Mr. Belding and Bowling for Soup--what a night!!

So we finished up the 4th of July with a bbq with friends and then we went and saw "Bowling for Soup." They are a rock band, that has a couple of famous songs--I like them. Mr. Belding, from 'Saved by the Bell' was the MC for the concert and I have to mention the military is AWESOME, because this was all free. Anyways, we had a GREAT time rocking out. The kids loved it and had so much fun dancing around and the music was awesome. Here are some pictures:

Bowling for Soup, Natalie Stovall (some country singer that also performed)

Mr. Belding, me and my friends, Barbie and Breclyn

(I hate to say it, but he hasn't aged too well, he looks like he ate Screech!)

Kailey learned to 'rock out'--we are so proud!!

Ethan watching the band!

Dancing in the parking lot

Awesome balloon hat

Fabulous concert!!

4th of July Parade

We had one of the most fun 4th of July's I have ever had. I started out the morning by running a 4-mile race around base with some friends--it was wicked hot, but we had a fun time. Later in the afternoon, the base had a parade for the kids followed by free ice cream. My dad was so nice to send us some awesome decorations and the kids bikes/scooter/wagon looked so patriotic. We walked in the parade with a couple of friends--I have to say it was hot and the parade was probably about a mile long, which for little legs is long--luckily there was free ice cream to motivate us at the end. Here are some pictures from the parade:

A fire truck led the parade--here are the kids with their friend, Isabel.

Getting our bike checked to make sure it is safe--it was!!

Cade, waiting to start the parade.

My friend, Kendal, running to keep up with Ethan--look how intent he is on riding away from her!!

We had such a great time and already we are planning how to decorate next year so we can win a prize!!!

What we have been up to...

I know I have been a slacker when it comes to blogging. We haven't been up to too much lately. Eric started a new job here on base. He is now the lawyer for the base, so he has been busy with that. He now gets to carry a blackberry ALL the time and gets calls on it day and night. Anytime a sailor gets into trouble, Eric gets a call about it. Most of the time they are drunk and getting into fights, but he has gotten some interesting calls--it is fun to hear all the stories--some of these you just can't make up. The kids and I have been busy playing with friends almost everyday. Here are a couple of pictures:

Cade got into the colored bubbles (don't ever buy these--they are a BAD idea!!!)

Ethan rides his bike EVERYWHERE--he loves riding it!!

We had a party and I was in charge of making a birthday cake and saw this cute idea. I thought it was so fun and it was a big hit at the party. It is just 2 round cakes with kit kats around and M&Ms on top. Sooooo yummy!!

Same party I made these really cute candy sushi. The kids loved them!!

Anyways, I will be better at keeping up on the blog. The kids are going to be in a 4th of July parade on Monday and then with Kailey's birthday next week, I will have LOTS of fun pictures!!

Easter at Purina Farms!

Purina Farms is about 45 min away from my parents' house and they have a great event every Easter where you can come see the Easter bunny, they have a petting zoo and you can watch a dog show. We went a couple of years ago when Eric was in Iraq and got lucky to go again this year. We had such a fun time.

Cade isn't quite sure whose lap he is sitting on!

Watching dog jumping--it is amazing how far some of those dogs can jump!

Dogs doing tricks--they were catching frisbees, running through obstacle courses--it was great!

Petting bunnies

Pigs

Petting the tiny baby chick

All that petting wore Kailey out--she is taking a little nap in the dog bed!

Maramec Springs

Still catching up from St. Louis!! One of the places we went while we were there was Maramec Springs--it is one of the most gorgeous places and what makes it so fun is that it has HUMONGOUS fish that you can see and feed. The kids loved it. Here are a few pictures from our fun day!

Dad, Mom, Brooke and the kids

Getting more fish food with Papa--luckily he brought a LOT of dimes and quarters!

Cade walking with Brooke--she is such a good aunt!

Looking at the fish

Grandma and Cade

Feeding the fish--it was amazing--you would throw the food in and you would get swarms of fish coming and trying to eat it--I had so much fun feeding the fish, but the kids were in heaven!

Fun in Tokyo without the kids!!!

This past weekend, Eric and I went up to Tokyo for the weekend. Our wonderful friend and neighbor, Hayes, offered to watch the kids for us--his family is still back in the states and he claimed "he needed some kid time!!" It was very nice of him and the kids had a BLAST!!! Everyday now, Ethan asks me if Hayes can come over and play!! Anyways, Eric and I took off Friday afternoon and headed up to Tokyo. We went to this awesome ninja restaurant that night for dinner. It was this door and you walk in and then all of a sudden there was a secret door that opened and a ninja took you through some secret passages and used his "ninja magic" to fix broken bridges and then we got to our table which felt like was underground in a cave--it was pretty cool. We ordered a set course and the food was AMAZING!!! We got throwing star crackers for an appetizer, and the rest of the food was culinary masterpieces--foie gras, sushi, etc--very good. One of the courses was some sort of mollusk in a shell that they set on fire at our table--very cool. At the end of the dinner, we had a ninja come and do magic tricks for us at our table and he was amazing--I couldn't figure out how he did any of the tricks he was doing. To say the least, it was probably one of the most pleasurable and memorable dining experiences that we have had.

Our ninja waitress using her ninja powers to make some amazing soup at our table!!

The next morning we woke up bright and early to go check out the Tsukiji fish market. It is the largest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world and is at top of all the lists of things to do in Tokyo. Usually they have tours of the fish market, but due to the recent earthquake/tsunami the tours are cancelled right now. We ended up just wandering around. It was pretty unbelievable. The place was hustling and bustling (we were there at 6 in the morning) and it was huge. There were tons of stalls with every kind of fish or seafood imaginable and a lot of things that I had no idea what they were. One of the biggest draws of the market are the tuna auctions--they have these closed auctions where they auction off HUGE tuna. We saw them doing it, but they have japanese cops all around that won't let you in. Anyways, here are a few pictures of what we saw.

They had carts and cars zooming around everywhere--we had to be really careful not to get ran over!

Cinco de Mayo Fiesta!!!

We invited some of the JAGs from Eric's office over for a Cinco de Mayo party. I must say it was a hit and I think that cinco de mayo is the kids' new favorite holiday. We had yummy food (I made Cafe Rio salad--a sweet pork salad with cilantro dressing, cilantro lime rice and black beans--yum!!) along with guacomole, bean dip and some other yummy treats. For dessert I made these really delicious chipotle chili brownies--they had just a bit of kick! The highlight was the pinata. We had bought it the weekend before and every morning the kids would ask me if it was "pinata day"!! Anyways, here are some pictures--we had a fun, fun night!!

We colored pictures and decorated the door to welcome everyone to our fiesta!!

Part of the "mexican" spread--notice the mexican colors-green, red and white!!

Our good friend, Hayes, helping Kailey hit the pinata!

One more action shot!

Ethan getting in on the action--after the kids hit, we called in the big guns and had some of the adults take turns beating the pinata!! I forgot how much fun it is to hit a pinata!!