Once again I failed in my job to post this entry on the Sundry Seven... it's from August 6th:

Good-bye Harry! My amazing and brave husband went out last night and singlehandedly took on 4 banana spiders with a rake and his shoe... I was terrified for him but he held strong and was successful. They are officially dead and I am so happy! We tried to buy some sort of poison spray because I was sure that you couldn’t just knock them out of the tree and step on them. I envisioned them jumping off their web and attacking with amazing speed the way they attack the sticks we throw into their webs. Well luckily they were so stunned by being knocked to the ground Tom had time to step on the them. He’s my hero and I am so happy they are gone. It’s true more might come to take their place but at least I feel a little better for now! Oh, and by the way, we should have named her Harriet, the girls are the large ones with all the bright colors...

Not much else to report here. I’ve just been busy with “regular” life. Hayden has been spending every spare minute with our next door neighbor Mika. They set up a large inflatable pool in their yard yesterday and the boys were snorkeling in it! They play together well and always come up with interesting games. Today they were digging for dinosaur bones in the backyard and then reading about them in their science books. I got Hayden registered for Kindergarten and am looking forward to that at the end of the month. I ordered some curtains for the house, I’ve been cleaning and playing, cleaning and playing... Last Saturday Tom and I had a date night with Danica. The day care here offers free babysitting one Saturday night a month. We tried to sign the kids up but by the time we had all the paperwork done the 2 year old’s class was full. So we dropped off the other kids and went off on our date with Danica in tow. We went to the Japanese mall and walked around American village. It was fun just to take in the sights and get a feel for what time of things we could buy locally. I’ve been told I am so lucky because I can go shoe shopping here because my feet are so small. I’ll have to check it out. We thought about going out for Japanese food but we were in “American” village so they had restaurants that were trying to be like the U.S. So we decided to try the A&W, luckily the back of their menu had an english version so we could just point at the pictures to place our order. The food was okay but we won’t do it again. Tonight we are finally going out for some real local food. Our new friends have set up a babysitter and we are going to try a new place. They are big “food” people and will be good for us in forcing us out of our comfort zone when it comes to food.

Today my friend Melissa picked us up and we went down to Araha beach. That’s the one with the pirate’s ship and great swimming spot. It’s so close it’s actually practical to just go for an hour or two. We had a great time swimming and escaping the heat for a few minutes. When we were walking back to the car we ran into a group of japanese teenagers who are in Okinawa on vacation. The people around here are used to seeing American’s because of the military presence but these kids weren’t and they were just amazed. They wanted to get their pictures taken with the kids and just couldn’t get enough of the little blond girls. Hayden surprised me and was a good sport and actually smiled in a picture with one of them. Then they kept using their English and saying “bye,” “bye.” It was really funny.

Melissa had to pick us up because Tom’s car is in the shop this week getting a new air conditioner. We took a risk buying our cars off the “lemon lot” instead of from a dealership and now we’re taking the hit. We got the cars for a lot less than we would have paid at the dealership so even with the repairs we will come out about even... that is unless it’s really a lemon and this is just the first repair. I’m not sure we made the best decisions with out car buying but when you don’t have a car you eventually get desperate and just buy something! In case you missed the info, I sold my beloved beautiful navy blue 2007 Honda Odyssey after having it for only a year. She was my baby and I was annoyingly obsessed with keeping her clean and nice. Now I own, yes own because I certainly didn’t have to finance the $1,700 I paid for it, an ugly tan color 1995 Toyota Lucida. Why did I buy it you ask? Other than desperately wanting a way out of the hotel? Well, around here only the locals drive nice cars. The military members are not allowed to bring cars here and the car lots that sell to Americans are full of old vehicles that are just bought and sold again and again as the military members come and go for their 3 year periods. The way I see it, once the car gets so old that the Japanese don’t want to buy it they sell it to us! :) But I’m trying to make the most of it, I gave it a good deep cleaning the other day and I am feeling better already. Oh, just as an interesting side not, my Odyssey had a ridiculous amount of cup holders, 16 I think. I had to buy some nice old school drink holders, the kind that slide into the window and hang on the door, so that I would have at least one drink holder. Thank goodness they at least sold those here and it cost me less than a dollar. When put into perspective that means that if I bought the Odyssey simply for the nice drink holders, considering both cars get me from point A to point B, then I was paying something like $2000 a drink holder... how thirsty am I?

Lastly, I went running last night. Only the second time I’ve gone since moving here. They have a flag system on base and when it’s too hot they fly a black flag which means you aren’t allowed to run. Between the heat, jetlag and Tom’s schedule I just don’t get it done. But last night we ended up playing an impromptu game of kick ball on the baseball field behind our house. It was really fun and Danica especially liked running the bases. Anyway, after that I was already drenched with sweat so I decided to go running. It was dark but still crazy hot. None the less it felt good to be out. I felt really safe running on base and even got to wear this sexy reflective neon yellow belt required for running at night. Towards the end my lungs end up burning from breathing such think air but my muscles were happy to be out.

Well that is way too many boring details, maybe I’ll have something good to report in a few days. Tom has a dental banquet this weekend. I should go to it but I would need a formal dress and shoes which I don’t have. Plus, we would have to pay $45 for my dinner and it just doesn’t seem worth it for a stuffy social gathering I won’t enjoy. I’m feeling a little guilty for not going but their are other wives skipping out so it will be okay. I think I will happily stay home and do a little reading- I’ve got the new Twilight book and am dying to get started on it. I have to speak in church on Sunday so once I get my talk finished I can enjoy some vampire time!

One last thing, a funny Hayden quote. I made this chart to keep track of who’s turn it is to say the family prayer because Hayden always wants to get out of it. Well it was coming up on his turn and I was explaining that we were turning the spinner clockwise so he says “Why don’t we just do it clock foolish?”