Yep, the States again!

I know, it is a bit ridiculous, but we went to the U.S. again! Well John had a conference to go to in Reno and I decided to tag along! As you know, we moved to Okinawa from the Reno area, so I had some friends there that I wanted to see, and of course, who would pass up an opportunity to be near Lake Tahoe?!

We flew into San Francisco and the first night had an amazing dinner in the city with John's family. I don't know how I married into such a tall family! I have heels on in this picture and yet am still so short!

We made our way to Reno the next day and stopped in Davis to have lunch with John's best friend Doug, his wife Kellie and their son Jackson. This is their first appearance on our blog, so I am going to pause for a moment so they can soak it in..........

Kellie, I hope it is everything you thought it would be!

Anyway, we had a great lunch and enjoyed some time catching up then after a trip to the nearby outlet mall, we were back in the car.

As we are nearing Reno, we stopped again in Lake Tahoe to barge in on John's cousin's family dinner! Tim, Kim and their two gorgeous girls were at a cute little restaurant where we snuck in to spend a little time with them. We were certainly entertained by the girls the entire time!

We later made it to Reno safely and crashed after our full day. The rest of the week I spent shopping while John attended meetings! I know, what a terrible life!
We also had a chance to meet up with some of our closest friends from Topgun that are still stationed out there. I don't know why, but we didn't take many pictures!

As you all know, my wonderful husband now has a slight obsession with scuba diving! He was determined to dive Lake Tahoe. I don't know how many of you have ever been there and touched the water but it is NEVER warm, especially in October! Once I jumped in on a warm August day and felt like it took my breath away for a minute because it was so cold! As soon as we got into town, John was on the phone with the local dive shop to find out how he could make this dive happen. He was able to schedule a time to get a certification for drysuit diving, which would allow him to dive in Tahoe. The landscape is quite different from the coral reefs we are used to in Okinawa. There were many rock formations and even a sunken forest.

He had such a blast! I think in his excitement, he forgot to get a picture of himself but here is his instructor and you can see how much more gear he has on with the drysuit!

Our last night in Reno we went to an amazing steakhouse called Charlie Palmer, at the hotel where we were staying. We had been a few years earlier on Valentine's Day and were looking forward to some great food. It certainly did not disappoint!
We ended our weekend with a stay at John's parent's lakehouse with more family and friends. We had such a great time, John practically had to drag me on the plane to come back to Japan! I think that will be the end of our trips for a while!

Please keep both John and I in your prayers as he heads to the desert soon. I will keep you guys updated as much as possible, but I will forewarn you that for a few months you may have to just settle with the adventures of Andrea!