We have landed on US soil....

We are in SF but our flight is delayed 54 min!!! wanted anyone to know!! cya soon!!

Last post from 1018 C Odonell Gardens.........

As I sit here at 1018C OG, thinking of all of the memories that took place in this cement casa......from the first time we came to look at it and Hunter saying it was kind of like living in the "ghetto" well little did we know that it really was the "ghetto" from all of the mold, ceilings falling apart, kitchen sink plugged. But that was the start of it all!!

I guess I will start with all of the things and people that we have met on this "Journey" and that have now became our "OKI FAMILY":

The Springers: John, Jordan and Crew, the first time that we met up with them was while staying at TLF they brought us an armful of movies and Jordan was about 7 months pregnant and miserable with the heat, come December they brought little Crew into the world and let us be part of it, they are an amazing young family that SACRIFICE for our freedom (THANK YOU JOHN), we are so glad that they would let us tend Crew now and again and get to be with that cute little guy! Everytime I see them I ask if I can just adopt him! Hayleigh and Hunter like to think of him as their little brother! So at that we will miss them but they will always be FAMILY!!

The Parkins: Oh am I so glad that we became family with this family. I don't know what I would have done without Katie and Orion! Those two got me through all of my black and blue days! Orion could always bring a smile to my face. We did alot with them Butterfly Gardens, Cocok's, 4th of July's, watching Stadium of Fire together, Waffle Mondays, Torii campout, then they added little Zoey to the family which is always fun to be around a new baby! I wish them the best on their extension but will patiently be waiting trip back home to do some serious shopping with Katie!

The Wrights: Never a dull moment on the Wii with this family!! What a wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas eve with them! So thankful to them for introducing TANTAN to us and we would usually pass them either leaving or going! And another lil guy that we would opt to adopted! We look forward to coming to a SOONER's game and tailgating!

The Christensens: OMG, becoming family with this family is never a dull moment and we always come home with sore cheeks and side aches!!! This family is the most comical family I have ever met and it is so nice to find a family that fits like a glove! Our kids have enjoyed their kids and we have totally enjoyed them!! We have done some of the most adventurous things : Okuma, having races on the race cars and ending in casualties, APPLES TO APPLES that would usually end up as a UFC fight of who was the KING, Baby Huey on New Years Eve, The Hooka Bar, The "SHOW" on BC street, Easter egg hunt in their yard with around 100+ eggs, Western World, Karaoke at Gate 2, ordering a Party Boy! MR. MIke's football games. Memories today Forever Family!

Siddons Fam: The Siddons would usually be with us on all of the excitement with the Christensen's. Quiet family but full of fun!!

Other families that have become forever families that we will never forget: The Euresti's: BRBQ's, Okuma, falling in love with their kids: The most well behaved kids at school! Miquel sneaking me some of his Dad's salsa to school and getting in trouble from Big Daddy for it! You must always wear hip waders around Big Daddy his stories get bigger everytime he tells them!!

Moon: Just being Moon and taking Darrin in as one of his "Bro's".

I am so Thankful that this Journey has added to my address book as well as to my Family list. Thanks to each of them for making such great memories for us to have for a lifetime!

To all of our family members and friends that have kept in touch with us through it all from cards, letters, emails and phone calls you will never know how much it meant to hear a familiar voice or read something new in the happenings! It really makes you feel good to know we were remembered! For the ones that we haven't heard from I hope to see you as we return!
To our families that traveled the Pacific to come for a visit, it seems so long since we've seen you and are looking forward to the reunion. Not a day goes by that I don't walk down the hall and look at each and every picture frame and think of all the fun we had and I am so deeply glad that we could share it with you! From Soba noodles, to sand in your toes, climbing trees, catching spiders, and getting new "SKILLS", big slides, 100YEN stores, China Petes, Shuri Castle, Botanical Gardens, and just a HUGE HUG from each of you! FOREVER FAMILY with Forever Memories!

To Darrin and OUR girls: Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Darrin Thank you so much for taking the Job of a life time, this adventure has been the ultimate. And I am so proud to have been able to enjoy it with you and the girls. It has taught me that we as a FAMILY can "CLIMB any MOUNTAIN" that is placed in front of us! We have grown as a family, we have learned as a family, and we have enjoyed as a family! Getting out of the BUSY American Lifestyle and slowing down to one that we could catch up on and spend quality time with is all that I could ask for! I am so appreciative for what you have done for us as "OUR FAMILY" and without you it would still be just a dream you made it the reality!!

Hunter: You make a MOMMA PROUD!! You have turned into such a Beautiful Young Lady, I cannot even express how proud I am of you in ALL of your accomplishments you have made here on this ISLAND!! I know at first the road was seriously rocky for the both of us and a day didn't go by that we did not but heads, and as you started liking this place the road got smoother! As you started High School and you first tried on that ROTC uniform was probably the proudest moment since you were born! I hope to the heavens that you will continue with the program, I know that you will do an outstanding job in uniform if that is what you seek to achieve! And for your dreams of the soccer team was another proud moment! You worked so hard for what we thought would not happen! Keeping up your grades, running till you wanted to puke, early weekend morning games, 3-6 games a weekend, MAKING Far East as a Freshman! You did it and you did it with a smile!! Domo my girl Domo!

Hayleigh: Lil Miss Japanese, I can't even tell you how impressed I am with you in how well you have adapted to this culture and I am pretty sure you will go through a culture shock when we get home! You have had some wonderful experiences from Girl Scouts, selling cookies at the PO and BX, riding horses by the ocean, camp outs with the Sister troop, running for Student Office, that you did an oustanding job on and walked away with a smile!!! Making friends left and right with your outgoing personality! And your Eisa drumming that you are a pro at now!! Seeing you perform made me proud! I hope that you always think back at this experience and know that you can do what ever you put your mind too!! And telling me every night that "It will be OK MOM"! Domo my girl Domo!

To BOTH of you : Be yourselves, and always "DREAM BIG" you both will be the best at whatever you choose to be!!!

As we close the door here at OG and drive through the gates of Camp Shields for our last time feels like we are closing a chapter of our book. We are looking forward to another mountain to climb (house hunting, job hunting, car hunting, and just plain hunting(DARRIN)and normal shopping!) Thanks so much to all for being with us on this JOURNEY!

A journey is best measured in friends rather than miles ~ Tim Cahill

I will add a few of the things that will be missed:

Ghengis Khan
TanTan
Warm Sand between my toes
Waves to wash it off
The most Beautiful Sunrises and Sunsets
COCOK's
COCO's
My OKI FAM
100YEN stores
The warm SUN
Hospitality of the OKINAWAN's
Yakasoba
Japanese Raisin Bread

Things that will not be missed:
Emptying the DEHUMIDIFIER 3 to 4 times a day
Cockroaches
Dollar sized Wolf spiders

Sayonara Okinawa, Konichiwa Utah
Trin

Otanjou-bi Omedetou Gozaimasu HUNNA.................

Not to sure where we will be, or what we will be doing but this one will be a memorable one for YOU!! I can't believe that you are 15, YIKES do you know what that is doing to your parents and to your grandparents? Well I hope that you will have a wonderful BDAY because you deserve it!! I LOVE YOU Forever!!



To all the other family members (WYATT, Uncle Rich's) celebrating the day ..... Birthday Wishes from the FROST's!!

FYI.....................

For everyone that is inquiring the time that we will arrive to UTAH.........we do not have our ITINERARY and will not have it till the end of this week.........at that point I will send out an email with the details............:)

Little Ladies ........

Today we had major running to do, we had to take the car to Foster to its new owner! Yeh we are now car less! Pretty soon we will be HOMELESS.......... after that we had to stop at China Pete's to do our last time shopping! As I was paying for our purchase I got pretty teary eyed, no it wasn't that we had just dropped $650.00 there it was the fact that it was my last time to shop there, the last time to see my favorite lil lady that takes such good care of us! There are a few places that we have became very fond of the employee's, they took us under their wings and greet us every time they see us!


Our friend from China Pete's

Our friend from Ghengis Khan

Our friend from the Kimono store

after all of our running around today we went to the sea wall with Katie, Orion and Zoey!!





We are making the most of the minutes we have left!
After Monday we will be checking our email from the library and will not have a phone, so we will catch you all in AUGUST!!!

ECLIPSE.................

I just wanted to post a pic of the Eclipse from today.............taken at 11:20 am..

We Arrive..

in UTAH AUGUST 3!!!

It is Officially Official...................

We have ORDERS and will be heading home!!!!
Stayed tuned for further details!!!

He did remember.................

16 on the 16th could it be any better???

Today we went to the Americafest on the flight line, along with most of the Japanese residents of OKI and the US Military! LOTS of people, LOTS of food, and LOTS of beer!!! We weren't there very long as you would know Darrin started chewing his fingernails and we knew it was time to go, but we did catch a couple of Melinda Doolittle (AI season 6) songs and Hay went on a few rides. For the fireworks we met up with the Parkin's and the Wolfley's for one last firework show with the best seats in town!! Thanks so much Katie and Dustin for sharing it with us one last time!!

Happy "SHI" of JULY!!!!!

Well we were hoping and praying that we would be stateside this year at this time.........but you know how things roll......we will be spending another 4th of JULY here on the island!! We are headed to the flight line today and hopefully to the beach tomorrow for a little snorkeling and sunbathing!! We are wishing you all a Happy and safe 4th of July and we will hopefully be home for Thanksgiving to spend it will you all!!!

Domo Arigato....Sayonara....

Well today is kind of a tearful day for us, it was the day we have been dreading for along while. Today was the day to JUNK the Mystery Machine!!! That mystery machine has become part of us, it made 3 important trips to Naha, and many trips up the narrow roads of OKI. Let alone getting Darrin to work everyday. If there was a way we could ship that baby home he'd be all Hunters next year!!! I wanted to share the last trip down the road to the bone yard of the disposable vehicles!! Domo and Sayonara MYSTERY VAN you did us well!!

Will there be a TYPHOON Party???

They say that she will be here on Friday......... We need to add this to our "have done" list!!!

Wishing.............

MY PAPA-san a Very HAPPY BDAY..............and

MY PAPA-SANS a very HAPPY FATHER'S DAY.................LOVE AND MISS YOU BOTH!!!

Happy Anni Uncle Dode and Aunt Heid.....

How time flies when you are having fun.........

I have to laugh at these pics.....

No matter how busy life is you should always stop and taste the ice cream!!!

Oh to have my lil girls back!!!!

On our way home.........

We went camping last Thursday at Torii in the cabins, it had been raining most of the day and then a major down pour when we checked in, water was coming in the cabin under the door, it did not stop all night or even let up, I know that it has been raining as well back home, I just wanted to share our ride home from camping....

Happy Birthday to my MAN............

Can you believe another 365 days has came and went, I really think they flew! Just want to tell our man Happy 37th Birthday!!and many more!!!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I hope you enjoy the random pics that we have gotten this weekend, Darrin went fishing on Friday and decided to get his fish painted so that he can have a souvenir of the great fishing here on this island!! The first photos are of the shop he took it to, all of the other fish are on the ceiling of the store a pretty unique way to preserve the fish, the other pics are taken at Sunabe sea wall, we went to dinner with Mr Mike and Ms Dawn and girls for maybe a last time, Dawn and the girls are trying to "HOP" back to the US, not much luck yesterday and I am so glad to have more memories with them, we have enjoyed becoming friends with them and always have a good time with them! I am also adding on pics from Sunday, we went to KOKAZI Street to do a little browsing and to find the fish market! Score we found it and it was such an experience you could buy the fish in the bottom market and they would take it upstairs to cook and eat it! It was a good day I bought about 12 bottles of SAKE, just small ones and the girls bought them some treasures as well and we couldn't miss the ice cream! I am also proud, I filled my entire external hard drive with pics and had to go buy a new and bigger one and I let Darrin and the girls know that I am planning to fill this one before we go!! So I am sorry that this clip is EXTREMELY long and it may bore you so if it does does just hit the red X!
Hope you enjoy!
(you can speed it up my clicking on the +, also there are captions you need to roll the cursor over bottom of pics)

I am not sure..........

how I am going to live without this............