June 2006 Old Blog Posts
June 26
Mikasa Park
Yesterday, I loaded the kids up and went shopping. There's a street in Yokosuka where most of the best shopping is. It's called "Blue Street"...I don't think that's the correct name for it. I'm sure it has a nice, official Japanese name, but all the gaijin call it Blue Street because the street is actually blue. Not painted blue, but some sort of blue aggregate was used when it was paved, so it looks kinda blue. Whatever. I digress.
I took a few pictures on Blue Street for your enjoyment. There are many larger department stores with multiple floors, smaller stores, chain restaurants and the typically tiny traditional Japanese restaurants. I swear, these people can fit a restaurant or little shop in the smallest possible space! It's pretty crazy. All of the traditional restaurants have a display case outside the door where examples (fake) of the food they serve are shown. I guess there's a company near Tokyo that makes all of this fake food--some people have been on tours there and say that it's actually pretty amazing. Anyway, there is the little display case and a menu and the traditional little curtains on the door. There's a picture.
We didn't go into too many stores because someone who is two and full of ginger doesn't like to shop anymore. Sigh. He used to be my little shopping buddy. At least I still have Annika, who is young and immobile enough to be enthralled with all the colors, lights and noises. We made it to the Gap and to one other store that I'd been meaning to visit. Oh, and we shared a crepe. Strawberries and heavy cream, yum. Hans used to make me crepes, back in the day...when he was trying to impress me (I guess it must have worked, to some extent). I guess we'll have to dust the crepe-maker off when we get home and fire it up, because I'm addicted.
On the way back to the base to get the van, we decided to stop off at Mikasa Park. Most of you (with the exception of Gen, of course) went to Mikasa Park when you were here. It's where the battleship MIKASA is. I've seen enough ships lately...no need to sit and stare at another one, but the park was really fun for Josiah. I actually hadn't been back there except to drop people off. There are all sorts of little waterfalls and ponds, fish, a big train and some playground equipment.
I experimented again with letting Josiah walk on his own, and he did pretty well. I didn't have to run after him at all. He did take off on some steps (see the picture) where I couldn't follow him with the stroller. I feared for him for a moment, you'll see there's a bit of a dropoff. But he did very well. I guess part of motherhood is learning to hold your breath and let them take a few chances when the occasion arises. It's sure not easy for this born pessimist, but I'm learning!
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June 22
Americable--The Worst Cable on EARTH
My husband suggested that I blog about the television.
NO, not his television, what's on it. He'd better be happy with his expensive, enormous TV. Josiah even loves it so much that he says "Bye-bye TV" whenever we leave and whines a little. I always have to assure him that the TV will be there when we get back. That's a bad sign, right, fellow mommies? You're all thinking that my kid watches way too much TV if he is that attached (meanwhile, my husband is beaming with pride). He doesn't, really. I promise.
Anyway. We don't have a problem with the actual TV which is beautiful and enormous and flatscreen and plasma and has an amazing picture.
It's the cable that's horrible. We're forced to use a service called Americable, and to say that it disappoints is an understatement. You can get "tier 1" service which includes the six or seven AFN (Armed Forces Network) channels or you can get "tier 2" service which includes AFN plus a bunch of American cable channels, like Discovery, History Channel, MTV, VH1, TLC, A&E. Oh, and we get about five live Japanese channels with tier 2. Those channels are very interesting to watch. I've learned a lot from watching Japanese soap operas. We have a couple of cool non-American channels, like the Soundtrack Channel, StarWorld and an Indian National Geographic channel.
AFN itself is annoying, but at least it's always on the air. The picture quality of the AFN channels is always great. No problems there. It's the "tier 2" stuff that sucks. My biggest problem with them is that they have NO set schedule. For weeks, we'll get into a routine of watching, say, "DragonTales" at 7:30 a.m. and then "Dora the Explorer" right after it (this is just an example, I actually despise both of those cartoons). Then, all of a sudden and randomly, the schedule changes to something else. I mean, when your kid gets into the habit of waking up to DragonTales, then by God, you need DragonTales on at the same time every morning. I hate the random schedule change. It makes no sense and we're never even sent a mass e-mail saying "Oh hey, as of 4/6/06, such and such will be taking the place of such and such a show". Thanks, Americable, for making my kid CRY when his favorite cartoon suddenly isn't on. Oh, and I also do not appreciate the fact that you play the same episodes over and over again. He doesn't know, but I do.
Add to this the fact that half of the time, half of the channels are not even working. I guess that the programs are DVD recorded and are being played from someone's computer, because that's what you see when the channels go off the air: someone's desktop. Channel after channel of a Microsoft desktop. Thanks, Americable! I could sit right here in front of the computer if I wanted to see that!
A couple of weeks ago, this was the case with about half of the channels. The other half were kind of stop and start. The picture would freeze and unfreeze but the soundtrack was running fine. Absolutely unwatchable. The volume on TLC was so soft that I had to crank the volume into the 40 range, but MTV was so loud that we couldn't watch it except with the volume turned way down. PBS has always been so incredibly washed out that it nearly gives me a migraine to try to watch it.
I'm not even going to go into the pain of AFN's "public service" type announcements...they are really pretty insulting. I guess if I feel like drinking, doing drugs, chewing tobacco, not exercising, not eating fruits and vegetables, driving without my seatbelt or not reading to my kids, I will/won't. It's none of AFN's business. Or the MCPON's business either, for that matter. And I already know all the state capitals, thank you very much. Like I said before, I wish I could just see Kotex commercials, for the love of God!
So all of you (with the exception of my parents who have never and probably never will have cable) go and watch your cable and DirecTV (sob) tonight, secure that you are getting amazing service and a gorgeous picture. Enjoy your programs that never change and real commercials. Movies on demand. Choices. Up-to-date programming, not shows that are three weeks behind the States.
Gotta go watch Dora...ugh. Vamanos!
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June 21
The Potty Wars Begin
This morning, after our communal shower, I decided to let Josiah run around naked for awhile. Just for fun. Just to see if possibly, just maybe, he would potty in his little potty.
It's funny how the few times he's slipped away from me and been naked, he's peed on something almost immediately. I ran after him into his room, thinking that this would be the case today as well. I was all ready and excited to put him on the potty when he started dribbling. Two HOURS later, he still hadn't peed, and I started pumping juice into him. Annika had been sleeping the entire time, but she woke up. I ran in, grabbed her, her diaper and her change of clothes, ran back into Joe's room. Put Annika on the bed and changed her, turned around and he'd peed.
DAMN!! I ran over, put him on the potty and urged him to keep trying. It didn't seem like he'd gone very much. But he had nothing left. After taking several deep breaths to calm myself, I reassured him that it was OK and we'd keep working on it.
I know it's a little early. Most of the mommies that I know are training their boys around 2-1/2 or even three years. I have no idea what kind of technique I'm going to use. I have M&Ms upstairs in plain view and I keep offering to give him one if he makes potty. I put him on the potty every time I have him naked.
I guess we'll try again tomorrow.
What a kid, though. The other day, I whapped him on the back of the head with his coloring book because he got crayon all over the tile. Again. After I've told him approximately 4,325 times. Not hard, just enough to call attention to the fact that I was unhappy. He said "Ow, Mama hurt Jo-Jo!" Uh-oh. He's starting to make little sentences. He came up to me the other night with Annika's little pink bear and said "It's a Grill, it's a grill" over and over...I finally figured it out when I turned over the bear. It has "It's a Girl" embroidered on it...now, I doubt he read it, but still, where in the world...?
They are some pretty amazing critters, that's for sure!
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June 16
Kanazawa Zoo
Yesterday we went to the Kanazawa Zoo. Mariska had been there once before, but it was a new experience for us. We had a little trouble finding the place, which was sorta Mariska's fault and sorta mine for not listening to her directions (who me, not listen?). We turned around on the toll road about four times. Going to the zoo was cheap. The ride there was not, though it was probably less than five miles from Ikego!
It was pretty gray out all day and dribbling sporadically, so there were literally about 20 people at the zoo. I kid you not, my van was one of three cars in the huge parking lot. It must get much busier on the weekends. Tickets were amazingly cheap, 500 Yen for adults, children are free. Not bad.
Well, it wasn't on a par with the San Diego Zoo. I guess the admission price alone should have been a clue, but it wasn't bad. It wasn't say...Como Zoo circa 1985. I will never forget going there whatever year we had The Super Funnest Weekend Ever with Paul and Marcy (seriously, guys, I think none of us will ever forget that experience!). Como Zoo today is much, much better, but back then, I remember it being bare bars and concrete floors, no habitats whatsoever and that miserable polar bear swimming in bored circles.
Kanazawa Zoo is quite large and rambling and has nice habitats, but not very many animals. The basics...elephants, kangaroos, rhinos, giraffes. Enough to get the kids excited. Josiah was out of the stroller quite a bit, walking. We're still in the experimental stage with that--he's a runner. The minute we set him loose, he gets drunk with freedom and takes off. I had to chase him down a few times at the zoo. Lucikly, there was no one there.
Not much else occuring around here. Annika had her four month checkup today. She weighs...(drum roll)...16 pounds 9 ounces. Quite healthy. Sometimes I feel guilty for not having a huge list of questions written down to ask the doctor. I feel like the doctor expects me to ask her a bunch of questions and when I have none, I feel like a slacker mommy. Sorry. Like Josiah, Annika is just a normal, healthy kid. She's not doing anything strange. She doesn't have stigmata or anything. May I be excused? OK, thanks. See you in two months!
She had to get three shots in her (thank God) super-chubby thighs. She's been pretty crabby this afternoon as a result, but sleeping a lot. She had solid foods for the first time this week, too. We started off with bananas and have branched off into cereal and applesauce as well. It's going well. There are a couple of new pics of her at her first meal. The look on a baby's face when he or she gets that first bite of real food--priceless. She spit a lot of it out the first feeding, but I could tell that she liked it. In one picture, you'll see her hand on the spoon. She was helping me get it to her mouth, so I know she was diggin' the taste.
OK, I've got a sitter coming tonight (whoo-hoo!!), so I've got to drag my tired self upstairs and try to get semi-attractive for a date with the girls. We're going into Yokosuka to a little Italian place that they like. Just us girls--Mariska, Alexis, me and Annie.
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June 13
Typhoid Lily Strikes Again
Josiah is sick.
Drake and Lily have had some sort of strange illness lately, something that included sporadic, nomadic fevers and vomiting. This was last week, thus I thought that Josiah had evaded it. Ah, the false sense of security. That's exactly what I deserve for thinking my child superior to the common sicknesses of other children.
Today we went to the post office. We played at the park. Everything was fine and normal. We went to the exchange and did some shopping. I actually got everything on my list, plus scored an amazing pile of adorable Carter's clothes for Annika, each piece less than $4.00 (take that Jan!). Josiah started getting cranky, which is nothing new. He doesn't really like to shop anymore, unless it's at Toys-R-Us. Annika, on the other hand, was complacent as could be in the Bjorn. The people at Visa are going to love Annika and I in a few years!
He's cranky in the checkout line, so I offer him some M&Ms. He refuses. My antennae go up..."Refusing M&M's?"...when suddenly, out of nowhere: BLARRRRGGGGGGHHHH!!! He threw up everywhere! And then some more, and more, and more. Who knew that one little boy could store so much vomit?
Thankfully, there were very few people in the exchange today. About four people witnessed it happen, and two of them were clerks, who rushed to give me paper towels and a trash can. The other two were mothers who were very sympathetic. I mopped him up and took him out to the van, where I had somehow blessedly remembered a change of clothing. Gave him the "baby wipe bath", changed him. Took the cart back in so they could hose it down with disinfectant.
Now we're home and he's thrown up one more time. He is a very dramatic sick boy. You should see him with his lip hanging out and his eyes all pathetic and big. He looks like a Precious Moments figurine. That occasionally spews vile vomit.
For all of you who know how dramatic I can be when faced with a dilemma, I want you to know that I was very calm and collected in handling this. Motherhood has taught me a thing or two, namely that it's not really a big deal until I make it one.
The other lesson I've learned is this: when your friends tell you their kids have been sick, DO NOT have dinner at their house or go near their kids for approximately 14 days! Poor Mariska, she's going to feel terrible when she hears about this! She always feels deeply responsible when her kids get other kids sick.
Just pray that Annika doesn't get it.
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June 12
Holy Cheeseburger!
Hanging out with the kiddies on a balmy Monday, late afternoon. I've been trying hard to diet, keeping my calories around 1,500 per day. This isn't very easy. Especially between meals. I have one snack between each meal, but lately I've just been so darn hungry in the interim between snack and meal. It's 4:30 and I'll start fixing dinner in about half an hour. I thought "Why not go blog to take your mind off food?" It's working, kind of. Please don't hate me for saying this, but I've had a great metabolism most of my life. The kind of metabolism that meant that I never had to worry about what I ate. I just ate it. Age and babies seem to have slowed that down somewhat. Because I've never had to be strict with food, it's harder for me. I'm just so used to having what sounds good. And plenty of it.
Speaking of eating and calories. I felt hungry for a burger on the grill last night, but after checking the nutrition information on the prefabbed burger box, I was shocked. 310 calories per patty. Uff-dah! Feeling curious about some of our forays into McDonald's, I goodsearched "nutrition information McDonald's". Please don't do it if you ever want to enjoy your Filet-O-Fish again. Let's just say that I figured out the calories and fat grams of a meal that my husband regularly consumes and I felt ill. I already nag the poor boy enough about going to McDonald's...now I know exactly how horrible it is (and yes, I did see "Supersize Me").
(By the way, if you have to go to McDonald's and don't want a salad, get the four piece chicken McNugget. It's only 170 calories. Thank God that's what Josiah gets when we go.)
How do we feel about nagging in the name of love, anyway? I can change our diet here at home, but I can't control his diet when he's gone. I remember having our diet change dramatically at home when Dad's cholesterol and blood pressure went on the rise. I feel like we had a lot of coney dogs and things from the Fry Daddy before then. I remember "No Salt" replacing the regular salt shaker and having this idea that if we ate salt, it would lead to his early demise. Thanks a lot for freaking me out, Mom! But I guess it worked...! He's still hanging around. So, as a wife who loves her husband very, very much, am I allowed to nag in the name of prolonging life and improving health?
I feel like Felicity, journaling and asking questions.
Anyway, there are some new pictures of Annika that I took today. She was just looking too delicious hanging out in her diaper on the purple blanket. She is such a content little girl. She has to be, because I am usually busy chasing after Josiah. The only real time that we get to ourselves is in the middle of the night, and seeing as she is increasingly sleeping through the night, even that time is disappearing. I reason that Josiah will go to preschool before too long and then she and I will have lots of "girl time" together. She is growing up so quickly. We're going to start solid foods in the next few days and she has her four month checkup on Friday.
Time to start dinner. Thanks a lot for helping me through!
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June 08
Daiso & Ship's Picnic
Sort of an odd mix of subjects, but oh well.
First. My husband left me this morning. I guess I should have seen it coming...more and more of his belongings kept disappearing from the drawers and closet. He'd been warning me that he was leaving. I was trying to ignore the signs. Now it's too late. He's with his other lover, that steel harlot. How I hate her! I've been fighting her for him for a couple of years now. Well, she can have him...and his dirty laundry!
Snif.
The kids and I took the train to town on Tuesday late afternoon. Hans had the car and I felt the urge to go to The Daiso, which is the 100 Yen store. The wonders of the 100 Yen store never cease to amaze me. I think those of you who have visited me (with the exception of Gen, who saw nothing but base housing and bureaucracy) got to go to The Daiso. I know it was very high on my mother's list of priorities, monster bargain-hunter that she is. Literally everything in the store is 100 Yen. And when the dollar is strong against the Yen (or vice versa, I'm not good with economics), that means I'm paying less than a dollar for everything!!
Those of you at home are saying "But I go in the dollar store and everything there is crappy!". This may or may not be true. I can't verify as I've never been inside a dollar store. I heard everything in the store is crappy...um. Anyway, the 100 Yen store is much, much different. Everything in there is Japanese crap. Exotic crap. Actually, most of their stuff is pretty darn nice for a dollar. This trip I bought some more Shinkansen (bullet train) plastic plates, cups and silverware for my future nephew, Baby Theobald. Last trip I sent home Hello Kitty toddlerware for Miss Leah, my niece. I picked up a bunch of art supplies for Josiah--modeling clay, new crayons, cool Japanese construction paper. They have everything--rows and rows of baskets (because they are crazy about compartmentalizing and arranging), office and art supplies, books and music, food, dishes and kitchen doodads, native crafts, toys, beauty supplies, baby stuff, gardening supplies. I LOVE it!
Anyway, I took a couple of pictures of our trip in on the train and of The Daiso (sorry, one is pretty dark).
Yesterday was the ship's picnic. Nothing like cramming a bunch of social events into the few days that our guys (and ladies) are home. It was a pretty good picnic, though. It was beautiful and sunny right up until I parked the car and began the unloading process...double stroller, toddler out of carseat into stroller, infant out of carseat into stroller, bags into stroller, sweep car for juice cups and dropped toys necessary to travel in stroller, attach tray for toddler. Then an enormous helicopter came in for a landing nearby and stirred up a bunch of dirt and dust--not something that usually occurs when I picnic, except when Donald Trump drops by for some PB&J. Then, it started to rain and the temps dropped from about 75 to 62. Luckily, I had brought coats for the kids, but not myself. I lived through it, tough Minnesotan that I am.
Eventually, my husband showed up (1-1/2 hours after I arrived at the ship to pick him up for the picnic), the sun came back out (perhaps the two events were more than coincidental?), and we had a good afternoon. Josiah spent a lot of time in the bouncer and then got to try out his new Thomas beach set in a pile of sand. Wow, did he get dirty. See new photos for verification. We ended up stripping off his overalls and giving him a bath with wet wipes before we left, then threw him straight in the tub when we got home.
I expect his dirty diapers today to be a big on the....sandy side. He ate enough of it!
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June 06
Josiah's Mock Birthday
Wow, two entries in the space of ten minutes! Aren't you all lucky?
We had a little birthday celebration for Josiah on Saturday evening. Fired up the grill again, grilled hotdogs and hamburgers. Pete and Mariska, and DJ and Alexis came up with all of the kids. It was pretty much pandemonium for awhile. They did do a really, really good job of staying outside. Annika blessedly went to sleep about four minutes before everyone came, which enabled me to keep everyone from going upstairs and tearing everything up. Babies really come in handy from time to time. That being said, I know that Josiah has done some tearing up at their homes, so I was prepared to endure the mess.
One of Hans' chief's wife (got all that?) made Josiah a Thomas the Tank Engine cake. It was very, very cute. And very tasty, I might add. I just polished off another piece of it. Actually, I threw half of the sheet portion of the cake away yesterday, due to the fact that every time I passed by it, I was dipping a finger into the frosting. My diet was going really well... Josiah blew out the candle and everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to him, there were presents, and the whole evening was just a lot of fun. He was one tired two-year-old at bedtime.
And thankfully, my house wasn't too much of a disaster! It does take awhile to scrub blue frosting out of cream-colored chair covers, though. If it ever happens to any of you, I found that a combination of carpet cleaner and Spray-n-Wash blended with some good old fashioned elbow-grease works.
I was just finishing up with the clean-up when I turned around, and there he was. My first "gichi". For those of you who haven't heard the horror story of Alexis' gichi last summer, here goes. First, you must know that gichis are centipedes. Big, black, creepy, hard, crunchy centipedes with millions of disgusting legs and freaky pincer claws by their heads. Our gichi was probably 4-5" long, but they get bigger. Anyway, last summer before any of us knew of the gichi, Alexis was peacefully sleeping one night when she felt what she thought was a fly buzzing around her shoulder. Yes, that's right. She had an enormous gichi on her in her bed! I still have to pull the covers all the way back every night to do a "gichi check". All of this time in Japan, I have been awaiting the arrival of my first gichi, and there he was, in all his disgusting glory, sitting on my kitchen floor. Like a woman, I immediately started screaming "Gichi, gichi, gichi!!", Hans came in, promptly wrapped it in a paper towel and threw it in the trash can outside. I wish that he would have squashed it first as since then, I've been afraid that it would be waiting for me when I lifted the trash can lid. I reason, though, that the stench of dirty diapers baking in this heat and humidity inside the trash can probably killed the gichi. I wish that I would have taken a picture of it so you all could see.
Had the house sprayed yesterday so that I don't encounter any of his relatives (the gichi's, not Hans'!).
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Blue Morning
Just got off another phone call from Minnesota and I'm feeling really homesick. Most days around here, the phone doesn't ring all day (which is fine, really--not trying to lay the guilt trip!), but some days, the phone rings and rings. When it rains, it pours.
Talked to my mother-in-law, which is always pleasant. I'm lucky to have a mother-in-law that I enjoy talking to and spending time with. She adores my children and never stops being amazed by them and praising them--that's always enjoyable for a mother to listen to! She misses us and aforementioned grandchildren very much.
Then, my husband called. I wish that this was an everyday occurence, but the sad fact is that it is not. He is here in Yokosuka right now, but he's leaving soon and the fact that I will be alone again is weighing heavily on my mind. I thank God that when he goes, he is in fairly safe territory (for the moment, anyway). I cannot fathom how the wives and families of people deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan get through their days. Anyway, Hans is home for a very little while yet, so we're trying to talk and be together as much as we can. I'm not certain when I will see him again after he goes--Josiah, Annika and I may even move home before he gets back. Who knows?
Then, my Grandma Thielhorn called. She was making the rounds of her grandchildren to find out who will be attending her church's 100th anniversary picnic in late June. It seems that all of my cousins, my brother and sister and their families--all of them are going to go to Alpha to the picnic. I can't express how much it would mean for me to be there. It's the church that my family has attended for generations, the church that I grew up in, the church that so many wonderful memories are attached to. I would love to be able to just hop in the car with my deviled eggs and drive down there--show off my lovely family to people who haven't seen me for years. And just be with my parents, brother and sister and their families. It's been nearly a year since I've seen my sister, over a year now since I've seen my brother. Well, and not to mention I would love the excellent Lutheran potluck...
Then, my oldest and dearest friend, Jennifer, calls. Unfortunately, she has perused my "pet peeves" list and is thinking that item #6 applies to her, and she's feeling pretty bad about it. She is my oldest friend, for certain--we've been friends since kindergarten. She has seen me through so many broken hearts, and she's put up with all of my crap for years. Including my insensitivity--I guess I should have let her know that item #6 on the pet peeve list did not in fact apply to her, though we haven't talked a whole lot recently. I explained to her that as my oldest, closest friend we have the type of friendship that is always there, even when we're not talking every day or we live thousands of miles apart. I could pick up the phone two days from now, two months, two years, and we'd pick up right where we left off. No, item #6 is for my newer friends--I try hard to maintain relationships by replying to people's e-mails, and it really kind of hurts my feelings when people can't take a moment to respond. But it's not YOU, Jennifer! I promise. She misses me though. She's been to St. James, she's done things there that probably seem pretty mundane to her, but how I wish I could have a day to catch up, to shop at our favorite places, eat at those old familiar restaurants, drive through our known country.
I wonder who will call next?
By the way, this entry does not in any way contrue that I want you all to stop calling me! Please keep calling...you are my lifelines!
10 minutes later...now I'm going to torture myself further by watching "Untamed Heart". Then, maybe I'll watch "Joe Somebody", then "Fargo".
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June 01
Hails, Farewells, Grilling & Etc.
So, my husband is home, which is indescribably great...the homecomings are one of the things that make the sacrifice bearable. It's hard not to feel like a silly teenager in love after not seeing your husband for weeks. He's happy, I'm happy, the kids are pretty much happy. The only way I could be happier is if he had a little more time away from the ship to spend with us. Oh, and if he had brought his new orders with him (I'm not nagging, sweetie, I swear!)
We have been busy, busy, busy since he got here, though. First, I dragged him home and forced him to assemble our new grill. Well, one would think that this was a fairly simple task, but not so! I pictured the grill as being inside the box in a few easily joined pieces. Wow. I suggested somewhere along the line that we should perhaps consider contacting the Chief Engineer from the ship for assistance. Hans miraculously kept his cool throughout assembly. Maybe it was because we kept laughing about The Simpson's episode where Homer tries to build a grill. Trust me, Hans' grill turned out much better. It didn't have a patio umbrella sticking out of it. The box was missing two feet, so we have it balancing on two of Josiah's Elmo balls, and we're having some problems with the starter and one of the burners firing.
We had Pete, Mariska and the kids up for the inaugural firing of the new grill. We had beer and margaritas while I grilled some steaks and the kids ran in and out of the house, up the stairs, around the yard. We had some pretty pooped out children at the end of the evening. It just struck me as funny at one point in the evening. This is probably the first time that we've had a couple with children over for supper. It just seemed so, I don't know, adult or something to have the children yelling and carrying on and enjoying themselves while the parents sat around discussing grown-up things, laughing and drinking. I guess sometimes I'm still shocked that I'm a grown-up.
We had the captain's hail and farewell on Tuesday night. Josiah had a babysitter and we took Annika along. She seemed like she was going to fuss a little in the beginning, but then she went to sleep and slept through the entire thing. For those of you who don't know what a hail and farewell is, the name should be fairly explanatory. It's a wardroom function, meaning for the officers of the ship only...just a time to get together, give gifts (both meaningful and gag), and sort of roast the person leaving. Well, I guess that's a farewell. They do the same thing for arriving people, just sans gifts and roasting. Hopefully I've got that all right...I'll print a retraction tomorrow if Hans doesn't agree.
Some of the pictures are from the change of command ceremony yesterday. Josiah stayed with Mariska and I took Annika. I'm glad that I went. It was interesting. We have been fairly close to the captain and his wife, which made it more meaningful. Change of command is a pretty big ceremony. Hans says it takes lots of practice and choreography (which made me picture a bunch of sailors doing high kicks). There were a lot of important people there, commodore so-and-so, admiral so-and-so. The ship was decked out in red, white and blue bunting and everyone is in dress uniform. It's a little hard to describe past that...there was a guest speaker, the old captain said a few (hundred thousand) words, then the new captain said a few (twenty) words...there was stuff in between, then it was done. It's sort of bittersweet. Command is a real career pinnacle that takes many years of hard work to achieve, comes along and ends in a matter of months. Hans says that sometimes an officer will achieve command more than once, but it's rare. I can't help wonder what it will be like for us when it's our turn.
Anyway, I'll stop going on about the Navy. Your eyes are probably all glazing over! Enjoy the pictures of Josiah and Annika. I tried to cut Josiah's hair. Yeah....the top isn't too bad, but I got a little overzealous on his neck. Luckily his hair grows as quickly as he does!
Mikasa Park
Yesterday, I loaded the kids up and went shopping. There's a street in Yokosuka where most of the best shopping is. It's called "Blue Street"...I don't think that's the correct name for it. I'm sure it has a nice, official Japanese name, but all the gaijin call it Blue Street because the street is actually blue. Not painted blue, but some sort of blue aggregate was used when it was paved, so it looks kinda blue. Whatever. I digress.
I took a few pictures on Blue Street for your enjoyment. There are many larger department stores with multiple floors, smaller stores, chain restaurants and the typically tiny traditional Japanese restaurants. I swear, these people can fit a restaurant or little shop in the smallest possible space! It's pretty crazy. All of the traditional restaurants have a display case outside the door where examples (fake) of the food they serve are shown. I guess there's a company near Tokyo that makes all of this fake food--some people have been on tours there and say that it's actually pretty amazing. Anyway, there is the little display case and a menu and the traditional little curtains on the door. There's a picture.
We didn't go into too many stores because someone who is two and full of ginger doesn't like to shop anymore. Sigh. He used to be my little shopping buddy. At least I still have Annika, who is young and immobile enough to be enthralled with all the colors, lights and noises. We made it to the Gap and to one other store that I'd been meaning to visit. Oh, and we shared a crepe. Strawberries and heavy cream, yum. Hans used to make me crepes, back in the day...when he was trying to impress me (I guess it must have worked, to some extent). I guess we'll have to dust the crepe-maker off when we get home and fire it up, because I'm addicted.
On the way back to the base to get the van, we decided to stop off at Mikasa Park. Most of you (with the exception of Gen, of course) went to Mikasa Park when you were here. It's where the battleship MIKASA is. I've seen enough ships lately...no need to sit and stare at another one, but the park was really fun for Josiah. I actually hadn't been back there except to drop people off. There are all sorts of little waterfalls and ponds, fish, a big train and some playground equipment.
I experimented again with letting Josiah walk on his own, and he did pretty well. I didn't have to run after him at all. He did take off on some steps (see the picture) where I couldn't follow him with the stroller. I feared for him for a moment, you'll see there's a bit of a dropoff. But he did very well. I guess part of motherhood is learning to hold your breath and let them take a few chances when the occasion arises. It's sure not easy for this born pessimist, but I'm learning!
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June 22
Americable--The Worst Cable on EARTH
My husband suggested that I blog about the television.
NO, not his television, what's on it. He'd better be happy with his expensive, enormous TV. Josiah even loves it so much that he says "Bye-bye TV" whenever we leave and whines a little. I always have to assure him that the TV will be there when we get back. That's a bad sign, right, fellow mommies? You're all thinking that my kid watches way too much TV if he is that attached (meanwhile, my husband is beaming with pride). He doesn't, really. I promise.
Anyway. We don't have a problem with the actual TV which is beautiful and enormous and flatscreen and plasma and has an amazing picture.
It's the cable that's horrible. We're forced to use a service called Americable, and to say that it disappoints is an understatement. You can get "tier 1" service which includes the six or seven AFN (Armed Forces Network) channels or you can get "tier 2" service which includes AFN plus a bunch of American cable channels, like Discovery, History Channel, MTV, VH1, TLC, A&E. Oh, and we get about five live Japanese channels with tier 2. Those channels are very interesting to watch. I've learned a lot from watching Japanese soap operas. We have a couple of cool non-American channels, like the Soundtrack Channel, StarWorld and an Indian National Geographic channel.
AFN itself is annoying, but at least it's always on the air. The picture quality of the AFN channels is always great. No problems there. It's the "tier 2" stuff that sucks. My biggest problem with them is that they have NO set schedule. For weeks, we'll get into a routine of watching, say, "DragonTales" at 7:30 a.m. and then "Dora the Explorer" right after it (this is just an example, I actually despise both of those cartoons). Then, all of a sudden and randomly, the schedule changes to something else. I mean, when your kid gets into the habit of waking up to DragonTales, then by God, you need DragonTales on at the same time every morning. I hate the random schedule change. It makes no sense and we're never even sent a mass e-mail saying "Oh hey, as of 4/6/06, such and such will be taking the place of such and such a show". Thanks, Americable, for making my kid CRY when his favorite cartoon suddenly isn't on. Oh, and I also do not appreciate the fact that you play the same episodes over and over again. He doesn't know, but I do.
Add to this the fact that half of the time, half of the channels are not even working. I guess that the programs are DVD recorded and are being played from someone's computer, because that's what you see when the channels go off the air: someone's desktop. Channel after channel of a Microsoft desktop. Thanks, Americable! I could sit right here in front of the computer if I wanted to see that!
A couple of weeks ago, this was the case with about half of the channels. The other half were kind of stop and start. The picture would freeze and unfreeze but the soundtrack was running fine. Absolutely unwatchable. The volume on TLC was so soft that I had to crank the volume into the 40 range, but MTV was so loud that we couldn't watch it except with the volume turned way down. PBS has always been so incredibly washed out that it nearly gives me a migraine to try to watch it.
I'm not even going to go into the pain of AFN's "public service" type announcements...they are really pretty insulting. I guess if I feel like drinking, doing drugs, chewing tobacco, not exercising, not eating fruits and vegetables, driving without my seatbelt or not reading to my kids, I will/won't. It's none of AFN's business. Or the MCPON's business either, for that matter. And I already know all the state capitals, thank you very much. Like I said before, I wish I could just see Kotex commercials, for the love of God!
So all of you (with the exception of my parents who have never and probably never will have cable) go and watch your cable and DirecTV (sob) tonight, secure that you are getting amazing service and a gorgeous picture. Enjoy your programs that never change and real commercials. Movies on demand. Choices. Up-to-date programming, not shows that are three weeks behind the States.
Gotta go watch Dora...ugh. Vamanos!
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June 21
The Potty Wars Begin
This morning, after our communal shower, I decided to let Josiah run around naked for awhile. Just for fun. Just to see if possibly, just maybe, he would potty in his little potty.
It's funny how the few times he's slipped away from me and been naked, he's peed on something almost immediately. I ran after him into his room, thinking that this would be the case today as well. I was all ready and excited to put him on the potty when he started dribbling. Two HOURS later, he still hadn't peed, and I started pumping juice into him. Annika had been sleeping the entire time, but she woke up. I ran in, grabbed her, her diaper and her change of clothes, ran back into Joe's room. Put Annika on the bed and changed her, turned around and he'd peed.
DAMN!! I ran over, put him on the potty and urged him to keep trying. It didn't seem like he'd gone very much. But he had nothing left. After taking several deep breaths to calm myself, I reassured him that it was OK and we'd keep working on it.
I know it's a little early. Most of the mommies that I know are training their boys around 2-1/2 or even three years. I have no idea what kind of technique I'm going to use. I have M&Ms upstairs in plain view and I keep offering to give him one if he makes potty. I put him on the potty every time I have him naked.
I guess we'll try again tomorrow.
What a kid, though. The other day, I whapped him on the back of the head with his coloring book because he got crayon all over the tile. Again. After I've told him approximately 4,325 times. Not hard, just enough to call attention to the fact that I was unhappy. He said "Ow, Mama hurt Jo-Jo!" Uh-oh. He's starting to make little sentences. He came up to me the other night with Annika's little pink bear and said "It's a Grill, it's a grill" over and over...I finally figured it out when I turned over the bear. It has "It's a Girl" embroidered on it...now, I doubt he read it, but still, where in the world...?
They are some pretty amazing critters, that's for sure!
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June 16
Kanazawa Zoo
Yesterday we went to the Kanazawa Zoo. Mariska had been there once before, but it was a new experience for us. We had a little trouble finding the place, which was sorta Mariska's fault and sorta mine for not listening to her directions (who me, not listen?). We turned around on the toll road about four times. Going to the zoo was cheap. The ride there was not, though it was probably less than five miles from Ikego!
It was pretty gray out all day and dribbling sporadically, so there were literally about 20 people at the zoo. I kid you not, my van was one of three cars in the huge parking lot. It must get much busier on the weekends. Tickets were amazingly cheap, 500 Yen for adults, children are free. Not bad.
Well, it wasn't on a par with the San Diego Zoo. I guess the admission price alone should have been a clue, but it wasn't bad. It wasn't say...Como Zoo circa 1985. I will never forget going there whatever year we had The Super Funnest Weekend Ever with Paul and Marcy (seriously, guys, I think none of us will ever forget that experience!). Como Zoo today is much, much better, but back then, I remember it being bare bars and concrete floors, no habitats whatsoever and that miserable polar bear swimming in bored circles.
Kanazawa Zoo is quite large and rambling and has nice habitats, but not very many animals. The basics...elephants, kangaroos, rhinos, giraffes. Enough to get the kids excited. Josiah was out of the stroller quite a bit, walking. We're still in the experimental stage with that--he's a runner. The minute we set him loose, he gets drunk with freedom and takes off. I had to chase him down a few times at the zoo. Lucikly, there was no one there.
Not much else occuring around here. Annika had her four month checkup today. She weighs...(drum roll)...16 pounds 9 ounces. Quite healthy. Sometimes I feel guilty for not having a huge list of questions written down to ask the doctor. I feel like the doctor expects me to ask her a bunch of questions and when I have none, I feel like a slacker mommy. Sorry. Like Josiah, Annika is just a normal, healthy kid. She's not doing anything strange. She doesn't have stigmata or anything. May I be excused? OK, thanks. See you in two months!
She had to get three shots in her (thank God) super-chubby thighs. She's been pretty crabby this afternoon as a result, but sleeping a lot. She had solid foods for the first time this week, too. We started off with bananas and have branched off into cereal and applesauce as well. It's going well. There are a couple of new pics of her at her first meal. The look on a baby's face when he or she gets that first bite of real food--priceless. She spit a lot of it out the first feeding, but I could tell that she liked it. In one picture, you'll see her hand on the spoon. She was helping me get it to her mouth, so I know she was diggin' the taste.
OK, I've got a sitter coming tonight (whoo-hoo!!), so I've got to drag my tired self upstairs and try to get semi-attractive for a date with the girls. We're going into Yokosuka to a little Italian place that they like. Just us girls--Mariska, Alexis, me and Annie.
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June 13
Typhoid Lily Strikes Again
Josiah is sick.
Drake and Lily have had some sort of strange illness lately, something that included sporadic, nomadic fevers and vomiting. This was last week, thus I thought that Josiah had evaded it. Ah, the false sense of security. That's exactly what I deserve for thinking my child superior to the common sicknesses of other children.
Today we went to the post office. We played at the park. Everything was fine and normal. We went to the exchange and did some shopping. I actually got everything on my list, plus scored an amazing pile of adorable Carter's clothes for Annika, each piece less than $4.00 (take that Jan!). Josiah started getting cranky, which is nothing new. He doesn't really like to shop anymore, unless it's at Toys-R-Us. Annika, on the other hand, was complacent as could be in the Bjorn. The people at Visa are going to love Annika and I in a few years!
He's cranky in the checkout line, so I offer him some M&Ms. He refuses. My antennae go up..."Refusing M&M's?"...when suddenly, out of nowhere: BLARRRRGGGGGGHHHH!!! He threw up everywhere! And then some more, and more, and more. Who knew that one little boy could store so much vomit?
Thankfully, there were very few people in the exchange today. About four people witnessed it happen, and two of them were clerks, who rushed to give me paper towels and a trash can. The other two were mothers who were very sympathetic. I mopped him up and took him out to the van, where I had somehow blessedly remembered a change of clothing. Gave him the "baby wipe bath", changed him. Took the cart back in so they could hose it down with disinfectant.
Now we're home and he's thrown up one more time. He is a very dramatic sick boy. You should see him with his lip hanging out and his eyes all pathetic and big. He looks like a Precious Moments figurine. That occasionally spews vile vomit.
For all of you who know how dramatic I can be when faced with a dilemma, I want you to know that I was very calm and collected in handling this. Motherhood has taught me a thing or two, namely that it's not really a big deal until I make it one.
The other lesson I've learned is this: when your friends tell you their kids have been sick, DO NOT have dinner at their house or go near their kids for approximately 14 days! Poor Mariska, she's going to feel terrible when she hears about this! She always feels deeply responsible when her kids get other kids sick.
Just pray that Annika doesn't get it.
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June 12
Holy Cheeseburger!
Hanging out with the kiddies on a balmy Monday, late afternoon. I've been trying hard to diet, keeping my calories around 1,500 per day. This isn't very easy. Especially between meals. I have one snack between each meal, but lately I've just been so darn hungry in the interim between snack and meal. It's 4:30 and I'll start fixing dinner in about half an hour. I thought "Why not go blog to take your mind off food?" It's working, kind of. Please don't hate me for saying this, but I've had a great metabolism most of my life. The kind of metabolism that meant that I never had to worry about what I ate. I just ate it. Age and babies seem to have slowed that down somewhat. Because I've never had to be strict with food, it's harder for me. I'm just so used to having what sounds good. And plenty of it.
Speaking of eating and calories. I felt hungry for a burger on the grill last night, but after checking the nutrition information on the prefabbed burger box, I was shocked. 310 calories per patty. Uff-dah! Feeling curious about some of our forays into McDonald's, I goodsearched "nutrition information McDonald's". Please don't do it if you ever want to enjoy your Filet-O-Fish again. Let's just say that I figured out the calories and fat grams of a meal that my husband regularly consumes and I felt ill. I already nag the poor boy enough about going to McDonald's...now I know exactly how horrible it is (and yes, I did see "Supersize Me").
(By the way, if you have to go to McDonald's and don't want a salad, get the four piece chicken McNugget. It's only 170 calories. Thank God that's what Josiah gets when we go.)
How do we feel about nagging in the name of love, anyway? I can change our diet here at home, but I can't control his diet when he's gone. I remember having our diet change dramatically at home when Dad's cholesterol and blood pressure went on the rise. I feel like we had a lot of coney dogs and things from the Fry Daddy before then. I remember "No Salt" replacing the regular salt shaker and having this idea that if we ate salt, it would lead to his early demise. Thanks a lot for freaking me out, Mom! But I guess it worked...! He's still hanging around. So, as a wife who loves her husband very, very much, am I allowed to nag in the name of prolonging life and improving health?
I feel like Felicity, journaling and asking questions.
Anyway, there are some new pictures of Annika that I took today. She was just looking too delicious hanging out in her diaper on the purple blanket. She is such a content little girl. She has to be, because I am usually busy chasing after Josiah. The only real time that we get to ourselves is in the middle of the night, and seeing as she is increasingly sleeping through the night, even that time is disappearing. I reason that Josiah will go to preschool before too long and then she and I will have lots of "girl time" together. She is growing up so quickly. We're going to start solid foods in the next few days and she has her four month checkup on Friday.
Time to start dinner. Thanks a lot for helping me through!
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June 08
Daiso & Ship's Picnic
Sort of an odd mix of subjects, but oh well.
First. My husband left me this morning. I guess I should have seen it coming...more and more of his belongings kept disappearing from the drawers and closet. He'd been warning me that he was leaving. I was trying to ignore the signs. Now it's too late. He's with his other lover, that steel harlot. How I hate her! I've been fighting her for him for a couple of years now. Well, she can have him...and his dirty laundry!
Snif.
The kids and I took the train to town on Tuesday late afternoon. Hans had the car and I felt the urge to go to The Daiso, which is the 100 Yen store. The wonders of the 100 Yen store never cease to amaze me. I think those of you who have visited me (with the exception of Gen, who saw nothing but base housing and bureaucracy) got to go to The Daiso. I know it was very high on my mother's list of priorities, monster bargain-hunter that she is. Literally everything in the store is 100 Yen. And when the dollar is strong against the Yen (or vice versa, I'm not good with economics), that means I'm paying less than a dollar for everything!!
Those of you at home are saying "But I go in the dollar store and everything there is crappy!". This may or may not be true. I can't verify as I've never been inside a dollar store. I heard everything in the store is crappy...um. Anyway, the 100 Yen store is much, much different. Everything in there is Japanese crap. Exotic crap. Actually, most of their stuff is pretty darn nice for a dollar. This trip I bought some more Shinkansen (bullet train) plastic plates, cups and silverware for my future nephew, Baby Theobald. Last trip I sent home Hello Kitty toddlerware for Miss Leah, my niece. I picked up a bunch of art supplies for Josiah--modeling clay, new crayons, cool Japanese construction paper. They have everything--rows and rows of baskets (because they are crazy about compartmentalizing and arranging), office and art supplies, books and music, food, dishes and kitchen doodads, native crafts, toys, beauty supplies, baby stuff, gardening supplies. I LOVE it!
Anyway, I took a couple of pictures of our trip in on the train and of The Daiso (sorry, one is pretty dark).
Yesterday was the ship's picnic. Nothing like cramming a bunch of social events into the few days that our guys (and ladies) are home. It was a pretty good picnic, though. It was beautiful and sunny right up until I parked the car and began the unloading process...double stroller, toddler out of carseat into stroller, infant out of carseat into stroller, bags into stroller, sweep car for juice cups and dropped toys necessary to travel in stroller, attach tray for toddler. Then an enormous helicopter came in for a landing nearby and stirred up a bunch of dirt and dust--not something that usually occurs when I picnic, except when Donald Trump drops by for some PB&J. Then, it started to rain and the temps dropped from about 75 to 62. Luckily, I had brought coats for the kids, but not myself. I lived through it, tough Minnesotan that I am.
Eventually, my husband showed up (1-1/2 hours after I arrived at the ship to pick him up for the picnic), the sun came back out (perhaps the two events were more than coincidental?), and we had a good afternoon. Josiah spent a lot of time in the bouncer and then got to try out his new Thomas beach set in a pile of sand. Wow, did he get dirty. See new photos for verification. We ended up stripping off his overalls and giving him a bath with wet wipes before we left, then threw him straight in the tub when we got home.
I expect his dirty diapers today to be a big on the....sandy side. He ate enough of it!
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June 06
Josiah's Mock Birthday
Wow, two entries in the space of ten minutes! Aren't you all lucky?
We had a little birthday celebration for Josiah on Saturday evening. Fired up the grill again, grilled hotdogs and hamburgers. Pete and Mariska, and DJ and Alexis came up with all of the kids. It was pretty much pandemonium for awhile. They did do a really, really good job of staying outside. Annika blessedly went to sleep about four minutes before everyone came, which enabled me to keep everyone from going upstairs and tearing everything up. Babies really come in handy from time to time. That being said, I know that Josiah has done some tearing up at their homes, so I was prepared to endure the mess.
One of Hans' chief's wife (got all that?) made Josiah a Thomas the Tank Engine cake. It was very, very cute. And very tasty, I might add. I just polished off another piece of it. Actually, I threw half of the sheet portion of the cake away yesterday, due to the fact that every time I passed by it, I was dipping a finger into the frosting. My diet was going really well... Josiah blew out the candle and everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to him, there were presents, and the whole evening was just a lot of fun. He was one tired two-year-old at bedtime.
And thankfully, my house wasn't too much of a disaster! It does take awhile to scrub blue frosting out of cream-colored chair covers, though. If it ever happens to any of you, I found that a combination of carpet cleaner and Spray-n-Wash blended with some good old fashioned elbow-grease works.
I was just finishing up with the clean-up when I turned around, and there he was. My first "gichi". For those of you who haven't heard the horror story of Alexis' gichi last summer, here goes. First, you must know that gichis are centipedes. Big, black, creepy, hard, crunchy centipedes with millions of disgusting legs and freaky pincer claws by their heads. Our gichi was probably 4-5" long, but they get bigger. Anyway, last summer before any of us knew of the gichi, Alexis was peacefully sleeping one night when she felt what she thought was a fly buzzing around her shoulder. Yes, that's right. She had an enormous gichi on her in her bed! I still have to pull the covers all the way back every night to do a "gichi check". All of this time in Japan, I have been awaiting the arrival of my first gichi, and there he was, in all his disgusting glory, sitting on my kitchen floor. Like a woman, I immediately started screaming "Gichi, gichi, gichi!!", Hans came in, promptly wrapped it in a paper towel and threw it in the trash can outside. I wish that he would have squashed it first as since then, I've been afraid that it would be waiting for me when I lifted the trash can lid. I reason, though, that the stench of dirty diapers baking in this heat and humidity inside the trash can probably killed the gichi. I wish that I would have taken a picture of it so you all could see.
Had the house sprayed yesterday so that I don't encounter any of his relatives (the gichi's, not Hans'!).
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Blue Morning
Just got off another phone call from Minnesota and I'm feeling really homesick. Most days around here, the phone doesn't ring all day (which is fine, really--not trying to lay the guilt trip!), but some days, the phone rings and rings. When it rains, it pours.
Talked to my mother-in-law, which is always pleasant. I'm lucky to have a mother-in-law that I enjoy talking to and spending time with. She adores my children and never stops being amazed by them and praising them--that's always enjoyable for a mother to listen to! She misses us and aforementioned grandchildren very much.
Then, my husband called. I wish that this was an everyday occurence, but the sad fact is that it is not. He is here in Yokosuka right now, but he's leaving soon and the fact that I will be alone again is weighing heavily on my mind. I thank God that when he goes, he is in fairly safe territory (for the moment, anyway). I cannot fathom how the wives and families of people deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan get through their days. Anyway, Hans is home for a very little while yet, so we're trying to talk and be together as much as we can. I'm not certain when I will see him again after he goes--Josiah, Annika and I may even move home before he gets back. Who knows?
Then, my Grandma Thielhorn called. She was making the rounds of her grandchildren to find out who will be attending her church's 100th anniversary picnic in late June. It seems that all of my cousins, my brother and sister and their families--all of them are going to go to Alpha to the picnic. I can't express how much it would mean for me to be there. It's the church that my family has attended for generations, the church that I grew up in, the church that so many wonderful memories are attached to. I would love to be able to just hop in the car with my deviled eggs and drive down there--show off my lovely family to people who haven't seen me for years. And just be with my parents, brother and sister and their families. It's been nearly a year since I've seen my sister, over a year now since I've seen my brother. Well, and not to mention I would love the excellent Lutheran potluck...
Then, my oldest and dearest friend, Jennifer, calls. Unfortunately, she has perused my "pet peeves" list and is thinking that item #6 applies to her, and she's feeling pretty bad about it. She is my oldest friend, for certain--we've been friends since kindergarten. She has seen me through so many broken hearts, and she's put up with all of my crap for years. Including my insensitivity--I guess I should have let her know that item #6 on the pet peeve list did not in fact apply to her, though we haven't talked a whole lot recently. I explained to her that as my oldest, closest friend we have the type of friendship that is always there, even when we're not talking every day or we live thousands of miles apart. I could pick up the phone two days from now, two months, two years, and we'd pick up right where we left off. No, item #6 is for my newer friends--I try hard to maintain relationships by replying to people's e-mails, and it really kind of hurts my feelings when people can't take a moment to respond. But it's not YOU, Jennifer! I promise. She misses me though. She's been to St. James, she's done things there that probably seem pretty mundane to her, but how I wish I could have a day to catch up, to shop at our favorite places, eat at those old familiar restaurants, drive through our known country.
I wonder who will call next?
By the way, this entry does not in any way contrue that I want you all to stop calling me! Please keep calling...you are my lifelines!
10 minutes later...now I'm going to torture myself further by watching "Untamed Heart". Then, maybe I'll watch "Joe Somebody", then "Fargo".
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June 01
Hails, Farewells, Grilling & Etc.
So, my husband is home, which is indescribably great...the homecomings are one of the things that make the sacrifice bearable. It's hard not to feel like a silly teenager in love after not seeing your husband for weeks. He's happy, I'm happy, the kids are pretty much happy. The only way I could be happier is if he had a little more time away from the ship to spend with us. Oh, and if he had brought his new orders with him (I'm not nagging, sweetie, I swear!)
We have been busy, busy, busy since he got here, though. First, I dragged him home and forced him to assemble our new grill. Well, one would think that this was a fairly simple task, but not so! I pictured the grill as being inside the box in a few easily joined pieces. Wow. I suggested somewhere along the line that we should perhaps consider contacting the Chief Engineer from the ship for assistance. Hans miraculously kept his cool throughout assembly. Maybe it was because we kept laughing about The Simpson's episode where Homer tries to build a grill. Trust me, Hans' grill turned out much better. It didn't have a patio umbrella sticking out of it. The box was missing two feet, so we have it balancing on two of Josiah's Elmo balls, and we're having some problems with the starter and one of the burners firing.
We had Pete, Mariska and the kids up for the inaugural firing of the new grill. We had beer and margaritas while I grilled some steaks and the kids ran in and out of the house, up the stairs, around the yard. We had some pretty pooped out children at the end of the evening. It just struck me as funny at one point in the evening. This is probably the first time that we've had a couple with children over for supper. It just seemed so, I don't know, adult or something to have the children yelling and carrying on and enjoying themselves while the parents sat around discussing grown-up things, laughing and drinking. I guess sometimes I'm still shocked that I'm a grown-up.
We had the captain's hail and farewell on Tuesday night. Josiah had a babysitter and we took Annika along. She seemed like she was going to fuss a little in the beginning, but then she went to sleep and slept through the entire thing. For those of you who don't know what a hail and farewell is, the name should be fairly explanatory. It's a wardroom function, meaning for the officers of the ship only...just a time to get together, give gifts (both meaningful and gag), and sort of roast the person leaving. Well, I guess that's a farewell. They do the same thing for arriving people, just sans gifts and roasting. Hopefully I've got that all right...I'll print a retraction tomorrow if Hans doesn't agree.
Some of the pictures are from the change of command ceremony yesterday. Josiah stayed with Mariska and I took Annika. I'm glad that I went. It was interesting. We have been fairly close to the captain and his wife, which made it more meaningful. Change of command is a pretty big ceremony. Hans says it takes lots of practice and choreography (which made me picture a bunch of sailors doing high kicks). There were a lot of important people there, commodore so-and-so, admiral so-and-so. The ship was decked out in red, white and blue bunting and everyone is in dress uniform. It's a little hard to describe past that...there was a guest speaker, the old captain said a few (hundred thousand) words, then the new captain said a few (twenty) words...there was stuff in between, then it was done. It's sort of bittersweet. Command is a real career pinnacle that takes many years of hard work to achieve, comes along and ends in a matter of months. Hans says that sometimes an officer will achieve command more than once, but it's rare. I can't help wonder what it will be like for us when it's our turn.
Anyway, I'll stop going on about the Navy. Your eyes are probably all glazing over! Enjoy the pictures of Josiah and Annika. I tried to cut Josiah's hair. Yeah....the top isn't too bad, but I got a little overzealous on his neck. Luckily his hair grows as quickly as he does!
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