Camera Play

Our friends Lauren, Bella, and Isaac came over today. The kids took out the old camera and took pictures of each other. I downloaded the pics plus the others on the camera. As usual, there were some doozies.

Enjoy!

Who's Counting?

We are. 15 days until our stuff gets crated up to go on the big trans-Pacific journey. 65 days until we are Stateside. 50 days (well, 48ish) on loaner furniture is probably going to feel like an eternity, though! But, there is a light at the end of our tunnel, and we are so glad!

The Tanker Truck Came!

"Dad, is the box for me?"
"Yes, I think it is for you.  What do you think is in it?"
"MY TANKER TRUCK?!"
"Mom, the mail man brought my tanker truck!"

So it took a week for the Lego bought on Amazon.com to get here (see 7/22 blog entry).  RJ has been asking EVERY day where it was and if it was here yet.  Finally, we don't have to guess anymore and explain how the mail system works.

RJ immediately took it out and we put it together.  I don't have any pictures of it at the moment (it's actually in his bedroom with him while he's sleeping tonight) but I'll get some soon.  I even helped him build a gas station out of Lego blocks so he can bring the gas to the station.  Additionally, he wanted a sign (made out of paper) that says, per his request, "CAR WASH.  FREE GAS FOR TANKER TRUCKS AND CARS."

I love little kid imaginations!
-Jip

A backyard kind of day

It was a backyard kind of day.  It was too hot and humid to go play anywhere else.  It was too hot to exercise.  It was too hot to really do anything but sit and relax in the shade.  Yes, we could have stayed inside in the air conditioning all day long, but what fun would that be?

RJ really wanted his new "pipes" to be put outside somehow so he could play with them, so after some searching at the NEX for something with a large smooth, flat surface and not finding anything, I remembered that we had the plastic clips that came with our patio set which hold the glass into the metal frame.  Putting them on allowed me to tip the table onto its side and voila!, we had a place for the pipes.

I also filled the pool and set up the patio umbrella for shade (with my makeshift rope securing system so the umbrella didn't blow over).

We spent the latter half of the morning in the backyard and when it came time to eat lunch, we decided to eat outside as well.  We needed something from the grocery store so a quick trip through the Taco Bell drive through wasn't an inconvenience.  After some naps, we hit the backyard again for some more fun.

It was a fun day in our own yard--good, clean fun!  Here are a few photos of our day:

We hope your day is as relaxing as ours!
-Jip

New Bath Toy(s)

Pinterest struck our home once again.  Our project included shopping for supplies at D2 (Home Depot crossed with Target) and Daiso (dollar store).  Jip then broke out some power tools, and a short time later,  Jip created some awesome bath toys (or all together, one bath toy).

Configuration #1

Ryleigh loving it!

Configuration #3 (no pic of #2)

Ryleigh improvised on where to start the water.

It's amazing what you can do with a little PVC and suction cups! Any guesses on whether they'll be begging for a bath again in the morning?


In case you are curious, here's the blog post from Pinterest that inspired today's project:

http://thebroodinghen.blogspot.jp/2012/11/hardware-store-bath-toys.html

Wardroom Bowling

The SRF Wardroom (officers and civil service GS-7 and up) took a little break today at the bowling alley. We were able to get a game in before RJ had to go to swimming. Glen, the de facto SRF photographer, caught a really cute shot of Ryleigh taking a turn bowling.

It was a fun, casual afternoon with the work peeps!

Overtired

I wore Ryleigh out today. Well, I thought I did.

Our sitter was sick today, so during RJ's swimming lesson, I put Ryleigh in a Puddle Jumper (see pic), and had her propel herself around the pool for nearly 40 minutes. She was totally exhausted. We ate a late dinner, took a late bath, and went to bed. That was at 8:30. It is now 11. Ryleigh is still awake. She is obviously overtired. She's been nearly asleep lots of times between Jip and me holding her, but wakes up each time we put her to bed. I'm tired of my arm falling asleep while she falls asleep, so I now have Ryleigh in our bed and am waiting for her to pass out. At this rate, I might fall asleep first. Wish us luck--it could be a long night!!

Carnival!

Carnival was the theme for today's storytime. The Brazilian kind, not the amusement kind. Weird theme, I know. All summer, the books featured each week are about different regions of the world. Today was South America. We learned about rain forests and Carnival, and for some reason, Quetzalcoatl (apparently Mexico was part of South America for today). Then the kids (Mom) made masks.

We checked out a few books and dashed home before the rain settled in. It was a good morning! I particularly liked it because RJ ASKED to go to story time. Hurrah for the written word and fun librarians!

Rain!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why so many exclamation points? Because that's how hard it rained during swimming lessons. RJ didn't get in the pool because there was thunder, but the swim teachers still used the time to go over some swimming safety tips and sing songs. Just as we were wrapping up, the skies opened up. Hard. We ran to the swim office, where we got a chance to get the umbrella out. I handed RJ the umbrella and I endured the downpour. By the time we crossed the street from the pool to the parking lot, I was so wet that I had to change ALL of my clothes once we got home. RJ had his swimsuit on even though he didn't swim, but he was still in just enough of the deluge that his suit felt like he got in the pool.

Of course, the rain stopped just as we pulled into our parking spot.

Randomness

Nothing super special tonight so here are a few random things from the past few days:

1.  Some bath time photos from my iPod.  Sorry for the poor poses and quality.

2.  Ryleigh's sampling of a cake pop.  She kept saying, "Mmmm" while she ate it.  It didn't completely wipe off, by the way, but, rather, had to wear off during the rest of the day.

3.  Ryleigh's conversation.  She's becoming good at saying "No."
Amy:  "Can you give your monkey a kiss?"
Ryleigh:  "No!"
Amy:  "Can you give me a kiss?"
Ryleigh:  "No!"
Me:  "Are you cute?"
Ryleigh (sweetly):  "Yes."

She's going to be a handful as she gets older...

4.  RJ's Amazon.com experience.  As a birthday gift, he was given a gift certificate by one of his friends.  He decided (with a little help from Mom) to spend it on a Duplo Tanker Truck.  The rest of the day and evening we heard only whimpers and whines from RJ because he was devastated that when he pushed the "buy" button (with a little help from Mom again), it didn't show up 10 minutes later.  He was incredulous that it could take 10 days.



More fun to follow soon!
-Jip

Water Guns!

We've been collecting water guns lately.  I bought a few last week on a trip to the 100 yen store.  Our friends Aaron and Jessie brought one to RJ yesterday for his birthday.  A few have been laying around.  So, we decided today was a good day to put them to use.

We had a great time playing in the backyard!  Ryleigh spent most of the time dumping buckets of water on herself.  RJ ended up just as wet as Ryleigh with some good dousing from Mom and Dad.

In the famous words of the Stratton Spotlight--"A good time was had by all."

Birthday Party!

We had RJ's birthday party today. It was his first honest-to-goodness party with friends and such. The theme was Legos.

RJ had 4 friends plus a friend's older brother come. Cian, Caylebe, Walker, Christopher, and Joseph helped RJ feel super special. They played with Legos, chased balloons, chased each other, and had a few laughs with the Lego photo props.

I had ordered cupcakes and cake pops from a lady who lives on the Negishi Housing Detachment. Unfortunately, she got into a car accident on the way to deliver everything. But, she made it in time to put the cake pops in the goodie bags to take home. And, we got to enjoy the cupcakes after dinner tonight! Sbarro's provided an ice cream cake and I had a plain cake for the Lego candles, so we had plenty to eat!

It was a great day for RJ!

Welcome, Zoya!

Meet our new niece, Zoya Nevaeh Mosman.

She was a bouncing 6.09 lbs and 19 inches.  Zoya joined her parents, Peter and Stacy, at 9:17 am on July 18. 

We are excited to meet this little beautiful girl in a few months!  

More Birthday Celebrations

Today RJ's preschool class celebrated the July birthdays.  RJ and his friend Christopher enjoyed the spotlight for a few minutes.

I was so grateful the Miss Yuri and Miss Angelica asked if Ryleigh and I wanted to be there.  The preschool did such a nice job making RJ and Christopher feel special!