Busy Days

We have had such a busy week! I just transferred all of our pictures from the camera to the computer. So this first one is from last week but I thought I would share it anyways.

Last Monday Grace had to say goodbye to our mama-sans.
I don't quite think she understood that we wouldn't be picking them up this week like we have been doing every Monday for quite a while. They have been coming since Grace was just 5 weeks old so they have become her friends. Every week she would run to the door as soon as she was dressed so she could go pick up her friends. And lately she was so excited about coming home to play with her friends that she couldn't nap! Of course we enjoyed having a clean house. And they sure did a great job and cleaned things that I would never think to clean (who cleans the light fixtures EVERY WEEK?) We are really going to miss them!!

{Kuniko-san, Grace, and Jinko}

This last weekend was a 4-day, which when you are moving and trying to out-process it just means less time to get things done and more time in lodging. We had the final inspection at our house that morning. It was supposed to be earlier but our housing agency wanted to move it to Friday. That afternoon we transferred my van over and now we are down to 1 car. Dustin's car is sold and transferred but the guy who bought it is letting us drive it until we leave!

Saturday morning I went to breakfast with a friend and then to the second hand kimono sale that was going on. Dustin took Grace to get a few things done that morning and then they went to the sea wall and watched the waves in the ocean. After that they went to a park where Grace ended up splashing in the puddles! That evening we went to a friends house for dinner and games.

Sunday morning we decided to take a walk to the BX since it is practically just across the street. We started looking in the little souvenir shops and then ended up almost finishing up our Christmas shopping! That evening we had church and afterward we headed to American Village to ride the ferris wheel! The tug-of-war contest was going on that day down in Naha and we had thought about going but after a tough week with very little sleep for Grace last week we decided to stay in the hotel and rest Friday night instead of going to church then and skipping the tug-of-war. We had heard there would be fireworks to close off the festivities so we wanted to try and see them from the ferris wheel. We timed it just right and did 2 rides on the ferris wheel (almost 30 min!) but never saw any fireworks. But that is OK because the pretty lights on the ferris wheel are just as good as fireworks to Grace!

{We got a free "mini can" for doing 2 rides. Grace liked the grape Fanta}

{Glow sticks we got as prizes in our kids meal at Antony's Pizza - we got 3 slices of pizza and 3 drinks for $3.79 with our buy one combo meal get two kids meals free coupon}

{The Ferris Wheel all lit up like fireworks}

On Monday morning we headed to Torii beach to collect a little more sea glass (boy are we going to have some boxes to mail back!!). I want to get 2 clear vases (a small one that will fit inside the big one) and fill the space between them with sea glass. I think I will try to find some silk hibiscus or cherry blossom flowers to fill the vase and put it in our entry way. I have not been happy with the amount of blue, turquoise, and green sea glass I have so I had to go back. If we end up back at the beach I am sure I will try to find more :-)

{Tired of picking up sea glass and ready for a snack}

Yesterday evening we bought Grace an inflatable Pooh kite. She got to choose between Mickey, Pooh, and Elmo. She didn't like it when Dustin had the string and the kite went into the air. I think she thought the kite was being taken away from her. But she did enjoy holding on to the string!

Today was our last day at Bible study which was a bit sad. Some of the ladies I have known the entire time we have been here. We have some more errands to run this afternoon after Grace wakes up. And tonight we are going to Kiddie Disco at the O'Club. I heard they may even have a clown there!!! And tomorrow is going to be another busy day. I have my last doctor appointment here and we get our deposit back from housing. I am sure there are some other things Dustin will need to do. Friday is his final out for all of his military stuff here.
We are getting so close to Tokyo and Disney!!!

And my van will be waiting in my garage when we get home. My parents are picking it up this Friday!! So all the busy days equal exciting days as well!

Summer Fun!

Since I have not posted in a while I thought I would just post some pictures of Grace enjoying the warm weather. We play in the water almost every single day and she LOVES it!

She has a pool, a wagon, a slide, and a water table all on our balcony!

And sometimes we even make it to the big swimming pool!

Last weekend we went to the beach to celebrate Maggie's birthday. They had a bubble machine and Grace got to enjoy lots and lots of bubbles!

And she got to spend some time in the water. Someone found a BIG starfish and she got to touch it!

Beach Day!

We finally had nice weather on a weekend! So we took full advantage of the sunshine and went to the beach on Friday and Saturday.

Grace LOVES everything about the beach. She could play in the sand for hours. She even found a crab to chase!

And as much as she loves the sand, I think she enjoys being in the water more. She got to test out her new floaty!

The beach was crowded on Saturday. I guess everyone was so tired of all the rain we got last weekend and wanted to get out to the beach and enjoy the sunshine.

On Friday we went to the beach for some type of Army function. It was grill your own steak night at the little restaurant which is always good.

And, of course, we had all of our beach toys and a bathing suit for Grace so she that she could get wet.

Busy Week

I have been very bad about updating our blog and letting everyone know what is going on over here. I am sure there are some people out there who are a bit anxious about seeing new pictures of Grace. I have been really bad about remembering to take the camera with me!

I thought I would share this picture from last week. Grace has really been into her baby dolls lately. So much so that we ended up buying her a new smaller baby that she can carry with her places. The baby you can see in this picture gets drug around a little too much. The smaller baby is hiding in there somewhere too!

On Saturday I went to a baby shower for Kelly's new little girl that will be arriving sometime very soon. Since that was in the afternoon we decided to stick around the house that morning and Grace got an early nap so she could go shopping for a Mother's Day gift. It was a nice day so she enjoyed a little time out on the balcony that morning!

Dustin hung our Koi noborubi that we bought at the 100 Yen store. If you look closely you can see the carp streamers (koi) hanging on the balcony railing.

This week was Golden Week in Japan and yesterday was Kodomo-no-hi or Children's Day. We spent the morning in Naha at the Dragon Boat races.

The boats above are the Navy women's team (black boat), Army women's team (yellow), and the Marine women's team (green boat). The Army Women ended up coming in 2nd in their heat and the Army Men's team took 1st in their heat.

Grace had fun playing with Maggie. They like to give each other hugs!

After a picnic lunch of PB&J we went to check out the rest of the festival. Grace rode on the boat ride!

It was getting to be nap time and it was a pretty warm day so we decided it was time to head home. Grace slept the entire way and we were getting close to home and she was still asleep so we kept on driving so she could nap a little longer. We ended up driving to a Marine base and checking out the beach there. This is the first time Grace had been to that beach!

She loves to play in the sand! And she has had a thing for rocks lately. We met Dustin at his office last week to have dinner with him and she had a rock with her then. Some of the people he works with kept asking coming and asking her where her pet rock was. Needless to say, she found a few rocks on the beach!

On the way home we stopped to take pictures of the carp streamers across a river that we passed by. The bridge was lined with lots of the little one just like the one we have at home!

Sand Toys

Yesterday we had hoped to take Grace to the beach and let her test our her new floaty. However the weather did not cooperate so we just ended up putting on sweatshirts and letting her play in the sand. First we started off at the swing set and then let her go down the slide. After getting to the slide she decided that she wanted to run and play! Then she found the sand. She filled her sand bucket up by using her shovel. She covered her legs in sand then started to cover my toes in sand. After about an hour at the beach I walked over to the beach restaurant and ordered us a pizza.

And, as usual, we forgot our camera.

Catch Up

It has been almost a week since I have blogged so I have a bit of catching up to do. Last week was very uneventful and seemed to fly by. However we had a very busy weekend. We kept our friends James and Kelly's little girl Maggie who is 2 1/2. You have probably all seen pictures of her on here in the past because she is Grace's very best friend (and they are our very best friends too!). They wanted to have a little get-away to celebrate their anniversary before "Little Sister" makes her appearance next month so we agreed to keep Maggie for 2 nights!

Grace was SO excited to see Maggie on Friday evening. She was just finishing up dinner when Maggie got here and since we had the patio door open we could hear them and Grace decided she HAD to be done right then because Maggie was here. So they played and Maggie ate and then they played a little more before we put on our jammies and read a few bedtime stories.

Saturday morning we were up bright and early and they played some more.

Around 8:45 we left for the beach and the playground. We went to Araha beach, which we have not been to in about 2 years! They have a neat pirate ship that was fun to play on. It was a little scary too once you got to the top!

The girls enjoyed the little pirate ship (or as Maggie decided to call it "Sail Boat") a little more than the big one!

In the next two pictures you can see the BIG pirate ship! There was a zip-line on the other side that the girls got to swing on.

And then we went back to the "sail boat"

We let the girls walk down to the beach and play in the sand and get their feet wet. They, of course, loved it!

Then we decided that maybe it was time to go buy Grace a pool for this year. The one she had last year got a hole in the bottom and it is too small for her this year. So we had to find a place to clean off our feet so we could load up in my school bus and go buy a pool and ice cream making stuff.

We had carried Grace and Maggie up from the beach and so we put Maggie in the stroller since she is heavier and they were both barefoot. Then Grace wanted to ride! Maggie said it was uncomfortable so we ended up putting Maggie's shoes on so she could walk.

When we got home it was time to make homemade bread! The girls had a good time stirring the dough and Maggie is such a good helper in the kitchen. She poured in ALL of the ingredients until it was time for the flour and I let the stand mixer do the work.

But after it was all mixed up Grace and Maggie each got their own dough to knead and then we put it in a bowl to rise. While we waited for it to rise we all ate lunch. After lunch we put the bread in the pans. The girls each got to make their very own little loaf and then we made a dozen rolls and another loaf of bread.

While the girls napped we set up the new pool! They had to wait to get in so we could put hot water from the sink in it to warm it up.

Once they got in they stayed in for probably an hour! We had to finally make them get out because Grace was starting to shiver.

They had so much fun that we let them get back in the pool on Sunday morning! And it just so happened that I mistakenly bought 2 bathing suits that were matching when they were on clearance for $1 last year. They just so happened to fit Grace and Maggie this year!

After we were done swimming the girls played while Dustin and I made dinner. Dustin grilled and after dinner we made ice cream! James and Kelly called to talk to Maggie while we were making ice cream and she kept saying "we are making ice cream" over and over.

Sunday morning we let them swim again but spent the rest of the day at home. They got to watch Dora and eat their snack which they thought was pretty cool.

Maggie went home around 2:30 and then we ended up just going to the PX to get a cover for the pool and decided to just eat out so we wouldn't have to spend any more time in the kitchen. Between picking up the toys, cleaning the kitchen, making bread and ice cream plus several meals, all while entertaining two toddlers was exhausting. It definitely makes me want to sort through the toys and either get rid of some or hide some to rotate out... maybe both!

Grace enjoyed having Maggie over but I think she was glad to not have to share her Mommy and Daddy once Maggie went home!

Weekend Recap in Pictures

My parents are visiting so we have been doing a lot of touristy stuff. We still have a lot more planned for the upcoming 4-day weekend! Here is what we have been up to in pictures (in no particular order)

Overlooking Okinawa Peace Memorial Park

Torpedoes in front of the museum at Okinawa Peace Memorial Park

Beautiful blue water

A monument at Okinawa Peace Memorial Park

A beach on one of the outer islands

Dustin on a very small, uninhabited island

Jellyfish!!

At Nakagusuku Castle Ruins

An old, haunted hotel

Nakagusuku Castle Ruins, overlooking the Pacific Ocean

Nakagusuku Castle Ruins

Nakagusuku Castle Ruins

Nakagusuku Castle Ruins

Murasaki Mura

She spent a lot of time in her stroller

She wasn't too fond of the Shisa dogs

Katsuren Castle Ruins

Dustin in front of the Katsuren Castle Ruins