Egg-stravaganzas and Forests to Boot

The weather has been playing tricks on us lately and it has been quite chilly over here in sunny, tropical Okinawa. The breeze has been nice to me, but to some (meaning my cold-natured hubby) it has been "freezing". Freezing, really?? Nah, they just don't remember how scorchy it gets in the summer here. I am SO enjoying the coolness.

On that note, Spring Break started as of yesterday afternoon and we kicked it off with our Battalion Egg-stravaganza! Loaded with egg hunts, races, games, food, and prizes...the kids had a fab time!! Our whole family decided to fully represent the Unit and dressed in the traditional Signal Orange (George wanted to be different and wore his blue Battalion shirt instead...it reminded me of the Gators, so big ups to my cousin Charlie)!!! Check it...(you can click on the pics to get a better view)...

Egg on a spoon race...

George and I planning our strategy for the 3-legged race We also spent the next day taking the big kids to Forest Adventure. You have to be 7 and up, so thankfully it was Teage's last day at preschool before his Spring vacation. So, what you do is book a time and drive up to this building which I assume is just a receptionist office. Next, they shove you in a van and drive you up this shady mountain and then drop you off at a wooden deck. After following the signs, we stumbled on a little cabin with a Japanese man smiling and harbessed. He gave us a quick safety lesson on our harnesses as they are adjusting it around my nether regions at the same time. JD kept telling the man "I'm gonna be a hero on this adventure". It was cute!

So, once we were all strapped up, we received another lesson on how to hook our carabiners up at each station and sent us on our way. Now let me just say, the ground was quite a distance from where my feet were at the first zip line. But, I had faith that my pulley was going to hold me since my son was practically shoving me out of the way to go first. If he wasn't scared...I shouldn't be right?? NOT! Talk about getting a sudden fear of heights. But, we pulled through...for all 8 or 9 zip lines!!



It was very exhilarating. Another part of the course was an adventure course that featured various rope bridges, ring walking, ladders, tightrope walking, and the...wait for it...Tarzan Swing! This thing was my ultimate nightmare. You might as well call it bungee jumping horizontally. Thank God there's a huge web-like net there so when you smacked into the stopper it wasn't too much of a jerk. I felt like a fly on a flytrap out there. Nevermind the terror in my stomach as I free-fell to my unknown demise. Talk about intense. George, however, thought the kids and I were quite humorous!! Insert screaming as you view these! (Oh I forgot to mention, JD was screaming alright, but it was his Tarzan yell...just like the movie) We had a blast....

Yeah, that's me...Upper and lower!

JD


Saige

Stay tuned for more of our upcoming Spring Break adventures!!! Love Ya...

Singing St Patty's Day Pineapples

Hi there everyone...

We had our St Patty's day house party finally and it went off without a hitch. I made homemade mojitos for like 3 hours straight LOL and managed to only offend one person throughout the night. Seriously, like a friend recently reminded me, how annoying is it when someone doesn't take your words for what they are?? Oh well, I'm a big girl and can apologize if it means someone will feel better. ANYWAY, it was a success and thx to all who came. Check out the pics of everyone celebrating my favorite color...

We also celebrated JD's final choir performance at his school. Next year it's the big leagues, so it was bittersweet to see him up there as the oldest member. He loves it so much and wants to continue chorus in middle school. It thrills me that he is so into the arts. He had a narration part, an instrumental part and of course all the singing you could muster...



Lastly, the girls and I took a day trip yesterday and the weather was stellar!! Beautiful days like this make me excited to stay in Okinawa (Still waiting to hear of we are). So we ventured to the Pineapple Park and had a great time. I think we all thought we were professional photographers with our massive cameras...but DANG we took some good pictures! How cute are we....?

The weird pineapple car that drove itself...

Baby P

Teenage P

Life is good...Love Ya!!!

As promised...

I had to compress the file after all...check out my girlie doing her performance. She is the base on all the stunts. You can even catch a glimpse of me being a base on the right hand side when the two girls go up. I am so proud of them. They were awesome...

Balled into one Blog

I am back and will never desert you again...ok don't quote me on that! It has been a BUSY couple of weeks here and if this week didn't go back to normal, I might have lost my cool soon. Let's see...Both big kiddies finished their seasons to include parties, I worked at the Army Family Action Plan (AFAP) conference, I published a 13 page Newsletter, I had a paper due in Creative Writing, I am planning our St Patty's Day house party, working on a PowerPoint presentation on Europe for Geography, and the kids start testing this week. I know there is more I am forgetting, probably intentional. I was starting to feel a little stretched thin and so this week it is all about getting things back to normal. I did take some test shots on the new camera a while back and let me just say...it's awesome!! My new toy is off the chain (I am not usually into electronic thingys, but I have found my very own lil treasure). CAUTION: this post's gonna be picture heavy!!

Flower in the neighbor's yard

Poquito looking curious as always

Kids pizza creation

My gorgeous girl

Aren't they good for just the auto mode?...I am still tying to learn most of the fancy features.

Here's a couple from the conference...lunchtime of course.

As I mentioned before, the kids' seasons ended for basketball and cheerleading. They both finished 1st place Champions of course :o) Here are some pics from the parties...

Saige's Party

She thought she was bringing back the robot...

JD's Party

JD's party was at this place called "US Land". For a set price it is all you can eat and free play on all the games/services the have (fishing, bungee trampoline, batting cages, video games, etc). It was nice...I just thought it was funny how they decorated for the Americans to come to their place of business...check out the US flag motif:

George and I think it's only fair that we have a date night squeezed in as well...We went with some friends to Salsa dance and it was interesting! I am in no way on the up and up when it comes to doing salsa...but I'm always up for a challenge. Here's a few pics...P.S. George did not even TRY to dance!!

Fun Times!!

When the week was over (and the rain finally stopped), we decided to take advantage of the little sun that did come out Sunday, head over to the seawall, and dip our feet in the water. It was cold of course, but I love the smell of saltwater. Teage was napping and missed it all though. No worries, he will get his fill this summer for sure.

It was a busy, yet fun past couple weeks. I am all set to move at a steadier pace now and will be blogging more hopefully. I hope everyone is well and I will leave you with Saige's final Cheerdown routine (the best part is during the third song...'Boom I got your boyfriend'...she has a major solo in it).

***OK CRAP...the video is taking forever to download. I will post it when it's done!***



Love Ya...

The End of the Season

The end is upon us with boy's basketball. The championship game was Saturday afternoon and these boys rocked it. The 1st and 2nd place teams battled it out on the court and the Okinawa Suns came out with the perfect season (8-0) and the bragging rights as the Champions of Youth Sports Basketball. JD was really excited and we were so proud of him. Here are pictures from the game...

-practicing before the game-

-the final score-

-walking the court with Coach Morris-

-champion shirt-

-team photo-

-#1-

-gift from the coach, champion tees-

-JD called the cheer, "getcha head in the game"-

-Teage wanted to be just like JD-

-Sissy was so proud of him-

-Proud Daddy-

Way to go.....

I'm really glad he followed through with being on a "team". He is such a self-entertaining boy that we weren't sure if he would jump into this type of thing with everything he had. But, the coach and the teammates rallied around him and made him feel like a major part of the team. It was so amazing to see those boys take JD under their wing and engage with him. Whenever JD would sub into the game, they always tried to make sure he got passed the ball (so what if he ducked a couple times and kicked it another time...he eventually got the idea that he was supposed to catch it and pass it off, hee hee). I am so happy for him and that he got the experience to do this. Suns Rock!! Now that this is over, he will continue with his choir and piano lessons. He excels in these areas and I can't wait to see how it develops.

In other news, the FRG had its annual Chili Cook-off and it went well. Hats off to those that made chili and to those that won...two of which are friends of mine (left and right...go Brian and Angel).

What a weekend!!!

As if the happiness exploding from my body wasn't enough...I received my anniversary gift from George!! Take a look-see...

I love it!! I can't wait to have an opportunity to really use it to its full potential...of course after I read the massive booklet it came with. :o) My hubby definitely scores in the gift giving dept. Thanks babe!! Well, that's all I've got for now. I will get out soon and take a few test shots to show everyone what that baby can do!!

Next week, is the AFAP conference. I will be working three days this week at that. More info to come. Talk to you soon....Love Ya!!