Happy Birthday CATHERINE!!

Happy birthday, Catherine! I hope you had a fantastic day and were surrounded by people who love you! Sorry we couldn't be there the celebrate with you but we were thinking about you. Miss you!

CAPTION CONTEST:

Catherine: "Woah, Dave! You didn't have to get me a gift THAT big!"

Dave: "You are worth it!"

It's Cherry Blossom Time!!

February is cherry blossom time in Japan! We spent Saturday at the Cherry Blossom Festival in Nago doing more than just look at flowers. But I thought I'd send you a few pictures of those flowers before I put a full post on our blog in the next couple days. Wish you were all here to see them! They are gorgeous! Miss you!!

Super Colts!!

Ralph was kind enough to invite me, Mike and Dad to the Colts AFC Championship game on Sunday. Our seats were amazing and we had a great time! The first half made us a bit nervous, but of course the Colts pulled it off. We can't wait for the Superbowl in a few weeks. 

GO COLTS!! 

 

The four of us before the game. 

This guy sat behind us, too funny! 

Mike & Ralph

Dad & Kato

GO COLTS!

'nuff said!

Many Farwells

It sounds like there have been many farwells for our family this month! I just wanted to add a few pictures from Andy's party before he left for the coastgard! I am so proud of our men who are giving so much of their time for our country!

Sad

Mike left yesterday for Las Vegas. The 44th squadron will be participating in Red Flag at Nellis AFB, a 2 week exercise that simulates a real war situation. It is a real honor that he is able to go so early in his Eagle career. Some guys wait years to get this chance! I know he is really excited to be there but I sure do miss him. He will be gone for a whole month!! So, I am here in Okinawa trying to distract myself. Keep him in your thoughts. Please skype, call, or email whenever! I am just here waiting for him to return!

Rusty really misses him too.

Skating Taylors

I just wanted to post a few pictures from our weekend with the Taylor Girls! We went ice skating and played many games! They are so fun to hang out with!

This is after Margaret learned to skate! She did such a great job!! Lynn the girls asked about you and Mike alot! They miss you and next time want to skype!

Love you tons

A New Kind of New Year

Hey guys!

As you've heard, we went to Tokyo for New Years this year. It was a blast! I will have plenty of pics on our adventures on our blog soon. But first, I wanted to share our actual New Years Eve. It is a pretty long post, so get ready. But it was an experience unlike any other. So, check out glasshouseinternational.blogspot.com/ to read all about it. Here are a few pics to tease you though!!

Love you all and miss you!! Happy Year of the Tiger!

We visited the Asakusa Shrine during the day on NYE.

Mike is showing off our tiny bathroom in our Japanese hotel. I am standing in the hallway to take this picture. You can't tell here, but the shower is hooked up to the sink so you can only use one at a time.

Typical Japanese pose in front of some former emperor.

Christmas in the Keys

Paul and I were so fortunate to get the opportunity to spend the week of Christmas in the Florida Keys with his family this year. We stayed in Marathon, FL in a condo resort. The location was perfect for relaxing, bird watching and catching up. We took day trips out to snorkel, kayak, walk the beach and spent a day in Key West. We also spent plenty of time enjoying the beach, cooking, working crosswords and spotting lots of wildlife.

We feel so lucky to have the chance to get away for a while and get some quality time with the Critsers. Here are a few snap shots from our trip!

On Christmas Eve we watched a beautiful sunset at the local state park with our santa hats on!

This is an old rail road bridge that is no longer in use... we were standing on the beach behind it. What a nice way to spend Christmas Eve!!

All of the Critsers with our festive hats!

We thought we would make our Christmas morning feel a little more normal by adding a "fire" compliments of a DVD... it even made noise like a crackling fire!! Ha!

We had such a wonderful trip... for more photos, see our photo share site. http://critserscaughtonfilm.shutterfly.com/

Happy New Year from Mike & Katie!!

Hello Family!  Happy 2010!  Mike & I just got back from a very nice weekend with his family.  Our New Years Eve was spent sipping champagne with the Sullivan/Majewski clan and Mike's Aunt Cathie & Uncle Steve at their house in Arlington Heights, IL.  It was very low key but very very nice to see everyone!  Chloe and Riglee are growing so fast, it was nice to spend some more time with them.

What I really want to know was how everyone else's New Year's festivities were!

1.) Dave & Catherine's Party?  

2.) Tokyo?  

3.) Bill Witchger's bash at Marian? 

Photos and incriminating stories are welcome and highly encouraged!

Love you all and I am looking forward to an awesome 2010 for all of us.  Cheers!!