Christmas Day!

Just wanted to share some pictures of Christmas Day with everyone!
Rise and Shine: First look at all the presents after Santa came:

And Jill got her stocking filled too:

Our Tree:

Tried to get them both to sit in front of the tree. It didn't really work out well, even after conning Jill with a Beggin' Strip:

Olivia checking out her stocking from Haruka:

It was the year of kitchen stuff- A kitchen, an Elmo microwave, and a rice cooker for mommy!

And a new lens for mommy too!

Olivia couldn't wait for daddy to put together her new car...

Daddy...had...a little...trouble with the car:

After presents we relaxed all day, then went to dinner at the Christmas Restaurant. It is these people's house in town, they decorate it from head to toe in Christmas decorations and they open for dinner for 6 weeks around Christmas time. They have a small menu you can chose from. It was pretty cool and Olivia enjoyed running around looking at all the "Ho-Ho's."

Take a look at how nicely decorated it was:

The host/home owner was nice enough to take our picture.

Christmas Day 2009

From Thanksgiving to Christmas Eve

We've had such a great holiday season. Let's catch you up!
For Thanksgiving, we went to Craig & Jennifer's. I'm sure you heard by now that Mike cooked the turkey, and it was another success! He is becoming quite the Turkey-pro. The morning of Thanksgiving started with mommy learning an important lesson.

Don't leave the bag of brown sugar too close to the edge of the counter. Somebody knows how to stand on her tippy-toes. Take a look at my sugar-baby:


She loved her HUGE meal:

All the girls:

Apparently Jillian had too much turkey:

We played some games...

And the night ended with Maddie reading Olivia a story:


We went to a few Christmas Parties. First, was the Okinawa Enlisted Spouses Club Board Member party (I'm the Secretary for the club). Olivia donned her pretty Christmas dress I bought while in America last month.

And she got a special present from Santa (even though she wouldn't go to him to get it):

The next party was Mike's work Kid's Christmas Party. We made yummy Christmas trees out of ice cream cones. And Olivia thought it was pretty cool once she figured out she could eat it!

She needed a little help getting her present from Santa:

And we took her picture again by a tree since she wore her pretty dress:

That brings us to Christmas Eve. We went to Botanical Gardens to see all the pretty lights. It was a site to see!

And Olivia enjoyed seeing it all! Here, she is standing on a train that is covered in lights:

And she got to go down a big slide with daddy:

"Weeeeeeeee" That was fun!

When she wasn't looking at the lights, she was dancing. Give this child a beat, and she will dance with just about anybody (and apparently so will the girl she is dancing with).

They even had Cinderella's carriage! When it was our turn to get in and take a picture, a little local boy decided to jump in and pose with us....oh well, Merry Christmas!

Getting some fish food:

And feeding LOTS of fish:

Pretty lights, and pretty girl:

Olivia is Nemo! She kept walking by going "Feeeeshhhh, Feeesshhh!"

Some pretty shots by the water:

This was a bridge covered in blue lights. Olivia very much enjoyed running back and forth under the lights. Can you see her?

And in case you are wondering, don't worry, we stayed warm all night walking around, even though it was a chilly 70 degrees out! ;)

Happy Holidays!

Ho-Ho-Ho

Merry Christmas Everyone! It's almost time for Santa to visit us here in Okinawa! Olivia is asleep in bed, and Mommy and Daddy are watching the Santa Tracker on NORAD. As I type this he is in New Guinea, headed towards Australia. Soon he will be here! And Olivia has been very good this year, so he should be leaving lots of presents for her. I know I've been neglecting the blog lately, but we've had computer issues (and I stay pretty busy now with working), but I promise to do better with keeping you updated! Tonight we spent Christmas Eve going to Botanical Gardens. They had tons and tons of lights throughout the park. It was BEAUTIFUL! Olivia just loved seeing all the shining lights. She ran around, danced, and even got a balloon (which later popped). All in all it was a great way to spend Christmas Eve. I wanted to share with you a couple pictures. First is the three of us with Santa. Olivia wasn't really a fan of going to him alone, so all of us had to join in. And if you are wondering about the batteries in her hand - it was the only way she wouldn't scream...

The second picture is from tonight. They had a little set-up where you could purchase fancy pictures to capture the memory of the night.

I took other pictures throughout the park of the lights, but I will post them later. I have to hurry now and go to bed so Santa will come! Merry Christmas to ALL and to ALL a goodnight!

Gobble Gobble!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!! We didn't get turkey cards out this year, but this morning we woke up and created this turkey for all to see. Olivia even colored it in.


Remember this from last year? Click here!

We just had to do this picture again. Here's our little turkey! She is getting big, and barely fit in the pan!


This year we are spending Thanksgiving with our good friends Craig & Jennifer and the girls. Mike is cooking the turkey and everyone else is filling in with sides. It will be a yummy day!

What does a city-wide tug of war look like?

I bet you ponder this question all the time. If there was a giant tug of war put on by a whole city, what would it look like? Well, ponder no more. Let me introduce you to the Naha Tug-of-War! The purpose of this festival (everything is a festival here, if you haven't caught on) is to thank the gods for the harvest, pray for rain, and ward of disease. And it is just what you would it is. Huge, Crazy, Fun, Entertaining. Basically they blocked off many blocks of Naha and cranes brought in this giant rope piece, by piece. The rope stretches forever. This is list in the Guinness Book of World Records as the biggest rope-pull event in the world! Once the rope is assembled, they divide the sides. East vs. West. There are people in charge standing on the rope, they yell, and everyone pulls. And I mean everyone. You want to pull? Go right ahead. Fight your way to the rope, grab an end, and pull. But be careful, because this means war and they don't play. Everyone pulls and gets into it. Men, women, children, the old, the young, and even, yes, the pregnant. The pull back and forth for 1/2 an hour, and whichever side moves the most wins (at least that is how I understood it). It was truly a site to see. The is a yearly event, held every October. We didn't go last year, but heard great reviews, so we were excited to go this year.

We took the monorail into Naha. This is the first time we have done this. It gave me flashbacks of MARTA:

Olivia was bored on the monorail, but had the most comfy seat in the house:


This is part of the rope. It branches off so that more people can pull:


This is the main part of the rope. It's HUGE. They remake it every year, winding strand, by strand:


Mommy & Olivia on the big part of the rope:

Touching the rope for good luck! Hopefully our side wins!

Laughing at the chaos:

And they begin! The men on the rope say something like "AAAhhhh-EEEEE-aaaaaa!!" And then crowd shouts the same thing back to him, and then they PULL! I'm assuming it means "pull." Here are Craig and Maddie giving a try at tugging:

Doesn't it just look like a fun event? People actually smile and laugh throughout the tug. I'm going to guess that would not be the case in America...

These boys were really funny. They kept coming up behind me and saying "Hello!" and waving. And then they would try to speak more English. It happens a lot and sometimes I don't realize then are trying to get my attention, so I'm sure they think I'm ignoring them. But this time, I just took their picture and smiled:

See that man? He is the one screaming "AAAAHhhh-EEEE-y-aaaaa!!"

I quickly learned not to get caught up taking pictures while they were pulling, because I got taken away with the crowd and ended up a few blocks away from Mike.

Pull! Tug!

The end! Everyone made lots of noise. Not sure who won...

Maddie with a drum:

"I have no idea what is going on..."

People take pieces of the rope back with them for good luck, so we cut some pieces off too:

A sea of people...

Our photo-op with the rope!

And again:

It was a very fun day!