Surprise!

Noa's last birthday gift arrived on Thursday....Mike! Mike flew in to surprise Noa as a belated birthday gift. Noa came home unsuspectingly on Thursday from work. It was a typical day and we were planning on working out when he got home. He came in, handed me the mail, and briefly glanced around the apartment (it was pretty clean mid-week and I think he was impressed). It was then that he saw Mike sitting in our armchair and Noa simply collapsed to the floor. He couldn't believe it.

It was the best! Noa is still on cloud 9 having his BFF around. They are planning on golfing, although the weather seems to not want to cooperate. Still, Noa is walking around with a big smile on his face. I think he still can't believe it.

More Halloween Costumes

Sara took a lot of photos at the Halloween party, so I can't take any credit for these photos, but here are some of the great costumes from the party and I couldn't resist sharing!

Christa and Adam dipict Reno 911 characters. He won the costume contest for the venue.

Sara, with he lab-researcher-getting-attacked-by-rats costume (so cool and yet so disturbing since there was blood involved) and hubby Gabe as the Grim Sweeper (you can't see, but he's even wearing bunny slippers).

Noa, AKA the Chick Magnet hanging out with Kenny as Clyde. Amanda was dressed as Bonnie (not pictured).

Allen and Mary Ann as Bleeker and Juno. Cute, eh?

Good times!

Halloween Weekend

It's been a busy holiday weekend in Okinawa. The festivities started on Friday with our annual Storybook Parade at school. The Sure Start (preschool) and Kindergarten students and teachers dressed up as a favorite storybook character. This year my costume was the peddler from Caps for Sale (which was written in 1940!!). Some of my students were wondering how I grew a mustache. Guess I should have gone to that wax appointment after all....

As you can see, I have way too much fun at these school events.

Friday night we went to a Halloween-style karaoke event for the Japanese medical interns at Noa's hospital. They didn't disappoint with their enthusiasm. The interns were great - sang just as loud with us on the American songs and sang some Japanese tunes for the crowd. Oh, and their costumes were fun - they definitely embraced the idea of dressing up. Check out their fun costume ideas:

Saturday morning, Noa joined his Ultimate Frisbee buddies for a tournament on one of the local bases. Every Sunday he plays with these guys and every once and awhile a tournament comes along for them to participate in. This time, they nailed the first place spot! Nice work, guys.

Halloween night brought us to a local venue on base where some friends were hosting a Halloween party. It was a blast and I'll have more pictures to post later, but for now, here's a glimpse of some of the costume creativity. Now, I owe all the creative thanks to my sister who inspired both of our costumes: Noa was a "chick magnet" and I am dressed as Bjork. We're with our friends Tom and Tesha who are sunburned tourists. Tom was even sporting the socks with sandals look - it was classic!

Lastly on Sunday we said tearful good-byes to our beloved Pastor Dunn and his wife Connie. After serving our church here for 12 years, they have been called to ministry in a church in Sydney, Australia. It was an extremely moving and memorable service and although we'll miss them greatly, we are excited for the new things to come for our church.