#235

Self-explanatory . . .

( Because Mom asked how fancy my toes were.)

Happy birthday USMC! 

Smattering

My goofy boy wanted to wear the legs from his Tigger costume.  By the way, this is one of the last pics that you’ll see of Logan in a diaper.  Potty training has been going phenomenally well!

Here Logan shows off his new underwear.  They have Thomas the Train on them!  (So does his shirt--guess what we’re into right now.)

Okay, so this isn’t a spectacular picture of Naomi, but check out the seriously cute socks I found for her.  The Mary Jane shoe pattern is on the socks!  And they were only 179 yen at the Bunny Store!  (I’ll bet your day is more complete now that you know that.)

What do you think?  Does she look like me?

At the park with Daniel.

  Look at the expression on my face.  Yes, this roller slide really is that fast. 
Confession: I meant to take a video for you as we went down the slide but apparently I pressed the record button twice at the top of the slide, meaning it didn’t actually record.  Then when I got to the bottom and thought I was turning the video off, I was, in fact, turning it on again.  And that’s how I ended up with a seven minute video of Naomi’s blanket instead of the roller slide video.  Oops!

Such a funny kid.  Oh, and he also refers to himself as a “funny kid”.

Gorgeous weather for a hike.

Naomi enjoying the ride.

Look again.  I turned the picture upside down.  That’s how clear the reflection was.

Same picture, right-side-up, for those of you with desktop computers trying to mentally turn it around.

All this hiking leads us to . . .

another playground!  This is a cement slide; basically a smooth-paved hill. 

     Back at the car for a diaper change, Naomi was being super-adorable.

A trip to the zoo brought us up close to the bats during feeding time.

Logan had SO MUCH FUN at the zoo.  We’ve been probably a dozen times before but he’s gotten so many more words since we last went and he was SO excited, running around announcing the animals and what sounds they made, etc.  It was great to see and he’s still talking about it nearly a week later.

Maybe it was Logan’s excitement but several of the animals seemed unusually interested in us as well.

Of course, this was also one of Logan’s favorite things at the zoo.  Luckily for me, he doesn’t care that we never put any money into these things; he’s happy just to sit in them and spin the wheel (or pull the lever or press the buttons or whatever).

Naomi was rather less interested in the animals and slept contentedly almost the whole way through.

And that’s about how life is going—I can’t complain.  Hope yours is going well too!  USMC Ball tomorrow night so I’ll be posting pics of that in a couple days.  Check back soon!

Ta-da!

We’ve had Logan in his new room for umm . . . months now.  But my fabulous cousin Meg made quilts for the kids and I wanted to wait for Logan’s quilt to arrive in the mail before I showed you his new room.  Of course, the quilt arrived several weeks ago and it still took me this long to get the pictures taken and posted.  Oh well, better late than never, right?

 
The lawnmower isn’t always in the middle of the floor, but the broken box with the train track in it is, in fact, in its usual spot.

Logan shows off his big-boy bed with his new quilt on it!

The quilt is so much fun—each square has a different fabric in it and it features a lot of Logan’s favorite things.  He and I both adore it!

The artwork above Logan’s bed is an alphabetical tour of world cities: A-Agra, B-Bangkok, C-Cairo, etc.

On the opposite wall is a quilt Grandma Wilde made, representing each of Logan’s great-grandfathers.  His room also displays cross-stitches by Grammie Sharp and Great-Aunt Linda.

A huge thanks to all who contributed to Logan’s room!  Our home and our lives would certainly be dull had you not each been so generous with your talents and your selves.

  And an extra-special thanks to Meg, not only for the quilt on Logan’s bed, but also for this amazing quilt she made for Naomi!

Isn’t that the most adorable fabric?

Naomi certainly seems to enjoy it!

One more thank you is owed: to the Gaffney’s for this handsome new shirt and all the other fun things you sent.  By the way, do we need to send E a dollar for the bracelet? :)

Thanks to all.  As I write this I realize that if it were not for friends and family, our home would not only be poorly decorated but we’d be very shabbily dressed.  It’s true—I’m not a shopper.  So thanks for adding color to our lives!

Cuteness Overload

Isn’t she beautiful?

Photo shoot at a park we went to some weeks ago.  Such a stinkin’ cutie.  (I left out the ones where he had his finger up his nose.)

 

 

The winning photo in Naomi’s portrait session that day.  (Because I can’t have a photo shoot with one without feeling guilty about not doing it with the other as well.)

My goofball son wearing one of my workout shirts (at his request) and his “work hat”.

On a side note: We were walking out of the hospital several months ago—I believe it was after Logan’s 2-year check-up—and Logan said something to me about someone’s “hat”.  A woman in Navy uniform walking behind me took it upon herself to correct him, huffily explaining that it’s a “cover”, not a “hat”.  Are you kidding me?  He’s TWO and you’re going to get offended about this?  Ridiculous!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Logan “reading” to Naomi.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Certain portions apparently required thorough explanation.  Naomi appears to be paying careful attention. 

Round two of Naomi’s photo shoot.  She doesn’t yet pose and say “cheese” quite as well as Logan does and her mood changes rather more quickly, so we had to give it a second go-round on another day.

Logan, on the other hand, has become an expert at mugging for the camera.  I keep expecting him to start flashing the peace sign in photos—it’s what all the Japanese do.

Last one for tonight and then I’ll leave you alone.  But there is nothing cuter than a great dad with his kids :)

Cottage by the Sea

Finishing up our travels with Henry and Janet, we took them up north to Oura Wan Beach on Camp Schwab.  We managed to snag the cabin that is typically reserved for Colonels and above!

The view from our cabin’s front door.  The cabins sit high on a hill that overlooks the beach.  A patio runs the length of the cabin and has a rocking chair, bench, picnic table and gas grill.

Inside, a large living room with cathedral ceiling.

In many ways this place was nicer than our house.  Point #1—it has a master bath.  (One of two full baths; there’s a second bedroom as well.)

A pull-out bed made the perfect spot for Logan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Point #2—a reasonably sized kitchen!  And a refrigerator with an ice-maker!  Sigh . . .  Considering this is supposed to be a “cabin”, the kitchen was relatively well-equipped with toaster, pots/pans, dishes, etc.

We went to the aquarium of course.  New camera does a better job handling the aquarium lighting.

My view of Naomi through most of the aquarium.  In fact, this is my view of Naomi quite frequently: during neighborhood walks, errands, even sometimes doing chores around the house.

They had divers in the big tank; it looked to me like they were cleaning the filters.  A number of the bigger fish seemed to enjoy swimming through the divers’ bubbles.

The aquarium loans complementary umbrellas on rainy days!

At the dolphin show, Logan decided he would get a better view by befriending a Japanese family and sitting with them instead of us.

In Logan’s defense, they do put on a pretty good show.

After the aquarium, we finally made it to a restaurant we’d been trying to check out for a while.  (Gaffneys—Pizza in the Sky, remember?)  The food was good, the view was great!

Back at Oura Wan, I found some time to escape and get down to the beach by myself.

In yet another crazy episode, as we were leaving Oura Wan in two vehicles, Jake’s battery died.  So I dropped Henry, Janet and Logan off at Neo Park and Naomi and I backtracked to see if we could jump his vehicle.  No luck.  Jake and I pondered the possibilities over a giant shave ice while Logan and the grandparents continued their adventure with the animals.  Eventually, the whole gang piled in my car and we headed south; the next day we got Henry and Janet on a plane and then turned around for a crazy-quick trip to deliver a new battery to Jake’s stranded vehicle and come home again.  And thus ended our time with Grandma and Grandpa Wilde in Okinawa.

Life since then has been fairly normal—no more vehicle mishaps or missed festivals.  But every day is an adventure, and with two cute kids on a beautiful island, there’s always something to take pictures of!  And that, friends, is why I’ll be back with more soon.  Hope you are well and enjoying life!