I know it's been awhile...

... so sorry for the delay in posting! Life here has been busy for me, I have been in the throes of the college semester, with my students' first major research paper to grade. I am also now the President of a new organization on MCAS Iwakuni, the Iwakuni Home-based Business Organization, or IHBO. It's a group that allows all types of home-based business owners to network and share ideas. Plus, in January we plan to start requesting membership dues, which will go toward advertising and events to promote the members' businesses. One of the ways we are doing that is by launching a Iwakuni Business Directory web site. You can see the prototype of you click on the name. It was not yet been finalized and I am the only one listed so far. This is so other members can see what the directory will look like, we haven;t started taking requests for listings, yet. Ads and events will then promote the directory so that all members can benefit. Fortunately, the web site is simple a blog like this one, so it is free!

Tenaciously Remembered is also taking off. I have had four orders since the web site launched, and I have also had requests for classes. There is a craft sale on base Nov. 24 that I am planning for, and I am looking in to the possibility of doing a scrapbooking class as soon as Dec. 4.

Additionally, I am planning for a trip to the States. I am flying "space available," or, Space A for short, which means I do not have a ticket and am not guaranteed a seat. It's a crap shoot, so wish me luck in getting to the States on Saturday, and returning (which is the harder thing to do, I hear) in a couple of weeks. While I am gone, Rodney will be here in Iwakuni holding down the fort. I have left him with a schedule of events and a very important envelope with checks for bills that need to be paid, field trip information and more. Wish him luck, as well!

In other news...

Rodney celebrated his 16th Marine Corps anniversary Oct. 8... just four more years to go! I gave him a bottle of sake from Miyajima and a handmade card. :) He also recently score his highest bowling score ever... a 193. Now he is working on his consistency!

We took the boys to the sushi restaurant with the conveyor belt that runs through it. That was an epic fail. They were willing to try anything, which is a great attitude, but, unfortunately, their eyes did not match their palates. I let them pick the things to try. I may not like certain things, but that doesn't mean they won't, is my philosophy. The both liked the fried fish pictured below, but that's about where the liking stopped.

First, Will chose something off the belt that looked like steak. He tried it, hated the taste and the chewiness. Here is his face:

And here is his face when he found out it was marinated horse meat:

I don't have photos, but Xan selected a couple of seaweed-wrapped little bunches of red marble-looking things. It turned out to be very salty salmon roe, which he immediately spit out. A few days later we tried a Japanese barbecue place and went to the Joyfull restaurant, kind of like a Japanese Denny's, for ice cream and fries. This was much more to the boys' liking.

Last Wednesday was the boys' Open House night at school. There wasn't much time to take photos because it was a pretty strict schedule, but here is a photo of the principal and teachers in the gym, and Will with the Yoshi pinata he made in class.

Also, in case you were wondering about what scares Xan, here is a photo of a project he worked on in class yesterday:

Personally, my favorite is the flu snot. Just kidding., His "h" is a little short.

Finally, in case you haven;t been on Facebook lately, there truly is something called a free meal... when you guess the cost of your Mongolian BBQ correctly! Two weeks in a row I have guessed $14.92 and have been within 10 cents. Tasty and free! Can't beat that!

Week 1

Week2

I have also turned in my receipts from couponing the past three months. We'll see if $295.70 is enough to win the massage.

Last but not least, we walking in the MCAS Iwakuni Breast Cancer Awareness Walk Saturday. It was a 5K walk along the seawall and the weather was gorgeous. Here are the boys festively dressed:

Of course, don't forget to check my public blog for more!

A visit from Kanoko and Isabelle...

Kanoko, the wife of a retired Marine, Joe, who used to work with Rodney in Pensacola, is a native of Japan and came to visit her friends and family for a month. We got to see her last night, and we all went to what the Americans around here call "The Chicken Shack." In Japanese it is called Sanzuko. It has a very traditional feel and the food is delicious. Here are some photos from yesterday:

Belle is 21 months and hadn't ever ridden in a shopping cart she could "drive" before. She loved it!

The kids discovered pretty white butterflies and stopped to take a look.

Kanoko and I at the house.

The boys at The Chicken Shack as samurais

The front of the Shack - they are decorated for fall/Halloween.

To the left of the photo above... and my car, which is the first one on the left.

Walkway inside the Shack

Outdoor dining area within the Shack

Inside the dining room

The lanterns and ceiling woodwork

The boys enjoying their noodles

Rodney REALLY enjoying his noodles... these were his favorite.

Me trying a "rice bowl" for the first time - a pack of sticky rice stuffed inside a  seaweed  wrap. It was good.

Belle enjoying chicken on a stick. She wanted to do it herself and would not let her Mom feed it to her on a fork.

Rodney was excited to see a beer machine.

400 yen later, he got one (this is a $5 can of beer.)

A cute group photo in front of the Shack's koi pond

The boys in front of a fall display

On a different note, here are photos of Will in his class' garden, and one of his latest writing endeavors, a baseball card:

Karate sparring and promotions...

Below are five videos from today's karate class. The boys had a great time!

Will and his friend both earned their black stripes today.

They got new places in the "line" of students.

Sparring 1
Sparring 2
Sparring 3
Sparring 4
Promotion

And here is some more of Xan's writing from last week. I think it is a list of things he has to do. However, I had no idea he had hens to wash.

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