We did it, we bought a new minivan! : )

Thanks to technology. We have been searching online for the make of car we've been wanting (a Mazda MPV). This saves us time of driving all over town. And only the ones we really and truly like, will we drive out and actually see them in person. Now let me give you a little blurb about our minivan we have been driving these past five years. When we first moved to Japan. We obviously didn't have any car. We saved up and bought ourselves a brand new Suzuki minivan. A "K" car yes, but with lot's of room. We have called it all these years "our little- big minivan" ha ha ha. Was tiny actually, but big on space inside and luggage room. However, since it's a K car, it never had more then 64 horsepower, I think. And actually once we drove it all the way to Osaka. Ha! It was like driving there on a lawn mower engine, ha ha ha. But it was our faithful car, all these years and we loved it! One thing that really changed is our family got bigger. With just 1 child, sure the car was plenty big. We always had a spare seat next to Branden's car seat for any visiting family member. However, after Noah was born the car fit our family perfectly still. However every single time grandma would come from Osaka or my dad would come from Denver or Guam, we'd always have to pull one of the car seats out and put it into the shed or attic until our guests had left. When we had guests visit us, is when we realized maybe we have outgrown this car? We wanted to change cars last year. But with a new house being built and moving last year, we put it off. And now this year, we can buy it without any worry at all. Also one more thing. Our last car had no air con in the back seat. This was something we overlooked and we have never forgotten that all this time, ha ha ha. Sure it had a heater in the backseat, but not an air con. And every summer our kids would absolutely melt to death in the back seat with no air con. Meanwhile we'd be nice and cool in the front seat. Every year we felt horrible about it! We new since last year, we wanted to buy a Mazda MPV. I even told a few of you in Japan last year that was the make and model we wanted. Ahhhh. So, they say good things come to those who wait. And we have waited absolutely years to be able to change cars. Our time has come. And we have been on the biggest hunt for the best MPV for weeks. We are planning to possibly drive to Osaka next month. And in our old *mini* minivan, we knew it was just not possible, Very uncomfortable for the kids. And with no air con in the back seat, forget it! So, we figured it was time to make the switch. And we did. After weeks of research and narrowing things down, we knew today was probably "the big day", car buying day, we wanted to go see a few MPV's today and see for sure or not, and we emailed each place to let them know we were indeed coming. We pulled Branden from school today, because my biggest and greatest fear would be not making it back in time for Branden. So it was just best for us to have him miss 1 day of school and staying with us. That way, we wouldn't have to rush on a day, where buying a car is a day where you really don't wanna be in a rush!

We got up at 7:00 am, as if we were waking up to go send B to school, even though we weren't. Got both the kids dressed quickly. Got myself dressed. Threw on a jean baby doll style dress and threw on a thin summer cotton black cardigan over it, with some black Ralph Lauren flip flops with little pink horses on them. Threw some powder foundation on my face, concealer under my eyes. Nivea lip balm and a pony tail and we were out the door before you know it.

What were they looking at? You can sorta see it between both the boys. It's 1 wild mushroom growing in Noboru's lawn. Yup, he plenty mad about that mushroom, lol! He'll have to do lawn maintenance next week. : )

In the car, Noboru and I were getting our game plan on! He told me what he was going to check on the car. And I told him what I would be checking for. And then we would switch. And yup, second time, we were in the Funabashi, Ichikawa, Makuhari area this week. That's unusual for us, as you know, as we do live quite too far from there. But with the car plates on Monday and car shopping today, we sorta had to this week. We found a beautiful red one, however it had some funky gold mirrors. Plus it had a smaller engine. We also saw a black one with no rear entertainment unit, so that was out. And a normal red one with also no rear entertainment. Meaning no DVD player etc. And then there was, one pearl white one, that had everything we were looking for. Now we coulda bought an actual brand new one. A brand new one, like we did with our Suzuki, we bought that brand new too. However here's the thing. And I really dislike talking money, but here's the thing and let me explain. Our black minivan is going to be sold for about $6,500 bucks. Yes, the resale is that high on "k" car *mini* minivans. We've checked and have been offered that already. And Noboru's summer bonus this year, is about $16,000 US. The car we wanna buy is about $15,000 US and that is for everything, registration, plates everything. If we put the $6,500 from our old car selling price, then we just will use about half of his bonus. Then we would still have about half my husband's bonus, to put into our savings. Plus we get the new minivan. And as usual our credit cards would go unused. We *hate* using our credit cards for anything and are fortunate we don't ever have to. And if we do ever dust off our cards and use them, we pay them in full the next month immediately. However if we buy brand brand new. It would be around $30,000 US, *at least* if we got a brand new, fully loaded. And then we would use up all the car money and all of his summer bonus. And end up with zilch for savings, from the 2007 summer bonus. But if we got just a 3 or 4 years older at the most (like a 2004 model). We could afford to get it fully loaded with everything and I do mean fully loaded. Still have plenty for our savings. And we would never have to apply for a loan or deal with banks. And no I am not saying loans are a bad thing, it's just we wanna avoid it if we can. And besides Japanese used cars are freakin' nice, they're not like American used cars, where you can really end up with a lemon. (sorry fellow Americans, living in America) But Japan's used cars are great! Ours even came with a warranty still! So we bought it, it's only 3 years old and we will have over half of my husbands summer bonus to go into our savings account. Which is really very smart of us actually. We are sorta misers, which is actually how we ended up with this house, ha ha ha. So, yes we bought a "new to us" minivan! : )

Here it is. It's a white Mazda MPV (pearl white actually) It's got a navigation in the front seat (pretty typical in Japan, I know, lol), with TV and CD and MP3 player and stuff. And in the back seat for Branden and Noah, it has another screen and DVD player that folds down from the ceiling. They can watch DVD's or TV. If the boys watch a DVD in the back, we can watch it in the front seat with our screen, at the same time. Also, we can switch and we can watch TV in the front and they can watch DVD in the back at the same time and vice versa. It's also not just a regular DVD system that most cars have. It's called a theater system and it's got surround sound, man it sounds like we're at the movies, ha ha ha. Unfortunately my awesome BIL Jun has the DVD in the back, but not the surround sound, he's going to be so mad at us, ha ha ha. But not in a mean way. He will joke with us about this for years no doubt. It has air con for the second row and also another for the third row. It also has the TV camera for backing up. Does anyone know what I am talking about? Like I can see myself back up because a camera in placed near the back window and it helps us to park better on the screen in the front seat. Ha ha ha. Both back doors have power close and open. Which is good for me, because our car we have now, we just usually have to slam the doors closed. Ha ha ha. Also the MPV seat configuration is great. The second row. Branden and Noah's seats can be either moved to sit together or moved apart. The seats actually move. And that is one big reason why we wanted the MPV over another brand of minivan. And the engine is a V-6 and we could really use the extra get up and go! Anyway, please be happy for us you guys! We've earned it! We've been boxed up in our older smaller car. Our sons have melted their butts off the past 5 years. Branden has had to give up his seat, every single darn time grandpa or grandma visits. And we will more then likely keep this MPV for the next 5 years, at least. Since we are cheapskates. So, for us, this is big, huge news! Hey, if we had 5 luxury cars (like a Roll's or a Jag) in a car garage this wouldn't be news at all. But for us, it's pretty special and important! : )

PS, I'll share more pics of the car when we finally get to bring it home. But they have to go and get us our new license plates and stuff first. Obviously that was the old license plate still attached in the picture, I shared. I think it should take about a week and a half before we can bring the car home. And by the way, the car originally came from Osaka, just like Noboru, ha ha ha! : )

This week, while picking up Branden at the bus stop! : )

In between our crazy busy schedule lately. I've still got the regular stuff that is always constant. Like picking up my lovely son at the bus stop. Yup, in between my treadmill workouts every morning and night (I've still been keeping that up btw), I get to run down the street every morning and afternoon, while pushing Noah in the stroller at the same time! I must say, if they ever make running down the street while pushing a small toddler in a stroller, an Olympic event, I think I can officially represent the good ol' USA on that one! Ha ha ha! I've got pushing a stroller down the street while running at the same time down to an art form, ha ha ha! Ahhhh! So we get there. Arrive about 10 minutes early. I sit down on one of the benches and watch Noah play with this Nerf like sponge gun thing. No, I didn't buy it, it came as a free toy in a meal from a Chinese restaurant we went to the other afternoon. By the way, after Branden gets off the bus and we walk home. I am never in a hurry to walk back. We always have a relaxing walk/stroll and enjoy the scenery. It must be because I miss B, that is why I run in the afternoons, ha ha ha. Nerd that I am! : )

We waited. : )

I asked Noah if he'd like to get out of his stroller and walk around, he said yes. So I let him walk around a bit. He is very good and never runs off. Actually Branden was also never one to run off either. So I am happy they are kids that don't go running off. Phew. They always stay close to mommy, ha ha ha.

He loves watching those old people play tennis! And those old people always talk with him, he's their little buddy. And then Branden got off the bus stop and we walked back home. : )

And yet, here's Noah on yet another afternoon that we went to pick up Branden!

Is he just kicking back in the seat or what? LOL! : )

Yay, his big brother is home. At last, at last! How ever did he survive all day long without him? Ha ha ha! However, we don't have 1 second to spare. Just enough time to run inside. Change Branden's clothes. Throw his empty obento box in the dishwasher and run back out the door to swimming class! Ahhhhh! Weekdays are so busy! I can *not* wait until the weekend. : )

Okay, Branden, I packed your swimming backpack while you were at school. You have your clothes changed now. Noah's in his car seat already! I've got snacks packed already! Hurry hurry hurry! Let's go. Hustle, let's get a move on!

Monday in Makuhari.

So, we needed to switch our license plate over to the city we live now, versus the city we lived last year. We've put it off as long as we could, just sheer laziness is the reason why. And so Monday, as soon as Branden was sent off to school, we jumped onto the highway (which we hate because we have to pay, lol) and went and did the license plates. It was amazingly super fast. Took under 30 minutes from start to finish. We had about 2 hours of unexpected free time on our hands, so we decided to run to Costco and get some cleaning wipes, remember they were out of stock the last time we were there.

It wasn't planned at all, but it was so nice to get a chance to be at Costco. : )

We got the basics of basics. Only 5 things total. We didn't have time to stroll every single aisle and we really didn't need to either. We saw the rain coats for kids, but again we have those already and I bought B's in size 6 anyway (and he's only 5 won't be 6 until the end of Oct.) and Noah's is size 2T, so we didn't really need those this year, thank goodness or anything else except for the 5 small things. We just got the cleansing wipes. Apple juice for the kids, dinner rolls and ricotta cheese because I'm making lasagna this week. We also got Branden a 3 pack of kids colorful Speedo goggles. I figured since Branden takes all those swimming lessons, it was a good and useful buy for us! You can see a pizza box in the bottom of this pic. We bought a whole peperoni pizza to take home. We thought, it would be a good idea for a simple and fast dinner. However, we were so hungry Noboru, Noah and I each had a few slices while driving back home on the highway. We had to hurry because we didn't want to be late to pick up B from the bus stop after school.

LOL, don't laugh. Hey it's honest! We threw the pizza into the oven and rewarmed it, and yup the slices we ate from lunch were indeed missing, ha ha ha. I put bell peppers, onions and mushrooms on my side. Noboru just put mushrooms on his and Branden just kept it like it was. Ha ha ha. That way we each got it the way we like it. We had Fanta grape soda with ice. The kids had iced tea. Took showers, all got into our jammies.

We've got so much going on here at the house right now. We've been just so busy you guys! I'll update soon again, I need to, because so much is going on it's crazy. But in short, my MIL is coming to our house soon. We are heading to Osaka next month, plus we are still heading to Guam next week and packing and all that crap and you get the idea. And we have been looking to buy a new car for the past couple month's. We have been looking *extremely* hard this past 2 weeks. And sorta why we switched over the license plate on our old car, that way we can sell it. But it needed to be registered to Narita versus where we used to live in Chiba. Ahhhh, so many many changes!

Our day at the Bokujo/dairy farm! : )

Since we have a year long family pass to the bokujo, we thought it would be a good and cheap way to spend a Saturday! So we parked the car, and walked down the lane a bit.

We've never seen this place so packed as it was today! It must be since it was Golden Week still.

Branden sliding down the slide thing.

Noah watching and waiting for his brother to slide down. Ha ha ha!

Yup the kids are still wearing those crazy Mc Donald's spy watches, that were free in their happy meals. Why oh why, do they insist on wearing them all over in public? Ha ha ha. I'll never know! : )

Noah making a new friend! Mrs. Cow! Ha ha ha! : )

Both the boys would pick grass and feed it to them!

Noboru and the boys feeding some cud to the goats.

It's always so cool to to see the animals all up close and personal, on a farm like this.

Except for these guys! These chickens, roosters whatever were the meanest son of a guns ever!!! Scared the bejesus out of us! Let me tell you, the story. There were 2 cages we looked into just before this one. Genuei (sp?) pigs or something along that nature. And some bird with a fuzzy hair do on top. We were just strolling along and then we got to this cage. We all said. Chickens. By the time we even finished saying the...."ens" part of the word chickens. The big white one closest to the camera, flew at the cage and tried to peck us to death, or attack us or something! Actually it was so unexpected. That Noboru jumped back as did I. Branden got so scared, he jumped back, Noah jumped back. However, Noah fell down he got so scared and Branden ended up stepping on Noah's back. He wasn't hurt or anything. But oh man! They are very aggressive, those chickens! I was telling my dad about how damn nasty they were to us! And he said, he has seen shows on Discovery about "cock fighting" and stuff and said yes, they are sorta mean. Yikes! We will not walk so close to the cage next time that's for darned sure! Ha ha ha.

It's never been this crowded before.

Just crowds of people. Long lines for ice cream. It was nuts! Most of them came from the city. To enjoy some country life. : )

Branden just playing around! : )

Noah wanted to try too!

Yay kids! Ha ha ha!

Sliding down the slide.

The boys going from tire to tire.

Noah getting some help from daddy! : )

Right before we left, we all had some of their delicious ice cream! Oh man it was so great! Branden had vanilla, Noboru had green tea and I had chocolate chip. I personally don't care for chocolate chip. But it's not really like chips at all. It's more like vanilla ice cream with super thing shavings of chocolate in it. I love it! : )

Noah feeling pretty good. He had a full day of play. Is full from ice-cream and it's now time to go home and take himself a nap! Both of the kids had a great time! : )

We brought home a few goodies with us! A pack of fresh homemade butter cookies. All this stuff is actually made at the actual bokujo! And if you check the picture from the butter cookies, the butter and milk to make the cookies came from their dairy cows! Man these cookies were so buttery and were amazing! The boys ate most of them by themselves. The milk, this milk is so rich and really good. People all over the bokujo were downing bottles of it. So we bought this small one for Branden. And the other thing was a homemade cheesecake. Yup the milk based ingredients for this cheesecake came from the cows at the bokujo as well. We had some of the cheesecake for after dinner as dessert. It was so rich tasting and delicious. We had it with some hot coffee. Branden drank the bottle of iced cold milk and had some cheesecake after we finished supper at home. He said the milk was really good. So anyway, that was how we spent our Saturday! Now that I reflect on our Golden week, I think it was a pretty nice week actually. We spent it close to home. We did some karaoke, some backyard BBQ's, many many lemon shave ice were eaten for GW at our house. Countless backyard playing. And even we hit the bokujo/dairy farm. Plus sleeping and snoozing in late, and staying awake later then usual all week long. Many quiet dinners at home with just our family. Some Wendy's mixed in a bit.So all in all, it was a pretty fantastic Golden week! Besides the fact Noboru actually had to work for Golden week (except for the 2 days off, for his weekend) we didn't do half bad! : )

An update from our last update, lol.

Noboru quit smoking .....Now I love my husband, I really do. He's truly my best friend and I know that sounds all too sugary sweet, but it's honestly true. *However* he is a smoker. Not a light social smoker mind you. He's a pack a day type smoker. The kind where his hair stinks like an ash tray. Granted, he has never smoked in our home, not even once. He always smokes outside on the front porch. He has never smoked in our car either. He always wears a smoke free shirt inside the house to bed or to lay on the couch and changes to a smoke shirt to go smoke outside. But it's annoying. And I frankly never thought he'd quit. I've never pushed for him to quit either, because he's a very polite smoker. He has never bothered us with his smoke or let us breath in his second hand smoke either. So it's an annoyance that I always just ignored. Of course I always worried about him getting lung cancer or something heath related, but I always put it at the back of my mind. By the way he has smoked since he was 16 years old, so a very long time!

Anyway, he came home the other day. He told me how he and a group of his coworkers who also smoke. Calculated how many cigarettes they each have smoked in their life time. He said, the amount of cigarettes he calculated he has smoked over the years was so staggering. I guess so much that, it is what made him decide, it was just *too* much and he wanted to quit.

Ugh huh, I had heard all that "I'm gonna quit" crap before. He told me he was going to quit a billion times before. But he never held on for longer then an hour. Well, he's clearly proven me wrong and I am so proud of him. He's not smoked now for 3 days! The first 2 days were the worst for him! And now he seems okay. Granted he still wants one sure. Just not as severe as the first 2 days were. Secretly I kept thinking, he won't last. He'll fail, because he just loves smoking too much to overcome it! However last night, he told me, "you know I really think I am going to actually quit for real this time" And then he told me..."I'm not doing it for you or anybody else, I'm doing it for me", His face was so serious, and I must say, I actually sorta believe him.

Now will it last? I don't know. But I'll let you all know either way. But for now, he's quit smoking. And for a hard core 1 pack a day, type smoker like Noboru was, that says a lot!

A plan is set to visit my newest niece! : ) We have been dying to go visit my niece, but with both Jun and Satoe being a new mom and dad, they are understandably very busy. As are we. So with both our schedule planning and arranging, I think we decided on May 14th to go and see my niece. They are free that day and so are we, we think. Ha ha ha.: ) So I am just so excited to see my little niece, that I am over the moon and the stars right now! Jun asked, what would you like us to prepare for you guys. Lunch or snacks or what? I told Noboru to tell him, don't cook anything or offer us anything! We won't stay long, we just wanna see your new mansion and see their darling little Mia and we will keep it short and leave. We've been new parents before too and we know when you are a new parent and busy with a new bubs, that preparing snacks and stuff for your guests is really just too much work! So, not necessary for us at all. He was sorta relieved and said, okay! : )

School picnic, sometimes around May 17th or 18th. I've got a rough idea of what I will be bringing. But nothing concrete yet. But at least I am thinking about it. Noboru has the day off and so he and a few of the yochien dad's are tagging along with us yochien mom's, ha ha ha. It's going to be fun. It's not a pot luck or anything. Just each mom prepares whatever her family will be eating. And Branden's has to be packed in his regular school obento, while ours will go into our picnic basket, lol. This will be my 3rd picnic at a yochien in Japan, so I sorta got the routine all down packed already, phew! : )

Vacation plans change a bit: We were heading to Oregon in June. But with summer clothes bought already. We decided to head to the mainland in August or September instead, so that way we can buy our winter/fall clothes instead at the same time. That way we can kill 3 birds with one stone. Buy winter clothing, eat good yummy food and site see around Oregon. But if we went in June, we would just eat the yummy food and site see. So, we might as well knock off the shopping at the same time, so we will reschedule that trip for at the end of summer instead. So, since we are sorta free this summer and right now. We will head to Guam on May 19th and stay a couple nights. No biggie. Just a short 3 hour flight and with young kids, you will know what I mean about the short flight being a real saving grace for us parents! A short flight, sounds like a plan. So, I will be happy to see my dad again. Ahhh. And of course a few of Noboru's coworkers are going at the same time as well. Ha ha ha, just like last time, except these are different coworkers. His coworkers actually travel way more then we do, you guys! Seriously, one of his coworkers just came back from Hawaii. Sigh, lol. We are totally small potatoes with our traveling, compared to many of his coworkers. So anyways, we will be in Guam in 2 weeks from now. Also, we are planning a summer time trip too. But have not decided where. So in a nut shell, Guam in 2 weeks. And some unknown location in summer. Nothing too major here. Just a small change and I thought everyone might wanna know the change.

I'm still working out! I'm actually surprised that I didn't give up yet either! I have been working out twice a day. I walk on the treadmill every morning for 30minutes and every evening for 30 minutes. Now again, will I keep it up? Hmmm, I honestly don't know. I hope I do. But who knows. I'll keep you all updated, if I fall off the wagon with my exercising or not though : )

Last update. I really am crushing hard on that Michael Buble guy. I see his little commercial/video on Fox all the time. Singing that cute little diddy he sings. He's so cute. He's like a throw back from the 50's or something. He's a charmer that one is, I like him! Every time that video on Fox is on, I just stop dead in my tracks and watch the entire thing until it's completely over. However that band...that all girl band in Japan called something like, AKB 74589 five thousand or whatever they are called, drive me nuts! I could do without their songs playing on Fox all the time. That whole...Otosan gomen nasai song, I swear, I practically have it memorized and I really don't care for it. Thank god they switched videos for them because the new one, they are playing, I can sorta tolerate a bit better, but it's starting to wear on me a bit. LOL! : )

Just another lazy day! Ha ha ha! : )

Just another relaxing day spent at home. We've slept in all Golden Week, to 9:30 am every morning. Versus the usual 7:00 am, I usually get up. Yawn, snooze, it's totally been a restful Golden week! Again nothing major or earth shattering or exciting going on here at our house. Just hanging home for the most part! It's been pretty good though. This afternoon after lunch, the boys and I went outside in the backyard. We spent the entire day in the backyard. From around 11:30 am to about 3:00 pm. I can kick back under the patio table umbrella and read a magazine and chat with the boys. Meanwhile they play themselves silly. They wear themselves out! And I get to watch! Ha ha ha! Then I go inside and start dinner. Man have I gotten lazy this Golden week, ha ha ha. In any case, here's Noah sliding down the little guy slide!

Branden just hanging around and playing around in his play clothes. Boy did he have fun!

And here's my little ragamuffin Noah-chan! Wearing his shirt and shorts, he inherited from his big brother. And it's okay he doesn't mind in the very least! Ha ha ha! He's absolutely oblivious to it all and still he doesn't care! He's like...clothes smoze! : )

Playing with dangomushis. Yup they're rough and tumble boys who like playing with bugs. Eeeek! : )

Taking turns steering/driving! Ahhh make believe play, I love it! Ha ha ha! : )

Are you imagining this is a hockey stick? Well, you wouldn't whack anyone with that thing, would you? I said.....would you? Ahhhh, total boys! They've got testosterone coming out their ears, they have so much! : )

And how can I lure, errr I mean trick the boys to come back inside the house? Well, that's easy. I suggest some much needed lemon shave ice/kakigori! Then a 5 minute rest and then I am about to start dinner! What a wonderful "do nothing" type of day! Ha ha ha! : )

For my family, I just wanted to say thanks! : )

This post is really for no one else today, except for my family. (I guess, sometimes some appreciation and some much needed gratitude needs to be sent out to my lovely folks) I coulda emailed them personally, but I just want it thrown into the world, shout it from the highest roof tops or what have you. But I love my family so very much! I am truly blessed to be a member of my family. How I ever got so lucky, I'll never know. But I just wanted to say thanks. When I lived in Denver. My family seldom gave me gifts. Sure, Christmas or birthdays, what have you. But we expressed our love for another by simply being with each other. By our weekly family Sunday dinners after church. And so on. With me now, in Japan, it's hard for my family and I to sometimes express our love for another with this great ocean between us. Family dinners are few and far between. Sure I send letters (snail mail ones), emails with pics. Hell, I set up this blog years ago especially for *them*, my mom, my dad, cousins and all. They send gifts, not because they're Veruca Salt type people, but because it's a small way, they want to say, we love and miss you Gina. We love and miss you Noah and Branden. You *are* missed. You are thought of and we won't forget you, no matter where you live. So it's not the *thing* so much as the thought. Every month, I open my mail box and get something from either my mom, my dad, one of my many aunties or cousins, even from a few of my best childhood girlfriends etc. And it puts me on a verge of tears. Yes I send care packages back to them all as well. Anyway, to my family, I just want to say thank you and to my mom and dad especially. I'm so sorry I live so far from you guys (well dad you aren't too far though). But you all are ALWAYS in my thoughts and in my heart! Mom, thanks for the Old Navy gift card. And thanks for sending the boys all those flip flops and clothes and stuff. Be on the look out for your Mother's day gift as well. : )

And again mom, thanks for you sending the boys the special Disney Crocs. Geeze, when I asked you if you could maybe locate 1 pair for Branden. You could imagine my surprise to get, 2 pairs for Branden, (1 pair for this year and 1 pair in the size bigger for next year, lol) and a pair in a larger size you also sent for Noah. Wow. Thanks mom, I was beyond surprised to get this in the mail from you. Just looking at the Disney crocs you sent plus the ones we had before that we got in Japan. And I think we are not needing anymore Disney crocs. So please family, please don't send us anymore Crocs. Ha ha ha! We are all croc-ed out! Heck, the boys are all shoe-ed out! LOL. They need nothing more for summer, that is for sure. But I do want to show my appreciation and say thanks. Which is why I am saying it here. It means more to me then you even know! I love you mom! : )

And dad, you gave me the biggest smile when I opened up a little yellow cushion envelop today and out rolled some "island hot sauce" lol! And you even sent me pens to write with. Yes, I coulda bought my own writing pens, ha ha ha. But it was just so thoughtful of you! Love you bunches dad! I'll try the hot sauce later this week and let you know by either email or by calling you up and letting you know how it was!

Made in Guam, how funny! : ) I love you all, from Colorado, to California, to even you dad in Guam! : )