The Final Call

This weekend was Larissa's last Vivace Performing Arts show. She has been practicing non-stop for about one month. These kids work so hard to put on a great show for the school and for the community. This years show was "Once on This Island". It centers around a poor peasant who falls in love with a rich boy. They don't end up together, so it is a very depressing story. However, the talent some of these kids have is impressive. Larissa will miss doing Vivace. Vivace gives overseas kids an opportunity to experience the performing arts in a fun and exciting way.

Happy Birthday My Love

Today the kids and I spent a family evening celebrating Rene's birthday. He is doing well and continues to look younger everyday. His incision and some swelling are still apparent, but fading fast. This guy is truly my soul mate and makes our lives complete. May we spend many more wonderful birthdays together and continue to enjoy life to the fullest.

On a different note, we have received our orders for Tucson. We leave Yokota on June 12th. Our vacation has been planned, flights and hotels are booked and we should arrive in Texas on June 22. We will spend 7 days in Hawaii and have decided to spend another 2 in San Fransisco since this will be our port of entry. We will spend two days sightseeing in San Fransisco, then fly into Corpus. After spending around 5 days in Benavides, we will drive to Tucson for our next assignment. I am trying to psych myself up and start spring cleaning, but the weather here is still rainy and cold, with more snow predicted this week. All this rain is making me lazy.

My Star

Renie has really improved this year in baseball. He is a starting Panthers player and has been hitting the ball well. Overall, the team has made such great improvements with Coach Ernie as head coach. Now that Rene is feeling better, he will be helping Coach Ernie with the boys. Wishing them a great season. Go Panthers!

Out With The Old, In With The New

Well this is it. The Volvo XC90 has been chosen as our car for the future. For the next three months this crossover will be built according to my specifications. No dealing with money hungry sales men. As military members, we deal straight with our local Volvo Overseas Military sales consultant, he has us build the car, applies all the military discounts, and gives us the quote. It is quite the deal. This is 7 seater, fully equipped SUV. Volvo will email us periodically as they put our car together. I have looked at every possible SUV that would fit our family personality and future road trip needs. We will put a deposit down this week, the order goes in and the car is put together from scratch just for us. All we have to do is pick it up when it arrives. I will miss my old cars which we will try to sale before we leave Japan. Yet another family in a list of many owners will own them. I will miss not having to wash them, clean them, maintain them, not fearing someone would steel them, or hit them. This was truly the life.

The Blooming Begins

It was an absolute gorgeous day, but a bit chilly.

Early morning arrival, we soon figured out we were going to chill for a few hours, Brrrr!

Getting ready for our race

After our run, we treated ourselves to Ice Cream.

Here in Japan, you get hot green tea after a race.

March 14, 2010-3 months to go, the weather is improving, the sun is beginning to shine earlier here in the Kanto Plains. Baseball season is off to a rough start with the boys losing their opening game to St. Mary's International School.

Today, I did my 2nd 10K race run at Showa Park. My friend Angelic needed a running partner and since we both have a close running stride, I was happy to fill in. Running through Showa Park with the plum blossoms blooming was great. The run was difficult, but we both ran well and finished in 60 minutes flat (10 minute mile pace).

Brrrrrr!

Snow in March

While working yesterday, the snow began falling and falling and falling. This went on through the night. The kids and I were excited about a 2 hour school delay today, so we spent the morning eating breakfast and surfing the web for houses and schools in Tucson. In my three years here, this is the most it has ever snowed. It seems as if the weather is changing all over the world. Hmmmm!

Traditions

2010 Wrestling Banquet

Renie surprised us all and did so well this year in Wrestling.

My handsome Cadet

Two cadets from Alpha Company having to drink the grog for not yelling Hoorah loud enough.

Renie gets called up for not keeping his brass shiny this year. That is him using a raw egg to clean the brass diagram.

Poor kid, he ended up having to drink two glasses due to forgetting to salute before, and for not cleaning the brass on the diagram good enough. Needless to say, it took him awhile to drink it because he poured so much gunk into the glass.

After getting Rene comfortable after his surgery, I had just 30 minutes to get dressed for Renie's JROTC Dinning Out Ceremony. This is a formal ceremony involving high level ranks from the base and a full room of Yokota Cadets. Unfortunately, our school only has an Army JROTC, so different rules and traditions apply. This was my first Dinning Out experience. As you walk in, you shake hands then head to your table. I can't even begin to tell you all the rules that apply not only to the cadets, but to all who are attending. For example, you can't sit down until ordered to sit down. All ladies must sit before all cadets sit. The list goes on and on. I could tell Renie was on edge, because if I didn't follow the rules, he would be called out to drink the grog. Talk about being on edge the entire evening. It was actually pretty hilarious.

Grog is a mixture of nasty ingredients from dirt, blue cheese, hot Cheetos, old pizza, ect......According to Renie, it tastes like vomit. If you can't drink it, then you have the option of pouring it over your head. I would say this ceremony borders on hazing, but that is just my opinion. I was told than everything that goes into the grog is safe for the kids. Who knows...

All in all it was quite an entertaining evening watching several cadets drink the grog for reasons from not having their uniforms on correctly to unpolished brass to just being 5'9 and above. It gets so bad that they have to cover the carpet with plastic paper in case a cadet vomits. Yuk!

Way to go Striders

Striders Marathon Runners group picture

Before & After

All went well with Rene's surgery. It was the aftermath that had me scared out of my wits. The surgery took a total of 3 hours. Rene spent one hour in recovery and was doing well. The minute he was put in my car, he began to feel hot. As I drove off, it was evident he was crashing. He was crashing fast. As I drove back to the entry way, I was losing him to what we thought was a drop in blood sugar. I left him in the car, ran up to the second floor to call the nurse. We ran back down and Rene was out cold, yes I mean non-responsive. They took him back up, hooked him to machines and his blood pressure had dropped so low. As he came to, they loaded him up with fluids and kept us about another hour. Wooo! how scary. Through it all I stayed calm and knew he was in good hands and would be fine. Today he is recovering well, has needed no pain meds, but has an incision that looks like as Larissa put it "Frankenstein". He is feeling great.

Eyebrow Lift

Tomorrow Rene goes in for an eyebrow lift. It is for a medical reason of course. If he does not get it now, he may look like this in a few years. I will be his nurse for the next 10 days. The heaviness around his forehead will cause his eye lids to close making it hard for him to see. This will also prevent headaches and decrease the pressure on his forehead. I will keep everyone posted. He should be fine, just have a terrible headache following the surgery. Gosh I wish I could get a face lift. Lucky Rene!