For the Family.....

Smile

Seth is a creative, curious kid. He has the tendency to ask odd questions, often out of the blue. I'm used to it, I just answer and get on with life. I don't wonder where he gets any of it from anymore. It is just him. One of his out of nowhere questions was "Mom, have you ever heard of tomato soup?" Well, of course I told him. He then asked if it was sold over here. Again, yes, at the commissary. So, he asked me to buy some. I did. This is why he asked about it, and why he wanted some.

And he discovered he is a fan of tomato soup, so I have his approval to keep buying it.

Just a Little Different

One of the biggest reasons I wanted the boys to live in a foreign country was to get the appreciation and understanding that people in different countries do things differently.

There's my little front yard with it's nicely rounded trimmed trees.

Well, this is how they got that way. A man, in a bag, attached to a crane.

See? Things get done differently. Not right, not wrong, just different. :)

Well, Duh!

What is the Okinawan secret to a long life? The healing toilet seat cover, obviously!

Neglect and the First Star

I am a blog neglecter. There. I said it. The truth shall set you free, or rather me. But, either way, I hope you are in the mood to bear with me. I have a month and a half to get caught up on. I am hoping to get several posts up in the next week, before more new noteworthy stuff happens. :)

This was Garrett's first star at school. He was very proud! (His mommy and daddy were too)

Y'all Better Enter

I love A Year of Slow Cooking, and as of today, I love Stephanie O'Dea even more! Through her blog I learned about this giveaway of a $200 Best Buy giftcard. I have to say, those Samsung appliances look phenomenal too! That is one pretty refrigerator!

It's Like We Live on an Island

The kids and I were at the beach again this weekend. Jer is in the field. And I have realized we have all gone soft. Just having him gone for the past few days has been really weird. The kids complain about missing him, Garrett keeps thinking it's daddy every time the door opens. Yeah, we've gone soft, and it's a nice place to be.

Garrett at the sprayground,
moving in...

getting closer....

and too close!

Garrett discovered dinosaur's teeth. Unfortunately, he's giving you a side view. My little anthropologist.

The tide was out, but not super low like last time we were at this beach. Too bad last time I had forgotten the camera. But we did see starfish and sea cucumbers.

There are 3 starfish in this picture, one is just flipped over in the moving water.

And we found the cutest hermit crab. We did not bring home any hermit crabs this time. We have proven ourselves to be hermit crab killers. :( Well, except the big one, he's still alive, guess he's extra hearty. :)

Happy 9th Birthday Seth!

Geez, where does the time go?? I can't believe how big all the boys are. Seth just turned 9, unbelievable. Since his birthday was on a Wednesday, we had a little schedule conflict with cross country. So, much to Seth's dismay, he opened presents and had cake a day early. Poor kid. He was just heartbroken.

Vaughn made this picture for Seth. Awww, so sweet, I know somewhere deep down he does love his brother. It will just be years before we see it again.

See? I told you, heartbroken to open presents the day before his actual birthday!

What kid doesn't love money??

Feeling a little misty and missing Aunt Pam after reading her poem......

The Ben 10 birthday cake he really wanted.
Hey, Yee, I thought about you. Commissary cake will always remind me of you. Wish you had been here to have some.

Not yet Seth.....

Okay now!

Getting a little help....

and loving every minute of it!

One of the presents he picked out for himself. This side has Seth in English and Kanji, the other side has a dragon on it.

After cross country, we headed to Chili's for dinner,
and a little birthday serenade. I think he likes it.

And just because I am sure you are all wondering.........






YES, Seth's hair can be put into a ponytail. We are so proud.
He really would have been a cute girl.

May the Force Be With You

Garrett attended his friend, Declan's, birthday party yesterday. It was Star Wars themed, and Declan's Mom and Dad did a great job. Lots of fun for a group of mostly 4 year old boys! They had to do a 'mission'. They followed clues to find their lightsabers, capes and masks, then had to defeat the big boys, and ultimately Darth Vader. Declan's mom made the capes, she is so creative. He was wearing it after school today, and I have a feeling I know what he is going to want to take to school for show and share this week.

Beach!

We finally ventured north to Camp Schwab. Camp Schwab is where Jerry was when Vaughn was born. He showed us the barracks he lived in, and most of the base remains the same as it was almost 13 years ago. The beach there, Oura Wan, is very pretty. Unfortunately the weather was not. We had cautions for entering the water due to a super typhoon off the coast. So there was not a lot of playing the water. Jer and the boys were body surfing since some of waves coming in were pretty good. Garrett was very cautious, I tried holding him in the water, but he wasn't even having that. We explored the rocks at the end of the beach, saw lots of crabs, found a cave, and of course, had an injury. Poor Boo slipped and cut his hand, then he was out for the rest of the time we were there. Once he feels wronged, he's done. We found the T-Rex statue, in the previous post, on our drive up to Schwab. We are planning to go stay at one of the cabins there soon. Seems very nice and relaxing, like a piece of heaven to me!

My husband and my boys. Love.

This is what G thought of the rough surf.

Rocks at the end of the beach where we spent some time exploring.

Seth with the world's smallest octopus. Oh, okay, it is just a plant of some sort.

The cave underneath the rocks.

Daddy and two butts, hehehe.

Recent Stuff

We have had a lot going on recently. Back to school was a very crazy couple of weeks. Every year it is hard to get back into the routine. I am not a morning person, neither is Garrett. He has settled pretty well into getting ready and out the door to get to school on time, I still struggle! He is, thankfully, still loving preschool. The only problem we have had is trying to get him to talk, not yell, while at school. His poor teacher! He is the youngest of 4 boys, he yells, that's how he gets heard. We are working on it, and she said he is getting much better. I'm more surprised she doesn't comment on his OCD tendencies. That kid is going to be doing everything in multiples of 5.

Speaking of Mr. OCD, here is asking me to out more butter on his toast. I declined his request.

Steven in in cross country. He is getting better each week. Last week he actually dropped 2 minutes off his time. Go Ste!

Not a bad view for their run at one of the other schools in Yomitan.

Finish strong!

We discovered this on the side of the road. No, there is no sign, no amusement park nearby, no apparent reason for it to be there. It. Is. Just. There. So very Okinawa. Although Garrett thought it was really cool, he was still kind of unsure about getting close to it, even with Daddy.

Steven in his JROTC uniform. He looks so grown up. But, what is with that cover, dude? Can you even see where you are going? We'll work on it.

Who you callin' Laputa???

Dragon fruit, readily available here and inexpensive. Not overly tasty though. Kind of like a bland kiwi, and without the tartness of kiwi. Looks pretty though.

My new mission in life is to take pictures of all the funny names for cars here. This is the Friendee.

The Laputa. Good stuff.

A sign for the "International Festival Okinawa for Young Audience 2009", but the truly fun part of this is the little red guy with the toilet paper issue.

Another Year, Another First Day of School

Off to school the boys went one week ago. All bright and shiny and ready for a new school year. Yeah right, they were still groggy, but who isn't at 6:30 in the morning?


Seth was excited, but with all that hair he probably had idea where he was going.

My little freshman and 7th grader.

And Garrett. Hmmmm. He actually started the 31st of August too, but it took me until the 3rd to remember to take a picture. Poor little bugger. He is loving going and happy to stay. No tears or whining. Score one for Mommy. One little problem though, there was only one other child enrolled in the afternoon class. After one week of spending 2 of the 5 days without any other kids, he is switching to the morning class. Thank goodness kindergarten is starting and slots opened up in the morning.

Oh, and just so you don't think we are stranger than we really are, I took the picture on water play day, hence the swimsuit and water shoes. Although I am one to let the kids dress themselves, I would generally veto the choice of a swimsuit as school attire.