Best Buds

Grace got to spend a lot of time with Maggie this week!

On Tuesday we went to the park together. Grace is growing up so fast and becoming pretty independent. She loved running around the park!

{Grace playing peek-a-boo in the train}

{the girls sitting in the train together}

On Wednesday was the Dragon Boat race so they got to play together again that day. Thursday they played at the gym together. And on Friday night we went over to their house. It is always fun getting together for dinner and a game night and it had been way to long since we had done that. Since we would be putting Grace to bed while we were there I packed a new pair of pj's that I new Maggie had just got too. They enjoyed wearing matching strawberry jammies!

{aren't they just so cute?}

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!

Little Princesses

Yesterday morning Maggie came over to play. Grace always gets so excited when Maggie comes over! We played tea party (Maggie ALWAYS wants to play tea party as soon as she gets here), play dough (Grace thought it tasted yummy... maybe I should make play dough with them again?), read books, told riddles, and were little princesses!

I think Maggie liked the tiara a lot more than Grace did!

Goldfish, Games, Cherry Blossoms, and Packages

I am going to take a small break from blogging about our trip to share what we have been up this week (before I forget!). Check back for our afternoon in Napier!

On Wednesday I went to my weekly women's Bible study at the chapel and left Grace in the childcare which is provided. When I went to pick her up they told me how good she was (she doesn't like me to leave her and they have actually brought her to me once because she was so upset... she is getting MUCH better though!) and then they said she ate a lot of goldfish. She had never had goldfish before... I actually never even thought of goldfish for a snack. But they told me she loved them and cried when she had ate them all! So guess what she had for a snack yesterday? Yep! GOLDFISH!!

Yesterday we went with our friends Kelly and Maggie to a Cherry Blossom festival at a park in Naha. I think the cherry blossoms were much better this year than last!

{Pretty pink trees}

This was one of the best trees but you can't see much of it! This is also about the best picture we got of Grace and Maggie. As soon as one of them would look at the camera the other would look away.

We got to play on the little playground. Maggie had fun in the sand and Grace had fun following Maggie around!

{Looking at the water}

{just like a picture we have from last year}

{say CHEESE!}

{Sharing cherry blossoms that they picked up off the ground}

Grace also has a new game she likes to play. She tries to get her Daddy to chase her! Here is a video of her playing the other night... we played this for probably about 15 min!

Do you remember when I posted about a couple giveaways before our vacation? Well, I was checking my email one evening on the ship and saw that I had won one of them!!! And yesterday I got it in the mail! Allison makes some really cool little items from felt and she sent me this:

{picture taken from her store - 'Cause I Felt Like It}

Thanks Allison!!

Reaching New Milestones

Today Grace rode in the car facing the front for the very first time ever! We needed to take my van to get some things fixed so we could get the JCI done (we passed the inspection today!!!) so Dustin took it in and then I drove his car to pick him up and take him to work. I did not like how Grace's infant seat was in his car so I took her big car seat out of my van and put it in his car. It won't fit rear-facing unless the front seat is folded forward so I just put it facing forward since she is now over 1 year old. At first she thought it was pretty funny to be riding in her seat and looking up front. As we drove down our road she kept giggling! She is really growing up!!

{in her big girl car seat}

After we dropped Dustin off at work we went over to her friend Maggie's house to play before heading out to get pedicures. I kept telling Grace that when she learns to sit still she can get a pedicure too. Maggie does such a good job sitting still while they paint her toes. Today she chose a design with cows! I can't wait until Grace gets to go with and pick a design for her toes. It will probably be a lot more fun than having to sit on my lap for an hour and a half.

This afternoon we went outside to play and she learned a few new tricks!

{going down the slide all by herself}

{going down again and again!}

{and climbing UP the slide! She can do this with just a little bit of help, and she can get up the side that has the climbing wall}

{and she likes to JUMP, JUMP, JUMP!}

She has also told me "it's stuck" and "help" today.

It has been such a fun day! Right now Dustin is out picking up pizza and we are having a game night with James and Kelly. Grace is already tired since she did not take a much of a nap. She fell asleep on the way home from picking up my van and woke up as soon as we got home. Maybe she will last a little longer so she can show Maggie all of her new Christmas toys.

Little Monkey

We have a little monkey on our hands!! Not only does Grace eat a ton of bananas, she has also started to climb. Yesterday I left her playing at her toy table to walk in the kitchen and put her fridge phonics toy up and about a minute later my Mom walked into the living room and found her standing on the sofa. There was nothing in front of the sofa other than her toy puppy so we are thinking she must have carried it over and used it as a step stool (that was the toy she was playing with when I left).

Today was a busy day for her! We went to the Army Navy football game here (Army won!!!!!) and then afterwards we went to dinner with our friends. We went to a neat little pizza restaurant that had a beautiful ocean view. After dinner we went for a nice little walk and explored an underwater castle. Well, at dinner Grace was trying to climb onto the table. Then she was trying to climb the steps of the castle. She is too brave!!!

We decided to top of the night by visiting the Ferris Wheel at American Village. There is this huge ferris wheel that sits on top of a 3-story building and at night it is lit up with pretty lights. Grace LOVES looking at the ferris wheel so we decided to ride it. It was a 15 min. ride and it went really, really high. We were a little nervous that she would get too fidgety sitting there but she didn't at all until about the last 2 minutes. She really LOVED the ride!! I think we may have to go back again sometime :-)

Happy Halloween!

We went to a Trunk-or-Treat tonight and met up with our friends James, Kelly, & Maggie. I think we all had a good time and the girls really enjoyed running around in all the grass!

Tomorrow night we are taking Grace to trick-or-treat on-base. Hopefully she will share some of her candy with her Mommy and Daddy :-)

This is the only picture I have of the back of her costume.

She really enjoys playing in the grass

I think we are going to have to try and go out early tomorrow to take some pictures in the daylight because none of the ones from tonight turned out very good.

But here is our little ladybug!

Best Buds holding hands! Grace loves all of Maggie's curls.

Party Planning!!

The reason we wanted to visit the Zoo this weekend was to check out their party facilities. We decided we would have Grace's First Birthday Party at the Zoo! We booked it for the Saturday after her birthday and then after we got home we realized that it was the same day as the Army/Navy game so we called and changed it to the week before. They have a covered pavilion with picnic tables right next to all of the rides (train, carousel, go-karts). I am so excited! We have already started making plans. As soon as I told my Mom about our idea (before we even knew for sure if we could actually use the zoo) she went on eBay and won a cake pan for the cake I want to make for Grace. I have been shopping for party bags, favors, cups, napkins, plates, decorations, etc. I pretty much know what I am going to do for all that so now I just need to order it all and figure out what I want to do for invitations. I have already planned some of our snacks - all animal themed! I can't believe she is going to be a year old in less than 3 months.

One day last week we took a walk to the library with our friends. This was our first time to visit this particular library and the children's sections was so much better than the library we have been to once before. I picked up a few books on Australia and New Zealand and Grace got to check out 3 books and 2 DVD's. She got a Veggie Tales and a Little Einsteins movie. She loved both of them! One of her favorite things right now is to stand up holding onto the coffee table and play with the remote control and watch a cartoon. She also likes to watch cartoons at snack time. She is so cute clapping and dancing along to the music!

Playdough FUN!

While my Mom and I were out shopping one day she found a box of free things at one of the souvenir stores. She, of course, found something for Grace. It was a rolling pin and some cookie cutters, which I thought would go well with the play kitchen she is getting for Christmas (SHHH!!).

Well, while Maggie was over here playing she informed us that it was not for the kitchen, it was for PLAYDOUGH! Sometimes it takes a 2 year old to figure this stuff out.

So... we made playdough!!

And then after dinner we got to PLAY with it!

Evidently, I need to go back to art class because the balloon I made looked like A SQUID.

How does a 2 year old know what a squid looks like and I don't??? Maybe I should check out a book at the library on marine life!

Blog worthy?

I really haven't had anything blog worthy lately. We have had a usual week with nothing really going on. But we have been staying busy! We skipped the gym on Friday so we could run errands that morning and have the afternoon to just hang out at home.

Monday was my birthday and we had dinner at Chili's with Kelly and Maggie. They had still not brought me my birthday dessert so when they brought the dessert Kelly ordered she pointed across the table and told the waitress it was my birthday. A few minutes later they show up with a kiddie milk shake and sang the birthday song to Grace. Yes, they thought it was Grace's birthday!

We went to the gym several times, went to the pool on Thursday and Saturday, ran errands and went grocery shopping. Grace is getting another tooth and she has been having a runny nose so that hasn't been fun.

This week is going to be pretty boring too. I have some things I need to get done like finish clearing out the guest room. My mom will be here NEXT week! And my dad will be here the week after that!

We are also trying to get a plan together for the travelling we want to do. I think we are going to try to see mainland Japan either the last weekend in August or sometime in September. Then we want to see Australia so we are thinking a cruise might be our best bet there. And then instead of going to Tokyo Disney and DisneySea right before Grace turns 2 we have decided to try to go to Hong Kong Disney. I heard it is great for younger kids!

Daddy's little fan

Grace doesn't mind being on her tummy as much now that she can scoot.... backwards!

Fun with Maggie!

Today we had a very special treat. Maggie came over to play!! We started the day off by meeting Kelly and Maggie at the pool and had a blast. After lunch Kelly brought Maggie over for a few hours. We dumped ALL the toys on the floor and played with the beach toys and the baby doll. But I think the most fun thing was our "Tea Party"

4th of July on Okinawa

We had a great weekend! We made some major progress on clearing out the guest bedroom so my parents will have a place to sleep while they are here NEXT month. We got our AFN dish and decoder so that we will have a FEW channels to watch on TV. I found someone who will install it for less than all the companies that advertise in the phonebook.

On the 4th we met up with our friends Kelly and Maggie and Kelly's parents who are visiting for pizza at Pizza Hut and some Starbucks then we headed to the flight line for America Fest. The weather was so much nicer than last year. Maybe that is partly because we waited until about 6:30 to go out there? Last year we went out around 2pm and we were miserable! We some lots of planes, listened to Gary Sinise and the LT Dan Band play, and then watched the fireworks display. Grace fell asleep in her stroller but we woke her up to watch the fireworks and I think she was glad we did. Her eyes were so big as she watched each one! Grace got to wear all 3 of her 4th of July outfits - 1 on Friday, 1 on Saturday, then the dress on Sunday!

We had a bit of a camera fiasco.The batteries were dying so I was only turning on the camera when I wanted a picture and then immediately turning it back off. Well, when it got time to take pictures of fireworks the memory card was full. I guess that is what I get for having over a month worth of videos on it. But here are some of the pictures we did get!

The girls - Me, Grace, Kelly, and Maggie

This is what Dustin works with

And does anybody recognize this?

It is the C-130 - what Papa used to fly!

All ready to go!

Fun and Busy day

Yesterday we went to Mona Kids Jungle for Maggie's 2nd birthday. It was a huge indoor jungle gym/playground. We had lots of fun! We are definitely going to have to go back when Grace is a little older and can run around. After playing for a while we sang Happy Birthday to Maggie and then we got to eat birthday cookie and ice cream. Grace even got to try a few bites of ice cream. She also got to try the Jello Jiggler's! Grace was worn out by the time we left and slept the entire way home.

The birthday girl! Maggie talked her mom, Kelly, into getting in the balls with her.

Grace in her party hat - She was looking at a balloon

Going down the roller slide!!

Grace loves anyone who will play with her. Here she is with Lisete.

At the bottom of the little slide taking everything in

Eating ICE CREAM!!!

After we got back home we had to get ready for the cookout at our house! All the officer's in Dustin's battery came over for hot dogs and hamburgers. Someone brought over some watermelon and Grace got to try that too! What a big day for Grace!!

While we were without internet...

Here are some pictures of what went on at the McGriff house this last week.

The movers came and packed up our house and then delivered everything to the new house all in one day. 263 boxes is what I think they said!

Grace was a little helper with all of the unpacking

Time to try out her pool on the big balcony

I think she likes it!

Grace's best friend Maggie came over for the evening and they got to take a ride in the wagon together.

They play really well together!! And Grace will be getting to play with Maggie a lot more now that I am finally able to join the co-op at the gym!