Birthday Lunch

 Delaney asked me to join her for lunch on her birthday.  I went to Subway and brought lunch with me and she was delighted. It was fun to sit with her and her class and eat with her.  Loud and crazy and chaotic, but fun!

Straw silliness.

Me and my sweet birthday girl!  Yeah I totally walked out the door with no make up on, whatever.

 Guess who's lunch started just as Delaney's was ending?!

So I had lunch with Rylee too!

How Delaney Plans a Party

 I detest putting on birthday parties.  It is not something I enjoy at all.  Delaney wanted one this year and essentially did everything.  She planned it out, made the invitations, and passed them out.  I had to ask what day and time it was scheduled for!  She told me exactly what she wanted and made it happen.  It was rather chaotic but she was pleased, and the 12 shrieking girls who were present seemed happy.

She just wanted a double decker lemon cake with lemon frosting. Easy Peasy!

And she wanted egg-salad finger sandwiches, taco roll-ups, cheese-its, cheese puffs, and fruit salad to be served.  (The party was held from 12-2.)

We got a Bounce House (Thank you Outdoor Rec Center for letting us use it!)

There were other games she planned out, but the bounce house got the most use. 

She enjoyed the loot 

And she had a really enjoyable birthday party.

Yes, ANOTHER awards assembly

Both schools have quarterly award ceremonies. It gets a bit tedious.  But I am grateful for kids who work hard and do their best.  I went to the Elementary School ceremony last week and Dan did the big kids one this week, cuz we're good like that.

I took this because I was super-impressed.  Can you see the kid in the grey jacket, smack in the middle of the photo?  I was trying to figure out why he was facing a different direction than all the other kids and I realized, he is the only kid actually turned to face the flag during the Pledge of Allegiance.  (Yes, I did pull out my camera during the Plegde because I'm bad like that.) Good job, mystery kid, you are awesome!

Delaney receiving whatever certificate it was. 

Lined up with all the other good grade achievers. (Delaney is on the very end in the blue shirt.)

Callie shaking the principal's hand. 

Callie standing next to her most-amazing-ever teacher Mrs. Billups. 

And she had to make a second walk up there.  She received the coveted "Commander's Award" which she has been working very hard towrds.  You have to have a 4.0, have zero unexcused absences, and have good character.   And the Commander hands you the award and shakes your hand.  Or, in this case, if the Base Commander is busy, then his CO does it.

These are all the kids in school who got it.  Delaney is up there too!  Can you see them whispering together?  Yay for my kids!  I love them so much!

When the Japanese kids visit

 Callie's 6th grade class got to go visit the Japanese school a few months ago.  Last week they hosted the Japanese kids, and I got volunteered to help out for the day.

I met about 90 kids and adults at the front gate and walked them to the bus that drove them to the school. (Half were there to visit the 3rd grade.) They are SO cute in their uniforms and hats!

They started off in the gym, doing Zumba.  It was a good ice breaker and by the end, even Callie was moving!

Then it was lunch time. 

They bring the cutest and yummiest looking lunches! 

A sneak shot of Callie! 

After lunch was recess.  Then these awful team building exercises.  With a partner, they were each given one chop stick and they had to figure out how to open a gallon zip lock bag (using only their chop sticks), remove the brown paper bag inside that and untape it and open it, which held another zip lock bag full of paper clips strung together.  They were suppose to get in and unstring the paper clips.  I'm pretty sure the Japanese kids had no idea what was happening, but they tried hard!

Next was making Valentine's cards. 

 Last was my favorite!  Dodge-ball!  It was awesome!  The Japanese kids were hard-core about it and balls were flying.  They may have been squishy balls, but those kids could hurl them like nobody's business.  I was impressed.

They got everyone together and did a few ending activities and then it was over.  Whew!

Okinawa Trip: Monday

 Monday morning we drove the hour back down to Camp Foster.  I wanted to go by Plaza Housing, so we did that.  I was able to find my house and that was really neat.  We drove around a bit but there was little that was familiar, aside from the house and some of my close neighbors.  The weather was drizzly and rainy, and we drove down to see the "American Village" that had been built since I had lived there.   It was raining, so we didn't look around too  much.

The rain stopped about the time we got back to the cabin, which was good.  We needed nice weather for our grand adventure!  At low tide, we planned to walk out to a fun-looking cluster of tiny islands. The weather wasn't "nice" exactly.  It was a breezy 68, but it wasn't raining and the water was not cold, and we had islands to explore.

So we did!  And it was just as awesome a it sounds.  Low tide was at 2:15, so we waded out at 1:30, and it was waist deep on me.  Dan piggy-backed Rylee and Delaney clung tightly to my hand.  Callie walked and Marian just swam.  We had a good time exploring and collecting shells and I made us head back at 2:15 on the dot.  I did not want to get stuck out there when the tide came in.

Tuesday we visited Kadena and the thrift stores and then drove back to Naha, where we flew back to Fukuoka and took the Shin back to Iwakuni.  No pictures of that because it wasn't very exciting.

The entry gate to Plaza.

 That's my house!  I lived there!

 And it looks exactly the same.   It is up for renovation in the next few years, so that's nice.

In American Village, the girls found a fun shop with these excellent stuffed animals.

So they all had to pose that they were being eaten by them.  I love Delaney's face here.

They are silly girls. And they make me laugh. 

That is the cluster of islands we wanted to walk over to. And the tide is down. 

Off we went! 

Okay, maybe it wasn't really thrilling, but it was cool to do it. 

Marian wanted a photo here.  I love the deadpan face! 

Callie's Heroic Pose on the rocks.  Exploring was fun. 

Walking over to the next little rock island. 

Rylee sure is cute. 

 And she still lets me take photos, so that's why you get more of her!

Eventually we all moseyed over to this rock island. 

Marian walked all the way around it.  Apparently it was really rocky and there were some big crabs that were cool, but scary. 

Only Rylee would take a selfie with me! 

While collecting shells, we tried really hard to not steal any that were inhabited.  Callie did get a lovely collection of homeowners though. 

They were a lively crew, but we had to leave them behind.   

Starting the hike back. 

There's Callie, swimming along.

And  here is the goodbye picture.  This is the view from Naha Airport.