I know Kailey is sweet, but please don't bite her!

Yes, that is right, my child got bit Thursday and bit HARD!!! There is an hourly child care center less than a block away from our house that I take the kids to a couple of hours a week. They have a great time playing with other kids and I have a great time playing (i.e.-running errands) with NO kids (okay, except Cade!) Thursday I dropped them off for 3 hours and about 45 minutes before I had to pick them up, looked at my phone and realized I had a missed voicemail--listened to it and it was one of the daycare workers telling me that another child had bit Kailey. What happened was, a little girl was washing her hands at the sink and Kailey came over to wash hers and the little girl bit her. They said Kailey was hysterical and wouldn't let them touch her arm and then fell asleep on the couch holding her arm. When I got there about an hour after the incident, Kailey was okay. The girl didn't break the skin on Kailey's arm, but let some nice teeth marks. However, I think it has scarred Kailey--that night when Eric came home and we were talking about it, Kailey starting crying and got upset. I just feel so bad for her--hopefully she won't hate the child care center now.

In other news, we are having fun with Brooke. I am especially excited, her birthday is Wednesday and we are going SHOPPING IN TOKYO with NO kids!! I am excited to spend the day with her up in Tokyo doing some shopping and hanging out. Life is pretty good!! I am going to have a hard time when Brooke leaves!

The bite mark--poor Kailey!!

Latest Sewing Project

I recently made Kailey a dress and thought it turned out very cute! Here are a couple of pictures. I have to admit, since I have started sewing more, I am really enjoying it!

She makes such funny faces when she smiles for the camera

I thought the purse turned out very cute and Kailey loved it--wouldn't let it out of her hands at church!

I almost died in the mosh pit at Metallica!!

Last weekend, Eric and I went to the Metallica concert with some of our good friends. Our good friends, Shari and Karl are diehard fans and were going, so a bunch of us all decided to go. I have to say, I wasn't a huge Metallica fan before, but after being at their concert, I LOVE THEM!!!! Like, I said, my friend is a huge fan, so she is part of Metallica's fan club and we got in early. You can't tell from the pictures, but we were pretty close to the stage. The first two bands, we were about 3 people back from the front. When Metallica came on, we were that close, but then, as I alluded to in the title, the mosh pit really got going and I literally thought I was going to die. Japanese people are small, but their mosh pits are lethal--I was getting tossed around and crushed, so we decided to move back a little bit. While in the mosh pit, I kept thinking, "my mom is going to be so embarrassed to tell people her daughter was crushed to death by Japanese people in a mosh pit at the Metallica concert!" What a way to go!! Anyways, we had a blast--I have to admit, part of me was thinking, I am a mom to 3 kids and am at a Metallica concert. Anyways, we had a blast and I would go back again in a heart beat!!

It looks like we are further away then we really are--we could see the band great--also, for being around as long as they have--they look great!!

The band at the end

One of the crazy people that we met--this guy loved taking his shirt off--honestly, one of the best parts of the concert was all the crazy people we met. Right in front of us, they had this mosh pit circle going on--people would run in a circle and hit each other--it was so crazy to watch. Like I said, awesome night--ROCK ON!!!

Mikoshi Parade and Tokyo Edo Museum

Last Sunday they had a Mikoshi Parade here on base and throughout Yokosuka. The Mikoshi Parade celebrates the beginning of fall and people carry "mikoshis" which are large, heavy japanese shrines throughout the town. Anyways, it was interesting. Here are a couple of pictures.

Sometimes the shrines fall--they are heavy!

The participants wear "happy coats". Most of them have little shorts on underneath, but some didn't. I kind of am noticing a theme of naked men in Japan!

Brooke and I went to the Tokyo-Edo museum when we went up to watch sumo. It is a museum all about Japan's history--we loved it because they have a lot of interactive exhibits. We had a lot of fun!

Asians, I have decided, love colorful things!

SUMO!!!!!!!

Okay, what is more awesome than watching huge, fat guys wearing a loincloth wrestling--nothing--sumo wrestling is AWESOME!! Brooke, Cade and I got to experience this spectacular experience. Three times a year they have a grand sumo tournament here in Tokyo and for 2 weeks all day it is sumo wrestling.

Brooke and I got up to the Sumo stadium to get tickets at 8 am. Here we are waiting outside the sumo stadium.

While we waited for them to start wrestling, we took advantage and got some good pictures. This is to show Cade in 10 years that I did take him to do fun things!

I think Brooke needs to beef up a little more if she wants a career in sumo

Here is my little sumo--so cute!

Sumo wrestling is very traditional. It dates back 1500 years and was a form of ritual to the Gods with prayers. Here is a picture of the sumo ring (dohyo). Over the Dohyo, suspended from the ceiling is a roof of a shinto shrine with four tassels representing the seasons.

Before each match, this guy comes into the middle of the ring and sings a song.

The guy to the right in the colorful outfit is the gyoji (referee). He comes into the dohyo and calls of each wrestler in a specially trained high-pitched voice and then during the match shouts words of encouragement to the wrestlers. Each match lasts about 4 minutes or less. The wrestlers are matched up by weight at all. Some of the matches we had these big, huge guys against littler guys--very interesting. You lose when any part of you touches the ground or you go out of the ring.

These were some of the higher ranked guys and they come in before the match for an "entering the ring" ceremony. Before they start wrestling, the sumos rinse their mouth with water, wipes their body with a paper towel, raise their arms (to show they have no weapons) and stamp their feet and scatter a handful of salt to purify the rings. The stamping of the feet scares the evil spirits away. They the sumos squat and face each other and glare at each other, go back to the corner for more salt, scatter it, glare, and then when they are ready they wrestle. The symbolic stuff takes longer than the actual match. It was so interesting to watch, especially once you know all the symbolism behind it.

Sumo wrestlers leaving the arena

Sumo mascot

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.