My Girl

Just a quick picture update of the sweet Gabby Jean.  She is growing daily and we have the best conversations. Here are a few pictures of the past few weeks, at Clay's baseball game, eating curry out in town, and eating rice (rice wrapped in seaweed, with tuna in the middle), her first time with painted nails (she still is overly excited about them). Enjoy!

Cooking

I feel like I always get in ruts about what to cook for dinner.  Lately I have been trying to make new things, or get new inspiration for something different!  I decided that taking pictures of what I make is fun and helps me put more thought into what I prepare.  Some of the tasty things we have had lately are: 

*homemade spinach pesto (Clay was on duty, he doesn't like pesto. We brought it to the pool for lunch the next day and it was a huge hit!)

*Flank Steak, slow cooked with a rub

*Steamed vegetables! A 5.5 lb bag from Costco of Normandy Vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, yellow carrots and carrots) totally delicious!

*Posole, a mexican soup. I used chicken to be healthier, and had the chili sauce frozen from when I made it with my neighbor (not sure I could make that on my own), hominy and topped with cabbage and lemon.

*Smores!!! I haven't been camping in 8 years, so I got the bright idea to make them under the broiler in the oven. I am totally hooked, not a good thing either. I used some butterscotch chips too!  

Sunshine & Moonbeam

Earlier this week Gabrielle started talking about names, a lot!  She says "name" and wants to know or will tell you who people are. She now says her long name "Gabb-e-L"  it's pretty cute.  Her babies have always been mostly nameless, except for a few here and there.  Gabby and Clayton were playing baby dolls (yes, he does. he even wraps them in blankets) and she kept saying "Sun, Sun".  She was naming her baby!  Clayton decided that if one baby (they are twins, came together. 1 pink, 1 purple) was Sun the  other had to be Moon.  Sun and Moon are two of her constant companions, and she does call them by name!  Lately she wants her two babies to do everything with her.  Both must come with us in the car, she puts them in a stroller to push around, takes them to bed- yes she MUST  have both, if she wakes up with only one she will cry "two babies, two babies".  Two babies are a little dirty looking, but with cloth bodies and clothes that don't come off I don't wash them that frequently.  Oh and the babies are coming in handy, she is much more eager to let you brush her teeth if afterwards the babies can have their faces brushed!  

The only recent picture I can find has 3 babies, but you get the idea! Like her fake smile?!?!

AVE

In the last year I have started doing more shopping out in town.  I have always done some shopping off base, but not on a weekly basis or anything.  AVE is a store just a few minutes down the road, and I find it has the best deals on produce and is easy for us to go there- we can park at the store so we don't have to worry about parking on base, then walking and carrying our groceries home. They are open from 10-7 and they don't do very much re-stocking during the afternoon so if you go late there isn't much selection.  We usually go right before nap or after.

   The first thing we do when we get to AVE is go visit the puppies (Inu) and Kittens (nek0).  Gabrielle LOVES this part, she tells all of them HI and goes back and forth between all the windows to visit them.  After pulling her away from the animals and saying goodbye to them we go to the other side of the store- the food side.  The produce is so sweet, clean and amazing here. I don't know how people buy it on base and not locally!  They only take cash, and I normally only take 5000yen  with me ($50) but that covers it and we have money left.  Last week I took a picture of our purchases after we got home. With Clayton home I had to buy more so this trip cost about $45.  We bought: 3 green apples (best apples you will ever have!) # red apples, 4 peaches, 5 cucumbers, 3 carrots, 1 pineapple, 2 gold kiwi, 2 bags fresh green beans, 1 honeydew melon, 1/2 watermelon, bunch of bananas, apple juice, pineapple juice, piece of salmon, 2 containers of prepared edimame (our absolute favorite) and two ice cream treats! 

  Oh and I do buy more vegetables, but those I do tend to get on base. AVE sells like 3 pieces of asparagus as a bunch! Plus most of the stuff I don't know exactly what it is or how you would eat it! Today's trip was only $30.   

10K

Yes, it is true- I ran my first 10 K race this past Saturday! The stroller class was under the impression that it would be a 5K route that you would do twice. It wasn't which was really nice and it pushed me harder to run the whole thing.  Does your brain ever play tricks on you, like totally switch times on you?  Well I thought the race started at 9am, the stroller group would meet up about 8:30 to get ready for it. I mosey out of the house at 8:25, stop and talk to the neighbor, look at all the stuff being set up for Friendship day (open base= thousands of Japanese come on base and partake in all sorts of activities, food, dancing, firework celebration).  I get to the start and no one is there- the people working it know me b/c they are my bosses for PT Tots.  They say "Sarah, you're LATE! Just go, you don't need a number."  Me, "was it at 8:30???? Where do I go"  So I ended up starting the race all by myself,  was 7 minutes late, and didn't know the route- I just took off running!  I caught a few people I know, picked up a companion (a 7 year old boy who rides his bike with his mom during stroller class, he ditched his mom to ride with me).  The reader board at the middle school said the temp was 92* and it felt like that plus some!  I finished the race, with the time clock saying 1:12, but take into account my late start I finished it in one hour and 5 minutes.  Not the greatest mile time, but I still am proud of it.  I didn't even feel sore afterwards!  This takes me closer to my goal of running 10 miles, 10K equals out to 6.2 miles.  

Been Busy!

So I had every intention of being a good blogger, but time has gotten away from me and it has been over a month.  It has been a fun and been keeping us busy.  The most exciting thing to happen in July was visitors!  My mom and my 14 year old nephew came to see Gabby and I.  It was my mom's THIRD visit, but Josh's first (he has his very first passport and stamp now).  We tried to do all the fun things we could think of, but July heat and humidity in Japan sure makes you want to do nothing but sit in the a/c.   Some of the places we visited, Kamakura, Sankeien Garden, Disney Sea, Tokyo and the surrounding area of Yokosuka.  What excitement there was, two protests outside the gates (both of which we somehow ended up in the middle of) and a suspicious package that evacuated and blocked off part of base!  

   We shopped, ate, laughed, talked, and had a good family visit.  Let me just say that 14 year old boys are not always enthusiastic about hanging out with their Grandma, Aunt, and baby cousin for an entire two weeks in a foreign country.  

   The way the ship works, and our luck- well the schedule changed a million times and the date it came home got pushed off just as you let yourself get excited about it coming home.  Finally, after nearly two months Clay came home!  It has been a week and a half, but the schedule of duty and work and the ship going out for a few days has really only allowed us to spend a few days together (two days total, plus a few hours after he gets off work).  We are looking forward to this weekend, although there is a basketball tournament we "have" to go to!  Yes this is what life is like married to a sailor who LOVES sports!  Tomorrow night is a baseball game, I just am going to have to try to keep Gabby out of the dirt b/c last week resulted in her covered from her head to toes in DIRT! She loved every second of it too!

Pictures to come later, blogger is not letting me upload any now!

New Bike!

For quite some time Gabby has been crazy about bikes, she points them out whenever see them- which in Japan is all the time!  We have to visit the bikes when we go to one of the stores, all the bikes are too big but she sits on them and loves it.  I found a bike that would work perfect for us.  It is more like a plastic tricycle but it can convert three different ways.  I have the handle on it now so I can push it (or she can) until she actually learns to pedal (or can reach them better.)   We have been on the lookout for a helmet, but all that seems to be available are ones for big headed kids, I mean the 3+ crowd.  Today on our adventure (more to come on that when I have energy) off base I found one that pretty much fits her curly haired head.  Gabby was excited as can be, which is thrilling b/c other kids I know refuse to wear helmets.  We took the bike to the elementary school across from our house and had a pretty good time. Our neighbors who are moving next week joined us so that was even better.  I also brought a new bubble gun that all the kids went wild over. So here are pictures off all things having to do with the new bike in our life!  Oh and we do having something else new in our life, a goldfish we have named Dorothy (yes, just like Elmo's fish.)  The neighbors that are moving gave her to us and Gabby is so excited that she HUGS the fishbowl, and also wants to feed her numerous times a day!