Wentzel Brothers Reunite!

At the start of May, James' older brother Jon came to Misawa for a week to do some sims. We were excited to see him and have him over for dinner in our house for the first time ever. Ah, this crazy Air Force life we lead!

The week he was here was a busy one for me so I unfortunately only got to see him for that first night when he came over. But James went out and ate with Jon and the other pilots visiting from Osan several times. I know he was thankful for the time to reconnect with his brother, as well as the new restaurants that Jon introduced him to.

James made sure to snap this quick shot of the two boys to send to their mom for Mother's Day. It's a rare treat to have the Wentzel brothers in one spot. We've been incredibly blessed that it's happened pretty frequently while we've both been stationed in the Pacific. I hope we will get another chance to hang out with Jon and Claire before we move next spring!

Spring Photo Experiments

With the blooming of the cherry blossoms and the change of season comes a myriad of requests for family portraits. Most of what I know about photography is self-taught through trial and error. So before I launched into my busy schedule of paid sessions, I asked a couple of friends to model for me while I scouted out new locations and tried out some new techniques. Below are the fruits of my labor. I recently overhauled my photography blog so if you would like to see more of my recent work, please check it out!
I will be taking engagement photos for some friends soon. Their one request was for their photos to be taken during the "golden hour". This special time right after sunrise and before sunset gives skin tone a beautiful glow and creates some very cool effects in-camera. I've captured it a few times before, but purely by accident. So my new friend and photophile Kristina offered to model for me as we figured out how to capture that beautiful buttery light on purpose. Check it out:

I also needed to find some newer, more diverse locations to take portraits in front of cherry blossoms. So Lacey and I went in search of the Swan Park. Again - this is something I've heard about for the past two years, but I had never been there. I was blown away by this place. The park complex is HUGE and beautifully landscaped - full of pockets of trees, grass, rocks, creeks, lakes, lilly ponds, benches and gazeebos galore. We had a great time walking around, taking silly photos and participating in the sacred Japanese tradition of "hanami" - which I understand means enjoying or celebrating the beauty of the cherry blossoms.

Love it!

Yabusame Festival

It's FINALLY cherry blossom season here in Japan! Those little pink blossoms were a welcome sight after nearly six months of heavy snow and freezing temperatures. The girls in the squadron decided to celebrate by driving to the near-by town of Towada for the Yabusame festival. Simply driving around on this extraordinarily clear day and sitting under the warm sunshine would have been enough for all of us. But this particular festival was incredible because it features female archers shooting at targets while charging down a lane on horseback. This event made for great pictures, which alway makes me happy. We also found a lot of delicious food and enjoyed watching the little ones make friends and romp around with the Japanese children there. Over all - it was pretty much the perfect day. The only thing that would have made it better was if our husbands could have joined us.

It was SO clear. It is rare to see the mountains like this.

Following our giant entourage of Americans entering the festival.

My new friend Kristina in front of one of the many colorful food booths.

Enjoying lunch in the sunshine.

Finally - a healthy festival food option. SO delicious!

Lacey enjoying her first chocobanana.

I love these ladies!

Horse archery - SO cool.

Very exciting - our first cherry blossom sighting of the year.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, James and I are much more motivated to get out and experience Japan TOGETHER during our last year here. He was very bummed that work did not allow him to accompany us to the festival on Saturday. I guess people shooting things on horseback holds a bit more appeal than many of our other festivals we ladies attend (mostly centered around flowers.) SO - we went back the next day and enjoyed taking in the sights, strolling through downtown Towada under the newly opened blossoms, and making memories.

Streets lined with cherry blossoms.

Beautiful cherry blossoms.

A kind Japanese man offered to take our picture.

I love Japan!!!

Lock-In!!

The kids in the youth group have been requesting we do a Lock-In since I started working with them. We have a pretty tight group and they couldn't wait to party ALL-NIGHT-LONG. Spring Break seemed like a logical time to throw this shindig. I knew it would be difficult to make them sleep so I gave them what they wanted and planned activities from 6:00 pm to 7:30 am the following morning. Most parents called me crazy - to stay up all night with these teens. But with some intentional resting-up before hand and plenty of activity to keep my mind stimulated, it really wasn't too bad. They had a great time and a little drowsiness on my part is worth it to make some lasting memories for these military children.

Here's a brief run-down of some of our activities with pictures:

Spring Break was one of the first nice weeks we had this spring and so we stayed outside playing ultimate frisbee until the sun went down. Then we went inside and had pizza for dinner. The kids took it on themselves to play games at their tables. It's always good to see them interacting in a healthy way.

After that, we launched into a ream of silly, messy games designed to test their daring and teamwork. The group was divided into four teams. They all competed in eight different events. The team who won the most events at the end, won a big prize. The events included:

• Blowing up a balloon using only your nose
• Seeing who could hold out the longet while cups-full of ice were dumped down their shirts
• Trying to make the largest number of cheetos stick to a teammate's face that was covered in shaving cream
• Making ice cream sundaes on their teammate's face
• Sculpting animals out of chewed gum
• Playing pictionary by drawing pictures in chocolate syrup using only their faces
• And a relay race where they had to chug several sodas that had been taken through an obstical course designed to shake them up a little bit

Strong man challenge - withstanding the ice dumped down their shirt

Still going strong after 10 minutes with a pound of ice down his shirt

Chucking cheetos at their teammate's faces which were covered in shaving cream

Dropping ingredients for a banana split into open mouths below

Beginning the obstical course

After the game was over, we took the energy level down a notch and had an awesome time of worship in the sanctuary. We've been working on developing a student-led worship team over the past several months, but this was their first opportunity to utilize the microphones and drum set in the sanctuary. They put on a 40 minute set - and each person on the worship team took some time to share their thoughts on what worship really is and to challenge the students in the audience not to let anything holding them back from giving God their all. I'm so proud of them!

After worship was over, we played flashlight tag in the santuary for about an hour. I was pretty sure people walking by the chapel on their way back from a night on the town would think that we were holding some sort of crazy cult practice in there because of all of the screaming and flashing lights in a dark room. But they had a great time.

Finally, at about midnight we opened it up to free time. The students could play video games, watch movies, sit and chat, sleep (haha - yeah right.) The game systems our leaders brought in have motion sensors on them and so most of us played dancing games all night. It was so fun! I especially enjoyed watching the boys slowly try the games out and then get hooked. This lock-in was about courage, daring and breaking down barriers and I'd say that definitely happened that night (even if much of that courage was born out of sleep deprivation. ;^)

Beating the kids at their own game. Oh yeah!

Still smiling at 3:00 am.

I also enjoyed some good conversation with them. It's rare when I have the time to sit still and talk. Usually on Monday nights I'm running around and finishing up last minute preparations. So we talked, sang, and watched the sun rise at about 4:30 am. It was very hard to wait patiently for the protestant men of the chapel to come in and cook us breakfast at 6:30. But the food was fantastic and definitely worth the wait. Over all the event was a big success!

Easter

Easter this year pretty much consisted of non-stop feasting. James and I have been trying to come up with ways to serve and witness to our unbelieving friends and neighbors, so we decided to attend the "sunrise" service early Easter morning so that we could open our house up for a squadron/neighborhood potluck brunch afterward. What we didn't realize was that the Protestant Men of the Chapel were cooking breakfast for everyone right after the sunrise service. So we had breakfast - then came home and fixed a healthy second breakfast. After that I made some sweet potato casserole to take to our Bible Study's Easter dinner that night.

We enjoyed spending some quality time connecting and celebrating with our various communities on that sacred day. I'm not sure we really rubbed off on anyone during our outreach brunch, but at least we got to serve them and pray for them and deepend our bonds of friendship. Plus - my whole wheat, dairy free fruit pancakes were DELICIOUS! 0=^)

Ryan and Lacey Arrive!

As usual, I apologize for the long silence on the blog. It has been a very busy season for us - for two very exciting reasons. First, springtime has FINALLY arrived in Misawa which means we've been getting out and exploring a lot more during our free time. Second, because we have a couple of new Misawan's to do that exploring with. Yes, Ryan and Lacey Worrell have arrived in Japan!

For those who may not remember, Ryan and James have been good friends since the Academy. After graduation they went on a long road trip to see a baseball game in every major league stadium in the country. Ryan was a groomsman in our wedding, and James returned the favor a couple of years later when Ryan married Lacey. For three years they were stationed at Hill AFB in Utah, but now they are here in Misawa and we are so excited to live in the same place for a full year!

On the baseball trip - jumping for joy in St. Louis!

The four of us at Ryan and Lacey's wedding in Tahoe.

The two of them have taken to life in Japan like ducks to water. Right away, they found a house in our neighborhood, which is very convenient. We enjoyed showing them around the local area and introducing them to some of our favorite restaurants and scenic spots. They are eager to get out, explore, learn the language and the culture, and generally make the most of their time here. This is great because James and I are equally motivated to see and do as much as possible so we will leave Japan with no regrets a year from now.

Discovering yummy treats on their first trip to the 100Yen Store

Their first Pepper Lunch experience - ordering food from a vending machine

Great friends. Our favorite food in Japan. Life doesn't get any better!

One of our most memorable trips so far was visiting Shipwreck Beach with some friends. We did the standard tour - taking photos with the weathered, beached boats - collecting sea glass - etc. Ryan mixed it up a bit by skipping rocks and seeing how far he could fling any plastic floats he found into the water. We were constantly amused by his antics and enjoyed some good conversation while soaking in the beauty of northern Japan.

Fun picture I took of the two of them. =^)

After we were done hiking and foraging for treasure - we stopped at the legendary tofu donut shop just north of the beach for a much needed snack. I've heard nothing but great things about this place for the last two years but had yet to try one. We can't figure out if the batter has tofu in it, or if they just sell tofu products in addition to donuts... But either way, these are by far the best donuts I've ever had in my life. I'm ashamed to say that between the two of us, James and I downed 8 of them during the hour long car ride home. They were perfectly light but moist with a hint of sugary goodness to make it sweet, but not sickeningly so... I look forwrad to my next trip up there so I can have another one (or three...)

The tofu donut shop

The first of many...

Aside from just enjoying reconnecting with old friends and going on fun excursions, we are so thankful to have the Worrells here because they are both very dedicated Christians and we have enjoyed many deep discussions and encourage one another in our pursuit of holiness multiple times a week. Ryan and Lacey are now a part of our Sunday night Bible Study group and it has been wonderful seeing how much the guys have grown since I first met them. I think the next year will be a good one! =^)

Barre Body Class

pulled from internet to illustrate.

As I mentioned in my past couple of posts, I've been trying to work out a lot more in an effort to get healthy. I still do my stretches at home and go to the gym once or twice a week for a good cardio workout. But I know that what I really need to do is some good strength training to ensure I'm building muscle and keeping my core strong. I just didn't know how to go about doing that.

Recently my friend Kendall started teaching a Barre Body class and so I decided to check it out. Barre is a fusion of yoga, pilates and ballet that uses small, repetitive movements to target all of the muscles in your body for a high intensity but low impact work out. It involves a lot of stretches and endurance training, which are really good for me. I'm totally wiped out after each class but already I can tell a difference in my muscle tone and energy level.

Kendall is one of my best friends and is familiar with my back surgery and limitations so she helps me modify certain moves that require too much bending or twisting. She's an incredible instructor and makes us feel at ease while encouraging us to push ourselves and try new things. I hope that in our summer adventures I'll be able to do some real yoga poses alongside her.

Kendall-Sensei as I call her. She's amazing.