First Days of School!

I love the first days of school.  Okay, not really, I just like the change in seasons.  It means it is starting to feel like Fall and the Eastern Idaho State Fair is going on.  Oh! Funnel Cakes, Fat slices of homemade bread, Philly Beef Sandwiches, and so much more!

Okay - well back to Okinawa and our First Days of School!  First off, not feeling like fall at all.  I am wondering when to break out the fall decorations (I think I had better finish painting and unpacking first).  I miss having my kiddos with me.  Even though our summer has not been lazy and comfortable, I wish it didn't have to end.

Jayce started third grade this year - wow!  Homework the first day!  Grammar ugh!- I feel bad for him (until his whining starts and then not so much).  He is in the Japanese Partial Immersion class, so he gets some Japanese every day.  He is to ask to use the restroom and other things in Japanese.  Once a month they eat a Japanese lunch, the call it O'Bento.  Check out this blog about O'bento.  He liked school for about 3 days, now it is horrible.  But - this year - I remember how he gets at the beginning - My Mr. Hyde - and I am prepared to patiently wait it out.  Based on the name tag - you might have guessed that these are actually after school pictures.  The movers showed up at 8am and Jason was off running errands, so in the mad rush to make sure he was not late for the first day - we forgot to get pictures (And the Bad Mom of the Year Award goes tooooo.. Me).

Grahm started Kindergarten this year and he was so excited.  His first day was a week after Jayce, so he spent and entire week asking me how many more days until he his first day.  I am so glad that he is excited.  After 2 days - he still likes it!  He is also in the Japanese Partial Immersion program.  Every day they get red, yellow or green depending on how they are behaving - 2 greens!!  He looks so grown up to me!  As usual, the walk back to the car means watery eyes - I don't know if a Mom is ever ready to let go completely - The world is so mean and unforgiving and I hate it when it wins a battle.

He was doing some kind of not opening his eyes thing for these pictures, at least he was smiling!

Hah, got his eyes open!

Reading his name in English and Japanese!

End of the day and he is still smiling!

Trying to Remember

You would think that starting school, new routines, new places, new faces, etc... would bind a family closer together.  Help us appreciate each other a little more, rely on one another for companionship, understanding...

Not in this family.  Remember how I told you that I would need this picture to remind me that they do actually love and like each other most days.  Well, I am digging the picture out tonight to help me. 

My two boys are currently sharing a twin bed in order to help them feel closer to each other.  When they can cease trying to kill one another they can return to their previous sleeping arrangements, everyone in their own bed.  You know the lyrics - "love grows best in little houses"  well, I am trying tight sleeping quarters.

I think it is working, they have already joined forces to convince met that this is a completely unacceptable way for them to sleep.  They are too hot, it is too small.  I love to hear team work!!

The End of Summer!?

I can hardly believe that summer is over.  It was busy and we didn't get to do all the things we wanted to do.  The kids have been amazing, they have spent countless hours entertaining themselves with no toys.  Hours while we packed, cleaned, sorted, trashed, cleaned, painted, unpacked, sorted, etc...  Life is starting to get back to normal- they have toys again.

We accepted a friends invitation to visit the aquarium here on Okinawa before school started.  It was amazing.  The Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium is home to the second largest aquarium in the world.  They have huge manta rays and whale sharks.  It is amazing.  First we ate or picnic while we waited for the dolphin show to begin.  It is narrated in Japanese, but still fun to watch. 

Then we headed inside to see all the sea life. They have a "petting pool" where you can touch various forms of sea life.
 After checking out most of the tanks we stopped at the cafe for ice cream, Japanese ice cream is different than our ice cream - yummy. While in the cafe you can enjoy a view of the large aquarium, we watched them feed the whale sharks!!

I practically chased him all day, I was lucky to even get this picture of him.  He is growing up!

As we were leaving the aquarium the kids couldn't resist a quick climb on this cool climbing park.  They have the coolest parks here.

Back to our Island Adventures!

A few weeks ago we went to Comprehensive Water Park with friends.  It was really nice.  You buy your entrance tickets from a ticket machine (luckily they had a set of buttons in English).  This pool has lots of rules, but I think it helps keep it nice.  The water is warm (I don't think you can find cold water except in the fridge). 

It is getting harder for me to keep track of all of the kiddos when I am by myself - the age gap is feeling bigger these days.  Charlotte, Grahm and I enjoyed splashing in the wading pool while Jayce and his friends enjoyed the water slides. 

I think we all really liked the lazy river, it was huge!

My first squatter!  This was the first time I had actually seen a squatter.  It is like camping, I guess - with my big belly I didn't risk falling over.  However, I prefer them for Charlotte - no touching yucky toilet seats.  The Japanese do offer a sanitizing spray in some bathrooms for toilet seats - good ideas!  The toilets here are crazy.  I will have to do a post just about bathrooms!

The Age of Accountability!

I still can not believe I have an 8 year old.  While we were visiting family this summer Jayce who had turned 8 earlier, chose to be baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  We could not be prouder of the choices he is making.

Two handsome boys!  Love a man in white!

We enjoyed the day with family.  Grandma and Grandpa Geary, Stacey and Jenny Lowe travelled to be with Jayce on his special day.  Grammy and Grandaddy Miller, Grandam Jones, Grammy Mary and Grandaddy Neil, Erica, Nick, Prestley, Savanna, and Lincoln Stallings, Amanda Miller, Katie, Brody, Atalyn, and Sailor Tomazin, Laurie and Cole Shawver, and Hannah Miller were all there. (If I am forgetting someone - please let me know so we can get the story right for Jayce when he is all grown up). 

Jayce, his siblings, and cousins sang a primary song - they did a great job and were so cute. 

We enjoyed yummy food afterward at Grammy and Grandaddy Miller's. 

For those who read this blog that are not familiar with LDS church please go to Mormon.Org for any questions you have or feel free to ask them here and I will do my best to answer them.

Grahm was really there, but cousins are so much more fun than family.  He was already on his way to the family BBQ!

Jayce - your Dad and I are so proud of you!  You make good choices every day and are a wonderful example to your little brother and sister (and to your parents)!  I have a testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel.  Pray often for help and guidance and you will always find your way home.  You constantly amaze me with your ability to be compassionate, understanding, and valiant.  I love you!


Some of my thoughts on Baptism!
When someone reaches the age of 8 we believe that they are old enough to be held accountable for their choices. At this point they need the Atonement of Christ to help them return to live with their Father in Heaven. Therefore, they need baptism and the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost to help them through life and all its tough choices. Some people (including myself) have thought that 8 is so young to be making such a huge commitment to join a church. It is obviously not as young as some churches, but very young. However, my brother-in-law in a wise moment made the comment that even though it is young, they will need the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost to ultimately make that choice (a choice that is really made again each day of your life) and to choose good over evil. I also want to point out that baptism is a very serious commitment, but it does not take away free agency. Should anyone at any point after baptism choose to no longer be a member of the LDS church they can make that choice.

We survived!

6 - 2' stakes and lots of rope!

This past Tuesday brought us our first Typhoon.  Our furniture and belongings arrived Monday morning and we were home happily unpacking when we first started to hear about a typhoon.  Well us newbies kind of blew off every ones worries until Monday afternoon - and by then we were not going to go to the grocery store madhouse.  Our neighbor told us we needed to secure our shed and our trampoline and to use more than just a few sandbags to do it.  Jason promptly left to purchase all the needed items from our Japanese home improvement store MakeMans.  By dinner we were secured and inventory of water and peanut butter had been taken and we settled in for our Typhoon.  I was thinking how glad I was that our belonging had arrived. Why?  Because even if we didn't have what we needed on hand in the kitchen - I knew that somewhere in all of those boxes were 72 hour kits and we would be fine!  Love the church for teaching us preparedness - what peace of mind!

Jason was home from work all day Tuesday and Jayce had no school (forget snow days we have typhoon days).  We spent the day unpacking and organizing and mostly waiting for our Typhoon.  Well it did arrive late afternoon and these amazing concrete houses that the military built completely shut the storm out.  We did have some leaking windows and walls (from the windows), but we didn't even hear the storm.  We had to keep checking outside to see if it was really blowing and super stormy out there.  The trampoline and shed stayed put!  We didn't get the worst of it and life returned to normal Wednesday morning.

Wet morning pictures of the secured trampoline!

Our Summer Vacation - Post 3: Idaho

We spent a little over a week in Idaho with the Miller family.  Time flew by way too fast.  The worst part - everyone had to keep reminding me that we were leaving.  I did okay when I just thought of the whole thing as just another summer visit and then we would be flying home (not to Japan).  So once a day or more I and my Mom or one of my sisters would have to choke back a few tears, change the subject quickly and keep having fun.  Saying goodbye was really hard this time (I will blame it on the hormones associated with the growing belly - everyone else come up with your own excuses - I MISS ALL OF YOU TERRIBLY).

We spent our time eating yummy food, letting the cousins have sleepovers and hang out (not nearly enough).  We helped work some Low Line Angus (mini cows).  Jason of course refused to be the babysitter or hang out with us girls - so he found work to do to stay busy (plus who doesn't love a chainsaw and a big tree).

Branding Cattle (the dry ice method)

A little roping!

Calf Wrestling

This is what the girls do while the boys work cattle.

Loving Cowboy boots with a tutu (need to find her a pair)

First Lessons on Balance

Getting Atty to hold still for a picture

One accident hit us while we were in Idaho.  Just a few days before we left all of the adults (minus the pregnant one) were in the middle of an intense volleyball game.  The kids were playing off somewhere - the toddlers on the porch.  Well Charlotte and Atty were on the porch swing (freshly repaired by Jason and recently rehung) watching Lincoln playing with a car.  Atty and Charlotte leaned a little too far over the back to see and flipped the porch swing completely over (all 3 kids swallowed by the swing).  I was holding baby Sailor and went running, they climbed our from the carnage very upset.  Charlotte was hysterical.

I know from experience after you get stitches in your chin - every time you bump it, it feels like it has split open again.  She was so scarred about it happening all over again.  It was so sad.  Fortunately the other two didn't get a scratch or even really a bump.

Summer Vacation - Post 2: Camping in Malad (A)

On our drive in to Cache Valley we made the "mistake" of stopping at a rest stop perched on top of a mountain.  As soon as I smelled the fresh mountain air I exclaimed "Let's go Camping".  So we did our best and made it happen, we drug the Geary's along for the ride.

Future hunter. Don't shoot your eye out!

Big tree on our hike!

Everybody Up!

Too tired for the hike, thank goodness for Daddy's!

Proof that they do get along (I need to print this one up big - just for me)

We missed you Colby (all of the Geary Grandkids  - except Colby).

This one was hard to get them to kind of sort of pose for and then I screwed up!

Our family picture waterfall (we don't get one every year - but started taking pictures here when Jayce was a bun in the oven).