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