Where I ran on Saturday

An evening with the family

 I made a tactical error Monday night.  I forgot to put dinner in the crock pot and left for a very busy day.  It was nearly 5pm before I realized there was going to be a problem, and there wasn't a thing I could get done for dinner by 6, especially since I was not home when I had this epiphany.  After a Murphey's Law chain of events, we ended up all going out to the food court for dinner.

That in and of itself is an adventure.  Everyone wants something different for dinner.  Despite the supposition of them being "fast food", they are not.  And they car very little for your customer satisfaction, or how long you may wait.  It is a process to get everyone what they want and situated and eating.  But I got delicious curry chicken, so I was happy.

Delaney got a Bento Bowl of Orange Chicken and was delighted with it.

KFC for Callie, Pizza Hut for Rylee and Subway for Marian. Yes, all were pleased with their dinners.

And it was good to walk back home, since I think everyone overindulged.   

Much fun was had playing on the rocks as we made our (digestively overextended) way home.

A little Cinderella at the Ball

 The Marine Corps Birthday is this week, and in honor of that, we attended the Marine Corps Ball Friday night. It was a great Ball!  Due to a lack of venues able to accommodate such an event, it was held at the gym, and I was impressed!  They did an amazing job of making it look elegant and beautiful and nice.  They even offered shuttle bus services to the gym, since there was definitely not sufficient parking.  It was a little weird to walk to the bus stop all dressed up, but at least it wasn't a pumpkin!

I'm all dressed and ready to go!

I'm starting to think it is time to make Dan pay money for photos.  It is time we had some good ones.  Although Callie did her best and this one isn't awful, it would be nice to see the details of my lovely dress though.  And something from an appropriate angle would be good.

Here we are on the bus.  Whoo-hoo! I'm off to the Ball!

Since Dan is all special now, we were invited to the big-wigs cocktail area.  We'd planned skip that hour, but with a special invite, we had to go.  It wasn't bad.  I was disappointed that the "light refreshments" was mostly full-on sushi, but with my dress and confining undergarment, there was no room to put it anyway.  I am really sad I didn't take pictures, but that seemed a little ..... uncouth with all the important people standing around.  No one else busted out the camera, so I was afraid they'd point and gasp is I did, so I have no proof of the delightful aesthetics we enjoyed. It was less awkward than I had anticipated it would be. There were enough ladies I knew that I had people to chat with and didn't feel totally alone, and we shmoozed away the time.   We headed to the Ballroom at 6:45 and found our table.

 I assume this was a appetizer?  It was on the table when we came in.  I was surprised that Dan declined to eat mine, since he likes shrimp.  I declined because I very much do not!

They kicked off the program at 7pm.  I love the Marine Corps, and its pomp and circumstance.  The music is so motivating too!  There was the usual ceremonial stuff, which I enjoyed.  The keynote speaker went a little overtime, which is fairly traditional as well.  But dinner was served not too long after 8pm.  The salad was good, and the main course was passable.  

The cake looked unimpressive, but was amazingly delicious!

This was too funny.  Once the music got going, folks loosened up a lot.  These 2 ladies from Dan's work are serenading Sylvie with their carnations.  It was unexpected and awesome!

We tried to get some photos, but it really was just too dark in there.  This is Dan and some of the guys he works with though.

This was what they transformed the entry of the gym into.  Pretty fantastic, isn't it?!  I love how men are the same.  As we exited on out way home, a cute couple was out here and I offered to take their photo.  The girl was a gorgeous Japanese lady in full kimono.  (Now I wish I had gotten a photo of her!)  I got their picture taken here- a close up and one that showed the full facade.  The Marine offered to take our picture and snapped this.  Then he walked over to hand back the camera as his date was saying, oh no, one more picture!  It was too late, Dan was already walking away as well.  Sigh.  But that is why there are so very few pictures of us!

Oh, an after- pic of my fancy-shmancy hair.

Belated Halloween Festivities

 Halloween is not one of my top 3 favorites.  I don't feel creative enough to do anything spectacular, and then I have to buy candy to give away and my kids want to keep the candy they bring back.  So I put forth the minimum effort required for it.  This year I got out the box of costume stuffs and let the kids paw through it and decide what they wanted to be.  I told them they had to give notice well in advance if there was something they needed for dressing up.  No one made any requests, so Yay for not having to buy anything but candy this year!

The cat ears and tails have been the very best investment ever! 

Rylee and Delaney both wanted to be cats again this year.  Nice and easy for me!

There was no trunk or treat at church, but there were a few other festivities.  The weekend prior, Dan took the kids to the Library's shin-dig, but proclaimed it too crowded and uneventful to stay.  On Halloween day, there was an event at the Headquarters building and I made the kids go.  They had no school, and I wanted them out of the house, so despite the reluctance of some, I hauled them over.  They (gasp!) had a good time.  There was door-to-door trick-or-treating in the building with lots of fun office decorations and loot.  There was also a bit of carnival stuff going on in the front parking lot.  There were games and candy and lots of people.

The kids did enjoy themselves, but I kind of forgot to take photos till close to the end.  Joshua was embarrassed because his costume was in the washing machine and he came in clothes he claimed were too small and uncomfortable.  He was still happy to collect candy, but he left as soon as he could.

My crew in their self styled costumes.  The faces..... well, they weren't thrilled to pose.

Pumpkin bowling!  So fun! 

Who doesn't want to lob a pumpkin at bowling pins? 

It was enjoyed by all. 

The cake walk was the other favored game.  The girls really really wanted to win something, but despite tromping around for 30 minutes, their numbers were never called. 

I cheated and told the caller to call out Marian's number so she'd walk away with something.  And in the end, there was a plethora of treats still on the table at 1pm when the event was suppose to be over.  So they told the rest of the kids they could have whatever was left on the table.   

Rylee was very happy.

Asa Zoo Field Trip

 Marian's class had a field trip to the local Zoo last week.  I had volunteered to chaperone and really wanted to go.  I missed the bus lottery so did not get to ride the bus with the kids (so not really sad about that!) but I got to carpool down and hang out with my girl and some of her friends.Yep, my girl has friends who were very happy to be in her group!

It took a little over an hour to get there, taking the toll road (which was Y1240/$12 one way).  I rode with another set of parents and the drive was enjoyable.  The Zoo was better than I expected.  I had pretty low expectations though. I had been told it was pretty bad and that PETA had not discovered Japan yet.  It wasn't THAT bad.  We had about 3 ours to roam around and check out the animals and stuff.

Marian and most of the girls I got to hang out with and chaperone.  They were fun and so nice.

Checking out the Baboons. 

It was feeding time and it was fun to see them eat. 

The rhinos were pretty cool. I thought these 2 were going to brawl.

But why look at the real thing when you can climb on a fake?

 Marian and her friends.

See, they really did more than play.  The kids were suppose to take notes on 5 different animals.  Marian was very specific on who she was going to write about. 

Yes, she wrote about the cheetah! I couldn't believe how close we could get.  It was just on the other side of this glass! 

I do not think I had ever seen a tapir before. Such an odd animal- kind of a cross between a pig and a panda bear with a little elephant thrown in. 

The foxes were pretty.  I think one of them was a little bonkers too, from the lap-walking and head shaking going on.  That was a little sad. 

Feeding the giant Koi at lunch. 

Trying out a little something from the ice cream vending machine. 

She said it was delicious.

The bear was unenthusiastic. 

But I was happy to pose with the bear! 

 The girls spent way too much time at the guinea pig pen, trying to catch themselves a guinea pig.  There was some success.

So pleased with herself and her piggie-catching skills.

Signs translated into Engrish are always fun! 

Goats at the petting zoo. 

I found a friend at the petting zoo too! 

I'm not sure if it was okay, but there were no signs clearly saying not to feed the birds, so Marian shared crackers with them. 

Having fun by the giraffes and ostriches. 

 Trying to entice the giraffes closer. It did not work.  There was no giraffe petting this day.

My favorite item in the gift shop. "Cheetah Chocolate Cookies" 

Marian's purchase at the gift shop.  We thought it was an ice cream bar. 

Um.... NOT an ice cream bar.  A frozen frosted donut?  That was unexpected!