Time Flies!

....and we are now more than halfway through August and it's been a long time since I've posted!  We have been BUSY.  Mostly busy having fun but with a few "work" things thrown in there too!  I am sad that there are only 4 weeks left until preschool starts so I have been trying to cram things in to soak up the summer fun!

We have been spending some time at the pool.  Wyatt has really increased the length he can swim unassisted and is doing so well!  Olivia is just amazing.  She can "swim" (dog paddle) about a foot and a half from the side railing to the ladder by herself!  She also went off the diving board by herself!!  This is not some small toddler diving board... it is the for real bouncy diving board in the deep end!  The girl is fearless!

We had a typhoon that kept us on lock-down for three days and delayed Christy's departure for four days.  We watched movies, played a lot of board games, ate a ton of food, and had some good old fashioned quality family time!!  The typhoon pretty much stalled out over the top of us and dropped anywhere from 41-46" of rain on us!  We were very lucky that Historic Lester has a drainage ditch right behind us because many of my friends were bailing water and/or had rain coming under doors, window cracks, or leaks in their ceilings. Many also lost power so we considered ourselves very fortunate to come out unscathed!  The island is still cleaning up the tree damage.

I have had a busy couple of weeks with my two volunteer positions.  We had a clothing swap on Saturday and it was our second biggest ever!  I got a ton of great clothing for the kids.  I have also stepped up to be the craft coordinator for the Mothers of PreSchoolers group that I belong to.  So I am on the steering team for that and we've been busy planning for the year that starts in September.  We had registration yesterday and signed up about 65 women and all their children!

It has been so great having Tommy around this summer.  I realized the other day that by the time he leaves in September, this will be the longest stretch (2 1/2 months) that he has been home in the two years we have been here!  And his hours have actually been very normal.... I am getting spoiled and this deployment is going to be a rude awakening! :)

We are on our "one-year countdown" here in Okinawa.  This time next summer we will be back home in the States...somewhere!  It is hard to believe we've been here this long and the time is going so fast!  I have my Okinawa bucket list of things we must do before we leave this little island paradise.  I already know I am going to miss Japan so much - but I also think I'll be glad to be Stateside again too.

What's been going on in your neck of the woods?