Another Soccer Day

Scott was able to come with us to soccer practice today, and I think Matthew was much happier to play with his dad than with me. Here they are getting ready to pass...Anna wanted to play too.

Matthew does a BIG kick. Such enthusiasm!

Here are the kids during a little scrimmage. Matthew is walking around in the background with his hands on his neck. He did kick the ball a few times.

Also during the scrimmage. I'm in the blue shirt here. I don't know what I'm trying to direct them to do here. It was a bit chaotic.

Matthew's favorite part of soccer: the end, when they get to eat snacks. He had more fun at the beginning (playing and running with dad) but still got tired at the end. We only have one more week of soccer so hopefully we can make it through!

Fall at the Commissary

I like fall, even though I haven't lived many places that have a real fall - only Utah during college. But I still like going to visit the pumpkin patch in October. Last year we were in Rhode Island in October (they have a real fall!) and we got to go to the pumpkin patch AND pick apples. We also went in Monterey when Matthew was little. Very fun! They don't have anything like a pumpkin patch here, at least as far as I know. Our pumpkins are shipped in from the states. The kids were very excited to see some pumpkins at the commissary (see how excited Matthew is?), so we took a few pictures. Our own little pumpkin patch.

I told them to stand by the pumpkin and look at me. The looking at me part was hard for them.

Anna wanted to stand by the tall scarecrow. There was also a big box of pumpkins, but there were only two moldy ones left inside (that's our commissary) so I didn't want them to pose with those pumpkins.

The kids pretend to pick a few fake apples from the tree (a little decoration for the apple juice display). They were both freaked out that there was a snake on the tree.

And that is the extent of our fall festivities! Pumpkin sitting, apple picking. We covered the bases, right. I think we're going to try and make caramel apples later - using real apples this time. We'll see how that goes. Happy fall everyone!

Shoes

I did a little last minute souvenir shopping today. I still have a few weeks, but I'm getting it in now rather than later, when we are busy with packing and other fun moving tasks. I found some good stuff that I was looking for and that made me happy. The kids also found some shoes they liked. Anna picked some sparkly red slippers and Matthew picked a pair of wooden geta clogs, which he was very excited about since we have a book about them, A Pair of Red Clogs by Masako Matsuno. After we got home with his special shoes he wore them while we read the story. He is VERY excited about them.

Here he is showing off his new shoes. He got to wear them in the house just for one day. He was a little sad they didn't make the sound "kara koro kara koro" when he walked like in the story. They were padded with rubber on the bottom, so they don't make much sound when he walks.

Anna picked out these red shoes and was very excited about them also. She didn't want me to take her picture wearing the shoes though. She abandoned them when I tried (the only time she left them alone that day) and went to hide.

Sometimes she just doesn't like having her picture taken.

Coming soon...

...but not that soon.

It's a busy time for our family with the upcoming move, and it's all made even more complicated by the fact that we are now expecting a baby! We had an appointment a week or so ago and everything is good, so we're hoping everything keeps going smoothly. I'm about 16 weeks now and due at the end of March.

A few days before we fly out of Okinawa, we are scheduled to have our 20 week ultrasound to determine whether we're having a boy or a girl. Scott and I both think we are having a boy. I don't know why. We'll see.

In any case, we are excited. I've been feeling a little nauseated and very tired, but it's not too bad. We have a nice doctor who has been working with us and is very patient with my many worries, and who is not at all bothered when I bring my two kids to my appointments. I hope we can find a great doctor in Colorado too. And I hope everything with the move goes nice and smooth so I can rest and relax a lot...'cause I'm already sooo tired all the time. Gotta love it!

I tell you what...

Not much has been happening here lately. We're doing a lot of errands and chores to get ready to move (less than a month away) and I'm starting to get stressed. I tried to convince myself I didn't have to be stressed about this move, but now as things get closer and the little to do list tasks add up, it seems unavoidable. We haven't been doing much fun or exciting, and I don't have much to blog about, so here is a little bit about the kids.

Matthew, who we used to think was shy and quiet, has become a BIG talker! He will talk and talk and talk if given the chance. He's very detail oriented and likes to know how things work (as I type this he's telling me his brain is helping him move his arm). He's also at that age where he likes to ask a lot of questions. The other day he had a 20 minute conversation with a stranger about how to properly jump out of an airplane. No matter what the guy (a paratrooper) told him, he came back with another question. He does the same thing to me. I'm getting better at coming up with simple answers to his complex questions.

Anna is also a good talker, though not as inquisitive yet, and still a little shy of strangers. She did stop someone in the bathroom the other day to show them her princess sticker. The two of them crack me up sometimes. Here are some of our recent conversations:

I asked Anna what she wanted to be for Halloween...

Anna: I want to dress up as Peter Potter (while putting on the Harry Potter scarf in our dress up box).
Scott: Is that the boy who lived and never grew up?
(See some old Harry Potter dress up pics HERE).

Anna: Mom, I broke your earphones, but it's o.k. It was an accident.

After I told him he won't be going to preschool here this year (this kind of broke my heart):
Matthew: (starting to cry) But do they have schools in Colorado?
Me: Yes (hug)
Matthew: Do they have bathrooms at the school? Are the potties just the right size for me?
Can Mrs. Weathers (his preschool teacher) fly on a plane and be my teacher in Colorado?

To me after I finished discussing some work issues with Scott...
Matthew: Who is going to get burned? You said they are going to get fired!
(No one is getting fired by the way)

Scott (talking to me about work): ...It's like a monkey on my back.
Matthew: (alarmed) Daddy, is there a monkey on your back?!?

Me (to Matthew after discussing the TV and satellite dish with him at length) : Let's just drop it.
Matthew: But if we drop it the TV will break!

Matthew: (anytime he wants to strike a deal or bargain with me) Mommy, I tell you what...

Me (to Matthew): What a good memory you have!
Matthew: I am a good remember-er. I'm a remember boy!

Anna (to me after nap time): I like you! You're my mommy and I like you!
Matthew: And you aren't the wrong mommy. You're the right mommy!
Anna: (in agreement) Yes, you're the right mommy!
Matthew: And daddy is the right daddy
Anna: Yes, and he's the right daddy and he likes Matthew. He likes Matthew A LOT!!

For the record, Scott likes Anna too! ;)

Okinawa Zoo

This weekend we went to the Okinawa Zoo. I've never been there before mostly because so many people have told me how small and lame it is. But I was actually pleasantly surprised. There was a lot for the kids to see and do and we had a great time. It did rain on us while we were looking at the animals, so he had to take shelter for a little while, but it all worked out. Here are Matthew and Anna by the sign.

One of my favorite animals to see was the bats. There are a lot of bats that live in the trees around Okinawa and when they fly around at night they look so big. We finally got to see some up close. I thought they looked like little monkeys. This bat (bottom right) was climbing up the fence with his big bat wings. It was super creepy looking...but I didn't get a great picture. It was cool to see them up close. Matthew was checking out an anteater (upper right) and sitting on a little hippo statue. So fun.

We saw lots of cool animals - horses, lots of birds, snakes, crocodiles and other reptiles, so many monkeys, BIG hippos, tigers and a lion, giraffes, elephants, kangaroos, koalas, a big bear, ostriches and emus...and other stuff I can't remember. It rained on us, so we sat and ate lunch at this covered enclosure by the elephants. The elephant was hiding, but eventually came out for us to see. Anna thought it was amazing that he was flipping mud up on himself.

This sign by the iguana kind of made me laugh. I know, it's a little graphic, but why do they both look so happy?

At the petting zoo the kids had a great time holding the chicks (gently) and petting the rabbits and guinea pigs. It looked like they had other bigger animals to pet, but they were under cover since it was rainy. Matthew and Anna both LOVED holding the baby chicks.

On our way out of the zoo we took a spin on the carousel. Matthew picked the panda to ride on and Anna picked the dolphin.

Right next to the zoo (and part of the same Discovery Kingdom complex) was a children's museum. We went in to check it out. Here are the kids on the big chair. I saw the sign after we were done that they weren't supposed to stand on it. Oops. Sorry.

Here are Matthew and Anna playing at the big pin art wall. They loved sticking their hands (and faces) in there to make fun designs on the other side.

Anna was excited to try the rock climbing wall, although she didn't make it very high. Matthew liked it too.

Here they are running down the little track. The kids were automatically timed running down this short runway and then it extrapolated their 100m time. At least that's what I think it was doing...something like that. They did this one over and over.

And here are some other fun things at the museum, a little water table, a block play place, a big screen with our shadows and different sized eggs to climb in and out of. There was a lot of stuff to do and we had a great time. By the end we were all beat and ready to get out of the heat. We had a great time!

Close Out

September is over, which means the fiscal year is over and Scott gets to go back to normal work hours. Unfortunately on Thursday and Friday he had to work 40 hours in a row with no sleep, literally working all night on Thursday. He did get to come home Friday morning and get a shower, but then right back to work. Painful. I feel so bad for him. It's been a rough month. Luckily they got all the work done and money spent for the fiscal year and everything turned out well, despite a very busy night the night of close out. Read another article about close out HERE (Scott's office is called the Comptroller - CPTS, or finance, and they work closely with Contracting - CONS).

Hopefully things will be able to calm down a little bit now.
Thursday night Scott's whole office was working til 1am (Scott and few others had to work all night and on into the day again). We went and had dinner with them at the office on Thursday. Here's Anna smiling big and eating her pizza. We had to wipe down her chair a bit after she was done, but no permanent damage. It was one of the only times the kids have gotten to have dinner with Scott all month. So I'm glad it's October. Our last month in Okinawa, and we have so much to do to get ready to move, but I have to believe it won't be as bad as September. Or at least that's what I'm hoping. :)

Pirate Ship Park

aka Araha Beach

September has been pretty much a wash for me. Scott has been working all day every day to close out the fiscal year at Kadena. I've been sick all month and most of the summer. I'm starting to think its something in the house that is making us sick. Like mold spewing out of some air conditioner or something...which wouldn't be that far fetched. Eww! In any case I haven't been feeling the most adventurous. The kids are a little sick too. Matthew finally got our sickness, but I thought the kids were still well enough to take out and about. Matthew did announce loudly at story time today that he couldn't sing the song very well 'cause he has "a nasty cough," which was kind of embarrassing. At least he didn't cough while we were there.

After the library we went to the pirate ship park at Araha Beach.

It was such a pretty day. Not Okinawa summer hot - still humid but only mid 80s. The beach was still open but pretty much empty, which was nice. Matthew tried the zip line (with me running along side) only once. Then he decided it was too scary. Anna did it too (with me holding her on there and running alongside). She liked it I think, but didn't ask to do it again.

Here she climbs up the big pirate ship steps.

She walked across the high wobbly bridge.

The beach was pretty. I wished we'd brought our swimming stuff. This is more like southern CA summer weather...a little drier, not as hot. Love it. I gotta enjoy the beach while I can...we'll be leaving it soon (tear).

Ooh, that water looked tempting.
Maybe we'll come back tomorrow and swim...as long as its not raining. ;)

We got shaved ice at a little stand at the beach. The prices were all in yen but there was a sign that said they only take US dollars. Of course the sign was in English only. I paid in dollars and he gave me change in yen. Hmm Anyway, we enjoyed our icy treats and then headed home to read our library books. I was happy we got to get out of the house today for something other than errands and chores. Gotta enjoy Okinawa while we can!

Soccer Practice

Yesterday Matthew had soccer practice. He is in "first steps" soccer for 3 and 4 year olds. Last week we were rained out of practice after about 30 minutes, but this week they went the whole hour, which was a bit long for Matthew. He's never had any trouble paying attention during T-ball practice, but the things they did were a lot easier for him and they took a lot of water breaks. So today he was not loving soccer. He kept attaching himself to my legs and saying he was too tired. There were a lot of kids who didn't want to participate today (you can see one of them in the background of this pic). Here's Matthew scowling at me as I try to get him to pass with me.

He fell down on the ground a few times ("accidentally") and didn't want to get up. He was not having fun. He has shin guards, (which he didn't wear today) but no cleats (not the reason for him falling down). I quickly realized how unimportant those items are for kids his age. Maybe we'll get him some cleats next year...if he ever wants to play again.

Here Matthew passes next to one of his teammates. She's a bit older and one of the more skilled players on our team. Matthew got the ball away from her in one of the drills, so that was exciting for him. Later when he told Scott (who was at work) about soccer practice he was a lot more enthusiastic about it. He was also excited (at least later he was) about getting his soccer jersey. Maybe we'll do better next week.

For Aunt Ruth

Matthew with his card, smiling BIG!

When I told him to smile "normal" he did this.

Today while we were coloring, Matthew randomly told me that he wanted to make a card for Aunt Ruth. He cut a shape of paper out and wrote MATTHEW on it (in his own way). Then he decided he wanted to put string on it and asked me to help him punch holes all around it so he could decorate it with string. I helped him tie the string at the end. Then he told me he wanted to send it in a box to Ruth and put some toys in there for her. This is what he said about it:

When Aunt Ruth gets the box she will say (in a high voice) "Oh my gosh, who sent us a package!" Then she will open it and say, "Oh my goodness it's a box! It's from Okinawa! It's from Matthew! I'm so surprised!" And then she will see my card and she will be so impressed!

He also read his card to me. He told me it said this (as I furiously tried to write it down):

Dear Aunt Ruth,
*We have some dishes for you. They are from the store. They are for Aunt Ruth.
Love, Aunt Ruth.
You are far away in (where does Aunt Ruth live in?) You live in Washington and that is far away.
And I know that is true.
This card says M-A-T-T-H-E-W. Matthew made this card and he was a good maker.
I know that you don't know me, 'cause you are far away in Washington.
We got the dishes from the store, from the Make Man store and the dustpan is for us so we won't send that to you.
This card says "LOVE **VIGIL KEEPING."
I saw you go to Washington and I cut out a kitty shape and I'm going to cut another one, but I'm going to wait until the ant goes away.
Love, Aunt Ruth in Washington
(I think he meant Love, Matthew).

*After Matthew started making the card for her I told him I was going to send her some dishes we got for her too.
** A line from the lullaby All Through the Night

It made me laugh. I guess she won't be surprised now, since I told her about it in this blog post. Sorry. Not to be outdone Anna had to make a card for Aunt Ruth too.

Anna's card

Then she "folded" it up special

And a few days ago...

After playing in the water, Anna came to me for help getting her wet jammies off. When we had a little trouble getting them off, I commented that they might be getting too small. This was Anna's response:

That's ok. Aunt Ruth will get a new one for me when she comes to our house. She will say (switching to a high voice) "These ones are wet! Don't worry, I will get some new ones for you!"

I guess she thinks Aunt Ruth will solve her small pajama problems. :)

Aunt Ruth doesn't really have a high squeaky voice like Matthew and Anna's impressions of her. But I thought it was funny.
We're thinking about you Ruth!! You can expect an awesome card in the mail soon...and expect to be impressed!

Scott, me, my sister, Ruth, and her husband Dana
Christmas 2006

September

Scott in his office, his home away from home.
This was on a weekend on the way home from church (a few months back), which is why he's wearing church clothes and not his uniform.

September is the busiest month in the military budget world...so we've seen Scott very little this month. He's been working very hard to finish out the government fiscal year since he is the head of the budget office at Kadena. He's quoted in an article about it HERE.

Over the past few weeks he's been going to work before the kids wake up and coming back after they are in bed...and he has to work Saturdays and Sundays. It's exhausting and stressful for Scott and exhausting for me.
I'd been looking back at my picture a day photos for the year and realized how often Scott has had to work on the weekends this past year. Part of it is that he just has a lot of responsibility in his positions and part of it is that Kadena is a very big and busy base. I'm really hoping he has a more normal work life at our next assignment (but not holding my breath). We've already been told he will travel 25% of the time at his next job. Hmm
To make things a little worse for us this month Scott, Anna and I are sick. I don't know how, but Matthew seems to stay relatively healthy while the rest of us have been getting recurring colds all summer.
So September has not been the funnest time for me.
I'm REALLY excited for October, although Scott seems to have lots other work that will probably be pushed to October. So we'll see.

100 Yen Halloween

Last week I made a trip to one of the 100 Yen stores nearby and found a bunch of fun Halloween stuff. I have a plastic bin full of dress up clothes for the kids and I'm always on the lookout for new things to add, especially if they are cheap. Here are some of our finds.

Here's Matthew all decked out as a pirate complete with eye patch, sword, hook, pirate vest and hat. He loved being a pirate - we told him to say "ARRR matey!" and he kept asking us what a "matey" was. Also it took all his self control not to hit everyone with his new sword, but somehow he managed to be good. Well done Matthew!

I love this hat! Maybe I'll wear it for Halloween!

Anna with a kitty hat and a little cape.

And happy in the pumpkin hat!

Here's Anna with the ninja mask on. She didn't like this one too much.

Here we all try on the animal hats - I'm wearing the monkey one, Matthew is the frog and Anna is the duck, although she kept pulling it down over her face.

Now I've got the pumpkin hat. Anna and Matthew both wanted this trident (which I think was supposed to be a pitchfork). They wanted it 'cause King Triton has one. We recently got Disney's The Little Mermaid golden book and they want to hear it (that and Snow White and Pinocchio) every chance they get.
We had fun with our 100 Yen store finds, and everything we got was 100 Yen - about a dollar. I'll miss those stores when we go back to the states!