1st Birthday Pictures

 Look who's ONE Year Old!!

To say that I can't believe my littlest one is going to be ONE is a drastic understatement.  The year flew by way too fast for my liking, and I'm sad that my little girl is no longer a baby!  It really seems like yesterday that I was bringing her home from the hospital, proclaiming "It's a GIRL!!!" :)


To mark this special occassion, I had Jana White Photography capture some beautiful pics of my little girl out amongst the cherry blossoms, which are in full bloom right now.  I love how they came out! She really captured a lot of her personality.


Sweet girl with her beautiful dress from my good friend Nerissa!

I just love this one!  She has a puff in her mouth and I think it is hysterical!  I have another pic that is almost identical to this picture WITHOUT the puff, but I think the puff is just so darn cute!!  It's totally Livy... I love it!

Will post more on Facebook too - but how cute are these?!?

My Funny Valentines

Here is a picture of my funny valentines and I at Maccaroni Grill on base.  Yes, we have a Mac Grill here!  Although, we really try not to eat there much and to instead get off base and eat at all the great Japanese restaurants.  We also have a Chili's on one of the other bases.  Do not laugh at my wet, just-got-rained-on hair!  Don't my funny Valentines look soooooo excited??? :)


We went with a whole group of friends, all of whom have deployed/TAD (gone) spouses right now.  So there were a lot of little people there missing their daddies!!  And big people too, I might add :)

Anyway, we had a nice dinner topped off with dessert - Mac Grill's chocolate ganache cake, which will always have a special place in my heart because that is the cake we had specially made for our wedding by the Mac Grill in Annapolis, MD.  Yummy!

Sunflower Festival

  

Sunflowers make the world a brighter place – and the sunflower festival is just what we needed to brighten up our weekend!  Yesterday was cold and dreary, but today was crisp and cool but sunny and in the 60's.  My friend Amber mentioned this place and I thought what better way to spend a Sunday afternoon!


The sunflower fields are in Nakagusutru, not far from where we live - maybe 4 miles? - and tucked neatly in between several Japanese housing areas. As we came upon the first of the four fields, I realized just how big and beautiful the flowers really are! The flowers stand at least 5 feet tall with paths weaving and winding throughout, creating a sort of sunflower maze effect. Some of the paths are covered with cardboard or wood, enabling you to avoid dirt and mud, but Wyatt loved running through the bare dirt paths with the Japanese kids!

As we left the first field and walked up the path to the second field, there were a few vendors selling some produce and traditional Japanese foods. Wyatt scored an enormous bag of cotton candy for 500 Yen, which I promptly had him share with his new Japanese friend, and at the end of the path I purchased a large bouquet of sunflowers for only 300 Yen. There was festive Japanese music playing from a sound system, and a performer beating a drum to the music.


The second field of sunflowers has a raised platform, enabling you to take elevated pictures of the entire sunflower field. There are tons of great photo opportunities, and being the only Americans among a sea of friendly Japanese folks, we had a lot of offers to take pictures for and with us! In fact, less than a minute of getting out of the car, we were stopped by five friendly older (60 years old?) Japanese women who loved on Livy and then asked to have their picture taken with us!  They were so sweet. 

We had a great afternoon enjoying our lovely little island. I am LOVING this weather and all the awesome outdoor activities I can do with the kiddos!!! We are finally really starting to feel at home here (even though we miss you all & the U.S. terribly!)

Happenings

It has been a busy couple of weeks since I last posted in "real" time!  Here's a quick update on all the happenings around the Parker household.

Tommy left on Saturday for an undisclosed location.  I don't want to get in trouble for a security violation, so I can't post any details, but he was excited to go on this Marine Corps mission and get to do his actual "job" for awhile.  The powers that be get upset when we post details like where they are, when they are leaving, when they are coming home, etc. because they do not want you crazies out there planning anything that might jeopardize their safety, so I'll leave it at that.

The kids and I had a busy weekend, though, with a baby shower on Saturday, and then they went to "the big school" (Child Development Center) for a few hours that night.  (Mom & Dad were supposed to have date night b/c Dad wasn't supposed to leave until Sunday, but his plans changed and he left early).  The weather was BEAUTIFUL all weekend and on Sunday we checked out a fun new park and then headed to a birthday party for one of Wyatt's preschool buddies.  After all that time outdoors and playing, I had two very tired kiddos, let me tell you!

This week was busy with Valentine's Day parties and playdates. Wyatt has had his fair share of sugar this week!  We have also been busy making plans for Grandpa and Grandma's arrival next week (only one more week!) and making meals for friends who had babies.  I had Miss Olivia's 1-year pictures taken with the beautiful cherry blossoms, and on Thursday afternoon it was so nice that we even went to the beach and played with our friends who just returned from the States.  Wyatt and Grayson had a blast playing in the sand and Miss Olivia thought the sand was mighty tasty! Mmmm....sand... yummy!

When does this stage of putting absolutely everything into your mouth end?!?

I have also been writing some more posts for OkinawaHai as well as getting ready for our big clothing swap tomorrow.  We have over 80 people registered again, so we have been preparing everything for that this week and tonight we go to set up the room for a busy and hectic day tomorrow!  I am so thankful to my friend Robyn for watching the kids in the morning for me while I am there.

We are looking forward to another busy week next week with more Valentine's celebrations, playdates, visits to cool places, and getting ready for a big visit from my parents!!  Here's hoping everyone has a great weekend!

Adventures in Hong Kong: the Final Chapter

When I last left you, I indicated that upon return to our hotel I noticed that we were missing something very important. I was unpacking the backpack from the day's travels and re-packing it for our adventure back to Okinawa that was to begin in the morning when I noticed the front pocket was EMPTY.

The pocket where FLAT STANLEY had made his home, our faithful companion while traveling the far East.

I sort of freaked out.

Umm.... WHERE IS FLAT STANLEY?!?!

Crud.

All I could picture in my head was the devastation of Reagan, the little girl who had sent us Flat Stanley.

We had taken Flat Stanley out of the pocket on the first half of the Ferry ride to try to entertain the kids, who were bored out of their minds.  But I DISTINCTLY remembered putting Flat Stanley back in the pocket, thinking, "It's our last day here...we don't need to lose him now!"

I also remember getting off of the ferry and seeing Tommy in front of me with the backpack on and the zipper compartment open a few inches at the top and thinking, "I need to tell him to close the backpack all the way."  But in my Sea-drunken, "I want to throw up" sea-sick stupor, I couldn't speak and it was all I could do to get off that ferry without hurling up the Almond cookies I had eaten in the fishing village.

Then we got on the subway...the very crowded subway... and walked to our hotel.  And now Flat Stanley was gone.

I think he was Stanley-napped.

Actually, I think we were probably "pick-pocketed," since the pocket was open a couple inches, but all the guy got was a very special Stanley.

ARGH!

I was more than a little upset.  I just kept thinking, "How did this happen!?!?"  I felt awful.  I mean really, really awful.  I should have listened to my gut, because I really wanted to mail him back before we left for Hong Kong because I was so worried about losing him, but Wyatt wanted to take him with us. 

GRR.

I guess Flat Stanley just wanted to see more of the world.  Tommy thinks he wanted to change his name to "Stan Lee" (get it?) and live in China.

When we got home I had to call Monica and tell her we lost Flat Stanley. :(  I had Wyatt make a new one, which he was super excited about, and even decorated with glitter, saying, "I think Reagan will really like this!"  We told Ms. Hile's 1st grade class that Flat Stanley wanted to travel Asia some more, but that his cousin, Stan Lee, was traveling there to see the United States.  And then I tried to make a really awesome package for the 1st graders to make up for it.

 Oh, Stanley.  Where for art thou, Stanley?!??

Adventures in Hong Kong: Take 3

 

The absolute best part of our Hong Kong Adventure was the 3rd full day of our trip, which was the day we toured Lantau Island.  Wyatt probably had more fun at Disneyland, but MOM loved this tour!

Our tour didn't start until 1 p.m., so we started off our morning by visiting Kowloon Park, which is a beautiful, amazing park that I do not have a single picture of.  Why? Because my daughter ate my camera.  Seriously.... I was trying to entertain her at Disneyland during a show and I let her chew on my camera, which seemed to have a negative effect on its operational ability. 

We walked through a beautiful maze made of bushes, checked out a reflection pool, watched the geese/ducks/pond animals play, watched a whole bunch of random Chinese people doing their Fung Sheu meditation moves, strolled through lush gardens, and then the music reigned down from above and the playground of all playgrounds lay before us. Wyatt took off at a dead sprint and played for a solid hour.  Livy had a great time too, but there was a large group of Hong Kong-ers there who apparently thought we were Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman (you know, back in the day) out at the park with our kids, because at every turn there were cameras stuck in my kids' faces.  The kids could have played longer, but after an hour of this (well, 3 days, really) I grew very tired and GROUCHY because A) I had previously dropped my Starbucks drink and it had spilled all over the ground, and B) I was tired of people sticking cameras in my kids' faces!!!  They were not at all polite about it... I mean literally sticking the camera in our faces and the flash going off.  I got fed up and we left.

Luckily we had naptime for Livy and lunchtime and more Starbucks for me and the day improved greatly.  We left for our tour at 1 p.m.

First we rode this AMAZING gondola ride for 25-minutes suspended in mid-air by only a cable car and some cable wiring.  I have no idea how high up we were but it was pretty freakin' high... we traveled over the river and through the woods (well, mountains) and it was, quite possibly, the coolest thing I have done in my whole. entire. life.

When we were almost to Lantau Island, I looked over and said, "Holy cow, what is THAT?" Then a split second later, "Wait - that's the Big Buddha!!  Holy cow - that is a BIG Buddha!"  You could see him off in the distance just sitting there meditating. 

When we got out of the cable car, we jumped out and met our tour guide, Queendy.  We were the only people on the tour that day, so we got our own private little tour.  We walked through this cute little village that I would have loved to spend more time in, but instead we went right to the Big Buddha.  Here are some pics of us enjoying His Bigness....we walked all around in it and up to the top and got the whole history lesson.

 
The Big Buddha - 83 Meters tall - Tommy says that is like 24 stories tall!

There are 3 smaller statues with their "offerings" to the Buddha.  You can see me holding Olivia to get an idea of how "small" they are.

 

Next we went to the Pau Lin Monestary, which is an actual practicing monestary with monks and everything. 

 We walked through the monestary and heard them chanting, sat down and ate a yummy little snack there, and walked through the gardens. I had just read Eat, Pray, Love which was very fortunate because it helped me understand some of what the tour guide was actually saying.

Loved this; thought it was beautiful and wished I could take it home with me for "yard art"!

Everything was decorated very intricately.  The detail was absolutely amazing! 

Last but not least, we headed to Tai O Fishing Village, the last remaining fishing village in Hong Kong.  It was AWESOME!  I just love how simple things are in this tiny little village. 

I just love the little markets. We sampled and bought some tasty almond cookies and our tour guide told us about the various types of crazy food they have there while we strolled through the streets.

The entire village is built in/along the water!

 The houses on stilts built over the water were amazing to me.  Queendy told us that some of the sons and daughters who had left the village for the city had brought back flat screen tv's for their families!  This seemed totally crazy to me...to live in this house with a flat screen tv? So funny.

I just love these beautiful shots of the village and water with their little boats.  I can't wait to frame some of them and put them up in the house!

The troops were getting restless by this time so after a VERY windy bus ride, we boarded the ferry that would take us back to Hong Kong island.  Probably a better option would have been for us to ride the Gondola back though, because as most of you know I get sea sick very easily.  I was ok for about 15 minutes but the last 15 minutes.... not so much.  I barely made it to the port but we had yet another problem in that we needed to take a second ferry to Kowloon, which I was not about to do.  The Taxis didn't seem to understand what we wanted and so we decided to find the subway.  We did, but it was rush hour, and we were starving, and we had starving, tired, cranky kids, but an hour later we made it back to our hotel!

Good stuff.  Good times. Good memories!

Except... that I started to pack and realized that we were missing something.... something very important that could only have been left on the ferry or the subway.  And with that, I'll leave you to wonder what it was, and save that tale for my next post!