Island Hostage

Yes, I do watch Lost and yes, I do feel like the island doesn't want me to leave! I have never felt so far from home and so isolated. Tom is back in San Diego at a dental training and then heading up to spend a little more than a week with his family. The kids and I were hoping to catch a free military flight, Space A, so that we could go to Utah for a week and then meet up with Tom in Washington. Supposedly this is a great time of year to catch those free flights because there aren’t many people traveling. I spent all week packing, prepping and doing everything that goes into trying to leave the country for a few weeks. Apparently, available seats aren’t the case anymore and they didn’t end up taking any extra people on the flights throughout the weekend. It made for a really long, emotionally charge weekend with showing up at the airport and waiting around for hours only to find out we weren’t getting on the flight and then more attempts the next day and the next... So needless to say, I am really sad to miss seeing family and sad to be stuck here alone with the kids for two weeks after thinking I was going to be on vacation. I try not to think about all the fun things my parents had planned and the good food they had for us...Cafe Rio...sigh... I guess we’ll just have to wait until summer when we buy the unbelievably expensive tickets...and now I can go clean the house because it really needs it...luckily Danica is handling it better than I thought she would. Ever since Christmas she has been saying “Okay, it’s after Christmas, when are we going to grandma and grandpa’s house?” Then in the last few weeks she’s been going crazy with excitement and declaring how much she loves grandma and just can’t wait to go there! I kept reminding her we were just going to TRY to go and she still doesn’t get that now we aren't going for a while...I think it’s better this way. Tonight Danica asked when Tom is coming home and I said two more Sundays and she said "I'm really going to miss daddy" and then she interrupted my family prayer and said "make sure to say "bless daddy to come home safely." She is such a sweat heart!

However, I luckily don’t have much time to stay depressed with tons to do and the knowledge that I am truly blessed in so many ways. I had a friend point out there are certainly worse place to be stuck...it is true. Today was great, sunny in the 70’s. This afternoon I hooked the bike trailer to my bike and towed the girls while I went on a nice ride with Hayden. Then a friend had us over for dinner and we had great food and company. Lately we’ve had a lot of fun around here, here are some highlights:

Karaoke! We found a great place, really close and reasonably priced and you just rent a big room for your group to sing it up. However, I think they would have made more sound proof doors if they were expecting such loud groups of crazy Americans! I don’t have video of any of the really good songs, hopefully I’ll get them next time!I actually don't sing when we go to karaoke but I enjoy the fun and food. This new place had some real genuine Japanese cuisine including pizza with mayonaise and octupus, lots of squid and raw ham salad...I stuck to basic curry and rice!

Wago Family Land- it’s like a version of Chuck E. Cheese but way better! Things are crazy and fun, there are no worries about safety or litigation. We had a blast! This video of the balloon room would be a dream come true for most kids!
He just rolled around and around!
Awesome zipline that took itself back up to the top to the next kid waiting!
The kids just hung on as the tree swung around!

At the end of January, Sesame Street Live came and did free show. We had a great time once Alyssa got over being terrified! Alyssa has her hair in a pony tail because for a week straight she insisted on it every day! She was obsessed with having her hair in a pony tail!