Enoshima Island with Gramps and Granny

Eric's grandparents came and visited us for the last 3 weeks and we had so much fun with them. I feel like we are so lucky that we had such a great opportunity to have them all to ourselves and how many kids get to know their great-grandparents so much and have great-grandparents that are so active and healthy. Anyways, here is the first of many posts of what we did while they were here. One of the first places we took them was to Enoshima Island. Here are a couple of pictures

Eric and the kids

Cade and Ethan washing their hands--you have to do this anytime you visit a temple or shrine.

One of the street performers had this monkey that did all sorts of tricks--here he is jumping over posts on stilts--we had so much fun watching him.

Another street performer--this guy did magic and illusion tricks--he was okay, but we have seen better.

Looking at flowers with Granny!

Our Mt. Fuji experience--it was one of a kind!!

I had a video I tried to upload that we took up on the mountain that shows how windy and crazy the weather was, but unfortunately I couldn't get it to upload. However, a couple of weeks ago, Eric and I and our friends Brandon and Kendal Keith tried to hike Mt. Fuji. Eric did hike Fuji the month after we moved here, but the other 3 of us hadn't. Here in Japan, it is one of those things that you just have to do. The climbing season is from June to August and the mountain is about 2 hours from us. The mountain is divided into 9 stations. Most people start hiking at station 5 and then station 9 is the top. It takes about 6.5 hours to hike to the top. We went up the night before and stayed at a marine base that was an experience in and of itself. Here are some pictures of our trip.

The night before we went out to dinner at their officer's club. I don't know if it was being away from our kids or what, but we had a little too much fun and thought everything was hilarious. We thought it would be so funny to make a sign that had a 9 and then hold it up at all the stations and say we were at station 9--like I said, we were a little slap-happy.

We were the only ones in the O club and had so much fun shooting pool, playing darts--it was a lot of fun. Here we are showing our darts!!

Here are Brandon and Kendal the morning of our climb modeling their "rain gear" they made out of trash bags!!

At station 5 and it is already raining and cold.

Checking out the map to make sure we are going the right way--the trail started off by going down and Kendal and I were convinced we were going the wrong way, but the boys were right and we were on the right path.

By the trail map again--there are 4 different trails that go up to the summit.

Not the prettiest hike, but this is what the first part of the trail looks like--switchbacks on this volcanic gravel. The second half of the mountain you are literally climbing--with it being so rainy and then when the wind would just gust so hard, sometimes I felt like I was going to fall off--I am sure if I had, they would have made a "made-for-t.v." movie about the crazy white girl that fell off Mt. Fuji.

When you climb Mt. Fuji part of the experience is to buy hiking sticks (like the ones we have) and then at every station you get them branded with different japanese characters and pictures. It is really cool. However, you can't read the sign, but it says, it is too wet to brand the sticks. So basically, we have these sticks with nothing on them. Kendal and I are going to buy a wood-burning kit and make our own signs!

I know it looks sunny here, but the clouds would sometimes break for a minute or two and you would think that the weather was getting better and then it would start raining again! It was very deceiving!

Is it Station 9??? No, this is like station 7--but they all look the same, so you can't really tell!!

Stopping to warm up at station 7--who knew cup of noodles and hot chocolate could taste so good!

A group of kids we saw hiking--the japanese are so funny because they are all TOTALLY decked out in their hiking gear and it is all so colorful.

So to end our adventure, we ended up making it to the 8th station and had about 1 1/2 hours left to get to the top and they had closed the mountain--the Japanese guides at the station told us we had to come down and it was too dangerous to continue on. LIke I said, it was freezing cold, rainy and very, very windy. We couldn't even go back down the regular trail (which I was kind of glad, since we had pretty much rocked climbed up), they made us go down the bulldozer trail, which they NEVER usually let people go down. So, even though we didn't make it to the top, I am still counting us as doing it, because if the weather had cooperated we totally would have made it. Despite the crummy weather, we had a blast and really enjoyed ourselves and feel like we had a unique Mt. Fuji experience!!

Warning: This post is bragging about my AWESOME husband!!

So, a couple of months ago, Eric was out to see and sent me an e-mail and imbedded in the e-mail was a line that said, "oh, I won some award, it is no big deal, but I am going to have to fly to Toronto for the awards ceremony." Okay, whatever, not a big deal--one of the reasons I love my husband--he is so humble!! Anyways, it was a big deal. Eric was selected by the American Bar Association as the 2010-2011 Outstanding Young Military Lawyer of the Year. He got to fly to the awards ceremony in Toronto to receive his award where he was accompanied by the JAG (the admiral that heads up the JAG corps--that's a big deal for all you non-military folk). The picture above is Eric and his award shaking hands with the JAG. Also, doesn't he look so good in his uniform--one reason I am glad we are in the military--a man in uniform is HOT!! Anyways, I am just so proud of Eric and so glad to be married to someone who does so well at providing for our family and does his best in everything! I am one lucky lady!!

First of many trips to the E.R.

Cade is such an active and busy child, that Eric and I have joked for awhile that he would be our first trip to the E.R. Now, Ethan has fallen and had some cuts that probably should have gotten stitches, but being the nurse that I am, I just have glued them shut and then slapped some steri--strips on them and everything was fine. Well, last week Cade was playing in a little bassinet Kailey has for her babies and went to get out and fell and smacked his chin on our hardwood floors. There was blood everywhere and one look at his cut and I knew we had to go to the E.R.--it was really deep and split wide open.

Luckily my friend was here, so she stayed with the other two kids and Cade and I headed to the hospital. Cade was tough and had stopped crying shortly after he hurt himself. At the E.R. I was lucky enough that we could just walk in. The corpsman came over and flushed out his cut--Cade wasn't too happy about that.

Then the doctor came over and we were lucky enough that the doctor in the E.R. that day is a good friend of ours. In fact, his daughter is Cade's girlfriend and he also joked that he wasn't surprised at all to see Cade. Anyways, he took one look and said that we would need stitches.

We had to wrap Cade in a sheet like a hotdog, from about his neck to his calves and then I held down his feet and two corpsman held down his torso and head while Steve, the doctor, stitched up Cade. Cade was not happy and was screaming and but we finally got 4 stitches in. The cut probably could have used a couple of more, but it was a lot of work to get those 4 stitches in.

Here he is after we were done. That bandage on his chin lasted all of 5 minutes and I tried to put about 4 more dressings on, but Cade would pull them off in seconds.

The next day, I laid Cade down for a nap and about 10 minutes later I heard a loud crash and walked into his room and he had climbed out of his crib and on top of his dresser, which is like 4 feet tall, and was standing on it and throwing stuff off of it. I have a feeling we have many, many more E.R. trips in our future, hopefully not the too near future!!

Kailey's 3rd Birthday!!

I have had a hard time getting motivated to update our blog, but since Kailey's 3rd birthday was a MONTH ago, I figure it is about time!! Kailey turned 3 last month and we had a little tea party with 3 of her close friends. Anyone who knows Kailey knows it is all about princesses, pink, and anything girly!! Everyone dressed up and we had a fun time. Here are some pictures from her special day!

She got a new plasma car--we already have one and the kids LOVE it and we decided to get another one--best toy every--the kids play with them ALL the time!

The tea party spread--cucumber sandwiches, PB&J sandwiches, fruit, and hummus and crackers.

Kailey and her friends!

Ethan, the pimp, with his lady friends!! I think he is enjoying it a little too much!

My mom sent Kailey the tutu swimming suit that she is wearing and even now, a month later, Kailey still begs me to wear it EVERYDAY!!!

So I made Kailey a pink princess castle cake for her birthday, but while I was making it, I walked out of the kitchen and came back and Cade, who gets into EVERYTHING, had climbed up on the counter and was devouring my cake.

This is a picture of what it looked like after Cade helped himself--almost half of my cake was missing, luckily I had some cake left over and I was able to salvage it.

Here is what the inside of the cake looked like--Kailey was happy with it and it tasted good--what more could you want!!! All in all Kailey had a GREAT birthday!!

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!!!