Merry Christmas Everyone

I know we're a little late, but I wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas. We had a wonderful Christmas here, but we still miss everyone at home. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! Have fun playing with your new toys!!!

Merry Christmas from the Haworth's!

Yokohama

So last month we went to Yokohama.. It's taken getting sick and finally having a full day at home to post pictures from that day. There are a LOT more pictures on facebook, but here are a couple of my faves..

Guy helping us out to buy Kadie's card.. You hit the help button, and this is what you get..

Kadie's first train ride!

heading to Landmark Tower

Molly and her new pup pup

looking at the view..

Christmas Party

About to head down to the party!

So last night was Tim's command's Christmas party. It was at the New Sanno Hotel in Tokyo. Tim and I had an awesome friend watch the girls so we could actually have a night alone, so we stayed down there. Finding the hotel was fun (we got off the train at the wrong station). LOL But we finally made it, got ready, got downstairs only to find that they did not have enough tables and seats. We ended up eating in the restaurant next door to the ballroom, and then ended up back and forth all night. The party was WAY too crowded, but even with that, it was a great evening. Tim and I got time alone -we got to talk without worrying about little ears listening in.. We got to talk without having someone cry or complain about something else. It was great. :) Thank you SO much to Amanda for watching the girls for me, I know they can be a handful. I can't even begin to express how great the night was JUST because we got time to ourselves!!!

At Shinagawa Station waiting for our connection to head home.

All I Want For Christmas..

.. is my two front teeth.. Kadie lost that second front tooth last night. That was really quick! The first one took MONTHS to loosen up enough to pull, this one took 3 days! Crazy!!

Good Morning!

Yup. It's as cold as it looks...

Weekend

Molly being silly at Kadie's game

Tim went out to sea this past weekend. First time since they got back from their last deployment - they've been in drydock this whole time! While it was nice to have him home for so long, it made just a few days apart really hard. Molly has had a hard time falling asleep, and I just have a hard time sleeping when he's gone.

In the days that he was gone, Kadie had a game, we went to the Festival of Trees, and oh, we had an earthquake. No worries, it was a baby one 4.4 at the epicenter, and it felt like a 2 here. :) Anyhoot, that was our weekend. Exciting stuff huh?

Kadie at the Festival of Trees

Others..

The girls in new PJs

Molly enjoying dessert on Thanksgiving

Molly getting a kiss.. hehee

Getting ready to go to Kadie's Thanksgiving celebration at school.

Festival of Trees

Tim Adding stars

The almost finished tree in the dark.

This weekend is the festival of trees on base. Basically, groups from all over the base decorate a tree provided by MWR. There's a contest, the CO of the base a reception tonight, and then tomorrow the trees will be on display for everyone to see.

Last night, we decorated there trees. A few people from the FRG and myself have been working for a little over a week (but seems endless) on folding and cutting 635 stars. There is one for each Sailor on the Blue Ridge, and each star has a name of a Sailor on board.. Our little group of volunteers really got the tree going, and it took a LOT shorter of a time than I thought it would. About 4 hours includes getting there, setting up our stuff, taping hooks onto ALL of the stars, decorating, and even eating a dinner that MWR provided!

Just so you can see.. This is only a partial view of one side of the hall.

We had a lot of fun getting all those stars on the tree, and I think it was a great night! We had some issues with our babysitters at the end, but considering how bad the rest of the day was, the night was just awesome. :)

Tim and I at the end of the night in front of the almost finished tree!

OOPS!

So, I was reading a forum I frequently visit, and read a friend's siggy that links to her blog. It made me realize I haven't posted on here in a WHILE. Sorry about that!

To make it all as short as I can, we've been really busy. Between all of our activities, I guess this just slipped through the cracks. SO. We had a good Thanksgiving. Actually, better than good, it was perfect for our little family. Tim had duty on Thanksgiving, so we celebrated a day late, but it was wonderful. On Thanksgiving, the girls and I celebrated with some old friends and some new ones. Everyone brought a dish, and we had a pretty good spread! The girls had a blast playing with the other kids, and I just had fun chatting with everyone. :) Then on BF, I DID hit up a few of the sales on base. Insane, I might add, so I won't be doing it again. However, from that, we got a nuwave oven, and that thing is just awesome. LOL Needless to say, we're pretty happy we got it.

Kadie is still in cheer, and has asked to do indoor cheer as well. She LOVES it. It's bringing her out of her shell, and you'll constantly hear her yelling out her cheers.

Molly is.. well.. Molly. LOL

Tim's ship is out of dry dock and is gearing up to be seaworthy again. We're happy that they are out of dry dock because it means we're that much closer to being out of 4 section duty, however, we're also pretty upset because it means he'll be gone again. Here's to hoping that his schedule stays the same - it's pretty good right now. :)

For me, I started going to zumba classes today. That's about it. LOL

Landmark Tower

Is really tall..

We went to Yokohama today, and had an absolute blast. I'm tired though, and will definitely be posting more pictures later. :) To make the long day short, we're pretty sure we saw President Obama being flown from Yokohama to Ikego. We went up an elevator that takes you up 69 floors so fast you're literally dizzy when you get off. We found build-a-bear. Ate at Hard Rock. Shopped (even found the Disney Store - yes Amanda, there's a Disney store not too far away)!!! Overall, we just had a GREAT day!

Blue Cheer

One is blue and one is excited to cheer...

Happy Halloween

Just wanted to add a couple of pictures from last night.






Without costumes, we had to make do with what we had. Luckily, a while back, I decided not to depend on our mail system here because I heard it slows down a lot right now. So I picked up a couple of faerie costumes for the girls. Now, Molly's was cute, but missing wings, and Kadie's was just plain ugly. LOL I altered Kadie's a bit (more like I only used bits and pieces of it and added a petti and tee), and added some butterfly wings to Molly's that we've had for a while.

Tim and I ended up being a politician and his wife. (and trust him, his shirt even said he was a politician. LOL). In that process, I also discovered I don't own much in terms of anything conservative. (oops).

Wind!

Last week, CFAY called TCCOR 4.. Shortly after, we were 3, then 2, then 1. We were supposed to be hit by Typhoon Chaba, and we were supposed to be hit dead on. (the eye should have passed over us). They totally freaked out anyone and everyone who was new to the base this year, and we were all expecting a big show. What did we get? No more rain than we're used to.

It ruined the Halloween carnival being held on base on Saturday - they canceled it. Mail was delayed thanks to it, so we had to wear back up costumes instead of the ones we'd planned on. It didn't even start raining again until last night.. And then it was POURING. When I say pouring - I've come to love the rain, it soothes me normally. It actually woke me up last night, and then, over the loudspeakers that are throughout the city (I'm guessing country, but I can only speak for what I know), they started warning the residents. I've heard it go off once or twice before, but it's ALWAYS in Japanese - last night, I heard it in English. (heard it again this morning too). Turns out, we had a severe thunderstorm hitting us last night. Not really bad - I was awake for another hour or two and didn't see any lightening (sad day), but it was raining sheets and sheets of HUGE drops.

Fast forward to tonight. The wind has been insane all day. I've actually come down with a little bug, and didn't feel well enough to realize there was a camera in the house until tonight. So there's a picture I took of a palm tree. Keep in mind that the shutter speed is quick enough for my hands to get an in focus picture, so seeing that much movement in the palm tree is pretty amazing! Now, all of this (crazy waves too, remember that it looks like a lake out there most of the time), while our only advisory (not even warning, just advisory), is Gale force winds.. LOL

Another One..

Another Cache down..

Unloading

I know I haven't been posting much information lately. Hey now though, at least I'm posting anything! :) Anyhoot, to be quite frank, we're having some attitude problems with Kadie. What's funny is that while venting to a friend today, she really pointed out something that made me realize that we're dealing with a teen in the house. Sure she doesn't have the "teen" horomones, but the things she's saying and doing are SO teenage. (I don't love her, she doesn't like herself very much, no one likes her, everything is everyone else's fault). I'm sure most of it is normal for a 7 year old, but it's driving me near insane. Therefore, I just don't really feel much like posting. Instead, I'm posting pictures here and there, bear with me until I get this figured out.

Totagrapher

Ok, doesn't this melt your heart? My little girl.. Not only taking photos at Mikasa last week, but also holding an SLR the (almost) correct way!!! When I get Tim's camera back from his car, I will post some pics that she took with it. She LOVED it, and has decided she wants to be a "totagrapher"

Sisters

Sometimes, they amaze me..

Mikasa Park

So apparently, I deprive my children of experiences.. LOL For those of you that don't know, Mikasa Park is a memorial park that's just outside of the gates. (It's about a 10 minute walk with children). In the 6 months that we've been here, we apparently haven't taken the girls there. Kadie went on and on about how this was her first time there. LOL The Japanese ship Mikasa is behind the girls in the picture.

We took them on Sunday after Tim got off from duty. The girls had a great time. :) There will be more pictures on my facebook, but seeing as how I need to get laundry done, for now, you guys get these two pics. :)

Oh and for those wondering... My hand is doing MUCH better. Thanks for the inquiries. :) It's healed over so there's nothing open anymore. The skin is still pretty thin, so I can't submerge it for long, but it's getting stronger every day. I'm also getting more feeling in my finger every day, so that's nice as well! Hence the mountains of laundry I have to get through!

Sleepovers

Kadie and Haley - "silly faces"

On Friday, Kadie had her best friend here sleep over. Unfortunately, Molly split my hand back "open" that day, and my picture taking skills failed me. So all I have are a couple of pics from the way home.. :( Anyways, Kadie and her best friend had a blast (or at least, I think they did). It was great having her over here, and I hope her Mom will let us have her again! (hopefully next time I'm not injured and we can do a LOT more).

Just so I can say..

I got a post up today!! YAY!! LOL My wrist has been hurting me so typing is hurting too. I'll post more another day, but here's a picture from Kadie's birthday so that I can at least say I posted today.. I love the look on her face.. Don't you?

Again..

So a couple days ago, they took the stitches out of my hand. I must scream "LET THE NEW GUY PRACTICE ON HER!!!" as the HM taking the stitches OUT of my hand had never done it.. Hmm.. Sounds like the HM that put them in my hand.. LOL Anyhoot, because the guy who put them in did them tight, I ended up getting snipped by the scissors twice. OUCH! So I've been recovering from that. If that wasn't enough, this cute little thing decided that she was going to be mad and basically open it back up. YAY!

So while I have a friend's daughter sleeping over, Tim actually drove us home because I didn't think I could. He stayed with us until I got the girls into their room so that I wouldn't have much more "heavy lifting" to do. Thank goodness to his command that let him go home, with Molly scratching and pinching the spot while we did a quick run through the NEX, I don't know how I would have done it tonight. That being said, I'm getting off of here!

Birthdays and Bowling and Balloons.. OH MY!!!

So on to top off our way too quickly moving week, Kadie not only turned seven on Friday, but she also had a real birthday party. If you know her, you know that she goes to Disneyland and has lunch at Ariel's Grotto every year for her birthday. Last year, we were lucky enough to have her best friend and some cousins come along for the party too. This year though, we aren't in CA, and she said she didn't want to go to Tokyo Disney.. She wanted a bowling party. And since my mouse appears to have gone out, there will be more posts and pictures tomorrow. LOL

Catching Up

Sooo... I still have stitches in my hand.. If you want to see a picture click on the link.. I won't post the actual picture in lieu of some I KNOW don't want to see it.. LOL

http://i826.photobucket.com/albums/zz186/NBJapan/e2347eea.jpg

It's a big owie... But it's all good because I'm back to being

able to type without my hand getting completely swollen after! Yippee!! So now I get to play catch up.

Last week literally flew by. I was in a daze for most of it, and honestly, I was shocked when I realized on Thursday night that the next day was Friday. Where did my week go? Oh right. On the couch or in bed.. Probably sleeping for a good chunk of that week. Thank GO

ODNESS Tim's Chief let him go Tuesday, Wednesday, and then even early enough to pick Kadie up from school on Friday.

Since I don't remember a good chunk of the week.. Here's a recap of what I do remember..

Somewhere in the week.. Kadie decided she was going to workout with Tim.. She even picked up some weights and went at it. It was VERY cute.. I can't really remember, but I'm about 90% certain that this was Monday night BEFORE the "incident" occurred. I have more pictures, but I have a teeny tiny feeling that Tim wouldn't be very happy with me if I posted them.. :P I mean.. What do you think???

After the "incident," we realized that Wednesday morning was going to be really rough for me. Not only was I (according to my doctor) going to be in excruciating pain (it wasn't THAT bad), but I also couldn't really clean and couldn't pi

ck up Molly. This meant I couldn't get her out of her crib. Tim had a solution for that. On Tuesday afternoon, Tim took the side off of Molly's crib, so she's now in a toddler bed!!! She fell out several times the first few days, but now

she seems to have it down. If only we could get her to stay in her bed until she falls asleep.. Now THAT would be something right?

Overall, she loves the bed. It's nice to not have to pull her out anymore. :) Hopefully soon, we'll have them in bunk beds so we can add some much neede

d space to their room!!!

For one more picture (at least with this post)... I looked outside one day to see a bunch of birds just sitting on one of the cables coming from our house. (this particular one is our internet). I see them sitting on the rails too. There are several more (I'd say about 5-10 more) that sit out there with these ones, but they flew away the second I opened the curtains. These were the brave suckers.

Count them.. 10.

10 stitches. That's what I have in my right hand. To quickly state what happened, I was cleaning a drinking glass, and it shattered on my hand. So we ended up spending a good deal of our night in the ER. Thanks to a wonderful friend, our girls weren't subjected to it all.. (hey, I almost threw up from what they were doing). They got to stay comfy and warm instead. :) I'll be slow posting here (or anywhere) until I'm comfy with one hand or both hands again. :)

In the meantime, I'm hopped up on narcotics, and not in too much pain!!

Make a Wish

There's not really anything to post pictures of. It rained today. A lot. That's about it. LOL I decorated for Halloween (or well, I started decorating for Halloween). The stuff that usually goes outdoors is now staying inside as we don't have any power outlets outside (bummer), so that's interesting.. hehehe

This is yet another picture from Saturday (sorry, Tim was on duty yesterday so we didn't do anything then either). Kadie had picked a dandelion, and then blew it. Molly wanted it afterward, and I thought I was taking a picture of just her holding it up, turns out, I caught Tim pretending to make a wish on it too. :)

Just The Two of Us...

To be kind to my best friend, I'm trying to make an effort to remember to post on here regularly. To do this, I've GOT to post on here daily. SO.. I'm going to try and post at least one picture per day. We all know I take enough pictures to do this, so this is me trying.

One thing I've been awful about for the past 8 years is getting myself into pictures. I tend to stay behind the camera and not in front of it. It's something I'm trying to correct. So everywhere we go, I now try to get at least one pic of myself or a picture of Tim and I. :) So here's just a picture from yesterday..

There's really not a lot to post about today. I'm on here procrastinating. I need to clean so I can put up some Fall/Halloween decorations, but for some reason, I'm avoiding it. Instead, I'm on here and Facebook, making plans to go to a 100 yen store tomorrow to look for more decorations. Which leads me back to needing to get out what I have so I know what I could use...

Geocaching

Well, for starters, Malakas didn't really hit us hard. It did cause some things to happen, but not much. For us here on the other side of the peninsula, it was just hard rain (not even much wind). I've seen videos and talked to friends who live on base or closer to it, and they got hit a lot harder. It did, however, provide for some pretty big surf today, which brought out all the surfers. It was also VERY clear today, and it ended up being beautiful.

Nice and clear.. You can see Fuji and all the surfers.. The water is even prettier than the view though today. I love all the colors in it.

Since it was so gorgeous out, and we had nothing to do, Tim suggested that we go geocaching. If you don't know what it is, go here. Basically, you are looking for a small thing (object, box, etc) that someone's left for you to find by the GPS coordinates. They have them all over the world, and we actually found out about it shortly after we got to Yokosuka. We've wanted to do it for a while, but something's always come up or it's been too hot/cold to go outside for prolonged periods of time. Today was perfect - it was warm, but not hot, and it certainly wasn't cold. We tried to find about 4 today and only found one, but hey, one is better than none! The girls were VERY excited when we finally found one. We got to trade a small thing for another thing in the cache, and we were all happy (and exhausted). Better than finding the cache though, was going searching for them. We saw places in our immediate area (we didn't go farther than a little over a mile radius from the house) that we didn't even know existed. Beautiful shrines, great views, restaurants, shops, etc. It was a great day.. We walked over to an Italian restaurant about a mile from us and had lunch there. It was pizza all around, and both girls were even happier when we walked about another quarter mile down to the familymart. They got juices and candy there, and that kept them going for the walk (and cache find) on the way back. We really got to see Akiya a lot better, and also got a LOT of views of the BIG surf going on today. Some of it was crazy, and we had at least 20 surfers out there until it got dark tonight. Actually, it's still incredibly loud right now - to the point that it's hard to hear anything other than the surf. We look outside, and in the blackness, you can actually see the white of the surf. :) So yeah, big surf still going on. There will be surfers out tomorrow!

I'm not going to post a lot of the pictures on here because, well, there's a lot. Most of them are on my facebook though, so since I think all of you who read this are on there, check them out!

Or not...

Well, you know as well as I do if I can see Fuji, it's fairly clear outside.. From what I can see now, we won't get hit by Malakas - it's turned away from the Japanese Islands. Good for us, but I'm kind of bummed - we dragged everything in and it's all sitting in my room for nothing! You mean to tell me I risked spiders in my BEDROOM for nada?!?! Oh well!!!! Gorgeous view.. I wish I could describe how clear it is outside right now! Oh wait, I don't need to do that, I can show you pictures from of the rest of our view.. :P


See the land mass alllll the way to the right? That's Endoshima Island (ok, I'm totally guessing, but it's the Island in this bay).. We see that even less often than we see Fuji (ok, we see Fuji a lot). THAT'S when you know it's clear!