Disney Sea

First on our stop was Disneyland and Disney Sea. Disney Sea was kind of a cross between Epcot and MGM. We are totally huge Disney fans and think that the Disney's here in Japan are laid out so well. They really are an engineering feat. I personally loved how we were taller than everyone else and could easily pick each other out in a crowd. I loved the King Triton's area and the boys went on all the fast rides. Ben says his favorite ride was Tower of Terror! Lots of pics...enjoy!

Noah crashed on the stroller waiting for our bus to the hotel. We stayed in a place 5 minutes from Disney that had a shuttle to the resort.

Just inside the gates at Disney Sea. The whole globe was turning.

This mountain was the center of Disney Sea and erupted periodically with fire and smoke. The kids immediately said, "I don't want to go on that ride, okay?" Just after this picture was taken Noah pointed out to Rob that the stroller was rolling down the hill (brake wasn't put on to take the picture) and 3 Japanese people were chasing after it. Good times.

Our 5 kids- Noah, Ben, Isabella, Kate and BOB. Our BOB stroller comes with us everywhere and was put to good use this trip hauling all 4 kids on it. I highly recommend one to everyone with 2+ kids.


Outside the Indiana Jones ride



The center of Disney Sea was this mote with several rides in it including 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

Anyone want a potato and salmon pizza? It was actually really delicious (of course I ripped off the salmon topping).

When in Rome, do as the Romans...strike a peace sign in every picture while in Japan.

Space A flight to Tokyo

Wow! What a flight we had to Tokyo last week. We decided to "Space A" it because it's FREE! This means you show up at the Air Force airport and hope to get on a flight going to the destination you are heading to. We totally scored both ways, but the flight to Tokyo was awesome. We got to fly in a KC-135 which is a refueling aircraft. Accompanying us was an F-22 fighter jet. We actually got to witness the KC-135 refuel the F-22. Totally AWESOME! There were windows on the floor that we got to lay down on to watch the refueling. It was merely a training exercise, but it felt like something out of Top Gun.

The KC-135 has trouble getting the temperature just right in the cabin. On the way out it was scalding like we were on fire. Once it kicked in it was frigid. Here are some pics of us melting:


Note the steam in the camera.

Refueling the F-22. Click for a killer detailed photo.


The kids laying in the Boomshaft (I think that's what it's called) looking at the refueling.


It's getting colder...

Issy slept most of the flight.

The boys watching a movie. Note all the space we have to walk around. It's sooooo much nicer than flying commercial.

Random pics

Some pics of Kate and her siblings. They are always talking to her making her laugh.

Who wouldn't want a cucumber ("banana" style) for breakfast?

Fireworks

The summertime is officially festival time in Okinawa. That also means fireworks season. About once a week fireworks go off outside our back door. The whole neighborhood runs outside to watch and the kids run circles around the grown ups. Since fireworks usually happen around 9pm lately and the kids are in bed they get out of bed to come down and see them. Issy never misses a beat to jump out of bed and rush outside (the boys usually sleep though them). This picture is blurry, but it shows how close the fireworks are to our house.

They can be so darling...

When the kids aren't killing each other, they play so nicely. Here they are building a fort out of the kitchen table and some blankets. They were able to accommodate every one's personality by having weapons guarding the entrance and a tea party inside.

Sweet Sweater

Thanks, Aunt Pam, for the awesome sweater for Kate. As you can see, it's a little big for her right now. Issy however has no problem putting it to use until she fits into it. She loves it and even took it to Tokyo with her.

Dunking their Old Man

Need I say more?

Working for their wages

I am not a good mom when it comes to making my kids do chores. I never have been. However, I was good mom last week when I made my boys work for a toy they wanted. And man, they are motivated when they want something. Here they are doing dishes. We had them do "work" for us for 3 days and then they got these Star Wars action figures.

Noah's first T-ball game

The sporting season of our lives has officially begun. From what I'm told it doesn't end for the next 18 years. Noah had his first T-ball game this Saturday (no less than 20 minutes after the Trikids race festivities were over). This was too stinkin' cute! They don't keep score and the "3 outs per inning" rule doesn't apply. The inning is over when every kid on the team has batted and then they switch. This goes on for an hour and then the game is over. Most of the kids have no concept of the game of baseball (as do I), but they are sure having fun. It was rather torturous for us to sit in the extreme heat and watch, but the other kids had fun playing on the bleachers and I was thankful that MCCS set up tents for shade for the parents.

He hits the ball.

"So, you put one foot on the base and the other over here. When he hits the ball, you run to second base. Got it?"

Heading for home. He was seen, just moments before this shot, squatting down writing his name in the dirt.

The "Good Game" line.

Kate was so hot I had to strip her down.

Trichicks/Mini Trikids

The Trichicks/Mini Trikids race finally happened this weekend after being postponed due to Typhoon Merkot. For me, it was a 200m swim, 5K bike and 1K run. I'm happy to say I finished it (3rd place in my age group) and I didn't come in last. Whoo hoo!

Getting briefed before the race.

My friends and I who raced right after the race. Me, Crista, Ali, Wendy, RuthAnn, Susan. Way to go, ROCK STARS!

Noah, Marcus and Ben warming up. They were soooooo stinkin' cute.

More warm ups---push ups, squat thrusts, jumping jacks, break dancing. The usual warm up.

Getting ready to begin the swim portion. The kids race was a 25m swim, 400m bike and 100m run.

Noah swimming.

Ben swimming (with the aid of a kickboard).

Noah biking (note how small his bike is compared to the girl in front of him).

Noah running.

Ben coming round home stretch.

Gotta cool off after a long, hard race.

Noah getting his ribbon. Way to go, boys. You did awesome. They loved getting a number on their arm just like they've been watching Rob and I do at the aquathons and being part of the competition. They had to wait around for about 3 hours between check-in and the two races that were ahead of theirs, but they did great and we are so proud of them for giving it their best. It was a really fun day.