Oh, Yes I did!

I got myself a new mode of transportation on Monday!

I am very excited.  A moped can park in bike racks and can scoot along in the bike lanes on the roads.  Plus, it will fit in even the narrowest of roads.  So I have high hopes for some adventures with this!

Sadly, it requires me to take a class before I can be licensed to drive it. I know, crazy.  It means I now have a moped I can't actually ride for another month.  But rest assured, there will be moped riding in my future!

Yochien!

 Last Monday was Rylee's Opening Ceremony for Yochien.  The Japanese school year ends in March and begins in April.  So Rylee leveled up to the 5 year old class.  She was not excited about that.  She said that teacher was mean and she wanted to stay with her old teacher.   I mentioned that if you are a good and obedient child then you should have no problems with the teacher.  Then I realized who I was talking to.

Sitting and waiting for things to begin.

Lining up in the big room with everyone.  One of these things is not like the others! 

It was all in Japanese, so I have no idea what they said.  Those are all the teachers and administrators standing in the front.

Sitting in her classroom.  The teacher played a couple songs on the piano and the kids all sang.  It was adorable. 

Getting together for the class photo. 

My cute kid there on the end!

She's doing fine in her new class and hasn't complained about the teacher.  

Lovely Afternoon at a Park

 Last week was spring break for the kids.  We didn't go out much with the rain and other things.  But on Tuesday, or friends invited us to go out in town to a little park we'd never seen.  We spent a delightful afternoon playing there and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  The "King of the Mountain" structure was a favorite, especially since it had a variety of ways to traverse it- a chain on one side, a set of climbing holds on another, a rope and other things as well. The little girls thought it great fun to slide down on their bottoms, and that was permitted until it was discovered that Noemie had shredded the knees and seat of her leggings, and they hung together by a single seam.

It was a lot of fun for all!

The Last of the Blossoms

We loved seeing all the Cherry Blossoms. I didn't realize they don't last very long.  And when it rains off and on for a week, it kind of tanks your chances to see much of them.  Because by the time the rain is done the blossoms have done their job, and their petals float like lovely pink snowflakes to the ground, and greenery replaces them on the trees.

You are not suppose to pick the flowers, but it is okay to pick them up off the ground.  This was Delaney's prize, and she put it in her hair.

These were so pretty, blooming out of the tree! 

Running through the rain of petals. 

So excited about how pretty they are. 

They were trying to jump for me. 

Mostly successful on the jump!

My brave girl

 The pediatric dentist comes to visit every 3 or 6 months, and I was able to get Rylee in for an appointment during is 3 days of seeing patients.  He was better than I expected, and so was Rylee!  Her last fillings had to be done under sedation, so I was a little concerned.  She was fabulous for the exam and needed 2 fillings.

Now, we are not equipped for a lot of things, and sedation dentistry is one of them.  I was worried about Rylee, as she'd been "handsy" last year. The dentist explained our options.  We could just go for it and see how she did.  Or, we could wait 3 months till he was rotating through Okinawa, and get a medical flight over there and have her sedated in an OR there.  Wow!  That seemed rather extreme!

I opted to give Rylee the chance to get it done here and now.  She amazed me and was terrific.  The dentist used the gas, but didn't numb her at all.  He did 2 fillings in under 30 minutes- from the time we sat down to the time she got up. Rylee complained it hurt as he was at the deepest drilling point, but never moved her hands and didn't cry or anything.  I was so proud of her!

We went to get ice cream afterwards!

Hanging out in the waiting room. We spent more time there than actually in the dentist chair!

Happy with her confetti cake scoop of ice cream.

Doing a silly pose for me.