Easter Festivities!

As was the case last year, we had a wonderful Easter season filled with lots of fun celebrations.  We started off hosting our Easter party that I blogged about last week.  We are still eating the eggs from the egg dyeing session!!  The kids both actually liked the egg salad I made - yay! I'll be making that again!

Then Wyatt had his Easter programs at his preschool this week.  He sang most of the words but wasn't too excited about doing the actions.  He mostly held his hands in the air and twisted his body around from side to side!  He is so funny.  The kids did an excellent job, though.

This Easter I got to play mommy, daddy, AND the Easter Bunny!  Here are some shots of the kiddos opening their Easter baskets (notice the note left by the Easter bunny), followed by a package from Grandma Gretchen, which the kids both loved as well.  They have long since opened their package from Grandy Cathy!


The kids and I went to Good Friday and Easter morning church services.  Well, actually the kids stayed in the child care room while I went to the services... I am not brave enough to have them both with me yet alone!  Wyatt wouldn't be a problem, but Olivia can't sit still for the life of her!  I still dressed them up in their Easter clothes, though... a great reason to take some pictures!

Then in the afternoon on Easter day we drove up to Yomitan to my friend Colleen's house.  The weather was gorgeous again so the kids had a fun egg hunt!  Olivia wasn't too into the egg hunt but Wyatt was off and running!! 

They have a beautiful patio upstairs off their kitchen that was perfect for sitting out enjoying the beautiful weather and great food.  We had a great day and I am always so thankful for my extended Okinawa "family!"

Lessons Learned

Lessons learned today:

1) Always double check to make absolutely certain that your 14-month old didn't steal your keys out of your purse and leave them sitting 12 inches inside the doorway before you lock your house door with your house and car keys inside.

Side Note: When I called housing maintenance about my dilemma, the customer service lady asked me the following questions, in this order.

1. Are ALL of your doors locked? (umm....yes. That is why I am calling you.)
2. Did you check the windows?  (umm...yes.  But we live in a tropical paradise.  We do not open our windows, there is way too much humidity here.)
3. What about other family members?  Can't they get you a key?  (umm... not unless he overnights one from 8,000 miles away, NO.)
4. Did you bring us an extra one to keep on file in case of lockouts?  (Yes.  I did.  Can I please have it???  At which point she tells me that it probably isn't ours, it is probably an old tenant's key and will not work, but I am welcome to try. Um, what????  Luckily it worked, and I have nice neighbors who not only watched my children for me, but gave me a ride there to pick up said key.)

2) When going to the beach, just go the extra step and put the swimsuits on everyone even if you're not planning on getting in the water... because you will, at some point, be getting in the water.  Do not be fooled by the 3-year old telling you that you can go to the beach but just not get in the water. 

3) Always diaper your 14-month old, even if only for 15 seconds, because you will for sure end up with a large turd on your chair! 

4) Do not race your children up the stairs because it's possible that the under 2-year old crowd might not have as good a command on the stairs as you thought and might end up toppling down them butt naked and getting her foot caught in the bannister.  Not that this actually happened, because that would be poor parenting, but you know... just don't ever let that happen to you....

:)  All in all, another fun day with beautiful weather! :)

The Smash Truck

Wyatt has always had a love affair with the trash truck.  Back in Quantico, he would wait outside and watch for them to come and watch them drive through the neighborhood.  Some days, if we were in the car loaded and ready to go, we would have to wait on the side of the road until there was a trash truck sighting before we could head to daycare!

Now that we are here in Oki, Wyatt loves to help me with getting the recycling sorted and taken out to the curb.  He loves to take the stuff and sort it into its respective bin... glass, cardboard, plastic, or aluminum.  Then on Thursday night he always helps me bag up the stuff (he especially likes to bag the aluminum and the plastic) and he hauls it out to the front curb for me!  He loves it. 

The trash comes TWICE a week here, which is amazing to him, and recylcing comes once a week.  He is forever asking me questions about what they do with the stuff.  Last summer we got a book from the library about trash and recycling, and it was called the Smash Smash Truck (or something to that effect), so that is what the trucks here are now called - The Smash Trucks.

The cardboard recycling truck comes around on Friday afternoons right after we get home from preschool.  Wyatt will wait outside and smile, wave, and get excited.  He always says hello to them, but they are Japanese and either don't understand what he is saying or just don't care (I prefer to think the former!)  ...But last week we had a major breakthrough!!!  The guy threw the cardboard in and let Wyatt push the button that smashes it all up!


He was beside himself with joy!

Oh, to be 3 again.  How I love this little boy!

Spring Break, Part II!

 Wonder Museum

The beautiful Okinawa weather continued on Thursday with hints of summer’s humidity, but this time we actually stayed indoors at the Wonder Museum. This is a kids’ museum inside the Zoo, which is only about 15 minutes from where we live. We’ve been to the zoo, but not the museum, and my friend suggested a playdate there. The kids spent THREE HOURS here. They LOVED it! Why, oh WHY, have we not been here before?!?


I bought an annual pass. And it was a steal of a deal!

But I digress. This place was three floors of kiddie heaven. Everything is their size and built for “little” eyes, hands and feet. There are blocks with which to make shapes in a tray, and then you insert it into a machine which makes the inanimate object come to life as it is projected onto the screen behind you.
There are balance beam races, “backwards” goggles (I almost threw up…) and a little area devoted to water play, with a little house and dress-up clothes. Wyatt spent a good 20 minutes trying to make these little balls swirl around in this cone-shaped sphere. It was fantastic!
 

The pictures above are from the dress-up area.  I think Kaitlin could have played there for hours!  Maybe when Olivia gets older she'll want to spend more time there, but Wyatt just wanted to move the furniture around. LOL.  They had kiddie-sized furniture - I just love the chaise lounge!  So cute!

Easter Celebration!

Friday dawned and I started in with preparations for our annual Easter party. I expanded this year and I think I had around 10  kids, counting the wee little ones. It was sort of chaos but in a fun way… we did egg dyeing followed by an Easter Egg Hunt in our backyard.

Again, what a difference a year makes! The kids were so excited about the egg hunt that I could barely get the eggs spread out before they mobbed them. We had to regroup and explain the “rules” and then have an official start to the hunt!

Olivia even got in on the action. I think she caught on at the end, because she saw this egg and went right to it!


Most of the kids were excited about all the eggs they found, but there was one unhappy camper… isn’t this picture just so cute?!?

Savoring their goodies!

My little one in one of her many spring dresses!

After the party, Wyatt wanted to finish dyeing eggs... he was too wrapped up in the excitement of the party to dye very many when all of his friends were here!

Zukeran Egg Farm & Mini Mini Zoo

 

 Saturday was a full day. We started off at basketball practice, bright and early, followed by a 4-year old birthday party at the bowling alley. By the time that was over at Noon, we were all exhausted and Olivia desperately needed a nap! After she rested up, we headed out to the Zukeran Egg Shop and Mini Mini Zoo (I’ve mentioned this place before on here) to check out the animals, play in their little play area (above) and get a treat. They have the Most. Amazing. Cream Puffs!! They are to die for. Oh, and their pudding too. YUMMY! A couple of errands later, and I had a tired crew on my hands!


Yesterday (Sunday) we took it easy. The rain had finally come so we stayed inside most of the day, although we did get dressed up and venture out for a wonderful baptism for the Smith boys. They were adorable and it was great to be part of their special day. And today… well, it’s back to the usual routine. Wyatt is back at preschool and I must say, I am sad spring break is over – we had so much fun!

The Backyardigans

 Oh wait…This post is about the backyard... not the "Backyardigans."  That is a cartoon show! Sorry. Too much time with the toddlers!!!


Last Saturday night we had a fun bbq party in our backyard that we share with our neighbors, Nate & Ivette, and our good friends Kyle & Jen (and baby E) and their neighbors, who we have also become friends with, Jack & Antonia, and did some grillin’.  That is, after I ran to Foster to get a new propane tank.  'Cuz you know that the ONLY time the propane tank runs out, is the time you are grilling with guests!!  Amazingly, I was the only one who hadn't been drinking yet, so I got the nod.  Now that is a first!! :)

There were kids. There were dogs. There was beer. There was amazing bbq chicken and ribs and other equally amazing food. There may or may not have been some Malibu Rum shots. It was sunny and a beautiful 70 degrees. All of our husbands were home – and not deployed – and at the same time! We had a great time drinking and eating and chatting... and just relaxing.  FUn times!

That was last weekend. This weekend, two of the four husbands are gone and one of the couples has packing up their belongings to send halfway around the world in preparation for their upcoming move, which, have I mentioned, I am VERY SAD about?!? Such is life in the military – and so, we seize the day!

Spring Break, Part I

Spring Break is here and we are having a blast! Tommy left on Sunday for about a month, so after we dropped him off at the airport and ate lunch we headed out to the Tree House Park. I blogged about this park last year when we went there, and because there are so many great parks in Okinawa we actually haven’t been back there yet! Wyatt has been asking to go, so off we went on Sunday. The weather here has been absolutely gorgeous so we got out and enjoyed the afternoon.



What a difference a year makes! Last time we were here, Olivia just hung out in her baby carrier while I chased Wyatt around the park. This year I am chasing BOTH kids around the park – in different directions!! Olivia really liked the merry-go-round type thing and the swings and Wyatt just wanted to see-saw and climb the tree houses. They had a great time!

Monday was actually rainy so we drove down to Naha (the capital of Okinawa) and went to this place claiming to be a kids play area similar to one up here (Mona Kids Jungle, where we had Wyatt’s birthday party last summer). Olivia has been sick and wasn’t sleeping well, and Wyatt was just plain worn out from our recent adventures. As soon as their heads hit the car seats they were both out cold. Luckily I had brought a book so after I drove 45 minutes to the place I sat in the parking lot and read for over an hour before they woke up! It was heaven :)

The play place, however… not so much heaven. It was very small and Wyatt was really too old for the play stuff they had. He played for about 15 minutes and then we went next door and got a strawberry smoothie. It was yummy and made the trip not a total loss!

Tuesday was gorgeous, so we drove up north this time to Nago to go to Neo Park. It is supposed to be a sort of wildlife zoo. I had heard questionable things about this place from some but others seemed to really enjoy it. Let me just say that animals on Okinawa in general are not treated as well as they are in America. At all. As in, most of the animals here, whether they be stray dogs/cats or animals on display, are typically mangy looking and dirty. It's not that they are mistreated, but they just aren't all prettied up and on display.  I guess more true to what their natural habitat would be like.

This place started out cool, with tons of birds at “Flamingo Lake” for you to feed. The kids loved feeding them and it was so fun to see their faces light up when the birds came near! I just love Wyatt's face in this picture!  He thought this guy was awesome! 

Once these birds realized you had food, they were on you like butter. Soon we had our own little trail following behind us!

The lake was really cool but after that it was sort of downhill. There were some neat features but the animals were just sort of sad looking. The kids didn’t know the difference though and they had a great time. We saw llamas, small ponies, ostrich, lemurs, dogs (a whole petting zoo of them!!), some small monkeys, goats, and tons more birds.


At the end the kids played on the cheesy kiddy games and then Wyatt spotted the train… a really cool, realistic train that just happened to pull up at that exact moment that we were walking past the train station. It is so cool that it cost me as much as the admission fee to pay to ride it around Neo Park for 22 minutes! Ha.


By the end, we were all worn out. Olivia needed a nap and so did I :)  We drove home, I cooked dinner, and because Wyatt ate it ALL, we had ice cream.  With chocolate cones, whip cream AND sprinkles!!  You would have thought the kid won the lottery, he was so excited!  Then we went outside and sat in the beautiful sunny 70 degree weather and ate our ice cream.  I love my kids!

Stay tuned for more spring break adventures!!

Basketball Stars!

The Air Force base nearby offers 3-4 year old sports like soccer, basketball, baseball, cheerleading, and flag football.  We tried out soccer last fall, skipped flag football, and are now back at it was basketball on Saturday mornings.  Soccer wasn't exactly Wyatt's sport, but I had really high hopes for basketball - I love basketball!  He said he wanted to try it so I signed him up and he started 3 weeks ago. 

They concentrate mostly on fundamentals like dribbling, passing, and teaching them about the lines on the court.  In fact, while they have had free time to shoot before practice begins, they've never actually practiced shooting and we are halfway through!  I think that's a good thing, but I think Wyatt is sort of confused :)  Wyatt seems to like it a lot though and he is actually pretty good at the shooting part - I was impressed! We got him a basketball but we need to find a basketball hoop yet.

There are two coaches, and they are both so good with the kids!  They break it down barney style so the kids don't get frustrated and keep their attention focused.  To teach them the defensive position, they had them learn to "roar" like a dinosaur while bending their knees, feet spread apart, and hands up "clawing" as you would if you were playing defense.  GENIUS!  I love it.  Every time they blow the whistle, the kids get down and roar.  It's so cute!

Olivia loves the gym because she can run, climb, chase balls, etc.  I love the gym because there is very little trouble she can get into there.  Although she did manage to find the fire extinguisher.  Still, it's a win-win.  She also loves to get in on the action - notice her sitting in amongst the team circle and "huddle!" 

I actually love that she is getting exposed to basketball at a young age.  I was appalled and dismayed that there are no girls on Wyatt's team because it is supposed to be co-ed.  Zero. Nada. NONE!  I couldn't believe it.  His soccer team was about 50/50... so I don't understand why no girls on the basketball team?

Anyway, Wyatt really likes it and Olivia will like it too, in about 2 more years :)