Ryleigh is getting so big. And she wants so much to show how big she is.
Today, I decided to graduate Ryleigh to the tricycle. She can't quite reach the pedals, but that didn't dampen her enthusiasm.
Then she tried RJ's scooter.
I think I'm in trouble--I definitely have a girl who can't wait to be on the move!
The laundry gods are not smiling upon me. Yesterday, in the middle of a large load of towels, the washer stopped. I started it again. Agitate, agitate, stop. No spin. Tried a different cycle. No spin. So, I called the maintenance guys. They came this morning and worked their magic. The washer spun and spun. I took the towels that I had taken out the night before and stashed in the dryer out and put them back in the washer. I decided to run the dryer empty for a couple minutes to air it out. Nothing. I tried a different cycle. Nothing. I tried a different temperature. Nothing. So, I called maintenance again. They should be here in the morning.
Maybe tomorrow I can finish the load of laundry I started on Tuesday!
I think our kids are trying to tell us they are tired of us snapping pics.
Sorry, Ryleigh and RJ. We just can't help ourselves.
We joined our friends at Soleil Hill to celebrate their daughter Maggie's third birthday. We had a great time on the coin-operated rides, artificial turf sledding hill, and funny bikes and playing in the field with a balsa and foam glider. The pizza, ants on a log, vege cups, and birthday cake were awesome. We had two exhausted kiddos at the end of it all.
It was a great way to spend a Saturday!
Back on January 25, we talked about Joe, a Commander we sponsored as he prepared for his move to Japan. We took Joe to dinner and on a long car ride to show him base housing. He was a nice guy, and RJ took to him right away.
Joe told us that he was having vertigo when he first arrived and generally didn't feel well, but the ER couldn't find anything wrong, so everyone, including Joe, thought it was just all of the stress from the move. But, by the end of the first week, it was evident there was more going on. Joe was having problems with his memory and still felt poorly. The docs couldn't find anything wrong, so they decided that Joe should return to the States for further testing.
We received sad news today that Joe has been diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease and that Joe probably has less than 2 months to live. It is a rare disease, and even more rare in a relatively young person. CJD is the same type of disease (though not related to) as Mad Cow Disease, and there is no cure. I read this fact sheet from the National Institutes of Health with a heavy heart as I realized what Joe will suffer through.
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/cjd/detail_cjd.htm
Please join us in sending thoughts and prayers to Joe, his wife, son, and step-daughter as they go through this most difficult time.
Today (yesterday for most of you by the time you read this), the Department of Defense notified Congress that it intends to put 800,000 civilian employees on furlough beginning April 1. Through September 30, all but the most essential government employees will not work one day per week and they will not be paid for those lost days. That's a 20% pay cut. We are so thankful that the active duty military aren't being furloughed, but this is going to affect a lot of people we know directly, and we will most certainly be affected indirectly. Teachers at the base schools will be furloughed--they are working on how to implement the furlough without affecting educational progress and accreditation. Commissary trips are going to be more trying--fewer people stocking, fewer people doing checkouts. Jip has the largest contingent of US civilians at SRF--the CO is meeting with them and the rest of the USCS tomorrow to tell them how SRF will implement the furlough.
In addition to furloughs, costs are being cut everywhere. All of Jip's training (and everyone else's) has been cancelled. Stateside, ship maintenance is being cancelled and deployments are being cancelled. Here, because we are forward-deployed, they are trying harder to maintain maintenance budgets and ships' schedules--ships here are all that the US will have to respond to a geo-political crisis or natural disaster because the other ships won't be able to move due to no money and lack of readiness.
A lot of what could be cut simply can't be because of Federal laws that govern contracts. So, instead of ordering fewer Joint Strike Fighters, they are going for the low hanging fruit of personnel and maintenance.
While they are not supposed to touch military pay, to include PCSing to next duty locations, we have already heard that detailers are holding off on cutting orders, particularly overseas orders. We are crossing our fingers that this isn't true and that we will still get to rotate back to the States before the end of the year--but, we are preparing, at least in our heads, for the possibility of being involuntarily extended should the sequestration really last the rest of the fiscal year.
Of course, DoD isn't the only agency preparing for furloughs. Everyone is. I just read an article about how air traffic controllers, TSA, and Customs will be furloughing nearly everyone, too. Longer lines at the airport are coming. Even longer waits on hold for calls to VA or Social Security are coming--there will be 20% fewer people answering the phones. Every single person will be touched in some way, shape, or form by the sequestration.
I'm sure all of you join me in hoping Congress will come back from their recess and put at least some stop-gap measurements in place, and then lock themselves in a room and not come out until they figure out how to make Government function again.
This blog post is late because we were on the phone with our financial planner. It is interesting trying to do stuff like talking about insurance and the TSP (the government's equivalent to a 401(k)) by phone. We've known Pat since 2000, so it is easy to picture him talking with his hands and drawing pie charts and graphs on his whiteboard while gabbing away. But, a phone call just doesn't have the same impact as being in the room. We've tried Skype a couple times, but it never wants to work well when we need it. So, we do the best we can with our phone chat, send a flurry of emails afterward, and look forward to seeing each other across a desk sometime in the future. Tonight's conversation was good, but I have some homework to do in the next week or so.
On a COMPLETELY unrelated note, it has been chilly here lately. But it was warm enough in the sun today to hit a playground. As much as we like the playgrounds by the water, they are cold this time of year between the breeze off the water and the shade from the apartment building across the street. But, the one by McDonald's is sunny and is entertaining for both kids, and we get to treat ourselves to apple juices and an iced tea.
The kids played hard at McD's, and even harder with the neighbors when we got home. It was a great afternoon, and I'm crossing my fingers that enough energy was burned for a good night's sleep for everyone!
It was a rotten day with the kiddos. My mantra all day, except while they napped, was, "They are 3 and 1. They are 3 and 1." I just closed my eyes and said it over and over when Ryleigh threw her syrup-soaked waffle on the floor and while RJ decided he would only eat yogurt for dinner. Tonight's mantra is, "Tomorrow will be better. Tomorrow will be better."
I wanted to blog about something a little more positive, so I thought I'd show you a couple pics from yesterday. This first picture is actually not mine--I didn't get a chance to take my own. But we saw this sign, so it counts, right?
Yup. It's a monkey crossing. I knew there were snow monkeys near Nagano, but I had no idea there were monkeys in Chiba. I guess in the summer, you can see them very near the roadways.
This next pic is mine. (Obvious, huh, since Jip is in it?). We paid a highway toll using a machine. While this isn't uncommon in the States (Garden State Parkway in New Jersey comes to mind), it is unusual in a country where we have observed that they like everyone to have a job. We have observed 12 guys who help you find a parking spot in the near-empty garage at the zoo and guys hired by the local hardware store to make sure you see the stoplight is red (I'm not joking). So, it was wild to us that they didn't have human toll collectors!
There are a few more family-friendly places in Chiba to see if we so choose. We'll have to see what other curiosities those trips bring.
About a week after Ryleigh was born, I was standing outside the bases's Information, Tours, and Ticketing office, looking at the posters for local attractions while Jip and RJ were buying tickets for the Halloween carnival. A Japanese woman approached me and pointed to a poster with killer whales on it and said, "I used to work there. It is a great place to take your family!" I had actually heard about Kamogawa Sea World before, but it was fun to have a local tell me about it. Today, we finally took her advice and made the trek to Chiba for some fishy fun.
Getting to Chiba is a challenge. From the red pin to the purple pin is where we had to go today. The cheapest route that is still somewhat timely is to go around Tokyo Bay on toll roads--all the way north then back south. The shortest way both in miles and time is via a ferry that actually leaves from Yokosuka. We have no confirmation on this, as there is nothing in English about it, but we've heard it is about $100 to take your car onto the ferry. So, we split the difference and took a tunnel under Tokyo Bay (it connects Kawasaki to the Chiba Peninsula) for about $67 each way. It is always fun to take the Aqua Line tunnel and it gave the kids a chance to nap.
The aquarium/sea life park is compact, but very nice. There were lots of freshwater and saltwater tanks. There was a fair amount of English. But, the best thing about Kamogawa Sea World was definitely the collection of killer whales. We caught a fun show with them and got to have lunch with a view into their tank.
It was super rainy today, but it made for a great day to be there. It was far from crowded, so the kids got lots of opportunities to get up to the glass at all of the tanks. At one point, we basically had the whole tropical tank area to ourselves.
"Look, Ryleigh!"
Impressive photog skills, Jip!
Our little navigator.
Lunch with the killer whales.
Such a sweet face!
Working on his GQ/Uncle Brad pose.
Whoooooooooaa.
RJ, the turtle whisperer.
Ryleigh then joined the turtle whisperer...
And then waited to see if they whispered back.
We ended our day at Kamogawa with bio-luminescent jellyfish. Cool, huh?
We truly enjoyed our day at the aquarium/sea life park and our outing in general! It was a great way of take advantage of a US holiday/non-Japanese holiday!!
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| Ryleigh in her new pink coat. |
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| "Hi, Mom." |
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| "I'm going to get you, Dad." |
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| "Or maybe not... Chase me, Dad." |
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| Ryleigh at the bottom of the slide. Bum first is her motto and she does it well. |
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| A fake crash. He was laughing the whole time. |
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| "Anyone seen a red bicycle?' |
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| Ryleigh was cute in all her pink today, but since we forgot the pink gloves (oops, bad parents!), we had to cut the play time short. |
It was chilly today, so indoor play was a must. We decided the best way to accomplish that was to go bowling this morning.
We showed up about a half hour after it opened, and there were already 10 or so lanes occupied. Bleary-eyed sailors were waking themselves up with bowling practice in preparation for a big base bowling tournament tomorrow. They all were pretty darn amazing. It was fun to watch them work on their backspins, conquering splits, and more. Through the morning, more and more young sailors appeared, and we were surrounded by great bowlers.
Then there was the Mosman Clan. RJ played with bumpers and the ball guide. Ryleigh screamed "BALL!" every time a ball popped out of the return. Jip and I didn't get a spare or strike until the 7th frame. (Jip did close out the 10th frame with 3 strikes, though.). But, we didn't care--we all enjoyed our morning on Lane 19.
Here are a couple grainy photos from our morning.
Starting Monday night, I baked like crazy. The first night I made the cookie suckers for RJ's preschool class. To get 18, I had to make 24 since the sugar cookies didn't always pop out of the pan like I needed them to, even with greasing the pan. Then, I had to ice the cookies, package them, and attach the cards.
I was pleased with how they turned out.
Then it was on to items for a bake sale for the SRF Spouses' Club. I took it easy on Tuesday and only made strawberry brownies with M&Ms (thank you, Pinterest). Wednesday was crunch day. More sugar cookie suckers. Then another cookie sucker with milk chocolate chips and raspberry and dark chocolate M&Ms. Lastly, banana bread bars cut in the shape of lips and decorated with glittery icing. I packaged everything for individual sale and boxed it all up. Surprisingly enough, I was in bed by midnight, even after being crazy baker.
I loved baking, but I was glad to give my mixer and my flour bin a rest tonight.
