Where have I been?

Well, to be quite honest teaching 1st grade has taken up a lot of my time. I'm so fortunate to have the same group of students that I had last year as that has made the transition much easier. But, I won't hold back when I say I'm excited for Thanksgiving and Christmas break!

Not much adventure has gone on with our lives but simple one nighters including a trip to the New Sanno for our anniversary and a stay at Yokosuka Naval Base. While we were there, we stopped by the aquarium.

I love finding precious gems like this sign!

Just a view of Mt. Fuji on my way to work. Yeah, I've got it rough.

Back in September, we had a going away/baby shower for our friends the Sweets (who are now getting settled in Little Rock.) Here are some of the clowns we invited...

And no, it was not a costume party, just two crazy guys going out to a party after ours.

Huey and Hillary were tuckered out while the party was still going on and decided to take a snooze on our couch.

For Halloween, Mike and I decided to have a pumpkin carving contest. Since we didn't have a human judge, we had Huey step in. We put our pumpkins down on the floor and whichever pumpkin Huey went to first was the winner. Who do you think won??? Of course I did! Huey loves his mama ; )

That night Mike set up his trick or treat tent. He did a much better job this year and it sure was fun handing out candy to Japanese kids. It cracks me up when they come with such small carriers and then American children come with backpacks and pillowcases!

On Halloween weekend, we found out that my Grandma Mary passed away in her sleep. Although it was not expected, it is very comforting to know that she died peacefully at age of 90 and that we were all able to get together to celebrate her life. Her blue eyes and her laugh will always be a constant memory for me. This is a picture of her taken on her 90th birthday last year.

It's always nice to go back home to Huntington Beach as I feel like I'm on a vacation there. The weather was surprisingly warm for this time of year so we took advantage of taking a walk on the pier.

We were only in California for 5 days before it was time to go back to Japan. On my first day back, I decided to wear a new sweater that I got and thought I'd be extra cool by wearing a big belt to accessorize. Not even five minutes after greeting the kids, one tapped me on the side and said, "Mrs. Quinn, you look like Obi-Wan Kenobi!" After some thought, I have concluded that yes, I in fact did look like Mr. Obi-Wan but I'd like to think I was a younger version...What do you think?