Week 1

Of Thomas returning to work, and the kids and I returning to our regular programming. Thomas was in Alaska for a couple months, then went on leave for the entire month of July. During that time all rules went out the window. We ate out ALOT! We watched movies almost every night, complete with popcorn and soda, yes, even the boys. Hey, we were on Holiday, as a family! I neglected to clean the house except for the things that were required to keep it sanitary (i.e. I washed the dishes, clothes, and kept the bathrooms sparkly). I was able to do commissary, BX, and postoffice runs by my lonesome. Such a break from dragging three kids in and out, in and out of the car, in this relentless heat.
But, he has been back to work this week and we miss him terribly already. Tuesday morning I took Dayton up to our bed and he was just hugging and kissing and rolling all over Daddy. By Wednesday Keegan and Braden were getting bummed they hadn't been able to play with Daddy as much this week. He is now working a different shift, and it has taken some getting used to for all of us. It's really gonna stink when school starts back, he will be awake while the kids are at school and at work in the afternoons when they are home. We will just have to live for the weekends right?
My adjusting has been torture. We had to go to the commissary Monday afternoon. By the time we left I swore I would never return there again with kids. I would rather do the whole trip back home with three different airplanes, 4 airports, and 2 hotels by myself than a trip to the commissary. Yes, it is that bad. Dayton grabs at everything on the shelves, then as soon as the basket is full enough he can reach things he starts throwing them out every second I am not looking. Or bear hugging the bread, or prying the egg carton open to get a 'ball'. Keegan and Braden are intermittently obeying. The rest of the time they were playing tag between the aisles, using me as a shield while the other used a mop handle as a light saber.
You get the idea.
Never again, I promise.
Not really.
I will probably take them again Monday, and say the same thing when I leave, again.
Aside from that I have been attempting to get this house back into order. I have organized and filed alot of paperwork, statements, etc. from the past month. I finally backed up all of our digital pictures to the hardrive and burned DVDs to store in the lockbox that is fireproof, just in case. I stopped printing pictures when we moved here, as the quality is horriblem adn I have been too lazy to order online. I am trying to upload them all to shutterfly now to order. I think I will get prints of all our pics up until January of this year, then start doing the photobooks that Blurb offers. While placing the DVDs and our passports, which were still in my backpack form our travels earlier this summer (can't you tell I am unorganized) I came across some old documents that needed to be disposed. Paperwork from when we bought our house, which has been sold for over a year now, Insurance documents from autos we owned previously, etc. I also came across the receipt from when we paid for our Marriage License. As I was sorting through all the papers Thomas was making the call if they went to the trash, shredder or back in the box. I said "Look its the receipt from our marriage license." Keegan goes "Yeah, I don't think you can get a refund on that Mom, might as well trash it." Funny kid. I also found the slip of paper from the OB confirming my pregnancy with Keegan. I had Keegan rolling with giggles telling him how happy and excited we were when we found out he was in my belly.

*note, there is no flow to this blog post, just writing stuff as I recall it.

A few other funny things Keegan has said recently.
The other day while driving off base I was thinking about how different the scenery is here than in Mississippi. I don't mean the beaches, etc. It isn't all that pretty. I am referring to the city. The concrete everywhere, the flashing signs and writing and graffiti that we can't read. The rust, the peeling paint on everything. We were in the gate 2 area, and for those who have never been here, if you were to drive upon a street that looked like that in the states, you would roll up your windows, lock your doors, and pray, beg and plead to live until you found your way out. It appears that ghetto.
Anyhow, I always wonder if the boys remember living in the States. I am fairly certain Braden doesn't and I think Keegan memory is vague. When we went to our old neighbors house, right net to our old house to visit, he didn't remember the house.
So I asked them what they thought was different about Okinawa vs. Mississippi.
Keegans list:
The cars have small tires here.
There is no Ocean in Mississippi. (I reminded him of Biloxi, to which he wrinkled his nose)
They have better snacks at Family Mart.
Mamaws live in Mississippi
The houses here are crusty.
Crusty? I guess thats a good way to say it. Due to the climate here, every building has rust, peeling paint. So crusty it is.

Speaking of climate, where are all the typhoons? It's mid-August! We need a typhoon. We look forward to typhoons. They are fun to watch, Daddies get to stay home from work, and we break out all the bored games that never get played otherwise.

Braden has finally started writing his name! I have tried and tried to get him to write it, and he just wasn't attempting at all. I bought a small magnetic dry erase board and a couple of markers, now we are all good. And, after he writes it, we can showcase it on the fridge, where all the good artwork gets displayed. He is also swimming well enough to venture down the slide alone. It lands in about 4 ft of water, and he can swim to the ladder unassisted. Now if I can just get Dayton to find his fins, I will have free arms.

Thursday afternoon I took the boys bowling. We had gotten ready for the pool, and as soon as we started out the door it started raining. We have had an afternoon thunderstorm everyday this week. So, we diverted to the bowling alley. Sounds nasty, but I think the bowling alley has the best American food on this island. Nice and greasy.
This was the fist time I let Dayton bowl. He had fun stealing turns from the older kids last time we were there. This time he got his own shoes and his name on the board.
The smallest pair of shoes they had was a couple sizes too big, so I just put them on over his Robeez. Perfect.
He was so funny he woudl get all excited and stomp his feet as the ball when down the lane. Then as soon as it his the pins he would start yelling and clapping.

Ok, one last thing I meant to blog about earlier.
The picture of my hand with the banana spider I had linked to in a previous post. The picture was taken while I was assisting Aviva with a photoshoot of three generations of Okinawan women. I won't repeat what Aviva has already written, but I will say it was an amazing experience I was grateful to be a part of. It was the first time I had been inside a Japanese home. I don't quite know why seeing the Kanjii phonebooks, or the Bose stereo system with all the Japanese CDs lined up next to it is interesting to me, but it is. It was a beautiful home, with a beautiful family, and I was so grateful to be invited inside and catch a glimpse into their daily lives. Here is the link to Aviva's post.

Ok, thats all the writing and recollecting I can do for tonight. Until next time....