Mike heads off to tackle Mt Fuji

I'm getting the hang of this sleeping thing. I woke up at 5:30.

Mike has left with 8 or so of his church men's group members to climb the mountain. We have 4 days to run amok. Well, as amok as MaryBeth and I can run with Brock and Grace on our tail the whole time. Of course at this exact moment, MB and I are watching the David Letterman show. Gearing up for a day of craziness I tell you.

MB had asked me to pick up 3 copies of Marley and Me for her book club. I got a read in myself of it. Very amusing. A tale about the world's worst dog. When he gets to the part about Marley getting old, it sounds as if he is talking about Eva. Brought a tear to my eye.

Her book club meeting tomorrow night is over the Girl with a Pearl Earring which I've read, but MB told me I could not wing it, so I'm rereading to be thoroughly prepared. Grace and Brock have each gone off in different directions with other kids, so MB and I took the chance to check out the 100 yen store. So many things to purchase, so many things I can't imagine what they are.

Spent the afternoon hanging out before taking Grace to swimming lessons. There is a great churning and thrashing of water and limbs. All of the children appeared a wee bit spastic. The swimming pool is across the street from Mike's office. It may be too small to tell, but the sign on the right says Major Vaughn. MaryBeth planted the flowers. Isn't that sweet? That's love I tell you.

I don't think I've mentioned yet, in Japan military tv has no commercials. It's just ads telling people how to be good military personnel or telling about the fabulous people working at the BX. There are also little quizzes about countries. The game is to guess what country is being described before the end of the commercial. Brock is very good at this game, but I have a sense it is because he watches more tv than anyone else.

We went to dinner at a Mexican Restaurant on base. The marguarita was delicious, but the food was suspect. We looked out on the water (the base has a lake) and watched the sun set. Of course it only took the 1 drink to make me loopy. Thought about calling everybody and saying hi, but MaryBeth advised me that 4am wake-up calls are hardly ever taken well. Back at the house, the kids are out playing with the 8 million other children that live on base as MB and I watch the Colbert Report (If you haven't seen this, you should watch. I think it's on the Comedy Channel.)