Sayonara, Japan

At the end of June we finished our assignment in Japan and are officially separating from the Air Force. Here is the fabulous sunset we saw from our temporary living facilities once we were out of our home.

 I'm sure the kids are thinking of the great unknown in their future or maybe about what we are going to have for dessert.

 

Carl loves to stop and smell the flowers, or maybe it's the thrill of tearing the weeds out of the ground by the roots.

Here is Carl in the infamous "Hackett Jacket" which was worn by his father, Ryan, when he was considerably older than Carl and by his grandfather, Richard, before that when he was even more mature. It's a great piece of Hackett history, but the washing machine has not been kind.

 Here is the last picture in front of our flowers with our playground in the park in the background. I was feeling really sentimental. Luckily with four kids you don't really have time to be sentimental.

Campout

Over Memorial Day weekend we packed up our van and headed south for a great camping trip. We started at a cute little aquarium.

In Japan when you pay for a campsite they let you use a wheel barrel to cart all your things to your site. This is a really nice feature when your site is 1/4 mile away from the parking lot. Our friends and our family were the only ones there. It might have had something to do with the gale force winds.

 Camping is even better when there are rocks to climb on!

 It was all I could do to keep up with these little billy goats gruff.

 Here are the pack horses of our adventure.

 These kids would have hiked right into the ocean if I hadn't been there. One more reason to have a mother.

Happy Birthday Jane and Helen

We had such beautiful weather this spring that we had picnics more often than not. I love not sweeping, so I am more than happy to eat outside with kids. 

Jane turned 5, and was treated to a birthday party with our neighbors. 

 Helen just turned 7, and she's demonstrating how they show 7 with fingers in Japan with her Mt. Fuji salad she chose for dinner.

Helen asked for Mango Volcanoes for dessert. I had to scour all the old Japanese thrift stores until I found an ice shaver. (To be honest, I came home with three and then had to test them all.)


Have you ever seen such a beautiful azalea?