Our day in videos

Today Grace was waiting for her Daddy to come home. She was so excited to show him some paintings she had found on the refrigerator. After waiting, and waiting, and more waiting she decided to try to open the door. She told me it was locked! So if the door is locked how will Daddy come home? So she did the what anyone would do if the door was locked. She grabbed my keys and started trying to find one to unlock the door. She tried every single key and none of them work. I don't think realizes we don't even have a key to that particular lock!





And guess what Daddy had when he walked in the door? Grace got a package in the mail today! She loves to go check the mail, however her package came on the day we sent Daddy to the post office for us. Since Dustin is right across the street from the post office it is a lot more convenient for him to check the mail instead of us making a stop by there on our way to a different base. We opened it up and there were lots of goodies!!! She has such a great time discovering everything in the box.



And this one I just had to share. Grace was making her blocks fall as soon as she put one on top of the other and would say "Oh, my"
I thought it was so cute!! And then when she saw I had the camera out she wanted to watch the video. She loves to watch videos of herself more than she likes us to video her.

A trip to Nago

Yesterday we had plans to visit a park. Grace has been wanting to go to a park so bad! So I told her that we would wait for a pretty day when her Daddy was off work so he could have fun too. We were only planning on going to a park that is semi-close to the house but Dustin mentioned the Pineapple Park so we decided to venture out a bit further. I found a park up in Nago to check out so we decided to go! The drive to the park was really pretty.

{Dustin & Grace enjoying the scenic view}

{Driving to the park}

{another scenic view}

{City of Nago}

We found the park but, unfortunately, most of the things that were for kids Grace's age were blocked by tree branches that had fallen during the typhoon. I think the park was actually closed because there was a rope blocking off one side of the stairs and a cone with a note on it but since we couldn't read the note we went on to the park. There was a roll-y slide that Grace really enjoyed and then she wanted Dustin to climb up on this place structure with her.

After a little time at the park we decided to head back to the car to check out a little more of the area.

{view of Nago and the ocean and mountains}

It was almost lunch time so we decided to head to a barbecue place that we passed several times while my Mom was visiting. Johnny's Burgers and Ribs. It looked pretty American!

Dustin had a burger, I had tacos, and Grace had taco rice. It wasn't bad. I found it weird that they put ketchup on my tacos (I don't like ketchup on ANYTHING!), Dustin said the burger tasted similar to meatloaf, and Grace loved the taco rice!

Finally, we headed to our last destination - The Pineapple Park. I think this was our FIFTH time there! It is probably Dustin's favorite tourist attraction on island so we really wanted to go one more time before we leave here.

{Our last visit to the Pineapple Park}

{The Pineapple Cart}

{Grace wanted to be held but soon she was trying to drive!}

{rows and rows of pineapple}

{The word pineapple stands for pine and apple}

{The Pineapple Path}

And then, of course, we enjoyed sampling all of the pineapple treats - cookies, chocolates, jelly, juice, cake, and lots more!

"Thank You"

One of Grace's very favorite things to say is "thank you." She says it probably at least a hundred times a day. And the way she says it is just so cute! So tonight we got out the camera and recorded her saying thank you while she put away her toys.

Bowling

On Saturday we decided we needed to get out of the house. We had a coupon for 3 free games of bowling so we figured it was as good of time as any to use it. This was Grace's first time to bowl! She really had a good time. She got to pick out her ball and push it down the ramp. And she had fun cheering for everyone! Her final score was a whopping 66!

Little Chef

Dustin had the day off on Monday so we spent the morning running a few errands and then came home for Grace's nap. After she woke up we took her to Comprehensive Park so we could go for a nice walk and she would have an opportunity to play. After we got home we made a pizza together. Grace is such a good little chef.

Homemade Pizza

1 pkg. yeast

1 cup warm water

2 tbs. oil

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp. sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

Pizza Sauce

Cheese

Choice of Toppings

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir in oil, sugar, salt, and 1 1/2 cups flour. Gradually add the remaining cup of flour until you have a nice ball of dough. Place the dough on a floured surface and cover. Let rest for 10 minutes. Roll the dough out and place on a pan. Bake at 425 for 10-12 minutes or until the crust just starts to brown. Add your pizza toppings (we use pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese, cooked hamburger meat, black olives, and then more cheese). Bake for about 10 more minutes. Enjoy!

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!!

Tomorrow

Tomorrow is going to be a very long day. It has the potential to be really good or even really bad. We will be sleeping (or trying to sleep!) on a plane tomorrow night. We will be on the go during nap time. And bedtime. But, we are going to try and see the world's second tallest building - the Taipei 101!

{Grace going for a wagon ride}

Today we ran a couple of errands. We had to go and buy more baby wipes because I just realized that the baby wipes I had packed with the car seat about a month ago were no longer packed. I must have needed them and pulled them out. Oops!

{Grace now does this when we say "touch your head"}

Grace got a lot of outdoor time in today. She played on our balcony, then went downstairs, and then we walked the stairs to check out the views from each floor of our building. THEN we went to the park. And then we went to ANOTHER park! We probably spent at least 30 minutes at each of the parks and she got to swing and slide. She had a GREAT time! We had already packed the cameras so I didn't get any pictures. Then we topped it off with Pizza Hut since we have literally no food in the house. Hopefully the commissary won't be too busy during the super bowl :-)

The car is packed and we are ready to go. Just need to add a couple things in the morning. One being this little toy that Grace is so in love with!

{she would miss her puppy if we had to leave him behind. We finally decided tonight that he can be strapped to the front of the backpack}

And here are some videos so you all have something new to watch while we are gone.

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.

Christmas Fantasy at the Zoo

The rain finally stopped so we were able to go see the snow, lights, and fireworks at the zoo! It was a really fun experience and we all had a good time.

{ready to go!}

{bundled up and waiting in line to see SNOW!}

{We are in an Igloo!}

{and there was a snowman}

We saw that you could pay 500 Yen to ride down a slide and we decided it wasn't worth it. But when we saw it we thought it might be fun after all. They let Grace go free too!

{Weeeee!!}

After we saw the snow it was time to eat so we went up to the pavilion we used for Grace's birthday party. We had packed a meal for Grace since most of the food at this type of thing is either noodles or fried and we are not fans of either. We ended up getting some french fries for us and hot chocolate from the vending machine! While we were eating we spotted a big inflatable Elmo and thought Dustin could win it for Grace. I am confident he would have won if we had more clear of instructions. We thought you had to throw the ball and hit the numbers and get 3 in a row. Turns out you had to throw the ball hard enough to knock the number out of the frame they were in. We didn't find this out until after he had hit a number and didn't have enough balls left for a bingo. Oh, well. Grace ended up with an inflatable wand instead!

When it got dark they lit up the entire park in Christmas lights. It was so pretty!! The pictures are not very good but you can somewhat tell what we saw.

Then we started making our way back to the entrance so we could watch the laser light show from there and then make a quick exit. Grace thoroughly enjoyed the laser lights! She was clapping and dancing to the music!

{watching the light show}

{on Daddy's shoulders}

We have taken several videos the last few days and I finally moved them to the computer so I am going to share a few.

The first 4 are from the zoo!

{checking out the snow}

{the little sled ride}

{still the King of Pop in Japan}

{this is very bad quality but I think you can get a little idea of what it like here!}

Grace had a wonderful Christmas morning! She got a new kitchen from Santa Claus and food, pots & pans, and a baking set from Mommy and Daddy. She got a lot of other things too - way too many to name them all!

{Grace playing with her new kitchen from Santa on Christmas morning}

Christmas Eve was a gorgeous day! Dustin fixed the wagon (a screw had came out) and took Grace for a ride on our balcony.

{going for a ride}

Slowing down

We have been a little too busy lately. So today we decided to stay home until after Grace's nap and then we were back home for dinner! We will probably do the same tomorrow. Grace has been getting up early and has been having some late nights (due to cutting a new tooth, 5 shots on Friday, she just got over a cold, and last night we went to the ferris wheel and didn't make it home until about 30 min after bedtime) so tonight we stayed home and I put her to bed early! Hopefully she will catch up on the sleep she has been losing lately.

So today during our little outing we went to see Daddy at work (he has staff duty) and then we went to the craft store to pick up the pagoda I made a few weeks ago. I was very pleased with how well my pagoda turned out. I think tomorrow I may try to find a light to put in it! And then we walked to the BX. We were shopping and Grace just wanted to get down and play. She took off walking all over the clothing department and playing peek-a-boo around the racks of clothes. She is just too cute!

This next week we will be heading to the airport twice. My mom is flying back home and we have friends going on vacation. It looks like we will be spending this Christmas just the 3 of us since all of our friends are going to be gone.

I will leave you with some pictures (in reverse order!) from our busy Saturday.

{underwater castle}

{hard to get a good picture with 2 girls who just want to run and play!}

{Go Army, Beat Navy!!}

{sporting her Army shirt I made}

{ready for the game}

And here are 2 videos from our ferris wheel ride. This was what Grace did about 13 out of the 15 minutes!

More pictures and some videos!!!

I just posted some of the pictures from Grace's birthday and studio pictures.

You can either scroll down or click HERE to find that post.

You do not want to miss the cute pictures we got from Amanda's studio

And now for more pictures (and some videos!)...

These are the pictures from Grace's little party at home on her actual birthday. I think she had a very wonderful day!

{she loves her baby}

{she learned how to climb up on the sofa... today she didn't even have the boxes and somehow managed to get up there}

{we had hidden something up there and she really wanted it!}

to see more pictures from her party at home click HERE

{she loved the card that Grandma Phyllis sent! She would open it, close it, open it again and then dance to the music. I pulled out the camera after she had been playing with it for about 5 min. but I was too late to get it on tape but I thought this was pretty cute anyways}

{we got her a baby doll for her birthday. She loves it! She was feeding her baby and then sharing the bottle with herself}

{Here she is with her 3rd birthday cake}

Tomorrow

Tomorrow Grace will be 1.

Where did the time go? Last year at this time we were waiting on her arrival and now she is walking and talking and making messes! It is amazing watching her grow up and learning new things. She is learning how to tell us exactly what she wants and her babbling is starting to turn into words!

Here are a couple videos taken this week

learning to paint - I think she enjoyed rubbing the paint brush on her face the most!

She is walking all on her own now!!

Getting ready for CHRISTmas!

On Thursday we had a great Thanksgiving with friends! Grace started eating table food just in time to enjoy a big feast. She has ate her fair share of the pumpkin pie!

{the food almost didn't fit on the table there was so much... but it was all so yummy!}

{best buds - Grace & Maggie}

{they played together all day long}

Friday we spent the most part of the day putting up our Christmas decorations.

{Grace wore her Santa hat and helped decorate the window}

{She really liked touching the stickers!}

While Grace was napping we decorated the tree and started putting lights up outside. The look on her face when she saw the tree all decorated and the stockings hanging up was priceless! She kept pointing and saying "Ooooh! Ooooh!"

{She loves to play with her stocking}

{Mommy said that Santa Claus is going to fill this up with goodies!!}

Saturday we decided to go shopping and finished up our Christmas shopping! We also bought some Christmas candy, an Advent calendar for Grace, and another Precious Moment Christmas figurine.

{Daddy thought I would like this... he was right!}

{Look how messy I am}

And then that evening we went to the Christmas lighting at the hospital. They had booths set up inside where children could decorate cookies, make reindeer puppets out of paper sacks, and make reindeer food. Grace was a little to young for all of the activities but she did get to pick out a new movie! She got a Bear in the Big Blue House DVD and it was FREE. They were also giving out free hot dogs, chili, and cookies.

{The hospital all lit up}

{almost a year ago we were at this same spot taking Grace home!}

Santa also made his grand entrance on a firetruck! Grace really enjoyed watching the lights on the firetruck and watching Santa walk in. We were the second people in line to sit on Santa's lap!

{I think maybe Grace was thinking we should not have even been in line to sit in Santa's lap}

After we recovered from seeing Santa we went back outside where we saw SNOW! Well, not really but it looked like snow from a distance. They had set up a foam machine that blew soap suds out so we went to play in that.

{This is much better than seeing Santa Claus}

Then it was time to go home and go to bed. This morning Grace woke up ready to play. After playing with her toys for a while we went to look at the tree again. She enjoys taking off the ornaments and looking at them and then trying to put them back on. We made sure that all of the ornaments around the bottom were safe for her to play with, which is a good thing since she broke one already!

{how was this on there?}

Now we are getting ready to go to a barbecue at the beach and then tonight we are going to the airport to pick up my Mom who is flying out to celebrate Grace's birthday (and to make the cake!!).

And now, what you have all been waiting for..... some videos!!!!

{at the park - November 11, 2009}

{this is pretty much an everyday occurrence}

{books are one of Grace's favorite things}

{pickle, anyone?}

{trying out her big girl cup}