Post Office Fun

Last month my friends and I were complaining about not receiving any packages that we'd ordered or that family had sent. We were having a lot of fun complaining about how the post office wasn't getting them to us until my friend Alisha had an idea..."hey, why don't we go help out instead of just complaining about it"...what?! Why should we do that....complaining about it is way more fun!

Well, Alisha called the post office and set up a time for us to go and volunteer. Serious! So off we went on a Saturday morning.

Alisha & I had to empty packages out of the yellow bags on the left and stack them like Legos on the palette. It was fun seeing how high we could get them.

John & Mikal Davids, post office guy, Jeanne, Salinda, Alisha, another post office guy & me in front.

We then had to stack the boxes on the shelves behind us. It was like playing TETRIS. Everything had to fit perfectly. I learned that the Post Office is very organized. I was very impressed!

Let me tell you...volunteering at the post office was a BLAST!!! We had SOOOOOO much fun! Even the people that worked there kept looking at us funny and at one point said..."you guys are having way too much fun"....."most people are volun-told to be here...and you guys actually came on your own."

Needless to say I did not find any packages for my family, but I did see many of my friend's mail and maybe I wrote little notes on each of them :) We will definitely do this again next year! Till next time Post Office friends!

I've waited 3 years for this...

3 years ago my girlfriends and I went out and had pedicures (California girls-do you remember that fun night?). It was a blast sitting and relaxing with each other while being pampered! That night I remember talking about the day our baby girls would be old enough to get pedicures with us. I've patiently waited for Tia to grow up enough so she would be able to sit (for more than 5 minutes) and enjoy a pedicure.

So, in December Tia and I had pedicures for the 1st time together. It was so fun! She absolutely LOVED it! She kept saying..."mom, I whiwee yuv pedikurs". The Japanese ladies in the salon had so much fun with her. They had to stuff a bunch of pillows behind her back & take the cushion out underneath her so her feet could touch the water. They brought her suckers and took tons of pictures of her. Tia sat for an entire hour and loved it! I forgot my camera that day, but a nice lady in the salon said I needed to have a picture of our first pedicure together so she took this and emailed it to me. I'm so glad she did.

Tia had to have BOTH of her favorite colors (she couldn't pick only one), so here are her pink & purple sparkly toe nails.

Tia, thanks for being such a fun little girl to hang out with. I love you so much!

Another Dance Performance

Tia had her 2nd dance performance (back in December) and her teacher said they could dress up for it. I'm too cheap to go out and buy her an outfit so I let her pick out some clothes from the dress up box.

She picked out the BIGGEST and FLUFFIEST things she could find. She was so excited! Thanks Aunt Tera and Grandma for these fun dress up clothes!

Tia's FAVORITE stuffed animal "giraffe".

Ohhhh we love this little girl!

Jayden's STAR WARS Birthday

Jayden turned 5 in December!

(yes, I'm still playing catch-up on my blog)

EVERY little boy needs to have a Star Wars party...right? Jayden has wanted one for months! Sometimes at night I'll sneak in and peak on Shane reading Jayden bedtime stories and that's NOT at all what they are doing....I'll find them sitting on the bed with Shane's laptop watching Star Wars movies in the dark...WHAT!?! In Shane's defense...they DO read books also. I've NEVER been a huge fan of Star Wars, but Shane obviously is and we knew (actually Grandma Atkin knew) that Jayden would be SO EXCITED to have a Star Wars party.

ALL of our ideas were inspired by these 2 websites (THANK YOU people who share ideas & make others lives easier!):

Tip Junkie

Make and Takes

THE INVITATION:

THE FUN:

My parents came to visit in October and found out how much Jayden loves Star Wars. A couple weeks later Grandma Atkin sent me a surprise package with STAR WARS cookie cutters, lunch box, sandwich cutters, and party supplies. What would I do without my mom??? She made this party happen! Thanks mom!!!

Shane and I bought Jayden this backpack to go with all the fun stuff my mom sent.

He also received some cool Star Wars Legos and outer space toys from Grandma Andrews. I am still so amazed how both Grandmas always know what makes these little kids excited! Thanks Grandma Andrews!

We made Star Wars Ice Cream Sandwiches for Jayden's Pre-School (I forgot to take a picture at the end...ooops). Super cool idea Grandma!

Of course I had to make him a shirt for the big day (I love making shirts). I learned how to make a stencil and paint it on a shirt from I am Momma Hear Me Roar. He was so excited! I think he wears it every other day :)

THE PARTY

Meet our Jedi Knights:

Jayden

Jonah

Noah

Connor

Gio Gio

Tyler

Sol

And here is Princess Leia:

She needed a little help with the light saber from Jedi Master Daddy :)

Tia

What cute little Jedi's!

Ready to PARTY!!!

Shane was in charge of all the games for the party. I gave him a bunch of websites and said good luck. He did awesome! Check them out below...

Game 1:

Pass the Light Saber

Skill: speed & handling ability

Whoever was holding the light sabers when the music stopped were able to practice their light saber skills in the middle of the circle. We definitely had to have rules on this one...the kids were really excited to clobber each other with the light sabers. Luckily no one got hurt :)

GAME 2:

YODA SAYS

Skill: listening

Game 3:

SAVE PRINCESS LEIA

Skill: speed & rescue ability

We timed how long it would take the kids to save Princess Leia (pop her out of a balloon).

Only 12 seconds!

Game 4:

SPECIAL GUEST & ASTROID ATTACK

Skill: throwing

We had a "Special Guest" show up to help the kids practice their "throwing" skills.

Here are the kids when the guest arrived...

What's a Star Wars party without Darth Vader?!

We went out back and the kids "attacked" Darth Vader with Astroids (mini chocolate cup cakes).

It looks like the young Jedi's won!

Shane...you are AWESOME! The games were a BLAST!

DINNER:

Thanks mom for all the plates and napkins!

We had a fun dinner, but I only took 1 picture...bummer!

Here's what we had...

Darth Vader, Yoda, & Storm Trooper Jello Jigglers

Pizza Planets

My friend Alisha makes these fabulous Pizza Rolls (this picture was taken a couple of months ago). The kids loved them!

Yoda Sodas

I found this fun drink & picture at Makeandtakes.com

We also had:

- Light Saber Carrots

- Purple Astroids (grapes)

THE LIGHT SABER CAKE:

We all had a great time! And, best of all...no one was injured :)!

THANK YOU CARDS:

Jayden helped me write his THANK YOU cards this year...it was great and so much better than I would have done! He even drew pictures of each of their gifts.

A Few Fun Facts about Jayden:

1. Loves to ride his 2 wheeled bike and jump off curbs.

2. He's a dare devil.

3. He loves Legos.

4. Super excited about pre-school and learning.

5. Wants to read SO bad.

6. Loves writing anything he can. He pulls out magazines during quiet time and re-writes the words onto paper.

7. Loves and misses his grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins. He ALWAYS asks when we'll get to see them again.

8. He's a great artist. His "people" now have clothes on, pockets on their pants, hair, facial features, and ears. His favorite thing to draw is family members climbing Mt. Fuji.

9. He's learning that a sister can be a Best Friend.

10. He gives the most heartfelt, detailed prayers ever. He is really starting to understand that he is a child of God and that Heavenly Father hears and answers his prayers.

We love you Jayden and are so proud of the wonderful young man you are becoming!

Iwakuni, Miyajima, & Hiroshima

For Thanksgiving we decided to go on a road trip down to Hiroshima. Even though it was a 12 hour drive...it really wasn't that bad. The scenery was beautiful! We drove pass Mt. Fuji, through mountains, right past oceans and lakes, saw a cool castle on a hill, we also passed Kyoto, Osaka, and Kobe. It was actually a really nice drive (thanks to the portable DVD player that helped entertain the kids).

The 12 hour drive down

See the little grey van between the blue & white semis on the left. That's us! We rented this 8 seater van from our base and it was AWESOME!!! The van payed for ALL of the tolls. The tolls cost us $520....seriously...but we DIDN'T have to pay any of them because just renting the van covered all of the tolls.

The van was so BIG that we actually SLEPT in it the first night! No joke! Why stay in a hotel when the van you have is big enough? Now, we don't normally do these kind of things, but it saved us a couple hundred dollars...so why not! I would never do this in the states, but Japan is so safe that it wasn't scary.

Speaking of doing this in the states...I know my parents and siblings are all remembering our Yellowstone trip 20 something years ago. This trip to Hiroshima made me think of that trip many times...I laughed all weekend telling Shane about it. It was the 4th of July weekend and my parents forgot to reserve a hotel room...we arrived and ALL the rooms in the entire city were OCCUPIED! Here we were, 8 kids (1 was an infant), 2 adults, 1 Cassette (Bobby Brown..."Tear Down These Walls" ha...I still remember all of the words to those songs), and an 11 seater passenger van. We ended up in a RV park and all 10 of us slept in the van. What a crazy night, but none of us have ever forgotten that trip :)

Anyways, we drove and drove until we were tired (about 8 hours). We ended up pulling into a rest stop at the top of a bunch of mountains. It was a chilly night.

We jammed everything up in the front.

Dad and the kids slept in the back of the van in this awesome WARM sleeping bag my mom bought us a few years ago.

I laid across 2 bucket seats in the middle of the van...not the most comfortable, but it worked. I was okay until about 3 a.m. when I woke up because my feet and hands were frozen. Shane and I then switched places and we all slept until 7 a.m.

Here's a cool castle we passed on our drive.

We drove for about 4 hours the next day (Thanksgiving Day) through beautiful scenery like this.

Iwakuni

Thanksgiving Buffet:

We arrived in Iwakuni (southern tip of Japan's main island) on Thanksgiving Day around 11:00 a.m. There is a military base there that we stayed on. We signed up to have a Thanksgiving Buffet at their Club. It was nice not having to cook a single thing, or clean up and it was really fun still being able to celebrate Thanksgiving on a vacation in a foreign country (thanks Shelby for the idea). The food actually wasn't that bad, but I did really miss home made rolls :(

There's this really neat bridge called the Kintai Bridge in Iwakuni. It is made with NO BEAMS. It's a beautiful bridge and there is a castle up on the hill behind it.

Here are some pictures I took while walking across the bridge. It was a beautiful day.

Cute boy under the bridge.

We took the tram up the mountain to go see the castle.

We found a real WELL. It was dark, wet, & kind of scary.

The Iwakuni Castle.

Miyajima

About 30 minutes from Iwakuni is an island called Miyajima. You have to take a Ferry to get to it. It has a famous red Torii floating out in the water.

There are deer all over the island that just walk right up to you.

When the tide is LOW you can walk right out to the torii.

More deer.

We took a tram up the mountain.

It was breathtaking!

Overlooking Hiroshima.

Having fun in the cool red leaves.

And more deer....I was a little sick of deer by this point, but the kids were loving it!

The colors were just so beautiful!

MUST READ THIS SIGN

10 minute walk (7 if run a little)...how funny is that?! What if I ran fast would it only take 5 minutes? Shane and I were busting up. It still makes us crack up.

Miyajima is really into wooden rice spatula's...we still have no clue why, but they were EVERYWHERE. This guy drew a picture of Jayden and Tia on one. It was really fun to watch.

Chicken Shack

This place was back near Iwakuni (about 30 minutes up into the mountains). They were a little OVER DECORATED but it made if fun for the kids.

Playing the drums

They have fabulous FIRE GRILLED Chicken breasts doused in Teriyaki sauce. It comes out on a big long stick and you eat it like a caveman would. We really wish we would have ordered 2...they were YUMMY!

Hiroshima

The A-bomb Dome.

Thousands of cranes made to represent PEACE.

The children's monument remembering the children that died.

Students all over Japan make pictures & hangings using small cranes and send them here each year. They are not just pictures OF cranes, but they are MADE OUT OF MINI CRANES. There were billions of them.

Here is the mound covering the ashes of Tens of Thousands of those that were killed by the bomb. This made me really sad.

A-Bomb Dome in the back.

Here's a picture of what Hiroshima looked like after the bomb. EVERYTHING BURNED to the ground...INCLUDING the people. Most of them did not die right away, some survived the bomb, but slowly died a few days later (or years later) from the effects of the bomb. My heart ached looking at these pictures and learning about the whole thing.

We learned so much about the war and had a wonderful experience visiting Hiroshima. We are very glad that we went!

Hiroshima is famous for their Okonomiyaki. It is a Japanese pancake that means "what you like" or "what you want". It can include: flour, eggs, shredded cabbage, green onions, meat, octopus (yuck), squid (yuck), shrimp (not so yuck), vegetables, cheese, etc. In Hiroshima they add noodles...that was my favorite part. You top it off by pouring okonomiyaki sauce on it (similar to Worcestershire sauce but thicker and sweeter) and mayonnaise.

Back in Iwakuni we found a hotel overlooking the Kentai Bridge and went to their HOTSPRING...of course! The hotspring was outside on the top of the hotel. It was a beautiful night. You could see the bridge and castle all lit up. A perfect way to end a wonderful vacation!