Happy 5th Birthday Kyle!

Well, I can't believe my little man is 5 years old. Where did the time go? At times it seems like it just flew so fast I feel like I missed a lot of it. I ask myself has it really been 5 years? At other times, he so big we ask are we sure he's only 5? Then he'll throw a tantrum and we'll remember yep, he's only 5.

Per Kyle's request we went to Chili's for his actual Birthday and had a family dinner. He couldn't wait for the staff to sing him Happy Birthday and bring him his cheesecake. Here are some pictures from his special night out. Sorry it took a week to post, for those of you who didn't hear our harddrive was down about 1 1/2 weeks ago for about 5 days. It was rebooting itself every 15 minutes, we weren't sure if it was a virus or hardware. It's working fine now, so who knows what it was for sure. Apparently, Don fixed it!

Ok, so the lighting's dark and it's sideways but you get the idea.

Kyle wants to thank everyone who sent him a gift, he loved everything.

My new track for my GeoTrax from Lisa, Colin and Kai.

Mom, Dad and Megan bought me a new scooter.

As soon as it stops raining, I'll get a picture on my cool new bike Grammy and Pappa bought me!

Father's Day Celebration

It was a great Father's Day! The kids kept Daddy's gift a suprise. We had had it made way back in Disneyworld in February and hand carried it in our luggage to Japan. Don is always grilling and splattering all over himself in the process so what better way to keep himself clean ......

Then we took him out for brunch with lots and lots of food .........

And lots of smiles and a good time by all ........ we had a wonderful Father's Day!

Soleil No Oka Fun

We found an awesome fun park here in Japan thanks to my neighbor Amy. We spent a funfilled Saturday at this French themed playground. Soleil No Oka means "Sun on the Hill". It is about a half an hour from the house but of course we got lost and did not see the little "sun" sign that would lead us to the park (all the signs are in Kanji (Japanese) which we cannot read). We got lost for about 20 minutes but finally made it to our destination.

Here are a few pictures of the kids enjoying themselves at the park. It is amazing the things the Japanese invent to put in the parks here, it is so awesome.

Sick of being Sick

Well I haven't posted anything that I've wanted to lately. Kyle has had a cold for the past 5 days and has now passed it onto Megan. For 3 nights in a row I have had to sleep upright in Don's recliner with Kyle to keep him from coughing so much. Don thinks it is a comfy chair, but sorry it's not! I haven't had much sleep but last night he finally slept 11 1/2 hours with only a 5-minute coughing spell. Needless to say, he didn't go to school and has been home for 5 straight days and desperately needed to go to school. Mommy needed a break.

While he was home we have been working on making (yes, making I think I'm crazy) a dinosaur egg pinata for his birthday party coming up in 2 weeks. Kyle will be turning 5 on June 23rd. I can't believe it. Here is our attempt with the first layer. After I made this one, I decided I'd better make another to make sure the kids can actually break it open. Keep your fingers crossed.

Isn't he a ham! Sure doesn't look sick does he!

Here is a picture of the outside of our house, we are on the 5th floor. This is life in Japan. For those of you who know Kyle, no he has not tried to climb over the balcony yet.

We went to the Kanazawa zoo here a couple weekends ago, the kids thought the zoo was ok. What they loved was the park there that we went to afterwards. The Japanese think of everything. Next time we need to bring our snow disks or a cardboard box. Megan's bottom got a little sore when her shorts rode up. The park reminds me of a warehouse when they load boxes down them. Don and I even went down them, they are a lot of fun!

I'm Getting the Hang of This!

So I'm starting to get the hang of this, I've played with the colors and figured out how to change the background but haven't decided if I want to or not. I've added some music, some of the kids favorite songs. Kyle loves to go around singing "Had a Bad Day" but didn't want to put that on, because I didn't want everyone to think he goes around having a bad day all the time he just loves the song. He also loves "You're Beautiful" but when he's mad at me or Megan he likes to sing it "You're NOT Beautiful", so I decided to leave those two songs off of my selection.

So people have been asking about the toilets. They absolutely FREAK Megan out but then again she has a problem with toilets that date back to Virginia. A few times she had been "Flooded" on a few times by automatic flushing toilets. Once in the NEX bathroom, where it auto flushed and it kept flushing and flooded the floor and we had to run out of the family bathroom and another time at daycare. No, Japan has come along way in the last 10 years since Don and I visited. The majority of the cities are "Westernized" and do have American style toilets, granted the they have all of these fancy flushing gadgets on them and bidets on them, but they work the same. You will find these in the malls and train stations, however they still have traditional Japanese toilets. However, if you do go to parks or smaller remote towns they are still traditional Japanese style toilets. So I always remind Megan to go to the bathroom before we leave the house. So here is the picture. By the way, sorry for all the "potty" talk. I try not to do this, but for those of you that asked here it is.........It's like a urinal but in the ground!

A few weeks ago I went along with Megan on a field trip with her second grade class to Yokohama. They toured a Chocolate factory and went to Chinatown. The chocolate factory was very secretive kind of like Willy Wonka. The Japanese Chocolate is different, not as sweet. Some of it is good. They have a sweet chewy candy similar to starburst but more airy called Hi Chew that the kids really love. That was a "Top Secret" process that we weren't allowed to see. All we were allowed to see was the packages coming off the belt and into the boxes. No cameras were allowed inside the factory. Here is a picture of Megan outside the factory and in Chinatown (in Yokohama).

So on to current events, school is almost out we only have 1 more week and then we are off for the summer. Hard to believe since we are into rainy season here. I need to figure out what we are going to do if it rains all month. The kids are really into swimming and the outdoor pools are open but freezing cold. Megan is now in Level 5 and can now join the competitive swim team. I want to see how she likes Level 5 first and see if that is something she wants to do. Kyle needs one more time at Level 2 and will then be able to move to Level 3. They are like little fish in the water.

Some friends and I went exploring off base on Tuesday and we found a wonderful bagel shop, they are so yummy and fresh. We also found a yummy Thai place. So I (Mrs. Picky) have found some places to eat off base. There was a street fair Memorial weekend that we walked through here on Blue street in Yokosuka. They were cooking octopus on a stick and Megan said "Ok, I'm never eating Japanese food", about that time I said the same thing. As most of you know, I'm not a huge seafood fan and a lot of the Japanese food is seafood. They even put seafood in their spaghetti or eggs on top. Whole other story.

Anyways, here is the last thing. Kyle had to learn a Hawaiian dance called the Hukelau and there's another one I forget the name. You might have to fast forward a little on the Hukelau to get to the actual singing. He loved learning them and would sing them at the bus stops (before we got a car). It was so cute. He loves to sing and dance and he tells us he wants to grow up and perform. We'll see.

Arriving In Japan

Okay so I've started a blog. We'll see how I am at keeping it current. I'm still learning how to do this so bear with me while I get the hang of it. I'll try and catch everyone up on what we've been doing and post a few pictures.


We have finally unpacked and are somewhat settled in our house, or should I saw Tower. We are on the 5th floor and with our two kids as most of you know is a challenge. We have to keep reminding them to be quiet and to quit jumping on the floors that we now have people that live above and below us. We still brought to much stuff with us and are trying to purge some of our stuff still. We are (Don would say I am) pack rats. I have a wonderful new neighbor who is wonderful at organizing and purging that I might enlist her help. I'm great at organizing at work but at home I never want to throw anything away, especially anything the kids make.


We have now ventured outside of the base and gone to a few parks, the Kanzawa Zoo, taken the train to Tokyo, and the biggie DRIVEN off base. It really wasn't as bad as we thought. Now that we are pretty much settled in the house. We need to start planning to go and visit something every weekend. The only thing is is that we have hit rainy season in Japan right now and it seems that every time we make plans it rains and pours buckets.


Here is a picture of the Cherry Blossoms at the end of March. They were really beautiful. They only last about a week and then they are gone. We got here just in time to enjoy them.



A day at the park. I believe this is Monkey Island in the background. It was a beautiful day. This is when we learned about the hawks. Watch out for them. Be careful when you are eating, they will swoop down and grab food out of your hands. They have scared Megan a couple of times.

Mikasa Park right outside the gate of the base. There are cool waterfalls here. The Mikasa was a flagship and was part of the Japanese Imperial Navy and it permanently docked in Yokosuka. It has quite a history. Mikasa Parks is the "Light, Sound, Water Park" and was dedicated to commemorate Yokosuka City's 80th birthday.

I don't want to overwhelm everyone, so I'll finish posting my pictures another day. I have pictures from Megan's field trip to a chocolate factory in Yokohama, a Japanese syle toilet, Kyle's hula dance at school and more. Bookmark this page and check back I'll keep updated you on our adventures and happenings in Japan.