhaha....anyhow manager at Radioshack or Cabella's has also come up! hahahahhah! We will see what happens!

I of course will return to Microbiology in a hospital or go back into Biodefense or Public Health. Harrisburg has openings at the City Health Dept. YAY! Many options on the east coast for me! I am very excited!

As for Sofia...we will enroll her in a private school and she will have Japanese tutoring on the side. While we are here we are sending her to Japanese preschool, so she is in full immersion. We will try and continue that to the best we can in the states. We hope to open up another culture and country for her future!

Here are the latest pics....

Finally got a velcro bow on about 10 strands of hair and she kept it there!! What you will also see is that she got into gma's bar of soap and decided to rub it in here hair! Lovely!

You will also see our great parenting ...letting Sofia climb the jumper...it has since been removed!

いぬ

Here is the dog that came to dye in our carport! He is doing fine now, but I had to pull maggots out of his infected head! Ewwww! Not something I ever need to do again!
He needs a home...we are in the process of trying to find his owner.
がんばていぬ！
飼い主を探しています。　赤い　ドギーマン　の首輪をしています。　７－８歳ぐらい。　おす。
頭にかまれたような傷あり、獣医に連れて行って治療済み。
電話番号０８０－３３４５－４３６７．
少し日本語を話します。
おねがいします。

Finger Paint

Unlimited Fun!!

Update

Well Sofia got her first haircut today! I had to...she was looking all straggly weird horror movie to me...Anyhow I kept it in the "First curl" box we got from Auntie Stella!

She stacks blocks, uses a fork to stab food...doesn't want to put it in her mouth though...only mine.., gives things to me or Tom, tries to feed the cat his food...while she is eating it...uhhhh...I try to keep her away, and yes I do feed her...but for some reason the cat food is good to her.
That is it...going to put of lots of new pics.

This one is her after we went for a walk...it is not so hot these days. She had the shoes on her hands, so I put her in them, and this is the look I got.

Adorable!

Imperial Palace East Garden

This place was great! Really HOT though! September is maybe not the best time to do sight seeing in Japan.
One of the most beautiful things about Japan is that in the midst of the modern world there are amazingly preserved historical places. You will be walking through skyscrapers and then all of a sudden BOOM there is an old shrine or temple...or there is some really old house that has been maintained. It is wonderful!
You can see that is some of the pictures here...we were in the middle of the court districts and financial districts I think, and right smack in the middle is the Imperial Palace...which you can't see, but you can enter this public garden that is part of the Imperial Palace.
The buildings are a tea house, guard shack (small), and big guard shack.

Sofia is now 1!!
We had her birthday in Tokyo...she didn't like the cake! Surprising considering Tom and I have a serious sweet tooth!
This week she decided to start dancing! It is the cutest thing! I am going to try to film it.
She also started copying me...I was putting on hand lotion, and she started copying me rubbing my hands together...it was so cute! Sorry for the excessive cutes...but she just it!! It is amazing this week how her comprehension is growing. She is really starting to get things!
Am going to work on Tokyo trip blogging now....

I now like futons

In the continuing "I like" series, we all have found that we like traditional Japanese futons.  Not just because we don't worry about Sofia rolling over and falling three feet to the floor in the house, but its easy to make and seems great for the back.  This may be in our future when we get back to Oki...

Did I mention I also like Pickles?

The more mess the better...

And yes, when in Tokyo where do you want to go for dinner? Why the US hotel fast food diner....

Tokyo

We've arrived in Tokyo and with minimal fuss managed to jump a bus for the hotel.  We ended up going back to the airport the following day to meet up with the last of the group coming in and took the train.  The train was by far faster and pretty quick, even with a short cab ride to and from the monorail terminal.

Here we are after meeting up with Bobbie-

Melissa and Ed- here's one for you...

On the bus (followed by a short taxi ride) to the hotel.

Back on the monorail the next day back to pick up Mel and Ed