When Daddy's Away...

Every year the military sponsors a trip for Spencer to go back to the states for a continuing education course. He decided to go to San Diego for a pediatric dentistry class, and he took a week of leave before the class so he could visit his family. On February 25, I took him to the airport and said goodbye for the next two weeks. I was a little nervous to have both kids by myself for that long, as I'm usually eyeing the clock at 4:30pm everyday waiting for him to come home. How spoiled is that?

It took Sydney a few days to wrap her head around the fact that Daddy wasn't coming home for a while. We made a paper chain to count down the days until he got back, and she had fun tearing a link every morning. We got to talk to him on Skype several times a day while he was at his parent's house- thank goodness for modern technology! I tried to make sure we had somewhere to go or something fun to do everyday so the time would pass more quickly. I didn't really take many pictures of the things we did since my hands were always too full to carry the camera around, plus the camera battery was dead for a while and I just didn't bother charging it. But I did document a few things we did around the house, like Sydney and her friend Audra making CTR pretzels at our weekly play date.

Sydney & Audra with their masterpieces.

Sydney played with water in the kitchen sink after helping me bake.

Shawn played with "toys" in his bouncer, which he's almost outgrown. Regular toys are starting to bore him after a while- he's become more interested in gnawing on things like wooden spoons and sippy cups.

Sydney built lots of super tall towers with her blocks.

I think the record heights was 25 blocks! She was entertained with this for a loooooooong time.

While Spencer was gone, Shawn got a lot better at rolling from his belly to his back. He used to get stuck on his stomach, which made him pretty mad... especially at night in his crib. Now he's just a rolling machine. Sydney's toys across the room are no longer "safe," as he can make his way from one end of the rug to the other if he sees something he really wants (especially if it's something he shouldn't have).

He also cut two more teeth, his upper lateral incisors, taking the total count to 6!

Overall, the days were pretty much the same, it was bedtime that was the real challenge. I made it work by bathing my kids less and majorly simplifying Sydney's bedtime routine. The first week was a little tougher for me because there were a few nights where I didn't feel so great. One night I had a fever of almost 102 and went to bed at 8pm. Week two went pretty smoothly, with lots of nice days where we could play outside with neighbors.

I was so excited for him to come home on March 11. He had specifically set up his trip so he would be home in time for my birthday, but when I came home from church I had an email from him saying the plane out of LA had an issue with its braking system (after they were already on the runway and almost to take off), so they got everyone off the plane and cancelled the flight! Major bummer. That made this trip a total of 16 days, the longest we've ever been apart since we've had kids. Having him gone certainly made me appreciate everything he does for our family! Thankfully he made it home the next night :)

Going to the Dentist

February 22 has been on our calendar for several weeks, marking Sydney's first dentist appointment. We talked about it almost every day, discussing how daddy would wear his scrubs, a mask, and gloves to clean her teeth. It seemed like she was getting really excited about it, right up until the night before. When I put her to bed she told me, "I don't want Daddy to clean my teeth. I just want him to scale." He scales her teeth on a fairly regular basis, so I assured her that that would probably be ok.

After checking in and heading back to Spencer's chair, she suddenly decided she wanted nothing to do with the dentist. It took a little while, but I was finally able to talk her into laying on the dental chair to go for a little ride. For the next 10 minutes or so, there was lots of nervous laughter.

Spencer and his assistant Miss Uehara were getting a kick out of Sydney's nervous laughs.

She didn't want to wear the sunglasses, so I think her eyes were watering from the brightness of the light.

Not only did she do great while Spencer scaled her teeth, she also let him brush her teeth with a hand piece, paint on a banana flavored flouride treatment, and was a champ when Miss Uehara suctioned.

She did awesome, I was so impressed!

And here's my big girl showing off her sparkly teeth.

Katsuren Castle

Having learned about Gosamaru and Nakagusuku Castle, my interest was peaked in checking out Lord Amawari's former residence, Katsuren Castle. Conveniently, Spencer had just passed it on his 40 mile bike ride last Saturday so he knew right where it was.

Spencer making that memorial look good.

Our turn- Syd was hiding from the camera.

After walking further up the hill, the Pacific Ocean came into view. There were also lots of people around the grounds painting the ruins.

See those little black and pink specks half way up the stairs? That's Spencer and Sydney.

A closer shot.

After taking pictures, it was my and Shawn's turn to conquer the steps!

Spencer & Sydney were waiting for us at the top.

Enjoying the view from higher up.

The original stone foundation of the palace (not sure if that's the right word) where Amarawi lived.

It was super windy at the highest level!

You could actually see the Pacific Ocean from both sides of the castle, it was really pretty. It was a cloudy day, I can only imagine how spectacular it would be when it's clear. As for the history, Lord Amawari fostered international trading, which brought great prosperity to the area. After defeating Gosamaru at Nakagusuku Castle (not sure if it's fact or legend that he had deceived the king into thinking that Gosamaru was planning a revolt, so Amawari had help from Shuri castle to defeat him), the deceitful Amawari took forces to Shuri to overthrow the king. However he was defeated; Katsuren Castle was destroyed in 1458 and was never rebuilt.

Nakagusuku Castle

Whenever I look up stuff to do around here, I always find info on castle ruins. With another 96 this past weekend (hooray for government holidays!) and some decent weather, we drove up a windy road to the nearby Nakagusuku castle. They're in Kitanakagusuku, which I kind of love to say. There was some sort of movie being made just outside the main castle gate. We saw a few actors in Tron-like costumes, we didn't get to see them in action. Must not have been very famous either, as there were only about 10 people in the production crew.

Anyway, we didn't really know any of the history behind this place before visiting, but reading about it on the signs around the grounds and on wikipedia was really interesting.

The castle dates back to the 15th century, and was built by Ryukyuan commander Gosamaru. At this time, various areas of the island were uniting to become part of the Ryukyuan kingdom. Under direction from the king in Shuri, Gosamaru was to protect the kingdom from attacks from Lord Amawari, who inhabited Katsuren Castle to the east and had his eye on the throne. Eventually Gosamaru was defeated by Amawari.

Going up these steps was fun, but the way down was a little more treacherous! They were super steep and very porous, I didn't dare try to help Sydney down them while holding Shawn in the Bjorn with no handrail for support. We waited patiently at the top for Spencer to come to our rescue.

Sydney on an eastern facing wall, with the East China Sea in the background.

Another thing I forget about this island is that it's long and skinny. After coming down the stairs of death, we went up more stairs to the next highest level. That level had more stairs that led up to the castle wall. So you walk up them and- BAM!- there's the Pacific Ocean.

This wall was the highest point, so it was pretty spectacular to look left and see the Pacific Ocean, then look right and see the East China Sea.

Hopefully setting our daughter on this memorial in the courtyard area wasn't desecrating scared ground. If it was, there were luckily no Japanese people around to see it.

We walked through the remaining ruins, some of which are being excavated to find stones that were part of the original structure. It looked like an archaeological dig, with stones being carefully numbered and lined up. Apparently they are trying to restore this place to its former glory. After going down lots of stairs, there was this open field that offered more beautiful views of the ocean.

Indoors the Squish's hair looks brown, but outside he looks like a red head.

And notice his 2 new chompers!

Behind us: Nakagusuku ruins.

In front of us: haunted hotel.

The military has a list of places we aren't allowed to go, and the Royal Hotel is one of them. Apparently in the past, Marines would play paint ball inside, but someone got hurt so now it's off limits. The Japanese are very superstitious about this place. According to my internet research, an Okinawan businessman planned to build a resort/casino/water park on the hillside in 1975. Despite warnings from local villagers that the grounds were sacred, he proceeded with his plans. Many workers left after being warned by monks from a nearby Buddhist temple that construction was too close to a cave inhabited by restless spirits. Afterward there were several mysterious deaths that took place on the construction site, so the project was abandoned. The businessman eventually wound up in an insane asylum. Kind of spooky, right? However, we were kind of shocked that there was nothing to really keep us out. There was a rope about 2 feet off the ground, and a sign that said "Keep Out." Clearly not super effective as it was covered in graffiti. In fact, there were 3 Japanese people that walked right past that sign and headed into just after we finished taking pictures. I think Spencer really kind of wanted to go in too, but I'm not much of a rule breaker (and kind of a weenie when it comes to all things scary), so I was more than happy to head back to the car.

Another Nickname

Since moving here, Sydney's interest with playing on the stairs has been on and off. Lately she's definitely been in an "on" phase. Sometimes they act as her house, an airplane, or a curb where we can watch a parade, but lately it's been church. Whenever we're heading to the stairs, I'm required to bring a baby and a purse. An empty purse won't do- she'll fill it with junk before giving it to me. Then she'll put on her princess shoes, necklaces, and a tiara, and will push baby #1 in her stroller (which also has 3 purses on the handles), carry baby #2 in it's car seat, and hold baby #3 in her arms. Once we get to the stairs and deposit our stuff, Syd will take several trips back to the living room to get miscellaneous toys and stacks of books.

With the claustrophobia that ensues, I started referring to her as "Hoarders: Buried Alive." Like if Spencer calls and asks what we're doing, I'll say, "Oh, I'm just playing church on the stairs with Hoarders: Buried Alive."

Notice the empty square of space next to Rapunzel. That's my seat.

Then we sit on the steps and sing songs, which she makes up as she goes. But she expects me to know the words too, so there's generally a little lag with my lyrics. And I can't look directly at her to read her lips, I have to pretend to be reading it from a book or else she'll scold me. She is such a silly kid. Hopefully she won't end up on TLC in 30 years.

The Joys and Pains of Month 5

On January 26, the Squish had his first taste of rice cereal. It wasn't quite the drool experience we were expecting. In fact, he gobbled it down and hardly even got any on his face!

He needed a little support to help him sit up.

Doing great!

Since then, he's also had a taste of sweet potatoes. Eating those brought on a bit of gagging (particularly when I added rice cereal... apparently that was too thick), but otherwise he seemed to like them.

January was also the month of learning how to roll. First it was front to back, then a few weeks later, it was back to front. Kind of funny, but I'm now 0 for 2 of seeing my kids roll from their back to their tummy for the first time. As with Sydney, I laid Shawn on his back on his play mat and walked out of the room to do something. Then I came back in to find him on his belly, just giving me a huge grin! These sneaky kids...

Unfortunately, this little 5 month old has been having some serious sleeping issues. As part of our routine, he would eat, play, then sleep, repeated every 3 hours. In January he all of a sudden went from taking three 1 hour naps a day to taking one nap lasting anywhere from 45 minutes to 3 hours (but most days it's closer to an hour). He'll usually fall asleep in my arms at least two other times during the day when I rock him, but then he'll wake up as soon as I lay him down. Talk about frustrating- especially when I have another little cutie vying for my attention and a house that needs to be cleaned! He just cut his 2 front teeth last night, so I realize part of that is from teething. I'm praying it's just a phase and that I'll at least be able to get him down for a morning and an afternoon nap when it's done. Fingers crossed. Thankfully, he's still a happy baby, and we love having him in our family.

Cherry Blossoms

On January 21st, we met up with some friends at Mount Yaedake in Nago to see the cherry blossoms. The actual festival was a week later, but we were hoping to beat the crowds so there wouldn't be a ton of people in our pictures. I tried to keep my expectations low since my neighbor told me they probably weren't in bloom yet, but we thought it would just be fun to get out and explore anyway.

Sydney was excited to play at the park with friends.

Then she told me she had pee.

Unfortunately, the only available toilets were glorified outhouses. You sometimes see them in stores here too, but it's basically a hole that you squat over and then flush it when your done. Sydney isn't a fan, which is surprising because she actually really likes squatting outside. Not that we allow that all the time, but she's certainly had some practice peeing outdoors when we've been in desperate situations. But I digress...

Post traumatic bathroom experience, hanging out at the top of the slide.

Spencer had fun trying to be artistic with his photographs :)

While Sydney played, Shawn was making friends with Emmy.

After playing a while, we got in our cars and drove up, up, up the mountain to search for more flowers. The cherry blossoms lined the road the entire way up. Good thing I was prepared ahead of time, because the blossoms were just starting to come out. One tree would have some nice blossoms on it, then the one next to it wouldn't have a thing.

We found some!

Waiting in the car while Spencer jumped out to take a few family pictures for our friends.

You can see the patches here and there. I'm sure it's spectacular when they're all in bloom.

There was a little pull off at the top of the mountain that had such a beautiful view!

Me & the kids

Spencer & Shawn

Nice shot from the window while we were driving back down the mountain.

Both kids fell asleep in the car on the way home. While Spencer and I were chatting, we stopped at a red light and noticed a bunch of middle school aged girls (maybe a soccer team or something?) in the van next to us started waving, laughing, and saluting, so we waved, laughed, and saluted back. It was actually kind of hilarious, we got a big kick out of it. An annual trip to see the cherry blossoms will definitely be a tradition while we're here!