Okuma

Hand foot mouth disease hit our house this past week. Both John and Preston (and Gwen for maybe a day) had lovely red spots covering their bodies. It'd tell you to feel bad for us, but seriously, you'd never know anyone was even sick around here if it wasn't for those darn pesky red spots. I think John had the worst of it with a sore throat for a few days followed by sensitive/tingly hands, but that was about the extent of it, and it lasted all of a day. Literally! Yet he was ordered home from work not to return until the spots disappeared...that is, after he showed up initially and was then sent to the isolation room at the hospital...they thought it was measles. Ha!

Since John was quarantined from work, and consequently couldn't go on his TDY on Saturday, we decided to make the most of out his no work schedule for a few days and headed to the beach. We even threw in a hike to Hiji Falls and decided to explore the northern tip of this island a little bit since we had yet to venture all the way up there. We pretty much didn't have a care in the world for the weekend and it was rather lovely.

Before you get all worried warts on me about us taking contagious people out into the public, I assure you they were no longer contagious. In fact, I know they HAD hand foot mouth disease, and most people warned me it can lasts a couple of weeks, but I'm convinced they had the most mild case of it possible. Also, I'm sure the relaxing atmosphere helped heal them instantly.

Sadly, this is our only beach picture...I blame not having my phone, which got wet in the ocean a few days prior...

Hiji Falls

Little Strikers

I put Preston in swimming lessons last summer, thinking, we're moving to an island, he needs to learn how to swim. We'll literally be surrounded by water. Swimming is essential. He HAS to know how to swim. That was a good idea for all of two minutes. He hated swimming lessons. He screamed and whined and threw tantrum after tantrum until his 15 minutes were up and he was free to get out of the water. Without fail, he'd always want to get right back in, he just didn't want to be forced to do anything. His way, his pace, he's golden.

Fast forward to February, and I thought almost a year later, swimming lessons would be a good idea again. He's a little older now, surely it couldn't be as bad as last time. I was wrong. So very wrong. It was just as bad. Not worse. But just as bad.

After three lessons in February, we decided to hold off on actual lessons again for awhile. Kids eventually learn how to swim anyway, right?

I wanted him to be part of something, so, the next best thing was soccer of course. Isn't it a requirement that every little kid play soccer? Of course, the morning of his first practice (all it really is is practices right now, just to teach the kids the basic skills of soccer, actual soccer soccer doesn't start until September), he flipped out and said he didn't want to go. So, of course, I pulled up YouTube videos of the USA team playing soccer to show him just how cool soccer really is. It pumped him up...kind of. Enough to get him to his practice without throwing a fit. And more or less enough to get him to participate with the other kids better than I thought he would. In fact, for a change, he was actually participating better than most kids. It was kind of miraculous.

Of course, when the next week rolled around he said he hated soccer and didn't want to go. But, we got him there anyway and I'm pretty sure he had some fun. At least a little bit of fun. How can you not have fun when you're the best one there? Kids don't really pick up on that stuff though, do they? I'm certain he's the oldest one, but hey, he was still the best out there. It's nice to see him be part of something for a change.

Soccer may not always be his thing, but at least he has "fun" doing it, at least enough fun that we signed him up for next month, too. And that's saying something.

Exploring

I used to be an awesome...or at least consistent, blogger, before anything really exciting was ever going on in my life. Then I had a child, and my blogging became sporadic. Then I had another one, and I forgot what blogging was even all about. And the cherry on top was us moving to Japan, and, well, I've documented pretty much nothing. It's pitiful.

Exciting things happen in my life and I stop documenting it. It would be one thing if I was at least excelling at writing in my personal journal, but I can't even say I'm doing that either. What the what?

I was just thinking about one day, many many years down the road, when I'll look back on these days with such fond memories, and wish I had blogged more. So, here's me hoping to be a little bit more consistent in documenting our journey in Japan, if for no one else but me and my little family.

Last weekend John had Friday off of work, so, we decided to head north and wander around a waterfall. Preston is obsessed with waterfalls. The boy has always loved water, but it goes deeper than just love, everything he does somehow gets turned into a waterfall. He begs to wash dishes just so we can make some type of contraption in the sink that he then proclaims is a waterfall. They're usually impressive...which is something else I need to start documenting...

The waterfall was pretty mediocre at best, but, it was still water, falling off of a high cliff, and Preston still thought it was awesome. Next time it would make more sense to go after a good rain storm, if there is a next time anyway.

 And our little walk/boulder climbing was followed by a bought at Sesoko Beach, and some Pizza in the Sky. A perfect day in my books.