Love being out and about

The girls and I find something to do every day that is out in town.  I love getting to experience the culture and it wears them out so they take 3 hours naps every afternoon so I can workout, clean house and do dinner prep in peace!!  Here are some snapshots of our past week - enjoy:)

 

 

Park thanks to Stroller Warriors and a 40 minute run/walk.
They make it so the kids find the benefit of mom exercising!!

The last Friday of the month we celebrate birthdays - yet another reason the girls love me exercising

Awesome slide - all she had to endure was sitting in the bob for 40 minutes

Her too - one day she will get kicked out and Kelly get her spot

Molly found the camera at the pool and took a few pictures of herself:)

mini-zoo, eggs and a crazy lizard thing - what more could you want??

Oh yeah custard at the end

Why you need to shop at the local farmers market - not only fresh but CHEAPER!
Basil on left $1 grown on island.  Basil on right from the commissary $1.79
Glad I have friends who showed me the ropes

Everyone on their phone on the trampoline.
Kelly is only mad because I had Molly grab her for a picture - I promise!!

Beach day with our bible study group

Playdate with some friends we made at a community center.

I am trying to let them help cook at least twice a week.
Nutella cheesecake and dump cake were the creations this week

Trampolines and water - oh so fun!!

Prize for accident free days.
 

Seriously almost nightly we go out on the trampoline for family fun

And Riley hangs out of my lap instead of jumping

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!!