Restoration - Conversations while listening to music

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSuux0zDaOI

Above is a link to the song I am talking about.

Today while driving Molly and I had a conversation that I did not know she was capable of.  I know she is smarter than I give her credit for but she is my baby.  She is so much more like Jon in that she really likes about what she is saying and processes a lot before stating things out loud.  So we rotate music from "kid" music to "mommy" music because I know it brings them joy to sing twinkle twinkle and other kid friendly songs but I can only take so much of it.  We were listening to the World Mandate 2011 track from our church back in Waco when they sing the line - you take my weeping and turn it into laughing.  She then asks me is that about Jesus making it so we don't cry when we leave friends like daddy helped me laugh the other day when I was sad.  It took me a minute to realize why she was asking this then I realized she was actually listening to the song and was processing what it means.  And then we got to have a good 30 second conversation before she moved on but I have been stuck for the past hour thinking about how much she takes in understands!

First ever Stroller Warrior "run" (ok really walk)

So one of the many things I have found facebook pages for here is called Stroller Warrior.  This is a free military focused club were ladies get together at stroller friendly parks go for a run then afterwards do a core cardio circuit while kids play.  Today I decided to try and find the location they were meeting at.  It said it would take less than 20 minutes so I gave myself 30 - um 1 hour later I made it:)  Getting lost here is painful as the road are so tiny it is hard to make u-turns.  The first parking lot I passed had no Y's on the license plates so I knew that wasn't them then I started noticing lots of Y's so I parked.  I threw Kelly on my back and let Molly and Riley ride.  Right as I was getting everything settled I saw a lady pushing a stroller so I yelled out - "are you part of stroller warriors??" and she was!!  She was running late and graciously let me walk with her and showed me the ropes.  We didn't do the whole 15 minutes out and back so that we wouldn't miss the whole cardio/ play time.  The girls loved playing with TONS of kids while I did burpees, push ups, squats and lunges and thought man this humidity is no joke:)  They even had cake for the May birthdays which was a big hit for the some little people.  After playing at the park we joined the ladies and kids at the coy pond where some kids shared bread for the girls to feed the fish.  All in all it was a great time and I can't wait for my next workout - but Kelly on the back and 2 in the stroller  mean no running for me:)  Maybe once preschool starts!

 

Post run fun - Kelly got the stroller

Seriously over 30 ladies with kids.
And I actually talked to at least 15 of them

Loves her moments of independence

Molly climbed to the top -all by herself!

Thinking you throw me on your back and walk
and now I am stuck in the stroller

Loving the hat

FREEDOM!!!

Feeding Fish

Family Time

We have got to have lots of family time as Molly doesn't have preschool, Riley doesn't have moms day out and well Kelly is my accessory in life:)  To make the most of it we have a few routines like going to the mini zoo which has fresh eggs when I need to buy eggs instead of getting them at the commissary.  We have also started to have at least 4 picnic's a week either lunch, dinner OR snack.  One other tradition is getting ice cream what seems like 4 times a week.  We have a baskin robbins about a mile from the house which is a great post dinner family walk with a few park on the way thing to do at night - right??  We also got Jon in on a beach picnic which is pretty impressive since mess and water are not his favorite things!  It didn't help that dinner that night was sloppy joes but we all had a good time and memories were made.

 

Sloppy Joe beach picnic

Wait for me!!!

So let me tell you how awesome gatorgator is - or I will just drink it.

Who doesn't need a hat, purse, shopping cart and other accessories to start their day?

Snack time picnic

Ok the egg shop also sells ice cream so we got some:)

The picnic's are wearing Kelly out!

Took her awhile but she was finally able to cross her legs - what a lady:)

10 years

Well its official - we have been married 10 years!  And for our 10 year anniversary Jon gave me and all inclusive gov't paid for trip to Okinawa for 3 years:)  We were going to go to a zip line forest adventure but alas rainy season is upon us and that was the day of nonstop downpours (a little unsafe for zip lining).  Instead we went out for some sushi and coffee.  If you had asked me how I would spend my day celebrating this would not have been in my mind at all but we are good at improvising and it was actually a lot of fun.  The sushi was great and after getting over being soaked the coffee talk was much needed.  It sure had been an interesting 10 years with ups and downs and living in places I never dreamed of and I am glad I got to do it all with Jon!

 

We have also had a first this week - our first Okinawa geocache!!  We found 3 today and some amazing parks to go along with them.  Jon said he now knows how the kamikaze pilots were trained - they grew up with these crazy playgrounds.  I am thankful for girls because we have to push them to be adventurous but I have a feeling if we had an energetic little boy we might have a broken bone or 10 while here

 

1o years - they gave us an extra mini cappuccino

with a happy face - I guess they could tell we were celebrating

matching pj given by different families in different states in different years
Molly loves matching!

Enjoying a park day

Only took a little convincing but I got the big 2 to walk out to the rock with me.
Low tide means you can go forever - just got to beat the tide in

Riley loves the fried rice

Might have encountered a small problem with the construction of the bunk

Let the girls drive the car to the park

Seriously gross but she loves to climb!

Crazy women drivers!! Jon trying to catch up.

Snack time - outside café style

Molly climbing down the rock wall park.
Jon went down the slide park (the big open middle section)
Found our first geocache in Okinawa here!!

She climbed to the top!!

With her legs down the whole it was a great babysitter
(just kidding - kinda)

Gotta love the signs on this island!!!!!

Car love

I have had some awesome cars in my time - at least to me.  My Ford Taurus was amazing and I drove it for a good 10 years of my life.  Now in theory it was my mom's car but she didn't like driving "low" to the ground so she gave it to me and drove her conversion van.  Since I am the baby it just made sense for me to take it to college instead of cluttering my parents drive way so I sacrificed and took it (my brothers might not feel the same but they are the baby of the family now are they). That car was by my side for many years - I remember my first oil change in college which costs me more than $120.  I called my dad after (should have done that before) and asked if it would cost me that much every three months only to find out you answer NO to the oil guy when they ask about changing x,y &z or they will take you for every penny you have.  One summer while Jon was off playing Army man the door stopped working and I had to bungee cord the door shut while driving - that was fun! 

After the Taurus came the CRV - we had to get something all wheel for AK.  And I loved my glacier blue CRV that took my on many adventures and brought Molly home from the hospital.  Nothing crazy in this car but we only had it for 2 years.

Then we had Riley and soon found out Kelly was coming along and realized that CRV couldn't hold a family of 5 so we got the swagger wagon.  Doors with clickers, Bluetooth, seats folding completely down and overall awesomeness. We got version 2 when version 1 came to an untimely demise on a trip and still I took pride in my cars and loved them.

Now I have a 1998 Honda Odyssey that does not have clickers or sliding doors or 16 cup holders or Bluetooth or anything remotely luxurious.  BUT at the PX I found a tape thing that I can now listen to my iPhone and talk through my sound system.  You heard right a TAPE DECK that is my high tech radio system in the car.  So I may not want this car forever but I am thankful for God's provision in the little things like the ability to listen to my iPhone through the tape deck.  Which is good since the 2 cup holders it does have won't hold my water bottle only a 12 oz drink.

 

Don't be jealous you can't work around your tape deck!!

Stuff is here!!

2 things have hit - Rainy season and our stuff!!

Rainy season means it randomly downpours at some point each day.  Umbrella's work better than rain jackets since it comes for about an hour or two then stops and if you have your jacket you get too hot and look silly.  Of course if you don't have either you look like a drowned rat as my mom would say:)

Our stuff came on Saturday.  I had it in my head every box would be unpacked that day - Jon had that we would open the ones we could organize.  Guess who won?? Me.  Our Japanese packers had everything out of the truck in 1.5 hours and loaded in our house. That was 1 hour after I had dropped the girls off at our friends so I left them for another hour so I could work on the kitchen since I thought it would take at least 4 hours to unload the truck.  Our friends wore the girls out so the little two came home and took a 3 hour nap while Molly played and Jon and I opened boxes.  Jon was upstairs and didn't really believe I would just open and unload every box but he found out when he came downstairs how serious I was.  My thought is you can't organize if you don't see the whole picture - Jon can't function in severe mess.  We came up with the plan of going out and wearing the girls out more once they woke up then put them to bed without ever touching the stuff all over the house and it worked! 3 days later stuff still is not fully organized but the boxes are emptied since I know if I don't go crazy the first few days we could have boxes around forever.  We still have double furniture from the loaner gov't furniture which makes it hard to organize you know with 6 dresser, 5 night stands, 3 beds, 1 couch, 2 loveseats, a kitchen table, 7 chairs and a desk all taking up space that I will have to put stuff in later:)  Hopefully by next week I will have pictures of finished areas but here are some from work in progress.

 

Every girl needs boots for rainy season.  They picked matching zebra boots.

boxes, crayons and rain - a great combination!

Can't take off the new boots but loves playing in the fort

Boxes broken down except those holding paper

Taking fashion lessons from big sis!
All while bringing me secret messages from Fort McP

Mother's Day

For Mother's Day I got to remind myself to be thankful - and part way through the day get an attitude adjustment.  I was hoping for at least a card but in the end it has been better. We had kolaches and donuts for breakfast, got to Skype both of our parents, had a bbq at chapel where I got uninterrupted adult conversation and then drove around town by myself.  I will have to say the bbq did not excite me until we got there and Jon dealt with the kids and I met people at chapel I haven't talked to yet.  It was a great time to meet other families and connect.  On the drive home Jon said he would take the girls and go somewhere but I decided it would be best if the little two slept and I just went driving to who knows where.  I ended up going to the Target of 100 yen stores and getting some fun things to try out:)  And now Jon walked in the door with gifts from each girl: house slippers, an awesome pot and a rice cooker!

Yesterday we went to the aquarium on the island and it was a blast.  There was a ton of things to do outside and the whale shark was huge!! 

And finally Molly smashed her face into a sink at the doctor's office while waiting for Kelly's one year appointment.  It is getting darker each day so I am taking pictures!

 

adult conversation - every mom's deepest wish

inside a traditional Okinawa house

being eaten by shark

Tank with the whale shark

the face of a happy man

Molly, Riley and a stand in for Kelly

Day 1

Day 2



day 3

Picnic at the Dam

I get a lot of my adventure ideas off of the website okinawahai.com.  Today I typed in parks found one that looked fun, packed up a picnic lunch and took the girls to the dam.  The directions are always fun to follow with no signs to follow but today's adventure included the direction when you get to the mountain of trash you are about 1 km away.  Now when I read that I thought seriously how big can this pile of trash be - well we could smell it pretty far away as Molly started talking about the smelly pigs.  Which then brings up the road trip to TN when she got to see Grandaddy Will's (my granddaddy) pigs and cows and how BertBurt held her on his shoulders and I stayed at a hotel without them.  I on the other hand am trying to continue following my sparse directions while acknowledging her all while laughing in my head.  We made a pit stop at the sanitary plant thinking I had gone the 1 km but the nice man gladly told me I was not at the dam but the water cleaning plant - whoops!  We drove down the road a little farther and found our park!!!  On the website I used it had kids  playing in the water so I had the girls dressed in their swimsuits.  Today it was us and a group of 80 year old Okinawans who kept looking at us like we were crazy which got me to second guessing if we were actually allowed in the water but in the end I figured I could play dumb American if need be.  We were there for 3 hours and towards the end another family came and started playing in the water so I figured we hadn't been breaking the rules at all. 

This is definitely going to be on the list of places to picnic a bunch.  You couldn't really smell the mountain of trash up the road and lets not even think about where the water might be coming from for the dam!

 

 

Look ahead and see the mountain of trash!

Ready to go on this adventure with mommy

Picnic time

The two orange dots couldn't wait to get in the water

Perfect size for this family.

Kelly eating escargot.
Didn't realize their were snails in the shells until Kelly crunched one out

Having fun

Explaining the power of water shoes

Trying to get in the pool area

Time to go!

3 hours of fun in the sun and water wore them out