Best of Hawaii!

Best Beach: Pounders Beach. (The waves bounced off the rocks and sent a cool sideways wave to catch with the Boogie Board.)Best Pediatric Dentists: Us (Clockwise from left: Me, Steve, Chad, Dr. Kane (our director), Laura, Dr. Baens(faculty)) Best Food: Coconut Shrimp from Sugar Mill Shrimp Shack.

Best Dessert: Chocolate Souffle' from Roy's (To die for).Best Burger: Guacamole Burger from Cheeseburger in Paradise!

Best Restaurant: Yard House in Waikiki (Kinda like a pub version of Cheesecake factory. Awesome Enchilada Stack.)Best Class at Conference: There was a conference?

Best Wildlife: Mr. Turtle (yes it was a boy, they have longer tails)Best Sound: The LOUD pounding surf outside our window each night!

Best Ride: The Red Convertible Mustang (Not good for loading in eight pieces of luggage.)

Best Drive: The Tantalus Loop above Honolulu. The guide book said it is best done in a convertible and we happened to be driving one so we went!Best Quote: "Where's the Turtle?" (Said next to the crowd of people standing at the red rope surrounding the giant sea turtle on the beach.)Best Fruit: Pineapple + Pineapple + Pineapple + Pineapple = Canker Sores X 6/Owwwwe (and the fresh Mango and Guava and Papaya and Sugar Cane and Coconut, all from the fruit stand on the side of the road. They also had yummy fried bananas.)

Best Woman: EMBest Drink: Pina Colada

Best Shaved Ice: Anything with Sweetened Condensed Milk from Matsumotos!Best View: Atop Diamond Head. Nice job Em for making it up there!!!!!Prettiest Flower: Plumeria. It smells sooo good.Best Looking Girls: Laura Melissa Em and Diane. (What lucky men we are!)Most Romantic Moment: Our walk at sunset.

The Truth About Em

Why did I marry Em you may wonder? Well it is obvious so you may not have such a ridiculous question. Was her great ability to find the best bargains? Or was it the great way she does awesome accents? Maybe because she has a great vocabulary. Her looks? (well duh! but that's not where we are going.) Or perhaps it is her great love of literature.


NOPE

...It is because (careful it may get sappy) she is a great nurturer. Yes one who nurtures. I observed her during our long 2 month courtship and even longer 2.5 month engagement as she played, cared for, loved, helped, etc her nieces and nephews. She was great and I knew she would be a great mother.

CASE IN POINT

We were both riding the monorail back to the Haneda Airport in Tokyo after walking around the imperial gardens like zombies, exhausted after our flight from Honolulu. Sitting across from us was a cute little Japanese boy. After riding for a little while he began to fall asleep, head bob and all.
His mother next to him didn't do anything! This really bothered Em and she began stirring. I expected her to come up with some Japanese phrase to tell the Mom to put an arm around the poor little tyke and give him a little comfort and love. (Incidentally there was another kid behind us and he began falling asleep too). I too could barely restrain myself from reaching out and putting the ladies arm around the poor kid or putting my own around him. Its a good thing we didn't do anything because as we arrived at the Airport stop, we saw a different lady come over and wake up child number 2 and then pick up boy number 1. She also had a third child in a stroller. (Sorry innocent Lady on train who was incorrectly judged, just make sure you do take good care of your own kids...if you have kids...if you feel that's the right thing for you...!) So Em had me hop up and help get the little girl in the stroller off the train for her. Then Em helped push the stroller. The girl didn't like Em so she let the mom push and Em carried the sleeping boy while I helped the older boy drag a small suitcase. Em said the whole exhausting jaunt into Tokyo was worth it to get to hold the sweet little guy. I think she REALLY missed our kids!!! She is the greatest mom with the biggest heart for her kids!












*Oddly enough it was a Japanese couple who took that picture of us at the top. =)
*Sorry Google Reader people who got the accidentally published version of this blog. It was some weird keyboard shortcut error.

Hirosaki Sakura Matsuri (Cherry Blossom Festival)

These are my favorite of the 300 Pictures we took last Tuesday. I couldn't believe how beautiful it was! Every where I turned was another perfect shot for a picture. We had a great time, especially since we had our good friends with us.

The cherry blossoms begin blossoming in southern Japan in late March/April and ends up by us in late April early May. One of the most famous festivals is in Hirosaki, about 2 hours west from Misawa.

Here's a little wiki info for you:

The cherry blossom also known as Sakura (Japanese kanji : 桜 or 櫻; hiragana: さくら) in Japanese. In English, the word "sakura" is equivalent to the Japanese flowering cherry. In China the cherry blossom symbolizes feminine beauty, the feminine principle, or love in the language of herbs. In Japan cherry blossoms also symbolize clouds due to their nature of blooming en masse, besides being an enduring metaphor for the ephemeral nature of life, an aspect of Japanese cultural tradition that is often associated with Buddhistic influence. The transience of the blossoms, the extreme beauty and quick death, has often been associated with mortality; for this reason, cherry blossoms are richly symbolic, and have been utilized often in Japanese art, manga, anime, and film, as well as at musical performances for ambient effect.

Which picture is your fav?*Thank you Wikipedia!

Private Hours

Saturday Afternoon was filled with private hours. What is a private hour(PH) you might ask? Well, I too was ignorant of these facts until meeting Emily. A PH is when you take a child and got do something with them without others with you. You might deduce that it lasts for an hour, but you would be wrong and after 8.65 years you still would not understand why it is refered to as an hour if it lasts 3 hours! Well, that confusion aside I took both M and S on private hours Saturday.

M has been doing really well with his behavior chart at school lately so I took him to see "Inkheart" at the base theater. (We get most of the same movies but about 1 or 2 months later.) I even let him invite one of his best friends along. (Again, how can it be a PH if someone else is there too? Just go with it is the motto of this relationship!) It was a good movie and both of them enjoyed it.

Then S needed some alone time too, so I took him on a few errands with me (including to purchase a crate of apples from the "Apple Lady," a little produce store off-base. (btw-Japan apples are the BOMB and better than any apples heretofore tasted!) Then we ended by going to the Weasel's Den, the Airplane Hanger turned Kids play place on base. He had a great time climbing around throwing his paper airplane (made by mom) from all different heights. It was a blast doing some fun things with the older boys.

Unfortunaly, G got jealous and wanted to have a PH of his own in the ER on Sunday evening! He fell and hit a coffee table at our friends house just as we were finishing our cheesecake. IT was however fun to sit in the waiting room with him. Really it was! He was being so cute. I brought a few of his trains and he was have a fun time with them. Then he started to get a tired and I think he was saying he wanted mom. So I went over and sat by him and he put his head on me for about 4 seconds and then got up and went over to where I was sitting and brought me his trains, took my novel and went back and thumbed through my book while he expected me to play trains. It was quite commical. Then I got out a board book for him which he looked through and then traded for my book again and so that I could look at his book. Again, cute and funny. He didn't like it when I had to wash his wound in the sink and then hold his laceration together while the ER Doc super glued it. But he's all better now and he got his private hour with me, which was actually Private and took 1 hour. Go figure!

(actually occured/written in March, but didn't publish at the right time...Sorry)

Dental Answers

Here are some answers to some of your questions.

Baby Teeth vs Yellow Adult Teeth

I have always told people it is because the adult tooth has more dentin than the baby tooth. Dentin is yellow and thus shows through the translucent enamel as yellow. It could also be a combination of that and the orientation of the enamel refracting light differently since the enamel is oriented differently in the two types of teeth. Anyway, it is normal and fine and dandy. White teeth are not normal.

Baby Tooth Spacing

In the baby teeth it is good to have spacing. It they are touching then he will most likely need braces or have crowded/crooked teeth. It does depend at how much space/lack thereof there is. IF there is extra space they should be fine. If there is no extra space/all touching then braces are a maybe. If they are already crowded/crooked then braces a definite.

As far as cleaning them: brush twice a day and floss. All the pediatric dentists here on base recommend to use the Reach Access Flosser. It's design makes it really easy to use on kids.
Floss: Before or After?

It doesn't really matter if you floss before or after brushing. If I had to pick I'd go with before, this way the brush carries away the stuff you've flossed off your teeth. The main thing is to floss!

If I missed anyone's questions let me know and I'll add them. Sorry for the delay, I was away on sabbatical.

Time Line

So here is the photographic time line of the past few days. Friday was a beautiful day and then Saturday was really cold and windy. Sunday morning turned very rainy, then I looked out the window Sunday afternoon and saw big snowflakes coming down. Wow! April Showers...how about April Snow Flurries!

ThursdayFriday
SundayAnd here is a bonus shot at the Misawa Shinto Shrine. I've been waiting all winter to go get a shot of this but kept putting it off..til April!

Weather

Today is April 26th and IT IS SNOWING!!!!!!

oh..and we had an earthquake last night!

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2009fwat.php

YES we are fine, thank you for your concern...again.

-Funnyily. We had recently watched an episode of Life, where there was an earthquake in LA and the Main guy, Cruz, was wondering why in an earthquake does everyone ask, "Did you feel that?"
Then last night, the first thing I said to Em was "Do you feel that?"

Well, have a nice day!

MCP Actions

I am entering this photo in the MCP Actions/Color Inc. Win a Gallery Wrap Canvas Photo Contest at http://mcpactions.com/blog. I certify that I took this photo and give both parties permission to use this photograph on their blogs/sites.

Spring Time

Here is a little taste of Japan as Spring emerges. Cherry Blossoms are a big deal hear and they are beautiful. We are going to a Cherry Blossom Festival next week. I took these this evening on the way to Max's piano lesson. The view is of the center of base, where we have a huge traffic circle. The water towers in the background is where we live. (The flag polls usually have an American and a Japanese flag flying together, but for some reason, the day I decide to get my camera back out, they were not up!)

PT-That's for Me

PT stands for Physical Training. The Air Force is real big on being "FIT TO FIGHT." Each year we have to take a physical fitness test (PFT). Historically the testing has been done by one's own squadron (for me the dental clinic is the squadron). Recently the AF has turned the testing over to the HAWC (Health and Wellness Center). This should be a good thing since it becomes more standardized as well as eliminates any favoritism, i.e. letting your friend get away with a pansy push-up rather than a manly one. The only down side to this is there are LOTS of people failing their tests. What is the big deal? It majorly affects one's ability to increase in rank, especially for the enlisted. Also if you keep failing you will be kicked out of the Air Force. Hmmm?

Well what does the PFT consist of? Well, the score is determined by height, waist circumference, 1.5 mile run, # push-ups in 1 minute, and #of sit-ups in 1 minute. Most of the points come from the run. (We even get offered a day off if we get a 100%!) (I'll never get that day off =() Why do I bother blogging about this? I'm not sure since no one will read it! But I have 2 reasons: #1 to give you all another glimpse into the AF and #2 Because I just took a practice PFT on Friday. I actually did really well. I felt great during my run and I attribute it to my increase in healthy eating, since I haven't been running a lot lately. Thanks Merrill! I was able to sustain a faster pace longer without feeling as fatigued. It was very nice. Maybe if I keep it up I will get that day off!

BTW read the previous posts cause it looks like no one read them!

Reenlist

I got to do my first real act as an officer the other day. My dental tech (Air Force for Dental Assistant) was reenlisting and I got to administer the oath of enlistment to her. It was kinda cool actually.
Here is the oath:

I______do solemnly swear That I will support and defend The constitution of the United States Against all enemies, foreign and domestic; That I will bear true faith An allegiance to the same; An that I will obey the orders Of the President of the United States And the orders of the officers appointed over me According to the regulations And the Uniform Code of Military Justice, So help me God.

I'm Awake!

It is only 5:42 pm at home, but it is 3:43 am in Dallas. Unfortunately, I am in Dallas! No I don't need a good night/afternoon rest before crushing the Oral Board Exam for Pediatric Dentistry. Of course not. Well, gotta go toss and turn. Or maybe I'll go down the hall and see if Matt is awake yet!

Notes From Primary

Here are a few of the notes I took during primary (these are 5-6 year olds):

-God told Joseph to take his family to Egypt because King Herald would kill Jesus.

-One girl (C) had a stuffed animal named Zola ad she was sick and then got the priesthood.

-E said, "I didn't laugh cause I love the scriptures."

-And as we talked about things to eat and drink. N said It means no drags (accompanied by a sweeping motion with her fingers). I asked "What does that mean?" N replied "It means no smoking."

-Me: Jesus Made everything.
Child L: He even made "Bob the Builder" the movie!

National Children's Dental Health Month

My popular demand I have decided to offer some free dental advice for your kids. Here are some of the common questions I get from parents.When should my child first see the dentist?

The recommended time is within 6 months of the first tooth erupting or by 1 year old.
Why so early?

So we can keep you from making any early mistakes. J/K Too make sure the parents know how to care for the teeth, diet habits, catch any problems early, basically to educate the parents and to acclimate the children to the happy world of dentistry. (Imagine how much easier it would be to fix a cavity on a 3 year old who knows you and has already been to the office 3 or 4 times for happy things, rather than have to do a filling at the first visit. Much easier.)
When should I start flossing my child's teeth?

Now! Well, as soon as he has two teeth that are touching and the brush cannot go in between. I recommend the Reach Access Flosser. It's great! And yes you should floss them. And yes you should be brushing their teeth for them too, believe me you are only fooling yourself if you thing your kids are brushing adequately. (I'm sure some of them are but most are not.)
Fluoride?

Yes fluoride is safe and I support water fluoridation.

And one last question because I'm getting really angry with the dell tech support guy named Mithun! I hate talking to these people! (My blogging seems to keep being interrupted by my anger issues these days.)

Cavities is not as much based on how much candy/sugar/carbohydrates you/the child eats, rather on the frequency. Example, drinking a coke all at once is not too damaging to the tooth, but the same amount spread throughout the day will have a much more damaging effect on the teeth. So try to control and limit the amount of times the kids are snacking and drinking between meals and only let them/you drink water between meals.

Well, if you have any dental questions, let me have 'em!

Sammy oh Sammy

I had a great blog planned:

It starts with how cute Sam was on Sunday. He wanted to wear some Khaki shorts and a vest with his blue shirt to church. We convinced him he would be too cold and for once he actually listened without a tantrum. Then at night he came to me with some clothes in hand asking if he could wear them as PJs. I assented without much investigation or thought. This is the result:

He looked so cute and silly. I hadn't realized he had a sweater vest in hand.

Then tonight M. was at piano and Sam had been good during dinner and helped me get the little boy into bed, so I took him down stairs to make JELLO pudding. IT was a fun activity together.

Then we ate it in the family room as a "picnic." A great evening with my boy!

BUT the post in my mind was a little ruined and turned out like this:

Sam wouldn't go to bed tonight and lost his "cuddle privilege" and fell a sleep SCREAMING/SHRIEKING while I held the door shut for 20 minutes! So I don't feel like blogging tonight.

Funniest Thing I've Read........since Em's last post

Em just forwarded this to me from her Google Reader. My brother Dave and I, especially him, would make fun of these non-parable parables shared in sacrament meeting. (Especially him, did I say that already. He can be a little irreverent at times). This one had me loling.

A Parable

via My Religious Blog by Gatsby on 2/21/09

Do you like parables? I like parables. I don’t always remember all of the details of the story - which is fine because often when we hear parables in talks they are different each time anyway. As long as we remember the lessons being taught, which is really the point of the parable after all, isn’t it? So anyway today I thought I would share with you one of my favorite parables in case you want to print it out and share it in sacrament meeting:

One time there was a guy in the mountains. Or maybe it was a young man. Like an Indian kid or maybe it was a lady. Anyway, they were outside and in a rural setting. Maybe in a mountain or by a river. Or was it at a park in the city?

The point is she was outside and heard a little voice say “hello” and he looked around and saw lizard – or it could have been a snake. Or a rat. But either way, it had developed human speech and learned a rudimentary form of English. And it said “pick me up” and the Indian boy was like “no, you are a rattle snake. You will bite me if I pick you up” Or maybe it was a scorpion and the kid said, “you will sting me…” Or maybe it was an eradiated rock.

But the rat was like “no, I won’t. I am a nice scorpion, now give me a kiss and I will grant you three wishes” and the girl didn’t want to, but the lizard convinced her to eventually, so the man put it in his pocket and carried it down the rocky cliff and when he got to the bottom of the cave, she took the sharp toothed marsupial out of her knapsack and it immediately sunk its teeth into her fleshy calf muscles.

So the old lady looks down at the badger and says “you said you weren’t going to shoot me.” And the magic rock says “look Poindexter, you knew what I was when you picked me up” And the boy was like “well what about my three wishes?” and the rat said “nah. I changed my mind about that” and then it slithered off and left Brer Bear to bleed to death.

The moral of this story is that sometimes sin can feel good - in fact depending on what sin we are talking about, sometimes it can feel REALLY good. But in the end, you will go to hell if you are nice to the little jungle creatures.

Also I think the boy’s last words were “it mattered to that one” because the poison had reached his brain and he had become delusional.

Prayer

Yesterday, Sam got a scratch on his big toe from the sharp metal corner at the bottom of the screen door. It laid him up for a good 2 or 3 hours. Again this morning it produced some good screaming as he changed the band-aid.

After church today we were eating lunch and he said, "Jesus can fix my toe." (This was said with a I know it all inflexion in his voice.)

Em told him, "That's right. Do you want to say a prayer and ask him?"

"Yeah," he replied and added as he hurried away to his play area under the stairs, "I'll go somewhere where there is peace and quiet."

A minute later I heard him shouting Jesus' name a few times. Then he came back and muttered, "I called him but he didn't come."

Of course we then discussed how it all works and that He can answer our prayers in different ways then we expect, but it was quite adorable to witness the sweet faith of this child. Its nice to see that he is learning something at church. Thank you Brother and Sister Haltli!

Em's Only Birthday Wish

I thought I would publicly announce that it is not easy being a Stay At Home Mother. (This is what she has been waiting to hear for 7 years and two months.) I tried it for the past week and a half and it turns out it is hard. I started out strong. I got the floor swept and mopped. Vacuumed the stairs and upstairs (down stairs had already been vacuumed after the poop terrorist attack). Had the kids on a good schedule, sent Max to school with a lunch everyday except the day they had whole wheat cheese pizza. Then I started running out of steam. Time slipped away more and more with out as much getting done. Motivation started to decline and my patience wained a bit. What I did learn, beyond it not being easy (However, Emily, I never did say it was, you just always think I think that!), is that it is very important and worth having my wonderful and beautiful wife staying with my kids. It takes a lot of self motivation and planning and it is easy to get into a depressed slump. They get gain so much from being with her. She is so filled with love for them and they get so much nurture therefrom. (I like that word)

Now I know many people are in many different circumstances and many people work for many different reasons (so no one get OFFENDED, OK!). Each day I walk past the Base's CDC, Child Development Center or daycare, 4 times. I often see the cute kids playing there after school or the workers taking the little babies/toddlers for walking in giant strollers or wagons and marvel at how sweet and cute the kiddies are. Then my heart sinks a bit when I see the parents drop them off early in the morning and pick them up late in the evening. I then am so thankful that we have been blessed to be able to have Em stay at home with our boys. She is the greatest SAHM ever and the best wife too!

Happy Birthday Sweetie!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*I'll still hold out that it is harder being a working SAHD. =)
**These are our good freinds Merrill and Janeen!

Its all about Packaging

The Japanese take great pride in their packaging and the price demonstrates it. They have great presentation in the stores for their apples, grapes...everything. We saw this lovely cantaloupe yesterday! Max was totally hooked, but I didn't cave. It was 1980 Yen. At the current rate of 88Yen to the $ that's $22.50!!!

Sleedin'

Stop me if I've posted this before...
The base has a really cool sledding hill. I guess its really a ski hill, but then it would be a lame ski hill. So I'll call it a really cool sledding hill. Its so much fun. Good pitch to the hill, great length for a long fast slide down the hill. Amazingly the boys haven't complained about walking up the hill, as I had expected, even when the hill was iced over and we kept slipping on the way up. The first time we went there I was pleasantly surprised to find they have the hill lite up at night. Yesterday we had the whole hill to ourselves. Sam is so funny, after being sprayed in the face by the powder a few times, he figured out if he laid down and tucked his face in he'd be fine. He looks like a little black ball flying down the hill, with no idea of where he is going.And of course there was the HC.