We had the elders over for dinner tonight and since they rarely get an American meal, we had a good ol' fashion BBQ: hot dogs, hamburgers, potato salad, the works. And root beer, which is like gold to the missionaries since you can't find it anywhere in a Japanese store. Anyway - I was out of produce, namely celery, and refused to make the 30 minute drive to the main base commissary (ours is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays). So I opted for Japanese produce - usually great stuff, but a bit more costly. Case in point: I finally found celery at the second store I went to. Tough to locate because I was looking for a "bunch" of celery, only to find that it was sold individually wrapped by the "stalk". Yes, one stalk of celery in a bag. And all for a mere 128 yen per piece - basically $1.20 for one stalk of celery. Insane. If I weren't desperate for it, I would have walked away. But there was some sick joy in buying a stalk of celery for that much.

Dave is off at a softball game. Kids are in bed. We are reading "The Adventures of Huckelberry Finn". Isaac took a big spill on his rollerblades tonight, but will recover. Parker has taken off his training wheels and feels like the king of the world. Morgan wants to grow up to be Princess Leia. And Taylor is currently fascinated with food coloring and it's many wonders. Not a good thing.

Marnie - congratulations! Would love to see pics of the new place! Kim - all I can say is "ouch". Brooke - it's not cheating. I sometimes do the same thing with my family. There are only so many hours in the day! You've got to be resourceful!

Love you all...
Adina