Thems is some crazy kids

One Year Older and Wiser Too

 It is that time of year for lots of special days in our family! Most recently, it was Dan's birthday.  I think it does get more fun as the kids get older and really want to go shopping for fun gifts.  I love to see them getting excited about it.  Dan was also pleased with his special day.

Yummy Jello Poke Cake.

Funny Marian, caught in the act of being a stinker. 

Did I mention that the only jello left since Joshua  learned how to make it was BLUE?  So Blue Poke Cake it was!  And delicious as well. 

Spoon-lickin' tasty it was. 

 Callie is carefully scraping the pan for every last crumb.

Who doesn't love loot?! 

Joshua is a nerd.  Silly photobomber.

Lucky Dog

 This week was a monumental one for Levi! He finally finished his quarantine!  I don't know if we talked about that, but there is a 6 month quarantine to bring your dog to Japan.  Fortunately, it begins from the time you get the FAVN test done.  We got Levi into the vet as soon as we knew we were coming here and got that done, so his quarantine officially began back in April.  And if you live on base, you can quarantine in your home.  Thus, Levi was a very lucky dog and didn't have to spend that 180 days in a kennel!  Delightfully, as of Sept 29 he was cleared, vet-approved, considered rabies-free, and he's now permitted to roam freely.  Well, as freely as he can on a leash!  We celebrated with a walk on the Sea Wall and he was quite delighted.  It certainly is pretty.

A visit to the Craft Store!

 Rylee and I were feeling brave one morning as we drove back from the Daiso.  We decided to stop and check out this Craft Store.  You know, just in case I had spare time and found something on Pintrest I wanted to try.  I might lose motivation to be crafty by the time stuff ordered on Amazon arrived, so I wanted to know what my options might be if I needed something right away.  And it was just plain fun to explore something new.

This is the store.  You can see how I knew it was a Craft Store.  Cuz, you know, I don't actually read Japanese.

Look at these adorable towels! 

And I had to stare at these for a while.  They are super cute dresses, and then you realize they are actually super cute towels!  I totally want some in my bathroom! 

Oooooh!  Fabric!   I love fabric!  So many fun colors and patterns!

Just look at them!  There must be something I need to sew using this..... 

And, of course, there is Hello Kitty. 

Sorry, this just made me giggle.  When there is no "L" or "R" in your language and those 2 sounds always comes out as a "D", I can see how you could sell some craft "cray". 

The sale bin nearly got me.  Then I realized I had already spent all my Yen at the Daiso and most things here are cash only.  So I went home empty handed, but delighted to know there was lovely fabric and crafty stuff a short drive away.

Rylee is 5!

 Rylee had her birthday!  She is finally 5.  Sadly, it is several weeks too late for her to be in kindergarten, so that's disappointing.  But she's an awesome kid and she had a great birthday!

3 fun facts about Rylee:
1. Her favorite color is red.
2. Her favorite song is anything on the "Saturday's Warrior" soundtrack (although she most frequently is heard to sing the "Jimmy" song)
3. Her favorite food is scones and monkey bread.

Isn't she a cutie-patootie?!

She wanted a chocolate cake, with white frosting in the middle. And she picked out and put the candles on by herself. 

 Yummy yummy!

She was pleased with her loot as well.

Oh yes, we have Barbies at our house.  Lots of Barbies.

And some happy girls!

A Trip to the Daiso

Rylee and I set off on our very first solo trip outside the base walls today!  Granted, we were only making 1 turn, and I had been there before, but it was very exciting for me.  I found it all by myself and found my way back home all by myself, and I am feeling pretty pleased with myself!  Plus, I found lots of exciting purchases and that makes me happy as well.

Rylee is practicing her eyebrow-waggling at me.

Here it is!  The Daiso!  It is like the dollar store.  Everything inside is 108 yen.  With the exchange rate, that is like $1.03.  And they have the FUNNEST stuff.

Check this out.  And umbrella holder for your bike. 

The snack aisle is one of my favorites.  I haven't been adventurous enough to try stuff that gives no clue to what is inside though.  Maybe next time..... 

Bright colors!  Who doesn't love bright colors? Super cute kitchen items here. 

Don't you want this in your kitchen?! 

Rylee wanted a photo of her holding her candy choice. Adorbs! 

Some very interesting snacks. Care to try something new?

No thank you, I do not like almonds and fish together. 

This was my cute cart, full of goodies before we checked out.  Who knew you could end up running out of money before you ran out of things you suddenly need?!

Kintai Bridge

 Saturday we went out.  It was a bit of an adventure.  Dan wanted to go to the Famous Kintai Bridge, which we had been driven to on our Orientation the week before.  However, it was a tricky drive, since there were several turns and well, all the streets are in Japanese!  Fortunately, the main ones have numbers, and Dan was able to open a map on his iPad before we left, so even though he has no internet, he could still get us where we were going.  He did a good job and we only made one wrong turn on the way home.   It was a 15 minute drive and only the last part was hair-raising as it looked like a 1 way street but was really a very narrow 2 way!  Having only just gotten our van, I was a leeeeetle nervous driving on that one!  But we made it and enjoyed the beautiful bridge.

I think they must give boat rides in the summer, since there were several of these wooden boats there.  

It was nice to have the rules outlined in English.  

I would have loved an explanation of this! 

The bridge! I don't know why it is famous.  I only know it is in lots of pictures and is very pretty and you pay 200 yen to cross it.  We had no yen, so we meandered around it. 

I loved seeing these boats, but the photo isn't as pretty as real life. 

Must touch water. 

So lovely. 

We got to the base of the bridge where you could go all the way down and get wet. So the girls did just that. 

Callie said it was cold, but Marian said it was nice. 

Check out this guy's fishing pole!!!  It reached the top of the bridge! 

My sweet girl.  She was looking for fish. 

Yeah, they said they weren't going to get wet! 

I can't tell you how many times this happened.  And yep, she was soaked. 

Then she was sad. 

I love the architecture on these buildings. 

Me and the bridge. 

So cool!  I love that we get to see neat stuff!