Rodeo Boy III And Other Random Oddities

From the makers of Rodeo Boy I and Rodeo Boy II, they now bring to you.....

because every house needs some 'bucking fun'...?

Out and about with some girlfriends, we stumbled upon this little home entertainment gem. Right where it should be...next to the stair masters and home foot spas.

I've been enjoying myself, checking out all the local shops and malls and I've been trying to keep an open mind.... happy to try some new things...because you never know....?

Now I do.

This looked pretty good.....

...but it's not!
It's literally all chicken skin on a stick.

I thought these noodles would be a go.....
I even felt confident with the preschool picture directions...how can noodles be wrong?
Do you remember the 1980's, when perms were big? Do you remember how the salon smelled when the solution hit your hair and chemically burned your wave?

That's how this noodle sauce smelled.
And it tasted like it smelled.

'just cause I couldn't help it....it's so to the point.


And then I found the cutest little store, with what I assumed was all children's furniture...

Tobias loves this little table....we'll have to get it.
And I loved this for Max's room! It could be a little 'kid lounge'...and the price seemed to good to be true....only about $260.00

It was to good to be true .......$260 is how much the fabric cost, the actually sofa is $560.00, plus fabric......and it's actually for adults.....very little adults.

And my new favorite fast food joint. (With stroller parking out front because they don't fit inside....)
I think they put crack in their curry......it's ridiculously good. (And two days later your back for more.)

Happy 1st Birthday!

Just sharing some pictures from Tobias's first birthday....can you believe it's been a year? I can't....!






They look awfully similar to Max's party picts...go figure.
Bummed about having a party in a hotel...but oh wellThe day after his birthday he decided that he could walk (maybe he was waiting for an official date to mark the transition).....and just started to....just like that!

Our Waterfront Park Is Bigger Than Yours Is......

We've spent some wonderful times down on the waterfront. Waterfront park in Silverdale was the backdrop for many a picnic or get together..... and offered a pretty nice visual for pictures too.
Pearl Harbor had a so-so spot, but when in Hawaii you just can't compete with Waikiki or Ko Olina anyway.
But check this baby out.......The Yokosuka Waterfront Park takes the Harbor theme very seriously and it's pretty darn nice.
We stumbled upon what seemed to be a food festival this last Saturday. There was booths organized just like you would find at any community festival, but most of the food seemed deceptive. What would look like the doughnut booth (and Max's hopes would flair) would turn out to be fried dough with a meat mixture inside. And what looked a little like funnel cakes.....fried squid. The visual and the smell didn't match up most of the time. Luckily, Ice-cream is Ice-cream! (And we had hit Taco Bell before we set off so we didn't have desperately hungry kids. (You might think that if they're hungry enough they'll eat anything, but we've found the opposite to be true....they just get frustrated and cry faster).
Did I mention it was a gorgeous day! I only wish I had taken pictures of all the waterfalls, streams and fountain pools. We were there during the day, but it looks like it lights up into a beautiful display after dark. We'll have to check it out again.

Embrace The Wind

This crappy picture is relevant and important because:
A. I finally figured out how to take a picture with my fancy, new, and instructions still in Japanese cell phone! It's not great, but I was proud to stumble along and make it happen. (I've later since been able to change some of it to English.....Yes!)
Anyone want to call a Japanese cell phone? Try 090.4203.8222

B. I've learned to embrace my fine, thin, straight and very flat hair. I'm letting go of the fight against it and will accept that this is what it will look like for the next three years.........whether I spend 20 minutes fussing and fluffing...or not....IT WILL END UP LOOKING LIKE THIS the second I step outside.

C. Monsoon winds! The weather here is a strange mix. It's HOT, HUMID (worse than Hawaii....can you imagine?), but windy and stormy at the same time. It's tricky for your senses....you look outside and gear up with a coat, hood and umbrella.....only to find it's waaaaay to hot for a coat, the hood blows off and the umbrella gets flipped inside out. CRAZY.....glad I stored the patio furniture.

D. This is what I look like while waiting for the bus.....playing with my camera phone.........which I do a lot! Still no car.....

It's My Birthday?

With the move, a new school, a hotel for home and a serious lack of toys.....the kids have been surprisingly adjustable and upbeat. They seem to delight in the simplest things. Both were thrilled that
"Japan has a bowling alley and a pool?... just like Washington." "A soccer field and baseball field too..?...what more do we need?" When we took a trip up to Ikego and discovered all the little cabins for camping rentals.......they might as well have been in Disneyland.
Oh, did I mention that there are snack and drink machines everywhere.....I mean EVERYWHERE. At first I indulged the novelty.......but I'm over it. They still can't pass a snack machine without asking for something though.
Max struck up some friends from day one.......Lillian has been stuck making them on the fly (the one and only Preschool is totally booked).....but is happy with a couple of familiar faces here and there.
Soooo with all the newness going on, it wasn't a shock that Max had completely forgotten about his birthday. I think he had a vague idea it was coming up, but he had no idea what day it was.
We decided to show up at the school with cupcakes and balloons and surprise him.......and boy was he surprised. When he saw the whole family at the classroom door, he thought maybe something was wrong. We asked him if he had felt there was anything special about that day....? (actually they were having some kind of art festival that day and he had really enjoyed the Mimes....was that it?)
Lillian just couldn't wait anymore. "It's your Birthday Max! Happy Birthday!"
He loved it!
Later in our room we had his favorite dinner (Pizza from the pizza man.....cause it just tastes better than what Mom makes) and a small cake.
He also picked out some kind of magnetic roller-coaster contraption that took three hours for Mark and Max to build the next morning and Tobias about 30 seconds to destroy...."guess it will have to wait until you have your own room Bud."

Bon Voyage Party (and serious blog catch-up)

Falling behind on the blog, I'm sad.... because there are definitely tidbits I want to remember, so please bare with me while I play catch-up for a couple of posts.

The weekend before we packed up we hosted a 'Bon Voyage Open House', and it was a great send off! The kids were so excited about planning the party and helped brainstorm for themes and ideas.......ending up with all things Japanese. We also decided to share our new found appreciation for the art and beauty of sushi and decided to get creative with the veggie tray too. (The kids didn't seem to appreciate the food selection as much as the grown ups......go figure)

The Jannson's created a beautiful Syonara Durbens cake.......it was awesome! (The kids liked the cake part, and the endless fortune cookies, although I think those are technically Chinese) We had such a great time, and all the while I thought..."Having such great friends kind of sucks because I know how much we will miss them.......and that all these wonderful families will be a tough act to follow.......
So sad......I don't want to think about it................ I'll just focus on how happy I am we've gotten to know such great families! Love you guys!