Will Crawl for Chocolate

So it is not official crawling but its getting there. Here is the story:

So if you know me you know I don't give my babies sugar. I have all sorts of reasons but that's besides the point. The problem here is that I am addicted to sugar. OH I know its awful and horrible for me I have tried to quit but like any addict I think the pain is to hard. So there is sugar which means chocolate in the house. So a couple of days ago I had a bag of Dove chocolates on the floor where I had been reading the night before. I set Genevieve down not realizing they were in arms reach. She got a hold of them and sucked happily through the foil. Till I discovered her and took them away, this made her very very mad. Since then she has seen the packaging and has tried so hard to get to the chocolate whenever she sees it.

So Jeb thought he would use this new found obsession she has to try to motivate her to crawl last night. She has not shown much interest in crawling at all but maybe for chocolate???? Watch and see.

Cuteness

Just some cute pics of the girls I wanted to share.

Bugs

See one thing that I really dislike about Japan, BUGS. Around this time of year July to Aug. when it is very hot and very humid creepy crawly things come out. Anyone with Facebook maybe has seen the application give a Japanese gift and one option is crazy Japanese bugs? Yeah that's because there really are crazy weird bugs here. I have never got one on camera though so just know they can be disturbing.

Now as much as I think those bugs are gross what I hate more then that is the mosquito's! They are like swarms here. They also seem to love the girls, they must be extra sweet to them.

Here is Niyah's leg from one afternoon when she went outside to move her bike. Less than five minutes I am not kidding and look at her legs. I counted at least 30 bites on just one leg!!! I really hate bugs!

Bath Time

She enjoys her bath time. So cute. She rubs her eyes, that is what she she does when she is sleepy.

Growing up

What can I say other then that. My babies are all growing up. Genevieve is coming up on seven months. It makes me smile and cry at the same time.

Huge Roller Slide near Okutama

So we drove a little ways from Okutama, still in the mountains to this great roller slide. IT was great. One sad thing, the wouldn't let Niyah on, said 5 was to young. I wanted to argue and get mad because all these little Japanese kids who were smaller then Niyah could go. They might have been older then Niyah but much smaller. I know she could have handled it. GRRRRRR. Next time I guess.

Some pics of the slide before we went on it. Look at the view, so nice.

Here is the video of it. Its not the best. You have to use your hands to control your speed, so my camera skills were shaky. Especially at the end where I was running into poor Harley. LOL don't call child services on me I swear she had fun. I know I did.

The obstacle course

At the campsite there was a really fun obstacle course that Jeb did. He said it was great. Something that would never be allowed in America! He didn't even have to sign a release form. You know you would have back in the states. LOVE IT. Here are a few pics, there are a ton more but this is a little look.

Thats me and the girls, way down there waving goodbye

Looks like fun huh? He said the one that went off this edge/cliff was great but didn't get a pic, he was too busy jumping off and holding onto the rope.

Playing around campsite

Here are some pictures of us playing around where we camped. The cool water felt so good in this hot humid weather.

Miss Serious

Exploring

Making friends


Don't splash..... hahaha

just hanging out

some videos of the fun

Camping in Okutama

We went camping! I was so excited. I love camping, I love being outdoors. It brings me a lot of peace. So I was very excited to go. I researched it out, looked for the best camp site and just knew I had found it. When we arrived it was beautiful. I was very happy. Online I knew it said 1900 yen so about 19 dollars a night. Not bad for a camp site. So we go to pay and oh no its not 1900 yen a night its 1900 yen a person..... WHAT?????? oh and another 1000 yen (ten dollars) to park our van. OK I know I still think in terms of America prices, but per person, for a camp site? I mean really we have our own tent its just a square of dirt with a fire pit, does it really matter how many people are on the dirt? I mean sure they have toilets and showers (but you have to pay for the showers too). Well me and Jeb looked at each other, not wanting to give over basically 80 dollars for a camp site but looked at our two bright eyed kids who were so happy to be there, and knowing that you can't just go find another camp site so.... goodbye 8000 yen and hello campsite *sigh*


But really the campsite was great, it was beautiful the facilities were nice (if it really had been 1900 yen I would say lets go back all the time.) Still we had lots of fun and the kids loved loved loved it. Genevieve loved just rolling around in the tent.


oops I fell in the river sorry mom! Sure that face looks really sorry to me. :)

I won't lose my shoes mom..... I don't know where my shoe went......

It started raining when it was time to cook dinner. Jeb was a great sport and stayed out in the rain cooking while me and the girls hung out in the tent telling stories and singing songs. It was so fun.

After a rainy night we woke up to beautiful sights!

My camping hero. He always cooks and makes the best camp food.

The camp site, we were the only ones there..... maybe that's worth 1900 yen? See the tree house in the background. It goes out over the river bank so it is actually pretty high up.

Here is Harley swinging under it. They had lots of fun.

Here is Niyah after she fell out of the tree house, on a rock and a tree. I really thought she might have fractured her wrist it was hurting her pretty bad. But nope she's tough.

Such a pretty place

To be continued.....

Japanese Home Stay

We had a couple of girls from the BEC English school come and do a one night home stay with us. Their names are Hitomi and Yuka. They are such sweet girls. The times we have done things with the English school before they have always played with Harley and Niyah, so we were excited to have them come stay.

Their mothers came for a couple of hours to see our home and the stores on base. They were so polite and fun to watch. They were amazed with our "huge" fridge and our Big oven. "For Turkeys??" they said. They loved doing some American shopping on base, its much less expensive. Here they all are. (ignore me in this pic ugh)


We took them bowling that night. They seemed to have fun. At least once we put the bumpers up.

Despite staying up to watch a movie that I doubt they understood at all they were up early and playing with the girls. Tag seemed to be the favorite.

Then I had them make cookies. They are so timid and hesitant that it was hard to get them to really get into it and do it. But after much coaxing they seemed to enjoy it. They were unsure what they were making when I had them make Aunt Janette's Wagon Wheels. But when they tentatively tried the powder sugar they were very excited.

Then after they finally tried a baked wagon wheel they excitedly talked in Japanese and kept sneaking back for more. HAHAHA no one can resist wagon wheels.
We then took them swimming. Then out for some Hamburgers. They were surprised at the milkshakes and loved them. Then it was time to go home. We had enjoyed our Japanese guests and hope they had fun too.