Dentist Day

Six months ago, we found a dentist who was trained in the U.S. and had advertised in the base paper as able to accept United Concordia (who our dependents' dental plans are with...although it's changing soon).  Her name is Ellie Suzuki and her little dental clinic was South of Yokosuka along the coast on the other side of the Miura Peninsula.  She was fantastic, took care of Amy's cleaning and x-rays, and tried to work with RJ to clean his teeth and get x-rays.  He was NOT into it at all then and was nowhere near able to get an x-ray taken.  He wasn't very fond of having her clean his teeth and take a close look at his mouth, either, but he survived.

A couple months ago, Dr. Suzuki opened an office right outside the back gate to the base where she can more easily cater to the Americans.  She even called the new office the Womble Gate American Dentistry.  We were very excited for her, and I'm willing to bet that she's doing a booming business. 

Today was check-up time for Amy and RJ again, so we parked near the back gate and walked out to her office.  Her new office is great.  It's very obviously aimed at us gaijin because we didn't have to take off our shoes like we did at her other office, and her office staff are native English speakers.  There are two dentist's chairs, an x-ray room, and a small children's play room as well as the normal waiting area.  We got settled and first on the agenda was to try to get RJ's x-rays taken again.  Long story short, Amy and the assistant were sooooo close in getting his shot.  He moved at the last second so it didn't turn out, but this time was much better than six months ago.  Maybe in six more months, he'll be even more receptive to getting his "picture" taken.  Here's a photo of him with his pink lead blanket on and a toy Buzz Lightyear used as a distraction device (they had several different toys and stuffed animals there to help kids relax).  A note about the red mark on his cheek--he tripped going up the stairs last night and got a bruise/rug burn on his cheekbone.  Poor kiddo.

After the x-ray attempt, Dr. Suzuki cleaned RJ's teeth.  This wasn't very easy with all the tears and the repeated "I need to sit up" cries.  She did eventually get an exam done and a quick cleaning, and after a few minutes of calming down following the check-up, he was back to his old self playing with Buzz and the other toys.  Amy was then able to get her teeth cleaned while I got Ryleigh to sleep and played with RJ.

After the dentist, we (being Amy and I) had lunch while RJ slept in the red chair.  He's fallen asleep on the way home so we carried him in and let him recharge.  After lunch, I went into work for the afternoon to take care of some more crises that had come up.

When I came home after work, I brought with me a couple boxes containing the new high chair we'd ordered for Ryleigh.  We bought the exact same model that RJ used (and is currently still using) because it grows with the child.  We put RJ's infant seat on it and later will replace it with a red cushion just like we did with RJ's green cushion.  The design of the chair allows for adjustment of the levels of the cushion and of the foot rest so that it can be converted from a high chair to a padded chair that adjusts to the height needed for the kiddo.  Regardless, RJ wanted to open the box right away and put it together.  He was a great helper and we made a good team.  The following are some pictures of the construction.

RJ was very good at putting screws into holes--maybe not the right holes or the right screws...

RJ offering his assistance.

Me explaining what a "dowel" is to RJ--he didn't care.

RJ putting the right screw in the hole and attaching the piece.

RJ carried the instructions around so I could refer to them if needed.

Without any guidance or instruction, our little Engineer figured out exactly how the seat was supposed to fit into the frame.

As I was adjusting the straps for Ryleigh, RJ snapped this photo.

RJ also took this one.

Here's Ryleigh taking her high chair on its maiden voyage. 

Ryleigh actually did very well with the high chair and sat there all the way through dinner.  For me personally, having her sit up at the table with us really made me realize just how quickly she's growing and how big she's really getting.

Here's to having a good chair and being able to sit with your family at the dinner table!
-Jip

Scooter Friday

It was windy today. So windy that I didn't have plans to go out. But, as 3:30 creeped upon us, I needed OUT!! RJ wanted to ride his scooter, so I decided to be brave and put Ryleigh in the stroller and let RJ ride the scooter. I've never attempted the scooter/RJ combination by myself with Ryleigh in tow--I've always been afraid RJ would either run off or fall and I would have to abandon Ryleigh to retrieve/rescue. But, everything turned out fine. RJ semi-rode the scooter to the playground, then played hard, while always donning his helmet. As RJ says, "Gotta be safe!"

I nearly forgot about a couple of pics I took during our weekly lunchdate.

Tomorrow we're crossing our fingers for good early morning weather so Jip and RJ can go for a run outside. Then onto dentist appointments and an afternoon in the office for Jip. Hopefully, it will be mostly be low key--especially the dental appointments! Until tomorrow night, cheers!

A good Thursday

It was quite nice today here in Yoko.  The temperature got up into the fifties with the sun shining and relatively no wind.  I was outside for a little while today around lunch as I ran over to the Fleet Recreation Center to get a run in on the treadmill.  Why run on the treadmill when the weather is so nice, you ask?  I don't have a good answer for that.  If I run outside, I end up running about 2.5 miles.  If I go run on the treadmill, I do a 5K (3.1 miles).  There really isn't much difference I suppose, but running on the treadmill sounded like a good option for some reason.  Regardless, I got some exercise in so I can keep my (not so) girlish figure ;)

While I was at work today, Amy and RJ had their last swimming lesson for this go around.  RJ has proven that he is ready for the preschool level swim class now which means that in May or June, whenever we can get him scheduled for a class, he'll be swimming in the pool without Amy.  This will be good for him and will also allow Amy to swim in the pool with Ryleigh.  Since the weather was nice, RJ also got to spend some time at the playground.  While there he got to watch a Navy helicopter do some rescue exercises, and he got to burn some excess energy.  Tonight, Amy had a get together with a friend for a little while so I fed the kids dinner (well, I guess I didn't really feed Ryleigh...she just hung out with RJ and I while we ate) and played with the two kiddos.  Ryleigh is getting much stronger and likes to be on her tummy for much longer periods of time now.  She, RJ, and I played in the "office" for a long time after we ate some dinner.  After that, we cleaned up the toys and headed upstairs for our baths around 7:50.  Amy got home just as RJ was getting into the tub and from then on, it's was a typical bath night--scrub-a-dub-dub, into jammies, read some books, go to sleep...

Here are some pictures from today.  Enjoy!

Here goes the rescue swimmer being lowered down into the water.

Here he comes back up after the "rescue."

A closer picture of the SH-60 helicopter.

RJ watching the helo drills.

Wheeee!

See how fast I can run!

Ryleigh having some quality time with her pacifier.

The scene in the tub tonight after playing with the bubbles.

RJ was having too much fun throwing the bubbles around with his fan (which lost the paper off of it after it got wet last Sunday). 

Here's to having a good bubble bath!
-Jip

Spring is Springing (Not Quite Sprung)

It is gradually getting warmer in Yokosuka.  We've had a particularly long winter--not harsh by any means, but just a longer period than usual of chillier temperatures.  Plum and cherry blossoms are late.  Tulips are late.  But, by the same token, allergy season is late.  RJ and I missed the majority of the pollen last year, so it remains to be seen how we fare.  I know Jip had a couple of rough days last year.  I guess I should stock up on the allergy meds for the adults so we can be a little more pleasant as the kids deal with theirs.

When we were at D2 over the weekend, they showed signs of Spring by having the gardening stuff in a big display outside.  I took a quick walk through the flowers.  I'm almost ready to replant our front flower box, but I'm torn between annuals and perennials.  But, I think Mom is right--if any of my perennials survived from last year, I'll let them be.  Otherwise, annuals will be going in there.  After all, when we move out of our house next year, housing takes the box back to plain dirt, so why invest in more perennials?  Now, the challenge will be figuring out what are annuals.  At least I know what petunias look like and can pick some of those out.  Hopefully, they organize flowers like they do in the States and put all of the annuals in one general section.  The symbols on the little signs are easy enough--partial sun, water x times per week, etc.  Actually, come to think of it, if the flowers at D2 aren't organized this way, I may not have actually planted perennials last year--I just went to the section that petunias were NOT in and started picking things out that looked good together.  This is why I've hired a landscape designer in the past--starting a garden just isn't my forte.  I can keep it going, but I just don't know where to begin.  Anyway, I would like to plant flowers before we come to Colorado, but I need to figure out if the weather will be right for them to survive without my touch for a couple of weeks.

As for the backyard, spring is showing up there, too.  The daffodils I took a picture of in January are still blooming, but so are a number of other things in our yard.  We have a lot of blooming weeds in the grass.  I guess it is time to whip out the mower and put down some weed and feed.  Poor Jip--he has to accompany RJ and I to our dentist appointments on Saturday morning to watch over Ryleigh and help RJ be comfortable and then go in to work.  And, now Sunday he will have to be super lawn boy.  Hopefully we'll have time on Saturday to go to the housing self-help office and check out a fertilizer/seed spreader to use on Sunday.  We can even "check out" seed, but we need much more than seed, and I know they have some Scott's stuff at the Navy Exchange, so might as well do it right, or close to right.  If I really wanted to go all out, I'd ask housing to rip out the old lawn and put in a new one--they did that for a house behind us when the family moved in at the end of last summer.  But, really, I can't see the point because there are so many people who don't care about their yards that we'll have weeds in our own yard by summer's end thanks to our close proximity to everyone else and the nice breeze that Yokosuka seems to have more often than not.

And, here's another sign spring is nearly here.

The sunglasses came out a couple of days ago.  Don't you love the folded-down ear?  I kept trying to show him that he would be more comfortable if he repositioned the earpiece over the ear instead of on top of it, but he kept going back to wearing them like this.  Who am I to argue?

Bath time

So manic Monday continued into Tuesday for me, but that's not tonight's topic. This evening, I only have a few photos to share after a nice bath time with the kiddos.

We have some color tabs for RJ's bath so we gave RJ a blue bath. As you can see in the photo below, the water is blue, blue, blue and if you look closely, you can see the blue dots on RJ's nose and cheek. He'd tried to use his hands to make the tabs dissolve faster and ended with some blue streaks on his body and blue dots all over his face.

Ryleigh is still getting her bath in the baby tub. The tub has two "sides" with one made for lying down and one for sitting. She's been sitting up so well lately that I've started having her sit up during her bath. Here's a photo of her enjoying her Chili's cup during her bath.

Well, we're all clean and snuggly and two of the four of us are asleep. I hope your evening ends up as well as ours.

-Jip

Manic Monday

Jip probably should be the one writing this post--after all, it was his Manic Monday.  I'm not sure whether he was singing The Bangles song in his head today, but from what he told me when he got home, he should have been singing it.

One of the ships that is having a little work (well, maybe more than a little) done right now is causing Jip and the rest of SRF some grief.  Nothing seems to go right.  Things break.  Things don't turn out like they should.  People don't communicate.  People lie (maybe mislead or guess, but I think most of the time it is lie) about work that is done.  It just seems to be one giant headache.

Today, the headache probably could have been minimized to a dull annoyance, but when Jip came home, it was a full-blown migraine.  Poor Jip--some leadership-types decided at lunchtime today that ALL officers should attend a personal readiness training that afternoon.  No warning.  Just ordered to be there.  Now, when you hear personal readiness, what do you think of?  I thought of disaster preparedness.  Jip thought of that as well as having your will and power of attorney complete, your finances squared away, and your family care plan filed.  Well, it was none of those things.  Jip and company wasted an afternoon in training about sexual assault prevention and other topics unrelated to having your affairs ready in case of an emergency or sudden deployment.  I guess sexual assault prevention is a type of personal readiness--maybe you ready yourself to fend off would-be attackers?  Anyway, while Jip and the officers overseeing the headache project as well as a few other projects were attending the training, problems escalated.  I had called Jip in the middle of the afternoon to discuss the grocery-retrieval plan for the evening since we didn't get to make our usual run due to our baseball game trip.  When Jip called back after the training, he said he had to take care of a few things at the office and then would be home in 45 minutes.  An hour later, Jip had to just get up from his desk and tell people to call him.  He hurried home, continuing to take phone calls.  He made phone calls on the way to a quick dinner.  He made phone calls on our way home from the quick dinner.  He made phone calls while I was grocery shopping.  Finally, at 8:15 pm, he made his last phone call of the evening.  The crises haven't been averted--it sounds like they were postponed until tomorrow when people are there to deal with them.  He mumbled something about sense of urgency, or lack thereof, at one point.  It sounds like the Navy way and the Japan Master Labor Contract way of doing things headbutted today and the MLC way (we'll get to it when we get to it) prevailed.  But, I'm sure that is only temporary.  The Navy-types will be back at the helm (nice Navy term, huh?) tomorrow and the operational tempo will be typical Navy and the SRF folks will find a way to catch up.

Thankfully, the kids' and my day was far from manic.  We (I guess I should say "I") had a nice chat via Skype with my parents.  RJ crashed in the big red chair this morning while I was chatting--he was so tired.  This afternoon, we dropped off his pre-school application--last year people we knew who went on the waiting list for pre-school in March were called in September.  So, we're hoping we have the same kind of luck and RJ can start pre-school for 4 hours a day, 2 days a week this fall.  If RJ doesn't drop his afternoon nap this summer, we'll be crossing our fingers for morning pre-school.  But, if we aren't so lucky and have to do afternoons, we'll make it work--I need RJ to go to pre-school!!  We also hit the playground, as it was a beautiful afternoon and called out to be enjoyed.

This is our last week of swimming lessons.  I was hoping Jip could come to a lesson tomorrow or Thursday, but tomorrow is definitely out due to the migraine.  Hopefully Thursday will work--I know RJ would be thrilled to show Dad his skills.  And, I'm hoping that a little Dad encouragement will make RJ try very hard, which will curry some favor with the instructor and she'll give her blessing for RJ to move into the pre-school level 1 class this summer.  Plus, Dad could take some pictures!  We haven't had swimming lessons pictures since we left Virginia!! 

That's about it this evening.  More tomorrow!

Mariners vs. Tigers

Today was RJ's and Ryleigh's first baseball game!  We had a great time watching the Seattle Mariners vs. the Hanshin Tigers at the Tokyo Dome...and wouldn't you know it, the Mariners lost 5-1.

We got up this morning to a beautiful, sunny day with temperatures around 50 (and they stayed that way all day).  We all had a small breakfast and then headed up to the New Sanno Hotel in Tokyo.  The New Sanno is the U.S. Military owned hotel in Tokyo.  It's where we held our Christmas party and where we've stayed several times now.  They have a wicked Sunday Brunch there that is well worth the $24 per person (for those who have not lived in New England, "wicked" translates to "outstanding").  Amy had the idea last night that we drive up to the New Sanno, eat the brunch, and then take the train from there to the Dome. It worked perfectly.  RJ was a sweetheart during the brunch, Ryleigh took her first turn in a high chair and did fairly well, Amy and I ate until we couldn't eat any more...and then I had cheesecake and a cookie!  From the hotel, we walked about 10 minutes to the nearest subway station and about 25 minutes and one train transfer later, we were at the Tokyo Dome.  We were running late and didn't get there until after 1230 (the game started at 1200), so we missed the first three innings--oh well.  We were seated up in the nosebleed section, but those tickets were for the only group of three seats that I could find a few weeks ago when I went online to buy them.  We were certainly the only gaijin in our the area and were sitting more on the Tigers' side than the Mariners' side.  We had been warned that the Japanese baseball games are very two sided, meaning that one half of the stadium cheers for one team and the other half cheers for the opposite team.  Since one of the teams was American, it wasn't quite that divided, but I'd say that a majority of the people sitting around us were die hard Tigers fans.  Of course, with Ichiro Suzuki and Munenori Kawasaki both being Japanese and now playing for the Mariners, many of the people around us cheered for them as well.

We got settled in a our three fairly small seats--sized like nearly every other seat in Japan--and proceeded to try to explain the game to RJ.  He wasn't all that interested, but when I brought out the binoculars, he was hooked.  He had them on continuously and was looking in every corner of the Dome and occasionally at the little girl sitting next to him.  I'd say she was probably about 7 years old or so, and RJ had her attention for quite a while.  It was cute.  Amy had to feed Ryleigh in the middle of the 5th inning so she took off to find a nursing room.  She found it but it was full with a waiting line, so she pulled out the Hooter Hider (TM) and fed the little girl in the waiting area.  After Amy got back (top of the 7th), both RJ and Ryleigh sat on Amy's and my laps, respectively, and proceeded to cheer and grow tired.  Neither had had a good nap yet and were both fading fast.  Near the end of the game, both were asleep in our laps.

All in all, we had a great time.  We were concerned that when all 50+ thousand of us left the stadium the train would be super packed, but it wasn't.  We were able to hop back on it with no problem, go back to the New Sanno, take care of a few necessities, and then head back home.  We're glad we went and might even have to try out a Yokohama game sometime this summer--it's much closer, outdoors, and, from what we hear, louder and more crazy. 

Below are some pictures we took today.  Enjoy!

A look inside the Tokyo Dome at the astro-turf field.

The Tigers' cheering section.  They had lots of organized cheers, and even had instruments.

A nice big electronic scoreboard.  I found it interesting that almost all the announcements were in English, but the board was in Japanese.

We were WAY TOO HIGH to worry about this...

Beer girl.  By the way, no beer guys.  At least not anywhere near our section.

Trying to be sports photographers using our camera from the nosebleed section.

You can see the ball going back out after being hit.

Strike!  (note the ball between the bat and the glove)

Cheering RJ.

Cheering/dancing...all the same.

More dancing now...

I see it!

Oh look, I see white people over there. 

This is how we cheer and make noise.

RJ getting into it...

RJ over it...

Ryleigh on the verge of sleep.

Still have "Take me out to the ballgame" running through my head...  Good night!
-Jip

Trip to D2

So it was a rainy Saturday here in Yoko. I actually had to work all day today. My CO has decided that he wants some senior level coverage on Saturdays so that means that one of three of us must be there. Today was my day. I thought that I'd have plenty of time to knock out a ton of paperwork that I've been delinquent on. Nope. I was busy as a bee all day and only got done about half of what I wanted to get done.

So I didn't sit down to write about work. I got home around 4:00 p.m. and was greeted by RJ at the door. His first words were, "It broke!". He subsequently showed me his take apart airplane and the piece with front wheels had broken again. A few weeks ago I fixed it by gluing it back together with some Gorilla Glue. This time, it was not easily glued again. The engineer in me kicked in and I envisioned a new fix with wood dowel, some glue, a flat washer, and a wood screw. Of course I don't have those things sitting around the house so we decided to make a trip to D2. D2 is a hardware store/Container Store/Target-like place where at least some signs are in English and the employees are always friendly. It's located along the route we used to take to get to the house in Kurihama where we lived about a year ago. About $6 later, I had the necessary repair parts. Later on, after hot dogs for dinner and the kiddos had knocked off for the evening, I pulled out a few hand tools and fixed the plane again. We'll see how long this repair lasts in the rough and tumble world of RJ. It's nice to repair things with my hands, though. Fixing things at work doesn't use the same tools and is rarely as satisfying as fixing my son's toys! Maybe I'm in the wrong profession?

Other than that, our day was pretty low key. We're headed to a baseball game tomorrow between the Seattle Mariners and the Hanshin Tigers. It's sure to an experience and we'll share our observances with you tomorrow night.

To close out the evening, I'll share a few kiddo pictures I snapped this evening just for the heck of it. Here's Ryleigh showing us just how much fun she has bouncing in the jumper!

RJ and Oreos never make a great pair (note the crumbs and half cookie remaining), but tonight he leaned across his plate of food and ended up smearing ketchup all over the front of his shirt--hence the shirtless little boy. By the way, he's a twist-apart-and-lick-the-middle type of Oreo eater :)

I hope you get to fix something soon as well!
-Jip

The Child Photog Strikes Again

It was another rainy day in Yokosuka, but we still got to have our play date with the mom and kids we met at the playground a few weeks ago. Gina, Lindsay, and Gavin came over for a few hours this morning, and the kids got totally worn out. Gina brought some monkey bread that the kiddos got to enjoy and there was enough left over for the hubbies. It was a fabulous morning, despite the lack of sunshine.

After long naps for both kids and then feeding Ryleigh, we all went upstairs. I put Ryleigh in her crib on her belly and put her talking Violet in with her. She was totally enamored with Violet, so I grabbed the camera to get a few pics.

RJ then placed a musical lamb in the crib and kept winding it for Ryleigh.

When the lamb lost its appeal (that didn't take long), RJ decided to take control of the camera. He had a nice eye-to-eye view with Ryleigh.

Then it was time to take pics of Mom while she changed Ryleigh's diaper.

I managed to get the camera back for a moment to take a picture of Ryleigh with a bow in her hair. Yes, she has enough hair to hold a velvet-wrapped barrette.

Then, RJ absconded the camera again. First a self-portrait, then a pic of Dad when he got home.

Jip managed to get the camera for a few seconds and got Ryleigh showing her delight that Dad was home.

Jip is working tomorrow. He often goes in on Saturday afternoons, but there are some issues with a particular boat, so some of the leadership are taking turns being in for at least most of the workday (the workday is a bit shorter on Saturdays). Hopefully things will be relatively quiet and Jip can leave mid-afternoon. The kids and I will just hang out and try to do a few of our Sunday chores tomorrow since we'll be in Tokyo a good part of Sunday. I'll also be thinking hard tomorrow about how to pack for a trip on a train to a baseball game with two small children and only a couple of bags. It could be interesting! We'll keep you posted!