11 Months Already? (several weeks late)

Annelise, we had an amazing month together, going to water babies and running all over Misawa getting stuff done to prepare for our big trip back to the States. We started the month by sending Daddy off to Alaska, he spent a few weeks there and then went on to Florida. While Daddy was in Alaska, we helped Auntie Kim pack for her trip to Florida, and man was that tough! It took us alllll day to get her suitcases under the weight limit and then we had to help her mail a bunch of stuff. That was when we discovered your fear of packing tape, you cry every time you hear it being pulled off the roll. I don't really know where this fear came from, but we're dealing with it.

You got bucked off the couch this month, I'm still not sure how it happened but you ended up on the floor with a huge new bruise. You also conquered your first typhoon, which wasn't much of a typhoon at all since it went south of Misawa. We basically just got some wind and rain and lived to tell the tale.

Mommy spent a lot of time baking this month, our squadron sold cakes and other assorted fun stuff at the annual Misawa Air Fest. I made 40 cakes and then got to spend the day watching some really cool planes fly around. We walked to the air show with our Japanese neighbors, you loved that. The girls entertained you all the way from our house to the flight line, which is quite a trek. You got your first tattoo, an F-16 of course, and got to watch the Japanese Blue Impulse demo team and the USAF Thunderbirds! You're such a little Air Force baby, the sound of the jets didn't bother you a bit and you only got annoyed when you ran out of puffs to eat. After the air show, we got to see Mommy and Daddy's friend SLICK, who flies Thunderbird #2. We met SLICK and his family when we lived in New Mexico and I was very excited to get a picture of the two of you together.

We spent quite a bit of time cleaning up the house in anticipation of Babi and Grandaddy's impending trip to Misawa. They won't get here until you're almost a year old, but we had to do stuff far in advance because we took a quickly-planned trip to meet Daddy in Florida! Knowing that Daddy would be away from us for almost 2 months and that we now have access to a weekly flight to Seattle, we decided this was the perfect time for you to make another trans-Pacific flight. Preparation for this trip included cleaning up the house, throwing some clothes into a suitcase, and a lot of waiting around. We waited at the passenger terminal for several hours before finding out that we made it on the flight, then we spent a lot of time on planes in order to get to Florida. We flew from Misawa to Seattle, with a stop in Alaska, then we waited around in Seattle before we flew to Charlotte and then to Pensacola. Thankfully, Auntie Kim and Nana Peggy were happy to pick us up in Pensacola and entertain us until Daddy got off of work and drove over to retrieve us.

Once we finally got to our hotel, you had the best time playing with Daddy. He is still your favorite person and you completely light up when he gets home from work. Since we got here, you have taken your first steps and it is amazing to see you discover your surroundings from this new perspective.

Auntie Kim and Nana Peggy babysat you on the 24th so Mommy and Daddy could go out for my birthday, you had a blast and we ate some really good steak. You're such a parrot and had a blast mimicking Papa Wade and playing with little Brayton.

My next post will be all about our time at Disney World with the family, we had a wonderful trip and made some great memories!! I can't believe you'll be a year old soon, the last year has just flown by.