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!

Okuma Beach Resort

Way up on the Northern part of Okinawa is a military resort called "Okuma". I have heard people ranting and raving about this place. It is sometimes hard to get is, so we got really lucky and were able to fit in one night there. They have cabins, campgrounds and condos for very reasonable prices and they are all very close to the water.

They also have just one private cabin (for couples only) with its own private beach. This is what we scored for the night! I was so excited! When you live on a little island a 30 minute drive seems to take forever, but it took almost 2 hours to make it to Okuma. It was certainly worth the trip!

The private cottage comes with the use of a golf cart, so we checked in, got our keys, then off we went to our secluded cottage. We were more than impressed.

It had it's own little locked gate and we could pull the golf cart up next to it.

The cabin was one room with a little bathroom and a TV. It had a porch with a fabulous view. No complaints here.

We had a nice little dinner at the restaurant on the grounds, then hung out on the front porch before heading to bed. In the morning all I wanted to do was this...

Here is a picture I took of John from the front porch so you could see out little beach area.

It was a short trip, but a much needed break from everything.

Since we were the furthest north we had ever been on the island, we decided to keep going up the Hedo Point, the northern most tip of the island.

I am certain these monuments mean something!

So now we are back home for a night before we head to the west coast! See you soon!

They just can't get enough!

I guess those people at the Military Spouse magazine love us because our picture showed up in the magazine again! I have to give quite a bit of credit to our photographer for the amazing pictures she took for us on that special day! And of course, having a good looking husband helps too!

I know I haven't written much lately. We have been so busy ever since we got back from our trip to Texas. We have not had much of an opportunity to get out and do anything fun, but last weekend we did have some friends come by for a visit. Our friends Adam and Becky who we knew from Topgun, are now stationed on the mainland Japan. They decided to make a quick weekend trip down here to Okinawa, so we got to spend some time with them.

If you recall, we got to hang out with them when we went to Tokyo last Christmas!

We wanted so bad to let them see some of the best places to snorkel on this island, but the weather was not cooperating. Luckily we found and area where we could all get in the water. The water is pretty chilly up where they are so I am glad they got to get in the ocean here!

My least favorite part of military life is having to say goodbye to those whom you are closest to. Our friends Nate and Megan have lived directly across the street from us since we moved here. They just PCS'd (Permanent Change of Station) to Florida, and we will miss them so much!

We will be headed back to the States yet again this coming weekend. I know it is a little ridiculous, but John has a conference to go to in Reno and since we just moved form there, I have quite a few friends still there. As a bonus, it is close to all of John's family so we will have a chance to see some of you west coast friends and family! We can't wait!

God Blessed Texas!

We went to Texas for my mom's wedding. It was a super short, but fun week. We got to see quite a few friends and lots of family. Here are a few pictures of our time there!
The first night we stayed in Fort Worth and saw some friend there. We all got together at Billy Bob's Texas (The World's Largest Honytonk!) Ha ha! John loves country dancing (and is actually quite good at it), so he has wanted to go here ever since we started dating.


His friend Rob flew out from California to see him for a few days.


The next day we drove to the bustling city of Wichita Falls! I was so excited to see my nephew Cade (and of course the rest of my family)!


Here are my dad, brothers and nephew right after some awesome BBQ! Oh how I missed Texas food!


Cracker Barrel has some awesome looking rocking chairs that my cousin Jess and I just had to get a picture in!


Wedding day was a fun/chaotic one, but I say we clean up quite nicely!


Ok, seriously, isn't Cade the cutest thing you have ever seen?!?!


Me and my dashingly handsome brothers.


John's parents also flew in for the festivities!




















These are my cousin Amanda's little girls, Rachel and Mackenzie.
My cousin Jess and her husband have a fairly new photography business and we got a chance to help them build their portfolio. Here are our favorites! Enjoy!

Family Friday

It has been a very busy July and August for the Franklin's. John spent a few weeks one country, came home for two whole days, then left again for another country for a month. He will come home at the end of the month, then 2 days later we will fly to Texas for a week for my mom's wedding. He has been working non-stop and I have taken on way too many things! I am working part-time (luckily), still going to school, and am now on the executive board for the Marine Officer's Spouses Club. It is quite intimidating being on the board with the wives of VERY high ranking Marines, includes 3 Generals' wives. But everyone seems very nice, it will definitely be an interesting experience! I am the editor of the newsletter and website administrator. You can check out my work at http://www.moscokinawa.org/.
Anyway, with all of that going on, I haven't had much time for the fun stuff that we usually post on here. So I am going to do a short Friday series: Family Friday, Friend Friday, and Flashback Friday. I sort of took my friend Jessica's Flashback Friday idea and ran with it! I hope you enjoy some of the pictures I have dug up! They are just in random order.
So here we go with some pictures of our fabulous family!
John and his dad having a little fun in the pool!

















My two younger brothers giving me some love before the wedding!















John's family braving the bitter cold while we watched John hard at work telling pilots where to drop bombs in the middle of the Nevada desert!.














All of the girls in John's family took a trip to L.A. to give his cousin a surprise baby shower! We had such a blast that weekend!

















John and me with my dad and step-mom right after his last flight at TOPGUN.













Me and my beautiful grandmother at the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial.

The Franklin/Haynes family at Dan and Kristin's wedding.

How cute are these Franklin's?!?!

My little brother Jacob's graduation with all the cousins on my mom's side.

One of my favorite pictures with my mom, aunt and cousins!

My grandparents at my wedding.

I miss you so much papa!








John and Patrick before Patrick was 6 inches taller than John!

Meeting my sweet nephew, Cade for the first time.












These guys are too cool!