Less than 2 days!!!

Boy last week went fast!  Jackie will be here in TWO DAYS!!  I can't believe it.  We are staying in Tokyo until Friday, then we will take the bullet train home.  I am excited to bring her to Misawa and let her see where we have been living for three and a half years now.  I can't wait to go to the Nebuta Festival.  http://www.nebuta.or.jp/english/index_e.htm We haven't been to one yet.  This will be our last chance. Now when I am homesick or just sick of Japan, I can tell myself, 'This is the last July 20th you'll spend in Japan!' Its a great feeling.  We can't stop ourselves from being super anxious about getting orders, maybe next month!!

The new car that we bought it really great. This is what it looks like... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_RVR   Much bigger than our tiny little sedan.   Its kind of like a small van actually.  It will be nice to have two vehicles while Jackie is visiting.  Once she leaves we will put the Primera up for sale, then when we leave we can ditch the RVR for cheap or just junk it, because we got it for such a cheap price.   

Nathan is doing really well with the oatmeal.  We've mastered green beans and started carrots yesterday.  This kid doesn't flinch!!  We keep waiting for a funny face when he tries something new, but he just eats like normal. 

Well, we have LOTS to do today!!  Probably I won't check in again until we return from Tokyo. Keep your fingers crossed for us.  We are staying at a Japanese hotel in the Ginza because The New Sanno was booked.  http://www.ginza-capital.co.jp/en/index.html  We are staying the the annex.  Yikes. 

July 14, 2008

Nathan seems to be getting more and more fun everyday. 

• He giggles and squeals all of the time. 
• He is always grabbing things, and everything goes into his mouth. 
• He loves playing with his toes. 
• It is great having that Bumbo because we can take Nate anywhere and just plop him down next to us with a toy or two and he is so happy. 
• He has settled into a great afternoon nap schedule, napping in his crib for an hour and a half!!  It is fabulous!  I can get stuff done around here.
• In the mornings after his 5 am bottle Dave can put Nate down in the crib instead of letting him sleep in the swing like we have been doing for the past 3 months.  Actually I think our swing addict might be almost done with the swing, since he is always stopping himself. 
• In the morning when he's done napping I can hear him playing with his crib toys. 
• He seems to love watching the trees roll by on our walks around the neighborhood. 
• We have mastered rice cereal and have started oatmeal, and he loves peas and in a few days we are going to start green beans!!
• After every bite of cereal or peas he goes "Mmmmmmmm"  Its so funny

Finally our two last boxes we mailed home have arrived.  Thank goodness. 

It has been warm, but not disgustingly humid like it will be next month.  I am dreading it.  We have a lot of new biker neighbors on our street. They are all so loud, and their kids are loud loud loud.  It is sucky because have to keep our windows open because its so warm.  These kids come right up to our windows and talk really loud.  I have said something a few time.  One day I came out of our building to go shopping, and one boy started walking in the flower bed in front of our building!!  I couldn't believe it I was right there.  I gave him an earful.  What a brat.  Its the same kids that started that fire a few months ago that Dave put out!!  Someone needs to smack them.  One boy in particular drives me batty, he was one of the fire starters, he's the one I caught walking in the flower bed and he is constantly screaming all day.  Like, he's a sissy, he is always getting hurt and crying and screaming like hes on deaths door.  Its is ridiculous.  Sometimes I think the parents of these kids tell them to go play in someone else's yard.  gurrrr. 

 

Happy Birthday to Chuck this week!!  Hope you have a great birthday!!!

Happy Independence Day

We had a really wonderful Independence Day.  We were expecting it to rain during the day and storm in the evening.  But when we woke up yesterday it was sunny and warm and DRY out!!  We couldn't believe it.  Of course once everyone arrived it started to sprinkle but it was still a nice day.  Some still ate outside under the covered patio.  Everyone had lots of great comments on the food.  One guy went on about the Barbecue Beans, and Aisling loved the pistachio salad and the ambrosia salad.  We had just the right amount of food, I have a little bit of leftovers.  But I sent everyone home with some of the cake I made because we will have birthday cake tomorrow.  (Cherry Chip!!)  

Anyhow, it stopped raining about an hour before the fireworks were to begin so they still had them!!  It was a nice fireworks display.  Nathan did fine with them. He jumped at the first few but Daddy had covered Nate's ears so he just watched them and eventually fell asleep.  

Today we are going to Toys R US in Hach to see if they have Bumbo chairs. 
We hope you all had a great and safe 4th!  We love you all!! 

So happy its summer

We have been trying to spiff up our building.  We tore out huge bushes and weeds as tall as I am in the front of our building and planted some petunias and hostas. 

It looks so nice. 

(the front of our house is our upstairs neighbor's responsibility, but after doing nothing for 3 years we figured we could take charge and fix it up).

I planted some pretty flowers in the pots in our backyard too. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are just crossing our fingers we have great weather on Friday.

Its almost July!!

It has been awhile since we posted a blog.  Things have been a little crazy.  The week after Father's Day Nathan and I were both sick.  I haven't been that sick in a long long time.  Last week the base had an exercise and Dave was working swings.  6pm- 6am. It stunk.  He was only awake for about one hour during the day, so not only was I alone all day and night but during the day I had to try to keep Nathan from getting upset since Dave was sleeping.  I am very glad things will be back to normal this week.  Actually this week Dave has Thursday and Friday off so it will be a short week! 

We got a new dishwasher, new washing machine, and a new vacuum.  It has been very exciting for me.  The washing machine has that 6th sense that fills the washer with just the right amount of water. It has been tricky getting used to it. The wash cycles take a little longer than a normal washer.  But I love the new dishwasher.  I had called housing maintenance because our old dishwasher was all rusty and gross, and I told them my washer lid was rusty and I could use a new one.  When they came to look they told me I get new machines!  They came the very next day!  It made me very happy.  We got a new vacuum because our old vacuum smelled when it ran, like stinky cheese.  We had taken it apart and cleaned it like crazy and still smelly cheese.  So we bought a Eureka MAXima.  I love it!  It was really disturbing the first time I used it to see all the stuff our old vacuum was leaving behind. 

We are having a BBQ on Friday for the 4th.  Hopefully we will  have nice weather. 

Man, today we went grocery shopping I spent $7.99 on 3 apples!!! I can't believe it!  What is the most outragous price you have paid at the grocery store??

Only 7 days until I turn 25!! 

Happy Father's Day

We hope everyone has a great Father's Day.  Nathan gave Dave new golf clubs to keep in Michigan since his other clubs were stolen from our storage unit...He was able to break them in while we were home.  But today he got a #1 DAD mug with pictures of Nathan on it, and a fishing book.    Its by the DK Eyewitness Companions that put out travel guides.  It has beautiful photos, and info on Tackle, Baits & Lures, Species, Techniques, and Where to Fish.  I will post an album up from this morning.

I made Toad-in-the-Hole Bake and it was awesome.  It was a fabulous treat for Father's Day.  I am posting the link to the recipe, try it!

http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/recipes/recipedetail.htm?recipe_id=91363&e=email

I posted a bunch of new albums yesterday. I have a new video to post today of Nathan eating cereal!!  I am almost caught up, just putting the last little piles of stuff away.  Whew!  That was a long haul for us!  Now we will try to patiently await Jackie's arrival, but it will be hard because I am SO excited!!! 

In Tokyo!

We made in to Tokyo yesterday. Our flight was smooth and Nathan did really well, and even flirted with enough flight attendants to earn some gold wings.  He is funny.  We are staying again tonight at The New Sanno.  We wanted to go walk through the Imperial Palace Gardens today but it is pouring rain...  Maybe we will spend the day in the pool instead. 

We just wanted everyone to know we made it safely.