Seattle Oki Reunion 2012

It's not often you find friends who can just pick up where they left off.  Even with the span of days, months, even years, these friends can still laugh, cry, and go along the journey of life with you.  We often think of our Okinawa friends as family and this weekend, some of our "family" came together to spend time together in beautiful Seattle.  There were four families total: the Scherdens, Grubbs, Andrews, and us.  For some, it had been years since seeing each other.  Children have grown, new children have been born, and we've all gotten a little older, but being back together again was like bringing the gang back together as if we hadn't even left Okinawa.

Thanks to Emily, who found this gem, we stayed in a rental house in the University District of Seattle.  It was perfect for our group of four families.  It was at the end of a dead end street and next to a walking trail that connected to a local park.  Driving to downtown was easy and we all seemed to have plenty of space.  It was ideal and look at how cute the house was (this picture was from the rental listing since I forgot to take a photo of it when I was there - whoops!):

Our family was the last to arrive late Tuesday night.  All the kids were already running around the property and we introduced everyone to Ruby.  She wasn't the only baby there. The Andrews welcomed a little girl, Lily, to their family on Valentine's day, so Ruby had a baby buddy throughout the trip.  The two babies were really cute together and Lily kept reminding me of Ruby at that age.

Me holding Lily (just turned 5 months) and MaryAnn holding Ruby (just about 8 months) on our first night.  The two girls are almost the same size!

For our first full day, we decided to do some sightseeing in Seattle.  The gang headed to the Space Needle first.  We arrived a little later, since Ruby was still taking her morning nap, and didn't make it up to the top but scouted out the area instead.

Once we all met up at the bottom, we grabbed lunch and then walked to Pike Place Market.  The ladies had to get the obligatory market group shot.  Don't we look like a happy bunch? 

The girls, from left to right: Emily, MaryAnn, me, and Tritia

Although crowded, the market proved to be a great stop.  We did stop at watch the fish throwers, which is always entertaining.  At one point, one of the fish stand workers asked the crowd if there were any questions and Jackson, Emily's son piped in with, "how do you catch the fish?"  The worker was super nice and pulled Jackson out of the crowd to give him a lesson on fish catching.  It was pretty cute and Jackson was able to catch one of the famous Seattle fish.  Yay, Jackson!

Jackson talking to the fish stand worker.

Practice makes perfect!

 And catch!

The kids put money in the bronze pig (Rachel the Pig) at the entrance to Pike Place Market, which funds various social services.

We sampled various food items from the food stands and purchased a bouquet to bring back to our house.  Sophia helped pick it out.

And we just HAD to go get some coffee from the very first Starbucks.

 We were just a little excited....can you tell?

Then, we hit the park.

The kids: Jackson, Sophia, Grace, Jayce, and Kai

Me and Ruby (love those teeth on her little smile!)

 Lily and Ruby sharing toys

After that, we trekked back to the cars by riding the Seattle monorail, which is pretty small (only two stops).  We had to take a couple of trips in order to get everyone to the house with only three cars, so Emily, Tritia, and I stayed behind and sampled some local beer before heading back home.  Ruby was there too, but she decided to take a little snooze.

That evening, we hung out at the house, eating grilled food, applying temporary tattoos and playing games.

The next day was our "local" day.  There was a park pretty close to the house, so we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and hang out there for the day.  There was a playground for the little kids...

And lots of open space for the "big kids" to throw around the disc (back in Oki they all played Ultimate Frisbee on Sunday afternoons and played a few tournaments on the island).  We brought the disc that was sent to Noa, for his birthday, from his Oki buddies while he was deployed to Kuwait years ago.

Tritia had picked up matching outfits for the kids so that we could get some nice photos of all the kids together.  Although the outfits looked great, it was quite an ordeal trying to round up a bunch of kids all under the age of 9.  We were able to wrangle them together, although not everyone was happy about it.  Poor Jayce didn't want anything to do with the kids photo.

We were, however, able to get a great group photo.  This is my favorite photo of the entire trip.

You may have spotted a new family in the bunch.  Angie, who used to teach and live in Okinawa, knew everyone in the group (except us; we met her for the first time this trip, even though she now lives in WA!) and joined us for the day.  She had her two beautiful children with her and she has one on the way!

After photos, we pulled out the bubbles.  The kids competed on making the biggest bubble, the most bubbles, and popping the most (Jayce, who is two, won this category hands down.  He is now dubbed, "the bubble slayer").

This was Ruby's first time with bubbles and I think she is still not sure what they are.

That night, we had a Mexican feast and an impromptu dance party in the living room.

After the kids went to bed, the adults stayed up to play card games and visit.  It was the perfect way to end the night.

Yesterday was our last day at the house and it mostly involved packing things up and getting out on time.  The Andrews had to leave on an early morning flight and the rest of us were headed back over to the other side of Puget Sound.  We stopped at Red Mill Burgers for lunch (yum!) and then rode the ferry home.

The Scherdens spent a night at our place.  Grace just adored the dogs and wanted to be with them 24/7.  She was finally able to get them to stay still when she coaxed them onto the chair with her.

Jackson was great about watching Ruby.  Noa sent this photo to me when Emily and I left to run an errand. 

And because there are just so many great photos to share, here are some more random shots from the trip.

Jay and Kent at the park

The girls: Tritia, Lily, MaryAnn, and Emily

Girls in pretty dresses: Vivian, Sophia, and Grace

 Sweet Jayce

Emily and Jason at the top of the Space Needle

MaryAnn and Jayce at the Fish Stand 

Babies! Lily with Lucy mouse and Ruby

Reading together: Grace, Sophie, and Jayce

 Kai and Jackson at the park in downtown Seattle

Being silly: Jackson and Sophia

 Ha ha....trying to get all the kids to look the same direction and smile is impossible!

Ham Fam at the park

The guys + Ruby 

Lily catching some sleep with Lucy mouse

The guys: Kent, Allen, Noa, and Jason on our last night

The Rubester on the ferry home.

We hope to meet again in a couple of years...and pick up right where we left off.

*Special thanks to Emily and Tritia for kindly sharing their photos.

At Last!

This might not seem like a blog-worthy event, but for those of you who have visited my house, you will understand why I HAD to put this on the blog.  

Big news here: we got a rug for the living room.  FINALLY!  I had put our smaller, striped rug in there temporarily when we moved in.  I like that rug - in fact we bought and brought it back from Japan - but,  I did not like it the striped rug in the living room.  Whenever people came over, I felt like I had to explain that the rug wasn't a permanent piece.  It just looked so wrong to me.  First of all, it was much too small and didn't really "ground" the furniture.  Secondly, it's very thin.  With Ruby soon-to-be crawling and spending lots of time playing on the floor, I really wanted something thick and plush.  I knew that it would be better for when she takes those early tumbles.  A few months ago I was certain that I'd be purchasing FLOR tiles for the space. They seemed like the logical choice with the easy care and simplicity to just replace a tile should a stain get too tough to tackle.  But, something was holding me back - possible deciding on a color or design.  There are simply too many choices and I couldn't make up my mind.  Plus, the price had to be right and some of the designs I like made the cost too steep.  And I wasn't so sure that I'd be happy with the thickness.  I just felt held back on the decision, but I still hated having the striped rug in there.

This past weekend we were shopping at Costco, where I spotted some large (I was looking for an 8' x 10" size) rugs.  There were not a lot of color choices: brown/gray, cream, and linen (cream/tan).  After checking them out and talking about it with Noa, we decided to buy the linen one.  I'm so glad we did!  It fits perfectly and is super plush.  Both Ruby and the dogs seem to like it so far.  In fact, after I rolled it out, both IGs laid out on it as I was trying to center it in the room.  Thanks for the stamp of approval, dogs!

Anyway, I love it.  So far, it's a good buy.  Plus, if it does get destroyed over the course of 2 - 3 years, the price was right and I'll feel like we got our money's worth.

 Please excuse the random placement of the cream-colored ottoman; I was trying to smooth down a wrinkle.

And here's the old rug in it's new location:

Catching Up!

It's been far too long since my last post and there is a lot to catch up on.   Here are some of the highlights of the past few weeks:

We've been doing a lot of celebrating!  Father's Day (Noa's first!!), birthdays (mine and Gunnar's), and today's reason to celebrate - the 4th of July!  One of the reasons for the delay in blog posting is because I got a new computer (yippee!), but now some stuff is on the new computer and some is still on the old.  I'm in the process of transferring my info over to the new computer, but it takes time.  Plus, I'm weeding through old photos and trying to organize them a little better, so it's becoming a major project.

My birthday fell on Father's Day this year.  For his first Father's Day gift, Ruby gave Noa some artwork for his office.  I think it turned out pretty cute (hopefully I'll get to blog about it later).  

Gunnar's birthday was celebrated a little late since I was out of town (more on that in a minute), but I always try to do a little something for the dogs to celebrate their special day.  He got a doggie ice cream cone cookie, but I made him share it.  I know, I know....I'm mean.  But in all fairness, Sadie had to share her birthday cookie a few months ago.  Gunnar is now 7 years old!

I spent a week in Colorado, visiting Mike and Jess, who recently welcomed their son, Brady, into the world.  It was such a special experience to spend time with Mike and Jess and our BABIES.  It seems like so long ago that we talked about having babies "someday."  Now that someday is here.  We spent many hours oohing and ahhing over all their little antics.  Their little guy is adorable and so sweet.  

Ruby wasn't so sure what to think of him.  But she was happy to hang out with him anyway.

We tried to take the babies out everyday.  I loved taking them out for a walk in the strollers.  It was crazy hot in Colorado, but thankfully the winds picked up and made it bearable.  

Oh, and you know what is ridiculous?  This is the ONLY photo Jess and I took of us with our babies.  Seriously, that is just not right!

Brady is so sweet.  He almost makes me miss the newborn stage. 

Almost.

I have a few other friends who are expecting their own babies soon.  So, I've been baking up a storm, making cookies for baby showers.  I was pleased with how they turned out, especially since I had never made these designs before.  

We are also dog-sitting for a very friendly, submissive beagle mix named Betsy.  She is very sweet and gets along great with our dogs.  She's a slave to a good belly rub and I've nicknamed her wiggle-butt, since her whole rear end doesn't stop wagging.  

She is also a big fan of the sun spots that peek through our skylights.

And then, there's today - the fourth of July!  We actually had a very low-key day since Noa had to work on a work project and we had some serious yard work to tend to.  Still, we got to hear fireworks from the neighbor kids and spend time together in the beautiful weather outside, so I consider it a good fourth of July.  Happy Independence Day! 

7 Months!

The Peanut is 7 months old today!

Age: 7 months

Weight: 14 pounds

Length: 26.5 inches

Sleep: sleeps in her crib, wakes 1 - 2 times a night; typically takes 2 - 3 naps each day, will soothe herself by sucking her thumb

Eating: breastfed with supplemental formula, 4 - 6 oz of solids a day, has now tried rice cereal, oat cereal, avocado, sweet potato, carrots, peas, and bananas, she will sometime snack on a "mum mum" cracker

Appearance: blue eyes, blond hair (thin, short), wearing 3 - 6 month clothes, 2 bottom teeth!

There have been some major milestones reached during this past month.  You may have noticed from the photo above, but Ruby has learned to sit on her own!  This is a fairly new skill that she picked up right before we left for Portland, so we had her practice a lot in the hotel.  She still isn't 100% stable, but overall, she's sitting pretty!

As you can see, she's very proud of herself.

She now has TWO bottom teeth and we've begun introducing a variety of foods beyond baby cereal.  I decided to make her food at home, since it would be easier and cheaper.  Basically, I cook the veggie or fruit, puree it, pour it into an ice cube tray and freeze it.  Now, I always have portioned out baby food ready to go!  I typically mix the veggie or fruit with baby cereal in order for Ruby to get more iron and vitamins.  Once a food is deemed safe (no allergic reaction after several eating sessions), I'm free to mix it with other safe foods.  But, she doesn't seem to love the mixtures yet.  Peas and carrots given individually were fine, but she threw a fit when I combined them.  

Eating time is still very messy.  I never understood how babies could get so messy while being spoon fed; I mean, is it that hard to put a tiny spoon into a baby's mouth?  Actually, yes.  Yes, it is.  Now that I'm a parent, I know better and I'm constantly amazed at how the food gets EVERYWHERE.  

Ruby is still a champion roller.  She hasn't crawled...yet.  I think that's coming soon.  She can easily get herself from one end of the room to another just by rolling, scooting, and maneuvering herself over, especially if there's a particular toy she's wanting.  I really have to keep my eye on her with all this moving around the place.

She still loves her feet and will now suck on her thumb as well.  She has learned that thumb-sucking is soothing for her, so if she is tired or upset, that thumb goes straight into the mouth.  

Ruby also figured out that sucking on her thumb is the same movement needed to swallow food, so she's decided that eating also involves thumb-sucking.  Again, this proves to make things very, very messy, especially when she decides to touch her hair afterwards.

One thing that will really get Ruby laughing is when you surprise her.  We don't even need a blanket or anything to hide behind.  Simply turning my head and then turning back quickly and saying "boo!" or "ah!" will get her giggling up a storm.

Other new things for Ruby:

• She now notices the dogs.  She'll look at them and laugh at them, but has yet to reach out to them on purpose.  Their interactions are closely monitored.
• She's beginning to show us what her future temper tantrums will look like.  When she's really upset or frustrated, she'll arch her back and give a wail.  I'm trying to remain cool, calm, and collected, but it's definitely making me worried about what her real tantrums will be like when she's 2 years old.
• She started drinking water from a sippy cup.  I bought her a special "beginner" sippy cup that supposedly helps train babies to use regular sippy cups.  She kind of gets it, but is still learning that the cup needs to be tilted up in order for the water to come down.  I may try getting the kind with a straw and see if that's easier.