Thursday night I helped Aubrey with her homework. Yes, she has has homework in Kindergarten. Afterward I had to sign her homework sheet to take back to Miss DuBois to prove that she really did her homework. I signed my name and gave it to Aubrey to put in her backpack.
She looked at it and whined, "Why did you sign it like that? Now my teacher's going to think that I gave it to you and you just went scribble scrabble on it. She doesn't like scribble scrabble." So, I had to take it back and print my name unerneath it to make her happy. Apparently after some 15 years of higher education I wouldn't be able to pass kindergarten. My, how times have changed.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Family Scripture Study--With Horses
The other night we were reading scriptures as a family. As Aubrey can't read yet, I usually will read her a phrase that she then repeats. Usually she is very adamant that she have her scriptures open to the right place. That night as we read 1 Nephi 17:33, her verse went like this:
Dad: And now, do ye suppose
Aubrey: And now, do ye suppose
Dad: that the children of this land,
Aubrey: that the children of this land,
Dad: who were in the land of promise,
Aubrey: who were in the land of promise,
Dad: who were driven out by our fathers,
Aubrey: who were driven out by our fathers,
Dad: do ye suppose that they were righteous?
Aubrey: do ye suppose that they were righteous?
Dad: I say unto you, Nay.
Aubrey: I say unto you, neigh, like a horse.
Dad: And now, do ye suppose
Aubrey: And now, do ye suppose
Dad: that the children of this land,
Aubrey: that the children of this land,
Dad: who were in the land of promise,
Aubrey: who were in the land of promise,
Dad: who were driven out by our fathers,
Aubrey: who were driven out by our fathers,
Dad: do ye suppose that they were righteous?
Aubrey: do ye suppose that they were righteous?
Dad: I say unto you, Nay.
Aubrey: I say unto you, neigh, like a horse.
Sports Day
The hospital here host a Sports Day every year. They have games for people to play and a picnic. The base news came out and did a feature on it. That shows you how little is really happening here in Misawa. Here is a copy of the feature they did. If you watch closely you can see Di twice in the video. Jonathan is next to her once and the kids are in another section.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Smiling and Wiggling
Well, it's official. Squirt has learned to smile. She is just starting to get the hang of it, so capturing the grin on "film" is not so easy, but I did manage to get one to share with you. She has also started to wiggle a lot. She flails those little arms and legs all the time. At night we have to wrap her tightly, so she doesn't wake herself up. I got a video of it but it is too large to put on the blog, so I will have to see if I can find a way to cut it down and post it for all of you. 
This week Ashley also had her first experience in the pool. She only fussed for a second when I first put her in the water, but she calmed down after only a couple of seconds. She swam for about 45 minutes and seemed to enjoy it, but when I let go of her for a second and the water covered her face she had a very stunned look.
Where We Live
I thought that you all might like to see where we live, so I found it on Wikimapia. Here the the link to our house: http://www.wikimapia.org/#lat=40.6882653&lon=141.3594264&z=17&l=0&m=a&v=2
You can scroll around and look at the school, hospital, flight line, etc. I can walk to my office in 5 minutes, and the kids school is even closer. Shopping is done at the commisary and BX which again are about a 5 minute walk. We have a car, but on base things are so close that we could walk almost anywhere we needed to go. Walking back with all of the groceries would be a little trickier though.
The cross hairs are right over the top of our apartment. Each of these buildings has four apartments in them. In our builing there are three member families, and there are now three other member families in the circle with us. The back is one open area where the kids can (and do) run around with the other kids in the area. To get a four bedroom apartment you have to have at least 3 children, so you can imagine how many of them there are around.
The apartment is a 1545 sq ft town house with four bedrooms. The living room is a little smaller than our old house, but we will make do. I think what we will miss the most is the lack of a playroom. We do have an area that we will use, but it is about 1/5th the size and just off the kitchen instead of on a different floor.
You can scroll around and look at the school, hospital, flight line, etc. I can walk to my office in 5 minutes, and the kids school is even closer. Shopping is done at the commisary and BX which again are about a 5 minute walk. We have a car, but on base things are so close that we could walk almost anywhere we needed to go. Walking back with all of the groceries would be a little trickier though.
The cross hairs are right over the top of our apartment. Each of these buildings has four apartments in them. In our builing there are three member families, and there are now three other member families in the circle with us. The back is one open area where the kids can (and do) run around with the other kids in the area. To get a four bedroom apartment you have to have at least 3 children, so you can imagine how many of them there are around.
The apartment is a 1545 sq ft town house with four bedrooms. The living room is a little smaller than our old house, but we will make do. I think what we will miss the most is the lack of a playroom. We do have an area that we will use, but it is about 1/5th the size and just off the kitchen instead of on a different floor.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Jet Lag in the Land of the Rising Sun
Jet lag was worse than I was expecting. When I came home from Europe I found that switching back to the local time was much easier than it had been going to Europe. I, incorrectly, assumed that since I was traveling east it would be relatively easy now.
The first night we got the children to bed about 8:00 and then they woke up at about 1:30 a.m. About 3:00 we got them back to sleep for another couple of hours and then had to get up and get ready to catch our flight from Tokyo to Misawa. The next night we went to bed about the same time, arose briefly for our earthquake adventure, went back to sleep, and they woke up about 3:00 and then, under duress, went back to sleep. The next night they went to bed at about 8:30 and slept through the night—until 4:30. At that point they came into our room. Jonathan, in all seriousness, asked, “Can we get up now—it’s 4:30?” Aubrey, in the meek voice she so artfully uses, (she really can be meek when she wants to) added, “It’s weally light outside.” Yes, indeed, it is light at 4:30 a.m., and I don’t mean the crack of dawn. Now I know why it is called the land of the rising sun.
The first night we got the children to bed about 8:00 and then they woke up at about 1:30 a.m. About 3:00 we got them back to sleep for another couple of hours and then had to get up and get ready to catch our flight from Tokyo to Misawa. The next night we went to bed about the same time, arose briefly for our earthquake adventure, went back to sleep, and they woke up about 3:00 and then, under duress, went back to sleep. The next night they went to bed at about 8:30 and slept through the night—until 4:30. At that point they came into our room. Jonathan, in all seriousness, asked, “Can we get up now—it’s 4:30?” Aubrey, in the meek voice she so artfully uses, (she really can be meek when she wants to) added, “It’s weally light outside.” Yes, indeed, it is light at 4:30 a.m., and I don’t mean the crack of dawn. Now I know why it is called the land of the rising sun.
This photo was taken our first morning in our new house at about 4:30. Di made me get up to record the beautiful sunrose. She was busy (don't be surprised now) feeding Ashley.
Of course half of the battle was getting the kids to stay awake all day long. See what I mean? 
The Earthquake
Our first night we were awakened to our first earthquake here in Japan. After our long journey, it wasn’t actually the earthquake that woke us, but Di, who was already awake nursing Ashley. She said that at first it felt like a little tremor. Being an earthquake veteran she wasn’t worried until it got stronger and the closet doors started shaking and the building started to sway (we were staying on the third floor). At that point she cried out, “Ryan, we’re having an earthquake.” I awoke to find everything shaking. We woke the children and got into the door frame just in time for it to stop. There wasn’t any damage in our hotel room, but a cereal box fell off of the refrigerator into the sink.
The base initiated a recall, so Jason called to make sure we were OK. He said that they had several things fall and break and his TV would have fallen off of the armoire if he hadn’t jumped out of bed and held it in place.
Everyone I have talked to said that this is the worst earthquake they have had here in several years—probably because it was so close. It was centered about 60 miles south of Misawa, but fortunately it was very deep in the earth, so the damage was much less than it otherwise would have been.
The base initiated a recall, so Jason called to make sure we were OK. He said that they had several things fall and break and his TV would have fallen off of the armoire if he hadn’t jumped out of bed and held it in place.
Everyone I have talked to said that this is the worst earthquake they have had here in several years—probably because it was so close. It was centered about 60 miles south of Misawa, but fortunately it was very deep in the earth, so the damage was much less than it otherwise would have been.
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