Thank You Grandma!

Thanks for sending your Christmas package for the girls, they were so excited to open it! Liana wore her dress to church today and Kelea wouldn't take hers off (so she's sleeping in it). She loves anything pink and the hearts were a bonus. :) How did you know Marissa likes High School Musical? I didn't even know that. She hasn't seen the movie, but when she saw your shirt she said, "Oh! I LOVE High School Musical!" :) I can't believe you had time to send all of us something before your trip to visit Caleb! Hope you're having fun with them in Germany! They're such fun hosts, I wish we could go back again. I've even looked into doing another MAC flight there but it was much easier to do from Virginia than it would be from this side of the world. Thanks also for the sweet Christmas card. It meant a lot this year especially since we're really missing family. Call us on Skype soon! WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!

Christmas Eve

So Many Christmas Parties!

Decorating the Tree

Seoul, Korea (Ladies' Trip)

Each month I plan a fun activity for our spouses' club from the hospital the "Oakleaf Club", my little subgroup is called the "Adventure Club". We travel to foreign countries, try new outdoor adventures and have a great time doing it! For the month of November I planned a ladies' trip to Korea but the only people who were able to go were my friends Dayna & Lindi (from church not Oakleaf) so our wonderful hubbies watched our kiddos for that 3 day weekend we were gone.
One of the highlights of our trip was getting the chance to see our good friend Nathalie (our French friend who moved from here to there last summer). We had fun with her as our tour guide. Our first full day in Seoul was my favorite, starting with the DMZ tour. It was so exciting to be on the border of North & South Korea, to learn about the history (from our adorable tour guide whose favorite comment was "It's a problem". Like when she explained how they had to shut down a joint factory on the border "Kaesong Industrial Park" because some of the workers sent balloons into N. Korea with messages that promoted democracy. I don't see that being a problem, but apparently the not-so-great ruler of North Korea does. I also enjoyed seeing the train station the South Koreans built (but no one uses) in hopes of one day the border opening up again. I kept thinking "If you build it, they will come..." We even got to tour some tunnels that were dug by the North Koreans, leading into South Korea. After our tour we went to the amethyst factory (my birthstone). Even though I don't like jewelry, I had to buy some cute amethyst butterfly necklaces for my girls. That night we went to an awesome show called Nanta. My friend Dayna described it best when she said "It was a dance, comedy, drum, musical event that was incredible. It was like Stomp but better because it had knives and drumming." Afterward we went to Nandaenun Market and where we tried to bargain but got yelled at for doing so. If I didn't love those 8 headbands I got for my girls so much, I would have just left the store but they were worth the abuse. :) Koreans are very proud of their products (because they're not made in China and will show you every chance they get that the tag says, "Made in Korea". I never knew this was a selling point, but I tried to look very impressed when she showed me. The following day we went to Nathalie's beautiful palace/apartment to have brunch and see more of the city. She took us to the art district where we saw some amazing street performances. After buying way too many cute things for my girls we ate some delicious Korean Barbecue. We wanted to see the Korea House next but it was too late and too cold so we warmed up at the onsen in Nathalie's building instead. I've gotten use to communal bathing with other women, it's so relaxing, strange but true. Afterward we went upstairs to the apartment for hot cocoa and laughing about funny memories. We got back to the hotel late but still had enough energy to play with the toys we bought for our kids (see photos of Dayna & Lindi shooting arrows in our hotel room). The next morning we were sad to say good-bye to our fun girls' weekend (and Korea) but we were also missing our kiddos. I'm so grateful to have such awesome travel buddies! Good times!

Kelea Cooking, Turkey Bowl & Dinner with Friends!

Yes, it's my favorite time of year (Fall) and the leaves on the hillside outside our window are changing into colorful warm hues. Did I ever remember to thank you taxpayers who are providing us with this gorgeous view? Thank YOU! We have much to be grateful for this year but especially most importantly our 3 little girls. They are the most precious gifts that God could have entrusted us with. I love how each of them are so different (Marissa the smart and strong tomboy, Kelea the dancing fun girly girl & Liana our tender-hearted most kind and loving 2 year old I've ever known.) Can you tell who my baby is? :) They love to help mom with whatever it is I'm doing so it was no surprise that when I started baking my annual pumpkin bread for Thanksgiving (yes, I only bake once a year) that they wanted to be my little assistant chefs. So here is a video of Kelea cracking open her first egg and stirring the batter. I know, thrilling footage but we think it's cute. :) As we were doing this, Sean was playing football in the rain with some friends (every year he organizes a "Turkey Bowl" with other guys from work & church. Then we all went to Lindi's house for Thanksgiving dinner with the Snow family as well. The food was amazing (of course with Dayna & Lindi cooking) we brought rolls & drinks. :) She had a kids' table that was so cute it looked like something I did 2 years ago for our last Thanksgiving with friends in Virginia. (Turkey hand prints on the tablecloth for them to color on, Indian headbands, face painting, etc). I'm including a picture of it since I didn't bring a camera with me to Lindi's (Marissa looks so little in this picture when she was 4).So after a yummy ice cream dessert we headed over to Colleen's place to hang out with some friends from the hospital. It was a busy day but it kept me distracted from thinking about how much I miss my family during this holiday season. It's been 1 year since I've seen my brothers or sisters so we're hoping to go home for a visit soon (March).

Tokyo Disneyland - Again...

Last year we took our girls to Disneyland around the same time but instead of going on Veteran's Day (when we thought it wouldn't be crowded) we decided to take our friends' advice & go on a Wednesday. This meant taking Marissa out of school for 1 day but she rarely gets sick & misses any days so we thought it would be a nice reward for her getting selected as the "Golden Book student". We almost kept Kelea in her Japanese preschool to give Marissa our undivided attention but since Kelea is right in the midst of that "magical princess phase" we couldn't resist taking her with us. Liana on the other hand isn't yet old enough or patient enough to understand waiting in line is worth the ride. Last year she did not have fun and neither did we trying to entertain her in line for an hour. The lines were so much better mid-week (20 minutes tops, and "Small World" wasn't even a wait. Here are some cute shots of our girls that day.

Our Golden Book Girl & Citizen of the Month

We were very fortunate to have Ms. Carlin as Marissa's 1st grade teacher (she goes WAY above and beyond for her students). Like her Wednesday night phone calls to all the parents in her class (yes, every week) updating them on their child's progress and to answer any questions they might have. She is also very academic and introduces the latest learning methods for students at every level. Marissa is in the "advanced reading group" and Mrs. Carlin has started her on 2nd grade homework booklets. It's so great to see a teacher encouraging their students to excel and move ahead instead of letting them get bored and keeping them all at the same pace. She also selected Marissa as the "Golden Book student" & "Citizen of the Month" from her class (as a reward for good behavior). She received this same award last year from Mrs. Rose (also an amazing teacher) who according to Mrs. Carlin still checks on Marissa and asks about her everytime she sees Mrs. Carlin. I knew she loved Marissa, but thought she'd forget about her after getting new students. It's very sweet that she keeps tabs on her progress. :) The highlight for Marissa getting this award was being on the school TV morning program. She was also excited that Dad got to see it this year and that we both were there to escort her to the office where she signed the "Golden Book" with a gold pen. Our reward to her was a day off school and a trip to Tokyo Disneyland with Mom & Dad (nice that it's so close). Now if I could just figure out how I can get her to stay on her "golden behavior" at home. :)

Halloween "Under the Sea"

Our family tradition is to dress up every year as a "theme" so this year Marissa got to choose what she wanted to be (which was Ariel from "The Little Mermaid") so Kelea wanted to be Sebastian the Crab, Liana was Flounder the fish, I was Ursula the Sea Witch and Sean was King Triton. I don't know how to sew but was able to make all these costumes using office supplies (staples, adhesive, pins, etc.) Don't look too closely at the pictures, you'll see the costumes are just barely holding together. Next year I'm going to choose a costume that doesn't have tentacles (very difficult to make and walk with). :) But our girls had fun trick or treating as a family all dressed up. Halloween on base here is always a huge affair because in Japan people don't pass out candy so the base opens up to the Japanese kids for trick or treating and it's a massive amount of kids. We went through 12 bags of candy and by 6:30 were out. It's so fun to see little Japanese kids who are trick or treating for the first time and their excitement!

Sports Day at Kelea's Japanese Preschool

Here are some clips from "Sports Day" (it's a national holiday in Japan) and Kelea's preschool had a "mini olympics" where the kids show off their physical skills. This first video is of Kelea's dance routines (one with Mom), the second is showing some of the different games we played (races, obstacles courses, relays, etc.) The one with the woman in a red t-shirt running with a box is my friend Nina (from church who went with us to Bali). She and I make up a very small group of Americans at the school (her daughter was the first 1 they accepted). The last video is of Sean and our class' "Daddy Team" winning the "tug-o-war". They had to beat the teachers to get to the finals. :) Even though I didn't understand anything they said and looked like a dork trying to follow their dance moves, I still loved being a part of the experience. :)

Family Kayaking - Another Adventure

A couple of weeks ago we decided to take our girls on their first kayaking trip and teach them how paddle. It was a perfect fall day and the weather couldn't have been more ideal (blue skies, 72 degrees). I actually planned this activity for Oakleaf's "Adventure Club" but we were the only ones who thought taking our family kayaking would be more fun than shopping in a parking garage (the local bazaar). I've been to the bazaar before and it is interesting to see all the art & furniture but I just can't be inside when it's my favorite time of year and the weather is like San Diego. Most of you also know that I'm not much of a shopper and prefer to be outdoors doing something active. I guess a nice rug would be good to have but when Sean offered to buy one for $3,000 I told him absolutely NOT! That could be a week's vacation to Australia for our whole family! You can't take a rug with you when you die, but you can take the memory of feeding kangaroos with your kids. :) I also want my girls to learn that there's more to life than how many material things you can acquire. (We're still trying to learn that lesson too). I want them to be active, healthy, adventurous, and bold women who aren't afraid to try new things and do whatever they set their minds to accomplishing rather than being focused on their appearance and being the average American female consumer who's influenced by marketing ads and Paris Hilton trends. OK, I'll get off my soapbox now... We had such a great time showing our girls around Tokyo Bay (but most of the time we stayed near the base & marina). We did paddle over to Japan's historic "Mikasa" ship and Sean told our family about why that ship was so important in Japanese history (it helped them defeat the Russians). As we kayaked past Mikasa park the onlookers were waving at our girls and saying "kawaii" (cute). They did look adorable in their yellow life vests trying to paddle and splashing each other. Sean had our 2 toddlers with him (in his 2 man kayak) and I had Marissa with me in mine. Kelea kept wanting to catch the seagulls so we kept paddling near them to share some of our picnic lunch but then they'd quickly fly off when we got too close. She also kept saying, "Mommy look at the pretty sparkles on the water!" She loved watching the sunshine reflecting all around her. It was such a perfect day and another wonderful memory made with our precious little ones. I love experiencing life through their eyes. It's priceless!

Pre-Halloween Festivities

We celebrated Halloween a bit early with some of our Japanese friends in Kamakura (the Japanese congregation from our church). Tarina (the one in the blonde wig) and I drove the youth from our church up there to participate in the fun (limbo dancing, hitting candy out of a pinata and playing a few Japanese games). Good times had by all!

Meeting Japan's #1 Sumo Wrestler - Hakuho!

I'm not sure what was more fun, being the only non-Japanese guests in a room of 200 people or meeting the new "yokozuna" (the top Sumo wrestler in the world). Probably the former since I enjoy being different and seeing the quizzical looks on people's faces when they tried not to act surprised that someone had invited a gaijin couple to this special occasion. So how did we get so lucky? Sean has some very generous friends who were kind enough to let us join them. He's the "Japanese Internship Director" for the hospital (in addition to his real job) so they'll occasionally invite him to things because he's fluent enough in Japanese that he could go to something like this and appreciate it. :) I thought we were just going to dinner with Tomoko and her husband (the intern) but then we walked up to this convention center where people are bowing to greet us outside, inside, at the elevators, near the doorway to the banquet hall (and of course we're bowing back all along the way). That's just the beginning of the bowing... we bow when his friends introduce Sean to their friends (each person individually) then Sean introduces me and I say my standard (hajimemashite) and bow. I really need to take lessons again from Yuko so I can speak more than just a few simple phrases. So after the mayor of Yokosuka and a few other people we didn't know spoke then Hakuho came out and made is grand entrance. We got in line to meet him and he was surprised that Sean spoke so well. The dinner was amazing too, what a fun night and an awesome memory. Our Japanese friends on base said we were lucky to meet Hakuho, they said it's very difficult even for them. Most Americans would not be impressed but we're just having a great time here in Japan discovering a whole new world!

Missing My "Political Activista"!

The election season makes me think of Scarlett, one of my favorite friends who is the most passionate person I've ever met (especially when it comes to politics). She's half Puerto Rican so she was born with a distinct advantage of winning arguments based on her ability to throw out facts & figures at the speed of light with all the heat & conviction of a jalepeno pepper (going to law school helped a bit too). She just sent me a sweet email that made me start to reminiss. (That's her and I with Admiral Cullison's wife when we served on the Oakleaf board together.) We met in Virginia (our girls Marissa and Emma became best friends) and we helped each other through some of the hardest years of our lives. Together we survived 5 year surgical residency programs with 3 kids and husbands who lived at the hospital. We were in the Head & Neck/ENT Surgical program they were in the Orthopedic Surgical program. I say "we" were in the program because if you ask any wife who has gone through this type of medical training with their husbands and actually stayed married they will tell you that it's a shared experience of chronic stress, late-night arguments, special occasions missed or interrupted because of constantly being on-call, helping their husbands spend their "time off" studying for the next morning of "pimping" (a barrage of questions from attending physicians), helping with research, being there to support them in their darkest hours of frustration and their life line to continue on through sleep deprivation and 100 hour work weeks. Only someone who has been through this type of intense training program will understand (not all residencies are alike). Scarlett was also my right hand woman when I was Oakleaf President (a Navy service organization) in Portsmouth, she was my 1st Vice President. We shared the same vision of changing the focus of our club from being a social/service group for mainly senior officer wives to more of a support and service organization to help junior officer spouses survive residency (like us). We managed to double the membership and raised thousands of dollars for the hospital (with the help of our amazing auction committee) and sympathetic business owners who donated their services for our auction (they had a hard time saying no to my pregnant belly and 2 kids in tow). But as they say in the Navy "no good deed goes unpunished." We did have to endure some serious drama from a couple of the "career" spouses. They didn't like any idea that wasn't theirs and getting their feathers ruffled by no-name resident wives like us (who planned on getting out of the Navy). It's frustrating for people who have to kiss *** to be around other people who don't have to kiss *** . We were such rebels, but with a good cause which the junior officer wives appreciated because we helped make the club more down-to-earth with our family-friendly activities and support systems. We cried on each other's shoulders after meetings where our "advisor" would say negative things and make under-her-breath remarks about our ideas (as if we weren't stressed enough going through residency & both being pregnant with our 3rd). I remember one time Scarlett called me really upset from all the drama and ready to quit her volunteer position with Oakleaf. I told her if you quit then I'm quitting with you! We were such loyal friends, supporting each other through thick & thin. To quote McCain she's "an oak among saplings". But one of her most endearing qualities is her undying love for our country and protecting its freedom (did I also mention her dad is a Marine who served in Iraq?) I miss speaking with her about current events and politics on a regular basis (instead of the same old SAHM talk about kids, housework and shopping). She was always listening to Talk Radio at home, in the car, wherever so that when we met at the park, our kids' ballet class, at the gym or pool she could catch me up on the latest commentary about the war and what's going on in Washington. Right now she is 8 months pregnant (with her 4th child) and is out there campaigning for McCain/Palin with the heart of a lion! She's even naming her daughter "Sarah" in honor of our next V.P :) (A woman after my own heart). I volunteered on McCain's campaign several years ago in San Diego when the RNC came to town. They thought I was Hispanic (I'm darker in the summer) and because there aren't many female minorities in the Republican party I was quickly escorted to the front row where the cameras could see me. But I never ended up meeting McCain. The year prior I stood in line to have his book "Faith of My Fathers" signed for Sean & my dad (McCain reminded me of my dad because they were both Navy pilots who went to the Academy and flew in Vietnam.) But after an hour of waiting, I gave my books to a friend who was in line too so I could go to my other friend's debut performance in a local musical. I regret not waiting around and meeting McCain but at least my Dad and Sean have personalized books signed by our future President. :) Scarlett, I admire how dedicated you are to your beliefs and your conviction about our great nation. You are a true patriot and have been such an inspiration to me. I wish you were here in Japan, we could go around base trying to convince people to send in their absentee ballots and letting them know that "every vote counts". Please listen to the song "Capri" on this playlist because it reminds me of you. I know that precious baby girl you are carrying will not only be blessed with your stunning beauty but more importantly with your strength of character, moral integrity and passionate spirit. I miss you so much! All my love....K

Back to Bali (Ladies' Trip)

PASSING OUT BOOKS FROM MY SUITCASE FRIENDS DONATED FOR THEM
OUR ELEPHANT PLAYING THE HARMONICA MY GUIDE & I RUNNING OUR HORSES ON THE BEACH
Yes, I went to Bali again...please don't hate me. I know I just went with Sean in May but my friend Melissa REALLY wanted to go and completely twisted my arm. :) So I saved up my little money from teaching yoga and English (for 3 months) so I could go with my friend (who watched our girls while Sean and I went to Bali last time). After I told her about it she couldn't wait to go so we took 2 other girlfriends and had a blast. Some things I had done before with Sean (elephant riding, surfing, Balinese dances) but some I hadn't like jet-skiing, riding horses on the beach (Nina & I ran ours) and flying about 9 stories high in the sky behind a boat on a air mattress (called a Flying Fish). That was fun! I also had the opportunity of delivering 62 children's books to a local school (books that my friends from church and the Oakleaf Club donated and I brought in my suitcase). That was the highlight of my trip. I truly love the Balinese people, there is something about their culture that makes me want to keep coming back here. Next year I'll bring my girls they would love it. Remind me to tell you the story of when I was doing yoga on the beach and was almost run over by a bulldozer. Also, the story of Melissa acting as my bodyguard and getting physical with a local shopkeeper. Later..I don't want to make this post too long.

MEETING COLBIE CALLIAT in TOKYO!!

If you haven't heard of my favorite singer (Colbie Calliat) some of her best songs are playing on my playlist for your listening pleasure. :) I usually have at least one of her songs playing on my blog but after meeting her on Friday night I can't stop listening to her, the show was THAT good. It was my friend Celeste's 30th birthday so I thought it'd be fun if we all took her up to Tokyo and went to the concert. We had SO much fun, especially since most of us are moms who haven't yet been to a concert in Japan. What was even better was the venue was so small (only 300 people) and we got there early so she was singing seriously 5 feet from us. It was AMAZING!!! She is uber talented and on key with every song. We were the only Americans there so we had a fairly easy time meeting her outside after the show. (I didn't think we would because the Japanese security guards weren't letting us backstage even though I jokingly offered them 2,000 yen - $20) and pretended not to understand when they asked me to leave. :) Yes, my friend Renee said I went from cool to "geeked out" when I met Colbie but she is just WAY BEYOND any other female singer right now. What I love about her is she's so down-to-earth, beachy, cool, understated and honest with her whole style and music. She's like a female Jack Johnson. I LOVE HER!!!

The GW Carrier Comes Home to Protests

The aircraft carrier USS George Washington is replacing the USS Kittyhawk (a carrier my dad flew jets off of back in the 60's). But now this new carrier is nuclear powered (which obviously brings back painful memories for the Japanese people) so many of them held protests prior to the GW's arrival and on the day it came into port. I teach English off base near the bay every other Thursday and this past week I taught happened to be the same day the carrier came home. My Japanese students take the train from Yokohama (30 minutes north) so stepping out of the station and seeing the protests near the base got their hearts pounding. They had to pass through a couple of demonstrations on their way from the train station to our meeting place, but they were fine, the Japanese protesters aren't violent. Compared to European protesters they are quite civilized and non-threatening. They raise their voices and shout at times but mainly they're just a well-organized group of disgruntled people holding signs. I can see both sides of the argument but the GW is not being reassigned to another location so we'll just have to be a little nicer to our Japanese friends off base and help them get through this awkward transition. Gomen! (Sorry)! I should have baked the protesters some homemade chocolate chip cookies. It's hard to be mad if you're eating something sweet. :) Peace, love & cookies!

Dayna's Olympic Surprise Party in China?

It all started with this crazy invitation on people's doorsteps...when I invited my friends to a "Beijing Olympics themed" surprise birthday party (10 days ago when the Olympics were still going) for my close friend Dayna (yes, that's her head on the invite & a medal on her neck). The Chinese robe is draped over a bottle of Martinelli's Sparkling Cider and the fan in her belt has the invitation written on the inside. This was my poor attempt to combine her birthday celebration with the Olympics: "Confucius say... You are invited to join us at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing where an honorary gold medal will be given to Dayna for her winning performance 27 years ago swimming freestyle in the hospital delivery room!" Yes, it's a stretch but that's just how my brain works! So if you read the post earlier about Marissa and I going to Chinatown for the decorations you'll know we found some fun ones (Chinese lanterns, Chinese print table runners, placemats, napkins, etc.) Oh, and the hardest thing to find in Japan - Chinese fortune cookies! Which we did find in Chinatown and they even came in cute little Chinese take-out boxes. I put those in silky Asian drawstring bags as party favors. We also had a friend (who is a gourmet chef & teaches cooking classes on base) cook all the Chinese dishes during the party in my own little kitchen! Everything was so tasty! Lisa brought the yummy dessert we put candles on & Renee made a tasty "Gold Medal Punch". Everyone helped put up lanterns as they were arriving early and set the table. They also helped me make more last minute Olympic torches (tissue paper flames in a gold cardboard base). We put gold confetti in them and when she came inside we tossed the confetti from the torches on her. It was so much fun, I love surprising people! :) For the entertainment Lindi thought of some "Olympic games" we could compete in. The one she thought of... Couples' Syncronized Swimming! Too funny! Each couple competed (syncronized dancing) for 40 seconds to their favorite song, trying to stay in sync & were judged by numbers afterward. It was the highlight of the night, it was hysterical! We gave fake little medals to Dayna & Garrett for the "most fun to watch". :) The girls also made Dayna go through our "Chinese Torture - Spanking Machine" (Lindi & I share that same family tradition, weird but fun). Thanks to everyone's help we had an awesome night and accomplished our goal of helping the birthday girl realize how much she means to all of us. She's always doing things for everyone else (she was my shoulder to cry on when I came back to Japan from Dad's funeral). She's 1 in a million and I'm blessed to have her as a friend. Happy Birthday D! We love you!