News and Happenings 2003


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26 Dec 2003	Nicholas and I went to the beach today. It's our favorite pastime! Here's a pic of our trip. Yes, that's snow. And yes, it's blowing and windy. We even heard thunder soon after this shot. What a wet/cold/miserable morning. But we loved it! :-) Click the pic to see a bigger shot of it...

25 Dec 2003	Merry Christmas all. Click the pic to see a bigger shot of it... We hope everyone had a great christmas.

27 Sep 2003	Check the alvars.net weather pages for new links to tropical storms and recent and historical earthquakes in Japan.

25 Sep 2003	EARTHQUAKE: Latest check makes this an 8.3. Our "after shocks" were 7!

24 Sep 2003	Summer pretty much blows here. It's currently like 73 degrees and we just set a high for the year or something rediculous. There were about 6 inches of rain this month. Good thing it was lower than normal... I don't think I could have handled more rain! Speaking of weather, I was looking up some statistics the other day..... Did you know Misawa averages almost 40 inches of rain a year, and a little less than 150 inches of snow?

19 Sep 2003	Happy Anniversary Tira, I love you.

13 Sep 2003	I swear my daughter is defective. Break Count: 5 Cuteness: diminished (but only temporarily) see oldnews at the bottom for previous break pictures

6 Sep 2003	Bowling is starting for the year. All the kids are in Saturday leagues and Scott is in two evening leagues. He's the captain of his squadron team and he's in the new Top-3 enlisted bowling league.

1 Sep 2003	Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts are starting back up. All three kids are still in scouts. Heather is a Cadet GS. Melanie is a Junior GS. Nicholas is a Bear Cub Scout. Tira is a GS Junior Troop leader and the temporary GS registrar. Scott is the Cub Scout Pack Leader (Pack Master).

20 Apr 2003	Happy Easter Everyone! It's Easter Sunday and since it's a weekend in Japan, it's raining! But we don't care, everyone is healthy and happy here, thanks. And we had a great Easter! I know you want to see what we did... Ok, so click here to see our Easter. Believe it or not today was the first softball practice of the year for Scott. We don't know who planned it for today, but it was. Nicholas and Scott had their annual Pinewood Derby a couple of weeks ago. Nicholas didn't do as well as last year.. (ok, so his car sucked this year. His words, not mine.) but everyone had fun. Scott helped organize it this year and so spent the whole day there again. Plus, since he's the den leader he helped his boys when it was their turn to race. Congratulations to Heather for being moved from 11th chair to 4th chair for flutes, in the intermediate band. Congratulations to Melanie for being selected to be a broadcaster for CNBC. That's Cummings News Broadcast Center for those of you NOT at Misawa. All of the kids involved in this rotate jobs between things like producer, broadcaster, camera person, sound person, and flag. She hasn't been on their closed circuit TV system yet, but she will be. Yesterday was the last day of bowling for the kids. That has been a lot of fun. Nicholas is the superstar, easily the best bowler of the 3 kids and easily the best bowler in his age group. He bowled a 153 a few weeks ago! You gotta remember, he's only 49 inches tall and 52 lbs. His 9 pound bowling ball is nearly as big as he is, and is almost 20% of his body weight..... If Scott used a ball that big it would weigh like 35 pounds!

22 Feb 03	Still alive and kicking here, in Japan. The winter has been wonderful. Wonderful means it's been mild. Lots of sun and little snow makes for a pleasant season... However, in the last 3 days we've gotten 24 inches of snow. Don't look for us on CNN, no sirree, not like Washington DC where the whiners stay home and cower when it snows... Here, two feet is not cause for alarm, it's cause to go sledding!!!! :-) Tira and the girls have been busy coordinating and setting up for Girl Scout thinking day, there were over 300 Japanese girls and American girls all milling around in one unorganized, mob. Thank goodness that's over! The kids are all well and healthy. School, bowling, swimming, and scouting take up all their time (and ours!!) Scott and Tira are still taking classes. Tira has a goal, she wants to finish her teaching degree. Scott is just bored. Tira went to GS training in Tokyo... again... Wanna see what she did? Tira is the cute one on the right. Yeah, you guessed it... She went to Tokyo Disney. I've never been to Disney Land. Not even close. Even though I went TDY to Florida once, I didn't go. I could have, it was only minutes away... But I didn't go. oh well.... What else... Scott is on a squadron bowling team (I don't know how he finds the time!) and has 2nd high with handicap score in the league. He bowled a 212 scratch to get it. Melanie is in a play called "Bones" at her school, and is the shoulder bone. Actually one of the 'star' roles, as she is the only "broken" bone in the whole play. She says she got the part because she can relate to broken bones, and she "feels their pain". I think she is a pain myself... :-) Scott collects glass balls. Did you know that? They're the kind you find floating around in the ocean and drifted up on the beaches. Some of you may have gotten some at Christmas? Anyway, he has made over $300 this year selling them. Pretty cool, huh?

1 Jan 2003	Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! How's that for a happy holidays sign? No doom and gloom today! Because today it's 2003! Everyone is doing well here. We all had a great Christmas thanks to the love and generosity of family and friends like you! Whoah! News Flash! None of the children are sick or have broken bones today! Heather was sick over Christmas (as usual) but today... She's just fine.

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