Tsuken Island

Two weekends after going to White Beach we took a day trip to Tsuken Island. This beach was awesome! We had to take a short ferry ride to get there and spent a good 4 hours there. The kids played and played and played while I relaxed.

 

 

Somehow Rich talked himself into paying to go on this water ride with the kids.

 

 

 

This little girl thinks she’s a big kid and was so upset that she didn’t get to ride with them.

 

 

 

In the video I said the wrong island...I get them all mixed up.

 

 

When they got back they were all smiles, especially Maya. Apparently she let go of the tube for a second and bounced 5 feet in the air over everybody’s head and right into the water! When they turned around to pick her up she was beaming and laughing. She said it was the best thing ever!

 

 

Waiting to get on the ferry to head home.

 

 

Eva knows she’s a little princess and makes herself comfy wherever we are.

 

 

We are really trying hard to take advantage of every free day we have while we are out here. In a few weeks we will be heading to mainland Japan for 2 weeks of adventuring and we can’t wait!

Weekend at White Beach

As usual I’m way behind on blogging our adventures. About a month ago we took our 3 day weekend and headed up to White Beach. We stayed in a cute little cabin with 2 sets of queen bunk beds and it was just perfect for us.

Our view from the front porch.

We didn’t get a lot of beach time because of the scattered showers but we did get lots of family time which is what we really wanted.

Missing my mom! When we first got to the beach and saw all of the coral mixed with hidden treasures, I said to the kids, “Who am I missing right now? Who would love this beach?” They all said, GRANDMA JOSIE! We had the best time walking along so many beaches finding sea glass.

He’s such a stud!

We’ve been to so many beaches that we’ve sort of become beach snobs. This beach had a beautiful view but the beach itself was very coral-y (so not a word). It was a great beach for treasure hunting but not the best for little ones to sit and play by the water. The coolest thing about this beach though, was the HUNDREDS of crabs! We all thought it was cool except for Arabella. She was totally creeped out.

I’m so grateful for this experience that we are having as a family. We spend so much time together making memories to last a lifetime.

“Happy ride”

Eva LOVES piggy back rides or as she calls them “happy rides”. I have no idea why she calls them that but it’s the cutest thing to me. Eva has become more of a handful recently but along with her feistiness comes a whole lot of personality that I just love! Tonight, she said to me, “Mommy, tan we det a wow wow?” I said yes, just to appease her and she said, “Yay! Tan da wow wow sweep in my bed wiff me?” Oh my freaking cuteness! She keeps all of us laughing with her constant annoucements of “I farted!” And her little “ta-da!” any time she does just about anything. She even chastises herself when she gets caught doing something she shouldn’t be doing like jumping on the couch. She shakes her finger and says, “No dumping!”. Or when she was potty training and had an accident she would say, “No jelly bean and no panties!” Jelly beans were her reward for going potty. She’s a serious crack up!

I finally decided I would give her a little trim. That first haircut is always the hardest for me to convince myself of. I just evened it out but it ended up being a good 4 inches! I love it and she does too. Her nursery leader told me that the first thing she said when she walked into nursery on Sunday was, “Look I dot a hairtut!”

She’s growing so fast and I feel like having 3 older siblings has made her grow up so much faster but we are really enjoying this phase of our lives. I love that she only wants mommy to sing to her and tuck her in at night even though she loves daddy like crazy. It’s our thing and I treasure that she loves it as much as I do. This is her birthday month and in a couple of weeks she will be a big 3 year old! She’ll always be our baby though.

I should have knocked on wood…

I’d just like to quote from the post I made last night about Maya. “Poor Maya just has the worst luck in general. If something is going to happen it’s most likely going to happen to Maya.” I’m thinking I really should have knocked on wood.

Our front door is dangerous! Maya was standing outside when Aidan opened the door and it nearly took off her toenail. Poor thing was writhing on the ground when I got to her and took a really long time to calm. I carried her upstairs and immediately gave her ibuprofen. I was trying so hard not to freak out but the closer I looked at her toe the worse it looked. I rinsed it with saline and covered it with a pain relieving antibacterial ointment. Rich happened to be on his way home for lunch and after he had a look at it we decided we should probably take her in to the clinic for our pediatrician to check it out. Dr. Boggs rinsed it some more and tried to pull a big chunk of skin out from under her toenail that was pushed under by the force of the door. It was way too painful and Maya was not tolerating it well so she left it alone after working on it for a few minutes. We are hoping it just heals itself up nicely.

She’s doing so much better now and even running around a bit. She’s a tough cookie! I’m seriously hoping for much better luck for my sweet girl from here on out.

Maya update

Sometimes I really wish we were super interesting people and could have a camera crew following us around filming all of the craziness that goes on with this family of mine. Its funny to me that our family seems to be plagued by these random medical issues. I say “funny” because we are an otherwise very healthy family. Our most recent medical scare was with Maya. Poor Maya just has the worst luck in general. If something is going to happen it’s most likely going to happen to Maya. Recently, she got sick and had a really brutal cough and fever for almost 2 weeks. I finally took her in and the doc said it was just a virus. Eventually, her cough went away but she continued to be super fatigued. She would get soooo tired really quickly and just wanted to sit around in her pj’s all day every day. I started getting really concerned and then she told me that her toes felt weird and it wasn’t going away. Her legs were always really tired and most days she had bags under her eyes. This is all so out of the ordinary for Maya.

After doing exactly what you are not supposed to do (googling her symptoms) I was sure she had type 1 diabetes. She had several other symptoms that pointed to that diagnosis. I took her in and her doc was really concerned. She order a bunch of tests and after a long 2 weeks we heard back that her glucose was slightly higher than the norm. This was on a Friday so I had to wait until Monday to take her in for a 2 hour glucose tolerance test.

I had to take all 4 kids to sit in the labs waiting area. It was fun. Do you see that cup? It was huge and it took all she had to finish that off in the allotted 5 minutes. It was so bad that any time she looked at the empty cup she gagged.

They drew her blood after an hour and of course the lady missed her vein and went digging around for it. Maya was completely traumatized when the lady finally gave up. I had to tell Maya that she needed to try the other arm. I have NEVER seen my brave girl have such a big freak out! The job was done and we had to wait in the waiting area for another hour. I think that was the longest hour of Maya’s life, anticipating the last blood draw. When they called her back she went back into freak out mode and refused to let them draw blood. I had to promise her a toy that she had been saving for from the BX. The draw went smoothly and we were out of there, off to wait for the results.

I was really sad. I had convinced myself that she did have diabetes and I was trying really hard to psych myself up to take on this new trial. The next day when Rich came home from work he told me that the doc had called him with the results of the glucose test…NEGATIVE!!!!! I can’t even describe the relief I felt! We still don’t know what’s going on with her but she is slowly regaining her energy.

For now we are just enjoying every healthy day we have, hoping and praying that it stays this way. We’ve got lots of trips coming up that we are getting really excited about so I’m gonna have to keep Maya in a bubble so we can see these plans through, haha!

So far this summer…

So far this summer has been a good one. I can honestly say that most days I really enjoy having all of my kids at home. I don’t enjoy going grocery shopping with them and running errands is pure torture and, lets be honest, some days I’d just like to run away but, I really truly have enjoyed the days I am able to focus on having fun with them. I’ve been lame about having them do anything school related but summer has felt like summer and we love it. After all of our beach adventures we decided we would take a little break and hit up the local water park, Comprehensive Park. It is so perfect for my kids ages!

My little fashionista. Seriously, she is going to be a trendsetter this one.

I know I’m bouncing all over the place but oh well. I forgot to mention what we did on the 4th of July…nothing! We drove back from Okuma and stopped by a mall for some lunch and then some donuts.

All of the base celebrations and events were cancelled out of respect for the locals because of some sad stuff that has happened involving our military, so since we were exhausted anyway we just chilled and relaxed at home. It was so nice. I did manage to get the kids all decked out in patriotic outfits though!

In other news, we started a new Sunday tradition! One of my field mission companions posted about her family’s tradition of having grilled pb&j sandwiches after church. I was so curious so I made it for my kids and they loved it! So we’ve had them 2 Sunday’s so far and we all are loving the new tradition.

Our other new tradition is this…

This is Eva experiencing her first time-out ever and it’s become a daily occurrence. Sometimes we even do it 2-3 times a day! She’s come into the terrible 2’s with her fists swinging at her older siblings and is now suffering the consequences.

I love this picture. Hair in a bun, scriptures in hand, ready for church!

Our Baker Sunday Selfie

This goofy girl wearing Eva’s pajama top and goggles.

Cereal bowl as big as her face but it’s not slowing her down.

Maya had her very first book club get together.

I love our friends in our building.

We’ve made a few messes.

Do you see Eva in the mirror drawing on my chalkboard? haha!

I had some mommy time with my friend and neighbor, Jandy. We went to Cocok’s and then to Chili’s for lunch. It was a much needed getaway.

I got this text from one of Eva’s nurses, Erica, who became my close friend. I love how much she still loves her.

Lastly, I’m really loving Rich’s Sunday Selfie’s!

I’m gonna have to make a post of just video’s because there are so many cute ones. We are about halfway through the summer so we’ve got time for a lot more fun!