Okinawa Zoo

We decided to go to the Zoo for Veteran's Day. Bryson had already went on a filed trip with his class but the rest of us had never gone. It was a nice day and not to hot. It was a nice zoo, I was rather surprised. Of course there were a few animals I felt really bad for with being in such a small cage but they all seemed to be pretty happy.

The elephants there even put on a show for us. They bowed, shook their heads, played a harmonica, made a basket with a basketball, and the boys were even able to feed them.

It was funny to see pigs and horses here in the zoo. Though its not like the states where you see horses down a country road.

Counting to ten....in Japanese.

Carter has learned so much in his pre-k. You can click on here and watch him do flash cards when he was just 2. He really does love his numbers.

A rather large snail!

Look at the size of that thing! I found this snail in our yard. I put a quarter next to it for a size comparison. Huge isn't it??

Ghost Brownies

I made Bryson's class some brownies for Halloween. He and the class loved them and so do I.

Pumpkin Patch in Japan

I miss fall! I miss fall even more because Chase missed his first pumpkin patch festivities. The hay ride, the leaves changing, wearing orange while getting your photo taken. Do you remember last fall? You can read all about it here. Joe had just left us for nine months and we were trying to stay really busy.

Back to the pumpkin patch. I was feeling really sorry for myself and Chase, and how his infant fall photos won't be with pumpkins. So sorry for him that I decided I would make my own pumpkin patch. I paid way to much for pumpkins that the grocery store ships in. I bought 3 very large ones that cost a lot. I then bought 3 medium ones, 5 tiny ones, 3 white ones, and some corn. There is no place to buy hay so I made do with my wicker basket. I also borrowed my neighbors 2 pumpkins.

They will have to do. This is all he will have and I will make myself be happy. Poor kid is going to be three before he ever sees a real pumpkin patch.

Happy Halloween

It's raining outside right now and I am wondering how we are going to go Trick-or-Treating? I took some photos of Chase yesterday in a make-shift pumpkin patch and afterwards took some pictures of the boys in their costumes. By then Chase was done having his photo taken and started crying. I thought all is well I will take some photos tomorrow before trick-or-treating, only now it's raining, and I am not going to get any good photos. Therefore I am going to have to share the photos that I took yesterday.

Last night was Trunk or Treating on the Marine base and they let all the local nationals on to participate also. Chase was a star in his little Chewbacca costume. The locals don't know how to speak very good English but they all pointed to their cameras and then at Chase. They would put their child next to him and snap away.

UPDATE: It rained on and off all evening and the boys were soaked. Bryson said this was the worst Halloween. I have to agree. No fun at all! The costumes are all hanging up to dry as we speak.

Here are the photos from yesterday.

Darth Vader

Carter was given this blank paper doll at school on the first day and was told to decorate it. This is what we came up with.

Silly Boy

We were at the clinic yesterday to get flu shots. I do not plan on giving the kids the H1N1 shot so I figured I had better at least give them their flu shots. At 4 this was Carter's first flu shot, thankfully my kids are very healthy and never get sick so its just one of those things I don't make them get. Back to the story..

We were at the clinic waiting and Carter places his hand on Chase's head and says "Chase this is your forehead." He then looks at me all seriously and asks "Mom, where is our three-head?" I thought it was so funny.

Later on that day when it was time to get ready for preschool I grabbed his (flu-shot) arm and he screams "You've broken my arm!" In a very southern drawn out yell. I couldn't stop laughing. Apparently his arm was a little sore from the shot.

Everyone is doing well after the shots and little Chaser's at six months finally got his four month shots. I know dead-beat mom. You can go back and read here why he is off schedule.

That's it folks!

How long do spiders live?

I have my very own Charlotte. My little spider friend has lived in my side view mirror for going on 6 weeks now. There have been several occasions where I thought I have lost him. Sometimes when I am driving he likes to hold on to his web and then he spins very fast in circles while I am driving. Once I come to a stoplight/sign he will crawl back behind the mirror.

One time I really thought he flew off his web and I called Joe and said "I think I have lost him." Is it strange that he knew exactly who I was talking about? His reply was "Are you seriously calling to tell me that!" The kicker is Joe called me the next day and said "You didn't lose him, he is still there." I see him everyday and will be sad when he is no longer around.

Foster Fest

Allissa

Bryson

Carter

Anthony

The Marine base had another Festival. Joe was busy with work so the boys and I went with the Salas'. We all had a blast. Ramon was Chasers rent-a-dad.

Happy Half a Birthday!!

Half a year is already gone and our little Chasers is getting so big. We took him out to Chili's to celebrate and we let him sit in the high chair for the first time.

We also moved him into his big boy car seat.

I also put up his Johnny Jumper and let him jump away. I think he had a great day, now only 6 more short months until his first birthday. I am getting sad already.

• Chase you sit up all by yourself.
• You can roll around the room.
• You do a little bit of an army crawl.
• You love it when we are rough with you (swinging you around, putting you upside down, bouncing you all over the place)
• You giggle and laugh and squeal.
• You love your big boy food and your bottles.
• I no longer nurse you.
• You sleep from 8ish to 7ish.
• You still love your exersaucer.
• Your chunky thighs are almost to big for your bumbo seat.
• Your favorite time of the day is bath time, you cry if I cut it short.
• Bryson can make you laugh so easily.
• Daddy and you are buds.
• I could have sworn you said bye.
• I also think you said mum.
• You have the prettiest gummy smile.
• You have the cutest little curl in your hair.
• Everyone says what a great kid you are and always ask what I do to make you behave so well.
• You still love to be held and my friend but it best "As long as you are touching him he is content."
• You can entertain yourself which is awesome.

You are such a joy to be around. We love you so much! Happy 6 Months Chase.

What does the Yellow light mean?

Carter: Mom the red light means you have to stop.

Mom: Yep

Carter: The green light means you can go.

Mom: Very good Carter, What does the Yellow light mean?

Carter: Go faster or you'll never make it!

So Big

In the last two weeks Chase has decided that sitting up is the best thing ever. These photos were taken about a week after he started sitting up and now that another week has gone by he is doing awesome.

Fall in Okinawa

We have now been on the island for 2 1/2 months. In that time we have had three possible typhoons that could have been disastrous had they not of changed their course and missed us. Only bringing lots of wind and rain. Being inside and looking out the weather can be quite fooling.

Last year we were living in North Carolina and a day like that would have been a cold, wet, windy, miserable day. Here in Okinawa its just wet and windy and still very, very, very HOT, with a shit load of HUMIDITY. But if you turn down the thermostat really low, grab yourself a Vanilla Latte (they don't have pumpkin spice here), a pumpkin cookie (courtesy of my friend Leann), some old pine cones from NC, and just look out the window, you can almost trick yourself into believing its really cold outside.

Lunch at the seawall

Saturday morning I loaded up the car and pulled out at 5am to head to my garage sale.  I paid 15 dollars for a spot at the golf course where they let locals come.  At 530 they opened the gates and gave us all our spot and I started to unload my car.  There are some locals that buy and sell every weekend.  As I started to unload I had some coming up to my van helping unload and going through my items.  By 615 I had already made 100 dollars and the gates weren't even open to the public.  At 7am the gates opened and the locals where RUNNING from two gates.  It was the craziest thing I had ever seen.  They were everywhere.  I would say there were probably between 60-80 people selling items and hundreds of locals to buy.  It was so fast that I packed what was left back into the van and I was pulling out of the golf course by 930 and had made 270 dollars.  It was the easiest yard sale I have ever done and will do it again when I need to unload some junk.

Some highlights of those few hours were.

• Watching an old man try on one of my belts from back in the day.  It was rhinestone studded with the words either FLIRT or HOTTIE on it.  He bought it and I chuckled. 
• I have a large foot which equals to a Men's size 8 1/2.  One younger man tried on a pair of my nice boots with a zipper on the side.  One again laughed to myself.
• I had a few items stolen.  I know this because the items missing had pairs or went with something.
• An old lady almost broke her hip after slipping on a piece of plastic and falling down hard on the pavement.  She dropped her scale she had just bought two Barney dolls and to Elmo dolls.  She hobbled away.  Poor thing.

Around lunch time we decided to go spend some of my money and have lunch at a Gyro place by the seawall.  On the way there I checked the tide chart and realized the tie was going to be out so I asked the boys if they would like to go look in the tide pools.  I leave the water shoes in the car because you never know when you will need them.  They boys and I had some much fun looking at the crabs, sea cucumbers, and sea urchins.  Joe was a trooper and carried around Chase so I could take photos.

There are usually no waves here in Okinawa but we have some stormes rolling in soon and the waves are picking up a bit.

Comprehensive Water Park

Last weekend we ventured out to Comprehensive Water Park. We weren't sure what to expect and boy were we surprised. We had a blast. The big slides have a ridiculously high height limit so Carter wasn't able to ride.

Which is funny because he can co go Disney World and ride rides like Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain Railroad and Fast Track at the age of 2 but he can't ride the water slides at the age of four.  Even with that minor set back we all had lots of fun.  There was still plenty to do for all of us....

even CHASERS!!

The park is now closed for the summer and we can't wait until next year.  Bryson has already claimed this as the place to hold his birthday party next year.  I can't wait, its sure to be lots of fun....Do you want to come?

Gordies

I have found the best burger joint here in Okinawa.

7 Years

Bryson today is your 7th birthday and I wonder how it's even possible.  Where has the time gone, how did we get here.  7 years has gone by so quickly and you have changed so much.  You amaze your father and I everyday. 

• You are reading at a second grade level.
• You say that your school work is too easy.
• You have told me to tell the teacher to give you harder work.
• You love Star Wars and Bakugan guys.
• You still love your DS and have way to many games for it.
• You take such good care of your little brothers, and they love you so much.
• You love to carry Chase around.  When you get home from school you always say how much you have missed him.
• You love chocolate and could eat it all day long.  Everything has to be chocolate: ice cream, cake, candy, doughnuts, muffins, pancakes, I mean everything.
• You were the man of the house for 9 months, while your daddy was fighting the war in Afghanistan.
• You lost four teeth this past year.
• Your teacher wrote a note to me that said your handwriting is IMPRESSIVE but that you were a PERFECTIONIST.  I am not sure if that's a bad thing or not.
• Your best friend is Carter.
• In the last 6 years of your life you have lived in New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, North Carolina and now Japan.  You are officially a world traveler.
• At your school checkup last month you were 49 inches and 52 lbs.  
• Your vision is 20/15 on both eyes.

As usual I am sure I am missing many more items.  You have been a blessing to both your father and I and we are so happy that you joined our family that Tuesday night at 10:48pm in Las Cruces, New Mexico weighing in at 6.15 lbs and 20 inches.  You have grown so much and we love you.

5 Months

Chase, you have definitely had some ups and downs this month.  I realized you just seemed so skinny and was really starting to worry about your weight.  You had your four month check up at four and a half months and you had lost 1 pound and 6 ounces.  You had mommy and the doctor very worried.  We started feeding you bottles as well as nursing and you are doing so much better.

• Everything goes into your mouth.
• You want everything that is within your reach and beyond.
• You will try your hardest to reach, grab and then insert in your mouth everything.
• You can already hold it by yourself.
• You can stand and hold onto the coffee table (though my hands are always right there)
• You are now back on your awesome sleeping schedule of sleeping through the night.
• You love your exersaucer.
• You have developed quite the personality.
• You love your blankies.
• You still love your mimi(pacifiers).
• Bath time is one of your favorite things to do, you love to swim after your toys.
• You love your brothers and your brothers love you.  You tolerate them so well and allow them to hold you, squeeze you, rock you upside down in your carseat, lay on you, smoother you, kiss you, fight over you, and ignore you.
• You love to play with kitty.
• You love to stand up.

We love you so much.

Boxes, Boxes, and more Boxes

Bryson and Carter's room

The hallway upstairs.

Chase's Room

Our Room

The Living Room

The Kitchen

The Kitchen

Kitchen

And one more of the Kitchen.  I have a lot of work in the kitchen huh?

Living Room

Saturday was delivery day.  Joe had called last week and our stuff had just cleared customs so Joe was able to set up a delivery time and finally after 78 days we were reunited with our things.

The delivery was set up to arrive between 8am and 5pm.  They showed up 7:47 and were done unloading all the crates, unpacking the kitchen items, and setting up the bunk beds in less than 3 hours.  Holy Cow!  It would have taken the Americans all day to unload our things.  We had nine Japanese men and they reminded me of little worker ants.  Unlike in the states there was no smoke breaks every 15 minutes, there was no getting on their cells phones, there was no just standing around because they were tired or hot, and the biggest observations was, they weren't expecting us to give them food or beer for their work. 

Now if I could just keep working instead of stopping because I am tired and overwhelmed I think I might just get somewhere.

"Mom, what is that?"

This was the question Bryson asked me while I was setting up my new Magic Jack.  I will explain the Magic Jack in just a second.

I pulled a telephone out of a box and Bryson proceeded to ask me what it was.  How sad is it that my own 6 year old has never seen a regular phone in our household.  We have always had cell phones.  When he asked me that I just started laughing and told him that this was great blogging material.

On to the Magic Jack.  This is genius and so cheap.  You pay 39.95 for the first year.  And this includes the actual Magic Jack device and the first year of service and the year after is 19.95.  That's it for as many phone calls, for all the minutes you want, for any country.  How amazing!  I know of some people that don't even have a home line any more.  They buy the Magic Jack and use it as their home phone number.  What phone number?  You choose the area code you want and the prefix you want and then Magic Jack chooses the last four numbers.  As long as your computer is on you can make calls.  I believe, but don't quote me, that you can receive calls if your computer is off also but that it goes straight to voice mail.  I am so excited about this service.

And no I am not getting paid to tell you all about Magic Jack, I just like it that much.  Though I have only made one phone call so far.  It's to early to call any of my friends and family right now, but I was able to call my Gigi and Poppy because they get up so early.

If you are thinking about getting a home phone check this product out.  The great thing about it that you can even travel all over the world and just bring the little magic jack and a phone with you and you can hook it up to any computer.  GENIUS!

Oh and Joe just got off the phone and he says its pretty good for calling half a world away.

First Day of Pre-School

Today was Carter's first day of school. He had a great day today. He came home and said he made 6 friends. Tonight we went to Chili's for his special dinner. We have been talking a lot about school lately and he says he doesn't want to go to college. I asked him why and he said because he doesn't want to live there. Then he asks me if they have food at college. All in all I think he had a great day at school, and I am thankful there are many years before college.

Torii Beach

We went to Torii Beach today. Actually this morning. We wanted to start our day off early before it got to hot for Chase. We were in the car and headed to the beach by 9 this morning. I think we were actually on the beach by 9:20. We went to another beach and its up the highway a bit. Torii Beach actually sits on an Army Post. What was nice about it was the beach itself, there was a food shack (though we didn't try), kayak rentals, and then a huge slide. The slide has 5 turns and lands in pool water. I believe it's 200 feet or so. The boys had a blast going down it, Joe included. He like to see how much water he can shoot over the sides with his speed. I have to say I got going pretty fast as well and flipped all the way over onto my belly on one of the turns.

Chase had a great time in the Ocean and hanging out on the beach. You should see all the photos I took. I took the rebel in a Ziploc bag and my telephoto lens. I took tons of photos, close up ones of Chaser's first time in the ocean, and nice wide angle ones to show the whole ocean behind him. I was so proud of this moment.

I came home to go through the pictures and realized I hadn't even inserted the memory card into the camera before we left. I took tons of photos with no memory card in the camera. I am so mad at myself. This was Chase's first time in the ocean and I missed it.

I guess there's always next time.

Old Friends

We went out to eat and then to American Village Friday night with some old friends.  In high school I ran cross country with Leann and Ramon.  They were the cutest little couple then and they still are.  They have two children.  Allissa is nine and absolutely adorable, and Anthony is six and all boy like Bryson and Carter.

The funny thing is, about a week after we arrived here I received an email from Leann.  The subject said Okinawa.  She asked me if I happened to be on the island because she could have swore she saw me walking while she was driving away.  I replied yes of course and then my next thought was, I can't believe she didn't pick me and the kids up.  She let us walk in the hot, humid heat.  

Actually that wasn't my next thought, I didn't think of it until weeks later.  Though honestly when you are in the military how often is it that you think you are going to see someone you know, on and island, in Japan.  I would have driven right past me also and not even had sent me an email.  That's borderline crazy status isn't it?

I am so thankful she did as our kids get along great, actually poor Allissa just puts up with all the boys.  Leann is just as much fun to hang out with as she was years ago and Ramon is just the same, quite and willing to do anything Leann asks.  They are a great couple, and we are blessed to have them here.

Lets Play a Game

Here are a few local fruits that I have on hand and I thought it would be fun for you all to play a game.  So...are you up for the challenge?

Match the fruit with it's appropriate meat.

1.


2.
3.
4.
A.
B.
C.
D.

First Day of School

Today was Bryson's first day of 1st grade.  I was not impressed with his teacher on Friday at the meet and greet.  I was even more upset when I ran into another mother coming out of Chili's that night and she couldn't believe the way the teacher had talked to me.  I tried to get him changed this morning but the school says no.  They won't even consider it until school has been in session for 5 weeks.

I am also having issues with the cross guards or shall I say lack there of.  Our home is just over 1 mile away from the school and transportation says its considered walking distance.  I am not happy about this, but understand that here on this island there are limited amount of buses for all the children and its hard to spare a bus for a mile walk.  The problem I am having is that Bryson has two major intersections to cross on his walk, and at each intersection he has to cross it twice.  The reason for this is because the sidewalk doesn't continue on the other side and then at the next intersection he has to cross twice again because the school is back on the other side.

One of the intersections is a street light.  This street light doesn't even have a button to push that would allow him to see when he should cross the street.  The other intersection is a stop sign that's a quarter of a mile from the school and it still doesn't have cross guards.  I addressed this concern with the school at first and they said to call the superintendents office and when I called them they said they would discus it with the school.  I feel like I am getting the run around.

If I had a choice I would not make Bryson walk home, and I am still trying to figure out how not to.  The problem I am having is that Carter gets out of Pre-K at 3pm with a very strict late policy.  They will charge by the minute.  Carter's Pre-K is also at another base.  Bryson's school gets out at 3:05pm.  See the problem I am having.  If they would just bus him I would be home by the time he was, the same thing if he walks I will be home before he gets there.  I just want him to be safe if he has to walk.

I will let you know what I find out.

Aria Asia in American VIllage

Friday night we took the boys to Yogurtland down in American Village.  We like to go on the weekends because in the square they always have entertainment.  Last week they had some break dancers.  I of course forgot to bring my camera but Friday night I was prepared and boy was I happy.

As we were walking in to get our yogurt the band was setting up everything.  Once we were done we headed down the steps yogurt in hand and found a seat.  The lead lady is a violinist and she was amazing.  She played a few songs and then a man came out and did a fire show.  Her name is Aria Asia and you can click on her name to take you to her website.

 The music was so beautiful that we bought a cd and she signed it for us.

All the years I played violin I never enjoyed it but the sound of it will make me stop turn and listen.  Its such a sweet sound, and I know just how hard, and what dedication it takes to play.

Here is a video I found on youtube that shows where she was playing and the show we saw.

Here is a better video to see what she actually looks like.

Its my 2nd BLOGOVERSARY

For my 2nd blogoversary this year I thought that I would go over some stats that statcounter has kept for me.

• The most visitors I had this past year was on May 29th with 151 visitors
  
• Followed closely by May 30th.  Thanks to this post.
• 68% of my visitors are from the States
• 21% are from Japan
• 31% of my visitors stay longer than an hour

And now on to the more funny...How have people landed on my blog.  This means what have they typed in to Google, Yahoo, or Google Blog search engines.

• Air Force Family Life.
  

You have come to the right place.

• Air Force Family Blogs

Once again, we are in the air force and this is a family blog.

• how force use in our daily life?

What?  I am lost on this one.  My boys might think you are talking about THE FORCE as in Star Wars.  They use the force in their daily lives.

• air force family of two kids dog

Not exactly sure what two kids dog means.  We use to have two kids and we do have one dog.

• air force family japan's blog

Well, this is a good place to start as I will be talking a lot about Japan for the next three years.

• Dawn Hudson where is she now?

Look no further you have found me.

So...Happy blogoversary to me, and thanks to all that read about us.  And if you want to see where it all began you can read my very first post here.

Futenma Flightline Fair

This past weekend the Marine base held a flightline fair. They had a whole bunch of airplanes and helicopters on display. It was a so so event. It was just so hot, we stayed for a couple of hours and felt that was enough. We were expecting more, as in there would be planes flying and there would be a show. The only show that was going on was a hotdog eating contest. So, we stayed enough to make our way through the planes and then headed home. We will be skipping this event next year unless something changes.

Stubby....

Came back to visit us. I found him in my bathroom upstairs. I scooped him into a box, took a few photos, let the boys see him, and then let him go outside. We are bound to see him again, I am sure of this.

Blogger will only allow me to add the one photo. I was going to show you a close up of his tail. It has grown quite a bit since Bryson chopped it off. I will try and add it later on today.

Another Visitor!

Alright so we had another visitor and after this one I don't want any more. Go away little creatures, there is no room for you in this house.
You can see just how long he was in comparison to Joe's size 12 shoe.

4 months

The time has really flown this past month and it's hard to say that our little Chase is four months old. He had another big month and still hasn't adjusted to everything that he has gone through.

• You flew half across the world.  
• You are now living in Japan.
• You love to roll from your belly to your back.
• If I would let you sleep on your belly you would.
• In the last month you are now not sleeping through the night.  Though after 3 hotels, 2 states, 1 country and several different beds who can blame you.
• You are still not very vocal, though when you allow us to hear you its sweet sweet music to all of our ears.  Your voice is just so sweet.
• You love to smile and you do a voiceless giggle, with a few peeps here and there.
• The Japanese just love you.  As Bryson says "The Japanese love American babies huh Mom?"
• You just got your two month shots 3 days ago.  I know, I should be ashamed of myself but preparing for the move, and then your daddy coming home and then moving,  your shots got put on hold.  I promise to do better now.
• You did great with your shots but still have a nice big lump.
• You went to a few more movies.  G-Force, and Aliens in the Attic.
• You still would rather be held then not.

I am sure there are many more but it's hard to think on the spot.