Safe and Sound After Typhoon Songda

You may have heard we’ve been prepping for a Typhoon all week. We were in TCCOR 3 by Thursday, then went in TCCOR 2 on Friday, and seen TCCOR 1 on Saturday morning. Typhoon Songda hit us late Saturday night. It wasn't the super typhoon they were first expecting, but still a strong CAT 2. I heard it was 109kt (125.43mph) sustained winds gusting to 136kts (156.51mph). We lost power from about 9:30PM to 2AM. Then no Internet, cable, or AC for most of today. Others were without power for 20 hours. We were lucky and nothing is too damaged and we are all fine.
Look in the distance. See my little blue car? Safe and sound (and dirty) across the street. We didn't trust that big tree that looms over our parking spots. And I'm glad we didn't trust it, because it lost against Songda.

3 guess on what used to be here...First two don't count.
We (Mike) tried to be good and prep, put everything in our shed and strapped it down, staked it in...But it didn't matter. Songda wanted to play with all of Livvy's outdoor toys. And grill while she was at it.

The back yard, coming around the house.

Our back door sandbagged. It rattled so much. In Mike's words "it sounded like a C-5 landing on top of a T-Rex." We were a little scared. Livvy was really scared. Jill was terribly scared. Those are not our recyclables BTW.

The kite string. This is important because once we realized our shed was blowing everywhere: Mike said, oh man, my airplane kite is probably gone...

Some parts of the shed in the neighbor’s yard. And random garbage cans...only one was ours.

The stuff that was in the shed. It didn't go far. Just slammed into the hill in the back of us. It looks a mess, but we were able to keep half of it.

The grill was not one of those things. Livvy's bike and table were saved. However, the table used to have an umbrella that went with it. Used to.

Her wagon and car were saved as well - just wet and dirty. Next to her blue car is an Elmo kite - he didn't make it.

We found the roof to the shed in the middle of the houses next door.

The floor of the shed and a side. We think we gathered most of the pieces. We were not the only ones to loose this shed. Pieces of this shed can be found all over the bases...

Another view of the back.

See the blue poking out? That's the airplane kite! And a hula hoop. The hula hoop wasn't ours.

The views from the front of the house:


See? Our cars were safe way over by the new houses.

From across the street. This tree used to be very full. I tried to find it in other pictures, but I guess I don't take many pictures of our concrete bunker.

Sunset Swimming Sunday

On Sunday I ran a 5k. My last 5k was about 2 months ago, right before my surgery. That 5k also included other exercises along the way. Sunday's 5k was just running, but I was slower this time than I was two months ago. Only by 2 minutes, but still. It is crazy how fast fitness declines once you stop. Easy to see how people get addicted. But my goal was to finish and I did, even if it was slower. My excuses are lost time from surgery, crazy muggy, and crazy hills.
Anyway, to rest and relax after running, I took a nap, but when I woke up it was such a nice afternoon, so I wanted to do something. We decided to go to the warm pools at chula-Lu. But before dipping in, we stopped for some yummy ramen! Olivia loves noodles!


Then off to the pools. They are right alongside the beach which leaves for a nice view. One pool is deep, but the others are only 80 cm, so Olivia found out she can touch, and she thought that was perfect!





Showing off her two piece!



Our view of the sunset. Olivia calls it "pretty sun!"



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Congratulations to Daddy!

Take a look at this:

Olivia knows what these are for and where they go:

Do you? If you guessed they are Master Sergeant Stripes, you are correct!

And if you guess that Daddy made it, you are right again!!

A big Congratulations to Mike! Being with him the last 365 days, I can say for certainty that he worked VERY hard. He studied every day. And he made it. And he deserves it. We are so proud of him!

So for those caught up in numbers: Mike is currently E-6, has been in the Air Force just under 12 years, just found out he made E-7, has a line number of 5930 out of 6618 (roughly), which means it will be awhile until he can wear them for real, but for now he is still smiling and happy - and we are too!

Olivia is Reading!

Olivia just got this book from Aunt Betsy, Izzy, and Jenna (Thank you!). She loves it! They read it at school, so she already knew all the words. I'd love to say she is a genius and already knows how to read, but I'm pretty sure this is just memorization and recall at it's best for a 3 year old! But, even still, here is Olivia reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? And this is the same night she got the book! Enjoy!

Happy Birthday 3 Year Old!!

Can you believe it? Olivia turned 3 today! She is getting so big, so fast. Cool thing about this year's birthday is that it fell on a Saturday, so her party was actually on her birthday. Which is a good things, because she knows her birthday is "May 7" if you ask her. :)

She was pretty excited about her party. We planned it at the bowling alley (as you know we have poor luck with weather and didn't want to chance it outside at a park). And we planned for a Dora-type theme.

Which meant she had to get a new Dora birthday dress:

And she HAD to get the shoes too. Even though I told her she wouldn't actually wear them at the party since she would have bowling shoes on...She didn't care. And I had to let her get them. After all, they were pretty cute.

So the day started with her waking up saying "I'm three now! Just like Taylor!" And then she wanted a cupcake for breakfast. She got cherrios instead, and a cupcake a little later after Mommy smushed one with the lid. It was a cast-away. So after breakfast, she got to open Aunt Paula's presents:

Water Shoes, a dress, and:

A Dora Scooter!

Here are the cupcakes she helper decorate with me: She wanted both a cake and cupcakes - so I made the cupcakes at home.

And ordered a Dora cake from the commissary. Turned out really nice:

She tried her best NOT to smile while we sang to her. I think she felt a little shy...

Hindsight: I should have wiped the pizza off of her face. A close-up of her face while we sang Happy Birthday:

Blowing them out:

Opening Craig, Jennifer, and the girls gift - Sleeping Beauty's dress and crown!

Eating Cake!

And ice cream:

Present time! Standing up is her friend Hannah, and next to her is her friend Alexia from her class. A Dora purse from Alexia:

Books from her friend Isabella from school:

A Glitter-glam Barbie from Zoom, Angie, & Jamar: (my face is in response to exactly how "glittery" the glam actually entails...Luckily it comes with a vacuum...)

Her first My Little Pony from Caroline:

A Rescue Pet that tumbles from her friend Aiden from school:

Can you guess what happening here? I'm telling her to say "Thank you" and she is saying "HUH?"

Her first Littlest Pet Shop! From Lexi - I loved these when I was little!

A Barbie and matching book from Taylor! Also got Fashion-nista Barbie from Taylor - whom Olivia has labeled her favorite Barbie. She loves her and sings to her. And her song includes loving the Barbie's beautiful blond hair - "just like mine."

Special Note - they really pack and strap those Barbies in there these days. I had to get out scissors, to which Olivia was very concerned and reassured her Fashion-nista Barbie that it would be OK and not to cry... (Also - I LOVED Barbies when I was little/older :))

A Few of the girls: Alexia, Olivia, Hannah, and Caroline:

Olivia and Taylor thought sword fighting with the balloons would be fun...

But it would be even better to turn and attack Mr. Craig at the same time!

The Culprits: Sweet and innocent:

The fun didn't end at the Bowling Alley either! After the party, we came home and opened some presents. Unfortunately Daddy isn't feeling well right now, so he took a nap instead of Olivia. And Olivia and I went out and met Taylor and crew at the beach at Torii. They played in the fountains and then headed for the sand! It was a great, fun day! Olivia said it was a great bowling party.

A fun little story: Olivia's been very cranky the days leading up to her birthday, so I said it was because she was cramming in all the terrible twos she could. So today I told her she's three now, so no more fits. She seemed fine with this conclusion. However, during bath when she was about to get upset, I reminded her, "You're three now, no fits" and she said "I don't think I'm three yet, I'm still going to be two." Oh dear, arguing logic already.