Nanbu

Over the 4th of July weekend we wanted to go camping with some friends.  They suggested we go to Nanbu.  We said, "yes, of course, Nanbu was exactly where we were thinking of going too." So we ventured down to Nanbu.  Marie made friends with the slide, clouds, and mountains at our little picnic lunch we had when we got there.  You may not be able to tell from this picture, but unless we've posted any embarrassing bathtub photos of Marie, this is the first blogged photo of her diaperless.  Yeah!!! Great job, Marie.

We then stopped by a Shinto temple shrine complex and Marie peed all over.  So the rest of her photos she has diapers on.  It's too hard out in the wilderness, away from the little froggie potty.  Anyway, in this next picture you can see the fam sticking it out for a great pic standing on a red bridge.  Marie kept looking at the large fish in the pond and would say, "Let's go fishing with a fishing pole!"  She has a little fishing game she likes to play. I just went to see what it was called and turns out its called, "Let's Go Fishin' Game." 

Mina found this great fake turtle.  She snapped at it with her jaws, just like the turtle would have tried if he wasn't made of stone.  These two turned out to be pretty good friends in the end. 

We then found the Hokoji Temple.  It was built over 750 years ago and was very quiet.

And then Brett and Marie ran up the steps and made a huge embarrassment out of themselves.  But they really wanted to have their Rocky moment after running up the stairs.  We'll behave ourselves better next time sacred temple.

Then Rachel finds these stairs, climbs them, and proceeds to embarrass America with all of her looking around respectfully, enjoying herself.

We made it to the campsite.  Check out all the mini-treehouses in the background.  I don't know who stays in them, either ninjas, samurais, or smurfs.  We opted for the traditional tent, what with it being the 4th of July and all.  We went on top of the hill and Marie played with her Mickey Mouse ball and Brett played with a wiffleball. You decide who the mature one is. 

In the morning Marie and her friend shared an inside joke around the campfire.

Mina was great throughout.  She earned infinity kisses from Mommy.  See you next time Nanbu.

Little Pig

This little pig built a Japanese house out of sticks and rice patties.

Down will come Baby Donald

Marie's always loved story time.  From day one she's taken it pretty seriously.  Most nights she would read all night if we let her, so we limit her to half the night.  She loves to go to her bookshelf and pull out all the books she plans to read that night.  And when there are little song parts to the books she doesn't let me sing them because, "No daddy, I don't like your voice." 

rockin and rollin

National Big Sister Day

Today I offically declare Big Sister Day.
It's an ode to all the big sisters (and brother's too) who consistently make life better for the younger siblings in their  life. I've been meaning to give Marie her own official "Marie Celebration Day" for a while, but today she really earned it.
We were driving home. Usually when I'm driving it's a pretty constant chorus of Mina crying. But  half way home she stopped crying. Automatically I just thought it was because of my awesome parenting skills I somehow taught her to self soothe. But then Marie says, "Mom, she's got a bag on her face!" I pulled the car over, whipped open the passenger door and sure enough somehow Mina has a plastic bag on her face. A minute earlier I had rolled down the windows and I think a plastic bag from the road flew in from the side and landed on her face. She was enjoying eating it and tangling her face up in it. Once I removed it she was actually pretty mad. I however, was speechless. Marie- you are a hero.  

But the real question is, how do I celebrate a two year old? Tokyo Disney, anyone?

Here is Marie a week earlier when I caught her gettin' down at the park.

Marie, you are awesome.

QUICK! BLOG!

From now on, the titles of my posts might as well be, "Quick, their asleep! Blog!" Raising two kids is pretty much as hard as I thought it would be... that is... REALLY HARD. But obviously it's incredibly awesome, so I need to blog. It's mostly to remind myself, that in between all the crying (yes ALL the much crying) that this is the best time of my whole life.

Also... Brett is out of town. If your in Kansas give him a call. But the blog updates are for him to.

 

WE ARE BACK. I can't believe we've been back about 3...4 weeks? Who keeps time these days?

If you were around me anytime in the past 5 months you probably know that I completely lost my marbles. Breaking it down mathematically it would look something like this:

winter blues+homesickness+(new baby x colic)+ sick mommy+sick baby x Earthquake + survivor guilt X Colic (did I mention colic?) = -100 marbles.

But we are back, and we are somehow... very happy.

I promise! I don't think I could really blog unless I was happy. And it's like I came back to Misawa and the Earthquake (and winter) never happened. Except for colic. But that's getting better every day.

Good news in our life includes that WE ARE MOVING!!! INTO A NEW HOUSE!!!... down the street. Sorry, not back to the states (yet). We are (and by we I mean just me) are going to be so happy to have an extra bedroom to lay said colicky baby in/a backyard. But since Brett is out of town it won't happy for another week and a half.

Also I got a job teaching. It literally is the best thing ever. I totally don't deserve this opportunity, but I am not taking it for granted for one second. Every Friday I drive to Towada and teach English to 4 year olds for an hour. It's at a day care so they take care of Marie and Mina while I teach. Not only do I get out of the house, free babysitting, I also have a reason to learn Japanese. I am so happy about it. And really thankful.

So this is the part I should of said in fast and testimony meeting today. But I got up, and my mind went blank. I think I am the ward "crazy" now. Oh well. But somethings are meant to be blogged. And one of those things is that I know I am blessed. I know that even though this winter has been full of so many trials that God is real and he has carried me through them. He sends messengers, called Prophets to help guide us and the Holy Ghost can literally help us through every rough moment if we allow Him to.  I AM SO HAPPY that this winter is over. And I am glad Mina's colic is getting better, but even though it doesn't go away along with a little homesickness, I know I'm where I'm supposed to be.

I am thankful.

We've been filling the days up fast with fun things. Wearing Marie out.

We've been back to the daily grind. Here is "White Pole Road"- a street we drive on a regular basis.

And The girls continue to be good to one another. Marie deserves a $MILLION DOLLARS$ for sitting through Mina's sad fits. Marie never gets mad. Usually she just says, "it's OK baby Mina" and pets her on the head. 

 

Speaking of Marie... she's awake! Until next time..