While we were trick or treating Cole saw another "James" and "Percy" from Thomas the Tank Engine. When he saw them he went right up to them and stood right next to them. I have no idea who those other kids are. Luckily they were willing enough to take pictures. We were walking home and ended up going the same direction and Cole just wanted to follow them and be with them. It was so cute. He was literally in heaven after seeing them.

Here is Cole and our Japanese friend Kiego getting ready to go trick or treating. Cole had so much fun with him even though he does not speak any english. His mom is the only one who does. I met Mariko about 18 months ago through my calling as a Branch Missionary. I thought it would be a great opportunity to have her come on base to trick or treat since the Japanese people don't go trick or treating. This was her 2nd time coming with Cole and I and this year her husband did not have to work so he got to come with us. He does not speak english either, but we still had a good time.

This year for Halloween Cole was James from Thomas the Tank Engine. It was still a little long and the hat itched, but that did not bug him at all. He was happy being "James"

Last Sunday after church we headed down to Yokosuka to say bye to Derrick before he left for the ship again for almost 2 months. I was so prepared with lunch, dinner and breakfast foods so I would not have to buy anything especially on Sunday. I figured things that are cold would not have to stay out too long, plus we got a hotel room on base that I could just put the stuff in the fridge. Well my plans did not work out the way I was hoping they would. A lady called the cell phone while I was at church (luckily it was not during sacrament meeting) and asked if I would drive her down so she could drive another car back up. When the guys left there were not enough buses so people had to drive their cars down. I told her I would drive her, which is at least a 20 min drive back depending on traffic. It is usually longer than that to get home, luckily we found a shortcut that I saw other people from church taking home. It sure is nice, but you have to be careful because it is a 2 way road but only 1 car can fit down it. Luckily the japanese people are use to it and will stop and wait for you to back up with no honking or getting upset. by the time I got back to base I had to wait for that lady, then wait for another lady to drive her car back. When we were almost to the Yokosuka the lady with me got a phone call from her husband telling her it will be at least a few more hours and they were still waiting for the trucks to get there. Here it was almost 2 and we had a few more hours to go. The other ladies had no problem with it because they just went shopping, but since it was sunday I didn't and decided to take Cole to look at the water. That was fun and he really enjoyed it. while we were walking by the water I heard a splash. I looked up and saw more people walking and I thought they threw something in the water but I did not see anything. I kept looking out and I saw a jumping fish. It would swim under water for about 15 feet then jump about 10 feet. That was kind of cool.
I finally got a call from Derrick saying he was done. By this time it was around 5. He came off the ship wearing a jacket and it was pretty warm. Come to find out he was drenched because of sweat and he was worried that they would not let him off because his shirt was a different color.  We would have had enchillidas for dinner but I could not check into the hotel room till 3 because it was not clean so I had the food sitting out in the sun since 8:30 that morning and did not want to risk getting sick. I also had eggs for lunch or breakfast. I would have put it in a cooler but the one we did have was used for a squadron picnic and it got lost. We have no idea where it is now.
It was fun to spend that extra time with him before he had to go. I had to get out of bed and get Cole out so I could bring Derrick to the ship. I don't like that part because it is like saying the final goodbye. I felt bad for Derrick because he was already sore from carrying everyone elses stuff he also had to take his 2 huge bags when I dropped him off.
I like to stay there to see the ship leave so I would keep watching out our window but never saw anything. I decided to get ready for the day and while I was in the shower I heard a little bang noise. I had no idea what it was. I figured it was probably Cole doing something but he was not crying so I figured he was ok. A few minutes later he came over to the bathroom and said, "mmm good" I looked at his face and saw white stuff on it. My first thought was oh, great he got the enchillidas open that were left out all day long. I hope he does not get sick. He came back again and said, "so good." I had no idea what he ate. When I got out of the shower I looked over at the table and he had taken all 4 eggs we had (that I was not sure if they were good), cracked them open on the table and was eating raw eggs. He even used a fork to crack the eggs open, luckily he did not see the knives that were pretty close to the forks. All I could do was laugh at him because of his reaction then see what was so good.
I had to check out of our hotel room around noon and as I drove pass the birthing where the ship is, I noticed it was still there. It is usually gone by 9 or so in the morning, so I was a little confused. I did not want to go home so I stayed a few more hours, looked around in the stores since their's are so much bigger than ours, got gas and windshield wipers. I drove by again and it still had not left. I did see 2 destroyers go out then come back in and that really messed me up. I ended up talking to a lady and said they were not sure if they were going to pullout or not because of a typhoon coming our way. Derrick ended up calling me and let me know they were waiting to hear if they were going to get off for a few more hours, but he was not sure if he would beable to get off because he was on duty. when he is on duty he has to stay on the ship. A few minutes later he called back and said he could not get off at all. Not fun for him and hard for me. I was in the same place practically, everyone else was getting off but not him. That was hard, but at the same time I think it was a blessing because I would have travelled home in the dark, with it pouring rain.
It was nice to be together for that short time. It is always hard to say bye to him but this time it was easier because I knew this was the last deployment here in Japan, so I have been very excited about that. Now the time while he is gone just needs to fly by.

Finally some pictures from Singapore. It was a great opportunity to be able to have our whole family visit another country that we do not live in. Sentosa Island is the southern most point of continental Asia.

The other day I decided to make some rice krispies because we had all the stuff for it, which does not happen very often. I got our marshmellows and started the slow process of melting them. I kept waiting and waiting and they would not melt. After about 5 min I thought something must be wrong with the marshmellows. They were soft and we had used them before to make rice krispies so I could not figure it out. One thing I could think of why they would turn out the way they did was because the marshmellows were so old. They were only from April. They never went hard so I figured it would be ok. I also had a quick idea of it being due to the humidity but I have made rice krispies before and never had this problem. I also thought it could have been the name of the marshmellows. The name of them was "campfire marshmellows." I remember that Derrick and I did use those marshmellows to make rice krispies back in april and they melted fine then. that is why I thought it was how old they were. Needless to say the rice krispies never got made and we had to settle for something else.

EARTHQUAKE and TYPHOON

Tonight I was sitting on the couch just playing with Cole and all of a sudden I heard the sliding door rattle and the floor was kind of shaking. It did not last too long, but a few seconds later the shaking started again. This time it lasted longer and I could see things shaking and moving. It was scary for me and my heart was beating pretty fast. It made me think of what I need to do to be prepared if anything did happen. I remembered I had 2 cases of water but they are in the car. We do have some food but not enough. that is mostly my fault because I have not been to the store since we got back from Singapore a few days ago. We are also on a typhoon watch. It is actually a tropical depression but they are just giving us a warning just in case it is more than that. Oh the adventures with mother nature we have. Oh, I almost forgot to write but the earthquake was south of Tokyo on some island , it measured a 7.1, which I am so glad was there and not where we live.

This first picture is how Cole was before the fireworks started the other 2 are how he was almost the whole time the fireworks were going on. I managed to uncover his head for some of them but he would keep it covered. I would talk about the colors and he would peek out occasionally to look at them, but not very often at all.



















Cole hiding his head

Here are more pictures from Fuji Safari Park with the kangaroos (notice mom petting it). It was so much fun and we got lucky because it did not rain at all (even though it was very cloudy) until we were walking to the car and it started to pour.

I love the picture with the water and the reflection. Cole loved running through the water and was drenched when we left. This was the day after mom and dad got here, it had been raining and we made it out when it had stopped for a little bit.
Dad wanted to make a train cake with Cole, which he loved. Cole took the food coloring and put it right on the cake so when dad put the frosting on it changed the color of the frosting. Cole loved doing it along with mom and dad.
The other pictures with the kangaroos are at Fuji Safari park. You would not believe this, but mom actually touched a kangaroo.

Yesterday Cole fell and got a cut on his back so I put a band-aid on it. It was the funniest thing I have seen. It was like watching a dog catch his tail. Cole would turn his head to try to see it, but as he turned his head, his whole body would turn. He just kept going around in a circle and never saw the band-aid. He eventually gave up and went and played with his toys. Who knew a band-aid on a childs back could be so entertaining to watch.

Anyone want to live in a pink house? This house is right by the base and I have always wanted to take a picture of it because it is so pink. It always catches my attention when I am leaving base. I must say it is pretty classic.

Cole was pretty thirsty after all the picture taking we did, which I don't blame him because it was pretty hot that day. I was actually sweating.
He found this faucet which actually has a drinking fountain that did not work. I must say this is a huge improvement from a year ago when we were at Karen and Jaymon's house. A year ago Anna would get a drink just fine but Cole tried to get one and he would move his whole body down to get a drink and never got any water, but this time he was successful and was able to hold his body still and get a drink. He still came out soaking wet, but it is ok because it cooled him off.

Cole loves hanging from things and Derrick let him hang from this tree branch. How fun is that. We got another picture where Cole is lifting his legs up like he wanted to go higher. All he needs now is a little bit more muscle in his arms and he will have it

I thought this one was really cute.

Cole is having so much fun being out here. We had to hurry and get this picture before he wanted to get down, so here he is at 2 1/2 years

We are standing on a bridge that is not more than a foot wide and we did not want Cole to fall in so that is why I am holding onto his shirt. There are actually fish in the water and Cole was trying to find them. The water was actually very dirty and I was surprised the fish were even alive. Look at Derrick's pants. Can you say, dress in style. Actually it is the reflection of the water that made them do that.

Our Family June 7, 2009

Just a picture of Derrick and I a few days ago.

The sunday before Derrick left we went and took some pictures in our sunday clothes and as Derrick was taking a picture of another couple that was with us, Cole got down and started taking a picture with our broken tripod. He would count to 10 and pretend like he was taking a picture. He wanted to carry that tripod as we walked around this rose garden so he could take pictures too.

Yesterday I went to the store and as I was walking down the cereal aisle there was a very old couple there. I would say they were at least in their 80's. The old man talked to Cole for a little bit which Cole got kind of shy, but did give him a smile, which is a big thing for him.
When I first started walking down the aisle I noticed him looking at the fruit loops like he had never seen it before. I went and looked at the cereal and noticed his wife pick up the no name brand of fruit loops and she showed it to him. Oh, first before she started looking at the cereal she brought a bag of sun chips over and showed it to him. He said, " What are those?" She responded with, " I don't know." and they stuck them in the shopping cart. Now back to the cereal. They saw the price on the cereal was 95 cents and she asked her husband how many they should get. He responded with, "one." I had to laugh because as he was putting the cereal in the shopping cart she reached down and got another box. I wanted to follow them around the store just to watch them. I did meet up with them on another aisle and he started to talk to me about how he is a great grandfather and his grandson is in the Navy. It was interesting to listen to him and I am sure he had many stories to tell.
It is not very often we see people that old here on the base and I wonder if they were living off base somewhere because his wife did speak japanese. They must be living here because I asked if he has visited his grandson and he said it was too hard for him at the airport and flying. That brought up more questions in my head that I did not ask because you know how old people are and they will talk your ear off, so now my questions will be left a mystery.

Kamogawa Sea World

Last Saturday we went to Sea World to do something fun while Derrick was gone. Cole loved the dolphins and the killer whales. The picture with us by the dolphin we are maybe 2 feet away from it at the most. Cole was so happy to be close to it. He wanted to touch it so bad. you probably can't see the rain in the picture with the dolphin but it was pouring rain.



There was a place where Cole could ride a train and he did not care if it was pouring rain he was going to ride the train. The japanese lady was so nice to walk around with him and hold an umbrella over him to keep him dry. The green umbrella is his and I was surprised he was able to hold it up as good as he did on the train because walking with an umbrella was a different story. These killer whales were so cool to watch. It is amazing how big they are. The water in the background is the pacific ocean. We had to drive in a tunnel for about 6 or so miles under water to get there. It would have been cool if there was glass to see in the water, but it was all cement.

our new car

Well we finally broke down and got a new car. We did not want to but one way or the other we would have to spend a lot of money. It is a 1998 Nissan Runessa. I actually like it and it is the roomiest japanese car I have been in. The back seat can move forward or back, depending on where we want Cole and the front seats can turn all the way around and face the back. The arm rest also moves back and becomes a table. It is the gray car. I like it because of the room and it is up higher than normal cars and it has tinted windows.
I will post pictures of the inside as soon as I take them, but who knows when that will be.

Today at lunch I asked Cole if he wanted to bless the food, which he was more than willing to do. He folds his arms and closes his eyes by putting his arms over his eyes. I got him started then he started to go on his own so I just let him to see what he would say. He was doing very good, then out of the blue he started to count. I wanted to see how high he would go so I let him keep going. He ended up counting up to 10 and some of the teens. He can't quite get the right words out for the teens but he knows they are there. I was laughing so hard and had a very hard time helping him finish our food prayer. It was really cute to hear him try to pray and I am proud of his accomplishments.

some pictures from Guam

Here is one view of the ocean from the road. We are just a few miles away from the ocean.














Cole playing in the sand. I love the view and the color of the water.







Can you believe this was in Feb. The temp was perfect. It would be cloudy and rain for a few minutes, then it would be nice the rest of the day.

perfect pancake?

Don't you think this looks like the perfect pancake? We had pancakes for breakfast and I left the batter sitting out because it was pretty much gone and while I was cutting Derrick's hair Cole decided he wanted to have a snack. His snack ended up being this pancake he tried to make. I must say he did a pretty good job, he was just a little too short. I was surprised there were only a few drops of batter on the floor.
Speaking of batter on the floor. Cole had dipped a measuring spoon in the batter while I was making pancakes for breakfast and he spilled some on the floor so I said to him, " lets clean it up." I went to get a paper towel and Cole got down on his hands and knees and licked the batter off the floor, it shows how much Cole likes pancake batter. I just had to laugh at what he did.

Last night I went to a baby shower for a girl in our branch and I sure was surprised how Cole was. At first he was quiet and stayed by me, but it did not take long for him to warm up. After being there for a while (it started at 7 and I try to put him to bed at 8) Cole started to get a little hyper. Things were kind of settling down, but there was still talking going on and out of the blue Cole yelled, "Party,party, party." This is not the only time either. I am sure it shocked all the people there because they see him just as this quiet little boy. He was going all over and would not hold still. It was pretty funny to watch him be so active, it was almost as if I had a different little boy

Fuji Safari Park

This last saturday we decided to take a trip to Fuji Safari Park to do one last fun thing before Derrick went to the ship. According to the map we had it would take about 1 hr 40 min to get there. It was not a bad drive at all, in fact we ended up seeing Mt. Fuji pretty close and also ended up driving in a forest. They actually have them here in Japan.
When we got there we wanted to park but had no idea where to go and they had a few japanese people pointing and telling us where to go. We ended up going to a part where you stay in your car and drive around and see lions, tigers, bears etc... as they roamed around. It was fun, but as we were waiting in line to drive through the oil light in the car came on. That was kind of scary, driving with all these animals not knowing if the car would make it through. I also thought about making the drive home and depending on traffic it could take over 2 hours to get home. We did however make it through the little safari area and had a wonderful time at the park.
It was all very hands on and I was able to be up close to animals, I never would have imagined. I have included the pictures below. There are quite a few of some of the animals we were able to feed and touch.
Before we left Derrick checked the oil and the car had oil, so he had no idea why the oil light came on. Here was the test now to see if we were going to make it home. I am so grateful for prayer and that I was taught the importance of prayer. We did say a prayer that we would be able to make it home safe. As we made our way home we ran into traffic, which I was expecting because we left right at rush traffic time, but we had no other choice because the park closed. WE ended up stopping at the Gotembo outlet mall, which was very expensive and was nothing like an outlet mall in the U.S. It was nice because by the time we were done looking at things and made our way back home there has hardly any traffic at all and were able to make it home pretty quickly with no problems and no oil light coming on. It has not come back on and it has been almost a week, but I have not driven it very much at all.
That saturday sure was sure was eventful and it was fun to see more of Japan.

This is a very close-up of Mt. Fuji. I did not think Fuji Safari Park would have been so close to Mt. Fuji. It was not until Derrick pulled it up on google maps and we were able to see how close we were going to be to it. We can also climb it, but it is only open for around a month to climb. I have wanted to climb it, but the times it is open to climb Derrick is out on the ship. I heard from others who climbed that it is a pretty tough hike without trees, but volcanic rock. I am glad I was able to get this close to it.