Day 2 of Thanks

Today I am grateful for being able to experience Halloween in Japan! Although the Japanese don't officially celebrate Halloween, they LOVE the holiday. They have decorations in the stores, sell candy, etc - they just don't dress up and go door-to-door like we do. So as part of culture exchange, it is common for us Americans to invite our Japanese friends onto base to celebrate with us. I love Halloween...so it is great to see so many people get excited about it here too! I remember growing up in Warminster, PA and having so many kids on the block! We would have a ton of kids trick-or-treating together and it was always so much fun. But slowly, the kids grew up and there were less and less kids going door-to-door. It made me sad... Then, when I had my own kids, I loved dressing them up and parading around in OH. But nothing would prepare me for what I would experience here at Yokota. Literally THOUSANDS of kids on base plus their Japanese friends = CRAZY AMOUNTS OF TRICK-OR-TREATERS! The first 2 years here Patrick was away on business so I had to do it on my own. I would run the kids around to a few houses, then come back to hand out candy. We were warned to get 800+ pieces of candy...but that only lasted about 1 hour!!! It was a nonstop stream of kids...melting my heart :-) The best part was hearing the Japanese kids trying to say "tricko-treato", "happy harroween", and "tank you". But this year, Patrick was home to hand out candy and I invited my Japanese friends and children to come with us. We carved pumpkins, had a BBQ and went out for an hour. By the time we came back, Patrick was out of candy and we turned off the porch lights! Another amazing adventure in Japan!

So...it's been a while

I know...I know. I stink at this blogging thing. BUT - It is November 1 and I have been reminded about my 30 days of gratitude attitude! So, for my first gratitude post...I am grateful for the one who reminded me about it :-) This is Deanne. She be crazy. Girl be trippin. (These are all fun things I like to say around her). She is Patrick's orthopedic partner's wife and she is so cool. My favorite thing about her is how she gave up her secret Identity this past weekend at the triathlon. She has been living quietly as Mrs Incredible, but finally revealed herself to cheer on all the kids participating in this amazing event (which will probably be my 2nd grateful posting :-). Thank you Deanne! I am grateful to have you in my life :-)