that time once again...

...Ben is out to sea yet again!
I know you are probably tired of me saying that, and I am tired of having to say it! haha. But alas, that is our life right now, and for the next 2 years.
I make it as best I can while he is gone, counting down the days and trying to just keep taking things day by day, staying busy, and teaching... but there is always an ache in my heart that I can't really explain when he isn't here to come home to. And days like today when I have a long kind of rough day at school, I long for one of his comforting hugs!
But on a brighter note! He will be around for a while this summer, and we are having VISITORS!!! Our first visitors since we moved here over a year ago! We are pretty stinking excited. Our bestman and maidofhonor are coming for 2 weeks in July to see Japan and us and we couldn't be happier to be able to show them around and share our life here with them!! =)




Hmm. Not too much other news. Last weekend we volunteered at the school carnival and ran the "Jail". That was a tiring and fun day. It involved us standing guard and taking peoples tickets to put their friend/parent/teacher/etc into the Jail (which was a small wooden box!) We rolled in a lot of tickets though, and enjoyed watching all the kids be excited to put their teachers in jail (even I got put in jail a few times! haha). =) Here are a few pictures...





Other than that, life goes on here. Teaching is tiring -- especially now that Spring Fever has hit! Haha. =) Say a prayer for Ben as he is out to sea, and one for me if you think about it, that I can make it through the last 6 weeks of school and finish strong! I still have so much to learn. I am looking into taking a college class this summer, and looking forward to spending time with Ben, our friends, and maybe having some time to make some cards again! (And keep the house cleaner! haha). =) Well, I gotta go make dinner - just wanted to say Hi once again from Japan!

Monday in Japan.

Ben has duty and is stuck on the ship tonight, so while I am home bored without him, I thought I would say Hello! We are still here and doing well. Just been busy and tired trying to get back into the swing of things after break! We had a FABULOUS time on the rest of our spring break - even though it rained 2 days. We went to an amusement park on that Saturday and had a blast -- here are a few pictures from that!

We rode a HUGE ferris wheel...


And lots of coasters...


And I even got to ride a horse! =)


Also, Ben has been able to post some VIDEOS on his flickr! You should go check them out when you have time, because they are super fun. I don't yet know how to post them on here, but I will try to ask him before he leaves... which is sadly coming up WAY to soon once again. =( He is never here long enough, thats for sure!

I looked at the calendar today and realized that there are only 8 weeks left of school though! We are excited about the prospect of a summer visit from a friend or two, and some more trips and adventures to tell about when he gets home next.

Love you all!

spring break adventures, pt 2

So. Here we are. It's Wednesday morning in Japan, raining like crazy and so we are staying in - catching up on some rest, playing guitar hero, and posting pictures from yesterdays adventures! =)
I am really proud of us, because we were super adventurous yesterday. We got in our little car and drove 3 hours west of Sasebo to go explore! We stopped first to double check our map and directions, and then we were off! We saw some great sites along the way, and stopped first at Shimabara castle. very pretty.







then we were off to mt. unzen. its a set of 3 mountains all together - one of which i guess is really a volcano that erupted 10-20 years ago! it was very cool, we drove on the mountain up this windy road and hiked up some of them. it was a perfect day for it, beautiful, sunny and warm. =) it made me wish we had many more days like that in japan - both off of work with places to go and sites to see. but since they are few and far between i guess it makes me appreciate them more. =) here are some shots we got of the mountains!

















On the way to all these places, we came across a sign for a waterfall. But we didnt have a good chance to turn off and find it - but we did on our way home! It was in a park and was very peaceful. Great way to end our long fun day of exploring. =)





As always, we have tons more pictures on our flickr sites. =) Check them out if you have time! Hope you are having as fun this week as we are!

they're here!

the cherry blossoms have arrived, and they are just beautiful!
and perfect timing as its my spring break this week! =) ben was able to take a few days off and we get to go explore and hang out, so we are thrilled. we started today actually! so here are some pictures...







it was a great day with wonderful weather, so there were lots of families out - and i spotted this cutie climbing up the slide:


we had a great time, and are loving these days of getting to hang out! =)


also last week we took all the kids to the park for lunch and games, and they convinced me to get on the tire swing... i think this picture says it all! haha.



happy spring to all from us here in japan!