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Hello everyone!!  We have been so busy here the last few weeks that I thought I'd bring everyone up to date.

First, Courtnee has learned to ride her bike on two wheels!!  Yeah!!  Don't tell Daddy as he comes home next week and this is a surprise for him.

Little shaky, but good to go.

Next, is that Kailyn has started to sit up.  We're still a little rocky, but getting there. 

Here's she's showing off her raspberries that she loves so much.  I have

constant drool and spit on me!

Lastly, Courtnee is playing t-ball.  Hallie was playing but is now off the team, due to her broken arm.  Trey's also playing, but his game was rained out his past weekend.

Here she is as first baseman.  As you can see, there's not alot of action going on on first base, so she laid down to rest a while.

Here we are bored to tears and rolling up the base.  Sitting up to roll it up is easier to do, but at least we look like we're more involved in the game. Hopefully, no runner comes around and tries to step onto first base.  I'm sure that a tug of war would have happened-Courtnee defending her base and all.  Just look at that concentration on her face.  It looks as though she spies something off in the distance.

Ah, yes, a spy glass, would make seeing far away much easier!!  "Aye, captain, I spy the treasure off in the distance!"

Thank goodness daddy wasn't home or he would be having a heart attack.  He absolutely loves baseball and wants all of his children to play well, from an early age.  I just hope she doesn't pick flowers during the next game when he's home!

Yesterday, Hallie left Awana and ran to the playground.   A few minutes later, there was a knock on my door, she'd fallen off some equipment.  Luckily, the ground is padded with rubber, so it wasn't too hard. 

However, this morning she woke up crying about her wrist.  Took her in to the doctor-actually the triage nurse.  I'll talk about military medicine in a later post.  Anyway, the nurse had an xray done, two hours later the tech read the xray and I received a call.  "Hallie has a buckle fracture on her distal radius." 

 So off we trotted (on a one hour drive) to a different base to get a cast made.  She cried almost the whole way.  Fear, pain, both.  I was thankful when we got there.  All went well-the cast went on.  And pretty pink too!  It still hurts a little but the Motrin is helping with that.

Here's a photo with her new cast.

Yesterday was a busy day of running around for us.  Trey had an eye exam at 11 and Hallie had one at 2pm.  Socialized military medicine does not allow you to get appointments for your children right after each other-oh, Courtnee's is Thursday at 2.  I decided to get the kids eyes checked because Hubby and I are both blind as bats.  Hubby had laser surgery but I"m to chicken to do the surgery. The E is unreadable.  I know its there but for the life of me, can't see it at all.  Just a big fuzzy dot out in space.

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Hallie does need glasses to read and is very excited about getting them.  Pink Barbie Glasses is the topic of the day.  My pocketbook is crying.  Did I mention that Walmart is not here?  We're forced to go with what is available to us.  I could go out in town, but I have no idea where and my Japanese is too poor to attempt this trip.  Plus, the dollar is falling against the yen and its costing in the pocketbook.  Trey's fine.  A little distance issue, but the doctor said that since he's not driving or flying a plane its not a big deal. 

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So back to the story.  It was a really nice day yesterday.  I live in the corner townhouse directly across the street from the school.  Literaly about 15 yards away.  School lets out and my front yard is a mess of children all walking home and mine are clamoring to get outside with their friends.  Hence, our school day ends at 2:15 everyday-unless its raining.  Anyway, after Trey's appt and lunch, we had a little time before Hallie's appt so I let the girls go out front to water the flowers.  I brought the baby back in to change a diaper.  Hallie and Courtnee come running in.

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"Mommy, mommy, we see a policeman!"

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Uh-oh, I think.  Am I going to get into trouble for not being outside with my girls.  (Rules on base are 7 and older outside for 2 hours within eyesight and earshot of their supervisors.  Many parents let their kids run free and they are cracking down.  Courtnee is only 4.5.)  But the front door is open, I'm thinking and I can see right out the door.

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"He's pointing a gun at us and going to shoot us!!!!" With very worried looks!!

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Huh?  So, I trot outside and look out the door.  The policeman is sitting in his car across the street pointing a gun in our direction.  A speed gun.  He's checking for speeders coming near the school.  Whew!  Now, I find this very funny.  I tried explaining to the girls what he was doing, so I finally just dragged them across the street to see what he was doing.  He was very nice and let them see the gun and the speed on an oncoming car.  He was actually a little worried that the girls thought that he was going to shoot them.  I still, however, find it pretty funny!

I know, you're wondering, what's this?  Kodomo no kuni?  Well, it translates to Children's Land, which is an absolutely awesome place that we took the kids to last weekend.  It is acres and acres of stuff for the kids.  There's all kinds of play equipment, a farm, a huge picnic area, more play equipment, mazes, bounce houses, and more play equipment.  We had a blast!

Here's the map of the place.  Get your kanji book out.

This is at the start of the park.  The Japanese love their gardens and it is carp festival time, so those flags are everywhere.

Trey and Daddy fighting for first place down the slide.

Did I mention there were things to climb as well?

Oh, rock wall to climb too!

Some of the cherry blossoms were still in bloom.

Check out this play equipment!!  They can climb all through

the inside and outside too!!  Trey's on top-of course!

Kailyn had just a little bit of fun!

Oh, yeah, ride them cowgirl!  Need a new hat to complete

the image though!

Even Daddy enjoyed the roller slide!

All the kids loved this slide!!  They had to climb this big hill

to get to the top-but they loved it!

Here's Hallie coming down the slide!

Trey tried out all different kinds of bikes there.  They all pedaled

differently and he had a blast trying them all out!

My favorite part.  All the rides were kid powered-all by pedal.

They had to pedal their way around.  It was great and exhausting-

they all slept well that night!

Daddy and Kailyn at the top of the slide!

Courtnee coming down the slide!

Trey feeding the sheep.  There was an area that they could

milk cows too, but we didn't get over there.

These bunkers were all over the park.  We assumed that they

are bunkers from WWII?

Okay, here's the famous shot of me at the pond.  Actually, Daddy

took a photo of me climbing a hill-but the gluteus maximus is extremely

maximus-so I'm not posting it here. 

Tomorrow we're off to see a dinosaur exhibit-Trey's so excited.  Mr.

budding paleontologist!

Okay, my favorite are the responses to what mom had to know about dad before marrying him.  Does he say No to drugs and yes to chores.  It cracks me up!

WHY GOD MADE MOMS

Answers given by 2nd grade school children to the following questions:

Why did God make mothers?
1. She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.
2. Mostly to clean the house.
3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.

How did God make mothers?
1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.
2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.
3. God made my Mom just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts.

What ingredients are mothers made of?
1.  Clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
2. They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.

Why did God give you your mother and not some other mom?
1. We're related.
2 God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's moms like me.

What kind of little girl was your mom?
1. My Mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff.
2. I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.
3. They say she used to be nice.

What did mom need to know about dad before she married him?
1. His last name.
2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer?
3. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?

Why did your mom marry your dad?
1. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my Mom eats a lot.
2. She got too old to do anything else with him.
3. My grandma says that Mom didn't have her thinking cap on.

Who's the boss at your house?
1. Mom doesn't want to be boss, but she has to because dad's such a goof ball.
2. Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.
3. I guess Mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad.
What's the difference between moms & dads?
1. Moms work at work and work at home and dads just go to work at work.
2. Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them.
3. Dads are taller & stronger, but moms have all the real power 'cause that's who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friend's.
4. Moms have magic, they make you feel better without medicine.

What does your mom do in her spare time?
1. Mothers don't do spare time.
2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.

What would it take to make your mom perfect?
1. On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.
2. Diet. You know, her hair. I'd diet, maybe blue.

If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?
1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that.
2. I'd make my mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it and not me.
3. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head.

Last week, we went to Tokyo Disney.  Don't ask me if its smaller or bigger than in the states.  I have no idea, as I've never been to either. Hubby says that its much smaller than in the states.   I have been to Tokyo Disney three times though.  We had a blast as always.  It was pretty cool that day-which is better than sweating all day long.  Disney characters were out everywhere, we saw at least two dozen.  The last two times we were there, we saw about two each time.  Enjoy the photos!

I took this example from Kelliann.  Take a photo of myr foot to show I was there, since I'm always the one taking the photos.  Everyone had to get into this.  Kailyn was sleeping or she would have been involved too, I think.

Driving the race cars with Daddy.  Kinda worries me a little.  Hopefully, Courtnee won't be asking for a car of her own any time soon.

Okay, Hallie looks a little scary driving.  Likes she's enjoying herself too much.  I'm on top of the overpass at this point, praying that she can't drive it off the rail and crash it somewhere.

Robin Hood and the girls

This tile work is in Cinderella's castle.  Notice the popcorn bucket around Hallie's neck.  Hallie carried it around all day and ate popcorn all day long-only sharing a little with us.  We filled the bucket about five times while there.

Okay, a parade picture.  The actual princes and princesses are Americans, but the other parade characters are Japanese.  Almost all the songs are in English.  Most of the shows use the American songs, but speak in Japanese. 

Walking around Tom Sawyer's island.

Trey on the raft to Tom Sawyer's Island.  He has informed us that he is too big to get his picture taken with Disney characters, so we had to be satisfied with the girls.

Outside the Dumbo ride was this elephant to get your picture taken.  The wait for the actual ride was over an hour, so we didn't make it.

This was actually really funny.  This guy got right up into Kailyn's face, and she refused to look at him.  He kept trying, bless his heart, but she wanted nothing to do with him.

One of the chipmunks with the girls.

Hallie on the merry go round.

Outside the Its a Small World ride. 

Kailyn and Daddy riding the Its a Small World ride.  The Japanese people loved my kids.  Took lots of pictures of them.  Many Japanese have never seen blond hair before and they're fascinated with it.  They even posed with my kids.  The girls loved it, any time to pose and smile, y'know.  I told Hubby we should charge 100 yen ($1) per photo to save for their college funds!! 

At the start of our trip.  I'm not sure why Courtnee is so mad.  Maybe because we stopped to take a picture and she's not riding anything yet.

Hope you enjoyed the photos.  We had a wonderful day!!

I'm sure there are many of you wondering why I've been so quiet lately.  Well, we were busy taking a few trips around Japan and then last week, I ended up with strep throat.  Yeah, that was fun.  At least, it was myself and not one of the kids.  Thankfully, I got well enough to take our trip to Tokyo Disney.  We had a blast.  We've also took a trip to Children's Land-which is absolutely awesome!  I will be posting pictures of Disney, Children's Land, and the long promised pictures of Iwo Jima.

In the meantime, I was hoping last week to get caught up on lesson plans and reorganize the schedule again.  I am going back to my six weeks on, one week off plan.  It works the best for us.  I enjoy the week off and can focus on the house then.  We finished up basketball last week and have jumped feet first (I actually think head first) into baseball.  Daddy left again this week for another month, which is difficult with three kiddos in baseball.  Thankfully, since we live on a small military base, Trey can ride his bike to practice and that's one less event that I have to go to.  However, I've been informed that games start next weekend (already??) and so off we go.  Right now, we have practices Mon-Thur, Courtnee's games will be Friday nights and the other two will be on Saturday.  At least, Daddy will be gone for that and I won't have to see him turn purple in the face during the games.  The girls like to dance around, pick flowers, play tag, balance their glove on their heads-all which result in daddy turning rather eggplant and huffing because they should be playing the game not goofing around.  Apparently, they have developed the love of baseball that I have-NOT!!  My poor hubby.  I love football, hockey, and nascar (yes, drive fast and turn left).  I can tolerate college basketball and have no love at all for golf and baseball.  The Masters was this weekend and thankfully, I had a book to entertain myself.  (Hubby doesn't seem to like my groaning through the tournament. )  A few years ago, I totally made him mad when watching baseball.  He went to the kitchen and when he came out I was totally excited.  

Oh my gosh, you missed it-it was awesome.

What was it?  A home run?  Someone get out?  What happened?  My totally unsuspecting husband asks?  He's very eager to find out what.

A blade of grass in left field jumped up and grew three inches.  I saw it. 

My funny was not appreciated and I got dirty looks all night long.  

Oh, well.  I try and be patient.  Next playoff season, I'll have to start War and Peace! 

Hello!!  Happy Easter everyone!!

Today the kids and I took a trip to Ueno Zoo in Tokyo.  I thought I'd post some pictures that you would find funny or cute.  Be patient, there's a lot of them.

First is the famed Tokyo Tower.  This picture was shot out of the bus window.  We took a tour bus from the base to the zoo.  Its so nice to travel that way and let someone else worry about the traffic and directions-and there's a bathroom on board for the little ones.

Also shot out the window-Tokyo Bay

This is right by where we parked in Tokyo.  You can see all the train lines-trains are a huge part of traveling in Japan.  I have seen the bullet train, but not riden it.

I zoomed in for this shot.  This is above the train tracks, a house with a garden on top.  The Japanese take advantage of every small space they have.  Tokyo is no exception-gardens are abundant on the roofs.

This is actually when we stopped to eat our lunch at the zoo.  The apartment towers are everywhere in Japan.  The apartments are super small too. 

The pagada at the zoo.  Its absolutely beautiful.  The cherry blossom trees have just started to bloom here.  I should have some really nice shots around where we live soon.

I'm not exactly sure what this is, but it was cool looking so I shot it.

Close up of the bottom part of the pagada.

A view of the cherry blossom trees.

Kailyn taking in the zoo!  Her first trip to see animals!

The gorillas were awesome.  I've never seen gorillas at any of the zoos I've been too.  This was really cool for me.

Look out!!  Trey has captured the feared Komodo Dragon!

The red panda.  This little guy was in an enclosed area that little thousands crowd by each day.  The giant panda is right next to him.  The walkway is literally one way, and they shuffle you through so that you barely get a good viewing of them.  Their habitats in my opinion, are very sad indeed.  Tiled floors?  Trey-whose a frequent Zoo Typhoon player-was apalled that they did so little to make it look like the creatures natural habitat.

This poor panda just looks miserable.  I can't imagine living like this.  There aren't even any plants in the exhibit with him.  I can only hope that he doesn't live like this all the time, hopefully, his evening hours are spent in better conditions.

Thanks to my friend, Liz, I'm finally in a photo.  I thought I might do like Kelliann, and just take a shot of my feet, but I didn't need to here.  Liz and her husband, Russ, went with us to the zoo, with their adorable daughters.  They are Hallie and Courtnee's best friends!  Thank you Liz and Russ for helping out so much today!!

This is the park right outside the zoo.  It was very beautiful without many cherry blossom trees blooming.

A Japanese Scot?  Your guess is as good as mine!

Just wanted to share some photos of around Japan.  First, is the drink machine.  Now in America, we have soda machines everywhere and sometimes, you're lucky enough to find one with water in it.  Not in Japan.  Coca Cola makes wonderful juices here.  All kinds of juices, not too sweet either.  In the same machine you'll find juice, soda, and coffee-and not just any coffee in a can-but you can get either a hot can of coffee or a cold can of coffee.

The next photo just cracks me up.  We have drink machines everywhere and we have cigarette machines everywhere.  I've heard that in downtown Tokyo they even have underwear in machines.  Now, I personally have not seen this, but I've heard it.  So, I guess, if you're walking to work one day and suddenly realize that you forgot to put on underwear, you can just grab a pair out of the machine.  Okay.   Anyway, back to the photo.  Imagine its 1am and you're starving.  You want to make something to eat but are out of rice (rice is a staple in Japan) and you're out.  Well, just run down to the corner and grab some out of the vending machine.

Now, why can't we find this in America?

Come back to visit soon.  Hopefully, tomorrow I'll be posting my hubby's pictures from Iwo Jima.