Hiroksaki Cherry Blossom Festival

Cherry blossom season is now over, but we made here just in time to see it in full bloom. Here are some pictures from our trip to Hirosaki castle. There are over 5,000 Cherry Blossom trees in this City. It is considered one of the more prestigous cities in Amori because of the local univeristy. We truly enjoyed seeing the way they celebrate this time of year.

29 weeks and one hot beach belly

Here are some 29 week photos of the ever growing belly. I am now 33 weeks(almost 34) pregnant,but am behind in posting pictures. Ryan took these on the beach. We live about two miles from shore. Americans are not allowed to swim here because of the strong undercurrents, but if we drive a ways down the road there are beaches that are open later in the summer. Hope you enjoy!

More of Kaci and Taryn

Here's a couple more

Taryn and Kaci

We had the priviledge of taking the pictures of the McBrayer girls this past weekend. They are very active and kept us on our toes. What adorable little girls!

Sarah's growing belly at 24 weeks

Although I am 29 weeks pregnant now, I am just getting around to posting these. My good friend, Carriefay, took these right before we left Arizona. Thanks Carrie.

The buffalo

Ok, since we almost died in this picture it gets a post of it's own. Ryan wanted to get some pictures of the bison in Custer State Park. So on our way back from Mount Rushmore we stopped along the road. My dad, I guess, has not heard that bison are dangerous and very tempermental. So he drives right up to them (a couple feet away) and tells Ryan to get out and take some pictures. Ryan does, however as he is outside taking the pictures my dad starts honking the horn to get them to look at us. Not the brightest thing to do. I think we got some angry buffalo looks! Ryan got back in the car and we went down the road further where my dad attempted to later run over a buffalo while we all screamed stop, go forward, go forward. Needless to say we ended up with some amazing buffalo pictures and here is one of them! Thanks for being such a risk taker dad!

AFRC Tours

Part of PSCing in, is to attend briefings. They try to inform you on inportant information you need to know about the local culture. One portion of this consisted of getting our drivers license. It's a pretty scary thing to start driving on the opposite side of the road. Both of us have driven on the wrong side of the road an not realized it til we were head on with another car. Our license plates have a Y on them to let the locals know we are Americans. I bet they get lots of good laughs. Another part of the program was two tours that took us through Misawa and another neighboring town called Hachinohe. We feel very blessed to be in such a wonderful country. The people have been so hospitable.