Pool Day!

Today, Grace and I took off to the pool. We got there and it was closed for the Jazz & Salsa Festival that is going on tonight and tomorrow night (complete with fireworks!!). So we were a bit disappointed but there are other pools so we went to find another of our favorites. We got there and the pool was empty. So we started to head home but we passed by a brand new building that was behind the empty pool that said Aquatics Center. We checked it out and found a brand new pool! Grace had a great time. She jumped in the water, played basketball, kicked her feet, and floated in her pool float. Then we took off for the kiddie pool. It is shallow enough that she can walk around in it and climb up the side and go down the stairs all by herself. The lifeguards were great and didn't even make us get out when it should have been break time! We will definitely be going back many, many more times this summer!! And maybe we can take her Daddy along so we can get a few pictures of her.

Little Baker

We need to pull the camera out and capture some of the fun that Grace has every day. We haven't really done much other than the day to day things like checking the mail for packages, getting groceries, and going to the gym.

We did get new neighbors recently and we invited them over for dinner last Saturday. Dustin grilled shish kabobs which were delicious. They brought over a very yummy dip (I should get the recipe because it was seriously THAT good!) and a dessert!

We have also made a few yummy desserts and Grace is becoming such a good helper. We made a chocolate chip coffee cake to take to James and Kelly's last Friday. And then this week we made Ohio River bottom sludge cake. They were both very delicious. They even passed the Grace test! Grace got to help with each step. She poured the flour and helped measure the salt and baking soda. She got to stir everything together. But her favorite part was taste testing the batter throughout the process and licking the bowl (and spoon!). I have to watch her carefully or she would eat everything right out of the pan!

Parks

On Thursday we headed up to Oura Wan to spend a night in the cabins they have to celebrate our anniversary. The cabins turned out to be pretty nice and they had a little kitchenette and gas grill so we grilled some steak and had baked potatoes and corn on the cob. I had taken some dinner rolls but there was no oven in our cabin (they are only in the VIP cabins which were all booked up... we were surprised we were even able to get one night when we booked just 2 weeks out). We made it up there and Dustin and Grace went to play in the ocean while I unpacked our food and made a trip to the PX. Almost as soon as they got back from the beach it started to rain. After dinner the rain let up enough that we were able to take Grace to the playground. She had such a good time!!

At Bible study this last week some of the ladies were talking about the parks they like to visit. So I decided to go online to see if I could find better directions. While looking for the park the ladies were talking about I found 15 parks that I want to take Grace to sometime this summer. We decided to check a couple of them out today (they are only about 3 blocks from each other and there is another one just a few more blocks away but it was lunch time so that one will have to wait for another day).

This first park is called the Treehouse park.

The slide was Grace's favorite part! I think we need to start carrying a piece of cardboard in the car because most of the slides in Japan are not too fun for your behind. This one was made out of concrete!

Then we went to another park. I forgot the name of this one but they had swings and a little river to play in.

I think we are going to scope out a few more parks this next week!

Rainy Day

It has been another wet weekend here on Okinawa. It has pretty much drizzled rain since off and on. So not exactly ideal weather to hit up the pools or the beach. So after just running a couple errands yesterday we haven't had much to do. This afternoon we decided to head outside into the rain for a bit of wet weather fun!

Grace kept saying "water, water, water"

She got to touch the water while Mommy and Daddy kept an eye out for cars!

Splashing is so much fun!

She loves her umbrella and poncho!!

This morning we let her play in her swimming pool until she got cold and had to get out. Hopefully this rain will pass soon and it will warm up enough to take advantage of the beach!

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a pretty nice long weekend. Besides the fact that Grace wasn't feeling too well and it rained all weekend, it was pretty enjoyable! We didn't do much at all on Friday or Saturday. We did go to the library to get a few new books. The rain was probably 6 inches deep outside the car so we did our best to stay dry.

On Monday we met Maggie (and her family) at MonaKids Jungle. It is a huge indoor playground! It got pretty busy that day. I guess all the Americans had the same idea. Grace and Maggie both had a lot of fun! We had to follow Grace all around to keep her from getting ran over by the big kids.

There are so many tunnels that I would lose Dustin and Grace and have to look around for a few minutes before I spotted them!

I think the ball pit was probably Grace's favorite place!

She had it all to herself for the first 20 minutes we were there and that was probably the most fun she had all day!

We invited James, Kelly, Maggie, Lanie, and Kelly's mom Wendy over on Sunday night and Dustin grilled shish kabobs. After the girls all went to bed we played Ticket to Ride which is a really fun board game.

We bought Grace a bunk bed over the weekend since we found a really good deal on it. She won't use it until we move back to the states but we put the mattress down to make a bed for Maggie. Grace picked out a Dora sheet set at the BX and both the girls were so excited about it.

Best Friends!

Promotion!

Yesterday was Dustin's promotion to Captain.

He chose to have the ceremony by the Airplane Park on the base he works on.

And Grace got to promote him!

She held onto his "sticker" (new rank that velcros to his uniform) and when it was time we helped her pull the old rank off and then she put the new one on. She was too excited about putting the "sticker" on that she didn't want to take the old one off first!

Congratulations, Captain!