Good Friends.

I was telling Glenn last night that this is one of the first times in our 5 moves that I feel sad to leave. Usually we have friends ahead of us already at our new duty station or a new job/apartment/house or something to look forward to. Maybe it's just because we've been here for 3 years and I've really settled it, but I'm going to miss it so much!

Akiyo is like my little Japanese grandma. I love her. We are already skype friends and plan on keeping in touch.

I went out to dinner a few weeks ago with some friends. Adventures in Japan are an everyday occurrence. Our friend, Aya, ordered something new for us to try...

Thanks, Aya!

Happy Birthday to Me!

My last year in my twenties...sad. I'm not quite ready to be a thirty-something yet. Good thing I have 365 days to go until that day. Glenn is home this year to help me celebrate. Yay! This will be the first time since 2007 that we have spent my birthday together. Since my birthday present got packed up with the household goods, we're calling that my Christmas present since that's when I'll see it again. He bought me a beautiful necklace. He's so good with presents...well, he's mostly a good listener cause I'm not always subtle. Good none the less! We're celebrating at Oktoberfest with some good friends. It's always a good time.

Note: this hairdo was an attempt after watching an internet video that promised beautiful big curls. It was not the beachy waves that it advertised. Ha! I'll have to try again. ;)

Wordless Wednesday: 1986

Tuesday 10: Phone Dump

1. Japanese traffic... I'm not gonna miss that.

2. This is how Stella wakes me up every morning. 

3. Grandma's famous potato salad. I made it right. She would be proud.

4. Va Beach. See you soon!

5. Baby B. Love that girl. "Mmmm....yeah!" is her favorite thing to say.

 6. I brought a gift for Connor from Japan. "Cars" themed chopsticks and face masks! Ok, maybe the mask was for my benefit. :)

7. Wearing  Grandma's hats. I miss you everyday Grandma.

8. Connor and his tattoos. We put a matching one on Grandma.

 9. I could put about 50 of Stella. I think I take a few too many pics of my dog. Maybe I need a baby.

 10. Words with friends. In a game against my Aunt Cindy, I scored 96 points on one turn. Bingo! I was pretty proud of myself. So much, that I had to take a picture. :)

I love you, Grammy.

 

 I love you, Grammy.

 I wish I could give you a hug and kiss right now. I'll see you again in Heaven one day.

Stick Furniture

So now what? Many of our friends and family back in the States wonder what in the world we do now since we don't leave Japan for 3 weeks. Oh, did I tell you? Our tickets are booked and confirmed! We leave Japan on October 27th and arrive in MSP at 6:30 pm via Seattle! 

Our house only looked like this for about an hour.

And by this... I mean including the second bedroom that now looks like an episode of "Hoarders". That, a closet of clothes and a couple cabinets in the kitchen are all we have left with us until our Unaccompanied Baggage move (max 800 lbs) on Oct. 25.

The Navy's delivery company came shortly after the movers left to deliver our "stick furniture". It now looks like we live in a hotel, but it will work for 3 weeks. We're tossing all the carpet which is why it still remains in our apartment.

I also started repainting the house back to a whiti-ish color. Soon...it will be like we never lived here at all. At least that's what the Navy is hoping for. We rehung the mini-blinds, removed our curtains and pictures. The last steps are to repaint and then clean, clean, clean!

See you in December!

I've haven't been posting the last couple days because we've been busy sorting, organizing and getting ready for the movers!

90% of our worldly possessions left in 6 wooden crates on Thursday and Friday. Bound for "Virginia". The actual address will be determined once we get there. The scheduled arrival date is 60 days from now. The first week of December. 

Once all the prep work was done...we mostly just sat around and watched them work and played Scrabble our iTouches.

And for those of you who were wondering. The massive table fit in the crate as well and 3 Japanese men were able to carry it down the stairs. It was pretty impressive!

Farewell, things! I'll see you in a couple months.

Hayes Alan Peterson!

It took a week for me to see a picture, but I finally got one today! Congratulations to new parents Annie and Jeff on the birth of your son, Hayes! I can't wait to meet him in a few weeks! Love to all 3 of you!

Addicted to Love

For our theme this year, we went dressed as Robert Palmer's Addicted to Love Video. Apparently, I'm not quite old enough to know the video, but we watched the video a few times and I think we came pretty close!

We changed the words of the song to make it more "homecoming" themed since this is our half-way party, after all.

And the rest of the night was shenanigans as usual!

My Liberty Bell ladies and man and Det 5 ladies know how to have a good time! 

It's doesn't hurt when you get first place again!

Badgirls!

This weekend was the annual Badgirl Ball and games. It is always an awesome weekend and this year didn't disappoint. The Liberty Bells/Det 5 combo team was the Badgirl Games champions for the second year in a row! This weekend is topped off by the fact that Glenn is coming home TODAY! Deployments are finished for 3 years!

This year we competed in a few relay races, tug of war and a few other "family reunion style" games.

Thank you to the CAG 5 ladies who organized the events and party. You did a great job!