2nd Dinner

I forgot to tell you about our 2nd Thanksgiving dinner. My friend Linda is American and married to a Japanese man. They have two beautiful children (see photo). Linda and her kids came trick or treating with us on Halloween night and then we went to her house for Thanksgiving on Friday the 23rd. Living in Japan for the last 7 years, she has not celebrated Turkey Day often. She had a couple of our mutual Japanese friends over also & ate ham instead of Turkey. Lot's of fun. Again, too much food but it was all delicious. Cheers---Kristin

November????????

Wow, where did November go? I feel like the month just flew by. Ronan, Josh and I had two Thanksgiving dinners this year. On Thursday the 22nd we went to our friends Wayne and Cindy's house along with 12 others for a great dinner. Sooooooooooo much food. Karthik is from India and he brought lemon rice and spicey chicken and Kinuko, who is from Japan, brought a Japanese salad. Very nice traditional food mixed with new foods. Very Tasty.

Thanksgiving weekend was not a good football weekend for the Perrys. GA Tech fell to GA (again), and LSU lost to Arkansas. I can only hope my brother Rourke regained his voice before going back to work on Monday the 26th. He is a huge LSU fan along with my oldest brother Tim. I felt for them when I saw the score of the game ON THE INTERNET! Damn the internet and AFN. The LSU game was obviously taped and set to be televised on AFN (Armed Forces Network) at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday the 24th, but I got online and the score was right there on the Yahoo home page. Oh well, I am sure it was a great game (until the final OT of course).

Josh bought us a Cannon EOS Digital Camera. Just in time for Ronan's and my trip down to Okinawa. On November 28th, Ronan and I flew down to Okinawa, Japan. It is the southern most Island that makes up Japan. Very tropical. It rained 2 out of the 3 days we were there. Ronan was cast as model for Fuji Digial Camera photo shoot. His pics may appear in any still photo ads for Fuji Digital Camera sometime next year. The way it was explained to me, he could be on websites, billboards, buses, magazines, etc... I took pics of Ronan has he waited around to be photographed. Wow, next time (if there is a next time) I will bring a computer and let him watch movies to help pass some of the time. Entertaining him was a bit tiring. We read the same four books over and over and over, but once we got to know thewe had fun hanging out with the other models and parents. The young girl was 8 and Russian. She spoke Russian and fluent Japanese, but no English (she has lived in Japan for 7 years, I think). The 5 year-old boy was from the Ukraine and could speak fluent Russian, a little Japanese and no English. Ronan spoke only English, so they all got along, of course. The boys father could speak English so I was never left out of the loop. The Japanese production crew were great and treated us very well. I will post the pics I took, mostly of Ronan playing while waiting around to get his picture taken, later.

That brings you all up to December. Today is the first of December and Ronan and I did not get home from the airport until after midnight. I must say, that this modeling thing Ronan has going on has made me have to travel long distances by train without Josh. I have navigated my way up to and from Tokyo on three separate occassions with the need to change trains and train lines. It has helped me to increase my confidence with train travel sans Josh.

Happy Holidays to all who read this post!
Kristin

Here I am getting off the plane after being away from my baby for 5 days.

Here are the Smiths in Shreveport, Louisiana October 2007. From left: Rourke (older brother), Melanie (sis-in-law), Hayley (niece), Vicki (sis-in-law), Sarah (niece), Tim (older brother), Mom, Ronan, me. Kneeling: Megan (older sis) and Ryan (nephew). Missing is my 15 year-old nephew Erin, who had gone to his Byrd High School Homecoming dance the night before, so he slept in rather than eating out with the family.

Here is my black suited Spiderman on Halloween night.

Hello Again!

Hello All,

It has been 2 months since my last post. I do apologize to those who actually go to it looking for an update from time to time (Mom, Carol, Pam, Rebecca, maybe Aaron???). Much has happened. First off, Ronan and I went to the states for a month. Loved every minute of it. Did not spend enough time with friends but spent quality time with family. Mom--we love you for putting us up and putting up with us for that long--company and garbage--you know the saying.

Mom was great. She even kept my three-year-old for a week while I was in D.C.. Ronan had a great time since he was spoiled rotten with so much attention. My sister Megan from Cabo San Lucas came to the states for two weeks while we were there. This was her first time spending more than a couple of hours with Ronan. I am so glad Ronan had that time with family. Got to watch a few LSU games with my brothers. They are HUGE fans and it made watching the game so much more fun when we were with them. Let's not think about the Arkansas game. It is depressing to say the least.

I spent a fabulous two days in Lafayette, Louisiana where I went to college. Didn't know why my best friend Marie was sick but she was a trooper to go to New Orleans so we could meet up with our other two best friends Jeanne and Heather. Jeanne, thank you for hosting a fantastic weekend at your house and we will always remember that as the weekend Marie found out she was pregnant. Yeah for baby Crozier!

Got back to Japan in time to celebrate Halloween. Ronan was black suited Spider Man. He had a blast. Our friends Linda, Amanda and Henry came on base and we trick or treated for about an hour. Ronan took to it like a duck to water. He was not shy about knocking on doors knowing he would get candy thrown into his bag. Look for pics to follow this post.

I got back into the swing of things at Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society where I volunteer. This is where I get most of my adult interaction these days. I love working in the Yokosuka office. Thanksgiving came around early this year it seemed and we went over to our friends, Cindy and Wayne Ludwig for a big dinner with friends. Soooo much food. I ate way too much, but that's what you often do on Turkey Day. Then we had a second Thanksgiving meal on Friday the 23rd with my friend Linda. She has lived in Japan for almost 7 years so she has missed a few Turkey Days so we celebrated with her and had a great time.

Well, i know this post is not full of witty banter, but it will get those individuals who are interested in the Perrys up to date for the most part. Oooh I almost forgot Ronan's big news. He is going to be modeling for Fuji Digital Camera this week. We are headed to Okinawa for the three day photo shoot. I took him to the audition not knowing much about the job he was auditioning for and wow he got a big job on his first audition. Will tell you how it goes at my next post.

Cheers
Kristin