The future is looking bright

The weather is starting to get colder and more crisp. It is definitely hinting that winter is right around the corner, and I am not ready for it. I have enjoyed this past summer and fall, and am not looking forward to snow. We are definitely trying to make each one of these last nice days of the year count by playing outside as much as possible. This summer Abby FINALLY figured out how to pedal on a bike and has loved riding her bike ever since. Connor, like always, just follows suit with his sister and copies her every move. Watching those two ride their bikes up and down the sidewalk outside out house will be a memory I hope I will never forget.

Brayden is 11 months old, which means my baby is almost a year. He is not so much baby these days as he is starting to tun more into a toddler. I don't know how I feel about it cause it is fun and exciting to watch him grow and develop all these new skills, but at the same time I feel as though I just had him yesterday and am not ready for my youngest to be growing up this fast. He is starting to stand, but still not taking any steps. I think he realizes he is much faster if he just crawls, so there really isn't any motivation right now for him to learn to walk. He does though have 8 teeth, and gives the most jack-o-lantern cheesy grins all the time with those snaggle teeth of his. I just love my little chubby boy, drool and all! Now I get to start figuring out what I am going to do for his birthday next month.

Since we are on the count down of weekends we have left to explore Japan before we move, we decided to go to Namiki farms to see the animals, ride the tractors, and eat some delicious gelato. Kyle has never been so we knew that was a must place for him to experience before we leave. They came out with a new fall flavor of pumpkin in their gelato shop, and it was probably the most delicious thing I have ever tasted. It wasn't sweetened or the fake pumpkin taste, it was real pumpkin and it went so perfectly with my chocolate gelato, like a pumpkin chocolate chip cookie.

We didn't stay too long as it started raining pretty decent, but we did get in some tractor play time as well as checked out the pumpkins at the only nearby pumpkin patch. Since Halloween isn't a Japanese holiday, and they don't really eat pumpkin, there are no pumpkin patches here cause it would be pointless. This little farm though has a small patch (I think they do it just for the Americans here at the base) just for looking at, not picking at taking though. At least we got to go to a pumpkin patch. That is something I am looking forward to again when we leave Misawa... pumpkin patches in the fall for the kiddos.

Our good friends, the Sebastian's, moved away this week. I got to teach their daughter, Molly, ballet, and they were in our squadron. He is separating from the Air Force and is going to the Tuscan Guard. Colleen is from Arizona so she is happy to be going back home, and after 15 years of her husband being active duty she is ready to set up some roots and stay put for a while. I am happy for them, but will miss them. We went out to eat with them one last time, and the day before they left we had our spouse squadron lunch where we let all the kids say goodbye. They have a little boy who is only three months younger than Brayden and it has been fun watching them grow up this past year together. We didn't even plan it, but both our boys were coordinating in matching outfits. We will miss the Sebastians, but I know we will stay in touch and hopefully bump into them again soon.

Soccer season is officially over for Abby and Connor. I got roped into being the team mom and organized a snack schedule and had to organize team pictures, and then somehow got roped into being the actual coach for the last two practices of the season! The coach, Terri, who is my good friend had to return to the states on emergency leave as her mother in-law passed away. So she asked if I could run practices in her absence and I said yes of course, anything to relieve her during this tragic time for her family. The only problem is I know nothing about soccer! So I recruited my friend Tiffany, whose daughter was on the team as well, to help me out. Tiffany is much more sporty than me, so she basically came up with the drills and I helped organize the practice. Abby and Connor got a kick (pun intended) out of me being their coach. I hope they know that will never happen again. I can be their ballet teacher, but when it comes to sports I will let other, more qualified people take on the role of coach from here on out.

Overall I am glad both my kids got to play on such a fun team. I think they really enjoyed it and it provided a great introduction to soccer for them. Looks like I need to get my blinged out soccer mom shirt ready for games next year, or maybe some "I love my soccer player" car decals. Oh Kyle would kill me, hahaha.

The moment we have been waiting for for months now finally arrived. We have been stressing about what our next assignment would be for months, or should I say years as it really has been on the back of our minds since the day we arrived to Misawa. I was so nervous and was afraid Kyle would try to prank me, so I asked him to please not play any tricks on me and tell me what our assignment is as soon as he found out. I will always remember what I was doing when I found out the news. I had just brought in the groceries from the car, and was trying to hurry and put them away before having to pick up the kids from school, when all of a sudden Kyle sends me a message that reads, "going to Luke for the 35s. Can't talk, about to step for a flight, love you." For a moment I froze. Was this real? Am I reading the message correctly? After rereading it probably 10 times I just started to cry! To be honest it was mainly out of relief knowing we FINALLY knew where we were going next. Then I began to feel mixed emotions of happy and sad. I was so happy to hear that we were going the F-35 track, but also a little sad that it wasn't Florida as I was hoping for beaches, and for a new adventure. We love Arizona and plan to retire there when it's all said and done, but we have been there before so there is no surprise or new adventure, just familiarity that we are going back to.

Before I knew it word started spreading like wildfire throughout the squadron. I was getting messages from everyone congratulating us on our assignment, and I was so confused how they all knew. Apparently the squadron commander announced everyone's next assignment that was in this VML. There were 7 guys, 1 got Kunsan in Korea, 5 got Holloman in New Mexico, and 1spot for F-35 to Arizona (I bet you can guess which one was Kyle, lol). As soon as I found out all the assignments I cried even more, but this time out of complete relief. Kunsan and Holloman were the two places I really, really didn't want to go! We also knew that this was more than likely our only chance at the F-35 and we were so hopeful that we would get it, and we got it! There were only 6 F-35 spots that they handed out to everyone in this entire VML, that's everyone around the world stationed at F-16 bases (Kunsan, Osan, Spangdallem, Aviano, Misawa, Shaw, Holloman). Kyle was one of the lucky 6 guys who get to transition over to the newest, most technical jet out there, the jet of the future, the F-35!

For the rest of the day I couldn't stop thinking about our assignment, and waited and waited for Kyle to get home to give me more information. Of course he didn't show up till 9:30 that night and we literally both sat on the couch smiling in disbelief for the longest time. Our sadness for not getting Florida was immediately filled with gratitude as we realized we could have been going to Holloman or Korea, and instantly got excited about our next adventure. The future is bright for the Benhams! Here's to hoping the F-35 gives our family a better quality of life with Kyle home more often, and more desirable locations. From here on out our bases that we can potentially be stationed at are Hill AFB in Utah, Eglin AFB in Florida, Lakenheath (coming 2020) in England, Eilson (coming 2019) in Alaska, and Nellis AFB in Nevada in the upcoming future. We are beyond grateful to our Heavenly Father for this blessing and answer to prayers!