A Few Random Pictures

I found that I had a few random pictures that I hadn't posted but want to. Several of them were taken in St. Louis, but with Eric coming home and moving, they never got posted.

Ethan and Papa--my dad has this great bike seat that sits on his crossbar and Ethan LOVED to go bike riding. The funny thing is, I remember sitting on the same seat when I was a kid. Ethan still always asks to go bike riding with Papa!

My dad was always coming up with new things to do with the kids. Here he is pulling them in Kailey's walker with his cane that he used to walk with while he had a broken foot. The kids loved it!

This is with the big turtle at Grant's Farm in St. Louis

Kailey feeding the baby goats at Grant's Farm

This is the view from the base--that island is called Monkey Island and there is a ferry you can ride out to it.

Kailey having fun!

We have been bowling a couple of times since we got here in Japan and Ethan just loves it and is pretty good. He has gotten his fair share of strikes and spares--he is almost better than I am!

Friendship Day!

A couple of weeks ago they had friendship day here on base. They open the base to the public and invited the Japanese people to come onto base and experience what the Navy was about and experience a little American culture. There were booths set up all over base by the different commands. My favorite was the NCIS booth--I just love that show. At each base they were selling things or food. Most of the food being sold was like typical American food--hot dogs, hamburgers, nachos, ribs, etc. They also had an area where they had tons of bounce houses you could buy tickets to go into, they had concerts going on, etc. We had a lot of fun and it was nice to get to know our Japanese neighbors better!

Ethan had so much fun in the bounce house that he did not want to get out!

Kailey in the bounce house

Who can resist this little face??

Ethan seems to get more face time on our blog so I decided to do a post about Kailey and plus I had these adorable pictures to put up. Kailey, Kailey, Kailey--where do I start??? Everyday I look at her little face and think "how did I get so lucky!" She has just the cutest personality, although she is starting to get a little bit stubborn. She is so happy, has the brightest little smiles and for the most part is so laid back and has the cutest chubby legs and arms! When we were living with my parents they were always saying that they couldn't believe how good she was. I have to admit I was a little bit miffed, I thought I was a good baby, but they said she was the best baby they had ever seen and she is! Kailey, stay just the way you are. Your mommy and daddy and brother love you so much and have so much fun with you around.
So I took these pictures the other day. Her hair is starting to get kind of wild, but is still too thin too do too much with. I decided to try pigtails and I thought she looked SOOOOOOO cute. They aren't perfect, but give me credit it is hard to do a one-year old's hair!!Here is the pigtails with bows--isn't she just so cute!!!

Japanese little league baseball!

As I mentioned previously, my brother Aaron came out to interpret for a little league baseball team. We rode the train with him to Tokyo and went to one of the games. The game we went to was team U.S.A. vs. Team Korea. Unfortunately, Team U.S.A. got their tails handed to them on a plate. Part of the reason for the slaughtering, is that baseball in Asia is played slightly differently. The biggest difference is that they play with a rubber ball. I guess the american team didn't practice with that ball, so they weren't prepared for how much the ball bounces and ended up chasing a lot of balls.

One funny story from the day, when we were leaving the field, we had a couple of japanese ladies come up and start looking at Kailey, pinching her legs, touching her hair, and gesturing that she was so cute. They sat there and talked for a minute and then they started holding up fingers trying to figure out how old she was. Well Aaron turns to them and in Japanese said, "she is one and she is so cute." One of the ladies jumped back and gasped because she was so shocked he spoke Japanese--it was so funny. After we walked away, I asked Aaron what they were saying and he said they were saying how cute Kailey was and that she was going to get sunburned because it was so sunny outside! The japanese people are obsessed with having white skin. You see women walk around outside on sunny days with their umbrellas and then they also wear coverings on their arms. It is like a tube sock they put on their arms so they don't get sunburned--it is crazy!

Aaron was a celebrity, because he is a big white guy that can speak Japanese. When we were walking up to the field, the Japanese baseball team mobbed him. You can't really tell, but most of the players have Aaron's autograph somewhere on their shirt.

Here is Aaron on the field arguing a call--kick some dirt on their shoes!!!

My future baseball player--out on the field practicing with Uncle Aaron!

The games were on top of the roof of the building behind me. As a result of Japan being so crowded, they had at least 8 fields up on top of this 2 story building to play on. You didn't feel like you were on top of a building at all, it just seemed like a huge park with a ton of baseball fields.

Eric and I walking down the steps home. I am turning into a Japanese lady and carrying my umbrella all the time, to protect me from the sun--just kidding!!

YAKINIKU TABEHODA

My brother Aaron came to visit us the end of July. He served his mission here in Tokyo and thus speaks Japanese fluently. He ended up coming over with a little league baseball team as their translator. He came down and spent a night with us and then we went up with him the next day to Tokyo to one of the baseball games. I still need to upload those pictures, so those will be coming. Anyways, the night he came he took us out for yakiniku tabehoda. So we were in this little room with a grill on our table and for an hour it is all you can eat. You tell them what kind of meat and vegetables you want and then just keep bringing to you and then you grill it on your table and then dip it in this really good sauce. We tried chicken (of course), this really tender beef, corn (I am the daughter of the corn king, so I had to try the corn), squid, pork, etc. My favorite was the beef and we all ate tons and left like 5 pounds heavier from eating so much. So if anyone comes to visit us (hint, hint) we will take you out for yakiniku tabehoda!

Aaron eating the squid!

Kailey saying, "hey I want to try that, let me have a bite."

Earthquakes, Typhoons, New house, and All-American Rejects!

So, I know I have been horrible about updating our blog. For the last 5 weeks we have been living in a tiny hotel room going crazy and I could only focus on so many things without losing my sanity. We are FINALLY in our new place--THANK GOODNESS!!!

I will update eventually with pictures, but we have been busy the last couple of weeks. Just a few highlights--my brother Aaron came into town the end of July. He served his mission here in Tokyo and speaks japanese fluently and ended up coming over with a little league baseball team as their translator. We were lucky enough to have him come down and stay with us a night and he took us out for a great meal and then we went up to Tokyo and watched one of the baseball games.

So, Eric headed back to the states this past Saturday for a week of training. The next day, we had our first earthquake. It took me a minute to figure out what was happening. I was lying on the ground with Ethan watching a movie and the floor started shaking and then it dawned on me--EARTHQUAKE!!! It only lasted a couple of minutes. The next night it happened again--we had another one in the middle of the night and it woke me up. I am not going to lie, it was pretty awesome. So, I am pumped to say I have survived two earthquakes and am sure I will experience more. Too bad Eric had to miss them.

Monday we moved into our new place. We are living on base in a high-rise apartment building. It is kind of ghetto, but on the other hand we are within walking distance of everything-grocery store, library, post office, gym, tons of playgrounds, Eric's work, etc. So it is pretty nice. I have been very busy the last couple of days trying to get the place organized. I want to have it looking halfway decent for when Eric comes home on Sunday. Also, monday when we moved in, we had typhoon-like weather. It was really windy, it was pouring just sheets of rain--it was crazy. However, the movers were fabulous and none of our stuff got wet.

Lastly, I will post pictures of this, but I took the kids to their first rock concert. The All-American Rejects came and did a free concert on base and I love a lot of their music, so I took the kids and went with a friend of mine. All I can say is AWESOME!!! We had a blast and I was surprised that the kids did so well. In fact, Kailey loved it. We were pretty close and could see the band really well. It was a blast. I took tons of pictures and videos, so I will post them eventually.

Stay tuned for pictures and can I just say that I am LOVING Japan. We have only been here 6 weeks but have gotten to do so many fun things, made great friends, etc. Everyone needs to come visit us and see how great Japan is!!