The Campoamor's Adventure: Everyday Stuff

Well it's summer here in Japan. Summer is hands down my least favorite season. My theory is, you can always put on more clothes to warm up, but you can only (legally) take off a certain amount of clothing to cool off. And then there's the bugs. I haven't seen them personally, only photos from friends of spiders the size of your hand. Apparently they are harmless, so if you are nuts you really can hold them in your hand. And the mosquitoes. Poor Leyton is a bugger favorite. Even with ridiculous amounts of bug repellent, she gets devoured and the bites swell to the size of a quarter. So combine the heat and the bugs, we spend a lot of time indoors, which is not the most ideal locale for kids. Fortunately we do have AC here. Our bill will certainly be insane... but whatever the cost of the cool air, it is worth it.

With the exception of a couple of hours of 'pool time', Leyton is out of school for 4 weeks. Luckily, Poppy and BB will be here for the middle portion of summer vacation. We are SO excited to have our first visitors to Japan. And now that Dada has to make a whirlwind trip back to the States during that time, I am even more excited. I love my girls, but there is only so much fussing and princess and fussing I can handle.

The last couple of weeks, we have had a couple of playdates with our Japanese neighbors. The first was just Ellis and I (LC was at school). We visited our friend Ms. Jun. We met Ms. Jun one day at the local park. She heard us speaking English and came over to talk. She grew up in Japan, but lived in Sydney, Australia for the last 30 years. Now she and her husband have moved back to Japan for retirement. She lives just a couple of blocks from us, and we run into her from time to time around the neighborhood. She even helped translate for me at Leyton's first Parent-Teacher conference. She had Ellis and myself over for some tea.

Our second playdate was at the Saitou's. Hero is a boy in Leyton's class and his mother, Takae, speaks English and helps me enormously. She had us, another American friend of hers, and a Japanese friend who studies English, over for a couple of hours after school. She has three boys and another baby on the way and she is amazing. I made Rice Krispie treats, which where a huge hit with the 4 adults and 7 kids!

I also try and get to base to meet up with some Navy 'American' friends as well. We do lunch or have a few play dates with friends. We are doing our best to make friends here, but there is only so much you can talk about while making sure the children aren't going to jump off the couch or jump in the kiddie pool with their clothes on (both of which actually happened -can't take your eyes off of Ellis for a second!).

Care packages are our favorite. This one is from Poppy and BB. It was full of glitter and other princess paraphernalia -and of course was a huge hit with these two.

Leyton went through a phase where she would come out of her room and wait at the top of the stairs for us to come get her in the morning. Ryan found her up there one morning at around 0530... sound asleep.

After this morning, we had a talk with her about staying in her room. We already have to put up the baby gate and 'lock' her in for nap time. We threatened to do the same at night, but she has thus far heeded our warning and stays put.

We hit up the pool about once a week. I wanted to do swimming lessons with the girls this summer, but the timing with school and visitors isn't going to work out.

E is such a funny kid. She is talking more and more. She says 'I poop', 'I eat', 'I hungry', 'I cry' and other such cute things. She is also warning up for her terrible twos with frequent fits of rage.

I didn't make the selfie, but cute pic of the girls.

Poppy and BB sent two new princess dresses, complete with sound effects and lights. Here is Cinderella giving Sleeping Beauty 'true loves kiss' to wake her up.

One evening I took a walk and typed 'Temple' into Google maps. About 15 minutes later, I arrived here.

This is a sort of fountain that you are supposed to use to cleanse yourself prior to visiting the shrines. Apparently there was a spider web in my way.