Waki town Fireworks

A Japanese man has me!!!

Noriko and I eating fish on a stick (the Japanese like to put meat on a stick!)

Megumi and I eating the fish on a stick

All of us that were hanging out on top of the roof watching the fireworks

Two of the men in Noriko's band. The one on the right speaks very good English!!

Letting the toros(not sure if I spelled it right!) off in the water-they represent the souls of their ancestors. This is their way to remember them and send them into heaven.

Noriko's mom and Lola

She loved Lola, and in case you haven't noticed, Lola discovered her tongue!

She had a big night and was getting sleepy!

Lola and I have had a great past couple of days. We went to the fireworks with Megumi and Noriko and had good food, listened to the band and met some new friends. I am very excited about the fireworks next weekend though b/c Lola and I are dressing up in traditional Japanese dress!!!
Today we went out to the Kintai bridge and played in the fountains. A lot of Japanese children were out there with their parents so Lola and I joined in, and of course all the children, as well as parents were curious about us! It was soo refreshing, and Lola had a great time. The water was shallow enough for her to sit and play in. After that we came back to the house and hung out all day. The older she gets the more fun we have playing together, but of course I am in no hurry whatsoever for her to grow up! Hope everyone is well!

Yasaka Dam

abby swimming in the river

the sun was bright!!

the back of the dam

Today Lola, Abby and I went out to Yasaka Dam. It's about 40 minutes away, but worth the drive. It was soo gorgeous out there. I didn't get a good picture of the dam itself. There were boats for rent, you can put your own boat in, or just hangout. Abby had a blast there. There were steps leading down into the water, so she loved that, and Lola loved watching her run around. Lola thought it was soooo funny when Abby would run after the ball in the water. Its been soo hot and humid here, that the cold water actually felt good.
Lola was sleeping great through the night until Chris came home for the weekend and now I don't know what happened. I have tried Tylenol, Motrin and teething tablets and nothing works, but she always does this when the teeth break through so hopefully it will be over soon.
In case you didn't know Chris flew up here for the weekend, it was the first time he had been home since April, so it was wonderful having him here. Lola and I will probably go down to
Okinawa towards the middle of August, and stay until Chris deploys. Other than that things are pretty quiet around here.

back in the kuni

Not a good pic but wanted everyone to see how I put her hair up now!I think its soo cute!

Da-Da having fun with Lola

Rev Todd, Chris, Me, Lindsay and Lola after her Baptism. She was awake a playing the whole service and of course when we go to take pictures she falls asleep!!

Lola hanging out on the porch at our room at Shell Island-needless to say her Da-Da just got finished feeding her!!

Matt,Aunt Shelley,Adam,Me and Lola in front of their new restaurant in Rose Hill
Lola and I are back in Iwakuni, and back on schedule. She has been sleeping through the night wonderfully and enjoying all her things at home. Since we've gotten back to Iwakuni she has also started crawling all over the house!! Before we left NC she was crawling a few steps, but now shes into everything!!!She pulls up on everything and can stand for a few seconds by herself.Its been raining since we got back due to the rainy season (Tuyu) and the "typhoon" that is passing through.
Chris has also arrived safely back in Okinawa, we hope to see him soon.
Not much else to update-talk to everyone soon.
Thanks to everyone for making our trip home so wonderful. We miss you all already!But see you all soon-and hope to see everyone we didn't get to see this trip in November.

Loving life in NC

Lola sleeping on Grandma Fay

Dad fixing a basket and Lola hanging out!

If this isn't a North Carolina picture, I dont know what is!!!
Lola and my dad in the middle of a tobacco field in Bath.

Lindsay showing off her dancing skills!

The newly weds!!

First time GG held baby Lola

The shirt says it all

a little ways into Lindsay's reception....just in case you couldn't tell from the sweaty faces and huge cheesy grins!!

Four generations.....my grandmother,pa, me and Lola

Me and Linds at the rehearsal dinner ( I know I have gorgeous friends!!)
In case you couldn't tell, my wonderful friend Lindsay got married!!!! She was absolutely gorgeous as I knew she would be, and we had a blast at the reception. My dad and grandmother babysat for me that night.
Lola and I visited my dad in Bath, NC this past weekend. Its the oldest town in North Carolina, so needless to say its gorgeous there. It's a very small country town, but I loved it! We took Lola on her first boat ride!!! She slept almost the whole time! She usually loves water, but was not too fond of the water that day.
We have definitely been spoiled since we've been here. Everyday we have been bouncing between grandmothers, great grandmothers, grandpas and good friends. We are enjoying every minute in North Carolina, but time is going by way too fast!

First time at Wrightsville Beach

our dog in Wilmy-Brock!

Whatcha lookin at Grandma?!

Grandma holding up the umbrella while Lola sleeps

Looks like shes picking her nose, but shes really tasting the sand

First time at Wrightsville Beach!! She loves the sand!

playing in her new chair!! She loves this thing and so do we. We can take it to the beach, park, or just hangout at the house!!

She falls asleep in a matter of minutes when we get in the car!

First time in her chair!!

Uh oh Mommy caught me!!

Uncle Dan and Aunt April

precious!

talking to da-da on the phone!

hanging out in the bathroom of the Tokyo airport! And yes the Japanese have chairs in their bathrooms for the babies to sit while Mommy potties!

Grandma Wade and I took Baby Lola to the beach today and it was an experience! It went from being too hot to the wind blowing like crazy!!! So our tent we bought for the beach didn't work so well!! We ended up having to hold up the umbrella to give Lola shade while she slept, as you can see from the pictures above. Though we had to tote everything but the kitchen sink out to the beach it was of course worth it b/c Lola had so much fun-well when she was awake!!

Grandpa playing with Lola before her 'picnic" at lejeune

sleeping in her new carseat-first ride to wilmington!

Lola laughing at Aunt April and Crissy!!

me and uncle noel!

can you tell the grandmas are excited?! this is when we had just gotten off the plane

aunt april and Lola

Lola was a little tired of wearing the sunglasses!

uncle Dan playing with baby Lola

First time she met Great Grandma Walser!!!

Laughing at Brock-first time she met him!

with Grandma and Grandpa Wade at the airport!

Grandma Fay,me and baby Lola at the airport-can't you tell we were on a plane for 22 hours?!

I want out of this carseat!!

awww hangout with Grandma
So in case you all couldn't tell-we made is safely to NC and are throughly enjoying ourselves. All I have been doing is showing off Lola!! And of course shopping for her! She has gotten lots of presents from Aunt Lauren and her parents, me shopping and of course all the grandparents buying some stuff too!!
Tomorrow I think we are finally gonna make it to the beach! Can't wait!! So I will update with some more pics. The internet is super fast here so I can upload a picture in a matter of seconds rather than minutes! Its great!