Since You've Been Gone...

Ryan has been gone for 9 days.  He is back to landing a large helo on a small boat -what he's been trained for these 12 years now in the Navy.  Now he is the officer in charge, so if something goes wrong while landing on the little boat, it's his fault -whether or not it's actually his fault or not.  So no pressure there.  It's a "short" cruise though, just shy of three months.  The girls are doing well with Daddy being gone.  Ellis asked about him for the first few days, but she's had other things to worry about since (see below).  Leyton asks every day if Daddy is coming home.  It makes me almost cry every day.  I would do some sort of count down for her, because she doesn't really understand weeks and months.  But I would hate for him to not come home when the countdown says he should. Navy boats are ALWAYS getting delayed and/or broken, so it's just not a good idea.  So she'll keep asking, and I'll keep answering as best I can.
Not that he has internet on his little ship to read this blog -he barely gets email- but one day he will read this post, and this is what he has missed:

The weather is finally cooling off.  I even needed a jacket the other morning, which is awesome!  So my bad attitude is no long due to the heat and humidity.

Ellis decided she wanted to wear big girl panties one day.

15 minutes later she pooped in them and has since decided she will stick with diapers for a bit longer

Ryan left on Thursday, so he got to see this in person before he left.  We took her to the doctor and they gave her strong doses of Benadryl, thinking it was either a bug bite or an infection.  On Friday we went back and it was still the same, so they started her on strong antibiotics for 10 days.

On Saturday, Leyton had school for Grandparent's Day

She was sad that all of her Grandparents live in America, but she borrowed a few from her friends.  They helped her make this fun monkey toy, which is really rather cool.  I had to take it down though, because Ellis kept wrapping the string around her neck.

Ellis wore her bow for 12 seconds

By Sunday, her eye was much better.  And then we went to the park and she fell down the stairs and hit the SAME eye.

Leyton's first braid.  It actually stayed put for most of the day.  She had holiday from school on Monday and Tuesday and then was sick with a fever on Wednesday.  We also had a 5.6 earthquake, which I do not believe I will ever become accustomed to.  The girls and I were playing in Ellis' room and we were heading downstairs to hide under the table when it stopped.

Thursday was Ellis' birthday but she didn't get to open her presents until Friday.  That is because we didn't go to base to check the mail until Friday.  Instead, on Thursday, we took the car into the shop to check out the 'oil' light that was turned on.  Turned out to be nothing, just needed to be reset... could have even done it myself, if I could read the owner's manual.

So Friday she opened her presents and cards.

These pictures are blurry, but you can start to make out a bit of a rash that she is developing.

We opened gifts while Sissy was at school so that Ellis could enjoy them for a little while before Leyton laid claim to everything.

Thanks for the AWESOME presents!!

Saturday.  Yea.  All over her body.  And that is snot from her nose all over her face.  She had a mild fever so I figured she had the same virus that had made LC sick earlier in the week.  E just spiced hers up with a sweet rash.  Luckily, she was already on antibiotics for the eye so it was probably viral rather than bacterial, and we already had Benadryl from our initial visit, so we just added Tylenol for the fever and she's got a lovely drug cocktail three times a day.

Though she looks awful, her spirits have been okay.  But it's generally frowned upon to take a kid that looks that bad out to play with other kids, so we have been stuck at home.  However, on our morning walk today (couldn't take her to church) the park was empty, so we played awhile.

Today the rash is better and her fever is gone.  Of course now I feel like I got hit by a truck.  Fortunately, for the first time since January of 2010, I am not pregnant or nursing, so I can pump my body full of medicine all I want.  How's that for a silver lining?

In case it was not implied with every line of this post, WE MISS YOU DADDY!!!

Happy 2nd Birthday Ellis!

Two Totally Awesome Years of Ellis

Meeting her big sister (Note Leyton's dress)

Not the smoothest of first weeks

Family shoot December 2012

Such a sweet, fat baby

*Note the hat*

Happy 1st Birthday!

Family Shoot 2013

Cherry Blossoms in Japan

LOVE

Photo shoot last week in the park

Happy Birthday to our fearless and fun little Ellis.  It is so fun to hear her learn to talk.  Every day she says new things.  Today, while reading, she said "Mermaid sad."  Followed by, "It's okay" and she rubbed the mermaid's hair.  She isn't potty trained, but she LOVES to sit on the potty and watch iPad. She will grab her diaper and shout "I POOP!"  Which she follows with a smile and a 'Peez' which never fails to make me laugh.

She cannot be trusted outside.  She will run away as fast as she can.  And climb anything, as high as she can.  She requires constant supervision at the park because she heads straight for the 5 to 12 year old area and seeks the highest ground.  She is also fond of leaning over the side and dangling off a foot so that if her tiny hands slip she will fall and break her face.

Ellis sleeps great.  Goes down without any problem.  Sleeps 12 hours at night and 1.5 to 3 hours during the day.  She eats good, too and if she doesn't have to "POOP!" then she is often saying she is "hunger."

She also loves to sing and dance and wear "desses."  Not a day goes by that we do not have some form of a dance party.  And she loves to jump.  She will randomly just start jumping around.  I think she is really proud that she is actually catching some air on those jumps now.

Not much yet, but she is picking up a little Japanese from Leyton.  I think this will pick up as they both get older.

Ellis, you are such a blessing, our little ray of sunshine.  You are a lot of work, little girl, but you are worth it all and so much more.  We love you!  Hugs and "gisses."

Hakone

Hakone is a beautiful tourist town at the foot of Mt. Fugi.  We had heard wonderful things about it, but until we had visitors, we hadn't braved the trip.  It is only a 60 to 80 minute drive, depending heavily on traffic.  On a clear day, the view of Fugi reflecting off the lake is spectacular.  We were not able to go on a clear day.

If fact, we tried to go twice.  The first day my Google Maps wouldn't talk to me.  I can't navigate and drive, plus Ellis had a melt down, so when we accidentally got on the expressway heading toward Tokyo, I eventually turned us around and we went home.  We tried again the next day with better luck, but not better weather.

Though we never saw Fugi, it's still a cool place.

Lil' Geisha dance in the parking lot while we wait for our pirate ship

Leyton did NOT want to ride the pirate ship.  She wanted to ride the swan boats.

But we rode the pirate ship instead

It take you across the lake, on about a 30 minute ride.  Mt. Fugi looms straight ahead in this picture.

We got off, ate lunch, and then missed our boat on the way back and had to wait an extra hour.

You can also do a gondola ride, but because we couldn't really see anything and because the kids were getting fussy, we headed home.

Despite the weather, we all (DoDo included) had a great trip.  Ryan wasn't able to go, so we will definitely be doing this trip again.

Japanese Baseball

It may be the American pastime, but the Japanese take their baseball seriously.  Actually they take pretty much everything seriously, and baseball is no different.  Even when it was TERRIBLY hot outside this summer, you would see Japanese men and boys in uniform, off to play baseball.

Road Trip!

For our first Japanese baseball experience, we choose to go see the Yokohama Baystars.  Just getting there was by far the most challenging part.  Especially parking the GIANT (really just a normal American-sized) minivan that we rented while Poppy and BB where here.  

Just imagine driving here... from the passenger seat... and all road signs look like gibberish to you

But we made it and I was even able to figure out how to buy us tickets!

Though a mid-week game, the stadium was mostly full

Each team is only allowed 3 'foreign' players on the roster.  One is almost always the clean-up hitter/first baseman.

They have cheerleaders and mascots

It's blurry, but this is D.B Baystar on the left and 'his sister' according to Leyton 

We really enjoyed the hot dogs

A flyover by an American helo.  Daddy was out flying that night, and we knew he liked to fly over the stadium, so we snapped a picture hoping it was him.  It was not.

Go Baystars!

We left after the 7th inning stretch.  Ellis wasn't too impressed with baseball.  She played on the iPad for most of the game.  And Leyton liked the characters and the Ferris wheel that lit up cool colors that we could see from our seats (side note: the Japanese are big into Ferris wheels).  It was a cool experience.  For each batter, there was a band that played a special song and the crowd would sing along -a different song for EVERY player.  And though we couldn't understand much more than 'Let's Go!' it was fun to clap along.  Even now Ellis will do a fist pump and a hardy 'Let's Go!' on occasion.  And it was a good night for the Baystars.  The rules of baseball are exactly the same, so we could follow along easily.  They got a lot of hits and scored some runs and I am assuming they won.  And I successfully relocated our car and got us back home -thanks Google Maps!