We made it. After three amazing years in Okinawa Japan we left on Saturday June 18th and flew back to the U.S. for the last time. Life was really busy and we packed in tons of last minute fun while dealing with all the packing and checking out. I tried not to think things like "oh, this is my last bike ride" or my last run, last time going here or there... but it happened anyway. It was really hard to say "see you later" to our friends there because they were so much more than friends. Moving away from family is tough, moving to a foreign country is even tougher and our friends truly became our family and support network. It was hard to leave when we don't know when we'll see them again. Hopefully sooner rather than later. Everything went fairly smoothly with the packing out and prepping. I'd have loved to go on one more dive and a few other things but we left with no regrets and tons of great memories. We were spoiled by our friends there who helped us out so much as we got ready to go. Our next door neighbors, who were some of our best friends, went so far as to even move at the same time as us so we could stay in the on base hotel together! It was awesome because Hayden could still walk to school with his best friend, they would just leave from the hotel together in the morning!! Other friends spoiled us with meals, child care, cars to use, game nights and a great last night at the beach with everyone together. One of our first nights in Okinawa 3 years ago was spent at Araha Beach, so that is where we went for our last night.

Our flights went well, the kids were good and aside from the crying baby and loud flight attendant who kept waking us up it was great. Once we arrived in the U.S. we have continued to be spoiled by our great friends the Ball's who picked us up at the airport. They are some great friends we were with in Okinawa until they moved a year ago. Happily, they picked us up in our very own new (to us) car!!! We knew we wanted an Odyssey like the one we sold before moving to Okinawa and found the one we wanted on Craigslist. So they went and test drove it for us and took the check and picked it up. For three years I was dreaming that when we moved back someone would pick me up at the airport in my new Odyssey, hand me my iphone and drive me to my new house. That almost came true as Saturday afternoon we went and picked out our new iphones. We are staying here, near Seattle, with the Ball's for a few days while Tom's does his final check out from the Navy. The Ball's are the best hosts ever, truly spoiling us with great food, good company and fun. But most of all they gave us the gift of sleep, the most precious thing you can give a jet-lagged traveler. The kids slept upstairs and we were downstairs with a loud fan on so we wouldn't hear the kids in the morning. Melanie said she'd grab the girls if they had to go potty and we figured they'd sleep all night because we kept them up all day. But jetlag doesn't always work that way and they woke up at midnight and couldn't go back to sleep until 4! I had no idea until the next morning because Melanie stayed up with them getting snacks and movies and such. WAY TOO NICE TO US!!

The kids stayed jet lagged the next night but finally last night they slept through the night. Hopefully tonight they'll do the same and we'll be back on schedule. We're having a blast here on vacation with them, it's a good transition into our new "real" life in Washington. A little taste of Okinawa right here. We were freezing for the first few days but have finally warmed up and enjoyed the sunshine today!

I'll post more as our adventure in the US continues and once I get the pictures!! We hope to make our way down to Vancouver in the next few days once Tom has finished checking out!!

Dave and his High Adventure Crew (19 boys and 6 leaders) are off for the rest of the week on the Columbia! We couldn't have asked for better weather - and the boys were very anxious to get underway. Seven miles today, and 25-28 miles a day over the next 3 days. This thing has been in the planning for so long, I am so glad it is finally here - so Dave can relax when it's all done. They have already arrived at their campsite for tonight on Government Island. You can actually track their progress on SPOT using the link below:

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0GW72MJTdVe1viteLAQCsq4blmj3rju6K

The rest of the kids and I are off to California - where it promises to be very hot.

Adina

Speaking of busy - I guess I should report in since it's been awhile. Life is busy in my neck of the woods. Basically just a lot of work.

I was recently given the responsibility for being the project manager for our corporate rebranding, which is basically taking the brand from just a concept that was developed by a branding consultant/design company to a reality for the entire company. Needless to say, it is a big job and fairly overwhelming with the amount of stuff that needs to get done in a very short timeline. Luckily I have great support from my co-workers and the leadership in the company so I know it is going to be really great.

So I am taking on the planning of the various brand launches right now on top of the rest of my very busy job so I think my summer is gonna be pretty full. I am headed down to Bend, OR this Thursday for an all day meeting with our brand consultants, which I am pretty excited about actually because I've never been to Bend but I have heard lots of great things. It will also be cool to see this company that we are using - very creative, design-type firm that is right up my alley.

Beyond my day job, I am also still working for my company in San Diego on weekday evenings. It is nice to have the additional paycheck and luckily it is work I can do while catching up on my TV shows and Netflix.

Other than work, there isn't much to report. I am excited to have everyone up here in the next week or so. Hopefully, I'll have some downtime that will allow me to come hang out and see everyone.

Ok well I just wanted to check in but I should probably get to sleep so I get rest up for another full day tomorrow. Lake Shasta can't come soon enough!

So I have been waiting for about 2 weeks now to be able to make this announcement. I got the call today from the Sprague High School Athletic Director telling me that I am now the new Girls Volleyball Head Coach. Life will be getting majorly crazy around here for at least the next 6 months. I just thought my life wasn't crazy enough :).

On the Clymb right now they have some pretty cool kids life preservers. Maybe good for Shasta?