Feeding the elephant at the Okinawa Zoo.

"Who Did It?"

Pineapple Park~

If I had to explain this place in one word I would have to use "LOVE." It was so much fun. My kids ask me almost everyday if we can go back.

We started off by paying our Y500 and they gave each little kid a tiny pineapple in a cute little bag to carry around with them. They gave one to Hunter and Ryker too, but after they kept hitting each other and crying because they got poked... I took them away and put theirs in my purse.

Here's what the cute little one's looked like. There was one more, but Taylor was confidant that you could eat it. I, being the great Mom that I am, cut his up and showed him that it was indeed NOT edible! Than he cried for two days straight that he didn't have a pineapple! Poor kid.

Then we got to cruise around in this totally AWESOME golf cart as they took us on a tour of the pineapple fields. It was automatic so nobody was driving. This really made the little boys excited. I mean it's not everyday we get to ride in a "magic" gold cart. Especially one that looks so cool! ;) Anyway, it was a fun tour and it was even in English. This is HUGE! Most of the tours we go on they are only speaking Japanese so it was fun for us to actually understand what they were saying.

Part of the pineapple fields.

The fantastic little decorative ones. I can't explain how adorable these were. I guess there's only one way to put it. I would have traded a kid in for a few more, and they gladly would have taken the twins. They couldn't get enough of them.

When you get to the end of the tour they drop you off and you go through their factory. You can look in the windows and see them cutting them up. They also have little things to show how a pineapple grows. The different stages and what not! It was fun. Then, you end up in the winery. You REALLY have to watch your kids in this area because they have samples of the different wines and they have NO problem at all giving any to small children.

This picture is of the cute little ones again. I seriosuly could not get enough of them. After the winery you go straight to the most AMAZING shell collection I have ever seen in my entire life. I could have stayed here looking at shells for over a month and not seen all the details on some of them. Rhett was in Heaven when we took him back.

They took our picture right when we got there then tried to sell it back to us for an outrageous amount. I opted not to buy them, but then they just kept coming down in price until I bought both little pictures for Y500. After you look at your pictures, you go into a room that has three huge trays of pineapple. You can have as much as you want. We definitely made them go broke here. The little boys couldn't get enough of it.

Anyway, somewhere along the tour you end up in this big store. It has samples of everything you could think of that has been made with pineapple. Tons of cakes, cookies, breads, and drinks. This was the boys favorite place in the world. We didn't really buy anything so I felt bad for letting the little guys sample everything, but honestly the people here love my kids. They love to talk to them, touch their spiked up hair, and kiss their sweet little cheeks. We had such a fantastic time here that when we went to Okuma we made Rhett come back here with us. He liked it as well. :)

Pizza in the Sky~

Before we moved to the island there were several places that people said we had to go. This happened to be one of them. It was fun to see, but I was a little disappointed about this "amazing view" it was suppose to have. I guess that we have been a little spoiled living where we live right on the water... because everything else just doesn't compare.

It was a fun experience to go. We went with the Smith Family. They have been really great friends here. Rhett actually did his residency with Aaron's twin brother Jake. I know talk about a small world. It was lucky for us to have immediate friends here. I met Aaron's wife Kristen in the TLF playroom. She came in to play and brought her two kids, Lily and Gunnar. Taylor and Gunnar butted heads right away and Taylor put his little fist up and said to Gunnar, "Do you want me to give you a knuckle sandwich?" I was a little embarrassed, but Kristen just laughed it off. :)

Pizza in the Sky is a little different than Pizza Hut or really any pizza place I have been before. When you get there they have two seating areas. Your choices are outside or inside? If you choose outside you will be sitting on picnic tables. If you choose inside you will be sitting on little mats on the floor. With four adults and six kids we had a very easy choice! Outside it was. It was a beautiful evening so it worked out really nice.

Once you are seated they hand you a cute little fan (menu) that has the choices on it. The choices are pretty limited. They have a small pizza, large pizza, salad, and a couple of drink choices. You don't choose the toppings you just get whatever the pizza of the day is. When we went they had meat, similar to cut up hot dogs, sauce, cheese, and green peppers, and corn?!? It sounds pretty gross, but it actually tasted so good. We also ordered a salad. It was made up of a small amount of lettuce, cheese, corn, and a MOUNTAIN of onions! The dressing was really good, but the salad wasn't the best we have had. Neither Rhett or myself are huge onions eaters and that's what this salad was mostly. Overall, we really liked this place. I thought it was a little pricey, but it wasn't too bad for Japan. We had a really great time playing with the Smith family. The kids love when we all get together!

Naughty Naughty Naughty!!!

I really don't know how to explain how hard it is to raise twins, but seriously it is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life! It's so much different than having one kid at a time. They are just so NAUGHTY, NAUGHTY, NAUGHTY!!! I have been struggling for some time with nap time. It hasn't been going well at all! They are so tired and need to take one so bad, but they just fight it so hard.

I started trying to get them to sleep in a room together. This went horribly! They kept each other up to play and always made HUGE messes! I then tried to separate them. This also didn't work and just left me with twice the mess. I would have to clean up both the destroyed rooms and they still never even took a nap! I try to take a quick shower while Taylor watches a quiet time movie. I learned that I REALLY can't shower at this time and just need to watch the babies.

One day, they snuck out of their room and got into the fridge. It was so gross to come out and find milk, cheese, yogurt, and EGGS all over the floor. We have had several incidents with eggs and I have hated every single one of them. I don't know what it is with the babies and throwing eggs at each other.

Another time, they crawled into the dresser and pulled out all the markers. They drew on every single wall. I mean not just a little, but marked them up horribly. I scrubbed until I thought my hands were going to bleed. I called Rhett in tears and had him pick up some magic erasers at the BX on his way home. ( They are my newest best friend- seriously amazing things. Thank you Mr. Clean. I love you!) I scrubbed and got all the marker off, but was so discouraged when it happened for the next two days in a row. They had dropped a couple markers down the side of the bed and I hadn't noticed them. I threw away ALL the crayons, markers, and colored pencils except a tiny box that I keep up high for Carter to do his homework. I thought that would work to keep the messes down and my sanity in tact.

It did for two days until they decided to strip off their diapers and paint all over the wall with their crap!!! Grrr... poop is the GROSSEST thing in the world. I hate changing poopy diapers and I hate wiping Taylor's butt after he goes in the toilet. I hate when Carter asks me to come and see it and my answer is NO and always will be NO! I think poop is GROSS!!! The babies have no problem with poop and think it's awesome! They have always been the babies to take off their diaper and eat, throw, and paint with it! :( I don't know why!

The other thing they always do is that they pull out all the clothes from all the dresser drawers. I hate cleaning them up after every single nap. I can't keep up as it is... I really don't need to do the same thing every single day several times!

I started making the babies sleep out in the living room with a towel, blanket, and their little Pooh Bear. This worked for three or four days. Then they just played around. It didn't matter if I tried time out or spanked the poor kids. This just riled them up even more!

My babies now sleep in their bedroom in the swings. Please don't judge! You can judge only when you have walked in my shoes for a couple weeks. :) So far, it's been FANTASTIC! It does make me nervous though because Hunter climbed out by himself the other day. I'm hoping it was just a fluke, but time will tell! Sorry for all the venting, but these kids are going to be the death of me!

The living room sleeping arrangements!

Hunter

Ryker

The fridge mess. Not the kind of thing you want to see right after you finished mopping the floor!

The poop painting. Gross!!!!

They did all the walls and I guess they didn't want to waste any poo so they started in on the mattress. :(

Markers markers everywhere!

Hunter

Ryker

More on the walls!

Caught in the act. They say if you take a picture you can laugh about it later! It's still not funny to me. Maybe when they have their own little monsters. :)

Helping mommy clean up. They thought it was so fun to clean up and ask me for wet wipes to "wash" everyday now.

You might be a blue neck if.....

What sweet, clean, little monsters!

Babies- PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE be nice to Mommy. She needs a break!

Zakimi Castle Ruins

A couple Saturday's ago we planned another outing to get out of the house with the little ones. We chose Zakimi Castle Ruins. I really want them to get as much out of Japan as possible so we are trying so hard to cram everything in is such a short time. :( I'm afraid we won't get to see it all, but I really want to eat it all up before we leave. The kids have loved every bit of it. Anyway, Zakimi Castle Ruins was a great place to visit. We had such a great time exploring and letting the kids run around. Anything that takes a little of their energy is a great thing. The steps at the beginning were kind of a killer for the babies, but once we got up them it all was on the up an' up.

We usually try to get a family photo on our outings together since I have so many without Rhett due to us going while he's at work, but there wasn't anyone around. So we just took turns with the kids!

This was of the front door as Carter called it. He thought it was awesome and even asked if it was for giants. Being here in Japan... the people are rather short...so I really doubt it was for a giant! :)

Another doorway, can you find Carter and Taylor?

It was seriously such a cool place to visit. I'm glad we got to see it. We have been to a couple Castle Ruins and it has been an amazing experience!

This was me demonstrating to Rhett that I could easily scale up the side wall and breach the castle. :) I would have gone all the way, but was SUPER embarrassed when another military couple happened to walk around the corner. I quickly jumped down, but Rhett was cracking up. It was pretty funny. They just politely smiled as I tried to explain what I was trying to do.

Since I'm still a good month behind... these are pictures of the apartment!

Well, the next several posts will all still be here in Japan since we haven't left and won't be leaving until probably January! These are pictures of the apartment that we are staying in. I have already posted pictures of the view, but this is the inside of the house! I actually really like it here and even though it's pretty small we have gotten used to a little bit less space. I am all for it.... less cleaning! ;)

The babies USA room. I thought we needed a little piece of the good old USA here with us in Japan.
The big boys helped me make cute little frames and we put all sorts of pictures from the air show in them. They turned out really cute. The babies love to rip them off the wall.

The window. Right behind it is the China Sea. Every room has a great view of the water.

Carter/Taylor and the guest room- all rolled into one. :) Rhett said he would still LOVE to have visitors. He has tons of space and he could really show you a great time here in Japan.

This is right when you walk in the front door. When we open the balcony door and the front door it gets so windy from the breeze. The little kids love to play in the wind.

The kitchen- nice amount of cupboard space.

Our new kitchen table- since we put the other in storage.

A little server to match the table. This is the dining room which leads right into the living room. :)

Pretty basic!

Our bedroom has the most beautiful view in the mornings. I love waking up to the sounds of the waves hitting the shore!