Day 1

Day 1 of our totally awesome, kid-less, vacation together!

I guess I really need to start with a few weeks prior to the trip. 

Rhett and James planned this whole trip and I felt really out of the loop. I couldn't really even tell you where we were going or when the plane would drop us back in Okinawa. It made me feel very panicky and I felt like something was going to go wrong. I asked Rhett about 15 times if he had made sure to do ALL the paperwork and if there was anything else we needed to do to go. He assured me that he and James had everything all worked out.

Fast forward to the evening before we are to leave. Our neighbor Chris came over to wish us a good trip. While visiting with him he casually asked me if we had made sure to get our passports stamped?!? I immediately went to grab Rhett to ask. The answer was NO. Chris said that they had missed their flight because they didn't get theirs stamped before they left. We called James and he immediately apologized for forgetting to tell us this was a must. Then we ran to the AMC terminal praying they had a space A flight going out. We got lucky and the terminal was open. The stars must have aligned for us to get those dang passports signed. 

Okay now on to the first day-

We started by waking up early and getting everything packed up. We had packed the kids earlier and just had to throw the last few items into our suitcases. We put everything out into the car just hoping and praying that we didn't forget anything too important. Next, I headed to the babysitters and dropped off the kids and the van. Rhett picked me up downstairs and we were off! Rhett had grabbed the other couple, James and Fabiola, and we all headed to the Naha airport. 

After arriving at the airport we had a car service pick up Rhett's car where they would detail it and be there to pick us up in 9 glorious days!

We waited in the LONG LONG lines and made it through to our gate. I was seriously so excited. A little nervous for the babysitter watching our children, but excited to be with Rhett. Rhett was pretty sure that either the babysitter, her husband, or one of the kids would be dead before we made it home! :) We were headed to Shanghai, China. Here we are at the Naha airport in Okinawa.

It made me smile because as we were checking in they saw Rhett and immediately asked if we wanted the emergency row on the plane because he was so tall and it had more leg room.  People in Asian tend to be a little on the shorter side so everywhere we went it was super easy to find Rhett. He was about a head taller than everyone else around us.

The flight was about an hour and a half so we got to Shanghai right around 4:00 p.m. We grabbed our luggage and headed to the FASTEST train in the WORLD! The Maglev. It was wild to watch out the window as the cars on the freeway looked as though they were standing still. It was fun to watch the numbers go up as we went faster and faster. We got across the city in about 20 minutes versus the hour taxi ride. It was cool.

Here we are sitting on the train chairs. I got some video of the outside of the train, but no pictures. :( You'll just have to trust me that we were indeed on a train!

That's right... we were going 431 km/h. Sorry folks, but we are in the land of kilometers and meters. I can't actually decipher how fast that is to you folks at home, but it was quick. Rhett was a little nervous that we would just fly off the tracks while I was hoping for a loop de loop. :)

Famous bridge to which the name has escaped me. I will have to look it up and get back on to post the name, but for now... just enjoy the beautiful view!

We got to the Radisson Hotel and were shown to our rooms. The hotel was absolutely beautiful. We decided to take showers and change into dressier clothes before hitting the town. Our night plans were to head to The Pearl Tower and take a boat tour along the Huangpu River.

We jumped in the taxi and talked as the driver drove us around. A fun fact about Shanghai is that they put the little kids in chaps and they just poop right on the street. Pretty gross, huh? There are also about 20 million people in the city of Shanghai. It is crazy populated and it's not just the kids that poop on the street! As we drove around the city James started to get worried. He knew that we were headed in the wrong direction and tried to tell the cab driver. Actually he had Rhett. The conversation went a little like this-

James from the back of the cab yells up to Rhett, "Hey Rhett, tell him that we are going the wrong way. We need to go to the Pearl Tower."

Rhett looks over at the driver and says, "Hey sir, we are going the wrong way... We want to go to Pearl Tower." It was hilarious because all he did was say the exact same thing that James said. Not that it did any good because the guy spoke NO english.

Twenty minutes later we are clear out of the city and he is trying to drop us off at a ferry! Maybe he just wanted us out of his country. :) We kept speaking to the driver and letting him know we were going the wrong way. James kept getting mad at Rhett because he wasn't talking to the driver and telling him where we needed to go. Rhett just looked back and said, "Dude, the driver doesn't speak any English and I only know Nihao ma." Finally, James gets out of the car and the driver gets out. They both climb back in after several minutes and we asked James if he had cleared everything up. James says, "No, we just got out and stared at each other." We all busted up laughing. Best quote of the trip!! Finally, James pulls out some paper and draws a picture of the Pearl Tower and we got going in the right direction. I felt the theme of this trip was turning into "Lost in Translation."

 

We got to the Pearl Tower, but than had a fun little argument about paying full price for the taxi ride around the city. We didn't want to pay the full price because the crazy guy led us everywhere BUT the place we wanted to go. He wanted the full price! He stopped at a hotel next the the pearl tower to clear things up with someone who spoke English.

After about 20 additional minutes of everyone arguing with the cab driver. One lady that was on our side took the money we had to offer and just stuck it in his hand. She then told us that we could leave. 

This is a picture of the Pearl Tower! We walked all over the place that night and I found myself thinking back and feeling sorry for all the girls that wear heels on the strip in Las Vegas. My toes were extremely pissed at me that night. I vowed to wear flip flops the rest of the trip! :) 

This city definitely has a night life. It was close to midnight and we still saw lots of parents with children up. I couldn't even imagine keeping my kids up that late. They would not be happy campers.

We made our way over to the Grand Hyatt Shanghai. It is the 2nd tallest building in Shanghai.

We went to a place called cloud 9 on the second tallest floor. We had a couple drinks and an appetizer and would have bought food, but it was a little out of our price. After our little snack we headed back down to the street to get some real food. We were all starving and opted for a little French Bistro that was still open. Rhett got some Thai inspired chicken and rice while I stuck with the good ol' club sandwich. I was way to hungary to try something I may not like. Rhett said the food was definitely not Thai nor was it inspiring. :)

After we ate we headed back to the hotel for some much needed sleep. I asked Rhett if he wanted to push our twin beds together to which he lovingly replied, "Heck no. Lets actually get a good nights sleep for once." That proves that this was not a honeymoon. We have been married 8 years now! Little twerp. I did sleep really well though! The first day was a success. We had a really great time.

Let me just apologize for all the typos. I am really tired typing this-- Hopefully I will get a chance to go back and fix all the errors, but for now just cut me some slack! :)

Update needed!

Sorry we have been a little absent lately on the blogging front. We got back from our trip a few days ago and I have been going through pictures in the hope of showing off our wonderful vacation together. I plan on updating the first day of the trip today so keep checking back and hopefully I can get it done soon!

Sorry to family that it has taken so long. I have been busy getting back into the routine of having 4 little boys. I forgot how hard my job is. I feel as though I can't quite keep up with them. ;)

Bubble Cake

I thought I needed to throw a couple pictures of the cake that our neighbor Julie made for the kids. They told her they wanted a bubble birthday cake and she totally delivered. We had to cancel the party due to the typhoon, but the neighbor's still came over and sang to the kids with us and had some cake and ice cream. We had several bubble blowers blowing bubbles all over the dining room. I have mopped 3 times since the party and still feel like I'm sticking to the floor, but it was worth it because for those 30 minutes... I was an awesome Mom!

We threw all the balloons up in there room and made a big tent out of their bunk beds. It was such a highlight of the day. Bubbles and balloons- I think YES! :)

Typhoon Muifa

We had planned the "Bubble Birthday Party" for the weekend and were all set for some fun. We had invited a few families over to help us celebrate surviving three years with twins. It is quite the accomplishment if I say so myself. Well, on Thursday typhoon Muifa decided to ruin our party. We went into TCCOR 1C (Caution) on Thursday and were actually kind of excited for Rhett to be able to come home from work. We went into TCCOR 1E (Emergency) or what we like to call "LOCK DOWN" a few hours later. We went to the shoppette while we were in TCCOR 1C and grabbed a couple SAD movies. The selection was a little low by the time we got there, but hey we were just excited to have a couple days off work. That excitement wore off real FAST. 

It was suppose to hit us dead on and go right over us. You can see from the pictures where Okinawa is and the typhoon. This thing was BIG! Rumors were that is was suppose to be the biggest typhoon they have had here for the last 12 years!

Well, day one was kind of nice. We had stocked up on food and water, flipped the tramp, and brought everything inside to keep it from getting blown away. We ate a nice meal and put the kids to bed than settled in to watch "Red Riding Hood" and "Paranormal Activity 2." I have to give the storm credit... you made that movie a lot scarier than it would have been. ;) Anyway, it was a great day off.

Day 2- Getting kind of old. We still had power unlike many friends. I almost felt guilty as we played on facebook, watched cartoons, and played nintendo with the kids. We watched it blowing and raining out of control outside, but inside we were all just fine. No problems with the house... no leaking. 

Day 3- Saturday we were still in TCCOR 1E. The kids were starting to drive me insane and Rhett was ready to sacrifice himself to the typhoon just for the chance to get away for a few minutes/hours/lifetime.  Again, I feel so guilty saying this because we still had power. We talked to so many people who lost power that first night and lost water the next day. Here I am complaining about my kids bugging me when people were in their "Leaking Homes" with no power and no water. That mean no AC and let me tell you it is HOT here! About 48 hours after they called TCCOR 1E they called TCCOR 1R (Recovery) A few hours later we were FREE! They called the Storm Watch and let me tell you we were the first ones out the door. 

We had very little damage. We had a couple trees fall over and lots of branches break off, but that was all for us. The only side effects we had from the storm was the lizard and 4-5 spiders that somehow managed to get into the van and ride out the storm there. I hate finding little crawlies on me when I'm driving and have found a TON since the typhoon, but I certainly can't fault them for trying to stay alive. I feel bad EVERY time I have to kill one! :) Anyway, we got 41 inches of rain in 2 days and the trees seems to take the worst of the damage. That and a lot of FLOODING and leaking houses.

Here are a couple of pictures people posted during the typhoon!

 Angry waves at the beach!

Quite a bit of flooded areas and check out this poor little car! ;)

We got a little worried about the trampoline so we sent Rhett out to save it a few times. :) I needed to zoom out a little so you could see how hard the wind was blowing. It was pretty insane, but more than it being a strong typhoon it was LONG! We are so glad that we were all safe and that we kept power and water! It was a great "Mandatory Family Time."

Happy Birthday Hunter and Ryker

At the beginning on August the babies had their birthday. They turned 3 this year and were so excited about the entire "Party" thing. I had asked them a couple months back what kind of birthday party they wanted and they both immediately shouted that they wanted a "Bubble Birthday Party." Okay! That's easy enough.

I went to the toy store to see what kind of fun stuff I could find and was stoked when they had bubble makers and bubbles on clearance. I think I bought about 7 bubble makers and TONS of bubbles. We were really going to make this a fun party. We planned on setting up the slip n slide and filling up the pool with bubbles. We also have the tramp that we had planned on playing on.

The babies were so excited for their bubble birthday party. We asked our neighbor Julie to make the cake since she plays around with fondant. She whole heartedly agreed and went right to work to make something bubble themed. 

Well, meanwhile on their ACTUAL birthday I went to the store and picked up a couple small cakes and balloons and we had a little family party. They are very into BIRTHDAY CAKE and they were so thrilled. They opened their presents and were so happy to have new clothes, new toys, and even some money from great Grandma Sundberg. Daddy completed the perfect evening by making them smoothies. What a fun day for two beautiful boys. We are so happy to have you in our family! These pictures are from the family party we had. I'll post the "Bubble Birthday Party" in another post!

I let them pick out their own colors for the cake and the candles. Ryker picked out a chocolate cake and Hunter picked out a vanilla with white and blue frosting! Both were pretty gross, but the kids liked them!

Hunter is a little more TAME than Ryker... but soon joined in the messy fun of birthdays!

Taylor and Carter have been really in Bakugan lately and picked out these creepy fun little masks at the party store. They can be seen jumping on the tramp, running around the house, and even sleeping with these babies on. To say that they LOVE them is a bit of an understatement! When I see the boys wearing them it cracks me up big time. Especially Taylor because the hair matches. They are too funny lately.

That blue frosting was AWESOME! A little messy, but totally cool!

Yummy! Daddy makes the BEST smoothies for us to eat.

Going Private

I have decided to make my blog private. I put too many pictures of my little kids and it kind of creeps me out to see people pulling up pictures of them in their underwear. I am tired of having to go back through all my posts deleting anything I think they may be looking at. I will leave it up for a couple of days until I ask Heather how to go private, but if you still want to look at my blog just email me over your email address and I will add you to the list. Anyone who knows us through family or friends is welcome to keep looking... it's all the random crazies of the world I am trying to protect my kids from. :)

Mona Kids Jungle

Awhile back I took the kids to Mona Kids Jungle with a friend to get out of the house and still enjoy a nice air conditioned room. Mona Kids Jungle is a big play room with TONS of McDonald like play equipment. The kids were in Heaven. We played several games of hide and seek and Carter also kicked my butt in the obstacle course that we set up. In my defense... he fit through the tunnels WAT better than I did.

I looked all over for Carter while playing hide and seek and finally gave up. He showed me this awesome hiding place right up at the very top that he had squeezed into. What an awesome hider!

This was where me and Ryker hid. It was up in one of the tunnels. Unfortunately when you have little partners that are extremely excited you get found REALLY QUICK! :)

He just kept yelling, "Carter, can you get us?"

He found us in no time at all. Taylor hid in the balls and was also pretty hard to find. Great place.

Here was Carter coming to get us.  I love the look on Taylor's face right below this. It was of pure excitement. We all had such a great time here and will definitely have to hit this one up again. It is especially nice on those HOT summer days when it pains you to be outside for too long. The AC is worth every penny that we spent that day.

Carter showing me how he did the balance rope so quickly in the obstacle course.