Catch up time!

Well, girls camp is over and the house is a mess and there is a ton to do but I sprained a joint in my foot during the half marathon and only made it worse during girls camp so I am trying to take it easy today and will sit and blog instead of cleaning. So here is what we've been up to:

The biggest event in our lives the past month was the fact that we had visitors!!!! Tom’s parents came to visit and we had such a fantastic time with them! They flew in late on Saturday March 27th and stayed for a week. For days leading up to Saturday Danica would wake up and start asking if it was Saturday yet! I wish we had taken more pictures of everything we did but we just get so busy with things that we forget!!! They survived their flight and were able to attend church with us on Sunday morning. After church we rested for a while and then went to a nearby shrine and explored a sacred cave. Then we drove out to a lighthouse on the coast and tried to ignore the raging wind while we enjoyed the view of the vast ocean that surrounds us.

Monday we packed up and drove to Okuma, the Air Force beach resort about 2 hours north near the tip of the island. On our way there we stopped first at a Japanese McDonald’s and then at Mt. Nago, a mountain in the large city of Nago. There are two main cities on the island, Naha, where the airport is, and Nago up north. We enjoyed a great hike up Mt. Nago, although it was a bit steeper than we’d hoped with tons of stairs! We didn’t make it quite to the top but the view was nice and the greenery was beautiful!

Then we played at a really fun playground for a while before finishing our drive. We checked in at Okuma and unpacked in our beach suite rooms. The kids were dying to go for a bike ride so we rented some 4 person bikes and rode around the resort. It wasn’t quite warm enough for beach activity but we still had fun and BBQ’d dinner and played some games before going to bed.
Tuesday we relaxed, got up and played some miniature golf, and then went out on a glass bottom boat. It was awesome, we were able to look down at the floor and see all the fish swimming below us. We even saw 4 sea snakes and 2 jellyfish. Very cool. Then we ate lunch and Kenn and Barb stayed with the girls while they napped. In the meantime, Hayden, Tom and I went and hiked up to Hiji Falls. It was a beautiful hike and pretty falls. The whole time Tom kept saying “I can’t imagine being the guys who had to haul the wood up here to build these steps and bridges!” After our hike we all walked over to the beach and rented a wave runner. It was a bit chilly so we were the only people out there and enjoyed racing that thing all over the ocean. Then we hiked around the coast enjoying the views before going to the restaurant for dinner.

Wednesday we packed up and drove up to the point of the island. After enjoying the view we drove to the Ocean Expo Park, a HUGE aquarium. We had a great day marveling at the fish, eating japanese ice cream while watching the whale sharks and dancing to the annoying music during the dolphin show. The kids drank so much Fanta grape soda during the trip I thought they might turn purple. We got home from our trip late in the afternoon. We settled on Pizza Hut for dinner and Kenn and Barb graciously offered to watch the kids so I could go to the youth activity that night where Tom had been asked to be a judge for the “Standard Works Idol” activity. We had a good time and enjoyed being out.

Thursday, Hayden went to school and we went to Ryuku Mura, an attraction to celebrate Okinawa heritage. They took traditional homes from villages around the island and brought them to this one location. They also did a parade that incorporated elements from many different festivals. We got to see a traditional sugar cane press that uses a water buffalo. We enjoyed Japanese treats and I even got to try a real coconut. She used her machete to open it up and just put in a straw for me, it was awesome! In the afternoon we went to the beach and did some snorkeling! It was a bit cold but we managed and Tom actually encountered a dangerous lion fish while swimming through a cave. Yikes! That night we BBQ’d in the backyard.




Friday we finally had a moment to relax! Tom went to work, Hayden to school, Barb went running and we just hung out. That afternoon we did some shopping at the souvenir mall and then hit the 100 yen store (dollar store) before going to the barrel restaurant for dinner. I’m sad we didn’t take any pictures of our dinner. The restaurant looks like a huge barrel. We had fried octupus as our appetizers and then just a nice assortment of japanese foods for dinner. The kids all ate soba (noodles) and enjoyed the atmosphere.
Saturday we started off with some long runs, Tom and I had to run 12 and Barb had to run for her training as well. Then we all went to watch Hayden’s soccer game. He did great and Papa took us all out to Burger King for lunch afterward! The kids were thrilled! We did some errands that afternoon, dyed Easter eggs and then had a babysitter come over so we could go out to dinner. We met up with a dentist here that Kenn used to work with in the Navy and enjoyed a fantastic sushi place.
Sadly on Sunday they had to leave and flew up to mainland Japan to stay with Kenn’s roommate from BYU. They had a “real” Japanese experience with him. We loved our visit and the fun times we got to have with them. The kids can’t wait until we can go to their house in the summertime! Sunday was Easter and we got together with our Okinawa family and had a nice Easter dinner and egg hunt.
Other than that it seems like church is just keeping us soooo busy! I was just released as primary chorister and asked to serve as 2nd counselor in the Relief Society presidency. I’m excited for the change but have been so busy with girls camp I didn’t really have time to think about it! When I agreed to be in charge of girls camp I knew it would be busy but I had no idea just how busy!! They do it over spring break because it’s too hot to camp in the summer and so many people move and travel in the summer. Most of the things we planned worked out great and the girls really enjoyed them. The second day we woke up to tons of rain, the buckets of water coming down kind of rain and that sort of threw a damper on the days activities. We told all the girls to just get the flip flops they had brought for beach day and we just trudged through the inches of water that covered the ground! It was crazy. Luckily everyone survived the wet and cold, they survived the strange blisters from some sort of tropical bug bite, and managed to have a great time. I’ve never worked so hard for so many days in a row but managed to survive. I was gone from Tuesday to Saturday and my amazing friends all stepped up to take the kids while Tom was at work and even overnight while he fulfilled the priesthood responsibility one night. I was so consumed with keeping camp running and all the work there that I didn’t even have time to think about the kids. There was no cell phone coverage so I was truly just out of touch and had to just rely on my friends doing it all. And of course they did, they even took all three of my kids along with them as they went to the zoo one day and a hotel water park one day. My kids had a great time. I feel so lucky that I have friends I could rely on who were so willing to help.
I’m grateful to be done and home and clean....although I’ve washed my hair three times and it still smells like smoke. The kids were happy to see me and I couldn’t get enough hugs. Danica has accidentally called me a dad a few times, it’s pretty funny. I am so lucky that Tom is the type of dad that I can leave for 5 days and it’s okay. I’m very glad to be back home with him.
So what’s next.... we decided we are going to start speed training to try to win some up coming 5K races. They have them once a month and they aren’t really competive but they have good prizes and it’s feasible that we could win. I am hoping that now that I am home and off my foot the sprain will heal up quickly. I am going in to see a podiatrist on Wednesday. Life is now full of all the normal things like soccer and gymnastics, RS activity Wednesday night, a branch campout Friday night, the single marines over for dinner on Sunday, etc. Right now, I am going to put the girls down for a nap and try to get things ready for Hayden to come home to do homework! Two last pictures.... the girls enjoying the swings and Alyssa eating a piece of broccoli left on her plate after dinner instead of the ice cream cone in front of her....if only they were always so health conscience!