Kid Awesomeness

 All the girls were playing in the living room and I was in stitches listening to the dialog.  It was awesome!

Delaney was recognized at an award ceremony for her excellent grades. 

She apparently had all A's! 

We had a most glorious sunset. Dan tried to get a photo of Marian and the puppy, but he couldn't have both.  So we kept the glorious sunset. And Marian get's to be in the dark.  Sorry Marian. 

When your kid goes to your same high school, and your awesome brother mails you the sweet letterman jacket that your other brother wore at that same high school... 

...Well, it is awesome! 

We finally have a perfect tree set up, so I hung up the hammock.  Much fun has been had with it.  Even the dogs have "enjoyed" it. 

I cannot describe the joy in my heart when I see my girls chilling in the living room with their books. Especially when Marian is enjoying it so much.

These two had a little too much fun at their YW activity.  I kind of love them a lot.

Rylee's China Trip: The End

 One minor detail I forgot when booking a 7am flight home..... the time it takes to travel to the airport and the fact that the Disney busses don't start until 6.  Actually, I didn't have much choice on the travel time.  Whatever.  We had to catch a cab at 4:45am. So we were down in a very empty lobby very early.

Delaney was thrilled that I said yes, she could do the "Majestic Whale" across the marble lobby.

These girls were tuckered out!  It was an all day of travel.  The ridiculous thing is that I couldn't get a non-stop flight to Okinawa.  We had to fly BACK through Shanghai, spend 3 hours there, and catch another flight back to Oki.  So we didn't arrive in Naha till 4:40pm. 

Our triumphant return to Naha!

Rylee's China Trip Part 9: All the Princess Castles

 Shanghai Disney had the Alice in Wonderland themed maze.  Hong Kong had a FairyTale Forrest.  The girls thought it was pretty great.  We roamed through the gardens and there were stops for each Princess's castle.  They had some fantastic details and the photos do not do them justice.  Each area had a photo frame, so the girls needed pictures in most of them!

This was Snow White. I think we too 10 or so pictures, trying to get one with the mine cart tootling past, but alas, I did not manage it and gave up. 

This only shows the mine area for the 7 dwarves, and it had some cute stuff you can't see in the picture. 

This was the castle from Beauty and the Beast..  So pretty!

Cinderella's Castle.  I feel like the frame is not helpful to showing the castles or the details! 

Rylee decided she did want to pose with this one. 

 The Little Mermaid.

She got two!  I guess because she had a castle in the water and then on land? 

Delaney wanted a photo without Rylee in it. 

Rylee's China Trip Part 8: Hong Kong Disney Day 2

 I forgot to mention that we ran into some friends from Iwakuni in Hong Kong! It was so fun.  And they said our neighbors from Iwakuni would be there on Friday, so we were super excited to look for them on our second day of Disney.  But first, we spent the morning at the pool and the girls spent 2 hours swimming, even though the air was a little chilly!

We did the stuff we hadn't done on Thursday.  The Tarzan Treehouse was fun! 

 It had a lot of fun details and stuff to see and do.

We did the riverboat cruise.  The guide was a hoot, and he did a good job in English. 

They enjoyed playing these drums very much. 

We rode the Slinky Dog ride in Toy Story Land 

And posed for this photo but Rylee would not go on the ride! 

There were so many cool photo-ops here! 

I mean, just LOOK at these adorable benches!

 Delaney is sad.  We had hoped to run into our friends from Iwakuni but had not.  The park was really crowded this day as well, which did not help.  Delaney was frustrated and we had no way to contact them.  I felt bad because we knew they were somewhere in the park, and if we did not run into them, we wouldn't see them again.  We finally stopped and said a prayer that we would see them.  Then we started a final circuit of the park.  Halfway around, lo and behold!  There they were! Joy abounded!

 This is a series of 3 statues that look like one when you look at it head on.  Rylee and Sophie thought they were so funny.  (And they were.)

Six silly girls.  Apparently this is an optical illusion, but I don't think I got the right angle on it. 

 Six happy friends, just before we had to say goodbye. The other girls had to leave and we still had time to play, so they gave last hugs and off we went.

There finally wasn't a huge crowd here, so I was able to get a photo. 

Here is the close up! 

Then Delaney needed a turn. 

The Castle at night. 

My lovely ladies and the Castle.  A good end to a great trip! 

Heading out of the park and people were still crowding in!  It was crazy busy, so it was nice we had two days to do everything Rylee wanted to do.

Rylee's China Trip Part 7: After Disney

Since we had 2-Day passes to Disney, we did not do the whole park. We left early because the girls wanted to take advantage of the pool.  Which they did!

they loved the sprinkler they had to pass through to get to the pool.  The air wasn't too cold, but it wasn't exactly warm either.  

Who loved the pool?!  This kid! 

The water slide was a big hit as well. 

They went on it a lot. 

Did I mention, a LOT?! 

So much fun.  But I hauled them out after an hour, because we had more to do!! 

We took the metro into Kowoloon so we could go to the Ladies Market.  I was quite delighted that I founded it on the first try.  The girls had a blast checking out all the goods.

We did not find food choices that were appealing, so we stopped at a corner market for bottled water and sustenance. 

It was a lot of fun, and they had a great time looking for souvenirs. 

They picked out these awesome ring watches for themselves and think they are the greatest things ever.

They were tired and hungry and I was looking for the Metro station when we saw the glorious sign of the Golden Arches.  So we had a really late dinner at 9pm and they were very happy with it.

I may have gotten a little lost in the search to find the Metro and we may have walked a few extra blocks, but we DID make it back!  The Disney line is so cool.

 But Delaney was POOPED!

 Delaney said her bed felt like a cloud when she finally crawled into it.  It was a good day, but a long one with a LOT of walking.  They did great!