Daytons Day-to-Day

Honest Adam

2012-02-24T15:26:00.000+09:00

Adam brought this home from school yesterday. He said they learned about Abraham Lincoln in class. I asked what he learned and he said, "Well...he was famous. And Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President. And his face is on the $5 and the penny." Right! I told him. What else? "That's pretty much it." Oh. And then you made your hat and beard? "Yep."

I guess it's too early to talk about the Civil War or slavery or the modernization of finance and economics. Or assassination. So, yeah, famous President on some money pretty much covers it in the mind of a 5-year-old.

That's quite a presidential face, no?

2012-02-12T15:48:00.001+09:00

photo info

So today was Yoga X day with P90X. It's a 90-minute workout, so it's always tough for me to find the time to fit it in my schedule. Today, I got through all but 20 minutes of it before the twins woke up from their nap, so I had to finish it with them bustling around me. At the end, there are several relaxation poses - happy baby, child's pose, shavasana (corpse pose), fetal pose and lotus. Well, during shavasana, we close our eyes for about a minute. So there I was, relaxing, lying there with my eyes closed when I felt the pain of a sippy cup being dropped on my face. I opened my eyes to see Anaya standing over me, saying "uh-oh." Nothin' like a sippy cup to the face to help you find your zen, right? Just another Dayton day-to-day...

Can It?

2012-02-07T12:16:00.000+09:00

Another "6th" has come and gone. And as with all the previous ones, I can't believe it's been another month. Six months. It still seems so unbelievable. Sometimes I scold myself for imagining that my Daddy died - I mean, that's a terrible thing to think happened to someone! Except it did happen. It just doesn't seem real yet. Just a terrible nightmare. Will I really never again hear his voice on the other end of the phone, calling Adam the "Chupacabra Deluxe"? Or telling me he hadn't heard from me "in a while" because we skipped one day of talking on the phone? And how will I be able to go the rest of my life without hearing him tell another Navy story or another story about a practical joke he played on a guy at work? And with him gone, how can I be certain that President Obama is being adequately criticized? Who will take my kids fishing and teach them how to ride 4-wheelers and give them their very own cow? Who will keep Blue Bell and Ford in business? How will I ever make a sound decision without his critical input? We've never bought a house or car or camera without asking his advice. And when we didn't ask his advice (like on buying that Dodge Charger in Colorado), we regreted the decision we made. Had we asked him, we wouldn't have made that mistake. See? Left on our own, we're hopeless! How can he not be here anymore? It just can't be...

...Can it?

It Is Now

2012-02-02T16:22:00.001+09:00

"Me and him
Him and me,
We're always together
As you can see...
Me and him
Him and me."
~ Shel Silverstein

If there ever was a time to be granted more patience...

...it is now.

If there ever was a time to be vigilant...

...it is now.

If there ever was a time to feel unglamorous...

...it is now.

If there ever was a time to be scared...

...it is now.

If there ever was a time to deny them as my own...

...it is when their clothes don't match (which is now).

If there ever was a time to laugh...

...it is now.

If there ever was a time to be amazed...

...it is now.

If there ever was a time to celebrate...

If ever there was a time to be proud, tired, excited, insane, fast, appreciative, at my wit's end, tired, happy, sad, dysfunctional, efficient, crazed, tired, nostalgic, thankful for the passage of time, determined, tired, hopeless, or ecstatic...that time is now.

They are two.

You've been warned.

Stupid Ball

2012-01-19T10:50:00.001+09:00

Like two years ago, I told Alan that I wanted to try using a balance ball to sit on at the computer. So for Valentine's or something, he bought me one. I was excited to get a great core workout while I was trolling facebook. Well, as it turns out, you can totally work the system and sitting on that ball is no better than lying in bed. Anyway, I recently told Alan that I was over the whole "sit on a ball at the computer" thing. Now, I'm certain of it. Today, while talking on Skype with Mom, the twins were in chairs and I was sitting behind them on the ball. I stood up to correct the angle of the webcam and sat back down. Except the ball had rolled away when I stood up. I think I broke my coccyx. Stupid ball.

That is all. You may laugh.

Oops

2012-01-12T22:50:00.001+09:00

The other day, I posted my little list of "tips" I would give to a first-time Mom. Well, it dawned on me yesterday, as I explained yet again to Adam how and why Santa was walking into the Burger King on Kadena Air Base in the middle of December. Don't ask - I will give you this advice, though: Should you ever find yourself fulfilling the role of "Santa Claus," DO NOT, under any circumstance, get out of your car at any place other than the one where you are supposed to BE Santa Claus. It confuses kids. Anyway, as I tried to remember what I told Adam last time he asked about Santa walking into BK, so that I could be consistent, I realized: If he's asking again, he doesn't remember. I can't screw this up. Then, I realized that that is the mother of all "tips" that I would give - Just as you have never done this before, neither have they. If you find yourself thinking you "messed up," just roll with it. Your newly-formed MommyBrain will help you cover it up and you have approximately a 99.999% chance that they'll never even know you "messed up" to begin with. Perfect.

If Anyone Asked Me

2012-01-08T21:50:00.000+09:00

I went to a baby shower yesterday and as much as I would like to say, "Thank God it wasn't mine!", I can't.  I was one of those people that some people hate, who loved being pregnant. Even with the twins, as uncomfortable as it was, it was fantastic (well, not at the very end - that part really did suck, miraculous or not).  It's just such an amazing feeling to know that God picked YOU to perform this miracle on. I loved it. So going to a baby shower always leaves me with a tinge of desire.  But that tinge is easily suffocated with a new pair of shoes...or a Twix bar. Doesn't take much, really. Anyway, every time I write a card for someone having their first baby, I wish there was something amazing I could write. I wish I had that one great tip for them. It got me thinking: What tips did I have to give? Not that anyone's asking, but if they were...

1. Put just enough spaghetti sauce to coat the noodles - a little less, even. Trust me, it's plenty.

2. If you're shopping and you come across something you like and your first thought is, "I wonder if the kid(s) will knock that over/break it/somehow ruin it" - DO NOT BUY IT. Because even if you think you'll put it up high to get it away from them, you're wrong. There is no getting it away from them. They always find a way.

3. Buy as many Swiffer Sweepers or as you have children. You can even put them together without the middle section of the handle, so it's just their size. Then, sit back and have a glass of wine while they ~~clean~~ play.  Caveat: Do not ever tell them they are cleaning/working/helping you, or you'll be selling your extra Swiffers on Craigslist for $0.50.

4. Wait and see. Before you freak out about something - anything - wait and see. Unless it's a bumped head - then get a flashlight and check to see if their pupils react. I'm kinda paranoid about head bumps, so do what you need to do there.

5. Stash Dum-Dums. There's nothing wrong with bribery.

6. Read to them.

7. Indulge their imaginative scenarios, as if they were real. You'll foster their creativity and teach them not to be afraid to share their ideas.

8. As hard as it may be to say "No", do not buy them everything they want, even if you can afford it. You'll regret it one day.

9. Find a trustworthy sitter ASAP and use him/her sooner than later. While they are tiny, they will never remember that you went out on a date once a week. They will when they're older, so that's when you spend time with them (in that narrow window between when they're old enough to realize you're gone all the time and when they're too old to want to hang out with you, anyway).

10. Don't spend a lot of money on anything that the baby will touch often. Clothes, sheets, diaper bags, chairs, table cloths, rugs... It's a waste of money. They don't care how much it cost/how nice it is/how long you wanted it to last. They will stain it/tear it/child-ify it. Guaranteed. You remember how your Mom used to yell at you, "I can't have anything nice with you kids!"? Well, you can't.

Sayonara, 2011

2012-01-01T15:36:00.001+09:00

I have to admit, I'm happy to say goodbye to 2011. It had some fun times, but the rough times far overshadowed them.

As 2011 ends, these are some things I am certain of:

10. The "Humor" section on Pinterest can fix any bad mood.

9. Raising kids is hard work and it's not for the weak. Only the strong survive.

8.  You will never regret taking those five extra minutes to wash and moisturize my face before going to bed, no matter how badly you just want to go to sleep.

7. There will always be people in the world who disappoint you, but there will also always be people who amaze you enough to make you forget about the disappointing ones.

6. Skype and facebook are necessities if you live away from your family.

5. The older you get, the more your Mom amazes you. My Mom is one badass woman.

4. Having a Christmas card mailing list that includes 19 states and 4 countries is pretty cool.

3.  I will miss my Dad forever.

2. Military spouses and children are the strongest, most resilient group of people you will ever have the privilege of meeting.

1. Life is fragile. Live it while you can. To quote Pit Bull: "For all we know, we might not get tomorrow..."

Christmas Typhoon

2011-12-25T21:40:00.001+09:00

Warning! Video may contain some form of birth control. Sorry it's a little dark.

I think today may have had the lucky distinction of being Anaya's worst day ever. Little girl screamed and cried all day long! Ohmygosh. I thought I was going to sell her. Seriously. Not seriously...but, you know...She got this little baby doll that dances from Santa and got a stroller to push it around in from Aunt P. Not even Rosie was safe when she got near it to sniff at it - Anaya swung at her and yelled, "NO!" Nobody better lay a finger on that doll. Adam was like the Tasmanian devil, tearing thru the gifts and worrying about who they were from later. We had a little heart-to-heart about that while the babies napped...Audie was the most laid-back, I guess. He actually left four presents unopened. He just threw in the towel. Anaya and Adam had no problem at all helping out with that situation. In the end, I think everyone was satisfied with their loot. Alan and I, on the other hand...Well, we began the day exhausted and the day itself did not fall into the "relaxed" or "restful" categories, so we are pretty much zombies. Glad that's over. Hope next year is a little bit better...

Anaya with HER baby and stroller

Audie yelling, "EPE!" which means "open!"

Seriously...what Adam asked Santa for..."my own glue"

Yelling, of course. Probably already yelling "MORE!" before she even finishes opening that one.

Audie always has a "busted" look. He was super-excited about Mater :)

This one ended up being the favorite by the end of the day, I think...

The aftermath.

Join The Crub

2011-12-15T16:21:00.001+09:00

Yesterday, I went for a run around the neighborhood. Just a quick one, sandwiched between baking, picking up Adam, doing some Christmas shopping and more baking. But it ended up being the BEST run in a while. Why? Because about 200 meters from the end, I saw this at Adam's school:

True story.

The Tree Looks...Wait...What's That?

2011-12-15T16:13:00.001+09:00

This year, given the fact that the twins are just about two, we figured the tree better be "mischievous-fingers-friendly," because we have an excess of mischievous fingers around here. Case-in-point (these all occurred post-decorating):

So I separated all the sentimental and breakable ornaments from the unbreakable or mass-produced meaningless ones and let the kids go to town on the tree, decorating it as far as they could reach. Then, I added the breakable ones to the top. The tree ended up looking like this:

All things considered, it turned out really nice.

But the night after we decorated it, I told Alan that I thought it looked like it was leaning. As we were walking over, I spotted something that didn't quite look right. Can you see it?

Here's a closer look:

As I was taking my normal decor down and storing it in the Christmas totes, replacing it with Christmas stuff, I noticed that Audie was rummaging through the totes. I was making sure he wasn't breaking anything, but I was letting him explore. He must have pulled this starfish out of the tote and shoved it into the tree (which is what he did with most of the ornaments he "hung"). We decided to leave it because...well, why not? It's the perfect addition to our 2011 Christmas tree.

Happy Holidays!

Do The Robot

2011-12-01T19:12:00.001+09:00

Conversation tonight at dinner:

Adam: "Lucy and Ana* are small. But Anais says she's bigger than me! But she's small! Why does she say that?" (*names of girls in his class changed for privacy)

Me (I'm a stellar parent, so I totally recognize the teaching moment here regarding age/size and am going to take full advantage of it): "Well, people come it all shapes and sizes..."

Adam (interrupting me): "Like robots! Robots have square heads and square bodies!"

Me: "Right. Just like robots."

Teaching moment postponed until Mrs. Osborne makes him a wee bit smarter.

Here is Adam, performing "The Robot":

The "MO!", The "Yeah!", And The Brain

2011-11-28T13:01:00.001+09:00

One child is "the brain." Can you guess which one?

We had our first parent-teacher conference for Adam two weeks ago. She basically told us he's a second grader...except that he acts like a kindergartner. Seriously, the kid is smart. She said he is often tasked with passing back folders because he's the only one who can read everyone's name! He recently wrote out his "wish list" to Santa, which included "Adam's own printer" and "my own dog" (neither of which he'll get, obviously). It also included, on the back, a letter to Santa explaining that he didn't need to bring Anaya any toys because she's bein' bad.

One child is the "MO!" child.

Although it's gotten a little better in the past two days, it is still true: Anaya answers "MO!" to pretty much anything you ask her - unless you're asking if she wants a snack. She's talking a lot, but not as much as Audie. It's not that she can't, but rather she won't. As she did with crawling and walking, it must be on her terms, on her schedule. One day I know she'll just decide to say, "So, Mom, today I was thinking we could go play at the park and then go to the BX to get some ice cream. Then, maybe I can call Grandma Sissy on the phone." You think I'm kidding. Just wait. Speaking of talking on the phone - she loves it! Here's her talking to Grandma Sissy and Aunt Ra Ra:

Here she is after we took the phone away:

One child is the "Yeah!" child:

In contrast to Anaya's answer, Audie will answer just about any question with an excited, "YEAH!" We ask, "Audie, is that bug fast?" "YEAH!" "Audie, is that bug slow?" "YEAH!" "Do you want to catch it?" "YEAH!" "Can you put away the colors?" "YEAH!" So cute. He is talking a lot lately, like our little echo. We're probably at the "watch what you say" point now. Clear words are bubble, cookie, Adam, Audie, 'Naya, sit, bath, eat, Nemo, light...there's a new one every day.

It's obvious that we've entered the "terrible twos" zone and I dread every moment, especially now knowing that the threes are even worse. There is no end in sight. Twins is a lot of work - from day 1 on. So far, I don't feel like it's gotten much easier. In fact, a lot of days, I feel like it is tougher now than it's ever been. They find strength in numbers, trying things that Adam never dared to try. A lot of days, it's unnerving and it takes all I have to stay calm, sane and smiling. Don't mistake my frustration for ungratefulness, though. There are those shining moments, when I am reminded of how lucky we are...they usually occur at naptime.

Fabulous

2011-11-22T10:23:00.001+09:00

I like the word "fabulous." Don't you? I think it is fabulous. I also like it when I feel fabulous. A couple of weeks ago, our squadron spouses participated in an annual event here - the Spouses Dining In. For you non-military type, a "Dining In" is usually reserved only for the active-duty member - no dates allowed - and it tends to get a little crazy. This is our version - no dates allowed and lots of girlified-ness. We have to decorate a table, wear a costume and do a skit, all relating to the mission of our squadron. I think it's a GREAT event. It really gets the spouses excited and helps encourage them to take pride in their spouse's job. These Kadena spouses bring it BIG and it makes me proud to be a part of such a FABULOUS community of women. Speaking of fabulous women, here are a few of my favorite shots:

Our table. Isn't it fabulously pretty? The "82" refers to our squadron - 82d Reconnaissance Squadron

Michelle and me: Me-ow

The whole group, in complete "Pink Panther" costume:

The group, minus one. The Ice Princess is one of our spouses who participated with the squadron she works in.

Some of my AWACS peeps in their Viking gear!

Finally, my favorite. Tara and I look fabulous. Nothing says it like a boa and a frilly drink. And cat eyes.

Watch Your Step

2011-11-10T22:17:00.001+09:00

'Cause IN my house, you might step on one of these guys:

Livin' the dream, people. Livin' the dream.

Treats? What Treats?

2011-10-31T23:03:00.001+09:00

If you don't think that's the cutest pirate ever, then you're a liar.

Tonight was trick-or-treating! What an adventure. Alan just happens to be off the island, so that made for tons of fun. Not as much fun as throwing Adam's birthday party without him, but close. Seriously, though, I hate that he had to miss it because the kids were cute...at the beginning of the night.

I tried to get a picture of all three of them together. I almost did. Not really. I got this:

That's 2/3. For whatever reason, that was Adam's standard "pirate pose."

Then I got this:

Technically that's 2/3. She had a club to go with her costume, but that was a really poor decision on my part. Once she figured out that it squeaked when she hit something with it, Audie didn't have a prayer. Neither did Rosie. Anaya was trying to block Audie out of the shot by getting really close to the camera. Audie didn't really care about the camera. He cared about what the HELL was on his head???

I got this one:

Close, but...Adam was way too concerned that a trick-or-treater might miss our house, so he was on constant "look-out," shouting at them if necessary, directing them to our door. He couldn't be bothered to look at the camera for any seconds.

Eventually, we did make it out to do some trick-or-treating. The babies went to exactly three houses before they (and I) had enough.

Audie took the goods and ran. Then, he realized that Anaya was calling "stranger danger!" and he did her a favor. He gave her his candy and went back for another one. Then did it again. He didn't care who was handing out the candy. He just knew he was getting it. He'll be the one I have to warn about the creepy van that pulls up at the park, offering candy.

Anaya didn't even bother walking up. Too stressful. Just bring her the candy, already.

No picture of #3. Waaaay too much going on there. Then, they started expecting me to carry them, like I was dressed as a pack mule or something, so we went home instead. Don't worry - Adam got to continue on with his buddy, Robert, so he scored plenty of loot. He definitely had a happy Halloween.

The twins got busy getting into their candy:

The end of the night was not such a happy Halloween for Anaya and Audie. Here's what happens when you take a bag of candy away from two babies:

BEDTIME!! Happy Halloween!!

Adam Turns FIVE!

2011-10-17T20:54:00.002+09:00

So, like over two months ago, Adam turned FIVE YEARS OLD! I know, right? I can't believe it either, but I have the birth certificate to prove it. Where does the time go? Since we were still in Texas at the time, we borrowed an unconditional friend's house ('cause that's the only kind of friend who would lend you their house to have a five-year-old's birthday party). HUGE kudos and thank you to Mike. I hope the air conditioner got fixed :-/

I would say the party was a "success." Not an elegant success, but at the end of the day, pizza was had (we won't mention the anchovy debacle), presents were opened, candles were blown out and cake consumed, and the pinata was busted. And the two children who busted their faces didn't require stitches. That's a success, right? I think so. Adam got to play with a bunch of kids - even a couple that he knew from Okinawa, who had just moved to San Antonio! I am so thankful to all of my friends for bringing their kids and for sticking with me as I fumbled through the party. Without Alan there (he had already flown back to Okinawa), I was in way over my head. Plus, Anaya somewhat resembled an extra limb I had that day...a non-functioning one...so I did most of it one-armed. Here are some shots from the day:

The guests arrive!

The Cake! Spiderman was his favorite (the day we picked out the cake, at least...)

Grandma's got her hands full!

Adam's favorite part:

Me with Anaya (and her bloody cheek!)

Pinata time! Line 'em up!

I like this shot because you see Mike holding the laptop - Alan was watching Adam's party from Okinawa, on Skype!

Busted! RUN!

This CRACKS ME UP! Sammy with her "disguise," watching Adam blow out the candles. Hilarious!

The Birthday Boy...beat.

I say it every year, but it really does seem like yesterday that we were flying down the interstate in the middle of the night, scared to death and praying to God that we were cut out for this. Five years later, I would say we're doing a pretty good job. I mean, he gets in trouble at school for talking too much (which he obviously gets from his Papaw), but it's only because he's shouting out the answers without raising his hand (OK, sometimes it's not that, but whatev). He's smart. As a whip. That teacher sent home about 250 sight words that we're supposed to take the whole year to "learn" and he read them all to me in about 5 minutes. He can add, subtract, draw, do push-ups, ride a bike, tell a joke...he's really pretty amazing. But he just can't hush. What are you gonna do?

It Better Be The Great Pumpkin

2011-10-15T19:45:00.000+09:00

That's about $25 a pumpkin. We can't afford Halloween in Okinawa.

*I know you're thinking that this is really lame, since I haven't posted anything since September 17th. I'm working on a few posts (Adam's 5th Birthday, Twins Update, Tokyo adventure, an amazing FREE concert we went to...), so they're coming soon! I know you're on pins and needles.*

Bonsai Gone Bad

2011-09-17T13:12:00.000+09:00

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that some workers were ~~trimming~~ butchering some trees in front of a house down the street, where my friend, Karin, used to live. I made a mental note to email Karin and tell her the sad story. I forgot to do that, but that's beside the point. About an hour-and-a-half later, my doorbell rang. When I opened the door and saw the workers standing there, I gasped out loud and said, "Oh, no!" right to their face. The man who appeared to be in charge (I deduced this from the fact that he wasn't wearing Dickies and he sat, checking his Crackberry the whole time), said, "We trim tree" and gestured to the great big, beautiful Banyan tree that we have in our front yard. You might remember it from my very first blog post ever:

It shaded the house perfectly in the evenings and shaded my Impatients all day long. Plus, it housed many a creature of God. I really loved that tree, except for two things: taxi drivers always missed our house because the tree blocked the house number from being seen from the street, and ants easily moved from the tree to the house and found an entrance through our playroom window. So, when the man told me "We trim tree," I thought this could be a chance to fix those two things. He gestured and told me "We only cut here" and he gestured to the part that hung over the sidewalk leading from the street to the door. That would actually also be helpful for us because the sidewalk has to be pressure-washed twice a year, due to the tree. I said "OK" and told him we really liked the shade, but that getting it away from that part of the sidewalk would help with the mold and the ants. I left them to work and looked out the window 30 minutes later. Here is what my tree looks like now:

It's so sad. It pisses me off every single time I pull into the driveway. I simply cannot understand how the discussion we had about how they were going to "trim" the tree turned into this. The only thing I can think is that it's like when you tweeze your eyebrows. You just keep plucking until they both match, and that only happens when you've basically left nothing. It's like an episode of "Bonsai Gone Bad" or something. And the worst part? I can't do anything about it, because it's not my house and it's not my yard and it's not my tree. All I can do is vent to you about it, so that's what I'm going to do because it makes me feel better. Stupid tree butchers.

No Looking Back

2011-09-06T09:27:00.002+09:00

Well, just like that, a huge milestone has passed. Adam became a kindergartener today!

Here he is, all ready to go:

Here's a reminder of how little he still is:

Here's Adam, going in to his first school classroom and with his cubby:

Then, he walked away and found his seat and got to work. He hadn't even kissed me goodbye yet!:

So I went over and hugged and kissed him and said bye and told him I loved him and walked away.

Here he is, not chasing me down, not begging me not to go:

As I expected, only one of us cried. Guess who.

Big Kids in a Little Pool

2011-08-23T09:44:00.000+09:00

A few months ago, Aunt Ra Ra, being the wonderful Aunt that she is, sent the minis a kiddie pool. "It's not very big," she told me. So one pretty day, we threw some swim diapers on the babies, Adam changed into swim clothes, we slathered on the sunblock, and blew it up for the kids to play in. Here's a photo summary. The time it took to take the pictures is about the time it took for them to bore of the tiny pool. It's perfect for Rosie, though!

"Is this some sort of joke?"

"Now what? Can we get a slide in here?"

"1-2-3-Rotate!"

"Ha ha ha! I DO feel like a giant! ROAR!"

"What are you lookin' at? I don't see you havin' no tiny pool of your own! Get outta here!"

Oh, gosh. I don't know why it was so funny, but it was. Thanks Ra Ra ;-)

I'm The Other Woman

2011-08-09T12:20:00.001+09:00

I wrote this blog the day after my Dad was diagnosed with stage 4 non-small cell lung cancer. I didn't want to post it prematurely. We buried Daddy today and I am certain that the rest of my life will be totally different. I still don't know what I'll do without my Dad around. Here's what I wrote on the 14th of June:

I managed to get out for a run today, in an effort to clear my mind and ease some stress. Ha. How can that possibly happen? As I began the run, a million thoughts were going through my head. What on earth will I do if my Daddy doesn't beat this? Is he strong enough to take the treatments he'll need? Does he even want to live the life that the treatments will cause? I know what the diagnosis means - what the numbers are. I know that this will be an uphill fight and that his days are probably numbered, be it two months or two years. They are numbered. What do I do? Stay here? Go home? If I go home, I bring lots of chaos and I just don't want to impose that. What help can I be? Maybe God has a miracle slated for Dad. Maybe He will make this all go away. But I don't think so. About two minutes into my run, I passed a house with a banner hanging on it - "WELCOME HOME DADDY!" Hand-painted, in kids' handwriting. We do live on an Air Force base, so this might not seem like anything special. But today it was. It made me wonder: Do they have those signs in heaven? For the Daddies who go to heaven? Wait. Is my Daddy going to heaven? Suddenly, I believed that sign was put there for me. Like God was telling me that it was time for my Daddy to go Home. So I immediately began to pray. Hard. Pray for guidance, for healing, for strength, for a miracle. But all of a sudden, it hit me: I was going against God. How could I compete with God? I suddenly felt like I was the other woman, trying to convince God to let Dad choose me. Over God. How could I expect him to do that? How could I expect anyone to choose me over God? He will...and should...choose to be with God. It was clear to me then - I don't know when, but he will go Home fairly soon. I just hope there's a sign welcoming him when he gets there. Because he deserves at least that. I love you, Daddy. And I'll miss you when you go.

With nearly 200 people at his visitation and over 300 at his service, it was obvious that I am not the only one who will miss him.

one more week

2011-07-30T04:29:00.000+09:00

My Daddy's sick. Very sick. So sick that my family and I decided it was time to come home from Japan and spend some time with him. And, as I've said before, there is nothing enjoyable about that trip so if I did it twice in less than three months, you know it must be serious. It seems as though everything has happened extremely fast, but that isn't the reality. I won't go into details because this is not the forum for that. I'm simply writing to express that I am glad he made it one more week. I'm glad he continued treatment for one more week. I'm glad we're one more week closer to Robin having her baby and possibly getting to meet Grandpa Buster. One more week closer to finding out God's plan. Maybe one more week closer to witnessing a miracle? I hope so.

The Usual Suspects

2011-07-16T22:33:00.000+09:00

BEWARE of these faces:

They may look sweet, but they cause complete and utter destruction wherever they go!

There's just something about the plastic-ware...

Audie is a button-pusher...in every sense of the phrase!

The usual suspects:

A couple of outlaws ;-)

HEY!!

Anaya's first purse! And she already can't find anything in it!

I love this one - Adam wanted to take a picture with Anaya, but in an effort to not piss her off, he won't even touch her when he puts his arm around her!

Audie's latest M.O. is to throw himself down and pitch a fit.

Anaya likes to ride in the car, so everyone gets to take turns pushing her around.

Off to the Races!

2011-07-14T09:02:00.000+09:00

Last month, Adam's montessori school put on their usual end-of-year program. You might remember that last year, Adam was a dancing ninja-turtle. First-rate. This year, Adam was dressed up as a horse and he was a stinkin' cute one. We were so proud of him for getting up there and doing his dance. He had been really sick for about two weeks and had missed a lot of school leading up to the program. That meant that he missed some crucial rehearsals, too. The day of the program, he was feeling terrible. He slept as we drove there and he asked to leave immediately after it was over, skipping the lunch party with all of his friends to celebrate the end of the year. Watching the video after the show, we can see how bad he really felt. When he would practice at home, he would be bounding just like the other boys and he knew every move. The poor guy was really sick. Honestly, he could have told us that he wasn't feeling up to it and we would have totally understood. But he toughened up and, as they say in the biz, "The show must go on!"

Here are a few still shots of our little stud ;-)

A Life Well-Lived

2011-07-01T22:07:00.000+09:00

These are just some thoughts I had written to be read at my Granddaddy's funeral on Wednesday...

Granddaddy's obituary

Thank you all so much for being here today. I am unable to be there, but appreciate the opportunity to have my words included in the service.

I know that there is nothing I can say to soften the grief that has come with the passing of Granddaddy. I only hope to conjure up great memories of a man whose life we can certainly celebrate on this day. He was caring, funny, unique and smart. He loved his family and was proud of his kids and grandkids. Deciding to name our first-born son “Daniel” was a no-brainer. I could only hope it would bring him the same strength and honor that it symbolized with my Granddaddy and my Father.

For me, there are a lot of things that will remind me of Granddaddy. I will remember Granddaddy every Christmas, when I hang all of those hand crafted popsicle-stick sleds that we received annually, on my tree. Or, when he decided to try his hand at woodcutting and made me a “Hook ‘em Horns” ornament that I never had the heart to tell him was really the “hang loose” hand sign. Or, when I pass by my wedding invitation, hanging on the wall, decoupaged onto a piece of wood that he had previously used to decoupage a five-foot rattlesnake my Mom had killed with a shovel, with beautiful bluebonnets along the side painted by Nanny . The man did love to decoupage, didn’t he? Or, I can remember him fondly when I see any of the wooden blocks he sent to me or my family, with our names glued to them in little wooden letters. And, should I ever forget whether I received something from him or someone else, I can always check it for his return address label. I’ll always laugh when I recall how he thought I was sending him photos and cards from China, when I really live in Japan. I’ll never forget seeing his and Nanny’s smiling, proud faces at my high school sporting events, high school graduation, and summer little league games. I will remember him when I’m creating a scrapbook for my children, as he did for his children and grandchildren. I’ll always treasure the photo of him dancing with Aunt Janice at my wedding reception and the photo of him and Nanny at their 40th wedding anniversary. I aspire to have a marriage like that. I’ll never look at a gourd without wondering if it would make a good birdhouse and I’ll think of him when I see turtles, baseball games, slingshots, Marilyn Monroe memorabilia, and those little “Tommy tee-tee” toys.

Coming of age during the Great Depression, and serving in World War II, Granddaddy was a member of our greatest generation. As an American, and especially as a member of the military family, I am inspired by that generation – their values of duty, honor, country, family, service and responsibility to oneself. They lived through an incredibly difficult time, then went off to fight an incredibly difficult war, and returned home to build America into a superpower. They were modest about their achievements and were quietly successful. We can all learn countless lessons from that greatest generation, if only we take the time to listen to them before that time runs out. Although I had heard most of his stories many times before, I will now and forever miss them. I know Nanny was happy to finally see him in Heaven and I can only hope that they enjoy the light show up there as much as they enjoyed the one in downtown Las Vegas. It must be breath-taking.

Zipping Thru 32!

2011-06-16T17:09:00.001+09:00

Alan's such a little stinker. Not only did he plan a surprise pre-birthday dinner for me on the eve of my birthday, complete with Baskin Robbins ice cream cake, but he also took the day of my birthday off of work and had a special surprise for me that afternoon! We visited Onna Villiage here and did the Forest Adventure, which is a series of zip lines and an adventure course. So. Much. FUN!! Here I am, ready to go!

After about a five minute safety "brefing" by a kid who looked to be about 17, wearing a high school track ball cap (given in very broken english, I might add), we were tested with a baby zip. Once we passed (which we both did on the first try), then we were sent on our way! In the video below, after I pass, you can see the sign behind me that says "Try Again" for the people who don't pass. We don't know who those people are, but if they can't pass that baby zip, I think the "Try Again" sign should be pointed toward their car.

This next video is, I believe, of the second zip that we did. It was kind of down in the jungle, which was cool. And it was a fast one, which was fun. What wasn't cool was that there was a sign posted, saying "Front Confirmation!!" What do you think that means? We still don't know...but the two exclamation points lead me to believe it was important. We lived.

Here is one of Alan showing off, along with a semi-decent view of this little slice of paradise. Livin' the dream, people...

This next video is a little longer, but it's a multi-tasker! Alan got video of me going across a long zip and then he held the camera while he went:

Here's another multi-tasker for you. This one was a really fast one and just happened to be the final zip of the jungle course.

After the jungle zip course, there was an "Adventure Course." There were a lot of fun, challenging components of this, but I had trouble uploading some of the other videos, so there will only be one video of this portion (I know you're super-bummed about not getting to watch more of this). Here I am doing a really crazy thing called the Tarzan Swing. It's kind of a mix between a bungee and a zip, swinging into a net. Seriously, you are all lucky I'm here to type this. Not because I could have died, but because I might still be standing there on that perch, scared to jump, two days later. Alan wanted to do this one again. I did not.

It was a great day and I so enjoyed my surprise. A great, big "THANK YOU!!" to my darling husband for arranging it - although I know he was also stoked to do it, so it was like a little gift to himself as well. Nonetheless, very fun.

My Cup Runneth Over

2011-06-15T15:33:00.000+09:00

I'm working on a blog about my fantastic birthday surprise, but it's taking a while to get all the videos sorted out, so I'll post about this fantastic instead!

A couple of Saturdays ago (June 4th), Susan G. Komen for the Cure held a Global Race for the Cure in Washington, D.C. Nearly 40,000 participants traveled from all over the world to D.C. to participate, but teams were formed remotely all over the world, as well. I decided that I did not like missing the Race for the Cure last year (a race I have only missed three times in the last 13 years), and since there wasn't one here, I would make one! So, I formed a team to participate here, on Kadena AB, in the Global Race for the Cure. The team was small in size (20 people, officially, although double that showed up), but HUGE in generosity and spirit. Our little team raised $1840 to support breast cancer research and treatment! That was enough to garner a #3 ranking in the "Armed Forces" division! I was so proud to walk and run with all of those amazing people and even more proud to share the stage with two other survivors. I can't wait to do this again next year and am so excited about striving to make it bigger and better. Thank you to any of you reading this who came out to support the cause, or sent in a donation to support the cause. YOU made all the difference in the world to me that day. My cup runneth over.

Thirsty?

2011-05-30T22:11:00.000+09:00

One of the first things we noticed when we arrived in Okinawa was that there were a lot of vending machines. A lot. You can find them everywhere you go, and they are stocked full of anything you might want. Water, juice, soda? Check. Coffee? Hot or cold? Milk or no milk added? No matter what - Check! Tea? What flavor? Hot or cold? Check! Juice with actual bits of fruit floating in it? Check! When my Mom was here, she loved trying all the different coffees. Since then, we've grown accustomed to the convenience of the vending machine. I actually enjoy some of the hot coffees and one tea in particular, and Adam has gotten adventurous, trying a few different juices. These machines are not only found in common, public places, but often on the side of the road. And it doesn't even have to be near a business! Literally on the side of a road, all by itself! Sometimes, they're just on the sidewalk, right outside the front door of a home! I decided to snap a few pictures over the last couple of months of interesting vending machines we saw. Here's what I've got so far:

These three pictures are a few that I see just between the base gate and Adam's school (probably about a mile, and only on two roads)

(those two above are actually right across the street from each other)

So easy, a four-year-old can do it!

One is hardly ever enough - they like variety!

Literally in the middle of nowhere. How is it even plugged in??

(Kudos to my friend, Amanda, for this pic! We actually saw one like this driving out to Miyagi Island, but it was before I had the desire to snap pictures, so I'm glad Amanda did!)

In an abandoned parking lot. I guess the guests of that hotel could walk on over for a coffee...

Again, nothing around but the road...

Another abandoned lot along a road...

Again - where's the power? Judging by the lean on this one, Songda probably relocated it.

For the shopper who really wants options - this was in the corner of a random parking lot:

Along a road - the cement structure appears to have been built for the sole purpose of housing the

vending machine.

If you haven't had the urge to try a drink yet, then maybe this will help: BOSS Coffee is endorsed by the one and only Tommy Lee Jones

Shaken or Stirred?

2011-05-28T21:23:00.000+09:00

Since it's all typhoon-y outside, I figured I'd get back to the list. Next up: Something I bought recently. I buy a lot, honestly, but I figured you all didn't want to hear about Huggies. So, I decided on a recent "big" purchase that Alan and I made.

Recently, Alan and I decided to buy a bar. We have been looking at them since we moved here and just never came across the right one at the right price. We wanted one that had some Asian influence, but wasn't overly ornate and lacquered to death, which a lot of Japanese furniture tends to be. Well, we finally happened upon this one, at the right time and at the right price:

Here it is on the inside. Don't worry about the eyes of the truck you see - I can assure you, I did not drink and drive:

It really is pretty and the top of it, when it's unfolded, has black marble. Stop on by and we'll serve you a drink!

Update What Blog?

2011-05-17T13:37:00.000+09:00

Totally forgot I had one of these blog thingies.  We have been so busy lately, that I blahblahblah...  We just returned from a trip to Virginia, where we met up with my family and some of Alan's family.  Since traveling with three kids is such a nightmare, we vowed after November to never do it again.  Somehow, though, we ended up doing it again only six short months later. It was only half our choice, though, and NOW, FOR SURE, we are never doing that again! I assure you that even if you were stranded, backpacking thru the Pakistani desert, your trip would seem like a spa-cation next to ours. Night. Mare. We'll be happy to meet you in Hawaii, Christmas 2012, if you're up for it, though! The visit itself was nice, don't get me wrong, but the travel was a nightmare. I don't even want to talk about it, so we won't. We'll talk about the monsters I'm creating.

Anaya really is something else. She's my crazy monster. She's nearly running now, so it's tough to keep up with her.  She's like a little Tasmanian devil. She "baby talks" a lot, but doesn't say many words other than "Adam." She does love her Adam.  What's not to love?  For some reason, she has learned to shake her head "No" when asked "Do you remember?" I'm not sure how that happened, but it sure is funny. It doesn't even have to relate to anything, I'll just out-of-the-blue say, "Anaya, do you remember?" and she'll shake her head. Hilarious.  She runs to the bathroom when I say "bath" and she grunts like she's trying to fill up her diaper when I ask her if she's stinky. She bolts at the first sign of getting in trouble, leaving her brother stranded in the guilty seat, before he even knows what's happened. She and Audie both roar when you ask them what any animal says. They don't seem to be catching on like Adam did. Oh well, I'm sure they'll eventually learn that pigs don't roar. I'm not too worried.  Anaya likes the idea of going outside a lot more than she likes actually being outside. She'll stand at the patio door and scream and point until we let her out, then when we do, she just stands there or heads back in. Sometimes she'll play in the water table, but that's about it. Getting dirty, except in the highchair, just isn't her thing. She'll sit in the grass and hold her arms and legs up - only her bottom touches the ground. She's a total "Daddy's girl," lighting up when he walks in.  She loves to pretend like she's talking on the phone, dancing, waving "hi" and blowing kisses. She doesn't love getting dressed or being told "no."  And she really doesn't love when you pick Audie up first or give him his food first or put him in the car first or basically pay him any attention. It's all Anaya, all the time. Don't forget it.

Audie is the epitome of the adorable baby boy. Seriously.  He is so friggin' precious.  He reminds us so much of Adam when he was a baby, but with a little lighter hair. But he's sneaky and you gotta watch that. He's my sneaky monster. He'll saunter into the room, pants missing, hugging his lovey like he's just about to lie down and take a nap. So I'll wander into the other room to put laundry away and when I come back, he's flooded the laundry room with the water cooler or he's pulled all 1,000 baggies out of the box in the drawer or he's hiding under a table in the corner or standing on top of one of the riding toys, reaching for the not-for-Audies. He also picked up the "Do you remember?" thing from Anaya - only he shakes his head so hard I think it's going to fly right off. He loves pushing buttons - the TV, the remotes, the dvd player, the dehumidifier, the dishwasher, his sister...that's his favorite - he'll steal toys from her just to tick her off! But in the same breath, he can usually make her laugh. I don't know what they're saying, but they sure think they're funny! We hear them all the time in their cribs, talking and laughing. It's really adorable. They're probably making fun of me. Precious.

While we're at it, I'll fill you in on the original monster - Adam. Adam can't wait to be five. He just told us last night that 85 days was too long to wait until his birthday and he didn't want it to be a long time until his birthday. He's super-smart, too. My sister told me that while we were in Virginia, he taught her all about frogs. She said she was amazed and wondered where he learned it all. I told her either from Diego or he made it all up.  Who knows - his imagination is wild. He loves to tell a good story. I think we all know someone else who loves to tell a good story, so he comes by it honestly. He also loves to do math and he can read really well, so please don't send anymore Level 1 books. He's movin' on up! He really is a big helper most of the time, but he tends to complain about picking up after the babies. I know, right? Such a pain...And now he wants money when he helps clean up. What's up with that? Thank God he thinks a quarter is gold, so he's pretty cheap labor. He loves going to the post office to see if we have any packages and he loves playing outside, coloring. This school year has required lots of bleach because he plays hard. He is such an active boy - cannot sit still for a minute - and Alan and I are learning how to accept that and channel it into something positive. It's not always easy, but we're trying. It's hard to believe he's almost five and we are still amazed by him every single day. He's one-of-a-kind.

Here are a few recent pictures of everyone

Through Adam's Eyes

2011-04-24T12:49:00.000+09:00

For Adam's fourth birthday, Aunt Robin gave him his own camera. It's a tough little Crayola digital model and he loves nothing more than to do a random photo shoot. Recently, I uploaded all of the pictures from the memory card. Candid shots seem to be his specialty. Here are a few of my faves.

Grandma on Skype:

Rare dinos among us:

Ready for my close-up:

Is this thing on?

Still life:

Self portrait

Rosie, dreaming of freedom and child-less days

Boots

Anaya-in-motion

Adam was so proud of this one - he caught Anaya walking!!

Isn't it fun to peek into the mind of a four-year-old. Remember when life was so simple? Then you grow up and everything becomes complicated and difficult and the little things that used to be so important to you start to slip away. Things like money and bills and houses and cars and school and a job become important. I wanna go back to when dogs and dinosaurs and boots and shoes were all that mattered. How do I do that without losing everything I have right now? I guess I do it by seeing the world through Adam's eyes when I pop that memory card into my computer.

Bang Head Here

2011-04-22T12:05:00.000+09:00

Wednesday night, a guy on one of the TDY crews called Alan to see if one of his crew was on the promotion list to Major, so he could let him know before the list was released publicly. Alan didn't have the list at home, so he offered to do something nice and drive back to work to check. It's not far and the kids were in bed, so it should have been easy enough. But what always happens when you try to do something nice? Throw in the fact that he's a Dayton and it can't turn out well...

He gets to his computer and sees a weird message on the screen and a seemingly unresponsive computer, so he turns the computer off and then back on. When he turns it back on, his entire hard drive is wiped. So, he calls the Com Squadron and they tell him they were patching Widows 7 through (with no notice, on a day that was several days before when they said they were going to do it). "Well, fix it," Alan tells them. "We can't," they reply. "You'll have to call back in the morning." So, Alan comes home, disappointed that he couldn't let the guy know whether or not he was promoted.

In the morning, he calls Com, who sends some guys over. They tell him that the patch had some sort of glitch and that if there was an interruption of power during the patch, it would erase the hard drive of the computer. They knew the patch had the glitch, but went with it anyway. With no notice. So he has possibly lost years and years and years (16!) of archived data and emails and reports that he uses every single day. Had they done the patch when they said they were going to do the patch, he would have had all of his data backed up. They took his computer apart and took his hard drive to see what they might be able to recover, but it doesn't look good.

All because he tried to do something nice. That, my friends, is a true "Dayton day-to-day." It's hard to be a Dayton sometimes. If you're the praying type, say a little one for Alan.

A Day...No, Hour...At the Beach

2011-04-14T16:40:00.000+09:00

Today I decided to attempt to take all three kids to the beach. It is Spring Break here, after all, and the weather is close to perfect, so it seemed like the logical thing to do. Thankfully, my friend Amanda went with and her son Robert is Adam's best bud, so that helped. Plus, the logistics of getting everyone washed off, changed, and loaded in to the car is impossible to do alone (legally, anyway). So Amanda was our beach saviour today :-) The babies absolutely LOVED the water and immediately went right for it. In fact, they beat Adam in. They're still a little toddl-y, so walking in the sand (plus this particular beach has a pretty big incline) was a challenge. I think they enjoyed it, though...right up until the part where I had to strip them down and hose them off. Adam had fun, too, and by the end of the jaunt he was brushing up on his "going underwater" skills. It's gonna be one helluva summer :-)

Here's what happened when I tried to get a quick picture of all three:

Me Today

2011-04-10T21:49:00.000+09:00

I'm supposed to post a recent picture of myself next. I really don't have many pictures of just me. After all, my life isn't just about me anymore (I tried to fight it, but it's no use). Here is the most recent picture with me in it that there is, taken yesterday at our squadron Easter picnic:

Here's another recent one, on my Survivor Anniversary, with the cake that Adam and Alan made me :-)

Make-up, Sailors and Running

2011-04-09T20:02:00.000+09:00

I'm going to politely decline to post my pet peeves. I am 100% sure that I would offend someone. The truth is, I have a lot of pet peeves, but I tolerate them just to make life easier.

So, next on the list is a picture that is over 10 years old of me. That would make me 21. I don't think I have any digital pictures from when I was 21, so here are two scanned ones. In the first one I was probably four years old, with my first powder compact. Clearly I couldn't help myself from frequent touch-ups:

Here's another one, just because I know you'll get a laugh. Robin and I used to love to dress up in Dad's old sailor uniforms. I was probably about six because Robin looks about three:

Finally...and this one's the best...Here I am winning a race at a Hondo track meet. My favorite memory of running at Hondo meets is this one: After a meet, I was watching the video of me running the 400m dash that Mom and Dad had taken. Throughout the whole race, my Mom is saying, "Buster, I don't think she's gonna win. RUN AMY! She's not gonna catch her. AMY! RUN!! I don't know if she's gonna win..." to which my Dad replied, "Janice she knows what she's doing. She tells us all the time she knows everything." I won.

#8: What I'm Craving

2011-04-04T20:27:00.000+09:00

I'm craving a lot, to be honest. Some Mexican food, some new shoes, some of those Pillsbury Sweet Moments Brownie Bites...but I think what I'm craving the most right now is a visit with my sister. She's ~~finally~~ pregnant and I really wish I could be closer to her during this amazing time. It's just not the same over Skype. So ahead of food and shoes, I'm craving some sister time.

Fourteen Months Old!

2011-04-02T23:06:00.000+09:00

I can't believe I ever stressed about Anaya not moving. Seriously. What was I thinking? I should have savoured every single moment she didn't move. Because now? There is no savouring anything. There is no time. My time is solidly spent following Anaya and Audie around, picking up the pieces. They are like the Tasmanian Devil - sometimes they're like two little devils and sometimes they combine their powers to form one big devil. Either way, they leave severe destruction. They are both opening their eyes to the great big world and there are tiny pointer fingers flying all over the place, accompanied by a grunt that sounds like "huh?" They are such a handful right now, but there is a lot of enjoyable time, too. Their interactions with each other are always entertaining and amazing to me, and they provide plenty of laughs for all of us. Adam is a great helper, cleaning up the toys and bringing them stuff in their cribs if he gets to them before I do in the morning. I think he is realizing that very soon, he will have two constant playmates. Their mobility brings about a lot of freedom, but it also leaves plenty of opportunity for this world to seem too small for the both of them. The first video below will perfectly demonstrate how quickly things can go awry.

Anaya walks now more than she crawls. She kind of favors her right foot and does this little high step with her right foot, followed by an almost-drag of the left. She sticks her little booty out and holds her hands up, sometimes pointing in the direction she's walking. Precious. She is a much happier toddler than she was baby, but still has a really short temper. She says "Adam" and "go", makes monkey and lion sounds, and points to her feet, tongue and teeth. She can sign "more" or "all done." She also points at the computer when I say "Where's Grandma?" and starts waving at the screen as soon as she hears the sound that Skype makes when it's dialing someone. She has gotten really good at expressing what she wants, by pointing and grunting or yelling, whichever gets the job done fast enough. She loves playing in my makeup drawer, which makes me proud. She's got four teeth now and is still my best eater. She also remains Rosie's favorite because she's such a good sharer. She loves to play in her ball pit and loves to play with her tea set from Aunt Ra Ra. She also loves to push one of her walkers really fast and ram it in to stuff. She's the crazy one. I think we're slowly getting the hang of this "raising a princess" thing.

Audie still crawls most of the time, but today showed a renewed determination to walk more. He'll get up and take six or eight steps before he collapses and continues on crawling. He is still a little sweetheart, but is also becoming quite mischievous. He's quite sneaky, so sometimes it takes me a few minutes to realize he's gone...and that Adam has left the bathroom door open and the toilet seat up. There's Audie, elbow-deep in the toilet water. Or maybe I left my bathroom door open and he thought eye shadow was for eating. He's a curious little guy and we're no stranger to that around here. It's one more way he takes after his big brother, which I think is his primary goal. Audie loves Adam and just wants to be in his space. Who doesn't? I get it, Adam is a magnetic little dude. Audie eats well, but is slower than Anaya. He says "ball" and his own name and can also sign "more" and "all done," and has six teeth so far. He has a precious, innocent smile that makes you believe he didn't do it, even if there is purple eyeshadow all over his face or 150 sandwich baggies scattered across the floor. He's very serious and somber a lot of the time (see photo #2 below, where you would think he would be squealing with delight while being flown across the floor by Anaya). He also has a surprisingly short temper when it comes to anyone but Anaya. He's extremely patient with her, which is a blessing...because she is patient with no one. I guess twins are good like that.

Overall, things are just moving right along over here. We appreciate all of the concern over what happened in Sendai, and want everyone to know that we are safe for now here in Okinawa. We promise that if we were in danger, steps would be taken to get us out of here. Please don't worry. I think we are finally getting used to the drill of taking three kids places and we're actually voluntarily doing it more often. I think this summer will be fun and we have a lot to look forward to here over the next however long. It feels good to be out of that first-year tunnel - to be able to envision the future a little better, and for it to look like fun! It still looks busy, but fun.

"One Sock Audie" He never fails to lose a sock somewhere along the way...

And the Winner is...ME!!

2011-04-01T08:16:00.000+09:00

I've been struggling trying to come up with the next item on the list - a favorite photo. It's tough to pick just one! How fitting that yesterday Adam provided me with this:

Sorry, Friends! I know you were all gunning for the title. BUT I'M THE WINNER!

#6 - Aaaand...Back to Me

2011-03-28T10:15:00.001+09:00

I thought we'd talk about me again. The next item on the list is a "fun fact about me." This one is actually tough for me, which is why there has been a delay in postings. I don't know what other people would consider a "fun" fact. I'll go with this little fact and you can categorize it as you see fit. It is something that not many people know, though, so I hope you at least categorize it as "interesting."

When I was a freshman at The University of Texas, I decided to walk on the track team. Not as a runner - I knew my place there would be last - but as a long and triple jumper. I was pretty good in high school and I enjoyed it and they had a try-out, so I figured I'd give it a shot. For six weeks I worked out with the team, but never saw a jump pit. Despite my frequent request to just jump, the coach never let me. She had me running miles upon MILES with the runners (while the field event competitors were practicing their respective events). At the time, I didn't do miles upon miles. The most I ever did was a quarter mile. I did it fast, but that was it. I didn't keep going. So I was miserable. It became evident to me that they had a "try-out" because they were supposed to and she thought she had all the jumpers she needed, so she was just going to run me to death. Until I quit. So after six weeks, I walked right back off the team. And that season, I watched those jumpers. And a lot of times I could have beat them with what I jumped in high school. Her loss.

Truthfully, though, I never looked back. I got a job that I loved and kept that job for the next seven years, which I would not have been able to do with being on the track team. And I had a lot of fun ;-)

Change

2011-03-26T00:02:00.000+09:00

"You must be the change you wish to be in the world." -Mahatma Gandhi

This has always been a favorite of mine. I think it is always relevant and is applicable in nearly every aspect of life. Parenting, friendship, professional life, marriage...I think that if you don't like the way things are, you have all the skills and tools to change them. You just have to apply those tools to gain the power to make the changes. Whether it's political, legal, work-related or just amongst friends. You start by setting the example. You be the change. Others will follow because we are a flock. It's inherent to us. Contrary to popular belief, you actually can make a difference.

As you all know, I recently decided to take on the daunting task of organizing a 5K here to coincide with the Susan G. Komen Global Race for the Cure. Well, today I got an email from the Race organization with this quote, which is a new favorite:

"How wonderful it is that no one need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world" -Anne Frank

What are we waiting for, anyway? Let's get going.

Goodnight Moon?

2011-03-24T21:34:00.000+09:00

The next item on the list is a favorite book. I'm guessing I'm not supposed to say Guess How Much I Love You or Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Twins or Dinosaurumpus, so I don't know what to do here. Really, I don't have much time for reading books I actually choose. A friend gave me a few books she had finished like three months ago (or more?) and I have yet to even open the cover. The most recent book I read was The Help, by Kathryn Stockett, and I absolutely loved it. But that was like six months ago. It was funny and sad and relative to me and it made me appreciate Karina even more. But it isn't necessarily my "favorite" book. I don't really have a favorite book. I have a favorite author - James Patterson. I love a good whodunit and I really like his Alex Cross series, as well as his Women's Murder Club series. Also, I have always thought I would enjoy working as a forensic scientist. I know it could be really depressing and traumatic work, but once I got used to it, I think it would be really, really interesting. If I ever went back to work, that is what I think I would want to try and do. Except I want all of my work to be as interesting and important and dramatic as the cases in the Patterson books. And maybe Morgan Freeman could be a detective I work with. Bonus!

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#3

2011-03-22T20:11:00.000+09:00

I know it's been a few days, but let's pretend I didn't miss any days and that it really is Day #3, OK? So...a favorite TV show...hm...I'm admittedly out-of-the-loop when it comes to TV. Since we don't get it live here, and really don't even see the previews to hook us on to a show, it's tough. Plus, with the kids...I really only watch like three regular shows on Apple TV. Grey's Anatomy, The Office, and The Biggest Loser. I love Grey's for the drama and the totally believable and realistic personal and medical situations. OK, just the drama. I love The Office for a good laugh. Could you even imagine working for Michael Scott? I'm not sure how Jim & Pam remain fairly normal. I'd have gone crazy a looooong time ago.

Then there's The Biggest Loser. I love it for the transformations it yields. I hate that it's become such a "game" and that there have been a few bad apples the last few seasons. I think they need to figure out how to get back to what they originally started trying to do - get people to lose weight. Gaming aside, the show really does do amazing things. It is not uncommon for me to cry during The Biggest Loser. I just cannot imagine losing control of my life like that, and then the feeling they must get when regaining control is within reach and the responsibility that comes with that control. They are completely overwhelmed. I also love when Allison counts them down to go for a challenge and she drops her hand, like it's a drag race. Like she can't just say "GO!", she has to give them the sign, even if they're standing right next to her. Cracks me up every time.

In honor of The Biggest Loser, here's a picture of me, when I could have been a contestant:

If any of you actually scrolled down, excited that you were going to see a picture of me morbidly obese, then you are no longer allowed to read my stories. Haters. Truthfully, though, karma is going to get me for eating ice cream while I watch my favorite show :-)

Who is the Weak One?

2011-03-20T10:58:00.003+09:00

Four years ago, Alan and I sat in my doctor's office, waiting for her to come in. About a month before that, I had gone in for a visit because I felt a lump in my right breast. I was still breast-feeding a then-six-month-old Adam, so it was tough for them to tell anything. They asked if I would feel comfortable stopping the breastfeeding so they could get a better image. So I went back two weeks later and the lump was gone - determined to be a clogged milk duct. Two weeks after that, I felt another lump. This time on the left. A lump that made my heart stop for a beat.  So back I went. My doctor saw me, hesitantly, noting that my chart was marked "paranoid" (this wasn't the first time I'd been in for a lump...or second...or eighth). As she got ready to examine me, she said, "You know it's not cancer. Cancer's so far down on the list." Nevertheless, she thought it was something, so she ordered an ultrasound.  At the ultrasound, the radiologist thought it was something, so he ordered a biopsy. I had the biopsy done and was told my doctor would call me to talk about the results.

Tuesday morning, March 20, 2007, I got a call from General Surgery. They wanted to know when I would like to come in and speak with the surgeon. "For what?" I replied. "Oh. (pause)  Has your doctor not called you?" "No. Is this about the biopsy? What's going on?" "Ma'am, we're going to need to schedule you for a consultation with the surgeon. Your doctor should be calling you soon to give you more information." WHAT?!?  Big oops going on here. But I wasn't getting anything out of this girl, so I scheduled the appointment and hung up.  Thirty seconds later, my doctor calls and needs to schedule an appointment ASAP.  So Alan met me there later that day and here's how it went:

My doctor walked in to the room, sat down on her little spin-y stool, and said, "Well, it's not good. It's cancer." I know she said some other stuff after that, but she lost me at "cancer." All I could think about was what she said to me when she examined me. How totally wrong she had been.  Not a little wrong. Totally.  I remember she seemed to know absolutely nothing and was no help to us in answering any of the immediate questions we had. She left me with a piece of paper that she had printed out after no doubt Google-ing "breast cancer". I was so disappointed. And scared. But oddly enough, not totally shocked.

I had always felt some sort of special connection to my Nanny (my Dad's Mom). She was girly and liked Estee Lauder lipstick and shopping - so that connection was obvious, but that wasn't it. My Nanny was a breast cancer survivor and a recurrence of the disease is what ultimately took her from us.  That was it. There was something about her battle with that disease that felt incredibly personal to me. I knew I would fight that battle. I know it sounds weird and creepy and scary, but I just knew. I just didn't know I would be so young when I fought. So my shock at being diagnosed was more because of my age. Only about 5% of all breast cancers occur in women under the age of 40. How special am I, right?

Over the next three weeks I had two surgeries to remove the lump. Then, over the next three months I had four rounds of chemotherapy. And over the next 7 weeks, I had daily radiation treatments. By the end of October, I was finished with the intensive treatment.

Cancer did a lot of ugly things to me. It made me sick. It made me bald. It made me skinny. It made me scared. It stole my innocence. It made me look weak. But you know what? Cancer did a lot of good things to me, too. Cancer really is so limited. I might even say that Cancer is the one who is weak. It made me realize that I might have looked weak, but I was STRONG. It made me savour my loves, friendships, hopes, and memories. It did not conquer my spirit or my Faith. In fact, it restored my Faith to a new level. It did not shatter my dreams. It made me realize that bald is beautiful...and that summer, I really enjoyed not having to shave my legs or armpits! It made me thankful for Adam, since we might not be able to have any more children. It made me thankful for Alan and how strong and dependable and loving he is.  It made me skinny (because while this was considered a "negative" side effect, let's be honest...). It gave me Anaya and Audie. This one's a long story about the pain I have endured as a result of the chemo, which I ultimately believe resulted in twins...Or, maybe cancer was God's test for me and He found out I was tough enough for twins.  Sort of his way of saying, "Okay, now if you thought that was tough..." Amazing. If I had to have cancer to get everything I have today, then I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Four years. Just like that.

The day Alan took Command of Rebeleven...Also the day my hair fell out

Alan and me after shaving our heads that night

Pennie's wedding...in a wig

High School Reunion...in a wig

My last chemo treatment!

2007 Race for the Cure, which Mom and Robin came and surprised me for

My 2007 RFTC Team - the Commandant of Cadets ran with me, along with a few of Rebeleven's cadets and some great friends

2008 RFTC, where I finished THIRD among Survivors! Those are a bunch of Alan's cadets running with me.

2008 RFTC Team - what a difference a year makes! About 100 cadets also volunteered on race day.

2009 RFTC in Omaha (while pregnant with the twins)

I missed the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in 2010, which broke my heart. Komen had a direct influence on my cancer treatment and I appreciate this organization. So, I couldn't sit idly by in 2011. I have started a team for the 2011 Global Race for the Cure, June 4th. Although we can't get to Washington, D.C. for the race, we are going to run it here in Oki. So, feel free to be a part of our Warriors on the Rock team. Donate if you can. You can also register and be a part of my team! And on June 4th, put your shirt on and go out in your town and run a 5K. I would be honored to have you.

I'm participating in the 2011 Susan G. Komen Global Race for the Cure. Feel free to join me or donate by clicking here.

A warm place with no memory

2011-03-17T10:46:00.000+09:00

Day two is for a favorite movie. My favorite movie is Shawshank Redemption. I absolutely love pretty much anything with Morgan Freeman and this is just a damn good movie. I also happen to love Stephen King, messed up as he is, so this is just the jackpot for me! My favorite quote is from the end, when Red says, "Andy Dufresne - who crawled through a river of shit and came out clean on the other side." Although a few other favorites are when Andy asks Red, "What about you? What are you in here for?" And Red says, "Murder, same as you." Andy asks, "Innocent?" and Red replies, "Only guilty man in Shawshank." And then, when Red tells off the parole committee when they ask him if he's rehabilitated. He's awesome. The whole movie's awesome. If I were Andy, I would also want to live the rest of my life in a warm place with no memory. But, as my life hasn't been quite as difficult as Andy's, I'll keep my memories.

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HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!

Payback

2011-03-16T17:45:00.000+09:00

For lack of inspiration or motivation or because I have a cold, I'm borrowing an idea from my best girl, Teach, who borrowed it from her friend who borrowed it...I forget...Anyway, it's a list and everyday you post something about yourself. Now, considering the twins are WALKING now, I highly doubt you'll get a little treasure from me every day. Especially since the babies have just now spilled their snack and Anaya is fighting Rosie for what's on the floor. Rosie has not yet learned that Anaya always wins. Okay, so the list. Here it is:

Day 01 — A favorite song
Day 02 — A favorite movie  
Day 03 — A favorite TV show 
Day 04 — A favorite book
Day 05 — A favorite quote  
Day 06 — A fun fact about me 
Day 07 — A favorite photo 
Day 08 — Something I crave  
Day 09 — Pet peeves 
Day 10 — A photo of me taken over ten years ago  
Day 11 — A photo of me taken recently  
Day 12 — Something I bought recently  
Day 13 — Something I want to buy 
Day 14 — An old photo  
Day 15 — My celebrity crush  
Day 16 — A favorite food 
Day 17 — A photo of my family 
Day 18 — A baby photo 
Day 19 — A fun memory  
Day 20 — A hobby of mine 
Day 21 — A favorite recipe  
Day 22 — A favorite joke 
Day 23 — A video  
Day 24 — A travel story  
Day 25 — A favorite photo 
Day 26 — A funny (true) story 
Day 27 — A child I love 
Day 28 — A place I love  
Day 29 — A person I love  
Day 30 — Hopes, dreams and plans for the next 365 days

I'm going to start with numero uno: A favorite song. I have a lot of all-time favorites, like Goo Goo Dolls - Iris, Jessica Simpson's version of Angels, Etta James - At Last, The Black Crowes - She Talks to Angels, SHeDAISY - Lucky 4 You (Viva #23!)...But right now, I'm really loving that Brad Paisley song, Anything Like Me. It's about finding out he and his wife are having a boy and he imagines getting payback if the boy is anything like himself. I think it's scary looking into Anaya's eyes and seeing a reflection of myself. I like to kid and say she's a lot like my sister, but who are we kidding? Apples don't fall far, right? I think the song also makes me think of the boys being just like Alan, based on stories he's told me. I want Cathey and Bill to know that I cannot get Adam to stop hanging on the towel bar in the bathroom ;-)

How Thoughtful!

2011-03-13T21:25:00.000+09:00

The other day, Adam was eating his lunch, drinking milk out of a cup Alan had brought him back from Okinawa when he was here TDY, before we moved here. After lunch, he told Alan, "Daddy, thank you for bringing me this cup. Since you brought me that, I'm going to give you something I don't want anymore." He disappeared to his room and reappeared a few minutes later, holding a tin, car-shaped box, painted like Dale Jr's old #8 car. This was ironic because that was something Alan didn't want anymore when Jr's number changed (what a nightmare...but that's another story), so he gave it to Adam. So here he was giving it back! Only, it was filled with flashcards that were for learning to read. Adam told Alan, "You can have these cards to use, since I already know how to read." How thoughtful! I had been thinking Alan needed to brush up on words like "stove" and "umbrella." ;-)

To brag on Adam for a minute, he totally can read! In fact, I put him to work most evenings, reading bedtime books to the babies. And, often, he reads his own bedtime books as well. Last night we played this SpongeBob Cranium game that's for ages 7+ and he read all of his own cards! He's doing amazing and we're so proud of him. What a little smartie...that's why I don't question his fashion sense. When you're raising a prodigy, you have to just trust them and let them shine. If he wants to be Sheriff Santa Woody the Waiter, who am I to stifle that creativity?

Leveling Off

2011-03-02T15:08:00.002+09:00

The twins are thirteen months old today! The last month has been full of so many laughs and having two is really starting to get fun. Everyone seems to be dealing with the fact that this is life - like it or not - and trying to make the best of it. We have at least as many good times as bad, which was not always the case in the past. I think it probably has a lot to do with our ability to laugh at situations, though. The fact that there are two of them working against two of us seems to not be a fact at all. It seems that there are four of them working against two of us - plus Adam, so like six, really. This month the focus seems to be on walking. The race is on to see who can do it first. They are both standing without any help and seem to have contests to see who can stand the longest. Audie seems to be ahead in the balance department, but I think Anaya has an edge in her willingness to try. She's the daredevil of the two, so I think she's more likely to give it a shot. I guess we'll have to wait and see!

Another thing that has increased dramatically this month - fighting. People think, "With two, you have built-in playmates, that must be great!" Yeah...half the time. The other half, we have built-in "I'm tired of this same ole' playmate" fights. In the past, it's been Audie who is more guilty of picking on Anaya than the reverse - and he still does his share of button-pushing. However, Anaya now takes the cake for being the Picking-on Queen. Poor Audie gets poked, prodded, and pinched constantly. Ears, eyes, hair, nose, you name it - if it sticks out, it's fair game. And his pacifier doesn't stand a chance - she steals it first chance she gets, even if she already has hers. All the while, looking at me, grinning, as if she's unaware of what her hands are doing. "Who me?" While we're on the subject of Anaya - It is really becoming obvious that God broke the mold on this one. She is truly one-in-a-million. She loves to dance and talk. She said her first word this month - "Adam." She can sign that she's "all done" and wave bye-bye and clap and tell us how big she is. Her sweet smile is her biggest weapon and that one top tooth poking down only adds to the ammunition. She's precious, right down to her little toe, and getting a snuggle out of her is a little piece of heaven. She's easy on the eyes, for sure. But...She kicks and screams when you try to change her or dress her or fix her hair, or get too close or walk away, or tell her "no"...or just whenever she feels like it. She finishes every meal covered in it, but is my best eater - my little Miss Piggy. She splashes every last drop of water out of the tub. She looks me in the eye while she knowingly disobeys. She is high-maintenance, demanding and unwavering in her desires. She is such a mess, it's scary. And to think, one day she'll drive. Oh, good Lord.

Then, there's Audie. Audie has these giant, dark-as-the-night puppy dog eyes that never let you believe he's guilty of anything. He's got mad-fast crawling skills and is, without a doubt, the more playful of the two. BREAKING NEWS!! THIS JUST IN: HE JUST TOOK TWO STEPS!! Does it feel like you were there?? Seriously!! Just happened!! Back to the regularly scheduled program... He's sweet and cuddly almost always, but the boy isn't afraid to get his fit on either. He'll definitely let you know when he's not happy. He's generally a pretty good sport about his sister needing so much attention, which is quite gentlemanly of him. He also said his first word recently - "ball." As far as he's concerned, everything is a ball right now. He loves playing and wrestling with Adam and Daddy and can't wait to be able to keep up with them. I think he really looks up to Adam and admires him so much. Just yesterday, Adam was reading Audie a book about animals and was pointing and naming all the animals. When Adam left, Audie grabbed the book and started imitating what Adam was doing. Now if we could only instill that whole "lead by example" thing in Adam, we'd be golden. To contrast Audie's playfulness, he's also pensive and analytical and extremely curious about everything from the toilet to the surround sound system. He loves to have fun and laugh and joke. He loves life - except when life hands him five teeth at once. He doesn't eat as much as Anaya does, but he eats more than Adam so I think we're still doing alright. He really takes after Adam in the sense that he's our little sweetheart and is such a ham, and that is a good thing.

Here is a mini-scrapbook from this month:

Seriously? One of my favorites:

Vogue

Ta-da!

Gettin' jiggy wit it...not really, just standing there, but it looks like he's dancing

Anaya trying to shut Audie in the closet (pay no mind to the closet - I know exactly where everything is)

Anaya stealing another ball from Audie:

Playing nice for a bit - Audie teaching Anaya that everything is a "ball":

Thirteen months down, about 215 to go...but who's counting? Buckle up!

Big Buddha Day!

2011-03-01T20:33:00.001+09:00

The next day, we took a day tour to see Tsing Ma Bridge, Tai O Village, The big Buddha at Po Lin Monastary and ride a cable car. As I said before, Michelle has a little conspiracy theory. So when a "company photographer" boarded the bus, she was suspicious. Our first stop was the Tsing Ma Bridge. According to the brochure, this is the longest suspension road/rail bridge in the world, at 1,377 meters. The upper deck has three lanes heading each direction and the lower deck has two tracks of railway and two emergency lanes so that the bridge may stay open during typhoon conditions. It really is pretty amazing. Here are some pictures:

Now, while we were here at the viewing platform, the "photographer" was doing us all a bunch of "favors" by snapping pictures for us. I asked Michelle to take my picture and as I was smiling and she was just about to snap the picture, she was suddenly elbowed out of the way by the "photographer," who was screaming at me, "Ma'am! Right here! Ma'am!" It was really quite hilarious - especially since, according to Michelle's Chinese birth year animal (the monkey), she is "more famous than most," not me. I was wondering what the hell was happening and Michelle was checking herself for bruises...and I guess he snapped a picture somewhere in there. We boarded the bus to head across the bridge, to the fishing village. Fast forward to the end of the day: When we got back on the bus to head back to the hotel, we all had a little souvenir to purchase:

I love that I'm nearly laughing. You bet your ass I bought that plate. Priceless.

Next stop: Tai O Village. This is a rare example of a Chinese stilt-house community. The people here have built their homes on stilts above the water because they do not feel safe on land. That's not the only reason I'd call 'em crazy. Here are a few pictures:

In case you haven't thought that far - there is no plumbing in these houses. Apparently, there is sometimes a waste pipe that goes straight down into the water. That makes me pretty confident that I would never use that ladder...or buy fish from this guy:

We went in a temple here and I saw this warrior:

The tour guide insisted this was not an obscene gesture. I don't know - it looks pretty obscene to me. I wouldn't be messing with that guy.

You could also buy dehydrated fish here in the village. They do this to the fish so that they keep longer. Then, they just rehydrate it and cook with it. Maybe you'd like some dehydrated squid to take home?

Maybe not.

FINALLY, we get to Po Lin Monastery - home of the biggest Buddha I have ever seen. The Buddha is about 80 feet tall and, with the base, over 100 feet tall. The visibility was really poor, unfortunately, but you get the idea:

After seeing the Buddha and hearing about the development of Buddhism, we went down to the actual monastery:

"Maybe you'd like to take a swing?" the tour guide asked...Why yes! I would love to!

The tour included lunch in the V.I.P. dining room where the monks dine. Shockingly enough, dogs weren't allowed in. It was a vegan meal, which I was skeptical of. No meat? Not even bacon? It was actually delicious! Which was great, since it was Michelle's last meal.

The final adventure of the day was a ride back down the mountain, about 5.7 km, in a gondola (which is why Michelle thought she was having her final meal). This cable car ride was quite possibly one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. It would have been so amazing if the day was a clear one. Just gorgeous. The most disappointing part, though, was the end, when we were over the water and the water was filthy with trash of all sorts. Coming from Okinawa, where cleanliness is a must...Hong Kong was not on the same page there. Here are a couple of views from the gondola:

What a day! We rested for a bit in the room and hit the Ladies' Market a little later. That's a whole 'nother story, though, so it'll have to wait!

Day 2 - Hong Kong

2011-02-22T20:49:00.000+09:00

The next day we set out to SHOP, of course. But to get to the mall we wanted to hit, we had to take a ferry across Hong Kong Harbour. So we followed our leaders for the day to the subway station to buy an Octopus card, which we could use on pretty much all forms of public transportation. Then, we walked to the pier. Along the way, we were bombarded by Middle Eastern men trying to sell us "copy handbag, copy watch." Seriously, they would literally push through the throngs of Chinese people to get to us because they just knew we wanted to buy their crap. Alas, they were wrong. We also passed the world-famous Peninsula Hotel:

As we waited in line to board the ferry, a seemingly nice, older British woman warned us to "watch yur bags." On second thought, she seemed a little sketchy and we figured we'd better watch her. But we thanked her for her advice. Here we are not watching our bags:

Here is a view of the harbour. Yep, that's smog. Doesn't it just make you want to take a deep breath?

This harbour is a popular cruise port and every day we saw a different ocean liner:

We arrived on the other side and did some serious shopping, of all sorts. Here I am doing a little window-shopping, which was all we could do sometimes because, let's be honest, the military isn't setting any records with it's pay charts:

We did plenty of bankruptcy shopping, as well, but there was no time for pictures during all the trying-on of shoes and jeans and clothing. My favorite line from the day: "You a 26 up here," spoken to a friend by the sales woman at Seven for All Mankind (who proclaims she is "never wrong"), while indicating her neck and face region, after being wrong about my friend's size. We had lunch on the rooftop of the mall and continued to shop til we dropped that day. I think I ended up with Nine West suede peep-toe booties (that were nearly free, I might add), two pairs of Sevens (I heart Dojo), a sleeveless trench, a denim jacket, a blouse, some kids clothes and a Superman costume - all from H&M, a dress from Zara and...I think that's it! All in all, I'd say we had a very productive day. We ordered Chinese food in the room and crashed.

Hong Kong!

2011-02-21T06:05:00.000+09:00

Last week, I had the great opportunity to spend a few days in Hong Kong. Six other women and I took off on Wednesday and returned on Sunday. It's no secret that we have to watch ourselves in China, and being military spouses, we knew we had to be very careful and very aware at all times. You always have to wonder if Big Brother is watching. And if you're rooming with Michelle, you really start to believe (no matter how badly you don't want to) that the second smoke-detector is, in fact, a decoy and is the bug. She'll freak you out like that. This would be a really long post, so I'm going to break it up a little. Here is a little summary of Day 1 of our adventure.

Wednesday afternoon, we arrived at the Naha airport early, only to find that our flight was delayed. We quickly all agreed that we weren't going home until Sunday, no matter what happened. About an hour late, our flight departed and two-and-a-half hours later, we landed in Hong Kong. Here are some of the girls, upon arriving:

This was Alan, the guy who showed us to our bus. When I told him that my husband's name was also Alan, he just waved me off. Either he didn't understand me, or - more likely - he already knew what my husband's name was and wasn't impressed with my useless info. That's right, Alan. I'm on to you. You aren't getting any national secrets out of me.

The first night, we walked to a little restaurant row not too far from our hotel, and had dinner at a quaint little Italian place:

And paid a quaint little Italian bill:

That's about $420 USD. But when you're paying with Monopoly money, it's basically FREE! After that, we called it a night...once we figured out how to turn out the lights.

Sarah's Home

2011-02-17T08:42:00.000+09:00

I feel obligated to let you all know that Sarah Chidgey Hughes has gone home. Please say a prayer for her family and everyone who was touched by her life, and give thanks that she may now rest peacefully with Him.

Let Go

2011-02-14T17:57:00.000+09:00

I know you're all looking for great photos and details from my little jaunt to Hong Kong. And I promise, that's coming. But today, upon receiving sad, sad news, I thought it seemed insensitive to write a post about all my shopping and eating and drinking and fun-having. The best friend of my sister's sister-in-law, Sarah, is a person I never had the pleasure to meet, yet consider a friend somehow. Sarah has been fighting an impossible battle against cancer for the past about six months. Recently, her condition has become much worse and she has now stopped cancer treatment and has transitioned to Hospice care. As you know, it's just a matter of time... Sweet Sarah, you have been such an inspiration in your grace and faith and peace. I can only imagine what an amazing angel you will make for Him. You have shined bright, firefly.

I ask you today for prayers - not for her recovery, because she has accepted that she is beyond that - but for a smooth transition. Pray for her peace and pray for her family and friends, who will struggle to fill the void that she leaves. Just pray.

If you would like to know her a little bit:

http://sarahchidgey.blogspot.com/

Helium

2011-02-08T09:09:00.000+09:00

The babies got some balloons for their birthday party and the next day, Adam was asking about how they float. Daddy told him they were filled with helium and that Mommy could teach him about helium. I told him helium was a gas, kind of like the oxygen that he breathes, and that you can't see it or feel it. Then I told him that I didn't think you could smell it either. He replied, "Well, I can smell mine." Dad asked, "You can smell your gas?" Adam replied, "Yep." Nice.

While he still provides plenty of laughs, lately he's been making us pretty proud too (not to mention making us feel a tiny bit better about the yen rate being so crappy that it costs us an arm and a leg to send him to Montessori preschool). Here he is doing some double-digit math, which we were impressed with. Brains and a sense of humor? I have a feeling our days are numbered ;-)

Ichi!

2011-02-03T09:38:00.001+09:00

This day unleashes so many emotions in me - excitement, happiness, relief, even a little sadness and fear (because, let's face it, now I've been through a year and I know how hard it is, so I'm scared of the next 18+). I remember this day a year ago, like it was yesterday. I remember being relieved that my doctor was going to deliver the babies. I remember being scared that Alan wasn't going to make it in time, then so overcome with emotion when he did. I remember feeling so violated, with 20 people in the delivery room, but then feeling so special because they all wanted to be a part of delivering two babies. I remember feeling so excited when I heard "it's a girl" and so proud when I heard "it's a boy" (because I do love being right). I remember the pride in Alan's face as he held each one, showing them, introducing them to me. I remember thinking of my Mom, waiting in the recovery room, and how excited she was going to be to meet them both. I remember thinking of Adam, and praying that he was going to be okay with the names we had chosen (because they weren't the names he had picked). I remember feeding them for the first time. I remember our first night together. I remember Adam meeting them and holding them and being so excited, but at the same time looking so confused and scared of what this all meant. I remember it all, like it was yesterday...but it wasn't yesterday...

"Ichi" means "one" in Japanese. As in THE TWINS ARE ONE YEAR OLD!!! OMG. Seriously?? Yes, seriously. I can't really believe it myself, but they certainly are. This year has been such a roller coaster. It is such a relief to have made it through this first year, all in-tact, milestones met, alive...because, if I'm being honest, it was kinda touch-and-go there for a while at the beginning. I really thought something was going to have to give. But somehow we all survived. It wasn't always easy and it was hardly ever pretty, but WE DID IT!

Anaya

Miss Thing. 'Nya Girl. As my friend, Michelle, says, "You've gotta cut the mustard with her." She has remained consistent this year in that you have to earn her love. She'll stare, emotionless, sizing you up, judging you, while you put on your best show to impress her. Then she'll get back to you when she's ready with her decision. She's a tough crowd, I'm not gonna lie. But once you get a smile out of her, you forget all about how hard you had to work to get it. She's precious and crazy and my little hot-mess. She knows exactly how to perform the perfect frowny cry to let you know you've hurt her feelings. And she knows exactly how to make her brother look like the guilty one, whether he is or not. Like here - I happen to know that all he did was crawl by her:

She likes to kick and flip and hang upside down. She's going to be the daredevil, I think. She has us all wrapped around her finger. She's crawling now, of course. And with that came pulling up and cruising. She hasn't yet mastered letting herself down once she's pulled up. She currently prefers the "scream and wait" method. She loves strawberries, bananas, peaches, oranges, ravioli, lasagna, hot dog and quesadilla. She also loves bath time, playing with Rosie, and chasing her brother around. When she really loves something, she'll bat her eyes at it, like this:

She is one-of-a-kind and she definitely keeps us on our toes. I can only imagine what life with Anaya is going to be like...and it scares me a li'l bit.

Audie

Audie is completely opposite of Anaya in the consistency department. It's surprising he isn't a Gemini, like Mom (I'm not buying into the whole "sign change" thing - I think I'm grand-fathered). He's mostly sweet and cuddly and warm, like a puppy dog. And he's generally game for anything and anyone. He's quite the ladies' man and likes to flirt, which is so much like Adam was. He leads Anaya in chase, laughing all throughout the house. But then, he crawls toward a door that was accidentally left open, or the fridge when it's open, and we pull it shut as he nears it...total meltdown, complete with throwing himself on the floor, kicking and screaming. He's becoming quite dramatic. And he has this little fake cry he does right now, where he just squints his eyes and opens his mouth, displaying his one tooth, and yell/cries. He's crawling fast and cruising like a pro now, even letting go every once in a while, balancing there for a bit. He's ambitious and I think he'll be walking soon. Audie likes to wake up about 15 minutes before his sister and steal some "Mommy time", which I'm okay with. He has a sweet smile and is definitely passionate about life. He generally loves everything we feed him, but when we offer him something he doesn't love, he vehemently declines, as if we've offended him by even offering it. He can hold up one finger when you ask him how old he is, like this:

He can hold up two arms, when you ask him how big he is, like this:

And, one of his favorite things to do: steal toys from his sister, like this (never mind that it's a dog toy):

He does a few signs, like "all done" and "more". He's my little sweetheart. I think life with Audie is going to be pretty fun...but also pretty messy.

WE DID IT!! Now, it's supposed to get easier, right? Maybe we can fool ourselves into believing that. We'll keep you posted and let you know when it's easy.

There's a cake-eating video to come...

A Perfect Example

2011-01-30T08:33:00.001+09:00

This is really an addendum to my previous post, And The Rockets' Red Glare

Last Friday I came across this picture in the Stripes Okinawa. There was no accompanying article, but then again, I don't really think there needs to be. You know how a picture is worth a thousand words? Sometimes it's actually true.

It's All Over, But The Crying...

2011-01-23T19:57:00.002+09:00

...by me, that is. 'Cause Anaya is CRAWLING!! Just today she started moving along and there is no stopping her now! She crawled down the hall to take a bath, crawled into the kitchen to get in the cabinets - wherever she wanted to go! Granted, she does it a little unconventionally, of course. What princess doesn't do it her own way? She keeps one foot on the floor, with the knee up, kind of dragging it along. She really is on to something - why get both knees dirty, when you don't have to? Now that they are both on the move, I think we are in serious trouble. Together they have destroyed books and magazines, opened cabinets (she gets it open and he moves in) and yanked out cookbooks, lunchboxes, snacks, plates and whatever else they can get their hands on. I give the vertical blinds two days. Maybe. Seriously, don't come to my house. It's a mess. It's going to be deemed a "Disaster Zone" very soon and Ms Karina is going to quit. But really - Yea! I do think this is going to make her a much happier little girl. And what a relief that will be!

Top 5

2011-01-18T10:03:00.000+09:00

I totally meant to do this on New Year's Eve, but you know... Here is a list of the "top 5" phrases (along with my response, or maybe the response I really wanted to say) that I heard in 2010. There's a theme:

5. When I was still pregnant, obviously: "I don't know how you're still getting around" (Well, if I had a choice, I wouldn't be doing anything! Besides, way fatter people than me do it all the time. Do you say that to them?)

4. "That's perfect! You got your boy and girl, and now you're done!" (I'm sorry, did you happen to notice the other child standing here? We like him too and also think he's pretty perfect.)

3. "I want/always wanted twins!" (Well, we feel blessed. But be careful what you wish for, because it's a lot of work and you don't look like the kind of person who's willing to work as hard as this requires.)

2. "Are they twins?" (Yes. What did you think? *I get it when the kids are older and it's harder to tell if there is an age difference, especially with different sexes, but as babies. Really?*)

1. "I don't know how you do it." (Thank you. I don't know how I do it either, but caffeine and concealer help! Also, I try really hard to pull it together decently in public. You wouldn't make that comment if you saw us at home.)

Needless to say, all of our lives have revolved around the two miniature people all year long. With them becoming more independent, it's nice to get back to being able to give Adam more of the focus he deserves. Because the #6 phrase would probably be, "How old is he?", usually asked while he's throwing a fit in public. It's been a tough year on Adam and I hope this next year is a little more fun for him. Since they're sleeping through the night now, allowing me to sleep through the night, it's bound to be a little easier on everyone! When Mama's happy...

And The Rockets' Red Glare

2011-01-10T21:09:00.001+09:00

One day a couple of weeks ago, Alan came home a bit early from work so that I could go to the commissary. I didn't know what time it was, exactly, but I knew I needed to hurry so I could still get home in time to make dinner. As I pulled up, parked and got out of the car, I heard the music...and then I knew exactly what time it was. It had to be 5:00 because the Japanese National Anthem was being played for the entire base to hear, and it would be followed by the Star Spangled Banner. Now, on military installations, when the Anthem plays every day, we stop whatever we're doing - walking, driving, jogging, whatever - and we respect the flag, the country, each other, for just a few minutes. Granted, if we don't happen to hear the music, we don't run outside at 5:00 and do it anyway. Well, some may, I guess, but for me, I don't hear it every day. So I stood next to my car and waited for the drum roll, then placed my hand over my heart. There are a couple of songs that, no matter how many times I hear them, move me to tears: Amazing Grace, At Last (you know why if you were at my wedding), He Stopped Loving Her Today, Tears in Heaven, probably a few others, and the Star Spangled Banner. So there, in the commissary parking lot, I was brought to tears by the National Anthem that day, as I am every time. (Side note: This is really getting to be a problem because it is played at every promotion, change of command, and official function we go to and it's a little embarrassing to cry in public.) As the song ended, I turned toward the store to walk in, and that's when it really hit me - I saw the mass of people who were either also getting out of their car or were exiting the stores, and had stopped to pay respect to the flag, the country, each other...and it looked amazing. It brought a sense of hope during quite a big crisis that was going on at that time in this part of the world. Here we were, all here together, paying a few minutes of respect to our country. The country we each serve, in one way or another, every single day. And every one of those people could have kept going about their business. I mean, you're supposed to stop, but I doubt you'll get a ticket for not stopping. You would look like a jerk around here, though, I'll tell you that. I didn't see a single person moving around while the music was playing. We all stopped. For two minutes, we all had the same purpose and that felt pretty powerful to know. I think it's pretty awesome that one song can mean so much to so many people and playing the Star Spangled Banner every day is a military tradition that I am proud of. I think all communities throughout our country could stand to take a page from the military handbook and pay a little respect to the flag every day. Maybe if we were all reminded daily of what we're all fighting for and standing for, then things like the recent massacre in Arizona would never happen. At the end of the day, don't we all really have the same goals? I don't know...just a thought.

So, then, on Saturday morning, we sat down to watch the Cotton Bowl - Alan, Adam and I. Of course, they played the National Anthem and, of course, I started to tear up. The kicker: Adam began singing along to the music. Really singing, trying his best to hit all the notes. Forget it, I totally lost it. I was so incredibly proud of him for recognizing the song and recognizing the respect the song required - he actually told Alan and me to put our hands over our hearts. I know that raising him in an environment that respects our country will teach him to respect it and its values and I am proud to be raising our children as Air Force brats. They're the best kind of brats there are ;-)

Light at the End of the Tunnel

2011-01-03T13:27:00.001+09:00

This part is from Alan - I thought you would enjoy his perspective:

Is it possible that looking at Audie makes me so proud my chest swells at the same time looking at Anaya takes my breath away? Our twins are 11 months today and we took them to the aquarium for the day. Anaya looks at the world with so much wonder and we find her making expressions at first sights that make you laugh for days. Audie will be seriously considering the inner workings of a toy one moment and launching into utter excitement toward his brother Adam the next. Anaya can’t move yet…she lets the world come to her and enjoys the attention. Audie moves like no other and takes the world on one bump or fall at a time. Amy and I believe holding them at the same time brings us super powers as parents and I melt as they both look at me like “what next?” I can honestly say…I have no idea, but I look forward to the journey. Having three kids is tough and Amy is in the trenches far more than I am. For that and more than I could write here, I love her like nothing else. Today at the aquarium and Amy and I were both holding the twins as they excitedly looked at a nine foot wall full of colorful fish while Adam stood in front telling everyone in ear shot that sharks have sharp teeth. . . I didn’t want to be anywhere else. Five minutes later, Adam was melting down because he had seen these fish before, Amy was chasing him, I had Anaya in one arm and Audie was in the stroller wondering what happened. . .I still didn’t want to be anywhere else. Happy 11 months Anaya and Audie, you have rocked our world and we love you.

Here's my part:

Anaya

Still not crawling. Still. Not. Crawling. However, she is scooting on her bottom now. We'll sit her down somewhere and she'll end up five feet from where we put her. So, technically, she is moving, just not crawling. To make matters worse, she seems to be getting more and more frustrated with the fact that she isn't moving, so she's cranky a lot. The hardest part for me is that I know she could do it if she just tried, but she's not patient enough to really try. She is more animated now, though, as Alan mentioned, and that is super-cute. She loves to dance when she hears music and she loves to "roar" with her brothers. She is also talking more and more and so I'm having nightmares about how I'll just be a mute once they're all speaking - I won't be able to get a word in! Anaya is also learning to be quite the drama queen when her brothers so much as brush against her, screaming as though they pulled off a fingernail. Of course, I come running to pick her up and she gives them her best "I win" smirk. Then, there was the time the other day, while she was sitting in my lap, that Audie crawled over and pulled up on my legs and she kicked him, causing him to fall down. No one ever accused her of being fair. She may get picked on by her brother, but she deals it right back. She is finally back on-track after the long trip, and is now sleeping thru the night! I am loving the last few nights' sleep I've gotten, but am treading cautiously and not counting my chickens yet. Her favorite foods are string cheese, grilled cheese sandwich, ravioli, bananas and peaches and I think she's experimenting with making facial masks out of food. She loves baths and especially loves splashing REALLY BIG. Never mind that she nearly drowns herself and her brothers while doing it. She's a mess.

Audie

Audie is a regular comedian and is such a little joker. He'll sneak up on you and then when you look at him, he'll just smile huge and start yelling or roaring. He's very sneaky and turns on stealth-mode when he's ready to go looking for trouble. It's not uncommon to find him with his hands in the toilet, or with Rosie's food and water bowls dumped over, laying in the puddle, mouth full of dog food. One bad thing, though, is that he is drawn to the sockets so we have to be constantly watching him. He's also drawn to Adam and Adam has lots of toys that make perfect choking hazards, so we're trying really hard to have Adam help us keep those toys in his room. So far, he is doing a really good job at keeping them away and closing his door. I think he actually enjoys that he's allowed to close his door and make his toys off-limits to the babies. "What? I don't have to share? Excellent!" Audie has one tooth and I think I see a second one pushing its way through, so we're moving right along...at a snail's pace. Of course, he is crawling all over the place now and pulling up on anything and everything. He's even doing some chin-ups on the dining room table. He really enjoys picking on his sister, especially pulling her hair. When she starts screaming, he just looks at me with those big, brown puppy dog eyes while I mildly scold him, then he just smiles and all is forgiven (by me, not Anaya). He's also famous for stealing her little lovey blanket and crawling off, dropping it just outside her reach, ticking her off. It's probably not my strongest parenting point, but it's funny for me to watch them "fight." Audie also just started sleeping thru the night, so I'm doubly-happy. He loves to feed himself, too, and his favorites are ravioli, grilled cheese, mandarin oranges, bananas and blueberry Nutri-Grain waffles. That's not to say he doesn't try everything, though. Anything and everything that can fit in the mouth, goes in the mouth. Audie also really loves his bath time...but absolutely hates getting dressed afterwards. He kicks and screams and rolls over and tries to escape. Escape what?? PJ's?? I just don't get it...He's mostly the quiet, easy one, but he is definitely developing quite the temper and I'm afraid he's going to be the one who hurts himself throwing a temper. He's a lion and a lamb.

We are looking forward to the upcoming first birthday and are hoping that along with it will come a little more ease. Things have been extremely tough this year and it's so refreshing to finally have things falling in to place and getting a little bit easier. The sleeping part alone is a huge relief. Now, when Anaya finally gets moving and I have to chase them both, maybe I'll have enough energy to keep up! We feel like we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel after a year of darkness (with the random hole shining light in, of course). We know it's not going to all of a sudden be easy, we're just hoping it won't be so hard. We're having more fun now and we're excited to see what the next year brings...even if it's colored-on walls and flushed cell phones.

Amy's Blend

2010-12-30T10:08:00.000+09:00

Really, people? This didn't make its way in to my stocking? I'm extremely disappointed. I had to buy it myself at the commissary yesterday. Despite the sad fact that it is the association with Komen that makes it such a coincidence, it is kinda cool, right? I'm honored...even though they got my last name all wrong ;-)

Naughty or Nice?

2010-12-28T20:47:00.000+09:00

Christmas Eve was a rough day for Adam. He just couldn't stay out of trouble. So we had to play the Santa card and tell him that he was probably on the naughty list and Santa probably wasn't going to come. We would just have to wait and see in the morning. Sure, we felt bad, but it did make him think...Fast forward to Christmas morning: Adam comes in to our room at about 7:15 a.m. He asked if he could go check to see if Santa came. I was actually surprised that he hadn't done that before he woke me up, but I think he really was a little bit scared that Santa may not have come. I told him to go check and then come back and let me know. A minute later, he came running back down the hallway, yelling, "SANTA CAME!! AND HE BROUGHT STUFF FOR ME!! HE MUST HAVE CHANGED HIS MIND ABOUT ME!!"

What can I say? Santa changes his mind sometimes ;-)

Later, talking to Robin on Skype, he told her that Santa brought him this workbench, even though it wasn't on his list. "Santa took some liberties," he said. Yeah, Santa will do that, too. ;-)

My Life in Pictures...At Least Since Facebook

2010-12-22T10:38:00.000+09:00

This is so neat, if you ask me. Pummelvision puts your facebook pictures to music. Here's my life, in 2:10. Personally, I love the random flash of my foot :)

10!

2010-12-16T13:31:00.002+09:00

What a month this one has been. So many changes and so much going on, it's crazy! Time just keeps rolling and Anaya and Audie are now 10 months old! Crazy. I guess it's time to start planning their first birthday! They are really aware of oneanother now and I often find them just talking to each other and playing together...or fighting over a toy. They have mutually decided to start shunning baby food, which has been a little difficult, seeing as how they DON'T HAVE TEETH! But they have also done a great job with the toddler food, so at least there's that. They are, overall, easier to tote around now and I'm not as afraid to get out with them, which is great because I'm tired of being at home. In fact, a lot of times if they're in a bad mood, I'll just get them out of the house and they're all better. They still aren't sleeping through the night completely, which is getting really old. I can't even tell you how much I would love a full-night's sleep. I vaguely remember what that was like and I miss it. On the bright side, we're almost through the first year!

Anaya

Anaya has changed a lot this month. Her personality has improved greatly. She can still break some glass with a scream, but she seems to be in a good mood more often, which is nice since she has such a precious smile. Like the other day, we were at lunch and she was being a little troublemaker. Alan looked at her firmly and said, "No!" She looked at him for a few seconds, then slowly broke out her most adorable smile, as if to say, "Yeah, this is how I win this battle." She's a little chattier now, too, and I'm pretty sure she can say "bottle," although it sounds more like "ba-doool". She just loves playing with Adam and no one can get her laughing like he can. She still likes to bounce when standing and she dances to music. She's lazy, though. She still is not tempted to move at all. She's strong enough to pull up and can if you are right in front of her, giving her the means, but she's not going to move to get somewhere to do it. You would think that with Audie going, she would want to, but she seems content to just stay where I put her. I imagine one day she'll just stand up and walk, telling Audie that she didn't want to get her knees dirty by crawling. The only glitch in that theory is that she isn't afraid to get dirty. In fact, she has become a much messier eater than Audie. A meal doesn't pass that doesn't leave her with food in her hair, ears, nose, and covering her clothes. She's a mess, overall, so that just suits her. She's the princess.

Audie

Audie has had a very busy month. He has started clapping his hands and is crawling (instead of scooting) all over the place now, and has even started pulling up and cruising a step or two. I am officially in trouble. It's only a matter of time before they are both moving and then my days will be spent just chasing them. I wonder if Karina will move in. Audie is still the charmer and jester. He has an adorable smile and a great personality, overall. The only problem now is that he can follow me around and complain. I can no longer leave the room to take a breath - he just follows and fusses at me. Yesterday I opened the Tupperware cabinet to let him play with it while he was bugging me in the kitchen. I walked in to the living room to tend to Anaya and heard him fussing, but it was muffled. He had climbed in to the cabinet to get every last piece of plastic ware out. He's pulled over plant stands and un-decorated the Christmas tree. He torments Rosie and even Adam, especially when he's building something with blocks. He's everywhere I'm not and he's fast. Unfortunately, he has an interest in cords and outlets, so we have to watch him closely. Luckily, Adam is ready-and-willing to tattle, so we have some help. Audie had another first this month, as well: First tooth! Thank God, because of the whole "refusing baby food" thing. At least that explains the fussiness, fever, disinterest in the bottle... He's my little cuddle-bug.

All-in-all, we're doing alright around here. The kids are healthy and growing and keeping us very busy. The past 10 months have been difficult ones, but ~~mostly~~ have been worth it, although Adam might give you a different answer. It's nice to see things getting easier - it gives me hope of someday living a semi-normal life again. Someday...

When I Grow Up

2010-12-11T17:05:00.000+09:00

I know it's time for a 10-month update on the babies, but that will have to wait. I'd like to tell a little "Adamism" today.

Adam often tells people that he is going to be a doctor when he grows up. It's cute. Because, when we were four, weren't we all going to be doctors? Well, while we were in Pensacola last weekend, visiting Alan's family, we were riding in the car and Aunt Catherine asked Adam what kind of doctor he was going to be. His answer? "A Japanese one." Ha!

The Cons

2010-11-29T05:35:00.000+09:00

Of course it's great to be home. Family, friends, shopping, Mexican food, fast driving, grandparents spoiling the kids...all that. I do love being back in the United States and I am so glad we are here visiting.

That being said, here is a list of a few things we have encountered in the past week-and-a-half that we have not missed:

Scorpions
Fireants
Pennies (we don't use these, even on-base, in Japan - everything is rounded up or down)
Way-too-big trucks and SUVs
Wal-mart and it's typical patrons
American-operated airline companies (Japanese airlines treat you like first-class, even when you're coach)
Rude people (sadly, any rude person we encounter in Okinawa is American)

Alan adds: Unnecessarily gigantic drink cups. Seriously, America? Catch on.

Just some thoughts!

Takes Two, Three and Four

2010-11-19T13:46:00.000+09:00

Take Two

Date: Sunday, November 14, 2010

Time: 9:00 a.m.

Place: Kadena AB Passenger Terminal

Luggage: Same as yesterday

Attendance: Again, everyone.

Outcome: Success! We got on that plane that was headed for San Antonio. We were the first name called, actually. You know, since we missed it the day before by a stinkin' seat. Today, though, we emerge victorious! However, knowing that this plane was originally supposed to leave Friday and it is now leaving on Sunday, we remain skeptical. Will this aircraft actually get us home?

We gather our things and head through security, then to the bus to get out to the aircraft. This is all, of course, a logistical nightmare when traveling with two infants. Nightmare. Nevertheless, we get on the bus, then get on the plane, climbing the ladder from cargo to the main deck while each holding a baby and trying to protect Adam. Nightmare.

Crew guy: "Where are y'all headed?"

Alan: "San Antonio"

Crew guy: "Oh, that's where we're all from."

Alan: (refraining from responding, "No shit.") "Well, is this plane gonna get us all the way there?

Crew guy who shouldn't be allowed to speak: "It is now."

Ha. Once we took our seats, we sat there on the plane for at least an hour while they tried to get the engines started. Great. I think that probably isn't a good sign. Eventually, however, they got them started and we were off. A little while later, we stopped in Osan, S. Korea, but didn't get off the plane. I think we were there for two hours, then we were off again, headed toward Yokota AB, Japan. The plan was to spend the night in Yokota and take off the next morning. So we made the mad-dash to billeting. Did I mention that Yokota doesn't allow cabs to run on-base and the shuttle was off for the night, resulting in a WALK to lodging. About 15 minutes. Stupid Yokota. Luckily, they had availability for us and we got a really nice room, actually. To bed we went.

Take Three

Date: Sunday, November 14, 2010

Time: 9:00 a.m.

Place: Yokota AB Passenger Terminal

Luggage: We consolidated and did away with the rolling backpack. Adam wasn't pulling his weight.

Attendance: Again, everyone.

Monday morning, we show up for the flight, check our bags, purchase our meals and wait to board. There's a playroom at the Yokota terminal, so the kids are (relatively) happy. We wait and wait and wait. Then we hear what we knew we would hear all along, but were praying we wouldn't - a rumor that the plane is broke and it could be a week. Crap. So Alan immediately calls to get us another room for that night and we check the board for other flights heading out. There are two on Tuesday that we'll try. We head back to the room - walking again because it would be almost an hour wait for the shuttle.

We spend most of Monday watching the television channel that shows outbound flights. We notice that the two we were going to try are changing and they eventually disappear. Tuesday we don't see anything for the rest of the week going to the States and we don't know anything about the plane we came in on. So, we decide to bite the bullet and purchase commercial tickets out of Tokyo. Surprisingly, they weren't as expensive as we anticipated. Still a lot of money, but it could have been worse. We're all set to leave Wednesday evening, which would put us in San Antonio on Wednesday evening, due to the time change.

After making that purchase, we decide to walk to the BX to grab some (cheap) lunch. While we're there, we see a few of the guys on the crew of our plane. One asks what we decided to do and we told him we bought tickets. Then, Alan asked the question we almost would rather not have known the answer to: "What was wrong with the plane?" As it turns out, there was no safety issue with the plane and we could have made the trip to San Antonio just fine. It was a matter of convenience. The Auto-Pilot Stabilizer wasn't working, so the pilots would have to manually fly the plane and they just weren't willing to do that. I know the mission comes first and we're just catching a ride, but really? The mission must not have been that important if the Auto-Pilot Stabilizer delayed it. Meanwhile, 40 people were left stranded . The part was due to come in on Thursday and they were shooting for Thursday night take-off, at the earliest. We definitely didn't want to wait until Thursday night, so we made the right decision (plus, Mom & Dad were begging us over skype to just get on a plane).

Final Take

The rest of the trip went exactly as back-up-planned. We rode the shuttle to Tokyo, flew to LAX, then flew to San Antonio. The babies did amazingly well, all things considered. They mostly slept on the plane rides and Anaya only blew out two windows with her screeching. Everyone was a trouper, but Audie gets the "Best Traveler" award because he was such a little champ.

It's nice to be back in the States, but let me tell you people: Nothing beats flying an Asian airline. Even if you aren't flying first class. They helped us carry bags, they carried a baby if it was needed, they gave special kid and baby meals, they had baby beds on-board that attached to the wall, they brought hot water to make bottles with, they smiled and cooed at the babies any chance they got - they can do service like no other. And what did we get from United? A broken stroller that will hinder us for our entire stay. Thanks, a lot. You just made my life even more difficult. Welcome home.

It was a long trip and I'm glad it's over. On the plane, when we landed in San Antonio, Adam mentioned something about wanting to sit by the window when we went back to Okinawa. I told him I didn't want to think about that. It's just too much.  A line from Mr Potato Head in Toy Story 3 comes to mind: "You have no idea what I've been through tonight."

Take One

2010-11-13T18:30:00.000+09:00

Date: Saturday, November 13, 2010

Time: 0500
Setting: Kadena AB PAX Terminal

Attendance: The whole friggin' family

Luggage: 3 suitcases, 1 diaper bag, 1 backpack, 1 purse, 1 rolling Lightning McQueen bag, 2 car seats...all stuffed to maximum capacity

Weather: Rainy, of course.

Time spent waiting: 3 hours

Outcome: Well, we're still in Okinawa, but we came close - missed it by a seat. They had four seats left and we were next in line. One. Darn. Seat. I'm about 99.998% sure there would be some pissed off grandparents if we left a child behind.

Outlook: Sunny, actually. Tomorrow there are two planes we can try: one plane is going to Kelly Field, Texas (but said plane, unfortunately, has a tendency to break and since it stops in Osan, South Korea, we're a tad bit scared to get stuck), and one plane is going to Hickam AFB, then on to McConnell AFB. Now, most of you probably recognize that Kelly Field is SAN ANTONIO. Could it be any more perfect? Yes, it could. We will probably take our chances on it because it has more available seats and we're at least near the top of the waiting list, but it isn't the most reliable. Here's hoping that bird flies - all the way to Texas. Before you get too concerned, though, I should clarify that we don't think the plane will break while it's flying, just that we'll land in South Korea and they'll find something wrong that prevents them from clearing it to fly again. Maybe for a few hours, maybe for a few days. Either way, no me gusta the idea of being stuck in Korea. The alternative flight takes us to Hawaii and then on to Kansas. So if that one breaks, we're stuck in Hawaii. I'm having a hard time finding much wrong with that. If it doesn't break, which it is less likely to do than the other one, then it will get us to Wichita, Kansas, and we'll have to get to San Antonio from there. That's not a bad deal, either. We would just like to get on a plane tomorrow.

Stay tuned!

In other news...We got back to the house and the babies were ecstatic to be unstrapped. Audie, who's been scooting around on his belly for weeks, was so excited that he just up and crawled! That, combined with the fact that he is already pulling up on anything and everything, makes me believe this could be the beginning of the end. I better lace up my running shoes.

9

2010-11-03T13:46:00.001+09:00

Seriously? Nine. Friggin'. Months? Some days it seems like it was just yesterday that Mom was arriving, expressing her concern over how huge and uncomfortable I looked. But then, some days, it seems like it was years ago. Time has both flown by and stood still at once. Isn't it funny how that happens? Anyway...

The twins are NINE MONTHS OLD!! The best part about it is they are really getting fun. I mean, the work's not over - not by a long shot - but at least there is more joy thrown in the mix. They are very aware of each other now and play together a lot, even fighting over toys. He yells at her when she has something he wants and she yells at him when he takes it away from her. They're both talking a lot now and both continue to develop their own unique personalities. They still aren't completely sleeping through the night, but we're shifting our focus and are intent on making that happen soon. I'm tired of being tired. It is soooo much work having two, but I can almost feel it starting to be fun, so I'm more excited about the months ahead.

Anaya

Anaya has become pretty scrappy lately. With Audie on the move, he likes to scoot on over and pick on her, steal her toys or whatnot. I keep waiting for her to just stand up and chase after him. But, no. She seems determined to not move. We put her on her tummy and put something enticing in front of her and she just screams at us until we either move it or her closer. It's not because she's not strong enough - she can push up. She's just not interested. She remains a diva, screaming when she isn't immediately getting what she wants. However, in between the screams, she has also learned to give big, wet, sloppy kisses, so we almost forget about the screaming. Until we ask her to give one kiss too many, in which case we are quickly reminded of the screaming. She still seems to overreact about everything. She eats pretty well, but turns her nose up at anything green. She's all about feeding herself, which has forced me to be creative since they still don't have any teeth. Some favorites are bananas, avocado, string cheese and crackers. Anaya loves the bath and gets excited when she sees me filling up the tub. In the bath, she loves to splash BIG and squeals with delight as the water comes down around her. She really seems to like the water. She also loves to play with Adam and her Daddy. Her eyes never leave Daddy when he's in the room. She has also made it her responsibility to fatten Rosie up (as if she was hurtin'). Most of what's on Anaya's tray ends up on the floor, and then in Rosie's mouth. Rosie's not complaining, of course, and really neither am I - I don't have to sweep! Anaya loves to look in the mirror at herself and enjoys books a little more than Audie. She also loves to bounce when you stand her up. Anaya's personality has definitely been a challenge for us, but it's nice to see that she is getting sweeter.

Audie

Audie is MOBILE now. His world just got a lot bigger. He goes wherever he wants, and especially loves to pick on his sister. He can just take himself right over to her and grab whatever it is he wants, and make a clean getaway. Now that he's on the move, we're finding out what he's really like :) He is already more curious than Adam was and leaves no stone unturned. He explores everything. Just today, Alan found him with a trash can of diapers dumped over, his head in the can. Thankfully, Karina had just emptied that trash, so there was only like two diapers in it. Also thankfully, he did not figure out how to get in the diapers. Audie is a mess. He ventures through the house, leaving a path of destruction. And he's starting to show the bumps and bruises that come along with being an explorer, as well as just being a boy. He's a flirt and a sweet-talker already. He's generally full of smiles and loves to talk. Lately, though, he has really amped up his temper and I often get an earful from him when I'm trying to get him to do something he doesn't want to do. He'll just start yelling at me (not crying), shaking because he's so mad. Then, he follows it up with his same, pitiful cry that makes anyone within ear-shot think I just pinched my baby. He's got my number. And yours, for that matter. Audie loves to chase Rosie around, but I don't think that's a mutually fun game. He also loves the bath and has been known to attempt to throw himself into the tub as I'm filling it with water. He especially loves to shove the head of a rubber ducky in his mouth and just leave it there while he enjoys the tub time. He's crazy. He loves his big brother and is always trying to get in the middle of whatever Adam has going on. He's beginning to look a lot like Adam did at this age, too. We'll consider ourselves lucky if we have another little Adam running around :) Audie eats well, but is very messy. He insists on feeding himself and I insist on battling over that, which usually results in flung food. He also likes to spit food at me, which is particularly nice. He loves musical toys and isn't so much in to books - just tries to eat them. His favorite place to be (besides in my arms) is staring out the patio door. He's loud and fun and is going to fit right in around here.

We'll see you soon!

Two Things and a Cowboy

2010-10-31T17:13:00.000+09:00

Saturday we dressed the kiddos up and went to a haunted house at Alan's squadron, then trick-or-treating on base. The base opted to celebrate on Saturday to avoid the late night Sunday night. The bats were out in full force, but thankfully it didn't rain this year. It was a beautiful night for some trick-or-treating.

Sheriff Woody!

Thing 1 and Thing 2...my first attempt at homemade costumes!

All three, getting ready for the haunted house

Adam, showing off another pumpkin he decorated. Is that a halloween-y sky, or what?!

Buzz came by to trick-or-treat and I asked if I could take their picture together. When I went to look through the camera, I said, "I can't even see y'all because it's so dark!"...

...so Adam pulled his glow stick out of his holster and said "You can see us now!"

ALIENS!!!

Our trick-or-treat setup with the neighbors, Steve and JoAnn. Adam was the candy-keeper.

Happy Halloween!

What a year!

2010-10-25T14:27:00.000+09:00

One year ago today we arrived on this Rock. An exhausted family of three and our dog. My, what a year it has been! We've seen things we never thought we would see in our life. We've experienced the uniqueness that is this island, but still have so much more to do. We've dipped our toes in the East China Sea, as well as the Pacific Ocean from this end. We celebrated the holidays here, with new friends and Air Force family. We delivered twins! We've learned a little Japanese (arigato gozaimaaaaaasu!). We've shopped in Japanese grocery stores, kids stores, department stores and furniture stores and we've fallen in love with the Japanese style of karaoke. We eat the food and drink the drinks and have rice a lot more often than we ever have. We have chopsticks in our silverware drawer. We know to dial 0071 to call our family. We no longer accidentally walk to the left side of the car to drive and we no longer turn on the windshield wipers when we're looking for the blinker. Driving on the left side of the road is now second-nature. Recently, Alan and I became scuba-certified and have completed four dives, witnessing the amazing beauty that is our underwater world. My mom lived here for THREE MONTHS! Alan ran a marathon in a country that wasn't America. We have made great friends (a few of them have even been aggies!), and have had to bid a few farewell...only until we meet again. We've been through a typhoon and a major earthquake (and a tsunami, if it even counts). We've jumped on-board with the Okinawan obsession with vending machines (seriously, people, you even use a vending machine to order food at some restaurants!). We've learned which online shopping sites ship to APOs and which do not. We've learned that the early bird catches the worm at the BX and Commissary (even if you have to buy your seasonal stuff three months early). We've learned to get used to those bats flying overhead, but still don't appreciate close encounters. We've learned the feeling of loneliness, though, too. Although we know we have each other and our Air Force family, nothing replaces our families and friends we've left behind. We wish we were sharing all of these experiences with all of you. Nothing replaces that quick phone call or that last-minute decision to meet for lunch or drinks. Nothing replaces holidays with your family and nothing replaces missing the birth of your best friends' babies. Although we have loved this year and we look forward to the time we still have left here, we always miss home and the feeling that home gives you. In celebration of our time here, I give you this year, in pictures.

Our first Thanksgiving here:

Our first Christmas here:

My Mom arrived!

The twins are one month old!

Springtime in Okinawa:

My 31st birthday:

Our first formal event here:

Alan's birthday:

Rosie's first pedi:

The Air Force Birthday Ball:

Start of SCUBA class and Spouses' Dining In:

What? You were expecting a different sort of "year in pictures"? There are only 11 works of art here - number 12 comes tomorrow - my "One year anniversary" pedi. So excited! Seriously, though, it has been a great year and we are excited for our next year here and the adventures it will bring. We know our time here will pass quickly and we hope we leave with no regrets.

Adam's about to be home from preschool and he'll want a snack. Just before he eats it he'll say, as he does before he eats anything, "ducky mas," which should be "itadaki masu" (the "u" is silent). I can only hope that one day he is able to recognize how lucky he was when he was four.

Konnichiwa!

2010-10-15T16:52:00.000+09:00

The other day, when we took Adam for a bike ride, we stopped for a little bit at a nearby playground. I thought it would be fun to take the babies down the slide for the first time. Here's what we got:

You know Anaya, she just goes with the flow... I really did expect more of a reaction out of Audie, but whatever. It won't be long and they'll be sliding all by themselves.

We've almost made it nine months! Yay, us!