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