First Japanese Hotel

First off we want to wish a Jenn and Slaw a happy day as they prep for their wedding tomorrow.  Sad we won't be there but in your honor after finding a chapel we took a photo in front and talked to the girls about your wedding!!!

 

Sending love to Aunt Jenn and soon to be Uncle Slaw

This weekend Jon got to run a retreat for soldiers who returned from a long deployment.  This was our first time in a local hotel and found some interesting things like: you take your shoes off when entering the room, they have a glass ice bucket and cups, you are provided multiple trash cans (but can't read the signs to know what went in each), we had a shower room and the toilets had bedays! The hotel was amazing and I am thankful we had a staff member assigned to help who spoke English so we could ask questions before making big mistakes:)  One interesting thing about the culture is they are not big on people showing tattoos so if you have one you are required to cover it up at the pool and even on public beaches.   It was a great time getting to meet people in Jon's unit and experience a little culture. 

Kelly's bed after we gave her crib up to another family

1 sleeping under the towel and 2 de pruning before round 2 at the pool

View at snack time

After dinner at a 5 star restaurant we did some geocaching on our date night.
Found an awesome chapel and Jon climbed under that walkway to get the cache.
This might have been a super fancy restaurant but we are still just us:)

No shoes allowed in your room

Waiting anxiously to get to the water

Testing out the shoes provided by the hotel for room use

Molly's favorite place!! 

Vending machine drink - it was either that or beer

Shurjio Castle Park -Final Father's Day adventure

For our final adventure of the weekend we went south to Naha for the first time since moving to the island.  We visited the large castle park which was very interesting.  The girls got to see some fun sites and we made it accident free!!! Jon and I were a little worried that we might have to apologize if Riley managed to do something in a sacred area but alas she stayed dry today!!!!!  I did manage to get a great tour of castle bathrooms though - I think there are over 19:)  During one bathroom break Jon and the other 2 were treated like rockstars as a school group came through and wanted to touch the girls.  Only one asks why do they always want to touch me?? 

We had a picnic lunch in one of the rest areas and were a little concerned that we were doing something wrong since no one else was eating but finally towards the end another family came in and busted into their lunch. 

While touring the sacred castle part and seeing the kings chair Molly repeatedly asked Jon and I if that is where Jesus sat.  Not just once and quietly but over and over loudly.  That is a fun conversation to have in a quiet area after reading on one of the wall hangings how the missionaries made life very hard for the final king.  It was a beautiful site and we enjoyed the day hanging out as a family.  We finished it off with a trip to Bollywood Dreams to get some Indian curry for dinner.  Now I am updating the blog, all the girls were in bed super early and Jon is relaxing with the Xbox and getting a little quiet time before work kicks in full gear tomorrow. 

Up next a strong bonds retreat this week for the soldiers in his unit who just returned from a long deployment!!  A blog adventure worthy weekend coming up.

 

 

Picnic lunch - shoes off

Loved the castle

Pretty impressive

A little far away - whoops

Had to take our shoes off and carry them while we walked through the inside.
At least they gave us a bag to put them in

The chair that sparked some good conversation

Molly took a photo of Jon and I.
This was after one of the many bathroom trips

The king and his princesses - so classy!!

Miss some better shots but this was a really neat place to visit!

3 tired little girls!!

Butterflies and Pizza

Father's day happened to be the same weekend of the Army's birthday which meant Jon got a 4 day!!!  So we took 2 of those days and adventured around the island.  On Friday we went north to the butterfly park and since we were close to the aquarium and we have season passes we stopped by there for a few hours.  Afterwards we adventured on 1.5 lane roads around the area to find Pizza (in the) Sky which was amazing.  So as mentioned before Riley is still not fully accident free so going on this trip we packed some extra supplies.  After making multiple bathroom stops she decided to relieve herself the first time during our picnic lunch - good thing not too many people were around.  The second time she decided not to use the facilities it was in a super busy area of the aquarium with nice leather seats for people to rest.  Here is Jon's FB post - " I learned a new phrase in Japanese today. Loosely translated it says, "I am sorry with the greatest sorry of all sorries because my daughter urinated in the middle of your aquarium, which happens to be the 2nd largest in the world & much better than anything in China. I will work quickly to mop up the urine with her wet pants. I hope our countries can remain friends. Go Nintendo!."

So after that we decided to diaper her up - she was not pleased but we just couldn't handle it any more knowing we still had a few hours to go until we got home!!  We survived the rest of the day and made it home after some AWESOME PIZZA!!

Hats on ready to see the butterflies

There were so many

Molly the butterfly

Riley the butterfly

Gave the girls my camera to take some photos - I have about 100 of this type shot

Not getting much food off those flowers

Butterfly gardens

Why not have a super large Hello Kitty - she seems to be everywhere

Awesome parking job - but very close!!

Yes we are sitting on the floor

getting excited

can't look up - must eat pizza.
Meanwhile I got to feed Kelly pizza with chopsticks!

Ahh the loud American's.  Next time I think we will sit outside

Cleaned up those plates!!

Nothing mundane about this life

So life with 3 small kids is the same for most I would bet.  These past few weeks have been a little routine life for us.  Riley decided she wanted to potty train which meant we were a little more confined to the home than usual but we still took a small trip each day.  Kelly saw what her big sis was doing and thought she would get in on the action.  We have found some fun Japanese things to do like the pool, I have gone a whole month straight with working out daily and we have gotten into our groove here.

 

A smile to remind me how much I love her even when she has accidents

Stadium seating for a movie

They had to set up a table to feed their baby dolls

Japanese pool with the awesome swim caps

Chillin

And the adventure begins

I don't think so!!

Family affair.  Keeping Kelly out is getting more challenging

Grocery shopping with my goobers

A morning with my bible study ladies!!!

Molly got an action shot of me doing my insanity burpees:)

Walking

So in the past 2 weeks we went from crawling to a 1/2 walk.  Kelly enjoys doing the bear crawl morphed into a walk.  She still likes to go back to crawling for speed sake but for a good leg workout she does a few squats while walking:)

Pineapple Park and other fun days

This weekend we ventured to Pineapple Park.  It is a tourist trap at its finest!!  For only 1,200 yen ($12) our family got to ride the pineapple cart which went around the fields and explained how pineapples grow.  Then they started explaining how other things grow in the area like the flowers and other things (all in English for our cart!!).  Once you finished the ride in the pineapple go cart you walked into free sample heaven.  The first samples were pineapple wine which concerned the girls since we didn't let them try and they were thinking they wouldn't get to try anything but soon after they learned the joys of free samples at their height.  They got to sample fresh pineapple, juice, candy, cake, pie, chocolate, ice cream, cream puff, shortbread - seriously anything and everything covered, stuffed or infused with pineapple.  During the end of the sugar high they added a gauntlet of shopping which we walked out with only a pineapple key chain for each girl - pretty good accomplishment!!

 

Also this week I got our  family a pool to add to our backyard excitement.  It folds up flat but is a good afternoon treat on those super hot days when they want to jump on the trampoline but get overheated too fast. 

 

Today we went to Color and Coffee where we met some new friends who I invited to our house Thursday - we will see if they show.  It is sponsored by the community center and they have coffee, juice and tons of coloring sheets and puzzles.  The girls loved playing with kids and I enjoyed some adult conversation

 

Trying to blend in with our big hats:)

Enjoying our cart ride

Loved telling me about the pineapple plants

Ice cream!!

Who doesn't put their play chair in the pool along with the kitchen toys?

Post pool jumping

If I hide down here my sisters might leave me alone

Color and coffee

Love those first few minutes after nap time when we are all happy!!