Four day weekend

I must say, Columbus day comes at such a wonderful time each year! I feel like it's the perfect break after the busy fall schedules have started up. We had lots of fun things planned this four day weekend, yes four days of no work and pure family time! First of all since we are a day ahead of life back in the states our General Conference Sunday is always the week after General Conference stateside. So this was our General Conference weekend and we sure enjoyed our lazy Sunday of listening to our beloved Prophet and Apostles. I am learning that it is really hard to get a lot out of General Conference when you have two toddlers. We had to break it up into 3 talks segments with plenty of breaks in between. Even then we did not finish all sessions so Kyle and I have been watching a talk or two each night for the rest of the week. I know Abby and Connor are too young to understand, but it is the examples and standards we set for our kids that counts. We want them to get in the habit of listening to General Conference and knowing that it is important to listen to the prophet, the Lord's mouth piece.

We kick started a family fun weekend with a trip to Aomori. We surprised the kids and took them to the aquarium and they absolutely loved it. Its a small little aquarium, but they have a pretty impressive dolphin show that we were fortunate enough to view twice while there, right when we arrived and right before we left. It was a wet cold day, probably the first really cold day of the season that reminded me that we are in Misawa and should get ready for a long dreary winter. We tried our best to stay positive by doing indoor activities such as the aquarium.

After almost 3 hours spent at the aquarium, dolphin shows, and of course some soft serve Japanese ice cream, we headed into the city where we ate at Tony Roma's. Kyle and I were so excited to eat at an American restaurant with American food... or should I say the closest thing to American food here in northern Japan. We both got some ribs and good old mashed potatoes that cost more than you want to know, but were so worth it. Japanese food is delicious, but every now and then you need a little home food comfort even if it means driving 2 hours to Aomori and dropping close to $40 per plate. I think Kyle and I miss steak, ribs, and all that delicious BBQ type grilled meat the most so when we move back to the states, whenever that will be, we will make sure to keep our local outback steakhouse and Texas Roadhouse in business!

We also made sure to make a stop at the air and science museum. It is right by the base in Misawa, but we never seem to have the time to go all together as a family. I often will take the kids during the winter time and we do the inside portion just because it is an activity to do where we can stay warm from the cold Misawa winter. This time we mainly stayed outside and enjoyed the static airplane display. The kids loved going in all the different types of airplanes. Now when I say kids, I do mean Kyle as well. In every plane he would try to figure out the buttons, control stick, etc. It was funny to watch since most of the planes were Japanese and really old. Good luck trying to fly those planes Kyle! Poor Connor got a little too excited that he peed his pants and didn't tell us till later. He just didn't want to take the time to stop and go to the bathroom cause he was in little boy heaven. With a quick undies and pants change behind one of the planes he was good to go again exploring away. I don't know which kid likes airplanes more, Abby or Connor. All I know is I don't think this momma wants either of them to follow their daddy's foot steps and be a fighter pilot. Perhaps something a little more low key, less stressful and dangerous, that keeps them with their family for majority of the year instead of away... like flying for FedEx would be great! One thing for certain is we are obviously an aviation family cause we spent the whole afternoon checking out old rusty planes and loving every minute of it. Who does that?!

We had another hard goodbye. Our neighbors, friends, and a part of our squadron family left us a couple weeks early unexpectedly. The Downings lived just two doors down and had a little girl a couple months younger then Abby and another little girl a year younger than Connor. We would always do things together or just let our rug rats play in the front yard together riding their trikes, and drawing on the sidewalk. We are actually both pregnant with our third kid together and have due dates just 3 weeks apart. Her husband got into test pilot school so their three year assignment was cut to two years, and they were expected to leave the beginning of November. Unfortunately my friend Kate was having some complications with her pregnancy and their baby girl #3 has a severe heart defect. After discovering a very high heart rate for the baby Kate was admitted to the Japanese hospital where they tried their best to lower it. They did not have much success so the family left just 24 hours later on emergency leave back to the states (for good) so she could be treated at the UCLA hospital where they specialize in these kind of conditions. We were sad that our time with them was cut even shorter, but are grateful they made it back to the states safely and are getting the best treatment. We can only hope and pray that everything works out with baby #3.

Abby and I went to the train station before taking her to school to say goodbye to our friends. I was doing pretty good holding it together but when Abby and Piper said their goodbyes I started loosing it. These two girls have been best friends and have been raised together these past two years. As sad as we are to see them go we constantly have to remind ourselves that it isn't "goodbye," just "see ya later." I look forward to staying in touch with them and hopefully running into them again in the near future so we can watch our kids run around and play together again.