Ice Skating!

When we first got our orders to Okinawa Tom started looking up everything there is to do here.  We were so excited to be somewhere more exciting than Valdosta, GA.  One of the things he found was an ice skating rink.  We laughed about ice skating on a sub-tropical island.  It took us almost two years to check it out.

The Southern Hill Sports Center is in Naha and has a bowling alley, batting cages, pool hall, arcade, and ice skating rink.  We got there before the rink opened so we decided to bowl a game while we waited.

Meltdown on frame 6.

And then the rink opened.

We had a convenient lunch of cup o' soup out of the vending machine.  Do they have soup vending machines back home?  I can't remember.

The curry noodles were a huge hit.  Yes, Adam, I can send you some when I mail your next box.

Ice skating was expensive, but then EVERYTHING on this island is expensive.  I ignorantly thought when we moved here that COLA was just free money you got for living here.  And then I realized that you need it in order to get by because everything here costs so much.  We had a good time, but I doubt if we'll go back since Brendan is still too small to skate more than about a half hour.

This weekend is another birthday party!



Anything That Goes!

This boy loves ANYTHING that goes. 

Sunday evening after dinner I took him out in his red wagon with the big playground as our destination.  We only made it two houses down because he spotted this in the front yard.

And of course he had to play on it.

We walked home to ask Daddy if we could keep it.  He said he's still too little.

 

We took him to the movies this weekend to see Ice Age 4.  It had been one year since we tried Cars 2 and he only lasted 20 minutes.  Tom put the original Ice Age movie on at home to get him pumped about it.  It worked.  He got in a little trouble when we first got there because he wouldn't stay in the seats that he chose, but once the movie got started he did great.  He went back and forth between both of our laps and his own seat.  A few times he told us, "I don't want to watch this" and "I want to go home now."  But we convinced him to keep watching.  I'm sure the popcorn and Twizzlers helped.  He made it through the whole movie and on our way out the door he said he wanted to watch it again.  And Ice Age is all he wants on at our house now. 

Sunday morning we were running late for church.  I almost decided to just go to the grocery store and then go to church for the second service, but we figured we would make it before the singing was over and we'd still get to hear the message.  Unfortunately, we were so late that Brendan's class was full.  And so was the "cry room."  We had to take him into the sanctuary.  We decided to try and told each other that when it was time to go, we'd just have to leave.  He thought he was big stuff in there with all the adults.  We took a seat at the back and I took a deep breath.  Brendan has never been one of those 'sit quietly and play' kids.  Just about the time everyone stopped singing and it got really quiet he said, quite loudly, "Squirrel eat it!"  He was talking about Ice Age.  We stayed long enough for him to put our money in the offering plate and then we had to go.  But at least we tried.

Today marks two and a half years since this guy was born.

It feels like I just blinked and he's this two-and-a-half-year-old little person with his own thoughts and ideas and opinions.  His daycare reports no longer say things like "happy" or "fussy."  They nos say things like "very funny and talkative" and "sweet lover boy."  How did this happen so quickly?  A lot of days I get frustrated and lose my patience and feel like I'm doing a crappy job.  And then I'll ask him how much he loves Mommy and when he tells me to the moon and back, all my frustration melts away.  For a little while anyway.

 

Big News!

Somebody is now sleeping in a big boy bed!



When he walked in he said, "Oooohhh!"

He likes his bed, but he doesn't like being under the covers.  He prefers to sleep on top of them, covered with his Cars "night night."  And he doesn't particularly care for his pillow.

He woke up in the middle of the night the other night and when I went in there to figure out what was wrong he told me his leg was stuck.  He was tangled up in his covers.

He clearly likes sleeping sideways.

Sleeping pictures are probably still my favorite.

The Past Week Or So

We spent the morning of the Fourth at the beach!

One of his favorite things to eat is cereal.  For the life of me, I cannot remember what was so funny this day, but he sure was having a good time.

 

It's so hot during the day that we try to avoid being outside for the most part, unless it involves the beach or the pool.  But after dinner it's usually cooled off enough to go to the playground for a little while.

Kids...they're the same everywhere.

He prefers going up the slide, rather than down.

We lost his fake Crocs at the beach, so we got him some real ones.  He loves them.

 

You would think he's just being cute.  He's not.  He's turning around to see if I'm watching because I had told him not to go over to that hill.