Toilet Park Madness! (aka Children’s Museum)

In January we visited the Children’s Museum. A free museum that is next to a cheap skiing hill. Brett was the hero of the day and let me and my good friend Whitney ski all day while he watched the kids at the museum. It was fabulous!

The museum has lots of different spaces to play and explore. Did I mention it’s free? Holy cow they love kids here. The girls had a fantastic time with their best friend Liliana.

Here is some of that sisterly play I count on so much. When we move I hope they still love each other!

We have a new fun camera, but taking self-pictures is not easy. Good job Brett.

 

Yep, that hat is exactly what you think it is.

“Marie, you’re too old to be playing in the toilet!” 

The kids had a great time and so did Whitney and I. It may be the only skiing I do this season, but it was a blast. Thanks Brett!

Playing House

 

Family life has been pretty chill lately. The holidays have winded down and Gracie is letting me leave her here and there for a few hours at a time. It’s a kung fu act trying to keep life manageable but it is being done.  The post after this will be out of order, but I couldn’t pass up posting these photos before I caught up.

Our girls are “all girl.” Mina likes to randomly declare to me, “I’m NOT a boy! I’m a girl!” She says it with hands on her hips jutted to the side, in a voice that makes me think I’ve threatened her.  No Mina, you are not a boy. You are certainly all lady. I don’t know if its the 6-10 dress changes per day or the 3 sets of high heels you own, but sometime tells me you really really like being a girl.

Marie got a new prescription for her progressives. Her sight is definitely getting worse and we need to patch more. Sometimes I forget she has a stronger prescription than me and I expect her to do more and do it quickly. I  shouldn’t be so hard on her, but she’s the oldest and I expect a lot from her. And she pretty much always delivers. Yet she still maintains her whimsical love of life and exudes pure joy. She reminds me to live in the moment. We even had a serious mom and daughter talk on how I can be a better mom. I don’t know what brought it on but one day I decided to sit her down and ask,

“Marie, what can I do better?”

Marie: “You clean TOO much. You need to stop cleaning and play with me.”

Me: “hmmm, yah I guess I do need to to not be so obsessed”  (now don’t let that statement fool you into thinking my house is always clean… it’s not, but I am definitely always cleaning). “Ok Marie, I promise to clean less and play more. Will you promise to be a little more obedient when I do need you to clean?”

Marie, in the sweetest-Mickey-Mouse voice possible, “Yes! Now lets play!!"

Since this simple conversation she’s had to remind me to keep my promise, but I am glad she keeps me in line.

Brett continues to be Dad-of-the-Year. I am so lucky. He fills the girls time up with books, board games, cute movies and lots of love. Getting gushy enough for you? There is no way around it, without this guy I would be toast.  As of now, we hope to never push to be deployed. We would rather be No-where-ville USA as long as we are together. (And of course visit our families at least twice a year!)

Marie makes Grace smile like none other!           Gracie thank you for being such an easy baby! You make my life so happy! I love playing mommy to my little doll!

That is about it for day-to-day life. Our conversations are full of questions about Virginia and how we hope to see our parents and siblings in between the move.  

The snow has come head on into Misawa now. We are bundling up for our last winter in Japan.

Christmas 2013!!!!

Guess what, Marie!

It’s time to put on your Christmas sweater and celebrate!

Wow, Christmas even got Grace’s attention….

Where’s Mina?  Is she celebrating Christmas?  Uh, I guess she decided to eat a cucumber instead.

We all ended up getting on the same page.  Christmas is pretty fun with these angels.

Merry Christmas everybody!!!

Spring Throwback: Grandpa Visits!

 

Grandpa Youngberg crossed the ocean last March and we forgot to blog about it. (We also forgot about the blog completely). It was a wonderful spur of the moment visit. My dad decided to fulfill a lifelong dream of seeing Ankor Wat in Cambodia. After a crazy maverick trip to southeast Asia we got him to come up to Misawa!

  

It was so nice! We did a ton of hanging around the house. Did a ton of puzzles and playing with blocks. I believe the lego set below was a belated Christmas gift from Aunt Stephanie. It was a delight.

A delight? Really? Your thinking I am romanticizing this. But nay, I tell you it’s true. A long winter is made good with a few puzzles, Legos, and relaxed and easy go lucky Grandpa.

Speaking of romantic though. There is no more special a place than Yoshino’s Steakhouse in Misawa. Brett wants to marry it. We took my dad and he really enjoyed this literal mom-pop-and-son joint.

It burned down 3 days later.           Seriously.         It was sad.  And weird.

Also what was weird is that we stood in a huge crowd of people to watch the Power Rangers at the fish market. I didn’t take any pictures of them because I was hoping it was a phase and since I am writing this 7 months later I can report I was right. Mom:1. Power Rangers:0 (Unless you count how many bad guys they have caught, then it would be like 100).

We also saw this tree. I think it was around when Christ was alive. I think….  I don’t know. I’m the worst tour guide of all time. Keep your tip money.

These are the princesses of Misawa.

Here we are at the Weasel’s den enjoying some mini golf.  (yah, I know, my dad is easy to please).

And this is Mina enjoying so really spicy ramen. This girl lives on the edge for being toddler!

This is our favorite Ramen house '”Thunder.” This was the first place we ate (off-base) in Japan. First and still my favorite!

I was so sad to say goodbye, but thankful for a dad willing to travel!

Here Fishy Fishy

 
Rokkasho is a very small town
It’s here the annual fish catch is found.
Brett went there about two years ago
He came back with a big salmon to show.
So envious was I  that we had to go back.
Little did I know how hard it would be to catch.
3 minutes they gave in a big tarp like pool.
I had so much fun, though I looked quite the fool.
I got my hands on one, but much to my surprise
The fish was slimy, slickery and had gross beady little eyes. 
With ten seconds left I buckled down with all my might
Corned a fish who was just now too tired to fight.

Thank you fish for eating you was no bore.
But I think next time, I’ll just go to the store.

A Little of This, A Little of That

As we have less than 8 months left in Japan I have an overwhelming need to blog more of our daily happenings.

Our Saturdays consist of trying to find a way to get out of the house and usually we end up at a park. This is Statue of Liberty Park, a very beautiful park in the fall. But we may have waited a little late to get the full effect of the autumn leaves. It’s ok though we ran into some good friends and made some new ones.
 
Cathy sent some new jammies for Gracie and now we have a matching set! All we need now is a pair for Brett.  

Marie has really got knack for making Gracie smile. I really think Marie was hand picked to be the oldest child. She’s always trying to entertain her sisters. After school the other day Marie read Grace baby books for at least a half hour and spent another hour just playing with her.
 
Mina has started tumbling! Its a simple 30 minute class where they learn to climb, walk on a balance beam, hang and swing, and well, tumble.

Brett is still playing sports like he’s 16. After working out 3-4 mornings a week he goes every Saturday morning to play ultimate frisbee. I want to note that record for his grandkids so they know exactly why he will live to 110. That is unless, he gets too many beatings like the one below.
 

This is the view of my daily workout. Mina has always got to sit on the bike handles.

But this is my world pretty accurately. Baby… and IPad. In fact I asked
Brett the other day to complete the sentence, “Rachel’s hobby is  ___.” He said '”Pinterest” However sadly accurate that is I don’t want that to be my only hobby. He also said “Being a good mom.” Which, is flattering, but I am really looking to get a real hobby. Cooking and working out don’t count. If they do I might as well count breathing air or making my bed. So we are thinking of getting DSLR camera and I could officially adopt photography as a hobby. We will see if that happens. Hopefully this blog will be the beneficiary of my search for a true hobby.