Ella's loom

Ella thoughtfully decided to purchase a weaving loom with part of her reading program winnings. 

She really enjoyed creating this cozy scarf and did such beautiful work too! 

Champion readers!

Ella spent the majority of her summer (2015) reading, reading, reading! She had the goal to win the library's summer reading program. And she DID! She read 212 hours over the 2 month period and handily won the 3-5th grade age group. She won a $50 gift card to amazon for her efforts. I am proud of how diligently she stuck with it. Way to go Ella!

And, Eva won 2nd place for the K-2nd age group (she read 75 hours)! This was kind of a surprise to her. She said she mostly read because Ella "wouldn't play with her". A win-win for everyone! I am really proud of them both. 

Paper clip jewelry

Here is Ella modeling her latest craft. She loves creating clothes and accessories.

Dog sitting

Believe it or not, we dog sat! The girls were in the clouds, and the dog was actually such a sweetheart! He did not stay at our house, but we walked him and fed him everyday. His name was Riley and the girls made $30 for watching him 3 days. They were very happy.

An outing with Kayoko

Kayoko invited us to tour her the school her daughter attended, and is now teaching at. It is the very prestigious, American School in Japan. We went with the Soh girls, and another Japanese family.

Summer monsoon

We love the warm summertime monsoons in Japan.

 

Overnight visitors

We hosted two Japanese students overnight. The girls had a ball running around the neighborhood and jumping on the trampoline.

The Japanese will ALWAYS bring a gift when coming to your home. We got these lovely chopsticks from the girls. 

Pajama party! 

The also collected 153 cicada shells, for fun. Ewww! 

Swim class graduation!

We started swim class shortly after arriving in Japan, and after going twice a week for two years, they finally graduated! (Ella finished last December, but kept going to class with Eva for something to do.)

They are Red Cross certified swimmers, now. 

We have LOVED their Japanese instructors. Attention is paid to every detail. They are REALLY proficient. 

A very sad goodbye

The military life can be adventurous, but it is every bit as difficult. The girls said a very tough goodbye to their best friend Kiera, this summer. She lived across the street and they spent every waking moment together.

We met up with her at the base passenger terminal to say our last goodbyes. Ella is usually very stoic, while Eva wears her emotions on her sleeve, but the suffering is the same. 

The good news is, Kiera is moving back to Utah, so I'm sure our paths will cross again. So, as we say in the Air Force, this is not a "goodbye", but a "see ya later". 

The C-130 formation practice

Eva and I happened upon a C-130 launch and pulled over to watch. Ten aircraft were taking off in formation for a practice exercise.

It was pretty exciting seeing them all. Also, very loud and windy! 

We love being able to be so  "up close and personal" with all of these aircraft. Living on an air base, does have its perks. 

The Pied Piper

Ella has been dying to try her hand at acting, so we were very excited to see that the Missoula Children's Theater was coming to town. This group tours and puts an entire play on in one week. It's a great way to give kids a taste of what performing is all about.

The auditions were on Monday, and the show was the following Saturday. Here are the auditions, it was quite fun to watch, actually.

Ella was cast as the "sassy town kid". She had some lines and she really loved delivering them. 

Eva was cast as a rat. She was not excited about this, but she did a great job.

The 1 hour show was darling. They did such a great job for 1 week of rehearsals. 

I love how Eva is right in step with the teacher here. her dance training is paying off! 

Ella thoroughly loved the entire experience and is eager to find more opportunities to act. Eva liked it too, but said she prefers dance recitals.

 My beautiful rat. 

Making a bento box

 The library on base hosted a bento box activity, where the girls were able to assemble their own box.

Bento consists of very 'kawaii' foods, presented in an equally 'kawaii' way. 

It was a fun afternoon.