Oh my, I've been a stranger. Sorry about that! We've definitely been keeping busy since my last post. One of my favorite events during that time was our 4th of July cookout. We had a group of friends over to a fantastic spot at the castle for hamburgers, hot dogs, delicious sides, and games (cornhole, croquet, and ladder ball, anyone?). We wrapped up the evening by watching a fireworks show from our balcony. It was a seriously great time!

Another recent adventure was our Tadake Falls hike up north. The combination of hiking and river trekking led us to a beautiful waterfall. Walker dog was pretty hilarious. He started out the afternoon super excited and thrilled to be exploring nature. Poor little guy hit his breaking point after awhile (it was a bit more strenuous than we had imagined) and stopped to howl every time he had to get back in the water. He crashed so hard on the ride home!

As part of our long weekend we ventured off island to the incredibly gorgeous Keramas. This is the island chain we can see from our balcony. We've heard great things (it is a world famous dive/snorkel spot after all) but had never made the trip til now. Oh my, that water is the clearest I've ever seen. It was hands down the most gorgeous beach I've ever been to.

In other news, I took part in a golf boot camp a few weekends ago. It was an experience but it accomplished its mission in making me more interested in the game (resulting in one happy husband). As you may recall, I vowed a certain someone on our wedding day that I'd learn how to play golf with him.

Our little trip to the Keramas was the perfect getaway before we were all shut in our houses for awhile. Typhoon Neoguri hit us pretty hard! We were incredibly blessed here in Yomitan and didn't experience any real damage. In fact, we really enjoyed our day in and filled it with movies, card games and popcorn! Other friends and parts of the island weren't so lucky. There were power outages, fire alarms blaring at all hours of the night, and extensive flooding in many areas of Okinawa. At the moment there's another typhoon headed toward an orphanage that Koza partners with in the Philippines. Please pray that the storm eases up or turns and that damage there is minimal!

That's a glimpse into our lives as of late. We miss y'all a ton!