Lawson

The other night, we made good use of our COLA (cost of living allowance) and had dinner at the Tortilla Factory. All the advertisements I saw made it look similar to Chipotle, but we thought it was just mediocre. That being said, I was warned by more experienced neighbors that there's no good Mexican food in Okinawa. but I guess it was a moment of weakness. On our way home, we decided to make our first ever stop at a Lawson, a little store similar to 7-11, to choose a few Japanese treats for dessert. Baked goods here can be a little deceiving... like donuts aren't nearly as sweet, and what you think is chocolate interlaced in your bread ends up being bean paste. We each chose one thing that looked yummy, then took them home to split them so we could all taste each one.

I chose the puffy green one, Sydney chose the croissant-looking one, and Spencer chose the Twinkie-esque one.

To our surprise, they were all pretty sweet. Spencer took a bite of the green one, which also had a green filling, and said it tasted kind of like kiwi. After biting into it, I felt like it was a really familiar flavor, but it wasn't distinctly kiwi. Then I realized it tasted like the smell of Cucumber Melon lotion from Bath & Body Works. We were also surprised that the chocolate in Sydney's croissant thing really was chocolate (I was prepared for it to just be colored with squid ink, which I've tried before in bread here). However it apparently wasn't accessible enough for her as she said in a very frustrated voice, "I'm trying to each the chocolate, but I can't bite it!" Spencer's was really yummy, the creamy filling had a coconut flavor. We actually knew that one was good before we bought it because some friends brought them to us with a meal right after Shawn was born.

Syd liked dipping her finger in that filling and licking it off. Mmmmmm.

Little Brother & Big Sister

Like I've said before, Sydney really loves her little brother. Every time I leave the room for even 2 seconds, I usually come back to find her all over him- giving him kisses, saying things like "Hi my cutie pie," or *helping* him move his arms. This particular day was no different, but I thought it was cute that she was laying next to him on the ground. Notice how she never takes her hand off of him in any of the pictures.

Saying "Cheese!"

Pretty sure this one was followed by me saying, "Don't touch his face." I think I say that about 5,000 times a day.

Cause apparently she doesn't remember it for long.

The Missionaries

We had the missionaries over for dinner again tonight. Sydney LOVES the missionaries, and I love that she really calls them the "mishamerries." She always wants to say hi to them at church and gets so excited when they come to our house. Spencer has to go pick them up at the gate so they can get visitor's passes to come on base, and Sydney always asks if she can go with him.

Elder Berg (from Idaho), Sydney, Elder Ikari (from Tokyo)

The other day she was running around the house on a stick horse she got at a friend's birthday party, and I asked her her horse's name. She said, "It's Kari, like the mishamerry." Tonight she told everyone it's name was actually "Elder Ikari." I'm sure he was very honored that her pink pony was named after him.

I recently moved her kitchen and princess table and chairs into her spacious bedroom closet, and we call it her "house." Sometimes when we go up there to play (each with a baby and a purse loaded with random toys) Sydney will say, "Hi mishamerry. Come to my house." And once we're settled into our tiny pink chairs in the closet she'll ask, "What's for dinner mishamerry?" Oh, this kid makes me laugh!

My Boy

Shawn is now 5 weeks old... where did the time go? Last week he smiled at me for the first time, and it just about melted my heart. Tonight he even squeaked out a little laugh! I forgot how much fun it is when babies start to acknowledge your existence in between all of the eating, sleeping, and dirtying up diapers.

Shawn is such a sweet baby and pretty much only cries when his basic needs aren't being met. He's starting to get more fat rolls on his arms and legs, and those cheeks are getting deliciously squishy. He's been a good sleeper (sometimes better during the day than at night), and he doesn't even cry when I'm changing his diaper in the middle of the night. Spencer and I joke that with 2 good babies in a row, we must be in for something crazy with one of our next kids! Sydney requests to kiss him every time I burp him ("I wanna give the baby a little kiss."), and she likes to wipe up his spit-up or drool with the burp rag. It always makes me smile when she does that since my mom told me that when I was a baby, my sister Shauna was always right there with the burp cloth to wipe up any speck of drool that came out of my mouth.

My handsome boy. Everyone says he looks just like his Daddy.

Not sure if I see it though... maybe it's the eyes?

Okuma!

Spencer is one of 5 dentists in our ward, and each family invited us over for dinner shortly after we arrived in Okinawa. They were all very nice and friendly, and seem to be a tight knit group. They invited us to join them for a Labor Day weekend retreat in Okuma.

Okuma was about an hour and a half drive north, and it's kind of a military owned resort area. The beaches were absolutely beautiful, but just like all of the military housing, the buildings were typhoon proof and therefore nothing to look at.

We stayed in the Dunes Condo- it really was nicer on the inside.

There were 7 families that came, which meant lots of kids! I was excited for Sydney to get to make more friends.

On Sunday evening, we just did a group dinner and then all the adults played games after the kids went to bed. The real fun started on Monday- we couldn't have asked for better weather!

The water was so clear! The only drawback to the beaches here is that they have lots of coral, so you have to wear something on your feet even in the water.

Part of the gang: Taylor, Meghan, Bella, Audra, Mikayla, Melissa, Lily, & Mia

Spencer spent most of the morning playing with Sydney while I took care of Shawn.

But he and I made it out to the beach eventually.

Spencer and I traded while Shawn slept, so I got to swim with Syd for a while.

I always seem to go on trips and realize that I didn't bring nearly enough snacks. Sydney was always asking other people for their food, and thankfully friends were willing to share when she begged them. She had ultra cheesy fingers after mooching some Doritos from the Smith's.

Later that afternoon, we rented a buggy and cruised around. Sydney was so excited to wear a helmet and help us drive.

Our condo faced South Beach, and on our ride we rode on a path that went by North Beach. The water looked incredible, but the beach was totally empty!

Sydney had a blast, and Shawn slept through the whole ride.

On Tuesday morning, we gave Sydney the option of either going to the beach or doing the bike again. Surprisingly, she asked for the bike.

My silly goose. As a side note, she loves that green shirt and would wear it every day if I let her.

Spencer on North Beach.

This time we rode on a path that led us to a lookout point.

We had to climb up lots of stairs- another one of Sydney's favorite things to do. When we got to the top, we were rewarded with more beautiful scenery.

Sydney & Spencer enjoying the view.

Spencer also had a blast riding a 4 person tube pulled by a boat. I was hoping to rent a kayak or a pedal boat, but didn't get a chance. Hopefully this was just the first of many visits and we'll get to take advantage of the other fun stuff they have to offer next time!

Deep Sea Fishing

On September 3, Spencer did an all day deep sea fishing adventure with a bunch of our neighbors. He woke up at 3:30 am to get ready, and they all carpooled to Awase to catch their boat. Once aboard, they took a 2 hour ride to get out into the open ocean to start catching tuna.

Heading out to sea.

Thanks to the Drs. on board, everyone had taken plenty of Dramamine the night before so no one got sea sick. Spencer said he caught about 10 fish and had a great time.

The loot.

The crew: Chris, Steve, Dima, John, Joe, Shane, Alicia, & Spencer

They could have paid to have all of the fish filleted them, but there was only one guy doing it and it was really expensive. They decided to do it themselves, and got to work in the grassy area up by our neighbor's house. The event came to be known as the Lester Heights Tuna Massacre.

Yummy.

Spencer smelled really good at the end of the night.

We played outside with our neighbors while the guys hacked away. Lots of the younger boys were carrying around little fish... I later found out that was the bait they had used to catch the tuna, and they found it in their stomachs. Fortunately Sydney wasn't too interested in stinky fish as she has recently rediscovered the joys of playing with the spray bottle.

Masquerade

A few weeks ago, we celebrated our neighbor Ann Marie's birthday with the rest of our friends on "Lester Hill." There was kind of a werewolf/masquerade themewith lots of eerie decor and spooky treats (e.g. our parting gift was "frog bones" in the form of watermelon Jelly Bellys). Ann Marie seems to be the MacGyver of the craft world... like you could give her a match and some paperclips and (instead of using it to get out of an impossible situation) she could turn it into a really cool costume. We were all given titles on our invitation, and we were the Grand Prince and Grand Princess.

(Countess) Ann Marie, (Queen) Louise, (Princess) Me

Spencer and I have certainly gotten our money's worth out of the vampire costumes we bought a few years ago. We have reused those capes about 5 times. And, in the spirit of recycling, Spencer also got some extra use out of that awesome wig he wore at the Dental Ball.

Steve, John, Joe, Spencer

Suzy of Arc

In case you were wondering, Ann Marie found that framed picture in the garbage, then painted over it and cut out the face that same day. We had a great time admiring all of her creativity in the decor, and of course enjoyed spending time with our neighbors. We so lucked out when it comes to housing here!