What a year!

One year ago today we arrived on this Rock.  An exhausted family of three and our dog.  My, what a year it has been!  We've seen things we never thought we would see in our life.  We've experienced the uniqueness that is this island, but still have so much more to do.  We've dipped our toes in the East China Sea, as well as the Pacific Ocean from this end.  We celebrated the holidays here, with new friends and Air Force family.  We delivered twins!  We've learned a little Japanese (arigato gozaimaaaaaasu!).  We've shopped in Japanese grocery stores, kids stores, department stores and furniture stores and we've fallen in love with the Japanese style of karaoke.  We eat the food and drink the drinks and have rice a lot more often than we ever have.  We have chopsticks in our silverware drawer.  We know to dial 0071 to call our family.  We no longer accidentally walk to the left side of the car to drive and we no longer turn on the windshield wipers when we're looking for the blinker.  Driving on the left side of the road is now second-nature.  Recently, Alan and I became scuba-certified and have completed four dives, witnessing the amazing beauty that is our underwater world.  My mom lived here for THREE MONTHS!  Alan ran a marathon in a country that wasn't America.  We have made great friends (a few of them have even been aggies!), and have had to bid a few farewell...only until we meet again.  We've been through a typhoon and a major earthquake (and a tsunami, if it even counts).  We've jumped on-board with the Okinawan obsession with vending machines (seriously, people, you even use a vending machine to order food at some restaurants!).  We've learned which online shopping sites ship to APOs and which do not.  We've learned that the early bird catches the worm at the BX and Commissary (even if you have to buy your seasonal stuff three months early).  We've learned to get used to those bats flying overhead, but still don't appreciate close encounters.  We've learned the feeling of loneliness, though, too.  Although we know we have each other and our Air Force family, nothing replaces our families and friends we've left behind.  We wish we were sharing all of these experiences with all of you.  Nothing replaces that quick phone call or that last-minute decision to meet for lunch or drinks.  Nothing replaces holidays with your family and nothing replaces missing the birth of your best friends' babies.  Although we have loved this year and we look forward to the time we still have left here, we always miss home and the feeling that home gives you.  In celebration of our time here, I give you this year, in pictures.

Our first Thanksgiving here:

Our first Christmas here:

My Mom arrived!

The twins are one month old!

Springtime in Okinawa:

My 31st birthday:

Our first formal event here:

Alan's birthday:

Rosie's first pedi:

The Air Force Birthday Ball:

Start of SCUBA class and Spouses' Dining In:

What?  You were expecting a different sort of "year in pictures"?  There are only 11 works of art here - number 12 comes tomorrow - my "One year anniversary" pedi.  So excited!  Seriously, though, it has been a great year and we are excited for our next year here and the adventures it will bring.  We know our time here will pass quickly and we hope we leave with no regrets. 

Adam's about to be home from preschool and he'll want a snack.  Just before he eats it he'll say, as he does before he eats anything, "ducky mas," which should be "itadaki masu" (the "u" is silent).  I can only hope that one day he is able to recognize how lucky he was when he was four.

Konnichiwa!