The song and cake

It was time to sing the birthday song with the Cha cha cha version.

Ms Grace blows out her six candles after the chorus of "Are ya one, are ya two, are ya three, are ya four, are ya five, are ya six?"

Kindergarten Party

Ms G had a nice little party with her kindergarten class. Its kind of need to get to wear a crown and have everyone sing to you...kind of like being queen for the day. At bottom right of picture is Jacob W who was on Grace's Tball team and in her class.

Queen Frosting enjoys her cupcakes that MB brought.

Pink Cammo is the bomb diggity

G shows off her new Pink Cammo ensemble from Grandmother Shirley. She has also been riding her new scooter around the house.

I just like this one with her happy face.

Benjamin Banneker

For African American Heritage Month Brock's class researched and performed as famous Black Americans. They called it the African American Wax museum. They waited in the library and gave a speech based on the accomplishments of their chosen person. Mrs R must have limited the names as I did not see Magic, Dr J, or Mr Jordan & Shaq.

Brock did very well on his speech. Mr Banneker was the first African American scientist with his research of Astrology and knowledge of clocks. Mike had fun pushing his button that said "press here" over and over again to see what the wax figure would do.

Japanese style

Grace V shows off her new dress with sweats underneath which is what all the locals wear. Grace added the Desert Camo Marine style hat.

She seems very tall and I did not adjust the picture dimensions at all. We would have never guessed 6 years ago that we would have such a wonderful little girl.

The Fashion Show

Grace V shows off her new corduroy jacket from Ms Kendall Mikkelsen on a nice sunny day in Misawa Japan. Grace likes the jacket and thinks it makes her look older and very sophisticated. She now will ask you when she tries on a new outfit whether she looks like a teenager or not.

Sweet Suprise Birthday Yams

Ms Kristen Mikkelsen made MB's day by sending her some very yummy birthday yams from D.C. We have not had real fresh yams since Thanksgiving 2004. Ms Mikkelsen risked Japanese penitentary time by sending us these.

MB cooked them up for her birthday dinner. Mike had his with some brown sugar and butter and it was delicious. MB had just butter and declared it the best meal of the year.

Birthday Ramen Noodle Lunch

Brock is excited to eat at his favorite Ramen soup restaurant called Takayumey Ramen. His favorite soup is the Pork Ramen Deluxe with Soy. He doctors it up with sesame oil and soy sauce. He also enjoys the Gyoza which are Japanese dumplings with either meat or vegetables in them. One time I ordered beef tongue Gyoza and we ate them but we wondered who's tongue it really was. He made me promise to not order it again.

I like the little bowls of Ramen outside that has constant thick steam coming out. Grace does not like Ramen so she just eats the Gyoza dumplings and complains. MB wanted Ramen for her Birthday lunch so Ms G obliged without too much griping. Grace wants you to know even though she looks happy in the picture trying to pluck out Ramen noodles out of the giant bowl that she still does not like Ramen soup.

Lakers Vs Magic

The Lakers played the Magic on Saturday. It was a very good game with a couple good shots and some good defense. Brock was able to tip off the beginning of the game. He made a field goal and one free throw.

At half time his coach "#24" gave them a pep talk and went over some strategy and plays. Coach David has them press, man to man or zone defense and has 3 different offensive plays. So far the Lakers are 3 & 0 for the Misawa little kids league.

Pink Bag Lady

Ms Grace fashioned some plastic shopping bags into a combination top and skirt. It was really noisy when she walked around and a bit drafty. She wanted to go outside in it while it was snowing but her mother stopped her from that. "It felt like Halloween" Ms Grace said as she pranced around the couch. You probably noticed the pink tint in the picture which is probably how she sees the world through her little girl eyes.

Somewhere under the rainbow

I went to Hickam AFB Hawaii for the Pacific Air Forces Command Comptroller Conference. It was nice to get away from the grind at Misawa and enjoy some warm 80 degree weather. The fun part was getting used to driving on the right side of the road. I kept turning into the wrong lane like I was in Japan and I never did remember to use the turn signal on the left instead of the right. We had our conference, briefings, & discussions on base all day long so there was no getting out and enjoying the beach at all. I stayed on the Navy base at Ford Island where the Arizona and the Missouri battleship memorials are at. The lodging I stayed in was there as Officer Quarters back when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Speaking of Pearl Harbor I took this shot over the harbor looking east towards the mountains on the East side of Oauo. I never did find the end of the rainbow so I was not able to bring back any pot of dough.

This week I just found out that we will be reporting to OK City around 20 June so I set up my Change of Command here for 1 June. That will give us time to spend some time in Hawaii on the way back and a week in TX before we head off on our next adventure. For those who are able to make it plan on attending my Change of Command at Tinker on Fri 22 June 07 for the 72 Comptroller Squadron.

100 Days of Kindergarten

Today was the 100th day of kindergarten for Miss Gracie. Her class celebrated in the afternoon with art projects, crafts and special snacks. All the kids had to pair up and Gracie got to be with her kindergarten best friend Forrest.

Gracie made a special 100th day hat to wear and worked very hard on her necklace. Mike and I both got to work the necklace craft. The kids counted Fruit Loops and Cheerios to make a 100 piece cereal necklace.

Mike worked hard with his kids- he saw several of his players from t-ball last summer. They were excited to have a Daddy in the classroom!

Happy 100th day!

Love,

4Vs

Misawa Music

Moving to Misawa meant many adjustments for the 4Vs. One of the hardest for me, Mary Beth, besides the loss of Target, is the radio station here in Misawa. It never crossed my mind that moving here meant only listening to one radio station.... a military radio station at that! Sure, we can pick up a couple of other stations on the radio dial, but only one in English.

Since there is only one station, they try to play music that will make everyone happy- a little top forty, a little rap, a little hard rock, a little country, a little classic rock and so on. When we first got here they played the music in blocks of time throughout the day. Mornings were top forty, mid morning was alternative and the lunch hour was classic rock. At least with this system you knew when there might be music you would like and when to not even bother turning on the radio. I was pretty much only a lunch time listener, although I would keep the radio on in the kitchen during the mornings just to hear the local news and announcements. However, the music was awful.

In the last month or so, they have changed the radio format. Instead of playing certain types of music during certain parts of the day, the new management has decided to play all formats all the time. You can hear a country song followed by rap followed by alternative grunge music followed by classic rock followed by John Denver and so on... So I pretty much don't listen at all anymore because it just annoys me.

This afternoon, I was waiting for the kids to get out of school. It is in the 20s today so I hunkered down in the car to wait. I flipped to the local Japanese station just to see what was playing. Usually they play orchestra music or strange sounding old Japanese music. Today I was surprised to hear Randy Travis belting out a song. After Randy, they played some Dwight Yoakam. When the song was over the DJ announced what had played in clear English. How fun! Then she and what sounded like four other DJs proceeded to discuss the songs in Japanese. There were lots of "ahhhhh so-so-so-so" noises as well as "hmmmm's". I wonder what kind of culture Randy Travis-san and Dwight Yoakam-san and songs like Guitars and Cadillacs bring to the local Japanese listeners!

At any rate, it was a fun surprise and I enjoyed it while it lasted. Please remember to be grateful for the large numbers of radio stations available to you! I will be spinning the dial like crazy when we get home!

Love,

4Vs

Feb Snow

We got some snow last night. It was very windy and cold in the 20s. Mike was dying to try out the snow blower. It was the first time to use it this winter and the pull string broke but was soon fixed. After clearing the sidewalks Mike had about as much snow on him due to the wind.

Thankfully the snow plow came by early this time. There were two giant tractors with a blade in the middle that made 2 passes. The weather warning says that 4 more inches might be on the way. We went out for lunch and a movie and are going to stay inside now to keep warm.

Lakers vs Celtics

Brock played in his first basketball game of the season. This is the first time they have kept score and have refs that actually call the game. Brock made 2 baskets and had some good rebounds and passes. I told him before the game that he gets 6 fouls and that he should make the best of them. He did have a nice block on the other team on this kid half his size and got called for the foul. The Lakers were ahead by several baskets and then the Celtics came back. Brock's team held them off and shot a 3 pointer to stay ahead and win 23 to 22.

You can see Brock's coach on the left. Brock is throwing the ball in and Emma #10 is guarding.

We Love You Mr. Snowplow!

We had a bunch of wet, wet snow over the weekend. We have cleared the sidewalks and such, but our street was a big, icy, snowy, wet mess. Taking the kids to school this morning was tricky- our little cars did not want to climb the little mountains of snow and ice to back out and get out of our circle.

Mr. Snowplow had been everywhere on base in the last thirty six hours- everywhere but our little circle. Had someone offended Mr. Snowplow? A slight of some kind that made him laugh and gleefully pass us by? We started quizzing the neighbors, but no one recalled making him mad!

Finally, late this morning, after every other street and sidewalk in Misawa had been cleared, Mr. Snowplow was forced to come and help us!

Next time he makes a round I will stop him and offer hot Japanese coffee in a can and such. Maybe if we can woo him he will come to see us sooner in February!

I couldn't get a picture on his first pass,(I didn't want to scare him off by standing out on the porch with a camera!) but the road already looked almost 100% better with just one swoop down the street!






Love,

4Vs

Okunakayama Kogen Ski Resort

Last weekend Brock and I (Mary B), went skiing at Okunakayama Kogen Ski Resort. Okunakayama is about 90 minutes from the base. We went with a tour group from the base and had a great time. Brock is really improving!

Here is the main lodge at the resort. Still missing quite a bit of snow, but we had plenty on the slopes and it snowed off and on all day while we were there.





Brock and I covered all the green slopes at the resort. He even ventured out on a red. *Note to stateside skiiers- in Japan green slopes are green(beginner), blue is red (intermediate) and blacks are blue (advanced). Got that? Green is green, blue is red and black is blue! Brock also got a thrill out of riding the lift alone and getting me to take his picture.



Misawa Outdoor rec, the group we went with, reserved a private room for us to use while we were there. It was a medium size room with tatami mats, a Japanese table and futons. We stored our gear there and were able to hang out and rest as needed during the day. It was also a nice respite from the smoking areas in the lodge!



Overall it was a great weekend. We will try and get more ski weekends in during February!

Love,

4Vs

Who likes sweet Midgets?

No I'm not talking about the cute neighbor kids...I was thinking about the little pickles that taste so good. Next to Grace V is Grace S and her sister Anna. They all enjoyed the spaghetti dinner made by Chef MB.

Max Schramel is going through the little boy phase where he likes to talk sports. He predicts that the Patriots will win tomorrow against the Colts. To the right of Max is Anna Schooley.

Going to Tinker AFB OK

Howdy all,
We just found out that our new home this summer will be Tinker AFB OK! We are excited to be close to home and speaking the language. I dont see any golf courses on the map but maybe they need to water a little more on base. I will be the new 72nd Comptroller Sq Commander. We will let you know if we find out any more details.