Do I Want My Children To Be Like Me?

A few days ago, I pinned a little picture on my "For When I'm Supermom" board on Pinterest entitled "How to Care for Introverts."  I actually saw this advice on Pinterest over a month ago when one of my friends pinned it to one of her boards. I guess it took me a few weeks to process it and decide I should take note.

When I pinned the advice on my board, I noted in the description that these were things to remember in case one of my kids turned out like me.  Yes, I'm an introvert.  Not introverted, as in the shy-type.  But, introverted in the Myers-Briggs way--my energy comes from me, large groups wear me out, I would rather develop close relationships with a few people rather than have a gajillion "friends."  I actually didn't realize I was introverted until I got to grad school.  When I took the Myers-Briggs as an undergrad, I tested right on the Extrovert/Introvert line, but more in the extroverted column.  That made sense to me then--I was in a new place and situation (we took the test at a Honors Program freshman orientation) and I was focusing more on answering the questions the way I thought they would be answered by a successful, outgoing chica from a small school trying to fit in in the big pond.  But, when I took the test again in grad school, I had move into the introverted column.  Again, it made sense--I was more at peace with myself by that time and wasn't so focused on answering the "right" way, but learning more about myself.

I don't mind being introverted, at least most of the time.  It actually comes in quite handy in the Navy lifestyle.  People come and go so often that you have no choice sometimes but to find energy from your own activities (or non-activities), as you might be the only one around or the only one in your boat (so to speak).  I've maintained my introverted ways and had one or two really good friends (or none at all) at each of the places we've lived.  I have made "friends" in each location, but just not many that I would call if I needed a shoulder for some serious leaning.  But those good friends the Navy has brought me are friends for life.

On the other side of the coin, being an introvert has led to some lonely times.  And, this is what has me concerned for my kids.  I'm not going to break Rule #12 and try to make my children extroverts, but I don't want them to be lonely like I have been--this is especially true as we move at least once if not 2-3 more times before Jip gets out of the Navy and we find a place to be for longer than 36 months. 

I'm already seeing a bit of introvert in RJ.  Everyday when we go to the playground, I let him choose which one.  And, most of the time, he asks me if other kids will be there.  Sometimes when I answer yes, he says he wants to go to a different one.  I've learned the playgrounds on base that have no kids or very few kids.  But, I'm not sure I'm doing him any favors.  But, he is like me--he has his few favorite kids that he is always excited to see, but when it comes to adding new ones to the mix, the excitement wanes.  This morning, RJ was excited to go to a playground with some of our favorite people here.  But, when we went to a different playground this afternoon, the enthusiasm was lacking.  And, after chasing a couple of kids who didn't want to be chased and being yelled at by a girl for saying "surprise" (his version of hide-and-seek/peek-a-boo), he was ready to leave. 

So, what's a girl to do?  I guess I'll do my best to just back off and let the friendships, alone time, and learning about themselves take place as naturally as possible.  I'll keep exposing them to as much as I can without overwhelming them (and myself) and hope they will be comfortable enough in their own introverted (or extroverted--Ryleigh and RJ still have plenty of time to prove they are nothing like me!) ways.

They'll make me fake cough.

Nothing out of the ordinary today.  Amy, RJ, Ryleigh, and I got to eat some lunch together at McDonald's where RJ could have some "ketchup, mustard, and ranch with nuggets and fries."  After that and some naps, Amy took the kiddos to a playground.  I worked a little later than usual tonight--it seems like everyone's woes and problems get dropped in my lap at the end of the day.  It's part of my job, but sometimes it's annoying because I have to spend the extra time at work to make things right or to take the necessary actions when I'd MUCH rather be at home with the fam.  We had some nice family time tonight, though, during which RJ had us laughing out loud.  Of course, we told him that we were laughing at Ryleigh rather than laughing at him.  Here's how dinner went down:

Me:  "RJ, eat your noodles."
RJ:  "No, they're yuck."
Me:  (using some strong "persuasion"...or size and strength, depending on how you look at it) "Open your mouth and eat the noodles!"
RJ:  "They'll make me cough."  At this point, he gave in and ate the noodles, but faked a series of gags/coughs.
Me:  "Those were fake.  Eat some more."
RJ:  "No.  I don't want anymore.  They'll make me fake cough!"

Dang.  You just have to hate it when the truth slips out. 

He then proceeded to eat about a 1/3 of the bowl of noodles without any more coughs, real or fake  :)

Have a great day/night!
-Jip

More Safari Park Pics

Not much new today, so I thought I'd bore you with more Fuji Safari Park pics.

This is all of us in front of the lion bus--before we even knew it would actually be our bus for the park tour.

And a few pics of RJ feeding the bears and lions...

And a little fun with the iPhone while on the bus...

The last few weekends have been go, go, go with our little day trips. I wonder if we'll try to sit still this weekend? I guess you'll just have to wait and see (as will we).

Fuji Safari Park

We took advantage of the holiday today (Happy Memorial Day to everyone!) to go somewhere new and exciting.  We figured that since it was only a U.S. holiday, the Japanese would not be out in full force at the Fuji Safari Park.  The park is located near the base of Mt. Fuji and is an open park where you can drive your own car (at your own risk) or you can ride in one of the special buses through the open areas where all the animals live in a more natural habitat.  When I mentioned to my Japanese coworkers that we were thinking of going there this weekend, the most common retort was, " Oh, that's a long way from here."  I'm here to tell you that it only took us 1 hour and 45 minutes to get there--heck, that's practically a "commute" for those of us from Colorado and the midwest.  No problem for us crazy gaijin.  Now, we did drive on the toll roads which cost us 3250 Yen each way (about $43) and with the cost of the park, food, drinks, etc., it ended up being a pretty expensive day.  The cost doesn't matter though because the experience is what today was about--and what a unique experience it was.  Who knew that you could go on a safari in Japan?

As we got off the toll road, Mt. Fuji greeted us with a small cloud cover near the peak.  As a note, the Japanese often refer to Mt. Fuji as Fuji-san as a show of respect for the mountain.  Sitting at about sea level and looking up at the mountain is pretty impressive.

Mt. Fuji with 12,388 feet of beauty. 

We only had to drive a few kilometers to get to the park.We parked, fed Ryleigh quickly, got our jackets on, and then set out to the ticket booth.  LET THE ADVENTURES BEGIN...in about 4 hours :(.  We had read that bus tickets can sell out on the weekend, but we didn't expect that we'd have a hard time getting a safari bus ticket on a Monday.  Oh contraire, mon frere.  What we didn't count on were school groups and big buses filled with the Geritol club members.  Needless to say, at about 11:25, I bought us tickets for the 15:15 bus tour. 

What do you do to kill four hours...?

We ate some delicious curry with rice and pork cutlet in the Safari Restaurant.  The rain moved in just as we finished lunch so we ended up back in the van.  Ryleigh slept, Amy surfed with her iPhone, RJ watched Bugs Bunny on the iPad, and I played "Where's My Water?" and "Angry Birds" on my iPod Touch until the rain ended.  It may seem sad that we all were entertained by an Apple device vice having a good family conversation, but it worked well to keep the volume low so Ryleigh could sleep.

Finally, it was time to go get in line to board the bus.  Of course, the rain came back in for a few minutes right before we got on the bus, but we didn't shrink too much. 

Here's RJ in front of our Lion Bus.

We turned in our tickets, received two small containers-one with raw meat and one with carrots, apples, and some pellets of grain-- and then we were off!  Keep in mind that anyone can drive through with their own car, but after reading the signs and experiencing what we did, no thank you.  I don't love our van, but I wouldn't take the chance.  Our bus had two layers of metal grating between the passengers and the animals.  Our van has zero.  I'm glad we waited for four hours.

"Ensure that all doors are locked and windows are sucurely closed.  Do not get out of your vehicle."

We had worried that RJ would be frightened by the animals.  We quickly found out that our fears were for naught when we stopped for the first time in the bear area.  These bears jumpeup on the side of the bus so we could feed them the apples and carrots.  There were literally only a few inches from us.  Using the metal tongs provided to us, we handed out the fruit and veggies to the bears.  The big brown bear snapped and growled at the black bear on our side--RJ didn't even flinch.  He just wanted to feed them some more.  I'm very proud of him!

Next, we were off to the lion zone where we fed them the raw meat.

The tigers didn't really care that we were there.

The rhinos were impressive to see.

We stopped to feed the camels--they stunk!

The last two animals we saw were elk...

...and the American bison.

There were plenty of other animals that I didn't include pictures of--cheetahs, elephants, zebra, giraffes, deer, mountain goats, and more. 

We had a great day, and I'm very glad that Amy came up with the idea to go visit the park.  It was a unique experience.  Maybe we'll have to go on a real safari in Africa someday.

I hope your Monday off (for those that get it off) is as interesting and fun as ours.
-Jip

Sakura Photos

Way back in April, before we even went to Colorado, we went to Yokohama to meet with a photographer to take our pictures amongst the cherry blossoms.  It just wasn't our day.  RJ wouldn't sit still long enough for photos and when he did, we couldn't seem to get everyone looking at the camera.  And, the blossoms really weren't that full.  Actually, the pictures we took of the kids the next day actually turned out better--maybe the kids are used to the camera abuse inflicted by their own parents rather than that of a photographer?

I took forever picking pictures out from the proofs (we got to choose 15 and honestly, I had a hard time finding 15 that were keepers).  Then our photographer had two family medical emergencies.  So, it took awhile to finally get them, but here are a few. 

At least the one of Jip and I turned out pretty well.  I think we might have to try again next year, though.  Maybe then the kids will be a little more up for it and maybe the blossoms will be a little fuller.

Just so you don't have to flip back to the blog post with the pictures we took, here are a couple again.

It's hard to believe that was the first weekend in April.  It's even harder to believe that tomorrow is Memorial Day.  Time sure does fly!

Roller Slides (Again) and 2 Dinners

It was such a nice day today!  So, we corralled our friends Lauren, Bella, and Isaac into joining us at Kannonzaki Park for the obstacle course and roller slides.  Everyone had so much fun!!

See the boo-boo strips on his knees?  I think I should buy stock in Band-Aid, as it is going to be a long summer for those knees--boo boo strips will probably be needed every day.

No one told them to hold hands.  RJ and Bella just sat there and did that while the adults got the babies put in the stroller for the hike up the hill.

This is where I'm trying to answer, "Mom, what do spider webs do?"  Bella and I were discussing how weird it is that spider webs are sticky enough to catch flies but yet spiders can still walk around on them.

RJ on the obstacle course.  He got brave at the end and said, "Let me do it!"

RJ slid by himself every time except once when the bumscoot got stuck and he kept going--he needed a little help getting back on.

The bumscoots are very versatile--they make great shovels, too.

Grass is apparently very confusing for Ryleigh right now.

Lauren kept the babies entertained.

Dad and Ryleigh took on the small roller slide.

Brother RJ, you are funny!

A new rock climbing technique--sitting on Dad's head is quite effective!

And, just for you Amber... After the park, we went to the Chief's club for dinner.  When we got back home, RJ asked if we were going to have dinner.  Jip replied that we just ate dinner and you don't have two dinners in one day... unless you go from the farm to the city in the same day.  Then you can have dinner at noon and again at 6.  Of course, RJ didn't get it, but I laughed.  (And I bet Amber and Grandma Jo laughed, too, when they read this.)

Thankful to be on Base

Tomorrow marks one year in base housing. The year has flown. I look back at pictures from move in day (see below) and look at how little RJ was, and I'm amazed how he has changed. I'm amazed how we all have changed. I grew and grew and grew a belly. Our family gained a beautiful girl (and my belly mostly went away).

I've said it before in this blog. We are grateful to be in base housing. Life in town was okay, but it just wasn't for us. I enjoy my American appliances, my normal-sized parking place that doesn't require Austin Powers-like maneuvers to get into it, and being close to the amenities that help make life in this very foreign land a little more bearable.

In case you haven't seen it before, here's a little tour of our base house. I was quite pregnant when I made it, so I'm a little winded in my narration. And, no tour of Ryleigh's room because I didn't have it decorated yet, but you still get an idea of where we live.

Today it really hit home how glad I am to be on base.  This afternoon was just lovely.  Not too hot.  Not too humid. It was a Goldilocks kind of afternoon--it was just right.  It was so great to just pop out into the backyard.  We didn't have a yard in Kurihama.  We barely had a stoop.  The moment I opened the front door in Kurihama, I had to be holding RJ's hand for fear of a motorcycle zooming by and catching our toes.  But, not here.  Today, we went out and enjoyed the "grass" (grass is in quotes because it is mostly weeds, but it passes for grass when it is mowed short) and just being outside.  See what I mean?

We then came in for a little snack and a little nap for Ryleigh, then when Jip came home, it was time to go back out.

I contentedly listened to everyone play while I made dinner in my American oven and chopped a salad on my American-height counters.  It was a good day to be in base housing.

Wheeeeeee!

Finally!  Here's the Kanazawa Slide video for you, Grandpa (and everyone else). Be sure to watch through to the end to watch RJ go flying off the slide!

Half-Way Through the Week

We had horrible weather yesterday. It rained so hard I actually had to put the kids in the car and fetch Jip. We had thunder and lightning, so Jip definitely needed to not ride his bike in that!

Today was lovely, though. Birds were singing (and not dive bombing) and people were smiling--the base turned on the a/c in the housing areas and those of us with individual units are now allowed to turn ours on. Last year, partially due to the power crisis in Japan and partially out of stubbornness (at least in my opinion), the a/c didn't get turned on until mid-June. I'm not sure why the change this year, but I don't mind. We don't really need it in the house, yet. But, the commissary, exchange, and dining establishments needed it starting a couple of weeks ago. I'm sure the people living on the 9th floors of the apartment buildings are grateful, too!

We managed to break out into the fine sunshine for a little while. We were going to play at the playground by the water, but it was crowded with lots of people having picnics. So, we went to a little playground on a hill in the middle of a bunch of apartment buildings. Here are a couple of pics from our afternoon outing.

No big plans the remainder of the week. Jip will probably work at least part of Saturday. We're still debating on the Safari Park for Monday--we need to figure out whether being that up close and personal with the animals would be RJ's cup of tea, as they actually feed the animals from the tour bus that goes through the park. If we decide to postpone until he's a little older, we have a few other ideas for Monday--we have to take advantage of the US but not Japanese holiday!

It's official. She's crawling!

Update--We uploaded the video to YouTube so you can now actually view the video on our blog using your Apple devices (this means you, Dad, Brad, Amber, and Emily).

Ryleigh started crawling normally a few days ago, but would quickly revert to her modified "worm" style crawl.  Today, however, she spent nearly all her floor time on all fours crawling around the house and not sliding her tummy along the floor.  We're very proud!

Picnic(s)

After having our picnic at Solieil Hill yesterday, RJ wanted to have another picnic today. I asked him if he wanted to have a picnic in the backyard (I was hoping he'd say "no" -- as to why, give me a couple minutes.). "No. I want to picnic in the living room." So, I made PB&J for RJ and warmed up leftover chicken tortilla soup for me (weird picnic item, but it needed to be eaten), and we laid out a little playmat he has and had our picnic. Ryleigh had to be contained in the jumper so she wouldn't "eat the picnic blanket," per RJ.

The picnic only lasted about 5 minutes, then RJ wanted to move to the table. But, it was fun while it lasted.

This afternoon we headed to the playground. Shocking, I know. There were four other boys there. I'd guess two were in the 10-11 range and the other two were around 7-8. The younger set of boys were sharing a bag of Cheetos when a crow swooped in and managed to grab the bag from the boys. The crow dropped it right away, but spilled a few out of the bag. Well, that was an open invite for more crows to join the party. Then, the kites, known around here as seahawks, decided to crash the picnic. The boys thought it was pretty funny that birds were swooping and diving for the Cheetos. They started throwing Cheetos at the birds, essentially taunting them. I was less than amused. Then, the birds started swooping in closer to the young boys, the older boys, and my kids. I was over it. I asked the boys to stop because it was mean and because it was dangerous. I could picture the birds coming after a child simply because his fingers were covered in Cheetos dust. There have been a few bird attacks on the base that resulted in tetanus boosters--the kites in particular mean business. Anyway, the boys high-tailed it home. But, the birds had no intention of leaving. They kept dive bombing and fighting each other for Cheetos. The older boys nearly got caught in the crossfire. I recommended they take cover away from any morsels of cheesiness. They heeded my warning and waited under the slide until their mom called them home. RJ and I did our best to make noise and keep them away from us. But, they still got too close for comfort.

After our experience today, I think we'll just stick to our living room picnic--no crows, no kites.

Soleil Hill -- another fun family park

We were invited to join some friends today at Soleil Hill which is a farm/family park/amusement park/petting zoo all rolled into one.  We had heard of the place before and had heard great things about it.  I had envisioned something much smaller and more intimate, so I was pleasantly surprised at the size and variety of things going on there.  After we arrived and caught up with the peeps, RJ and I played in the playground for a few minutes and then headed over to the go-cart track.  We paid our 600 yen and went for a ride.  All I can say is the RJ is not a good driver!  He really needs to work on the concept of steering--but we still had a great time.

Me retrieving RJ after he ran off to the other side of the playground without us.

RJ liked to steer back and forth very quickly with no regard to where we were actually going.

RJ next wanted to ride the bicycles--or whatever those contraptions could be called.  There were tricycles, tandem tricycles, two-person side-by-side quadracycles...a real hodgepodge of small, wheeled vehicles.  RJ has nowhere near mastered the art of pedaling, so I didn't have high hopes.  Amy took him into the riding area (another 600 yen) and picked out a good candidate.  It didn't work for RJ.  She tried another.  It didn't work for RJ either.  Finally, she found one she could push him in.  After a lap or two, the riders all kind of switch off and try something else, so on round two, Amy found a two-person side-by-side that worked fairly well.  Lastly, she and RJ rode a quadracycle where the riders had to move up and down to power it.  They surely didn't win any races, but RJ had a great time giving it his best.

See Amy and RJ in the background trying to try the tandem tricycle thingy.

This was the first one that worked satisfactorily for RJ.

This was the second--could it have any smaller tires?

This was the third and final one--it wore Mom out.

After the bicycles, it was lunch time where RJ managed to eat chips, an Oreo cookie, and half of the PB&J sandwich.  The other half of the sandwich he stepped on.  We decided to part company with our friends, go ride the swan boat, and then go home.  We paid our boat fee for a 20 minute ride and then boarded the boat--all four of us this time!  We paddled around for a while and found out that RJ was just as bad of a driver on the water as he was on land.  We made one trip around the pond and turned the boat in a little early.  Being in the boat was okay, but repeatedly telling RJ to stay away from the edge got old quickly.  We saw some fish (Koi) and then headed out.  Ryleigh needed to be fed, so we sat in the parking lot to feed her which was so exciting for her brother that he fell asleep while sitting there and didn't wake up until we got home.

Look out boats, here we come.

Family time in the swan boat.

Too much excitement and fun led to this...

When we got home, it was time to do some errands, including putting up gates at the bottom and top of the stairs.  Ryleigh is really getting good at crawling and climbing so it had to be done.  I'm sure they'll be up until we leave, so I did my best to make them sturdy and look good.

All in all, a great day with great weather and a good times for everyone.  We'll certainly go back again sometime.

Good night!
-Jip