4th of July

Well, Happy 4th of July everyone. I hope you all had a great holiday. We all had a long four day weekend and the weather was actually nice. We went to the pool one day, to the beach the next day, and we had a cookout with the neighbors on the 4th. Then we all went down to the park on base where they had little carnival rides, games, and food. After we stood in long lines for eveything we sat down and listened to the band play and then watched fireworks. The fireworks were great! It is truly a special thing to celebrate the 4th of July with only military people. There is so much emotion and so much pride. I had tears in my eyes several times between the tribute to those who are deployed and the patriotic songs that even the kids knew all the words to. I felt so proud to be standing among all of these wonderful people who do so much everyday to keep alive exactly what we were celebrating. Matt had class, so he had to miss most of this, but it was still a great night.

Ryan is doing well and he really enjoyed the fireworks. We are still having our usual battles for good behavior with him, but I am not so sure this will ever end. I took him to the tennis court on Monday and we had a great time. We staye dout the in the heat for almost two hours and he was begging to stay longer. He isn't that great at it yet, but with his knack for sprots I am sure he will have it soon.

Colin is doing okay, but is running on very little sleep these days. He has decided that he wants to sleep in our bed now, which for those of you who know us well, this is not an option. He wakes up everynight at least once and cries. I can't leave him in his bedroom to cry, because he will wake up Ryan. So I bring him into our room and put him in the portable crib. He then screams and throws everthing out of the crib. He can keep doing this for and hour or more, but as soon as I pick him up he is out on my shoulder or in my arms. Last night I finally got him to go back to sleep after more than an hour of cying, but he woke up and hour later. I was too sleep deprived to fight him anymore so I just layed him down in our bed and he was out like a light. If he only had his own room, this would be much easier. Hopefully this is just a phase, because I need more than 5 hours of sleep a night!

Matt is doing well and looking forward to his much needed time off of work when my parents come. He also can't wait for this terms classes to be over. This late night class that lasts until 11pm is killing him. He is taking not getting his promotion better than I expected although he is definately upset, he is not as mad as I thought he would be. Hopefully, they will offer some good classes next term and he can get on track with a new goal. I am trying to get him to play football with his squadron, but he doesn't want to because it is only flag football and wouldn't be as much fun. Whatever!

I am pretty busy with the daycare. I actually have kids all day everyday this week. I am also looking forward to the two weeks I am taking off when Mom and Mark come. I can only hope the weather stays as nice. I kind of fell off as far as my gym goal goes. I did well for the first two and a half weeks and now I have barely been going. I am just too tired most nights to even consider it. I am also looking into doing some volunteer work at the clinic or the hospital over here to keep up some of my nursing skills. I have my CNA right now, but if I don't do some work I will lose it. I am hoping to volunteer maybe one afternoon a week once the school year starts and then maybe every other saturday. I don't know yet, but I want to do something. Even though I am now doing this daycare and contributing to the income, I still feel stuck (if that makes any sense). Oh, and now I have another friend who just found out she is pregnant. That was my last person to workout or go out with. I have got to put up an ad or something that says, looking for friend who is not pregnant and who is not going to be pregnant in the near future.

Well, I should go. Colin just woke up from his nap and I should get him a snack. Sorry again for no pictures, my camera is still broken! Love you all.

Upset

Well, we finally ound out about Matt's promotion, and he didn't get it. It turns out that three girls got it, so Matt will have to stay at his current rank for about another 7 months. This wouldn't be so bad except for this way he misses the cut off for testing for the next rank by about 1 week. Also this means that people who came in a whole year after him will sew on the next rank well before him just because he signed up for four years and they signed up for six. I feel upset, so I am sure Matt feels even worse. There are other people who have gotten BTZ when they don't even have their mandatory training done!

I am in shock!

Love you all but I better go now before I complain too much more.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all you Dads out there. I posted above Matt's Father's Day gifts from Ryan. Hopefully they will come out okay. One is of Matt playing golf and the other is of Matt and Ryan playing basketball. We thought they were great.  Matt spent Father's Day sleeping in and then he went to get a new pair of shoes. I made steak for dinner at his request and for the first time since we have been here, I was able to get the cut of steak that I like. They were great! We both went and got a massage on Friday night, which turned out to be very weird. First of all the "business" was in an apartment and second of all the people who did the massage were both men. I was slighlty uncomfortable with this, but Matt was even more uncomfortable. Thank goodness I didn't go by myself because I would have been freaked out in that situation..and apartment, two guys who don't speak english, a full body massage! Needless to say in the future even if a woman answers the phone (as in this case) I wil be requesting a female for us both. Other than that the actual massage felt quite good and helped my muscles to relax after that week of going ot the gym.

Colin, my Baby who doesn't cry and eats everything, is now quite a noise maker. He has been crying a lot at night and often times spends hours following me around the house and crying. He has also decided that he doesn't like much of what he normally used to eat. Now it is much more fun to throw it all over the floor. He is also still a little sick and getting a few teeth, so maybe he will resume his normal self  sometime soon.

Nothing really new to report on Ryan or myself. I'll let you know if anything of interest happens! Love you all, and hope you had a great weekend.

Oh by the way, it stopped raining for one day after eight straight days of rain and now has started raining again!

Once Upon A Time The Sun Did Shine

Just not here...We are now in our 5th straight day of rain and it is going to continue through the weekend. When I say rain, I mean rain, it has been pouring most of the time and giving us an occasional sprinkle.

Okay, now that I complained about that...How is everyone else doing? I haven't heard from most of you in awhile, so I hope all is well. Honestly, I wonder how many people read this as I only hear that a few of you do.

Matt has class now on Mondays and Wednesdays until almost 11pm. I know this is hard for him as he gets really tired. Hopefully he will get some good rest over Father's Day weekend. His package has gone up for BTZ (the promotion thing) and now we are just waiting. We thought he would hear sometime this week, but it may not be until the end of the month now. Who knows! We also found out that there are only three slots for BTZ and probably at least ten - fifteen people going up for it.

Colin has been very fussy with me lately and I think he is getting a little sick. He hasn't really gotten sick very often so maybe that is the problem, he doesn't know what it feels like. He has figured out how to make he ride on toy scoot around a little bit and so he enjoys playing with it a lot more now.

Ryan has been doing "homework" nonstop. He has these SchoolZone workbooks that I got for the plane ride and he loves them. He works on writing his letters, numbers, letter sounds, and following directions. We are happy that he is so into it, and with all the rain it sure is good timing.

I have been doing the daycare and I am anxiously awaiting my first monthly inspection. I just want to get the critisism over with and move on. I get a call olmost every day for the daycare so it is nice that I am able to make a little bit of money. I have also stepped up my gym workouts. I am now going to the gym five times a week so I am very sore. I am hoping that I will really be able to see some results this way.

Well, I have to get these kids in bed. Sorry there are no pictures this time. I dropped my camera in the sand and now it is not working properly. Love you all.

Quick Update

Well, it has been awhile, so where should I begin...

The pictures above are from a trip the kids and I tokk with our neighbors to Comprehensive park. I know the name sounds horrible, but the park is wonderful. I can't wait to go back. Not only was there play equipment, but there were fish to feed, trails to walk on, turtles to watch, and beautiful scenery. Needless to say we had a great time. Hopefully, I will be ablr to remember how to get there.

Our neighbors also took us to a nice beach on Memorial day that we all really enjoyed. Had the water been warmer we would have had an even better time. There were quite a few Americans there even though it is primarily a Japanese beach, but we don't mind either way.

I have finally started keeping kids for the daycare. It is going okay. I keep busy more with making sure everything is up to "standard" than I do spending quality time with the kids. Hopefully, I will be able to find a better balance once I have my first monthly inspection. Ryan acts up everythime I have parents here, so I am sure they think he is always that way. Really, he is very helpfull especially with the babies, but as soon as the parents get here he starts jumping on the couch and throwing balls around the house.

Matt should be finding out if he is going to get that early promotion really soon. All his supervisors are telling him he will definately get it. I just hope they are right and not making him hopeful for nothing. Matt has also been busy with school an dis finding plenty of time for golf as well. We are going to try and go get a massage soon. His for fathers day and mine for mothers day.

We cancelled our scuba lessons as it turned out to be a lot more money than we were willing to commit. I still kind of want to do it, so I may try to find a girl to take the classes with me.

The kids are doing well and I really don't have too much to report on them this time around. Ryan has a little photo album that he has been carrying around with people that he misses in there. Any pictures that you all might want to send of his friends, cousins, or family would be great.

I hope all is well, and I will try to have something a little more interesting next time.

 

long day

I am so tired today that I feel I could topple over at any given moment. Matt is on night shift for this week and although HE should be the exhausted one, I get very little sleep with him gone at night. The dumbest thing is, that I find myself staying up until all hours of the night to watch things that I would normally never give a second thought to. I have probably watched more TV this past weekend and the beginning of this week than I have since I have been here. Not tonight though...as soon as Colin goes to bed I am forcing myself to lay down as well.

Above are Colin's 1 year pictures. I only bought one picture of each pose as just that cost me $52. As a girl who is accustomed to Sears $6.99 deal, I cannot fathom spending the $300 dollars for the whole package. So, as that stands, let me know what sizes you want because I figure this is why I bought a printer with a scanner. Mom, I know his mouth is open in these pictures as well, but I figure maybe that adds to his cuteness.

Matt has a four day weekend coming up...we can't wait. We don't have any special plans, but it will be nice after this week of 12 hour shifts for him. Matt also got his grade in Biology, which he got a pretty strong A in. He is very happy.

I kept my neighbor's daughter today and yesterday as my first official client for the daycare. It was very time consuming trying to keep everything picked up and exactly as it needs to be. It only made it harder that we had to be very quiet so as not to wake Matt up and it was raining outside. However, on the bright side, since Matt has a four day weekend today is like Wednesday instead of Tuesday!

Colin must be getting more teeth because he bites me every chance he gets. He especially likes to bite my leg right where it is at the level of his mouth when he is standing. I have several little bite marks all around right below my knee.

Well, I hope this finds everyone well. I miss all of you. Send an email and let me know how you are doing.

Love you all....

Okuma Trip

Hello everyone! I figured it was about time I update this this so here it goes...

We went to Okuma, which is a military resort, this last weekend. We had an okay time considering it rained the whole time we were there. Thank goodness we got a suite with a tv and dvd player instead of a cabin or something. The beach up there is really nice and there isn't much coral so your feet don't get hurt from walking there. Island kind of bends around close to the beach so it is a truly beautiful view. Even though it was raining we made the best of it and did the glass bottom boat ride, the bike rentals, and the putt-putt golf. We can't wait to go back in July, I just hope it is nicer weather. Up above are some pictures of our trip.

Colin is walking everywhere now. He still falls a lot, but he continues to get back up. He ate his cereal with a spoon the other day, so that is also new. He loves the water. He has no fear of the water at the beach. I have to watch hium really closely, because he thinks he can swim! He lays on his belly and moves his arms and legs around.

Ryan is doing well. We went to the elementary school to get him an application for the pre-K program here and he was so excited. He kept saying.."Is this going to be my room?"..."Is this where I will eat luch?"..."Is this the library where I can read?"..."I they going to be my friends?" We passed several classrooms, the library, the lunch room, and several kids on the way to the office. I am glad that he is so excited, I hope he stays that way for awhile at least.

I finally got my licsense for the daycare, but I haven't had any kids yet. I am going to keep my neighbors daughter on Monday and Tuesday, so she will be my first. I am keeping busy with other things, the gym and trying to explore the island a little. I think I am going to take a couple of classes this next term here, but I am not sure.

Matt has an exercise going on right now, so he has to work horrible hours. He goes up for BTZ (where he would move up in rank early) in about two weeks. I really hope he gets it. We probably won't find out until the middle of June. He is only taking one class this term, which is the last class he needs to finish his associates degree. He needs to take Chemistry and A&P, but they are not offering either right now. Unfortunately, it looks like they are not going to offer A&P for a long while, so we are not sure what he can do...I guess we will have to wait and see.

Well, I hope everyone is doing well. I will talk to you soon.