Firsts..

So I know it's been a while. .Goodness, I have TONS of pictures too. I guess since I hadn't posted, I felt like I couldn't come back and post. I have way too many pictures to even think about getting started on posting, one day I might get them all up.

We've been VERY busy lately. A few weeks ago, Tim came back from a "deployment" - I put it in quotes because we've had underways when he was on the Princeton that were longer. Anyhoot, he did and saw some neat things while he was gone, and we had a great time going to the pool and hanging out with friends this Summer. :) Ever since he got back, we've basically been go, go, go. We've had a lot to deal with and do since he got back, but today was a very fun day.

First off - today was the Mikoshi Parade on base. It's an open base event, and since we are watching our friends' kitties while they are back in the States for the next few months, we KNEW we wanted to get on base early in the day. THANK GOODNESS we did too - on our way back from Homes, the traffic was insane!! We didn't see the parade (we had other things to take care of today), but here's what we DID get to see of it..

OH - if you don't know what an open base event is, it's basically a "goodwill" type thing between the Japanese Nationals and the Americans. It literally means the base is open to everyone. There are areas of the base open (mainly parks, the food court, and McDonald's), but most of it is closed off to anyone who isn't DoD. For the open parts, it can be INSANE. At the last open base event that we went to, we left our house mid day, and it took us TWO HOURS to get onto base. We had a great day during that event, but man, it was WAY too long to get there! Since we knew about the insanity the open base events can be, we made other plans for today.

They included adding a new member to the Haworth household!!! Our first pet!! So.. Meet Sammy (Samantha - Kadie named her).


We picked her out after I fell in LOVE with a pig-nosed (or FRT) turtle. He was WAY too much money (about the equivalent of $400 without a tank, etc that we'd need to take care of him), and we wouldn't be able to import him into the States when we left here as his species is actually "vunerable." I was sad to give him up, but you know, we got the PERFECT first pet for our family. :) The girls absolutely LOVE her, and while she's sleeping now, she was very active earlier today! Who knew, a hamster that's not active in the evening?!


She's not the only new thing we did for the first time today.. LOL Tim's asked me to start cutting his hair for a while now. (Probably about a year). So yesterday at the NEX, I suggested we pick up clippers since I'd been after him since he got back to get his hair cut. (It was BAD.. Just ask any of our friends who've seen him lately - or my vacuum). So today, I tested the waters. I think it looks fairly good - shocked me, I really thought we'd be shaving his hair down to nothingness by the end of the day.. haha!

What else did he do tonight? Well.. He made the best steaks I've ever had. He says thanks to an iphone app.. Goodness, what are we coming to?! I had to snap a few shots of him making the goodness too.. Ohhh was it ever good!! We FINALLY figured out how to get the good steaks from the commissary (holy moly, did I just say something good came from the commissary!?!). Thank goodness, because, well.. uhh.. YUM!

That's about it for today. I have lots of other pictures to come - well, maybe. I have lots of pictures to upload.. let's just put it that way. :)

BTW - if you are on my friend on FB, you can see my pictures. I'll generally upload everything there!

-Sarah