Slices of Life

February 12, 2012

After 14 days of vacation without a washing machine you can imagine what my piles of laundry must have looked like.  With four baskets overflowing of laundry one might think that it wasn't that bad but let me tell you how many loads it took to finish all of this laundry.  I wasn't about to attempt to get it all done with my small dryer so I headed to base and used the laundromat.  I used 12 washing machines (they are not big machines) and 7 dryers (these are huge).  In a little over 2 hours all of my laundry was done and mostly folded with the help of the kids and Mike.  These are the times when I really hate laundry.

February 25, 2012

This lovely Saturday morning found us waking up to some good smells in the kitchen.  Mike had gotten up earlier than everyone else, prepared a menu for his cafe called, "Cafe De Seu Pai," and set the table real nice with menus for everyone.  He is really clever like that and a super fun dad.  Everyone literally got to choose what they wanted from the menu and he prepared it for them right then and there.  What a great way to start our weekend!

(The kids continue to ask him when we are going to play restaurant again)

February 25, 2012

It was the Blue and Gold Banquet for Cub Scouts tonight.  I went early to help my friend who was in charge of the event set up all the decorations and tables.  I am glad I was able to give my input and help out because they really needed help.  It was the most poorly organized event with lots of people doing lots of different things and no one communicated with each other.  It turned out great and the boys had a great time.  This was Andrew's last Blue and Gold Dinner because he will be crossing over into Boy Scouts real soon.  He was actually recognized as the oldest cub scout tonight.  The boys got some more rewards (except for all of Peter's arrows from both Wolf and Bear year) and they both finally received their religious square knot patch.  Way to go boys!

February 29, 2012

I absolutely LOVE having Abby at home with me.  I wish she wasn't growing up so fast because that just means less one on one time I have with her at home while everyone else is at school.  This is my number one reason for not putting her into preschool this year.  Mike keeps insisting that I put her in Japanese preschool next year for the exposure but I am not sold quite yet.  For now I will enjoy this cute little girl all to myself.

Snow, Snow, Everywhere

We usually only get maybe one or two days of snow flurries in the wintertime so today's snowfall was quite exhilirating.  Abby and I enjoyed the first snowfall in the morning while the roads were still covered in snow. Luckily Mike was able to get off work early to go and pick up the kids from school.  Abby and I were ready for them with all the snowclothes laid out in the entryway.  We took the sleds to our park across the street and had fun sledding down the most perfect little hill.  When we moved into our house we were so excited to have this park so close to us because we knew it was the perfect place to run around and play.  We also loved the astroturf hill and knew it would come in handy when it snowed.  How lucky were we to have so much snow today because everyone that lives on the base didn't get this much snow.  Hip Hip Hoorah!  We sledded and threw snowballs and the older kids stayed out longer to make snowmans.  Peter and Andrew enjoyed using the sleds like snowboards.  It was the perfect winter day! 

Playing House

We got a fun package in the  mail today from our good friend Mary.  In it were treats and cards for me, homemade aprons for the girls and Emma's American Girl doll, and fun balls for the boys.  It was like Christmas opening this box.  What a fabulous friend I have.  We are usually pretty spoiled here with fun packages from my mom.  The kids love it when she sends us stuff and I am always grateful when she is able to pick up things I can't get here.  This was the first time getting a package from a friend and it was so much fun.  The girls and I just fell in love with the aprons.  The girls put them on right away and headed upstairs to play house with them on.  I just sat on their beds enjoying watching them have so much fun pretending to be little mommies.  I love moments like these... 

New Zealand Cruise . Day 14 . Sydney

Our last two day of the cruise were spent back in Sydney.  Our last day on the ship, we decided to check out the Tauranga Zoo which is located on the opposite side of the harbor from Sydney.  We took the ferry from Sydney over to the zoo and then took a cable car to the top of the hill where the zoo is situated.  Talk about an awesome way to get to a zoo!  Getting there was half the fun.  On the cable car you went over the different animal exhibits so you got to see the elephants from above and so forth.  Pretty awesome.

The zoo in and of itself without the cable cars was, in fact, amazing.  The exhibits were sweet.  They had every animal you could think of and all the Australian ones you have always wanted to see more of.  I finally saw a platypus and a tasmanian devil and saw an elephant playing soccer.  We saw a bird show (where someone proposed to his girlfriend by having the bird fly a ring to her), a seal show (always a hoot), and got stuck in a rainstorm for 20 minutes.  There were of course millions of kangaroos, koalas, and tons of fun animals.  The one thing I didn't like was the fact that we had to eat lunch there (Sydney has the most expensive food on the planet). We stayed until it closed and then headed back to the harbor.  Since we missed the Opera house (it closed at 4:30pm), we headed back to the ship for dinner.  One more night of free food!

The next day, we left the ship.  It was quite a process since we have enough luggage to colonize a small planet.  We got a lot of mixed information on what to do with our luggage for the day (our flight didn't leave until late).  We decided to pray upon the good nature of the people at Marriott and checked all our luggage with the bellman and then took off for the opera house.  Once again, a flavorful college student led us around the inside of a truly impressive building.  It's amazing places like that exist.  Makes me proud to be a person.  The kids really liked the tour (especially Andrew).  After that, we had lunch and then bid adios to Franz and Ann.  We decided to go on the red bus tour of Sydney so that we could get in all the last minute sites.  It really is a great way to see the city.  We headed out to the beach (seeing as it was still freezing in Tokyo, we had to get one last day in the sun).  Bondai beach was gorgeous and it was a little unfair that we knew we had to leave the warmth, the sun, and the sand, and head back to Japan.  The boys got wet playing in the water and girls rolled around in the grass.  It was the perfect way to spend our last afternoon in Australia.

After the beach, we headed back to the city. It started to downpour (so we were glad to be on the bus). We decided to have dinner at the pancake place we ate at our first day in town. A fitting end to a glutinous voyage down under. Soon, we were in the taxi and at the airport. I have to admit that the airport was a little unfair. It was like Australia was rubbing it in as you left. Yeah, Australia is great, but our airport is even better. Sydney's International terminal is the most awesome I have ever seen. What a place. I waited my whole life to go to Australia and New Zealand, and it didn't disappoint. I have been just about everywhere on the earth, and I can say that there are not many places more exciting and beautiful anywhere on the planet. Hope it's not another 35 years before I get to go back.

w r i t t e n b y m i k e