Tour # ?

Yet another traditional bow after the match.

Saparro's snow sculpures are said to be grand and worth the trip. There will be several Yokota people going with our ITT tour group.

Sayonara to wrestling, Yokota had its Wrestling tournament this Saturday and placed second over all. This was Renie's last wrestling match. The top more experienced boys head to Korea next week for the Far East tournament. It was apparent these group of boys were like brothers. They supported each other and guided those who needed direction. They were a close group of kids with great sportsmanship who cheered each other on. Renie will soon start baseball. I have to say, I don't know what it is like to have to deal with a difficult teenager. Renie surprises me everyday with his mature talk and positive attitude. We are truly blessed. I often think where he will be headed, who he will marry, what he will become, will he continue with good values. I don't know the answers to these questions, but I can only hope for the best.

Rene arrived safely in Texas today and was able to visit with his sister. Unfortunately, his luggage went to San Diego California. He is stuck with no clothes, and hopes his luggage arrives soon. He will be back next Sunday.

The kids and I will fly to Saparro on Thursday. We will spend 3 days enjoying its famous Snow Festival. I have been busy buying snow boots, gloves, etc.... The festival is one of Japan's largest and most distinctive winter events. There are hundreds of snow statues and ice sculptures. Saparro is also known for its fine beer brewery's and food. We are looking forward to yet another short adventure.

That is so Wrong

The boys stretching before a match.

Well, we had another uneventful weekend. We were scheduled to go to a Sumo game, but I had to cancel forgetting Rene was on call. So instead, we had a BBQ with some friends over and did the O'club night again. All in all, it was a restful weekend. Thursday night we attended Renie's wrestling game. He will soon be wrapping up with the wrestling season and start with baseball. He continues to do well, but Saturday he told me he had to wrestle a girl. That is just so wrong. Why are girls allowed to wrestle?? The grabbing, crotch touching, chest crossovers, I could not imagine Renie having to wrestle a girl. Go figure, he said she was a tough match, but he won. Whatever! We will wrap up with a Yokota tournament this Saturday, then prepare for our trip to Sapporro. Brrrrrr!

I purchased a new Nikon Coolpix for the upcoming Tokyo Marathon. I think it will be a perfect size to carry with me. However, I am not used to a battery powered camera. Unfortunately, I was unable to capture a photo of Renie wrestling. The camera went dead. I will get the hang of it soon.

All in a Days Work

Getting ready to brave the cold.

26 degrees and we are freezing our butts off.

Today, Rene and I braved the 26 degree weather working with our fellow Striders. Our annual Frostbite run brought 9,000 runners into our base. I don't think I have ever seen so many people in one place at one time here on base. We began our weekend unloading boxes on Friday evening. Saturday, we unloaded more boxes and supplies, set up tents, and organized. Today, we worked all day at registration then as road guards. Aside from the frozen toes, we had a fun time. It is always interesting to see the interesting costumes as the runners do their 1/2 marathon run. The 80 year olds are very inspirational. We are thankful we have the day off tomorrow. Our running club runs one of the top 1/2 marathons in Japan. Pretty Impressive!

Lucky Dog

Larissa was awarded a certificate for Student of the month. She gets voted by her class for good attendance, grades and completing all homework, and also being nice to everyone.

Good job Larissa!

Working full time has been an adjustment for me. I no longer seem to have the time to blog as much as I used to. Our lives these two weeks have been for the most part uneventful up until tonight. Our favorite thing to do on Friday nights is head over to the O'club for drinks, food and good conversation with our friends. Tonight we also had to help unload boxes upon boxes of stuff for our annual Frostbite run. We new the big $1200.00 O'club drawing was at 7:00pm, so we rushed over to mingle and arrived shortly before the drawing. Winners must be present to win. Low and behold my lucky husband was the big winner tonight. We left the club $1200 dollars richer. Yeehaw!