Spelling test!

Carter and I have been working so hard on spelling lately! I sometimes feel like he's just not getting it! It goes a little like this-

Me- Rock and then we clap out each letter R O C K, then put them together Rock!

Carter- Rock R O C K mop.

Me-Carter, Rock not mop. R O C K, Rock.

Then back to him- R O C K, pop.

I'm wondering if he's doing it just to bug me! Every night we practice because he has his test on Fridays! Anyway, the first week he came home and he had got 9 out of 10 right. I was so happy that the practicing was doing some good.

Then, last Firday, he came home and was so proud of himself! He pulled out his test and showed me he had got 10 out of 10 right! I jumped up and down like a little school girl. I was so excited until he said this-

"I almost got wig wrong. I thought it was a C, but then I looked at my neighbors paper and he had a G, so I changed mine!"

I then had my first discussion about cheating with Carter!

Wish us luck- first grade is a lot harder than kindergarten was! :)

Just me and the little ones!

I am SO excited to have a schedule now! It's just me and the little guys! Rhett has a car now, a 2001 Toyota Celica, so now we don't have to take him to work everyday and Carter is in school. It has been so relaxing to be able to stay home and sing songs with the little ones. We also try to get out as much as we can!

We went back to the zoo the other day to kill off a couple hours and the little ones loved it! It was a pretty hot day and I think I much preferred getting rained on and completely soaked like the first day! The weather here is really hot and humid right now. Everyone is saying it should cool off next month and we can't wait! We looked through all the animals and just took our time. I let the babies walk the whole thing and by the ned they were exhausted and took a fantastic nap for me!

Other things-

We are getting our first load from TMO tomorrow! I am so excited! The phone is in there... so those who have missed talking to us will surely get a phone call within the next couple days. I'll try to figure out the time difference before I just call and wake you up at four in the morning. :)

The kids are excited for some of their toys to get here! It has been a pretty boring apartment lately and it will be nice when they have something to entertain them! The high chairs are also coming- perfect timing too! We get our new table today!

When we were moving here we talked to quite a few people and everyone said, "Put most your stuff in storage. They have stuff you can rent there." That's SORT OF true... they have stuff you can rent temporarily! After 90 days you have to give it all back. This was a bummer to find out! We have a great table in storage and now have to buy another one. We also have to buy a bed for me and Rhett. The hard part of this is that furniture stores are pretty expensive here and not the biggest selection. Well, we went on base and bought some stuff. We are super excited to have a king bed again. The kids have been getting used to the apartment and have come into our bed most nights! It's NOT the best nights sleep when you're on a double bed with Rhett, Taylor, and the twins! One night I woke up and Rhett was fast asleep in the bunk beds! I totally don't blame him and only wish I had thought of the idea first! :) Anyway, pictures soon to come of the inside of our apartment! We love and miss everyone!!!

The babies trekking up the hill!

The fruit bats here are SO big!

Getting a view from all angles to see the penguin!

The good old hippo- A total favorite!

Ryker was running and fell down the hill. Hunter ran right up and pulled him into a hug! Priceless- I'm glad I had the camera out. This doesn't happen as often as it should!

Taking a break from looking at the elephant!

The turtles are also one of the favorites! I know-lame! They don't even do anything. They just sit in the water, but we spend at least a good 10 minutes here every time time we go!

We got a bite to eat for lunch and headed home for naps. What a great morning! For lunch we ate there! We had soba, which is a noodle soup. Hunter and Ryker love it. Taylor HATES it so he had and American Dog, which is a corn dog! The kids get so much attention and LOVE it. They always say, "Bye Bye, lob you." To everyone! Hunter on the other hand says, "I luck you." It's cute! They are getting to be such great little talkers!!!

Araha Beach

There are so many beaches right around us. Araha beach is the closest one to us. It's about 5 minutes. We probably could walk, but it might be a little far for the kids so we usually drive! They have this little netted off swimming area that is nice! It is a really pretty beach!

The only thing I really hate about the beach is bringing home all the sand. They have little showers, but there really is NO WAY to get all the sand off you! I've just come to accept that my car is the beach car!

Ryker with a shovel of sand. His favorite thing to do is to flip that shovel up right onto his head! It's hilarious to watch. He sometime gets it right in his face and cries, but mostly he ust comes home with a head full of sand!

Taylor is my little fish! He loves the sand, but you will mostly see this little guy swimming in the water! The water is really warm here so that makes it nice for everyone!

This was when I told Carter to give Hunter back the big shovel! We have a lot of tears in our family when it comes to taking turns and sharing!

Ryker and Hunter playing in the sand!

Hunter filling up his bucket!

We stayed there until sunset and it was gorgeous! I LOVE this picture because it has all my favorite people in it!

The sunset!

Rhett carved out a word in the sand for everyone! It says Konnichiwa! He didn't have time to finish it before I made him take the picture and head home! He did the same thing in Hawaii using Aloha! Good job Rhett!!!

Okinawa Zoo

We felt the need to get the kids out the other day and decided to hit up the zoo. We love to see the animals and it's a great place to let the kids run off some steam! We packed everyone up and hit the road. It's about 20 minutes from our house, so it's not too far!

We decided to get the year passes so I can take the kids a few more times. Most of the stuff here is pretty expensive, but the year pass wasn't bad at 1,000 yen for Carter and 1,400 for me and Rhett. The three little guys are still free! I am so glad we bought the pass because we had so much fun! It was a really interactive zoo.

The little boys favorite part was that we watched them feed the hippos really close and they each got to feed the elephant a banana. We were right there close by the animals and I even got to touch the elephant's trunk. It was really cool!

Also the bats here are almost the size of eagles! It's wicked crazy!!!

Hunter with a really serious look on his face!

Ryker smiling by a little turtle statue!

The hills were REALLY steep! I made Rhett push the stroller! It is SO green here though!

Ryker showing daddy the Lion!

Watching the hippo eat! It was funny! They would open their mouths so wide and rest them open on the bars!

A funny sign by the lions and tigers. We didn't get too close to that cage!

Carter and Taylor on their way down to see the alligators. Another HUGE favorite!!!

Carter LOVES the alligators and we spent a long time looking at every variety they have here!

The twins looking to see some turtles!

Wonder Museum

Last weekend we needed to get out of the house and find a place the kids could just play and have fun! We decided to try out the Wonder Museum. It was a great day for this because it was pouring outside! An indoor activity was just what we needed!

The little kids had the best time. We will surely be going back here! We spent several hours doing different activities and I still feel like we didn't see it all! Here were a couple of our favorite things!

Rhett and the kids right in front of our elevator! We live on the 6th floor so I am SO glad they have one here!

The kids spinning their little hearts out!

A family photo- This was one of those things where it has all the little plastic sticks. You know the little one's where you put your hand behind it and it shows your hand- where this is everyone's face! Now that I think about it... that's kind of gross that we put of faces in it! Who knows how many hands have been on it.

Alice in Wonderland chair-

Look it SHRUNK!!!

This cracked me up because the babies didn't want to take turns. They just both tried to get in it!

Silly Rhett

Cheese Ball

Then, we sat in eggs.

We spent the most time playing with one of those little things you put the penny in and it goes around and around until it finally goes through the hole- well, they had one of these that used little balls and the kids played here forever! They loved to have races to see who's could stay up the longest!

They also had-

A huge area full of books.

A stage with dozens of costumes.

Lots of science experiments

A dancing area that changed what you look like.

And TONS of other fun things we didn't make it to. Overall, we all had a ball. Honestly though... it's hard to take Rhett to places like this and think he'll actually help me with the kids instead of becoming a kid himself. I guess I need to lower my expectations of him. lol.

Our fishing adventure-

Rhett has been with us a lot more than he's used to. It has been driving him absolutely CRAZY and I'm sure he secretly wonders everyday how I do the job. Anyway, he needed a break so I took all the kids on a little adventure- When you say adventure to kids it means it's going to be really fun!!! I love to call the grocery store an adventure then see their disappointed faces when we get there. lol. j/k.

Okay, so here we are going on this adventure- I gave all the kids a fishing net and we were headed to the water to do some MAJOR fishing! We got there and had a ball holding the nets into the water trying to catch the beautiful bright blue fish on the bottom. I can tell you we did catch a couple things, but they definitely weren't the catch of the day. No fish for dinner that night. We had a great time though!

We love to go to the little steps and put our feet in the Ocean. When the waves are going it's especially fun. The wave will hit the steps than shoot water all over us!

Here is one of the things we caught-

There's a story that goes with his picture. I caught this the other day with the boys using my bare hands! I know SHOCKING! We ran home and knew that dad was taking a nap. I thought it would be hilarious to put it on Rhett and have him wake up to this on his chest! Anyone that really knows me knows that I love a good practical joke! :) Carter was really scared for dad and gave him a little warning though, but NOT before I tossed it onto him. lol. It was great!!! Rhett just stared down at this crab and thought I had finally lost my mind!

I think I didn't get a great reaction because earlier that day Carter had come out of the bathroom after going number 2... he informed us that he had not flushed, which basically means that he used an entire roll of toilet paper and was scared that it wouldn't go down and would "bubble over." His words- not mine

Anyway, I went into the bathroom looked it over and gave it a good flush. I then put on my make up and threw my hair into a pony tail. I thought it would be great to tease Rhett a little. He was sitting on the couch playing a game on his phone! I flushed the toilet again, then yelled in my best panicked voice, "Rhett hurry get the plunger." We have had REALLY bad experiences with toilets! Sorry dad!!! Anyway, I got just the reaction I was looking for- He jumps off the couch and yells where is it. I say, "It's in the car." Then, I laugh and laugh!!!

He didn't find it nearly as funny as I did! I laughed all night about this! Then, he made me tell the kids the bedtime story "The boy who called Wolf." Worth it!!!

Rhett's bed buddy!

Three of the four at the cool water thing- I don't know what they call it!

Carter getting a good splash!

Fishing for dinner!

Ryker was REALLY excited!
Hunter was pretty stoked too- You know why? Because their mom is the bomb!!

I don't mean to brag, but I was the only one to catch anything. It's not quite dinner worthy, but maybe I could use it for bait to catch something a little bigger! :)

Carter's First Day Of First Grade!

Carter is LOVING school. He goes to Killin Elementary. It's on the Foster Marine Base. He rides the bus now... even though the bus stop is almost as far as the school. He really likes it! His teacher is Mrs. Willeford! He has volunteered me to be his cub scout leader which I declined and the book order mom. I accepted this job and am grateful I will be able to help out his class from home! We even ordered TONS of books! Grandma Olsen has really helped my kids enjoy reading. I thought I had better get some night time books here! Maybe it will help with the schedule! :)

They are the Gecko's. Carter has told anyone who will listen that because his school is Killin and they are the Gecko's--- it means they really are Killing Gecko's.

Carter with Mrs. Willeford!

Carter at his desk!

Ocean View Palace

We moved into Ocean View Palace IV 10 days after we got to Okinawa! We looked at the on base housing and it was really old, small, and quite trashy. Rhett convinced me that we really should look off base! A lot of the new dentists had already found places that they liked off base, so we set up an appointment with the housing department. They came and picked us up and took us to look at 1 apartment! It happened to be this one! I fell in LOVE with it immediately. It's pretty small, but everything over here is!

We put a deposit down on it and I went the next day to look at 4 more! None of the others made my face light up like this one did! So we went ahead and got right in. Moving day was a little crazy because we were on T-Core 1. The wind was blowing really hard and it was raining like crazy. Our first typhoon hit just North of us that night! We were just fine, but it was sure crazy to see the Ocean. The waves were huge and it was white outside from all the water in the air. It was a neat experience, but we are glad it didn't hit us right on. Okuma recreation area wasn't so lucky. It's a base just North and the eye of the storm hit them directly. They have been closed for clean up, but should be opening back up soon!

We love the view where we are at and the easy access to the water! The beach is about 5 minutes down the road, but there is a little step dock that lets you get right in the water just right down from us! The kids have had a ball and honestly I love the Ocean. I am so glad that we are living here. We have beautiful sunsets. I sometimes just sneak out onto the balcony without the kids and take a little time out for myself. The sound of the waves and watching the water just seem to perk me right up!

We don't have any of our furniture, but we do have some loaner stuff. Carter is getting his own room with a Queen size bed so if anyone is saving up to come and visit he would love to give you his room. Hint Hint!!! The three little kids sleep on the bunk bed right now! Carter just seems like he needs a little space away from all the chaos.

Anyway, so far this place has been great! Oh... except the neighbor right under us has come up to complain twice already about the noise. He says he can hear running a lot. I told him I'm sorry, but I have LOTS of little kids! Hopefully, when our rugs get here it will become a little more quiet for him. If not, he could always move. lol. j/k.

Rhett, Carter, and the babies out on the balcony!

These are from the balcony!

And this is from sitting on the couch in the living room!