Submarines and water wings

Brooke is here and we are having so much fun, so that is my reason for lack of posts. It is just so nice having her here--already I am dreading her departure even though it isn't for another 2 months. My friends and I are trying to find her hot guys so she will stay here. Anyways, here are a couple of pictures from the last couple of weeks.

Eric went to the states for training and brought back fun prizes for the kids. We always love when he goes to America!! Anyways, he brought the kids back new backpacks and water wings. Kailey wears her water wings EVERYDAY--all around the house, when she naps, outside, you name it!!

We went to a park nearby that had fountains and Ethan decided to cool off inside the fountain!

Playing with friends at the fountain--we went and had a picnic dinner with friends there.

One of our good friends is a submariner and got us on a tour of the USS Hawaii that is was here in port visiting. It is one of the brand new subs and everything is electronic--Brooke and I found it so interesting!

Brooke climbing down the hatch into the submarine

Where they sleep--this is for officer's--enlisted bunks are so close together that if you want to roll over you have to get out of bed and get back in. Sorry the pictures aren't the best--I could only use my i-phone and they wouldn't let us take too many pictures--top secret stuff!!

This chamber is where they can put Navy SEALS and shoot them out of the submarine into the water--pretty cool!

Enoshima Island

We took Eric's parents out to Enoshima Island while they were here. It was really fun, especially since we hadn't been out there. On the island they have some temples, you ride escalators up the mountain and at the top they have an observatory tower, gardens, etc. It was really scenic.

Playing in the water

Ethan washing his hands--his favorite part of visiting temples and shrines

Annette worshipping idols--she really took to the japanese culture!!

Nice scenic view

At the top of the mountain there was this guy doing illusions and magic and juggling--we sat and watched his show and I just loved it!

He was like a juggling champion in Japan--however, his illusion tricks were a lot better!

Things are always so colorful here in Japan

Observatory tower on top of the island

We saw this post on the island and just thought it had such a nice message!

Grandpa and Grandma visit-Part 2-TOKYO

So I am SOOOOO behind on posting these pictures from Eric's parents visit. Anyways, here is the next installment. We took them up to Tokyo and stayed in the New Sanno and had fun. One of our other reasons for going up was to go to the embassy so we could get a passport for Cade and get him registered as a birth abroad and get a birth certificate. All I have to say is that having a baby overseas requires a lot of extra steps to get everything! Anyways, while we were up there we went to the Tokyo Tower. It is an exact replica of the eiffel tower, except is orange. I always thought the eiffel tower looked so tall and impressive. The tokyo tower is not, but that is probably because it is in downtown Tokyo and surrounded by tall buildings. It was a lot of fun. As we were walking to the tower, we passed a TON of policemen in their riot gear, police vans, etc. We couldn't figure out what was going on and then we saw like 15 people that were protesting. I don't know what they were protesting, but it required a TON of police. Anyways, here are the pictures.

All the police we passed on our way to the tower--that little group in the back is the protesters.

Eric's parents in front of the Tokyo Tower!

Ethan at the top looking down

View of Tokyo from the top of the tower--buildings as far as you can see!

Eric's mom loves cemeteries so we were always on the lookout for them. This one is down in Tokyo, but I thought it was interesting. By law you have to be cremated here, so the cemeteries are packed with gravestones and these wooden slats. The wooden slats you see are part of a family plot. So the family dumps the ashes in the plot and then sticks a wooden slat in there with your name on it. Some of the family plots have TONS of these wooden slats--I thought it was fascinating. Anyways, this cemetery is in the middle of a bunch of buildings--they are in the most random spots.

Highlights of Japan-part 1

Here are highlights from our time with Eric's parents. Let me just preface by saying we had a great time with them, especially the kids--thanks so much for coming to visit!!

Kamakura--the big Buddha--we take all of our guests here, I have to admit it has lost it's appeal after now my 3rd time--but you don't see anything like this in the states.

Eric's mom loves cemeteries, so here is a japanese one--wait this isn't the only picture--wait for more later on!! Also, everyone in Japan is cremated.

These are called torii gates and you see them everywhere--they are at all the shrines and signify entrance to a holy place.

The main temple in Kamakura

Around the temple grounds is a huge moat and it was covered with all of these white and pink water lilies--very pretty!

We went to a professional baseball game with Eric's parents and our good friends the Stoners. We were cheering for the Yokohama Baystars who ended up getting killed--when we left in the 8th inning it was like 14-2. Anyways, Japanese baseball is SOOOOOOO much more fun than American. The team we played was the Yakult Swallows and everytime they score a run, the fans all raise neon colored umbrellas and cheer--it is to signify to the other team that their pitcher is all washed up and needs to go take a shower! Only in Japan!

Baystar cheerleaders on the field with the bay stars!

So everyone chants in unison at the baseball games. They all have cheers that they know and sit there and yell/sing them together--even the kids know them. Also, when your team is up to bat, you make TONS of noise. Also, every team has a band that plays songs (think like at a college football game, the band that sits in the stands and plays).

Like 90% of the fans on our side had these bats that they would clap together all the time. Also, you can't tell, but the food is awesome--no nachos here, we had rice, curry, sushi, okonomiyaki, etc. It was awesome!

Cute smiling Cade--I can't get enough pictures of this adorable little guy!

Cade's Blessing

Okay, so I am WAY behind on posting. I will try and catch up over the next week. Eric's parents were here the last two weeks and my brother, Aaron was here for a couple of days, so we went and did LOTS of fun stuff. However, one of the most important things that happened was that we blessed Cade. It has been so nice, with all of the kids we have had family members from both sides that were able to be present--even here in Japan. Also, you can't tell, I need to take better pictures, but I made Cade a white jinbei (it is a japanese outfit kids wear) and he was blessed in that. We thought it was only appropriate since he was born in Japan and has a japanese middle name. Here are a couple of pictures from the day.

Cade in his jinbei--you can see the front crosses over and then he has little shorts. Funny story, so I put it on him right about 20 minutes before we were leaving for church. About 5 minutes before, Eric's dad brings Cade to me and says that he messed his pants, I take Cade upstairs and there is yellow poop all over his shorts. Eric's mom was so nice to frantically try and wash out the shorts, while I cleaned up Cade. We throw the shorts in the dryer for 5 minutes and they are still pretty damp. We hold them in front of the air vent on the drive to church, and luckily by blessing time they were only a little damp. I just laughed, babies always have such great timing!!

Cute picture of Grandma Nelson and Kailey

Cute Cade--he is such a happy baby and always smiling at us--we are so glad he is a part of our family!

Independence day and Kailey's birthday!!

Fourth of July was pretty uneventful here. We got together with some friends after church andhad a picnic and then watched the fireworks here on base. Monday, we had those same friends over and we had a barbecue, let the kids play on the slip n slide and then celebrated Kailey's birthday (which was the next day).

Kailey and her little boyfriend, Canon. Canon is about 8 months younger, but they are the same size. It is so cute, because Kailey always wants to hold his hand--they are so cute. Don't worry, we have already arranged a marriage between one of Canon's older brother's and Kailey!

Ethan and his friends playing on the slip and slide!!

Kailey getting a little bit of help blowing out her candles!

Opening presents

Grandma T. was so nice to send Kailey a fairy princess costume--she is just so cute!!

On her actual birthday, we opened up more presents from her Grandma and Grandpa Nelson--here she is loving her new Dora purse!

Showing off her new Dora purse, Barbie and pretty necklaces!

70 mile challenge, desitin covered Kailey, etc.

So, I have decided to come back to the blogging world. We have had a lot going on the past month and have been staying very busy--what am I saying, life with a 3 year old, almost 2 year old and new baby never slows down!!!

Well, the beginning of the month, I started back exercising and to motivate me, my friend Shari challenged me to run 70 miles in the month of June. It is part of a challenge on dailymile.com. It is kind of fun, because there are a couple of us that did the challenge, so everytime you logged on, you would see how many miles your friends ran and it always motivated me to run more. Well, I am proud to say that I completed the challenge and ran over 70 miles in the month of June. The most memorable run of the month I did with my two friends, Shari and Jessica. We ran off base out in town and had planned on running only about 5 miles, but got lost and ended up running 8.5 miles. Let me just say that Japan is NOT flat and all the streets look the same!! So, July we are running 80 miles. Let me know if anyone is up for the challenge!! My friends and I have a 10 mile run planned for tomorrow--hopefully I'll make it!!

The other morning I was hurrying to get the kids all ready to go to playgroup. I had everyone

ready, I just had to shower quickly. I jumped in the shower and when I came out, Kailey had been very busy!!! Apparently I had not put the desitin (diaper cream) tube up high enough and she had decided to play with it. She had desitin everywhere!! What you don't see in the picture is little white footprints going down the hallway, little white fingerprints all over, desitin on my bedspread, etc. It took me forever to clean up because it is so oily. Another morning, I was reading e-mail on the computer and she had been awfully quiet. I went to check on her and she had found a marker and had drawn ALL over herself. She is one busy and messy little girl. I don't remember Ethan ever doing anything like this.

One quick, funny Ethan story--everytime he goes potty he asks me, "Can I flush, is it going to make Cade sad?" For some reason he thinks flushing the toilet makes Cade sad--I don't know where he got that from, but it is funny! Speaking of Cade, I need to start taking more pictures of him. He is such a great little baby--so mellow, happy, and good-natured. I got lucky!!

This past weekend, I went with my two friends, Shari and Jessica up to Tokyo for a girls' weekend. We had so much fun. The husbands were all nice to stay home with our kids, except I took Cade. We left Friday afternoon and came home late Saturday night. We had so much fun shopping all over Tokyo. The picture to the left is a part of Tokyo called Shibuya. It is like the 'Times Square' of Tokyo. You can't really tell, but there is this huge intersection there they call a scramble crossing. The traffic stops on all sides to allow thousands of people to cross at one time--it is pretty cool. Anyways, we had a ton of fun and thank you to my wonderful husband for letting me get away.

Lastly, I have decided to start sewing again.

While I was up in Tokyo, we went to the fabric district and I got some really cute fabric to make Kailey some dresses. Hopefully, I'll get my act together and start sewing this month. I did make this bag this week. I have a friend that always has the cutest bags at church and she makes them all. So she was nice enough to show me how to make them and they are SOOOO easy. I am excited to make some more.

I think that about catches me up on June. Have a great 4th of July!!!