Moore Fun

Early Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-09T12:16:00.001+09:00

Festive Family Fall Greeting

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Introducing Hyatt V!

2011-07-31T14:10:00.000+09:00

Here he is...

Stationery card

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Random Gilroy Lunch

2009-07-17T21:49:00.004+09:00

So much time has passed - the girls and I were back home for a few weeks, and Hyatt met up with us in Cali for a mega family reunion/70th wedding anniversary celebration, and I've spent about a week in the hospital with pancreatitis - and yet I'm just going to pick one afternoon visit to share with you all, because it was one of the highlights. And because the kids were so cute that I just have to share the pictures. When we were in California, we took two days to drive up to Palo Alto, our soon to be home, and on the drive back met up with Ellie, Sadie and Zeke (Brian was out of town - bummer, but we'll get to see them plenty soon enough, so we're looking forward to that) at In 'n Out Burger in Gilroy for lunch. Sadie is such a little girl now, and Zeke was running around all over the place. It was such a funny moment in time, as it had been a year since we last saw each other, and yet having lunch together just seemed so, well, normal. As things should be. Sitting outside, eating fries and burgers, keeping the kids away from the cars, and just being. After lunch we took a few photos - Sadie had found a nice red truck that she liked, and proceeded to pose as if she owned it. So, we are looking forward to many more such afternoons in the next year...

Easter Fun and First Day of "School"

2009-04-14T14:14:00.010+09:00

Life is CRAZY! Last week Kaiya had her first day of, dare I say it, school! Well, it is a Japanese pre (pre,pre) school for children beginning at 18 months of age. So, really, I held her back a bit by waiting until now (she is almost 23 months - which is almost 2 years old). The program is called Daichi, and she will be going approximately once each week, from 8:30am until 11:30am. You can also choose to have them stay until 2:30pm, which means that they have lunch (provided by the school, but you bring your own rice) and naptime there. I'm thinking I'll probably have Kaiya stay through lunch once in a while, because maybe she will try some new foods that way. Recently she has started eating rice, but only brown rice. Healthier, yes. Easy to find in restaurants here, no.

Easter was fun but busy here. Our friend, George, sent us a Happy Easter e-mail the other day and was reminiscing on where he has spent the last few Easters - suffice it to say that he hasn't spent one in the US in quite some time. This got me thinking about where we've been these last few years. Since we've been married: 2004- Hawaii (we rode on our motorcycle across the island to SeaLife Park and ran out of gas on our way home); 2005- California; 2006- California (I don't remember these ones very well at the moment, I'm sure we spent 2006 in Monterey, but not too sure about 2005... I wonder if Hyatt remembers more clearly than me? I feel like we may have gone to the Monterey Bay Aquarium in 2005, actually, because I remember thinking that going to an aquarium/sealife park place each year would be a good tradition. The tradition has not lasted.); 2007- Okinawa (we did the Easter brunch at the O-club in Kadena with Mike McCarthy and I was very pregnant and ate a lot. I think we were actually eating for 2 hours.) 2008- Misawa, Japan and Hawaii (we actually traveled on Easter Sunday and so spent the day both places); 2009- Misawa, Japan. This year we started off with the morning church service, as always, then went to the church potluck, followed by a big Easter lunch at the Cross' house. There was much food, fellowship, and fun! I think one of the highlights of this Easter, however, was the fact that this was the first year that I got to dress our daughters in matching Easter dresses!!! My sister and I used to have matching outfits most Christmas's and Easters - different colours, but same outfit. So, this year, thanks to Old Navy, Kaiya and Evera were sporting little butterfly sundresses. I did my best to capture the moment on film (do you still call it "film" when it's a digital camera?), but we were having a very difficult time keeping Kaiya stationary for photos. After looking through all of them, I discovered that she was not looking at the camera in even one of the photos. Wow. That's skill. Also on the Easter weekend, we went for a walk at the Komaki onsen park and I got a few cute, very Japanese (in that the onsen was in the background) photos of Evera asleep in her carseat.

I will leave you to view the photos that tell this same tale... and I apologize for Kaiya's hair her first day of school. We got it fixed once we got home, but there just wasn't enough time to do it before going out:) At least Hyatt and I got to witness it laying flat after her bath, there just isn't any photo proof...

Evera Belle's Arrival

2009-01-23T11:31:00.002+09:00

Hi All! This is a long time coming, due to lack of sleep and trying to balance the task of taking care of two children now:) Anyways, I just wanted to let you all know that Evera (pronounced e-Vera) Belle Moore was born on Thursday, Jan.8, 2009 at 5:58am in Misawa, Japan, after 3.5 hours of labour. We definitely had the mad rush to the hospital this time! She weighed in at 7 lbs 14 oz and measured 21.25 inches in length. Our friend, Abi Corbett, was able to be here for the birth, as she had arrived on the 5th - and what a help she was after the birth, too, as she was able to help hold the house together and keep Kaiya occupied while Hyatt and I just had to worry about surviving the first couple of weeks. Abi went home almost a week ago now and we're just waiting for my mom's arrival on the 28th. In the meantime, we have some amazing friends here who have been a huge help with meals and Kaiya care. Here are a couple of pictures for you...

Salmon Festival

2008-11-28T22:34:00.005+09:00

A couple of weeks ago we went to the Salmon Festival with our friends, Katie and Joe. This has been something that Hyatt has looked forward to since we moved here and he heard that there was an opportunity to catch a salmon with your bare hands. We had perfect weather for it and thoroughly enjoyed our time, although the actual catching of the salmon ended up being a little more tricky than anticipated. Joe, however, somehow managed to catch two - the second one with just one hand while already holding his first one in his other hand! Hyatt says that next time he would use gloves rather than trying to do the barehanded thing, as they were more slippery than he bargained for. It's hard to capture the time in a blog entry, but let's just say that Joe had Hyatt hold his second fish for him, and the fish got away from him... and Hyatt ended up getting a fish at the very end.... one that looked kind of dead and was sort of floating in the corner. I think it was a real prize fish, though, because this was one that escaped ALL of the other people that had been in there, and maybe he was just floating a little because he was plain tuckered out after dodging the crowds.

Of course, this festival had its fun quirky things, too, as you'll see in the pictures below - our favourites being the man dressed in the salmon costume - without any pants on, and the men's outhouses that don't have full doors:)

5 Years

2008-11-10T10:10:00.005+09:00

This weekend, Hyatt and I had the most glorious time celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary. The anniversary itself was actually Nov.1st, but it worked better for us to go away this weekend, so we just went out for dinner on our actual day. Anyways, our wonderful friends, the Driskell's, had Kaiya stay overnight with them while Hyatt and I went to the Oirase Gorge and stayed at the Oirase Keiryu Grand Hotel. We arrived there to check in at 3pm on Saturday and got to see our "Japanese style" room. It was perfect - we had a view of the gorge, along with the beautiful autumn leaves (those that were still left on the trees), and tatami mats on the floor (no bed in sight, but I had been given a heads up about that, so it wasn't a surprise). Once we dropped off our stuff, we went back down to the lobby area to sit near the fireplace with the amazing view and enjoyed a decadent 700Y hot cocoa (really was hot cocoa, not hot chocolate, so wasn't quite the sweet taste we were anticipating), and 500Y little piece of cheesecake. It was a moment in time to be savoured:) Once we were ready to get out, we opted for a drive rather than a walk, because it was freezing cold. We drove up the 103 and then veered off on a mountain road to explore and saw some breathtaking scenery as the sun was getting lower in the sky.

Once we returned (via a different route than we had come) to the hotel, we headed to dinner, which was a Japanese buffet. Hyatt loved it, as there were all kinds of new foods to try, and I loved just getting to experience something different. They did have some incredible ice cream, though, as well as an apple pastry that, in my opinion, made the whole trip worth while. It was interesting, too, to see all the people who came to dinner in their onsen outfits (not the outfits that they actually wear in the onsen - which would mean that they wouldn't be wearing a whole lot of anything, but, rather, the outfits that they wear to walk to and from the onsen). By the way, this was an onsen hotel. Who knew?

We had a nice relaxing evening, and fairies had come to visit our room while we were at dinner and made up our beds, which consisted of futon mats and duvets. Let's just say that we loved the beds so much that we were missing them last night when we had to sleep in a "normal" one last night. And we're going to get some tatami mats for our house because we were so loving the feel of them on our feet - maybe we'll put some in Kaiya's new room instead of putting a rug in there.

In the morning, we had our buffet breakfast, which was also very nice - a combination of Japanese and more "American" food (they had biscuits and eggs). We followed this by a walk to a bridge that they had in their brochure, then some onsen time (my very first experience, and I thoroughly enjoyed it), and then we checked out. (For those of you who don't know, an onsen is a Japanese public bath.)

All in all, we had a great 5th anniversary! Here are some pictures... (there are also a couple of pictures from the Harvest Festival last week)...

It's been a while...

2008-10-24T14:32:00.006+09:00

(Note: I wrote this post on Oct.24, and it is only now actually getting posted... so I will have to update again soon. Also, the "belly shot" of me was from when I was 25.5 weeks pregnant, and I am now almost 31.5 weeks, so let's just say that I don't exactly look the same right now, just so we're up front and honest here.)

Once again, time just passes by so quickly. I thought I'd better go ahead and update the blog, since otherwise it would just get too far gone and I would never do it. In the last month and a half, Hyatt has turned 30 (on September 30th!), his parents came to visit, Kaiya learned to walk much faster (she probably thinks it is running), the last of our "gang" moved away, I have grown a lot bigger (the baby inside me probably has, too), we started the Daniel study (Beth Moore) in my bible study, and Hyatt has cracked down on his GRE studies (he writes the test on Nov.6).

That's pretty much life in a nutshell. We're sad that our friends are gone, but God has been so faithful. Much tears were shed when Brett and Tiffany flew out (and before, and after...), but as much as I had dreaded that time, God has really brought other friends to the forefront and is allowing us to develop new relationships that maybe we would not have otherwise. All that to say that once again, God is good, and that once again, when I couldn't imagine how He could make us feel surrounded by family while we're over here in Japan and ready to have another baby this far away from most of our support, He has surpassed what I could have imagined. My friend, Rachel, has gone through doula training and will be our doula - major answer to prayer, as our doula moved at the beginning of October. Our dear friend, Abi, has booked a plane ticket to come visit in January, right over the time of the due date, so chances are that she will be here for the birth (again!). And we have had so many new people join our church recently - and not only join, but jump right in and get involved in things. So, that has been another answer to prayer. So many more women for me to be friends with, too! I'm just feeling very thankful.

Now I will let pictures tell the story. Well, one more thing. For Hyatt's birthday, he had requested 2 things. He wanted to go surfing, and he wanted chocolate banana parfaits from the Cakehouse. Well, we drove all the way to the beach in Hachinohe (the military people aren't allowed to go in the ocean north of Hachinohe because of strong rip currents and some people who made them make the rule for everyone a couple of years ago) and there were NO waves. Not even little baby ones. That was a bummer, but we still had a fun time walking along the coast on a trail that we had wanted to explore for a long time but had never had the chance. We also went to the "aquarium" in Hachinohe, which we have wanted to check out since we first drove past it. Well, the highlight there was that we saw a fish die! I thought that Hyatt was just joking about it dying - we had seen it floating vertically instead of swimming horizontally... but he saw them come and scoop it out of the tank! It's just not everyday that you see that at an aquarium (probably because most aquariums would take care of that kind of stuff at night time, but still). We grilled sausages for dinner, and then headed to the Cakehouse for our parfaits... but they were closing! So, no surfing, and no Cakehouse chocolate banana parfaits. We ended up going to Coco's and having their version of the parfait instead. So, there was Hyatt's 30th. Not what we had planned, but a fun day with his parents and Brett and Tiffany, anyways.

Alright, now for a few pictures of life the last month and a half...

It's another girl!

2008-09-04T14:43:00.006+09:00

Updating our blog has been on my list of things to do for the last couple of months. We've been busy, though - Lisa was here for a couple of weeks in July, and then we went straight to Thailand after her visit. The Pancoasts traveled with us there and we had an incredible trip. Kaiya was a champ and definitely had to be flexible along with us and our traveling hours and interesting bedding situations. We opted not to bring the pack n' play with us, as we were going to have to take the train on our way home, and it is enough work just navigating through the train station with a stroller and suitcases without adding a pack n' play into the mix. In Khao Lak, however, we discovered that they did not have a crib for us. Kaiya ended up sleeping in a make shift fort-type structure composed of two coffee tables turned on their sides piled on top of each other and pushed up against the wall. All that to say that we had a wonderful, memorable time. Feel free to check out the Pancoast's blog, too (there is a link on the side of our blog) for pictures and more details.

Hyatt finished the desk that he has been building. It all began with a brainstorming/design session with Brett one evening when nothing else was going on. Then it just grew and evolved from there. What you see in this video is the finished product! It was really quite amazing how Hyatt would just make these trips to Homac (our Home Depot type store here, although definitely not Home Depot) and come home with another trunk full of tools/stuff. The metal pipes that he worked with were interesting, in that he needed to cut them. With the language barrier, that was a little interesting at the store, as he had understood that, for a small fee, they would cut them there. However, later that afternoon I discovered that we were the proud new owners of a metal cutting power saw:) You're probably getting a bit of an idea of this process. Now just picture the fact that the desk was built in our bedroom. Let's just say that we were thankful when the plan all came together into this incredible work of art! So, there you have it. The story of the desk.

On top of all that news, Kaiya has finally decided to start walking! This video was taken on August 26, and she is actually walking much better now. In fact, she chooses to walk much more often than crawl these days. It's been such a fun process watch her slowly figure out how walking works and get more and more steady as she practices.

Finally, we had our ultrasound today, and received the exciting news that we're having another girl!!! So, Kaiya is going to have a sister... and we don't have to redecorate the nursery! Now we just have to come up with a name. It's so hard to believe that there is another one out there that we will like as much as the name "Kaiya", but we will just have to start looking:)

Together in Tokyo

2008-07-08T21:37:00.007+09:00

It's been a month now since we were in Tokyo with my parents and my brother, Chris... and just now I'm getting around to posting some pictures from the trip:) We had a wonderful time, and it worked out perfectly meeting up at the New Sanno there (a military hotel), as it was a direct flight, then a 2 hour bus ride for my family, and a 3 hour train ride (that felt like many more when you're traveling with a one-year old) and half hour subway trip for us. Our mornings were mostly spent at the hotel, as I wasn't feeling all that well (I'm pregnant, for those of you who somehow have managed to escape that news thus far - due Jan.12th) and Kaiya was getting over an ear infection, so any nap time was much appreciated. We thoroughly enjoyed breakfast buffet time at the restaurant in the hotel, as well as the dinner buffet, for that matter:) It was fun for us to get to eat American food, and it was also nice and convenient.

One of the highlights of our trip was a visit to the Imperial Palace and gardens. After touring the extensive "green" area of the gardens, we decided to take one more side trail to see what was down that way before we left, and came upon the flower garden! It was quite spectacular, and we were thankful that we had checked out that one last place! We also went to the Science Museum. I think it was at Ueno? I should get out my info and give you the exact names, should you ever find yourself there. All this to say that the Science Museum was NOT somewhere worth going. Apparently the Science and TECHNOLOGY museum was the place that we were supposed to go... this was definitely not a technology museum. I was expecting it to be like Science World back home, but instead just saw a bunch of dead, stuffed animals and models of naked people... some evolution thing. It was an experience alright... just not quite the experience that we had been eagerly anticipating. One evening we went out to Roppongi with Chris with the intention of seeing a movie at the theater. After discovering that it would cost $30 per person (because it was in the special theater with extra leg room and a free drink... let's just say that it took a long time and a lot of miscommunication before finally figuring out that that was what the extra $ was for), we decided to pass, and just hung out at the Starbucks instead (where we live, the closest real Starbucks (not "proudly brewed" version) is a good hour and a half, maybe more, away... I've actually never even seen it, just heard stories).

Another one of the highlights was an electronics store that was several stories high. Hyatt showed me some headphones that were more than $1000. They were very comfortable, and the sound did not sound like it was coming out of headphones, if that makes sense. But $1000 for headphones? I just can't quite fathom that. I have to check with Hyatt what the exact price was. We saw a $50,000 flat screen high-def TV that Dad really liked... but then we got to see their projector TVs that had Blue-Ray playing, and we were able to save him a bit of money because they didn't cost quite as much as the TV:)

Lastly, we went to a crazy intersection where thousands of people (or maybe just a thousand?) cross every time. It has a name, but I'm pregnant and my brain just isn't remembering the exact name at the moment. It's pretty famous, though. And we walked a really long way in the rain to get to cross at that intersection just to say that we did it. Shibuya. That is what it was called.

After that wonderful time with everyone, Mom came along with us back up to Misawa, while Dad and Chris headed back home. Mom was amazing and helped clean and organize the whole house and took care of Kaiya. I had just been feeling overwhelmed with everything since I have been pretty sick with this pregnancy. Now I feel like life is a little more under control and I think I'm starting to feel a little bit better (I think I have a longer period of time in the afternoon when I'm not feeling nauseated). Lisa comes tomorrow, so I have to get the house ready for that. I'm so excited, as this is her first time to Japan!

Anyways, I will leave you with some pictures of Tokyo...

Tagged

2008-06-05T11:44:00.002+09:00

Tiffany "tagged" me over a month ago on her blog... I am so behind...
Here it goes:

5 things on my To Do list:
1. Eat lunch (bagel bites?)
2. Update blog (check!)
3. Do bible study (The Patriarchs - Beth Moore)
4. Clean bathrooms (might wait for the To Do list for Mom when she gets here...)
5. See Lisa's new Dress (definitely a capital "D" from what I hear - way to go Jeremy!)

5 snacks I enjoy:
1. sour gummy worms (and a lot of other candy)
2. oranges
3. smoothies
4. all natural, salted by the sea, almonds (helps my daily calcium intake)
5. chocolate cherry Kashi granola bars

5 things I would do if I won the lottery
1. Share with church, family, and friends (I copied Tiff here, but I really would share - especially Camp Alandale and Watoto)
2. Take a trip around the world - maybe a year long ticket stopping everywhere
3. Buy a yacht
4. Buy an island
5. Build our dream house on a lake... and dream houses for our best friends and family for down the street from us

I suppose it would have to be a really big lottery...

5 bad habits:
1. Procrastinating
2. Interrupting when other people are talking
3. Eating maybe a little too much candy
4. Not folding the clean laundry until days later
5. Letting junk pile up in our entranceway

5 places I have lived:
1. Langley, BC
2. Charlotte, NC
3. Kapolei, HI
4. Monterey, CA
5. Misawa, Japan

5 jobs I have had:
1. Sales person at the Bay
2. Technical Writer at SFG/Cayenta
3. Admissions Student Assistant at Trinity Western University
4. Application Consultant at Cayenta
5. Sales Assistant at Hyatt Regency Monterey

5 friends who ghost read your blog and need to start their own:
1. My mom
2. Lisa
3. Friends/Family
4. ?
5. ?

5 favorite things to do on the weekends:
1. Veg at home with Hyatt and Kaiya
2. Watch movies
3. Explore
4. Hang out with friends
5. Go for walks

Ok, I will tag Katey, Ellie, & Debbie!!!

Kaiya is One!

2008-06-05T11:13:00.008+09:00

Well, on May 22nd, Kaiya turned one! It's SO hard to believe that already a year has gone by! While she is not walking on her own yet, she is very busy these days and loves to "walk around" using whatever hand holds she can find... furniture, table cloths, people, etc. She is beginning to eat more table foods, says Mama and Dada, and I keep trying to hear another word in there, as they say 12 month olds are supposed to have at least one additional word besides mama and dada. I like to think she says "all done" and "bottle" (baba), but it may be a bit of a stretch. Kaiya has become an avid piano player and loves to read. She also loves a good game of peek-a-boo.

For Kaiya's birthday, we had a party at the beach on base here. While the weather didn't fully cooperate, the rain did hold off, and we had lots of fun with friends, hot dogs and cake:)

I Love Kyoto in the Springtime

2008-04-16T15:42:00.010+09:00

I don't think that the true wonder and beauty of Kyoto can be expressed in just a few words. Suffice it to say that we had an amazing trip. In just three nights, we attempted to experience the city dubbed as the "Paris of Japan." Our first night we walked to a park that was a mile or so away from our hotel (Hotel Alpha Kyoto) to see a famous lit up cherry blossom tree. It was quite fantastic to behold hundreds of Japanese people all gathered beneath the cherry trees eating their picnics by lantern-light. Everyone from teenagers to families to groups of businessmen in their three piece suits. Magical, really. Thursday was packed full with tour activities. We began the day at the Diatokuji Temple, which was very quiet and serene with beautiful gardens and an interesting tomb area outside that included the grave of a Christian woman (separate from the rest of the graves). Next we went to the Golden Pavilion (Kinkakuji). While it did not quite seem to match the picture in its respective brochure, the structure was still quite beautiful to behold. Third, we visited a textile center where we were able to take in a short kimono fashion show. In the afternoon, the skies finally unleashed the rain they had been holding back thus far. We braved the weather to explore the Kiyomizu Temple, arguably one of the most photographed places in Kyoto (Lori, you have a magnet of this on your fridge!). This is where Hyatt drank from some special spring - apparently the water is supposed to give you health, wealth, good studies, or some such things. Truthfully, the water did taste pretty delicious (he brought us some in the 200Y cup he bought as a memento). That evening we ate with the rest of the tour at a Japanese restaurant and were able to meet an apprentice geisha.

Friday was our free day. We began the day with a trip on the subway to the Nijojo Castle. This was a trip highlight, as we had the opportunity to walk on beautiful wood floors that were built in such a way that they sang like nightingales when you walked on them. Truly a marvel. Apparently they were built that way as a security measure however many hundred years ago. The grounds around that castle were incredible, with cherry blossom trees, moats, ornate gates, and a pond with beautifully arranged rocks. Early that afternoon, after lunch at McDonald's, Hyatt walked all the way to a little store near the park we went to the first night with me. I really wanted a special hair thing from there, but I hadn't realized how far away it was until we arrived there:) That afternoon we took the subway to the 10,000 Torii gates. I think Abi and Chris would probably agree with us that this was the highlight of our time in Kyoto. Perhaps because it was so unexpected. I knew that there were 10,000 Torii gates there, of course, but it is quite another thing to see them stretching in front of my eyes as far as I could see, and to walk through them down one path and then up one staircase after another, never to find the end of them. The view from up near the top was incredible - we had all of Kyoto at our feet.

That evening we found a jewel in the midst of the city. We were looking for the perfect place to eat dinner (but were really quite ready to settle for a fast food pizza joint or the chain hamburger steak place, because we just needed something in our stomachs), when we came across a sign and a little staircase going down to the area beside the canal. Tucked in there was a modern-chic little Italian restaurant (called Cafe Cento Cento). There were a couple of unoccupied tables set out on the patio (perhaps because it was still a little chilly... but we're from northern Japan, so it wasn't TOO chilly to enjoy the atmosphere of a canal bathed in candlelight, running underneath the cherry blossoms and willow trees. And the food was something not just to be tasted, but to really be experienced. Maybe one of the best dinners we've ever had. The perfect ending to the perfect trip.

And so, there you have an attempt at putting our days in Kyoto into words. Now I will put it into pictures... imagine these pictures plus the other 400 or so that we took:) What can I say? It was beautiful!

Photo Journal of Hawaii

2008-04-09T11:20:00.007+09:00

We made it back to Japan! An 8.5 hour flight and 6 hours of trains and train stations later... :) At the moment I am madly trying to both unpack and repack so we can make it for our afternoon flight to Kyoto (slightly different climate than our last trip), but thought I should at least post pictures from our Hawaii trip so they don't get overlooked with our next pictures from Kyoto. As you will see in the pictures, we had a wonderful, full couple of weeks on Oahu. When Hyatt wasn't working, we spent most of our time at the beach, whether Barbers Point, the Lagoons, Pipeline, Sunset, or Mauna Pu'u. Brian and Hyatt got in some great bodyboarding, Chris learned to surf, Hyatt and I got to brush up on our surfing skills, and Kaiya adapted to life on the beach. We also made a trip out to Sea Life Park, in memory of our day trip there almost exactly 4 years ago (our first married Easter together). Sadly, the pirate ship was no longer there, so our pictures were not quite the same, but the dolphin show was fun and the penguins were adorable. The newest update on Kaiya's growing progess is that she is very much loving the new freedom she's found with her ability to stand. She pulls herself up on whatever she can find that is at the right height and is able to stand up holding on for quite a while. Kaiya really enjoyed standing on her seat on the train ride yesterday and watching Tokyo out the window!

Now here are the pictures... probably not in the correct order...

And here is us in 2004 at Sea Life Park, back when the pirate ship was still there, and my hair was orange.

Fun in the Sun... and the Sand

2008-04-04T17:08:00.002+09:00

Today was another beautiful day in the sun here on Oahu. This afternoon we were able to venture over to the east side of the island so Hyatt and Brian could check out the bodysurfing at a beach there. I had Kaiya watching duty, and she made it a little more exciting than normal. Just last week she became quite upset when she accidentally got sand on her hand and wasn't able to get it off. She would hold up her hand and start to whine. Somehow she has become more used to it in the last few days and has progressed from her first response, to tolerance and curiosity, to what you can see now in this little video clip. What a joy she is! Each day she seems more and more ready to conquer the world:) Kaiya's exploring everything in reasonable proximity, from under the bed in the hotel room, to inside my suitcase, to the sand surrounding her "safe" towel area at the beach.

Well, I will leave you to be amused at today's antics...

Next Top Model

2008-03-27T10:07:00.002+09:00

Once again, it's been awhile... will it ever be less than "awhile?" I wonder. Well, a lot has happened in the last month or so. For instance, we have made the first addition to our home arcade. Yes, it's true. We now have a full sized arcade game (Raiden II) in our spare bedroom, so, if you come stay with us we will not only provide you with a free bed to sleep in, but free arcade time until the wee hours of the night! Hyatt's working on a project to hopefully get the machine hooked up to another hard drive so we can play al sorts of old school arcade games all on the one machine. He's somewhat of a genius when it comes to stuff like that, so it is only a matter of actually having some time at home to work on it.

Our second addition to our home this last month was a cat. It's not a very long story. I went out to a friend's house for a girls thing on a Saturday evening, and when I came home there was a white, very skinny, mangy looking cat in our front entrance. Of course, I immediately called out to Hyatt, who was in the living room, telling him we had a cat in the house. To which he replied, "Yeah, I tried to call you at Kamee's house to warn you before you got here, but you had already left........." I'm so thankful that I married such a compassionate man. And it has definitely made our last few weeks extra interesting, as the cat just never left. It's not allowed in the house, though, so it sleeps (and eats, and hangs out) on our front porch. Through the course of the last while it has fattened up quite a bit and has proven to be quite a people cat. Hyatt took it to the vet off base (we aren't allowed to take it to PAWS, which is kind of an SPCA on base because we live off base and found the stray off base), and all they did was ask if it seemed sick, then said it was ok. Apparently, on base they do blood tests, but you have to sign your name to the cat first and take full responsibility for it. All this to say that we are in Hawaii at the moment (another long story, but suffice it to say that it was a very last minute work trip for Hyatt - and Kaiya and I came along to be with him... the beach and the sun are just bonuses), and we will see if Stuart (some of you might have heard of the book "If you give a mouse a cookie"... we thought a mouse name was appropriate given the circumstances) is still at our house when we return. If he is, that means that he's low maintenance enough for us to claim responsibility for him:)

Lastly, I have gone ahead and entered Kaiya in a modeling contest! Not that this was something that I was looking to do, but I have had a fair number of comments from strangers saying that she should model (to hear this from relatives or close friends is one thing, because I understand that they are biased and know how adorable her personality is, too, but from a stranger I take it a little more seriously). So.... when an e-mail came out from poshbaby saying that they're looking for new baby models, I thought I might as well put her name in the hat. Plus, it would allow us the chance to visit family. Anyways, if you happen to want to vote for her, you can go to http://www.poshbabyllc.com/posh/index.php?main_page=modelsearch_choose and then you just need to enter in Kaiya M to vote. Don't feel like you have to vote or anything, but I at least wanted you to know that the option was there:)

Anyways, I suppose I should enjoy some of this Hawaiian sun while I can... I will post some cute beach pictures soon. Maybe by then Kaiya won't mind going in the water:)

We Love Cheerios

2008-02-27T15:56:00.002+09:00

You would think that we would have known in advance how much our daughter would take a liking to Cheerios, with the love that her dad has for cereal. Her eyes light up when she sees the box, she starts rocking in her chair and making noises... all in eager anticipation of the little morsels being sprinkled onto her tray for a tasty treat. The fun really begins, though, when she starts working at transferring them from her tray to her mouth. As time goes by, more and more make it to her mouth, and less are finding their way onto the floor or her lap. So, enjoy a glimpse into breakfast at the Moore's house:)

Several Christmases

2008-01-11T05:35:00.000+09:00

This Christmas was a special one for us - each time we celebrated! The Christmas season began with Hyatt's work party, then we celebrated it just the three of us on the 15th, followed by The Gang on the 16th, the "real" one with the Moore family on the 25th, and lastly a get together with my parents on the 27th. Actually, I'd like to think that we're still celebrating as we're over here in the States and Canada visiting with friends and family. One of the things that we are going to remember this Christmas the most for, however, is the fact that this was the miracle Christmas that my passport arrived just in time. For those of you who haven't already heard the story (which is probably very few of you, as I think the whole rest of the world was praying along with us), allow me to fill you in...

March 2008 has been one of the key days in my mind for the last few years, because I have always wondered how I was going to get my passport renewed before it expired when I tend to need it fairly often. This past summer I filled out my renewal application, but had a question about what form to fill out, as our situation was rather unique. As I have my US Green Card and an American mailing address, I could qualify as a Canadian living in the US, but my physical location was Japan, so I could fit in the Canadian Living Abroad category as well. After asking around last summer, I just went ahead and picked one and figured that even if it wasn't the right one, that the situation was special enough to warrant extra grace with a new passport regardless of whether I had submitted the form they needed. This long story is becoming longer than it needs to be, but let me just say that we ended up waiting at the last minute hoping that my passport would arrive in time for me to go back to California for Christmas. The passport actually arrived in Japan the afternoon before we were to fly out. It was a new kind of faith for me to be packing my bags and readying to be away from our house for 2 and a half months, not even knowing if we were going to leave the next day. So, the end of the story is that it did arrive, but God is definitely a just in time God.

Hyatt and I were very thankful for Kaiya this Christmas - somehow she made everything more festive and fun as we got to see everything through her eyes and cheer her on as she tore the wrapping paper on her gifts. Now I will share a few pictures from our Christmas celebrations... (the family photo at the top and the one of Kaiya were taken by Hyatt's sister, Acacia, when we were in California - she's an incredible photographer... www.acaciaphotos.com)

We're Thankful

2007-11-30T15:07:00.000+09:00

It is hard to believe that American Thanksgiving is already past and Christmas is well on its way, eh? Well, this thanksgiving, we are thankful for friends...including friends who can cook:) We had a great time at Chris and Abi's house, although we did have to trek through the snow to get there. Thank goodness we only live a few minutes away! Yes, it is true - it is still November, and we have already had a couple of feet of snow! Kaiya celebrated this Thanksgiving by having her first taste of non-rice cereal solid food in the form of carrots. Since then she has also been introduced to sweet potatoes and apple sauce. Surprisingly enough, apple sauce is not her favourite. We only know this because she makes some creative faces as we are trying to shove it through her tightly pursed lips. She only resists for a short time, though, because food is food. And she likes food:)

Last weekend we had a ceremony at our church called the Hanging of the Green. Hyatt and I had a very important role to play, as we were the ones who read about the significance and meaning of poinsettias at Christmas time. For those of you who do not know what the Hanging of the Green is, which I am assuming is most of you, it is when the church decorates for Christmas and prepares for the advent season. I had never heard of it, either, until a couple of weeks ago, but I think that it is a great idea. It was so special to start this season off in the right way - keeping our minds on Jesus from the start. We're hoping to do advent as a family, too, although that means that we still need to find a wreath for the table, and a book to guide us through. Perhaps this year we will just be a little creative, and maybe we will come up with some traditions of our own. Anyways, at the end of the Hanging of the Green ceremony, they had everyone in the church come up and hang an ornament on the tree, and Kaiya was more than happy to participate (truthfully, she was in the nursery, so she had to hang her ornament after the ceremony was done).

I've also included a picture of Kaiya sitting up, although it is a little misleading. Yes, she can sit, but she cannot sit for very long on her own, and someone has to be right ready to catch her as soon as she takes a dive. So, she's getting there! You will also notice a classic picture of Kaiya spending quality Halo time with her dad on a Saturday morning:)

Kaiya's Not Crawling

2007-11-15T21:40:00.000+09:00

Yes, rather anticlimatic... Kaiya is not crawling yet... but she IS beginning to make slight attempts at it. So, here is a video so you can watch her wiggle around on her tummy and make noise. This noise has become her new favourite thing to do for the past few days. She most frequently lets me hear it when I am feeding her rice cereal. I get to listen to it in between most bites. At least her mouth has to be open to do it, which assists me as I am trying to get another spoonful in there:) Oh, and I should mention that she had drooled on the plastic piece on her playmat, so that's what she's trying to reach out and smear around:)

Lady Liberty in Japan

2007-11-08T21:56:00.000+09:00

I'll keep this short, but Ellie and I (along with the girls, of course) took a little trip today to see the Japanese version of the Statue of Liberty... just a short 20-25 minute drive away from my door! How convenient. I suppose since Lady Liberty knew that I couldn't see her in person for a while yet, she decided to come see me instead... in Japan:) The park was beautiful, as all of the parks here seem to be. What I can't quite figure out is where the money comes from to create and upkeep all of the parks here. There are so many, and they are all on the grand scale. Yet another question to add to my list. Right now it is still a mental list, but at the rate that I'm adding questions these days, I will need to start actually writing them all down (especially at the rate that I'm forgetting them all these days).

Our Little Bunny

2007-10-31T20:40:00.000+09:00

Today I took our little bunny to the doctor's office for a weigh-in. For those of you who I haven't spoken to in the last few weeks, Kaiya weighed in at 10.5 lbs 4 weeks ago, which is really small for a 4 month old baby... as in off the charts small. So, she has been getting formula in addition to her regular milk, and that has done the trick! As of today our not-so-little-anymore daughter weighs 13 lbs 4 oz (which is around the 10th percentile) and her head is 39.9 cm (also the 10th percentile), while her height is in the 25th percentile (I can't remember if she was 24 or 24.5 inches). So, we have no more worries about her weight gain, and I'll have to determine how much to keep supplementing with formula.

This evening we went to church for the harvest festival there, which was fun. Our friend, Brian, and Kaiya won a cake at the cake walk... and now Kaiya's mommy has to eat the whole thing herself. What a shame. :)

Fall Colours

2007-10-23T22:23:00.000+09:00

On Saturday we finally reunited our whole "gang" for a trip to Oriase Gorge to take in the fall colours. We also managed to procure a group photo, compliments of a kind Japanese gentleman (we made sure to ask one who was carrying a really high tech looking camera himself, as we figured that this would give us a better chance of a good photograph even though it would be with our camera). The day was quite delightful, with the drive up to the gorge (it takes a good hour and a half or so, not including really slow Japanese Bongo-type trucks in front of us), some walking around and lots of picture taking, and a stop at the foot onsen on the way back. For those of you not familiar with onsens (while I may technically fall in that category myself as I have never been to an onsen, I do live in Japan, which means that I know about them), an onsen is a place where there are hot springs and people usually enjoy them without any clothing. Some of said onsens separate genders, while others are open to all who are free enough to visit them. When we first moved here, I was pregnant, so the onsen was out of the question. Now I no longer have that alibi, but I do have a baby and a postpartum body, both are minor obstacles to overcome in my new goal to at least do as the Japanese do... once.

That long rabbit trail following the onsens really was leading to a point. The point being that we went to a foot onsen. Even with my knowledge of onsens, I had never heard of a foot onsen until Saturday when we visited one. Essentially, it was a sunken table under a covering that was in the middle of a parking lot, which was in the middle of a park. Under the sunken table was water that was naturally heated. So, we seized the day, removed our socks and shoes (despite the rather frigid weather), rolled up our pants, and sat down at the table for a nice foot soak. It really was a bonding moment... as was the moment several moments later when we had to put our socks and shoes on our wet feet in order to get back to the vehicles. The lesson that I learned from this experience is that one must always be prepared with a towel in the vehicle for just such occasions.

Our day ended at a new restaurant called RamTei. I don't know the name for this kind of restaurant, but I think that you'll at least understand the terms "all you can eat" and "cook your own food". Although they always have salad offered at these places, meat just seems like you're getting more for your money. I don't know that that is really the case, especially with the high prices of produce here in Japan, but the perception was there nonetheless. So, plates of meat it was. And Hyatt has said, once again, that he will never eat at one of those places again. I really think that they should have a cheaper fee for women than men at those places, because we women don't have a hope of achieving the stomach capacity of men.

And such was our last Saturday. Just another wonderful day in Japan.

But what would a blog post be without a new adorable picture of Kaiya... she looks pretty proud of herself for figuring out how to get her foot through the opening in her sleep sack.

And a new family photo...

Still Alive and Writing

2007-10-03T16:30:00.001+09:00

Once again, I feel the need to apologize for my tardiness in writing. Well, I suppose tardiness would imply that I have actually written, so perhaps I need to be apologizing for the absence of my writing, rather than just the tardiness of it. Although I am writing now.... I had a concerned friend e-mail me wanting to make sure that we were alright, since she hadn't seen anything on the blog in so long. So, I thank you for your concern. We are all fine, and have been back in Japan now for 2 weeks, after a very long time away from home. As it would be nearly impossible for me to relate all of the details of our trip (by impossible, I mean that it would at least take more time than I am willing to spend at this computer at the moment), I will simply give a summary of our travels, and post a few pictures (which is really what you want to see anyways, I'm sure).

I believe that the last time I wrote, Kaiya and I were still in Okinawa with Hyatt. Since then, Kaiya and I flew on a military flight with our friends Ellie and Sadie, across the ocean to Whidbey Island (via Atsugi and Alaska), spent 3.5 weeks in Langley, Canada with my family (with a few days down in Seattle with Hyatt's family and a couple of days in Kamloops with Lisa and Jeremy in that time) followed up by 2.5 weeks in Hawaii (a week on Kauai with my parents and a week and a half on Oahu with the Salvadors), and completed with a couple of days in Yokota, Japan, for good measure. Hyatt was able to meet up with us in Hawaii, and we had a fun flight back from Hawaii to Yokota on a big miliary plane where we sat in jump seats along the side of the plane and were able to take naps on the floor.

The update on Kaiya is that she turned 4 months on Sept.22, and on her birthday she rolled over from her tummy to her back! She followed up that amazing feat with a belly laugh the very next day, and now we are just working on getting her to crawl:) She almost rolled over from her back to her tummy, but she did not move her arm out of the way, so it does not count yet. Kaiya is reaching for things like crazy, and loves her playtime mat that Lori and Virgil got for her when we were in Hawaii. She's also a big fan of her baby bjorn carrier now that she can face outwards and watch everything going on around her. The comment we hear about her most often (besides that she has long eyelashes that usually only boys get) is that hse is very alert. As long as she's in a place where she can see what is going on, she's a pretty happy little girl! We got her one of those baby einstein play centers the other day, and were amused to find out that she is not tall enough to touch the bottom of it yet, so her legs just hang in space... yet she did figure out how to spin herself around in it using her hands instead. What can I say? She's a genius:)

Also new is that Hyatt is now 29 years old! For his birthday we had a campfire by the lake, with a little frisbee tossing, followed up by hot dogs and s'mores galore, and some guitar playing by Hyatt and Chris. As you can tell by the pictures, it was a little cold.

Now for some pictures...

The Tip of the Island

2007-07-31T09:19:00.000+09:00

I won't write very much today, as I mostly just wanted to share some new pictures with all of you. These pictures include some tummy time with Kaiya, some castle ruins with a view, as well as a little slice of paradise/Utopia/Heaven that Hyatt and I found on a tiny fishing village island called Hamahiga (accessible by bridge from Okinawa). Also, we went on a hike the other day (a LOT of stairs, and some very sore calves later...) to Hiji waterfall and drove the rest of the way to Hedo point, which is the northern most point of Okinawa. Wow, God is good - the ultimate Artist!

Baby's First Bikini

2007-07-21T09:20:00.000+09:00

A week and a half ago, Mom went home, and since then I have been waiting to hop on the next military flight to be with Hyatt. It was a LONG week of waiting and calling the terminal every morning - I had wonderful friends helping me survive, but it just is not the same as having a live-in grandma, or a live-in dad... One typhoon and one earthquake later, Kaiya and I took a commercial flight down to Okinawa on Tuesday afternoon. We did not have any major mishaps, just minor reminders that traveling with a baby is not like traveling without one. Thank goodness for my Baby Bjorn Active Carrier (I know, I sound like a commercial, but it truly was a lifesaver!), as I was not allowed to bring the carseat on the plane. On the second leg of my flight, Kaiya decided it was prime time to go to the washroom - right after I had just changed her diaper on my lap, in my seat. Thankfully, I had already put another diaper on her. There was some major leakage, but we were able to deal with it. The humourous part of the situation (besides the fact that I was sitting on an airplane, buckled in, with a major runny diaper, poopy baby clothes, and poopy baby carrier) was that I had an elderly Japanese woman sitting beside me, who did not speak any english. So, using the flight attendant as a translator, she wanted to express her concern to me that my baby had an upset stomach. And I, using the handy flight attendant once more, explained that that was what her poopy diapers always look like! Suffice it to say, we made it to Okinawa in one piece (one of us in a different outfit than we started the trip in, but none the worse for the wear), and Hyatt was very excited to see both of us (although I think his daughter who he hadn't seen in almost 3 weeks kind of stole the show).

We are currently all staying in Hyatt's room on base, with Kaiya's sleeping quarters in her Pack n' Play in the kitchen. Due to the typhoon last week, our door lock only works intermittently, due to the moisture locked inside the door that keeps getting into the electronic lock. And yesterday we went on an outing with Hyatt's work crew to cleanup one of the area's beaches. Upon our arrival at the beach, Hyatt's first comment was that I not let Kaiya in the water there:) I was just excited for a chance to put Kaiya in her bikini for the first time:) While we were at the beach, the men who owned or ran the beach (I wasn't quite clear what their roles were), requested that the group fix the tree that had been blown over in the typhoon. To an untrained eye, it seemed that putting a rope around it and yanking could perhaps do more damage to that tree than good - however, these men apparently knew what they were talking about (perhaps they have had to deal with this same problem in typhoons past?

I have also posted a picture of Kaiya in a bonnet. During my lonely week, I had to find things to do with Kaiya's waketimes, and playing dressup was one of the fun activites (for me, anyways). The discovery that I made was that bonnets just are not Kaiya's style. I have yet to figure out why exactly, though. It may be because she has a round face, or because the bonnet makes her look like a little Amish baby... or perhaps it is because she is a mini Hyatt, and so it is as "off" as it would be to put a bonnet on him:)

A Visit From Nana

2007-07-09T15:38:00.000+09:00

Nana arrived two weeks ago into the Hachinohe station where she caught her first "real live" view of her granddaughter! Since her arrival, we have had quite a few adventures, including everything from another trip to the Oriase Gorge and Lake Towada, to cherry picking, to a church picnic, to jam making. Regarding the jam, we did learn that the jars need to be heated in order for the jars to seal properly... unfortunately, we did not learn this until after the fact. However, some of the jars did still seal, and time will tell with the rest of the jars. I informed Hyatt that he can now tell his friends that his wife makes jam (I thought it made me sound very domestic), but Hyatt (being the wonderful husband that he is) reminded me that he did not marry me for my jam making skills (which is good, since I don't know how often I will attempt to make jam, now that I've done it once, besides the fact that this jam making venture was not 100% successful, although it was 100% tasty!).

Another "happening" of the past couple of weeks was Kaiya's checkup, where she weighed in at a whopping 9 lbs 3 oz (not that that is heavy, per se, for those of you who actually birthed babies of this size, but this is a lot of weight for Kaiya personally, because that means that she has gained almost 2.5 lbs in the last 4 weeks). My hope had been that she would at least weigh in at 8 lbs so that I could start toting her around in my Baby Bjorn active carrier... but once again I did not set my hopes high enough. She skipped 8 lbs entirely and went right to 9 lbs! She is also much more alert these days, and graces us with many smiles (one of which we actually managed to capture on film - well, not film exactly since this is the digital age...).

Now that Nana has headed back home, our hope (I speak for Kaiya as well as myself, until she can speak for herself) is to head down to Okinawa to visit Hyatt as soon as we can. Kaiya's passport just arrived in the mail today (a HUGE answer to prayer), which means that we can also try to catch a plane over to Seattle to visit friends and family there in August. We shall see!

Hiking, Dedicating, and Growing

2007-06-25T09:38:00.000+09:00

Once again, it has been longer than I would have liked since I last updated our blog. Plenty of growing has taken place since then, as you will see in the pictures! As I only have another 15 minutes until the next feeding, I will focus on getting some pictures uploaded so you can see for yourself what we have been up to the last couple of weeks, and what Kaiya is looking like these days. Last weekend was my birthday, which we celebrated by going out to our favourite steakhouse for dinner with friends, and then back to Chris and Abi's for hang out time and Baskin Robbins ice cream cake. Then the next day was Hyatt's first father's day (well, the first one that he was a father for), and went for a fun picnic with friends after church. This weekend was eventful as well, as Hyatt and I (and Kaiya, of course) ventured to Oriase Gorge for a bit of a hike, which was absolutely breathtakingly beautiful. We had driven that way back in January when we went to Lake Towada, but it was incredible to see the area in the summer time with all of the green, and the waterfalls flowing! Yesterday was an important day as well, as we had Kaiya's baby dedication at church. Our pastor recently had to go back to the States for health reasons, so we had one of the chaplains from base come and dedicate the babies at our church (there were two other babies born in the last couple of months that were dedicated along with Kaiya). So, enjoy the pictures!

She's Already Growing!

2007-06-04T13:35:00.000+09:00

I only have another hour left in my window for a nap before Kaiya wakes up for her next meal, so this will have to be short:) Today is Hyatt's first day back at work since Kaiya was born, and so far it has gone alright, although I think that he somehow missed out on one of the poopiest diapers I have seen yet (how convenient, eh?). Actually, I can't complain, because I have changed very few of her diapers - and didn't even change one of the "black tar" ones, as Hyatt has been the diaper changing champion!

It boggles my mind how quickly Kaiya is changing already - I'm guessing that she must be at least 7 lbs by now (we will find out her exact weight at her doctor's appointment tomorrow afternoon). Her face just seems much more round, and the rest of her much "softer" :) Saturday was a sunny day here, so we took Kaiya on her very first walk. She seemed to enjoy it, although she slept through most of it (as she sleeps through most everything these days).

The First Days

2007-05-28T10:04:00.000+09:00

These last few days have been a serious learning curve for Hyatt and I. Everything from changing diapers, swaddling, placing Kaiya on her side to sleep, getting her to latch on properly, figuring out when to feed, dressing her... I'm sure you get the idea. I think that each day we feel a little more competent as parents, and we also understand a little more when everyone was talking about when they said that having a baby was a lot of work and that you didn't get a lot of sleep.

Each outing seems to turn into a major exodus, as we have to time things around Kaiya's feeding, and then go through the whole process of the burping, diaper change, clothing change, diaper bag packing, and car seat installation. And it seems that we can pretty much count on being approximately an hour late. And now the whole process is about to begin again...

Kaiya Grace's Grand Entrance

2007-05-26T11:41:00.000+09:00

It seems odd to be doing something as everyday and normal as writing a new post for our blog, when our lives have so drastically changed in the last three days. Kaiya Grace was born at 10:39am, Tuesday May 22, weighing in at 6lb 8oz, and measuring 19.5 inches in length. My water broke at 11:45pm on Monday night, which was our first introduction to middle of the night awakenings by the baby. We arrived at the hospital around 1am, and got to meet Kaiya face to face at just 9.5 hours later! Alright, maybe not "just", as those were the longest and most painful 9.5 hours I have ever experienced - I really don't know how it's possibe that after hearing about the pains of childbirth for so many years, I could have still had some unconscious thought in my head that I would be the exception to that rule, but I learned the truth to all of those stories for myself.

Enough about the pain, though, and let's talk about the joys of parenthood! Hyatt keeps telling everyone how amazing it was to actually see Kaiya's entrance into the world. Apparently, it kind of resembled the opening of an airbag - beginning with a head, and then a whole little body unfolded just like that! Of course, I will have to take his word for it:) Kaiya is absolutely gorgeous, and actually really looks like she does belong here in Japan! The nurses were all commenting on the fact that she looked like she had some asian blood in her, and I explained that I looked very similar as a baby as well. It's all in the eyes:) We think that she has her dad's nose and lips, and then she has dark hair and eyes like both of us. We understand that their looks change from day to day, but as of right now, that is our take on it.

We came home from the hospital yesterday afternoon, after finding out that her jaundice level was not high enough to be put under "the light". However, we did have to go back to have her blood tested this morning so they can keep tabs and make sure that the jaundice is improving. In the meantime, we're doing our part by trying to get lots of food flowing through her system so we can get that liver functioning! Kaiya is sleeping very well, though - and our biggest challenge is just trying to keep her awake so she eats enough.

I'm sure I'm forgetting many wonderful things that I meant to share with all of you about the adventures of our last few days, and all of the new things that we're learning and experiencing, but I hear Kaiya starting to stir, as it's about the time for her next meal (it's really quite amazing how it really seems that as soon as one meal ends, it's just about time for the next one to begin). We'll try and post more pictures soon, because she really does get cuter everyday (just when we think that couldn't even be possible!)...

37.5 Weeks and Counting

2007-05-11T16:43:00.000+09:00

I suppose that I have to take advantage of this lull before the storm, by updating our blog often now... because in a couple of more weeks, you may not hear from us for a while:) Well, you will probably hear some big news and see some adorable pictures, and then hear silence as we learn to function with a third voice in the house (even if that voice does not yet use coherent words).

All that to say that I am writing a post, when really there is not a whole lot to say:) Another week has gone by, which means only one more until my husband is home!!! And I thought that it would be nice to let you see what I am looking like these days... now that I am 37.5 weeks and counting. As of this moment, (well, this exact moment I have a bum being decidedly pushed out on the right side of my stomach, which is a common occurance these days) Kaiya has dropped a ways (and I now understand why pregnant women waddle, because it definitely is rather uncomfortable having her head so far down) and I have been having "fake" contractions for a couple of weeks. My doctor explained to me that that was what the tightening of the stomach was - but there is nothing to go into labour and delivery for until these tightening moments are also painful. My doula, Laurie, has made a valiant effort to explain what "painful" means in this sense, but it seems that this will have to be one of those things that I hopefully just know when I feel it. I was also a little concerned that my water may break while I was in the pool, and I would not know it. Apparently, though, as my very patient doula also explained to me, it just keeps on leaking... so I would know once I got out of the pool, because I wouldn't stop dripping. All of these interesting things that I never had occasion to know before now.

And as for my question about nesting, I think I have received the answer this week. I spent Wednesday afternoon cooking enough to fill our freezer with meals for when the baby arrives. And Thursday afternoon buying a new vacuum cleaner so our house would be nicely vacuumed, and scotchguard to protect our recliner/rocker chair in the baby room, and a vinyl cover to put on our mattress in case my water breaks while I'm in bed (thanks for the suggestion, Mom!). Well, the list goes on. I think that I'm beginning to feel that "compulsion" to have things prepared.

Well, not many more pregnancy updates to go... and then it will be baby updates! And rather than more pictures of me and my growing middle, there will be pictures of someone much cuter! Stay tuned...

Cherry Blossoms

2007-05-04T11:46:00.000+09:00

I was holding out on updating our blog until I had more "news" to share (which would imply something "new" was happening, I would assume)... but, really, there's not much happening at the moment. Hyatt is not home yet (hopefully he won't be gone too much longer, though!), and I'm still home:) Lately I've been wondering about the nesting phase of the pregnancy - mostly just wondering if I will experience it, and how I will know if I am. Maybe the nesting phase only happens with women who have more of a natural tendancy to want their homes spic and span? (Not that I don't want that for my house, but I don't know that I feel the same urge to make it happen on a regular basis as much as other women I know.) I did pull a few weeds out in our front yard yesterday, and try to get our closet a little more organized, but I think that the force driving those actions was just that they needed to be done, and I don't know how much time I'm going to have to take care of them once the baby comes. However, I did not feel a compulsion to complete these tasks. Well, I suppose the nesting phase will remain a mystery to be solved another day.

The one "new" thing here is that the cherry blossoms are in full bloom! For those of you who don't know (which is probably most of you, because I can't think of any reason why you would know), this northern area of Japan is known for the cherry blossoms. I was hoping to experience them in their full glory at the festival in Hirosaki, but it seems that I may have to wait another year for that. So, instead, I ventured out to enjoy them in our own town (I know, what a concept), and in the surrounding area. I have included a few (maybe more than a few) of my favourite pictures from those outings - the small (it's a relative term - I did take a lot of pictures, though, so small in comparison) pool of choices from which I will pick out the "blow up" winner(s) for the baby room.

Okinawa & Baby Room

2007-04-25T19:58:00.000+09:00

I've had good intentions to put a new post on our blog for a couple of weeks, but just have not gotten around to it until now. The good news being that the last couple of weeks have gone by really quickly... which means that Hyatt's return is approaching! Granted, I still have at least another couple of weeks to go, but, if they're anything like these last ones, it shouldn't be too much longer!

Easter in Okinawa

We had a very nice visit together in Kadena. I was able to catch a military flight down there with no difficulty at all, which was a real blessing. Some of you may wonder what a military flight is like (I know that I did)... well, this one was very similar to a commercial flight. The key differences being: they had a snack cart that went down the aisle with everything from bottled water to rice krispie treats, all for $0.50 each; the flight attendant was a man dressed in a military flight suit; instead of a "barf bag", we were provided with a "barf envelope"... and it wasn't the long kind of envelope, either. I guess the military had to make budget cuts somewhere:) So, we were able to spend Easter together, and celebrated by going to the Easter Brunch at the Officers' Club with our friend, Mike. I don't know that I've ever had that many options at a brunch buffet before - we had everything from sushi to waffles, ham to pasta, and everything in between. We got our money's worth by staying for 2 hours, and really did not feel the need to eat for the rest of the day.

A flower vendor just outside the base gate - he's actually wearing the flowers on his head!

Since Hyatt's been gone, I've been trying to put the baby room together. So far, I have managed to set up the crib (not an easy task for a lone pregnant lady, I found out), put on the crib bedding (not an easy task for anyone, in my humble opinion), and hang the amazing painting that Hyatt's sister, Allison, painted just for her new niece's room! Of course, I have also started washing baby clothes in special Ivory detergent, and organizing her clothes by size, but these are not things that give the same satisfaction of visible progress (at least by noting them on the blog those tasks will not go completely unnoticed). You can see the current state of the baby room in the pictures below (I strategically took pictures of the clean side of the room, as the other side is not yet picture worthy). We have the cherry blossom festival coming up in the next couple of weeks, so my plan is to use pictures from that for the wall above the crib, which looks a little empty at the moment. Also, the cabinet in the second picture is going to be the changing table, once we get a changing pad to place on top of it. So, you see, we are making progress... I'm 35.5 weeks pregnant, so we still have some time left:)

Hallelujah!!!

2007-03-31T19:45:00.000+09:00

Yes, it is true. We officially have internet set up at our house!!! It has been a long (looooong) time coming, but as of about 1:30pm today, we were live on the net (thanks to our wonderful friend Chris!).

Now, how do I even try to follow up news like that? Since it has been so long since our last blog entry, I suppose I have a few things new to share (although I still understand that none of these things can compete with the wonder of the internet in our own living room).

Most of you know that Hyatt headed down south to warm Okinawa on Monday for a few weeks, so the house is feeling kind of empty these days. (Our crib did arrive on Thursday, though, so that managed to take up some of the vacant space.) He's enjoying his time down there so far, and is studying hard. There's a chance that I may actually be able to fly down to visit him on Monday, so that should be fun! I was able to get a letter from the doctor to take with me with in case anyone asks any questions about my belly being ok to fly - so I have the hall pass until April 16th at midnight, when I turn into a pumpkin... oops, I mean I turn 34 weeks pregnant.

One of my more recent re-discoveries has been the joy of swimming. To tell the truth, my swim cap and goggles had not felt water since my university days. So, in a moment of adventure last week, my friend Tiffany and I ventured to the base pool for the lap swim. Picture, if you will (but if you won't, I won't be offended, because it was a pretty wild sight), my 30 week pregnant belly, a two piece swimsuit (the speedo wouldn't fit over the 30 week pregnant belly, and I just never got a maternity suit), and aforementioned swim cap and goggles. We had such fun, though, that we went again this week, and plan to continue!

Mom and Dad flew out for a quick visit earlier this month (I think they almost spent as much time traveling as they did with us here in Misawa). We did some sightseeing, but also just enjoyed getting to be together again. It was fun just getting to see and organize all of Mom's "finds" for the baby, and Dad helped fix things around the house and on the truck. Just some quality family time. One notable part of the week with them was our discovery of a steak house restaurant named Yoshino's. Granted, our friends had already made this discovery for themselves, but Hyatt and I had not yet tried it out. Monday afternoon we made our reservation for that evening. Tuesday afternoon we were still talking about the amazing meal that we had had on Monday. Thursday afternoon we were making another reservation for that evening, because Mom and Dad couldn't leave without tasting that goodness one more time. Let's just say that I did not realize before that experience (or should I say, those experiences) that food could do that (and I say "do that" only because I cannot find the words to explain the almost religious experience of watching the chef/artist create our meal, tasting that perfectly tender, flavourful steak, and then being surprised with the amazing spring ice roll with chocolate sauce for dessert).

For your viewing pleasure, here are a couple of pictures of my blossoming abdomen (you can only call it a belly so many times - and I apologize to those who really didn't want to picture my bare stomach earlier in the swimming tale), as well as today's new addition to our family (a gorgeous cabinet from the bizarre - you can see the height one of the pictures, because the fridge is on the right edge of the photo).

Alright, now that I have droned on and on, I suppose I will try and remember what other things I used to use this living room for, in the days before I had the internet at my fingertips...

Snow Festivals and New Home

2007-03-02T14:29:00.000+09:00

This has been quite the ordeal - trying to finally update our blog. With interesting internet access at the library, and serious issues getting our internet hooked up in our home, I have finally managed to begin a blog update (against all odds!).

Having said that, our last month has been a whirlwind of unpacking combined with exploring. We managed to take in both the Hirosaki Snow Festival and the Lake Towada Snow and Light Festival. Thankfully, we went to the Hirosaki one first (it may have been a bit of a let down had we gone to Lake Towada first). The issue was that this winter has not been one of much snow (for this area), so the Hirosaki festival did not have a lot to work with. It was still very beautiful, and the castle (top picture) was gorgeous at night time.

Abi's question was, on a scale of 1-5, how did we like the festival. We agreed that it was around a 4, but the experience of the drive there (which was close to 3 hours) and learning what a snow lantern was (that they were not hanging lanterns, but rather standing lanterns with electric flashlight type things inside), was priceless.

The Lake Towada festival was the next weekend, and it is up in the mountains. So, it was a little more treachorous drive, but also gave us the greater reward of plenty of snow (read: snow stage, snow igloos, snow sculptures, etc.).

The highlights of the Lake Towada festival included a very interesting musical performance - an odd stringed instrument, as well as different drums than I have seen before, with plenty of Japanese commentary scattered between numbers.

We're still not sure if the main performance was supposed to be the lady who was talking (maybe she was a comedian??) or the musical performers. They had a fabulous musician, though, who played a type of flute, and that was my favourite part. Also, watching Sadie watch the fireworks was pretty funny (she's 11 months old), as she really wanted to see them, but they were too bright. So, she had her head tilted back and eyes squinting and blinking often. The ride to and from the festival was also an adventure, as 7 of us (6 adults and 1 baby) all went in our Mazda Proceed (which is a Japanese Mazda SUV with a third row of seats that flips up in the back).

Now, for a couple of pictures of the house, and an updated picture of my growing belly (picture taken at 27 weeks)!

Sunday afternoon

2007-02-04T14:04:00.000+09:00

Sorry for the lack of pictures in this post.

We're in the library now. Church is over and we came on to base to get some lunch, check our email here at the library and then go buy some necessities to hang art work and speakers at the house. That's right we live in a house now!

We moved into our new place on Wednesday. They were so fast moving everything in. I had been running around base doing some errands for the move, and when I arrived at the house at noon - the workers had already finished moving everything in . . . into the house that is. There were books and dishes everywhere! We're slowly getting things put away and are having some friends over to watch the Super Bowl tomorrow morning. Who needs hotdogs and hamburgers, we are going to have a breakfast party.

Another friend, who is in the Friday night Bible study we have been going to, came over with his wife and baby yesterday to help me lift some boxes and things (well, he did the lifting and I stood around appreciating the help) and setup the satellite dish (they loan one to you for free if you live off base so that you can get the 10 channels or so that they provide in English, which is nice).

We are enjoying living off base and the wonders of four wheel drive. Nicole almost hit a pole the other day and I almost slid into a kid. It's not as bad as it sounds, but still, God is good.

We are finding fun restaurants that we like and every store that we go into feels like we have entered another world. A new favorite is San Wan Do (like San Juan Doe) which I think is the American equivalent to a Target or Walmart. Very fun and very funky.

We'll post some pictures of our house one of these days once we get more settled in. The first few days I was overwhelmed with all of the little things that make our place so special, but now after having been there longer things are becoming more normal. I suppose I should at least mention the toilet that has a faucet attached above that runs cold water for you to wash your hands in whenever you flush the toilet. I think it is a Japanese trick however as I am pretty sure if the water was any colder it would come out in cubes.

Getting Fat

2007-01-27T19:39:00.000+09:00

I have told many of you over the past while that I would send pictures as I grew, so, I am finally putting that into action. I had Hyatt take a quick picture of me last night before we went out, because my outfit was one that particularly showed my growing belly. I apologize for the background, although it does give you a glimpse of where we have been living for the last 4 weeks. So, for that reason I did not crop the background out of the picture. Ah, yes, the Misawa Inn. Only 4 more days and counting:)

New Friends & Vending Machines

2007-01-22T11:22:00.000+09:00

One of the fun and fascinating aspects to our stay in Japan has been the exploration of the Japanese Vending Machine. Whether you want a hot or a cold drink, french fries or a hot dog, or, dare I say, even a beer, you can buy it all from one of these amazing machines. A red or a blue background on the price indicates whether a drink is served hot or cold. The other day we ventured to taste test a few of these drinks, including hot cocoa (which tasted off, although we could not pinpoint exactly what was wrong about it), hot corn juice (just the the juice you would drain out of a can of corn, except hot, and with a few random kernels left in for good measure), cold C.C. Lemon (which boasted the vitamin C of 50 lemons or something like that - and it tasted just like my favourite British drink, Bitter Lemon, which is essentially carbonated lemonade), and another cold fruit drink (the fruit is still unidentified).

With the plethora of drinks to choose from, as well as the meals these machines can provide, the one surprising characteristic of the Japanese vending machine is that they do not sell candy, nor do they sell chips. I am rather disheartened by the thought of having to always go into a store to buy my treats, although my body (and blood sugar level) are grateful for this deterrant to my candy tendancy. I suppose we could now make the hypothesis that Japanese people must consume less sugar from candy and chips than Americans (or Canadians), on average.

While I sit at my computer, I also wanted to take this opportunity to introduce my friends and family back home to a few of our new friends here in Misawa.

In this picture, you will see us girls (L to R: Abi, Tiffany, Ellie, and I) after our Cranium victory. Granted, this is one of few (maybe even one of one, come to think of it) victories for the girls, so do not feel too sorry for the boys (shown below L to R: Brett, Hyatt, Brian, and Christopher).

Thank you for your prayers

2007-01-17T20:36:00.000+09:00

I just wanted to pass a quick update to everyone to let you know that both Nicole and baby are okay. The doctor gave us a call late this afternoon to let us know that they had reviewed the ultrasound and that everything looked fine, and that the cause for alarm was a result of things that were still within normal parameters (i.e. nothing to worry about).

Thank you for your prayers. God is good, and we are glad to have such wonderful and supportive friends and family too.

It's a girl!

2007-01-16T17:12:00.000+09:00

Well, if it is not a girl then we'll have one prude baby on our hands come June 4, 2007 (give or take 10 days :o)

Baby Murky is now a Murkette, or perhaps just Murki with an "i". For those who have asked, Murki is just the name we have been using for fun for our baby since we didn't know their gender. I suppose now we'll have to actually undertake finding her a more suitable female name, which certainly is not an easy task as there are so many females in the family who already have such good names.

Nicole was having difficulty at first transitioning to the realization that we will be having a girl join our family next and not a boy. However, I did find her shopping online for baby girl clothes just a little while ago, and am pretty sure that she is adjusting just fine now.

I'd like to show you our first picture of little Murki (we'll find a new name, I promise). It looked like she was picking her nose. However, we have no scanner with us, so we'll have to post it later.

Despite all of the fun news, the only reason we have this new is because of some complications that came up yesterday which brought about the ultasound ahead of schedule. We were not able to get the results back today, but should know more tomorrow. The baby looks fine and is developing normally, however there could be some difficulty in the pregnancy depending on the outcome of the results. I know everything is in God's hands. He has been so good to us and I believe that we will see his healing hand here as well. I appreciate your prayers for Nicole and Murki that Nicole will be at peace and be able to rest well and that Murki will continue to be fearfully and wonderfully made.

Blessings to you all.
hyatt iv

A Day in Hachinohe

2007-01-14T16:16:00.000+09:00

First, I have to correct our post from last time - apparently Brian and Ellie took us to Towada, NOT Aomori... so, we have yet to see what is in Aomori. And some of you have been wondering when I am due, and why I'm not showing too much yet. Well, I'm due May 28, and I am starting to show, but you still have to see me in a more fitted shirt in order to be able to tell. And, since we are in cold Japan, and wearing big sweaters and puffy jackets, that means that most people still can't tell from just looking.

Now, to tell you about yesterday's adventure! We went with the Schulz's to the closest city to Misawa, which is approximately half and hour away from here (maybe slightly less using the toll road to get there, and more when you do not use the toll road). The name of the city is Hachinohe, and this was my first experience in a Japanese mall (where I purchased a cute babydoll dress that I wore to church this morning, and Hyatt says I look like one of the locals now). We also drove by the seashore here, and it was incredibly beautiful. It reminded Hyatt and I both of Monterey, except for the snow.

First Days in Japan

2007-01-07T18:41:00.000+09:00

Well, Hyatt and I arrived in Misawa, Japan a little over a week ago, and it has been quite the adventure since we arrived. We have not yet found a place to live, but we did venture on an exciting jaunt with Brian and Ellie (and Sadie) yesterday to a town an hour and a half west of here called Aomori. Brian's ever positive description was that it was "like Lake Tahoe"... and of, course, me, wondering if Brian has ever been to Lake Tahoe, was exceedingly curious as to what his impression of Lake Tahoe was. So, we drove (and drove some more) up a mountain road towards this Japanese Lake Tahoe. I was excited when we passed the waterfalls , but even more amazed once we came upon the lake. Maybe it wasn't Lake Tahoe, but it was sure beautiful.