I can't wait until I'm 8...

This important post has been put on the back burner for far too long. The Fri. after Syd's 8th birthday, she was baptized by her Dad. It was a great day with lots of family there. (Both sets of grandparents, all my siblings and their families, Samantha & Brinlee, and Sienna.) Sydnee had fun picking out who did which parts (even if I had to help tweak it a little bit.) I think she will have fond memories of her baptism. Here she is with her 3 cousins all born within 8 months of each other. It has been fun watching them grow together. All of them are 8 now.
We are very proud of Sydnee and her choice to be baptized. I know this girl has a lot of potential and will do great things in her life.

school is nice

Time for ice cream!

Syd and Chuck were very excited to talk about their first days. Sydnee fell right back in with her friends and had a great time...Charlee said she almost made a friend, but was too shy. (She has since made some friends...it is cute listening to her talk about them.)

One Left

The first day of school is always exciting...Sydnee and Charlee couldn't wait to get going. They have had what they were going to wear picked out for a while now. They were up plenty early and very happy.
It is crazy to think Sydnee is in 3rd grade already. She has quite the smile for her 3rd grade year...we call it her jack-o-lantern smile. :) She lost a couple of teeth this summer. One in the car on our way to Seattle, and one shortly after we got home from all of our trips. Poor girl is left with one tooth in the front and another loose one on the bottom.

Charlee is in afternoon kindergarten but she really wanted to walk to the bus with Sydnee...with her backpack.

Charlee was super excited about kindergarten, but a little nervous too. She was a little bummed when we were heading to the gym before she got to go to school. After the gym, I took her to lunch at Noodles and Co.....then pictures, then SCHOOL!

Justee wasn't awake when Sydnee left so she jumped in for a pic with Chuck. Once we got to Char's classroom, I think the nerves hit her a little more....She seemed to settle in once she sat at her desk. I'm excited to hear how their first days went! Let's hope it's a great year.

...just 2 more years until Justee starts and no kids are left at home.

Tediaki Buaga

We started our day off right with breakfast at McDonald's...strange that we kept saying we needed to get some "real" food and we were referring to this place. My Dad was the biggest spokesman for McD's and that is his last choice of fast food at home.

The people working there were very patient with our lack of communication...Most of the time we just had Mark order for us. There was a pretty dock area, next to a bridge that Mark loved. It was a pretty area to look out at the ocean.

There's the bridge...

On our little walk that day (our walks were never little) we went through a pretty park. I wish I would have gotten a picture of a little girl who was playing and stopped my dad...she wanted to take a picture of him. He, of course, grabbed Mark to join him. She seemed excited about the run in...and even more excited when Mark started speaking Japanese to her.

This reminded me that when we would walk by little kids they would always call out to us, "Haro!" (however you spell their pronunciation.) From windows above us, we would hear them saying hello and waving. So funny.

That evening we met up with some members who were kind enough to feed us. They were 3 women (1 was Mark's first convert and the other 2 joined the missionaries in their lessons and they all became great friends) and one of their sons, who had just received his mission papers...we will be serving in Tokyo.

Since it was Mon. night we had a little FHE thing...it was a pretty spiritual experience and we got to hear a conversion story.

After they brought us back to our hotel, we walked back to the bridge to see it lit up all pretty.

This sign was next to the toilet in our hotel bathroom....I thought it was pretty funny. The English is a little broken, but I guess you can still understand what they are saying.

View of Aomori:

Our Lucky Day

We were able to attend church in Aizu. It was a nice little building, and the people were very friendly. There weren't many members and although it is nice to experience such a small close nit ward, it makes me appreciate our buildings and large number of members in our area. Mark and my parents were asked to come up and say a few words (Mark did his part in both Japanese and English and interpreted for my parents.) It was great and not just because Justin and I got away scott-free. :)
Right before church, just outside of the meeting house, my dad found this 4-leaf clover. After Church, our great friends, Chizuko and Ami, took us to the castle (crap, can't remember the name. I'll look it up and add it later.)
I saw some of the funniest looking masks I've ever seen!

This is the view from the castle. We were there during the rainy season, so it rained a lot. Luckily it was mostly just a drizzle. An upside was that we got to see some really cool misty clouds all over.

My mom and Chizuko...don't know what we would have done without her. :)

Unfortunately, the outside of the castle was under construction...so it just looked like a regular building with everything built around it to enable the work to be done. The inside was neat and full of info....

...but the best part was the grounds...they were beautiful. The only thing that would have made them better, was if the cherry blossoms were in bloom.

LOVE these fences:

Mark, Haru, & Ami

After our tour of the castle, we had to leave Aizu. We got on a train and headed for Aomori. Our friends walked us to our stop and waved as we left.

I love this picture of Mark waving goodbye. Hopefully this isn't the last he ever sees of these people.