"Hair Girl" at the playground

Ayden turns 5

Family photo of the Ohs (courtesy of Linda):

Ayden, Jun, Aubrey, Linda

Ariel is all about the balloons.

Sweet Ayden had a Transformers-themed birthday party at the bowling alley.  He moved to Virginia with his mom and sister (Linda and Aubrey) while Jun went to Iraq for a year.  Now they are all back, and we are glad!  We attended their wedding in April, 2006, just after our dossier went to China.  Jun and Jeff were stationed together at Andrews AFB during our last assignment.

Bornelund Kid-O-Kid

 Bornelund Kid-O-Kid is a super playland at nearby Diamond City (Aeon) Mall.

On this cold day a couple weeks ago, we met up with friends Casie & Theo, Mia & Leo.

Leo's daddy is deployed, so we tried to cheer him up.  He didn't need much help. 

 Ariel in a wizard hat at the dress-up corner.

Rolling in the giant air cylinder.

 The pool of balls.  It's the center of the playland with high obstacles and slides above it.

 A "surprise event", as the staff told me.  A parachute game.  We couldn't understand the instructions, so got in a little late, but Ariel loved it.

 She's in the middle jumping for joy!

Mia & Leo, Casie & Theo, me & Ariel

We are all in a culture group together.  Attending culture group events is more difficult with babies in tow, but the Japanese ladies love to see the babies.

sunny day at the playground

 Yesterday was warm and sunny mid-day, so friends and I had to get the babies out.

 My friend Bridget had her good camera out, and took pictures.

 It was so warm, I took off my new track pants and wore shorts!

 Rory and Nora swinging.  They enjoyed it, and Ariel thought it was SO funny to see them swinging.

Amy and Nora, Bridget and Rory.  (Photo taken a couple weeks ago on an outing to Sweets Paradise in a nearby town.)

Dora shirt

 "Thanks for the Dora shirt and jacket, Grandma Barb and Papa Rich!  And for the other Valentine goodies."

 The matching hoodie jacket is lavender, and looks pretty on her.  She is asking to see the camera in these pictures.  Beside her is a package of dried soybeans to celebrate Setsubun (on February 2nd.)  We throw the beans around and say "oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi!" (devils out, happiness in.)  We eat as many beans as our age plus one.  They taste good.

sleeping angel

random house shots

Bubbles

 We have a couple bubble-blowing kits by the bath tub.  It's quite a science.  The suds need to be smooth (not shaken and foamy.)

 Ariel loves the bubbles and tries to blow them herself.

Happy Valentine's Day

This picture is from a year ago, while Jeff was deployed.  Ariel & I stopped at our east side shoppette (a convenient store on a military base), and they were having a Valentine's Day party.  It was a cold, dreary day, and we were the only customers.  We could sit on this red couch and have a photo taken.  Imagine Ariel looking at about 6 Japanese and Filipina women laughing and trying to make her smile.  I'm not being racist, but you just have to picture it, and maybe it explains the flabbergasted look on her face.

The nice ladies printed this photo and gave it to us.  I kept it in my car, then must've stuck it in a library book. Several months later, one of the librarians saw us and gave it back to us.

Two years ago, Doraemon and Ralph enjoyed Valentine's Day snuggling on a snowy day.  We miss you, Doraemon!

We're grateful to all be together this year on Valentine's Day, and that Nene can spend it with us.

toothbrushing gymnastics

She likes to brush her teeth herself.  The more adult-sized the toothbrush, the better.  The video I filmed that night, while Jeff & Nene were asleep on the bed, involved upside-down toothbrushing.  It was cute, but involved a lot of rear-view and bum-bum brushing, so not appropriate for general viewing.

Thanks, Alice, for the bear and monkey pajamas!

February 13

Ariel is asleep upstairs, and I'm having a lazy day at home.  I thought I'd write some text for a change.

We are waiting to hear about our next Air Force assignment any time now.  It will be a nice surprise, and we're prepared for anything.  In the meantime, we want to enjoy our last spring (and maybe part of summer) in Japan.  The weather is still chilly, but plum trees will bloom in a few weeks - all shades of pink, white, and purple.  Then in early or mid-April, the cherry blossoms will bloom.  We can see buds all over the trees now.

Ariel enchants us and makes us laugh every day.  She is into hand-gesture songs now, and likes to combine parts of different songs to make her own versions.  She loves taking a bath with either of us while we blow bubbles for her.  Ralph and Nene don't seem to mind her bedroom gymnastics and general monkeying around (flopping all over them sometimes.)

I've been vegan for 6 months now and am doing fine.  I don't plan to go back to eating animal products.  I experiment in the kitchen a lot, but don't have time to record all my creations.  Lately, I discovered raw, local veggies taste really good.  Especially with our home-made hummus.  I just hope they're not too radioactive!  Supposedly we are safe from the radiation here.

The girl is awake.  Signing off.

helicopter girl

Thanks Grandma Barb and Papa Rich for the cool outfit!

a day of play

 We went to Hinode Mall.  It's near Akiruno.  We thought Ariel was ready to nap after lunch, but when she spotted the playland, she got a second wind.

 She went crazy for the balloons, 

 but started to fade near the end.

 And she was out.

That didn't stop her from stacking with Jeff and Nene when we got home.

farmer's market scenery

 After our recent snow, Ariel & I went to the farmer's market.

 The weather was so clear and pretty.  This is in the town of Akiruno, which is only a couple miles from base.  This day it looked a lot like Colorado.