こんにちは 日本 (Hello Japan!)

After choosing and ranking our list of 20 Air Force bases out of 74, we have been assigned to Misawa, Japan for the next 2-3 years! Misawa was in our top 10 (most of which were overseas: Germany, Italy, Japan)so we are super excited! We really wanted our kids to be exposed to different cultures, places, languages, etc and since we ourselves like adventure, this is a great fit. Misawa is about a 3 hour bullet train ride north of Tokyo, it has beach areas, but also gets snow. The rumor is that it's a great place for families. We haven't decided if we will send Spencercito to an elementary school on base or let him try a Japanese public school. Lily, Emma, and Samuel will probably be sent to preschool and Japanese public school which will be great, they can be trilingual. Spencercito's reaction to the news was "do they have stuff to make quesadillas there?" and "but I don't know their language" after I explained that he would learn, and reminded him of mochi (yummy Japanese-type marshmallows) that he likes, he got excited. Lily and Spencercito ran around the room singing and shouting "Japan, Japan! We're going to Japan!" over and over again. Emma just watched them, said "Japan" a few times and smiled, Samuel slept through it all. So far, living in NYC in a Dominican neighborhood, attending a Spanish branch, then moving to Los Angeles where his friends and neighbors were Indian, Russian, African American, Korean, Japanese, and Ethiopian has been a great experience. Spencercito even asked me awhile ago why he had white skin, and told me how he wished he had brown skin like his friends. They all have been exposed to different foods, traditions, customs, and religions which I hope will enable them to have a love, respect and understanding of all people and cultures. We leave sometime late July, now to run around getting passports for 4 kids, immunizations, etc. So, こんにちは 日本 (Hello Japan!) here we come!

It's a BOY!!!!

We are so excited to have another boy in our family! Samuel Benjamin Lee gave us quite a show during the ultrasound and we are happy to report that he appears to be healthy and growing appropriately for his age. He was caught sucking his thumb in this picture.

Kindergarten!

Our oldest, Spencer, just started Kindergarten this week. He has been waiting all summer, asking just about every day if school was going to start soon. On the first day of school he was up, dressed, backpack on and lunch bag in hand waking me up at 6:30 AM, so very excited. I only cried a little when I left him the first day. :) He didn't cry at all, just got in line no problem. He rides his bicycle to school while I push the mini-Lees in the stroller. That way, I get about a mile of exercise in and I know he has gotten to school safely. On the way home he rides the bus, another first he was really looking forward to as well. We got a call that first night from his teacher asking if Spencer was okay and explaining why he had come home with quite a big scrape down his leg (playground accident). He even got to see the school nurse and have an ice pack. What an exciting first day! The second day they chased the Gingerbread man around the school and got a gingerbread cookie. Spencer thought it was awesome, he loves school. There are about 15 kids in his class and they have a teacher's aide as well, which coming from LA ,that ratio is amazing. While I miss Spencer, I am loving having only 2 at home, and when 1 naps for 2 hours I feel like I'm on vacation!

After Hurricane Irene

Thankfully we are all safe. Our power is on and the only damage we had was a leak in the roof and a flattened garden. Our neighbor's tree was uprooted but luckily missed their fence and house. Here are some pictures of us and our hurricane party as we tried to stay sane being inside all day.

Hurricane Irene

We picked the best place to move to! First an earthquake and now a hurricane, in the SAME week. We have not yet been told to evacuate, and living where we do on a peninsula the traffic getting out on the 1 highway would be pretty terrible. Also, Spencer has to stay close to base. So we are preparing here at home:
camping stove, check. flashlights, batteries, emergency supply kit including first aid kit, check. emergency radio, check. enough yummy food and water for a few days, check. Enough sustainable food (MRE's etc) for longer duration, check. full gas tank, check. filled Zofran prescription, CHECK! no sense feeling nauseated during an emergency :) Charged portable DVD player for kids, check. "safe room" set up to ride out the storm, check. duct tape and tarps to cover potential broken windows, check.
Ready or not, here comes Irene! Stay tuned for pictures once the power comes back on and the mess is cleaned up.