Welcome to our world

Small update-

2012-01-29T03:29:00.000-08:00

It's weird... I feel like we have been pretty busy lately, but I have very few photo opportunities lately. I did bring the camera to scouts the other day though and captured this adorable boy receiving his first scouting belt loops. :) He earned them in December at the day camp that he had. He has been so cute and excited about scouting.

The other exciting news that happened was my little doll Taylor broke his collar bone last weekend. He was playing on the trampoline with 5 other little kids and got pushed off. He landed right on his right shoulder in the grass. Carter jumped off immediately and held his head while he yelled for Mom to help Taylor. I knew it was something serious because Taylor is my toughest buddy. He doesn't cry EVER! He couldn't get up and I looked him over and carried him into the house.

Iwanted to keep an eye on him before running him into the ER. It of course happened on a Friday night so I couldn't just run him to the clinic by our house. I let him rest for a few hours while Rhett kept an eye on him. I met a couple girls and we got a bite to eat. When I got home I went to move Taylor to his bed and he cringed when I touched his right side. I decided that I had better run him in and see what was broken. We got to the ER right around 9:00. They checked us into triage and the guy thought I was crazy. I said I wanted ex rays done, but Taylor just wanted to get home so he told the Dr. it didn't hurt anymore. lol.

We tried to take his shirt off, but he was in too much pain. We ended up cutting it off. He was so embarrassed. :) I had brought a blanket with us so I just kept him wrapped up while we waited for our turn. We went up to do x-rays and Taylor did fantastic. I was so proud of what a tough guy he was. The Dr. finally came in and confirmed that Taylor had broken his collar bone. Taylor got a little teary and asked, "Is it broken forever?" The Dr. smiled and assured Taylor that is would heal soon. We got home about 2:30 in the morning. I loved being able to spend some alone time with my Taylor. I'm glad that he's doing okay.

It has been a week and he is doing a lot better. I'm sure it s healing right up. It has been hard on Taylor to watch all the kids playing in the tree and on the trampoline, but he has been a real trooper. I love you Tater tot. Hang in there buddy!

Bad Weather

2012-01-19T04:09:00.000-08:00

We have done NOTHING blog worthy lately. It has been really rainy for the last week and we literally haven't done anything fun. It is starting to get sunny again and we are thrilled. It is a killer to stay at home so much. A few things we have been up to though-

I can not get this monkey to keep his feet on the floor. He is ALWAYS climbing up my walls.

Oh, and Rhett and I went on a double date. The kids loved having a babysitter come over and we ate the most incredible ribs we have ever had. They literally just fell off the bone. After dinner, we went to a 4d ride they have over here and almost lost the ribs lol. I was slightly nauseous after the ride.

We then played games for hours together. It was such a great break from parenting and I always LOVE when I get to spend time with Rhett. Thanks for the date babe!

Happy Birthday Taylor (5)

2012-01-10T04:54:00.000-08:00

Sweet little Taylor had a birthday a few days ago and turned 5. I can't believe the difference in attitude and behavior this last year has been. He used to be extremely naughty, but for the most part he is such a good boy now.

For his birthday he really wanted to go to pineapple park so that is exactly what we did!

As a special bonus he got a free ice cream and I let him pick out a toy at the gift shop. He was in pineapple heaven and I'm sure he ate his weight in samples as we walked through the store.

Then, when we got home he wanted to make a cake together. He got to stir and lick both the beaters. When it was finished we threw as much candy as possible on it. I personally missed the Julie cake, but Taylor LOVED his cake.

When we went to check on the kids right before bed this is what we found in the closet! lol. I'm pretty sure Taylor would have died in the night. That does not look comfortable at all!

Happy Birthday Taylor. I just love you to pieces. You truly are such a blessing in my heart and I'm sure my heart will break when you stop picking me beautiful flowers and bringing them to me. You are so thoughtful. I love you little buddy. Don't grow up too fast! :)

Family Fun

2012-01-04T05:10:00.000-08:00

Rhett was heading to the golfing range the other day and sad he would take the two big boys. Hunter and Ryker quickly ran to put on their shoes because there is nothing better than getting to go with Daddy. I also needed to get out of the house so we just went as a whole family.

Taylor just got his own clubs and was extremely excited to give them a try. He does pretty good.

Hunter and Ryker were just excited to be out of the house.

I even had a surprisingly good time playing. Rhett gave me some really great pointers and I even had a couple pretty good shots.

Carter also did really well. He is turning into quite the golfer.

We had some really great helpers. They all wanted to carry over the golf balls.

While we were there the manager came over and talked with Rhett and the kids. He was impressed that Rhett had the patience to bring 4 little boys with him.

He later brought over 3 more free buckets of balls so everyone had as many balls to hit as they could handle.
It was very nice!

Hunter had sort of a Happy Gilmore Swing.

Ryker did as well- plus his poor club is upside down. I bet that made it hard.

Rhett is such a great Dad and teacher. He has more patience than you could even imagine!

Teaching Taylor how to hit the ball.

Carter showing me that it's so easy he can do it with his eyes shut. lol.

We had such a great time and everyone did such a great job that Daddy rewarded us with ice cream!

Thanks Daddy for a super fun day of golfing together.

Happy New Year

2012-01-03T20:54:00.000-08:00

I have to admit I am a little sad to see 2011 go. It was a really great year for us. We had lots of fun exploring Okinawa.

My resolutions this year are-

(1) Work out and get back into shape

(2) Survive the year.

I figure those 2 will keep me plenty busy as Rhett will de deployed for 6 months out of this year.

We ended up putting the kids to bed early and played games with the neighbors. We tried to keep them all up last year, but they just got grumpy. We had a blast with the neighbors and I promised in the morning the kids could toast to the new year.

Christmas 2011

2011-12-25T07:07:00.000-08:00

We had a great Christmas this year. We were excited for the kids to fall asleep to set everything up. It took them quite awhile due to everything being so exciting.

They climbed in our beds about 6:00, but fell asleep until 7:00. Lucky us.

They couldn't wait to run down those stairs and see if Santa had come. The day was perfect. Everyone LOVED their gifts.

Enjoy the pictures. We love you family!

Christmas Advent- Day 24

2011-12-25T06:09:00.000-08:00

Day 24- Write a Christmas letter for family and friends.

The kids all blew Dobby a kiss goodbye and told him to have a safe flight back with Santa. It was cute. They will surely miss finding this silly little elf everyday.

The Olsen Family Christmas Card- 2011

This year has been the absolute BEST year of our marriage thus far. I'm sure that it helps that I actually get to see Rhett. We do a lot as a family and are loving the new adventures of living in Japan.

Rhett- He is working as a dentist for the Air Force and is loving his job. He stays busy treating all the active duty members and their dependents. On his off time he has been introduced to the world of gaming and devotes many hours online playing Modern Warfare 3. He also loves the outdoors and loves the chance to play ultimate frisbee, racquetball, and golf. He can also be seen in the backyard playing steamroller on the trampoline or throwing a baseball with his little boys.

Rebecca- I have stayed extremely busy cleaning up messes that the twins make. They have a special talent in destroying anything and everything they get their hands on. I have also been trying to learn to cook this year. I would love to say that I have mastered this and that I am a pro, but it seems quite the opposite. Most of the new meals that I make are barely edible and would not be considered delicious. I will keep working on this one. I do play volleyball twice a week and can honestly say that it keeps my insanity in check. Rhett feeds the kids and gets them all tucked in on these nights. It has been AWESOME. Overall, a great year.

Carter- He turned eight this year and is loving the second grade. He still hates to read, but it doing well with it. He has blossomed this year and has made LOTS of friends. I feel as though I have six to eight kids most days, but love to see them all out playing together. He can't wait to get baptized and we were planning to do it in Hawaii, but most likely he will be baptized in the East China Sea. He is also in scouts now and loving every second of it. It is a blast to see him so excited about it. He just had a three day scout day camp and earned lots of new badges.

Taylor- He will be turning five in a few weeks and is excited that he will get to start kindergarten soon. He is very into mario brothers and sonic. Games are a new thing for him, but he is sure enjoying them. He also is still very much in love with girls. He likes to go to his primary class because there are like eight girls in it. He constantly teasing them to get their attention. He is such a sweet little boy. He is my helper and loves to help me get dinner ready. He also LOVES peanut butter and honey sandwiches and expects one everyday for lunch.

Hunter- He is getting so big. He gave me the greatest gift for Christmas and I can officially say that the twins are potty trained. Yay!!! He is my little cuddler and climbs into my bed every night for some extra mommy time. He is also like a little shadow. He loves to be right next to me. He loves snacks, but is a horribly picky eater and makes dinner a nightmare. He loves Dora and Ryker is his best friend. They don't like to be apart. He really likes to go. Anytime anyone is going anywhere you can find his hustling to the door to put his shoes on so he can go.

Ryker- He is a little stubborn right now and it's really hard to get his mind off something when he has it set. He is constantly stealing Daddy's iphone to play games. Most of the people that know the babies can always tell Ryker apart because he is my little nudist. I cannot keep pants on this kid at all. He loves underpants and doesn't understand that I want him to cover up the picture. He is really a sweetheart and always makes sure to tell you that he loves you. He is a very great snuggler as well.

That pretty much covers our family. We hope that all of our friends and family are well. We are now about half way through our tour over here in Okinawa and though we miss everyone in the states we are continuing to enjoy the adventure we have had here.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Christmas Advent- Day 23

2011-12-25T04:31:00.000-08:00

Day 23- Rent a movie of your choice and invite all the neighbor kids to watch it with us.

The kids invited over Noah, Ali, and Grayson. We made LOADS of popcorn and had a blast watching Dolphin Tale together. Very fun day with friends.

Our little elf still just watching the kids misbehave. ;)

Christmas Advent- Day 22

2011-12-22T07:45:00.000-08:00

Day 22- Christmas craft day.

We had a great time making herds of reindeer and even made a couple gingerbread houses. The kids had fun eating candy and shaping antlers. They were super cute and great little helpers.

Our ugly little houses. I usually buy the kit for gingerbread houses, but they were completely sold out so we had to just use graham crackers instead. LAME!!!

I had volleyball and I came home to this. My poor little buddy got a huge goose bump on his head. I guess he fell into the wall.

Christmas Advent- Day 21

2011-12-22T07:14:00.000-08:00

Day 21- Go to the Aquarium together

Sorry. I am way too tired for any witty commentary tonight. So just enjoy the pictures.

The kids very favorite part was that when we went outside it was raining and they gave us each an umbrella. They never get their own and they had a blast.

Our little house elf has been busy watching the kids. I have to say that they have been pretty good boys lately.

Christmas Advent- Day 20

2011-12-22T05:39:00.000-08:00

Day 20- Go to the zoo as a family

You may notice that Carter is absent in these pictures. He had three full days of scout camp. (More to come on this later.)

Alright, you have seen the zoo about a billion times on my blog so enjoy the slew of pictures-

I dedicate this sign to Carter! lol

It took the kids awhile to find our elf. Silly elf. Who climbs in the freezer?!?

Christmas Advent- Day 19

2011-12-22T04:44:00.000-08:00

Day 19- Go for a drive to see all the Christmas Lights.

It was a fun drive and we were excited to see so many fun lights. It was a little late and the boys seemed a little grumpy. Taylor and Carter both ended up falling asleep.

The babies had an absolute ball. They fought over who saw the lights first, but LOVED it.

Christmas Advent- Day 18

2011-12-18T06:16:00.000-08:00

"I know where the elf is. He's in the beautiful shoes." (Taylor)

Day 18- Wrap and deliver the presents we picked out for our little "Angels" from the angel tree.

We picked out two names off the angel tree this year. A two year old boy and a five year old boy. I took the kids to the store to pick out some presents and they did such a great job. I'm sure these little boys will be thrilled.

Both boys live at a local orphanage and we are thrilled to be able to help them out.

Everyone helped Daddy wrap the presents. He needed a lot of help with the tape. They did perfect!

These are the angels we picked out. We get to keep them to remind us that there are others out there that aren't as blessed as we have been. It is so important to remember these sweet little angels too.

Helping out with the second present. We are so excited to get to go and play with the kids from the orphanage tomorrow. We get to take them our gifts and even have been working on Away in a Manger in Japanese that we get to sing to them. I know I can't wait to go.

All ready to head to the church and back under the Angel tree.

Christmas Advent- Day 17

2011-12-18T05:11:00.000-08:00

Day 17- Go to see Authur Christmas in the theatre and get popcorn.

I thought this movie was really cute.

The kids liked it and did really well considering the timing was directly when they normally take naps.

After running to the bathroom three different times with Taylor, Ryker, and Hunter I remembered why we usually pass on the popcorn and drink. lol.

They made it until about the last 20 minutes before they passed out.

This was after the movie and the babies had just woke up. They were not thrilled to take a picture. lol.

Christmas Advent- Day 16

2011-12-18T04:22:00.000-08:00

Day 16- Have a pizza party and watch Harry Potter.

Our elf got hungary and snuck into the snack shelf.

This was such a fun night. My kids LOVE pizza and so it's always the best day ever when we get to have a pizza party together.

A late night movie is also such a HUGE hit in our family.

These two best buddies wanted to come and help me get the pizza. What good little helpers I have!

Yummy! Pizza is SO good. I feel as though this is one of the very few meals where I don't have to fight the kids to eat. They scarf it down amazingly. :)

These guys just melt my heart. I love to be able to spend so much time with them.

We also got a special treat that night and got some of the cinnamon sticks.

It made their day.

Poor Hunter fell out of the van when we got to get the pizza. I felt so bad. My poor baby.

My kids are constantly saying stuff that makes me and Rhett laugh.

Today after Taylor got done eating dinner he runs up to Rhett and says, "My belly is talking to me... it's saying it's full." You have to hear it in his adorable voice to really appreciate it.

Hunter calls everyone and everything Blimey. It's funny when he gets mad and just yells, "Blimey!"

Ryker loves to say that he's a booby trap. He runs round chasing people shouting, "I'm a booby trap... you better get away or you'll get caught."

Christmas Advent- Day 15

2011-12-15T05:27:00.000-08:00

Day 15- Ring and Run

We made plates of cookies and delivered them to some of our friends.

Here's how is worked. I gave one child a plate of cookies and they all went together to drop them off. The child with the cookies placed them by the door and rang the doorbell. Then, they all took off running. HILARIOUS! I'm pretty sure they got caught by every person. Funniest thing I have seen in awhile though.

Run Hunter Run!

Christmas Advent- Day 14

2011-12-15T04:41:00.000-08:00

Day 14- Make "goodie bags" for Carter's class at school.

We made an assembly line and giggled through the entire process. These boys sure make me smile.

Everyone had a different treat to stuff in the bag and we made sure we ate plenty of treats too.

We also had fun picking out a present for Carter's teacher. Carter picked out a big box of chocolates for him. :)

Look at Hunter's face. He wanted to open it.

Carter is SO excited to give everyone a little goody bag tomorrow.

Christmas Advent- Day 13

2011-12-15T04:22:00.000-08:00

Our little elf just hanging out.

Day 13- Make muddy buddies with your buddies-

I had volleyball again so Rhett took over and did a fantastic job with the kids.

They took turns pouring in the ingredients.

I remember when I was dating Rhett 9 years ago he and his buddies all met up at Melanie's house and made muddy buddies together.

I thought it was so funny to see these grown men cooking together.

The kids had a blast with their Daddy. He is SO great with them. I love my volleyball nights, but not as much as the kids do. :)

They turned out so delicious. Good job guys!

Christmas Advent- Day 12

2011-12-12T05:44:00.000-08:00

Our elf must have got bored and decided to read a Christmas story.

Day 12- Super Mario Brothers as a family.

I just thought I would add this cute picture of Hunter. We definitely have the holiday spirit here. I love the nap in the Santa's hat. Why not? :)

This may seem like a lame activity, but the kids LOVED it. We all had such a great time. Our kids are totally into video games and love nothing more than to have Mom and Dad playing them with them.

What a crazy fun family I have. I am so lucky!

Christmas Advent- Day 11

2011-12-12T05:13:00.000-08:00

The kids loved seeing him on the door today. What a silly elf.

Day 11- Holiday Haircuts and Hot Chocolate

See how I did that? I totally put something on the calendar that they needed to do anyway. :) I did make it a fun twist though.We went to the salon and had someone else do it. See? Another gift to myself. :)

Taylor giggled through the whole thing. I'm not sure if he was nervous or ticklish, but it was hilarious to watch him.

Carter's favorite thing about the haircut is the massage afterwards. He said, "It just takes all his worries away." Okay... you're eight. How many worries can you have?

Hunter peeking in the window to check on Ryker getting finished up.

Looking good Buddy!

Next stop, hot chocolate! Yummy!

Christmas Advent- Day 10

2011-12-12T04:25:00.000-08:00

Elf fun

Day 10- Rhett's work party for Mommy and Daddy. Kid party at the dental clinic.

The kids in the elevator headed up to their party. They played games, ate pizza, and watched fun movies.

It was so nice. They had a fun DJ and some rocking music for dancing. We also had a fantastic holiday meal. They gave away all sorts of great prizes. Rhett ended up leaving with $25. lol. He is usually so lucky too. :)

We had a really great time and the kids had a blast. We sat with great friends that really made the evening fun. The more they drank the funnier it got. :)

Christmas Advent- Day 9

2011-12-11T05:51:00.000-08:00

Dobby watching for good behavior-

Day 9- Cookies with Santa at Carter's school-

This was a really fun event. It could have been organized a little better, but overall we had a really great time.

We started by waiting in line to see Santa. The kids were so excited to tell him what they wanted for Christmas this year. The babies had me laughing as they tried to explain about the flashlight that they wanted.

After seeing Santa we saw the Bob Hope Panda and took a quick picture on our way to grab a couple cookies.

Next, we got some fun ornaments and some popcorn. Yum.

They also served everyone dinner. We had lasagna, salad, a roll, and a glass of milk. We sat and ate all while watching a Christmas cartoon.

I do realize they are wearing the same clothes as the day before. We did put on jammies the night before though. The kids are into picking their own clothes and I usually let them wear what they want as long as it isn't dirty or stinky. :)

Christmas Advent- Day 8

2011-12-11T05:26:00.000-08:00

The elf taking a moment to remind the little boys what Christmas is really all about.

Day 8- Be secret elves for the day and go pick out toys for toys for tots.

I LOVED this. It was so fun to see the children pick out toys for someone who needs one. They each had a really great time. I was very proud of my little ones.

Daddy met us at the bx and explained to the kids what the toys for tots program was all about. He told each one of them that he was proud of them.

Helping put the toys in the box. What a fun family activity!

Christmas Advent- Day 7

2011-12-07T18:03:00.000-08:00

Just chilling on top of the couch keeping a close eye out for Santa.

Day 7- Make a fun Christmas treat to share at Carter's Pack Meeting

So proud of my cub scout. He loves everything about the scouting program.

They played some fun games and did a relay race.

What a fun night.

The other day we were at the grocery store and the boys were a little wild. I pulled the cart over and said, "You better behave... you know who's watching!" Hunter quickly replied back, "Yeah Jesus is." What a GREAT answer!

Christmas Advent- Day 6

2011-12-07T17:10:00.000-08:00

Our Christmas Elf

Today it said- Read Christmas stories by the Christmas tree and have hot cocoa for dessert.

I'm not sure how well this one went. I had volleyball so Rhett took over for the night.

Christmas Advent- Day 5

2011-12-07T16:52:00.000-08:00

Our little elf hiding out in the plant to watch the kids.

Go for a family walk after dinner and pick up donuts for dessert.

Mmm... yummy!

For the record--- My kids do own clothes and I get them dressed every morning. They just tend to strip down throughout the day.

Christmas Advent- Day 4

2011-12-05T03:59:00.000-08:00

Our kids have LOVED finding the elf everyday.

Write letters to Santa

Ryker, "I just want a flashlight."

Hunter, "Can I please have a scooter and a flashlight?!?"

Taylor, "Can I please have money, money, money and a giant bowl of ice cream and a puppy."

Carter, "Can I have Star Wars Legos 2 for the wii."

Obviously we had just had spaghetti for dinner and I didn't take the time to wash their dirty little faces. Oops, my bad!

Christmas Advent- Day 3

2011-12-05T02:50:00.000-08:00

Our little Dobby checking out the dining room.

Go to tinsel town and see Santa

"Mommy I don't wanna wait my turn. I wanna go right now!"

He was so excited when it was his turn. He kept turning around to wave to us.

My big boy is so grown up. He is such a blessing in my life.

"Hi Mommy." When he got done he quickly went and got back on to go again. The kid in the front of the line said to the Airmen, "Is cutting legal?" He looked at me and we both cracked up laughing. No! Cutting is total NOT legal.

The 18th Dental Squadron earning money for the Christmas party. We totally supported by buying 5 hotdogs.

Mmm. Yummy hotdogs.

Mommy froze her little bum off. I was so chilled that day. I should have grabbed a coat.

The line was a little long to see Santa. Poor Hunter fell asleep waiting for his turn.

That looks like a "Naughty" little reindeer. lol. He didn't appreciate all of us taking his picture while he was on his phone.

Almost our turn-

The kids were thrilled to see him and tell him what they want for Christmas. Hunter was still a little tired.

Christmas Advent- Day 2

2011-12-04T04:12:00.000-08:00

That silly elf used his magic to fly into this stocking to get a better view.

Day 2- Watch a special Christmas movie with a special Christmas treat.

We watched The Nutcracker and had homemade kettle corn and chocolate treats. It was a lot of fun. The twins got a little nervous during the movie, but it just made them super cuddlers. Very fun night!

Christmas Advent- Day 1

2011-12-04T03:58:00.000-08:00

We have sure had fun getting in the holiday spirit. Our elf came back this year. He checks up on the kids and makes sure that they are behaving. We took a family vote and the kids chose to give him a new name. Last year he was Professor X. This year everyone got to throw out a name and then everyone voted.

Ryker- Scooter

Hunter- House elf

Taylor- Jingles

Carter- Puss (lol. We just saw Puss in Boots)

Mommy- Ollie

Dad- Dobby

We all voted and the winning name is.... Dobby the house elf.

Here is Dobby hiding out in the tree just watching the kids for naughty behavior. Knowing my little ones, I'm sure he got an eyeful.

This year another tradition we are doing is an Advent Calendar. The kids are really enjoying it. :)

Day 1-

Don't mind poor Carter's face. He ran into a tree while playing baseball with his Dad.

It's says learn a new Christmas song together. I taught the kids Jingle Bells. I also had them all wear these fun Santa hats. Every time we sang the chorus they would shake their heads like crazy. :) It sounded great.

Don't mind the blurry pictures. The kids had made fingerprints on the lens. Grr... Naughty!

The Devils Little Helpers!

2011-12-03T04:53:00.000-08:00

Here is another round of naughtiness courtesy of the brats!

This week you guys-

*Painted the bathroom with lipstick

*Trashed your room (5 times)

*Cut 3 shirts

*Broke off 14 keys on mommies keyboard. Grrr... still so mad about this one

*Took a bath in the sink and splashed water ALL over

I heard you and came in and pulled you out. Then, you took off your shirts and snuck back in!

Carter's Birthday

2011-12-03T04:19:00.000-08:00

It started off with Mommy getting a babysitter and meeting Carter at his school for lunch. We also got to give everyone a fun treat. Carter is in Mr. Knight's class. That means they are knights. So on his birthday he got to wear this awesome hat. lol. He LOVED it.

Opening presents with the family. He got a nintendo dsi. He has only been begging for one for the last 2 years.

He also got some really fun gifts from the grandparents in the mail. He got a bakugan and a cool marble race set. Thanks guys. They are too cool!

Carter had a birthday party a couple days later. This was Rhett's face when I told him that 15 kids were coming. We went bowling and played lots and lots of games.

He wanted a Mario Kart cake. We had someone from our old ward make it. She did a great job.

I wonder what the weight limit for the trampoline is? That's a lot of kids. We then had yummy pizza and played the candy bar game. Tears were shed. lol.

Cake time and present time was a huge hit. It was cute to watch them all gather so close to see the presents. What a crazy fun group.

Sesame Street-

2011-11-30T18:45:00.000-08:00

My fun little family had the opportunity to go and see Sesame Street live.

With 800 other people-

They gave us these AWESOME Elmo light spinners and cool USO bandanas.

There was lots of singing and dancing. We did lots of screaming and laughing.

Hunter showing off "The Goods."

Daddy had the most fun with the spinners. He played and played until his battery died. He tried to sneak one of ours, but we wouldn't allow it.

There was more singing and dancing...

...and more smiles and giggling.

This is when the show got a tiny bit long. Daddy and Ryker found ways to entertain themselves though. We had such a great time. It was fun to see Elmo and his friends up there singing and grooving to the music. He even got to shake some wiggles out. Sometimes we have dance parties at home with Mommy so we knew just what to do.

Beevis and Butthead

2011-11-30T18:18:00.000-08:00

I'm not really sure where the twins have picked this up, but they do it ALL the time. It always cracks me up. I love that Hunter's ears are hanging out. lol. What silly little munchkins I have. It's a proud moment for sure. ;)

Bare with me- It's catch up time again!

2011-11-30T17:56:00.000-08:00

I can't even begin to tell you how far behind I am on this blog. I am still updating when Thoch was here. I'm going to try and crank a couple new ones out today to try and catch up a little. We'll see if the internet cooperates and will load all my pictures. :)

While Thoch was here we decided a night of family bowling would be fun.

Rhett showing us how it's done!
Carter- Below He is such a poser. lol.

Tator Tot did fantastic. Please excuse his ultra messy face. I'm not sure why I let him out of the house like that. It must have been one of those days where I was just proud to have everyones shoes on.

He is a pretty good little bowler. He had fun was a lot of fun to watch. He always made the adjustments and carried the ball over. He was always excited whether he knocked down one pin or ten. What a sweet boy!

Ryker- Above- He was a blast to watch. My little Mr. Independent. He would always carry the ball over and roll it himself. He just kept saying, "I do it by myself." He did a good job and had a ball bowling.

Hunter- He would always cover his ears when the ball was about to hit the pins. What a nut. You would have thought it made a loud noise by the way he was constantly doing it.

Carter showing Thoch the proper way to strike a pose for the camera. I don't think I have any "Normal" pictures of this kid. Even when I try to surprise him he is always one step ahead. :)

The babies were standing right in front of each other and I thought it looked so cute. It looks like a mirror.

Thoch-Lighthouse

2011-11-28T04:22:00.000-08:00

Next adventure- Taking Thoch to see the lighthouse. It was such a beautiful day and a much needed break from the house.

The kids had a fun time walking and climbing on all the rocks. We also had fun watching the fisherman fishing. I really love this place so much. There is something very peaceful about being out near the water. There was perfect little breeze and it was great to hear the kids playing together nicely.

Showing Thoch Comprehensive Park-

2011-11-28T03:15:00.000-08:00

We love the park. We made Thoch try the roller slide, and she had a good time. The babies tried to demonstrate how fun and exciting the drop slide was, but Thoch was a little too scared to try it.

Pictures speak louder than words...so enjoy!

Ultimate Frisbee Tournament

2011-11-24T23:42:00.000-08:00

The Dental Team-

For the record- This is a picture of Rhett and Mike, our old neighbor. Rhett came down with the frisbee this time! Way to go babe! :)

We went to watch Daddy and his dental team rock it up on the frisbee field. They did a really good job and had some awesome time playing together.

The tournament lasted a lot longer than we had anticipated. Several of his team ended up leaving before they were out of the tournament. This made it a lot harder to compete with the great teams. They did well though and ended up getting third.

Thoch watching and entertaining Ryker with her iphone. They loved that Thoch let them play games on it. She was a pretty good sport and they always asked if they could play her bubble game.

Thoch saving Ryker. He climbed onto the other side of the fence and got stuck. She really was a great help with the babies. An extra set of eyes was so nice to have for that week!

Paintball Fun-

2011-11-22T06:07:00.000-08:00

Rhett took Thoch paintballing while she was here one evening with a bunch of guys. I was a little worried about how she would hold up. She was so nervous that I thought she may chicken out, but she went through with it and had a good time.

Rhett was hiding behind something and peeked out and got shot right in the bald spot. OUCH! He came home and was covered in blood. Poor guy. He said everyone had a blast though. He hasn't been in so long that it was fun for him to get to play again. He got a couple bruises on his arm and head, but still had a huge grin on his face. I'm glad they had a good time together. I forgot to get a babysitter so I stayed home with the kids. :( Rhett had a really great time though and promised he would take me next time. They had dinner afterwards and had hamburgers. Thoch only got confused once by asking to pass the tomato sauce. She meant ketchup. :) She said some funny words and phrases here. We understood most of what she said, but a couple times it was weird. She did have a very thick accent though and sometimes I had her repeat stuff. By the end of the week I could understand her really good!

Thoch's visit-

2011-11-20T04:19:00.000-08:00

The next day we took Thoch to see a few fun spots. We started off heading to the one of the many castle ruins of Okinawa. Thoch seemed impressed and the little ones loved getting out of the house and running around. I really worked her poor calves out. There was a TON of stairs and hills.

I LOVE this picture of the boys. They were up at the top of these large stairs. Their expressions are priceless. Ryker looked so determined while Hunter looked a little less sure. :)

Thoch was really funny. She felt like she was in America again and she was so excited. I have never seen anyone so excited to go to the shopette with me.

She loved beef jerky, chex mix, and any american lollies. (Candy) She was just amazed at all the different kinds of sweets we had.

She also thought Halloween was such a weird thing. We tried to explain all the funny traditions with it.

Taylor is such a little heartbreaker. He loved leading the way and picking every flower within reach to give to Thoch! :)

Meet Thoch-

2011-11-12T07:21:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in an earlier post we had a visitor come and stay with us for just over a week. Her name is Thoch, pronounced Talk. Rhett and his companion met Thoch 11 years ago while serving his mission in Australia. They have remained friends throughout the years through email and facebook. She actually was really excited to come and meet the family while we were living in Las Vegas. She planned her trip to the states and had a great time, but by the time she made it down to Las Vegas we had already moved to Japan. We missed her by just over 2 weeks.

When she heard we were living in Japan she decided to come over and see us and meet the whole family. It was a little weird to try and explain who she was to the kids. I sat them down and we talked about missions and where Daddy served his. We talked about baptism and that Rhett baptized Thoch. I then explained that she was coming to stay with us for a week or so. I was feeling pretty proud of myself . I felt like I did such a great job explaining who she was UNTIL Carter pipes up, "Oh so Daddies girlfriend is coming to stay with us." I quickly corrected him and explained that Daddy is married to me and doesn't have any girlfriends but me. :)

Anyway, we were excited to have her come and stay. Rhett had to work the first few days she was here so she got the kid friendly tour of the island with me and the little boys. We started by taking her to the zoo. :) A favorite of the kids.

My sweet little poser- Taylor took the tour extremely serious and made sure that Thoch didn't miss anything. They showed her the bats, elephants, monkeys, lions, and giraffes. He was excited to show her the crocodiles, but she wasn't too impressed with them. :) She is from Australia so she has seen many huge crocodiles way too close for comfort. She had some crazy stories to share with us. I sure love my little Taylor. He melts my heart everyday and I dread the day that he goes to school for full days. I will miss my little buddy!

We even got to show Thoch a couple spiders. She said that Australia has some pretty wicked spiders too. We got to watch them feed the giraffes. It was cool that they were so close. :) We have fed them before, but Thoch was shocked by how close you get to the animals.

We had a fun surprise while we were there and they let us feed the hippos. They gave us some hay to throw into their mouths. It was a cool experience. I can't believe how huge their teeth are. I'm sure they could have eaten a baby whole! :)

We made Thoch stand in front of the emu because that's what she has on her passport. We teased her saying that the Eagle is way cooler!

Watching the giraffes eat. It looks like I was way zoomed in, but nope.... we actually were that close!

We couldn't let Thoch leave Japan without the traditional ride on the Hello Kitty go kart. I put her with Ryker to get the whole effect. He made sure to run her into the wall several times. Good times!

I need a new bed-

2011-11-10T06:31:00.000-08:00

I wake up to these cute little faces every morning. Am I lucky or what?

Now if I could only figure out how to keep them in their own beds.

Happy Halloween 2011

2011-11-02T18:55:00.000-07:00

With the help of Melanie running around like crazy in St. George finding costumes I present my "SUPER" kids.

Taylor a.k.a Batman-

Ryker a.k.a. Spiderman-

Hunter a.k.a. Captain America-

Carter a.k.a. Ironman-

Seriously I couldn't imagine a more "Fantastic Four."

I let the kids pick out their own costumes this year and I thought it was cute that they all came up with similar choices. It has been fun as they get older to watch the Marvel movies with the kids.

Lets take a closer look at those beauties-

I'm not quite sure where Ironman took off to. We were at the branch trick or treat and he was "too good for us."

I love that both babies had to check in their bag and make sure that they did indeed get a treat. I was a very proud Mama. They made sure to say thank you for every treat!

Can you tell that I didn't have a costume. I cut out ears and made myself into a cat. I had on black leggings with high black boots. My poor nose make up had already rubbed off in this picture, but the kids loved it.

We went over to Fabi and James' house for Halloween night. It was fun to trick or treat with them and hand out candy. They opened the gates and we had over 800 trick or treaters. We totally ran out of candy to hand out. It was incredible to see so many people. We just took the kids up the street and back. They got about 10 treats and it was perfect! They had such a great time. They LOVE Fabi.

Rhett dressed up as Michael again this year and was a hit. He had fun handing out candy with James and really enjoyed all the compliments on his huge pumpkin.

I love that Hunter is smelling the pixie stick. lol. They had me smell a lot of candy wrappers too. They had a great Halloween.

Thanks Melanie for the costume crisis help. You were a lifesaver! We sure love and miss all the Family. Hope everyone had a good Halloween! :)

Let the carving BEGIN-

2011-11-01T21:41:00.000-07:00

Every year I say that this is the last year that we will carve pumpkins, but every year as the kids beg to get a pumpkin I always seem to cave. The reasons I hate carving pumpkins with little kids are (1) I have to do all the carving. (2) I have to clean them all out. (3) It's messy.

This year we had won that huge pumpkin and I made Rhett do it himself. :) I did the other 5 with the kids. I made them all help clean out the guts. It was AWESOME!

Check out his facial expression. Can you say totally excited to do it?!? Or maybe that's his, "You want me to what?" face. Either way... I got my way and made it a family event! :)

Carter got that tiny thing from school and wanted us to carve it. Yeah right! He is such a little stinker. Hunter had fun picking his out to carve. He was my happy little helper.

Rhett working hard carving away at the monster pumpkin. It has a lot less guts than I had thought it would. It was mostly empty. He picked out three designs to put on it. He didn't like the way it turned out and wished he had just made one big design instead, but people really liked it and he had compliments right and left. So many people had their kids take a picture with it at the trunk or treat and on Halloween night. It was definitely a huge HIT! Job well done sweetheart. He has already said that next year he's going to buy one if the kids can't win one. :)

These are the finished products. I left it up to the kids to pick exactly what they wanted. Carter picked a huge letter C with a spider. Taylor wanted a T made of bones and a bat. Hunter just wanted a BIG bat. Ryker just wanted his name on it. :)

We had a fun time and this is the first year that I can honestly say that next year we will be carving pumpkins as a family. It went pretty smooth and the kids had an absolute ball when we lit them all up. What a fun little activity!

Happy Halloween!

Pictures of costumes soon to come-

Rhett's Birthday Party!

2011-11-01T20:19:00.000-07:00

I am still a couple of weeks behind on the blog. In the middle of October, Rhett had a birthday and turned 32. We had a big Halloween Party for his birthday. It was packed with balloons, cake, games, and tons of ice cream. We like that Daddy lets us pick the theme for his party.

He had a special guest come all the way from Australia to be here for his birthday. Her name is Thoch. When Rhett served his mission in Australia 11 years ago he baptized her and they have been forever friends. She came out to meet the family and visit with Rhett for about a week. It was fun to have her here.

We had Julie make us another cake. She made the babies and it tasted AMAZING. I told her to work her magic on something "Spooky." She did amazing. Not only did she brew us up something magical in this witches cauldron- complete with spiders and worms, but it was one of the best tasting cakes ever! The kids loved to look at it and we were completely impressed with her skills. Thank you Julie! You never disappoint!

Happy Birthday Baby! You mean the world to me. I have had so much fun with you this year and can't wait to see the excitement that next year holds for our sweet little family. You are truly my best friend and I'm thankful for that daily. Thanks for always being there for my ups and downs. You are the perfect shoulder to cry on. Please can you try to tame your little monsters though. They are killing me! :)

I got up really early and posted little love notes all over the house for Rhett to find. He had fun collecting them and reading all the many things that I truly love about him. He also got lots of treats for presents. Thoch brought Rhett about 9 packages of Tim Tams from Australia and a huge thing of Milo. The kids picked out lots of chocolate for his office and a large case of monsters so the "old" man can keep up with them. I then bought him a GPS watch so he can run off all those treats. ;)

He had a really great day!

Lots more to come on our fun adventures with Thoch! :)

Our big pumpkin

2011-10-29T17:34:00.000-07:00

So there's actually a story behind this big pumpkin. They have them at the commissary right now for "decorations." We walked in to do our shopping and the twins went ballistic. They were so excited and couldn't stop yelling, "Mommy look at that big, huge, pumpkin." The workers there were just watching them laughing as I tried to shush them up a bit. They can be a bit of an embarrassment if you know what I mean. All that yelling and such, but the workers loved it.

A person from the produce department came up to me and asked if I cared if the he took a picture of the kids with the pumpkin. I thought they would love it. I pulled them out of the cart and they both ran and sat right on the top of it. Taylor scooted his way on it too and he snapped a few fun pictures. He then told me that he wanted to give the pumpkin to the kids and that someone would help us out to the car with it. They were so excited! Sometimes it pays to have cute kids. :)

Catch up-

2011-10-29T17:18:00.000-07:00

I feel like we have been extremely busy lately. We just had company come over for a week and we have had a blast getting ready for the holiday.

We did get a babysitter and take a break away from the kids though. We met up with some great friends and went to eat at Jack's place. I chose the king crab legs and they were AMAZING. The music made me laugh. They had this older Japanese guy playing an electrical keyboard. He was actually pretty good, but it still sounded so much like elevator music it gave me the giggles. After we had finished eating he started playing Happy Birthday and me and Rhett just started cracking up. I thought what a weird song to play. That's when our friends started singing and they brought me over dessert. Very sneaky, James! It was a fun night away from the kids.

Sometimes, I come downstairs to things like this. Why eat a whole apple when you can have bites of every one of them?

The culprit to my apples always being gone? None other than this little cutie!

These two still wear us out... big time! I usually take a nap with them, but thought it was cute when I came home to this one day. They love a little Daddy snuggle time.

We also went over to Foster Fest a couple weeks ago to see this guy perform. We loved David Archuleta in American Idol and were excited to see him sing. He is just so stinking cute. We only have one radio station here so we hadn't really heard much of his music, but it was very fun to get to see that he hasn't changed too much since the show. He was fun to watch. We also played a few carnival style games and each of the boys won a blow up sword to fight with! Oh Joy!

What a great example he is though. I am happy for the youth to see someone who is successful and is not willing to change his standards for the world. We also had the great opportunity to have him come the next night and give a fireside to the youth in our branches. He sang two hymns and bore his testimony. I thought it was really cool for the kids to get to meet him. I thought a couple of the girls may pass out and I'm sure he got a couple of marriage proposals that night during pictures. lol. :)

Answering Machine-

2011-10-27T00:29:00.001-07:00

We have Vonage and I love it. It never really drops a call and has made me miss home just a little less. It's hard to live in Japan and have my loved ones so far away, but this makes it easier being able to talk to them so much. The time difference can be a little confusing and we have received plenty of middle of the night calls, but overall we are so blessed to have this. We don't really have an answering machine, but through Vonage... they take a message and write me an email with it. They always make me die laughing reading them. Vonage is not GREAT and putting your words down on paper.

I'd like to share two that I got yesterday while grocery shopping.

(1) From my Mom-

"Hey Pat, I missed your call Helen and didn't test, hope is coming okay babe love you. Bye"

Isn't it awesomely hilarious!

(2) This last one is from my sister-in-law Steph-

"Hey Jack, it's Chad. I'm sorry missed your call. Gimme a holler when you get this it's only what 720 here so I don't know if you're out and about running errands around the other line or what. But give me a holler. I will be up for quite a while. Happy new year. Bye"

I can't tell if my favorite part is where Chad wishes me a happy new year or the fact that every time I open up a new email my name is different. :)

I just thought I had to share since I couldn't stop giggling last night in bed. So maybe if my callback time is a little slow it's because I'm trying to decipher who has actually called. ;) Keep calling though. I love you guys so much and it is so fun to hear how everything is back home! What a blessing that technology has come so far since letters. I love being able to talk and maybe we can even try to skype one of these days. I tell you... these kids are growing up to fast. You'll be so surprised how big they are getting.

A lost hidden treasure-

2011-10-26T06:08:00.000-07:00

Roller Slide Madness- Don't forget to pause the music in the top right corner to hear the video.

Park Weather

2011-10-26T05:52:00.000-07:00

I Love going to the park with the little boys. They always have such a great time and can be as wild as they want. There's no yelling, just relaxing together as a family.

I love it when these two play together. They truly are such great friends and can be found hunting bugs, jumping on the trampoline, or playing video games together quite frequently. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it.

It has been so hot this summer that we didn't get to play outside as much as usual. We did go to the beach quite a few times, but the park was to miserable in the heat. It is finally starting to cool down a smidgeon and we can't wait to take advantage our all the fun parks in Japan. This is just a close one on base. All the really great treasures are found off base.

Taylor loves the monkey bars and it getting pretty good at them. He swings back and forth and loves to hold on with one hand. It's probably an accident waiting to happen since he falls A LOT, but he loves it to much to tell him they are off limits.

The big hit at this park is the tire swing though. It is by far the most popular thing to do here and my kids go nuts when Daddy pushes them super high on it. He will load up all four and really get them going. It is a blast to see them all giggling together.

Hunter is such a sweet little twerp. He is also my most stubborn. He always says, "Cuz I want that right NOW." If you tell him to say please he just repeats, "Cuz I want it." He doesn't forget either. My other kids I could distract with something else, but when he or Ryker have their mind set on something they let you know it.

Poor Ryker fell asleep on the way to the park and just couldn't open his eyes long enough to play. They seem to be adjusting to not taking a nap during the day. I'm having a hard time with this. I'm not ready to give it up quite yet. They will take one only IF I lay down with them. I'm usually out before they are, but they will still sleep. Taylor also loves nap time. This is the only time during the day I let him play video games. :) Anyway, we are excited to play at the parks all Winter long. I hope we find all sorts of really cool ones like last year. Let the exploring begin.

My kids are so excited for this...

2011-10-16T08:18:00.000-07:00

It's all they can talk about lately. We just put up some decorations the other day. We have some fun Jack-o-lanterns hung up and a spooky spider web with spiders. The kids love them and every time we walk in the door they exclaim, "Look how spooky." It's really cute.

I love the holidays with little kids. They really make them a lot of fun!

Divide and Conquer

2011-10-15T20:15:00.000-07:00

I feel as though me and Rhett have been doing this a lot lately. He has something for work or that he needs to get done and I have something entirely different to do. Well, last week Rhett had volunteered to help supervise the "Skate Party." I really needed to run over the grocery store so Rhett took the two big boys with him. They had such a great time.

I also had a great time with the babies. They are growing up so fast. We started our date with a bear hunt. We saw a couple, but thankfully we run so fast that they didn't get us. We then caught 12 grasshoppers, 3 crickets, 1 spider, 2 butterflies, and a lizard. I have to tell you I am one AWESOME bug catcher. This is a favorite past time of all my children and we always have such a great time doing it.

We then hit up the commissary for some much needed food and ended the date at the donut store. I bribe the little ones with donuts all the time. They were little angels at the store so I let them each pick out a donut on the way home. It was a fun relaxing evening. Rhett and the big boys still weren't home so we decided a wagon ride was just the adventure that we needed. I ran up and down little roads and they giggled with delight pointed out all the bats we saw flying around. I love when they see one because they both point right at it and shout, "OOO loot at that spooky bat." Times that by 100 and it was hilarious! I'm pretty sure most of them were the same bat flying back over, but to the babies they loved it!

On another subject- I LOVE bedtime. I mean really love it. The few hours that me and Rhett get to spend together in the evenings is golden. We had started watching the old Dexter's and it has been fun just cuddling on the bed in each others arms. It is so great that I get to see Rhett this year. The residency and dental school was super tough and I have missed being able to snuggle my baby! Now if we can just get the babies to stop coming in our bed EVERY night at midnight that would be Heaven. :)

Notice that our kids are the only ones without a helmet. Oops!

I love love love this little skater dude! Thanks for sending him his skates in the mail. He uses them daily Melanie. :)

Top off the evening with soda and hot dogs. It was a great hit with the kids. I'm so glad that Rhett took them with him. He has been so great with them lately. They sure enjoy their Daddy. Their favorite thing is playing on the trampoline with him. They play steamroller at least every other day and he is so great and patient with them. Sometimes I wish I was more relaxed like Rhett. He just gets to play with them and love his guts for it!

My date partners aka partners in crime. They still are so sweet and I love that they love us. Hunter just last night as we were putting him to bed asked in his sweetest voice, "Will you snuggle me in my teddy bear and hold me like a baby?" Seriously how do you say no to that? Well, let me tell you... you don't. You just grab that pooh bear blanket and snuggle the heck out of him. I'm sure it will be soon enough that they wont want those snuggles and hugs. I dread that day so much! :( Why do kids have to grow up so dang fast? It seems just yesterday I was waking up every 2 hours to feed these little monkeys.

BBQ with friends

2011-10-14T07:41:00.000-07:00

I have been in this horrible blogging funk lately. I have had just a touch homesickness and in all honesty life has just been crazy. With all the messes that the three little ones have been up to lately I have been overworked and exhausted. I guess when I pull up my computer at night to get ready to blog I either (1) have nothing nice to say or (2) choose sleep over blogging. I apologize for my lack of updating and hope in the future I will be a little bit better.

I have found that Ryker is my little mess maker. I used to blame the twins, but as they are getting older Hunter is getting smarter. The minute he sees Ryker trying to do something naughty he runs to get me. That's right folks. He totally will rat out his best friend to avoid a spanking. Smart smart boy. :) Unfortunately this has not slowed Ryker down in the least bit.

I have learned a couple lessons lately. The first and most important is that I CANNOT sleep in longer than the babies. The minute they start to stir I had better be getting my rear end out of bed or there will be major consequences. The other lesson that I learned this week is that I CANNOT go to the bathroom while the babies are awake or suffer the consequences. :) They can make the biggest mess in the smallest amount of time. It is actually a very great talent. If I could just harness the naughty energy and make them do nice things... it would be fantastic. They really are so very creative.

Some of the messes the tornado aka Ryker has done this week. He is still very obsessed with eggs and had blown through a dozen in the last two days. The first six were the worst though because they were on the carpet and behind the couch. Had I not snuck up on the little stinker that could have been a HUGE disaster. Could you just imagine the smell if I had missed out on that catch. Phew. I promptly stuck his butt in time out and he stayed there the entire time that I was scrubbing carpets. He was crying about how sorry he was so I thought he may have learned his lesson. Nope! The next day he threw the rest of the dozen on the kitchen floor. I guess he thought I was just mad about the placement of the eggs. I'm pretty sure if he ever plays with eggs I will follow through with my threat. I told him that if he got my eggs out again I would crack an egg on his head. This freaked him out a little. I know he's curious and has a blast watching them crack and the yolk ooze all over, but even he knows it will not be fun on his head.

He also loves toilet paper. I mean loves to unroll the stuff. He then throws it ALL in the toilet and I have a huge unclogging mess to clean up. I need to still call the housing unit due to one poor toilet that hasn't been able to recover from the madness. I should be happy that we don't own a home. By the time we actually will be able to get into one I have high hopes that my kids will be old enough to take better care of it. Here's to hoping!

He also climbs into EVERYTHING. He gets into the fridge and pulls everything out. He climbs into the cupboards and pulls out all the snacks. I have to hide the potty treats every night in a new spot due to him finding and snarfing all of them down. He even climbed on top of the fridge the other day while I was vacuuming the living room. I heard his crying and went to rescue him. He is just so darn curious about everything. It is driving me to an early grave for sure. I now have to dye my hair twice as often. I fully blame the babies for all the unwanted gray hair.

He also went to town on the walls with markers that Carter had left out from doing homework. When I say left out I mean they were up high, but still within Ryker's ability to locate and have a ball with. I was so mad that we had outdoor time. We went outside and they were having such a good time hunting grasshoppers that I decided to mow the grass really quickly. While I did that Ryker dowsed the lawn in the back with gasoline. He had gone into the outside closet and found the can. I guess it looked like a watering can so he took it upon himself to water the lawn. Seriously, I cannot take my eye off this little terd for one minute.

All of my kids have really had a hard time not drawing on the walls lately so I thought maybe it's me. Maybe I need to pull out paper and crayons more often so they can go to town on that for awhile and get all the coloring out of them. I cleaned out the closet under the stairs and made a cute little school room for the three of them. I put a big bin of coloring books and crayons. I explained that whenever they wanted they could go in there and color. Then I explained that we color on paper not the floor or the walls. They were having a blast so I went to do the dishes. I went back in 15 minutes later to crayon ALL OVER the walls and floor. I feel like my family alone has made Mr. Clean a millionaire, but bless his soul for making those AWESOME magic erasers. I will gladly shell out my money for something that works so well. I will probably get cancer of the hands from all the scrubbing I have been doing the last year. I made the little boys help this time.

I do have one thing that I really love. I still play volleyball every Tuesday and Thursday. It is bitter sweet. I have a blast going and playing, but sometime that mess isn't worth it. Like this week they destroyed the house while Rhett slept on the couch. They also took scissors to the exercise ball. Rhett has been pretty good so I will cut him some slack on falling asleep this one time. :)

Other happenings since I last blogged. Carter asked me for an iphone for his birthday. The conversation went a little like this-

(M) Yeah right buddy. You're turning 8 not 18.

(M) Well, she must not have any brothers or sisters. I gave you something better. I gave you three brothers to play with.

We have been watching home videos lately and he loves the ones with him as a baby before all the other kids. I guess to him that's when he was the happiest. lol.

We had a few BBQ's with friends lately. It has been such nice weather. Rhett set up the slip n slide and we had everyone over for a nice visit. The second time we had like 18 kids here. No one died so I consider it a success. They all had a really great time. Here's a few pictures of my munchkins heading down the slip n slide.

Alright with that I am going to sleep. The babies still come in every single night and I still let them because lets be honest they are my babies! They won't want to snuggle me or have me hold them like a baby soon enough so I will sleep like crap for a few more months until they grow over me. Plus when they are sleeping they are absolute angels. It's only during the day that their horns show!

Mommy turns 30

2011-10-03T17:30:00.000-07:00

I turned thirty! Yikes. How did that happen so fast. I remember it wasn't so many years ago that I thought thirty was so OLD! I guess it's okay though. They say you're only as old as you feel! Well, lately I have felt more like forty or fifty. I'm in trouble!

The little boys helped me celebrate ALL DAY LONG. I got to sleep in until I woke up. Huge props to Rhett. That is the only thing I really wanted for my birthday. I also came down to a 12 pack of Dr. Pepper and a dozen donuts. ( A couple of major addictions I have) Along with some beautiful flowers and a great birthday card from Rhett. Rhett can be very sweet when he wants to be and the words he wrote in the card made me cry. This worried the kids until I explained they were tears of joy. :)

He also brought home this yummy cake later in the day! It was so relaxing and just the perfect way to bring in getting older.

I also had some fun gifts in the mail. Thank you Mom and Melanie for being so thoughtful!

Zoo Passes

2011-10-02T05:53:00.000-07:00

I debated whether to get zoo passes again this year because we really have seen EVERYTHING this little zoo has to offer, BUT it is such a relaxing fun place for the kids to be able to run around in. I bit the bullet and decided to get them. We definitely got our moneys worth last year.

It is starting to cool off a little bit! YAY! We decided an outing was just what we needed. I have had a few stressful weeks with babysitting drama to online ordering problems. I just needed a break to forget everything and just to realize how much I enjoy my children. They really do light up my life, even when they are naughty. I still can't get enough of them.

We had such a wonderful time. We did get caught in the rain, but that just made for more excitement. We got there a few minutes before opening so we had fun walking around the top looking at the zoo pictures. I let the boys pick their favorite ones to stand by for a quick picture. I tried not to take too many pictures of the zoo because I already have a billion from here, but please enjoy the very few that I took.

The babies both picked the giraffe to stand by. They really love the giraffe and we actually got to feed the reals ones some leaves. I love being able to be so up close and personal with the animals here. It makes for a neat experience!

My sweet Taylor picked the Rhino as his favorite picture. He seriously melts my heart. I love him so much!

Have I ever mentioned my absolute FEAR of spiders. I HATE, HATE, HATE them. They scare the heck out of me and we see a lot here in Oki. I believe they call this beauty a banana spider. It's hard to tell the size of it from the picture, but it was way bigger than my face! I had a hard time getting a great picture of it because honestly I thought I was going to die for sure. I was sure that it would see me taking it's picture and dive right onto my face for the kill. Scary little devils for sure. The boys LOVED it though. They wanted to touch it so bad. I said absolutely NO!

Very fun day at the zoo though. I'm glad that I bought the year passes again and can't wait to take the kids for more fun adventures here!

Slacker-

2011-09-28T22:10:00.000-07:00

I have been such a slacker lately with the blog posts. I guess we just really haven't done anything fun lately. Well, nothing I deem picture worthy that is. Here is a little update about something Rhett has been working on. Rhett decided it was time to get Taylor out of his lifejacket. Carter was swimming on his own at 2 and diving off the diving board at 3 so when Taylor showed he was a little scared around water I wondered who's kid he really was.

Fun fact- Rhett didn't learn how to swim until he was 12. He vowed that all of our kids would be swimming way before that. It's not fun to play "Marco Polo" when you're stuck to the side of the pool.

We headed to the pool one day and grabbed Dad's suit on the way out. I gave him a quick call and he met us there right after work. It was fun for me and the little ones to play in the water while Daddy worked one on one with Taylor. He did so well and I can honestly say that he will be out of that darn lifejacket in no time at all. His favorite part was jumping into the pool to Dad. They also did the dunkies, swam back and forth from the side, and went down the slide. It was a blast!

Ryker running through the jets of water!

Taylor taking a break to show the babies how it's done!

Carter playing around.

Carter diving in after a penny I tossed in.

Rhett closing those beautiful blue eyes because it was so darn bright. I have very few pictures of us outside where Rhett has his eyes open.

Taylor swimming to the side.

Rhett and Taylor did the went under so the babies ran over to check out where they went.

I love this one. Rhett is one of the most patient guys ever when teaching the kids new things. It was so sweet to see his playing with just Taylor and teaching him how to swim.

Jumping in to Dad.

Rhett giving Ryker a dunk. The twins are terrified of the water and will be absolute nightmares when we decide to teach them to swim. I can hear the tears already!

Peace out! I did it!

By the end of the lesson. Taylor could swim almost half the width of the pool. He still would get a little nervous and try to turn around a few times, but he did such a great job! I was one proud Mama!

My favorite buddies-

2011-09-12T06:49:00.000-07:00

Seriously, don't they look like they grew a ton while I was away?

I missed these little twerps so much!

Bad Mom Moment of the Week-

The tooth fairy dropped the ball AGAIN! Dang it! I swore the last time that I would do better. Well, I didn't!

Carter lost his tooth Sunday. I had a migraine, not an excuse, all day and slept the day away! He woke up Monday morning for school and didn't say much at breakfast. Finally, he hits me with it. "Hey Mom, the tooth fairy didn't come last night, but I think it's because I tricked her. I put the tooth under the monkey instead of my pillow."

I immediately went with that and blamed Carter. "Yeah Carter, you have to put it under your pillow not the monkey. I guess you'll have to try again tonight. "

Tuesday morning I woke up to crying! Oh Crap! I totally forgot again. I guess Carter had put it under his pillow, but when he woke up he checked and his tooth was still there. He and Taylor then went down to play games for a little while before school. He comes back upstairs and the babies are up on his bed, but nothing else is. All his pillows, blankets, monkey, and plastic bag with tooth are on the floor. He checks the bag and the tooth is gone. He is hysterical! When I had heard the crying I knew I had screwed up. I quickly searched my wallet for a dollar and was disappointed when I only saw a $5 bill and a $20 bill. I placed the $5 bill in my underwear and went to check out the damage. While Carter was searching for the tooth I grabbed his pillow and chucked the money inside the pillow case.

As he is yelling about the missing tooth I throw him his pillow and tell him that the reason the tooth is gone is that the tooth fairy had came and left him some money. He quickly looks inside to find the $5 bill and that frown immediately turned into a big toothless grin! Phew! I dodged a bullet on that one. I quickly shuffled everyone out of the room to get ready for school as I vowed to myself to clean up his room and find the blasted tooth while he was at school. It would look really bad if he found it before I did. Thankfully, I found the tooth and it now sits comfortably inside my vacuum bag.

Seriously though, I need to be fired as the tooth fairy. I have messed it up every single time.

Day 10

2011-09-12T06:04:00.000-07:00

Day 10- Okinawa

SO I just noticed that I never really finished the posts on our trips. We took another redeye flight from Kuala Lumpur and arrived in Shanghai just to hop on another plane back to Okinawa to pick up our kids. I have never been so excited to see them.

I felt bad because when I called the babysitter to see if we should pick them up or if she was dropping them off she said she had just gotten into an accident right outside of gate 1. I was just glad that all the kids were alright. Our van has a big bar on the front so it didn't do any damage, but I'm sure it was really hard on her. It broke my heart too because they were on their way over to the apartment to set up a little surprise for us. I'm so sorry Tia for that added stress. Thank you so much for taking care of my little munchkins while we went to play. We really appreciate it!

The trip was a total blast, but I have to say that it was brutal to come home and do my job again after a 10 day break. I totally forgot how hard it is and it took awhile to catch up on the cleaning and the laundry. We are back out to playing now though. I have missed my little adventure buddies!

Day 9

2011-09-06T06:16:00.000-07:00

Day 9- Kuala Lumpur

We got here bright and early in the morning. We took the bus over to the international terminal to drop off our luggage for the day. This was another day trip so we didn't want to lug it around with us everywhere.

For those of you who don't know, Kuala Lumpur is the capital of Malaysia. It's claim to fame is the Petronas Towers. They used to be the tallest buildings in the world until 2004, but are still the two tallest twin towers in the world! They have been featured in a couple movies like Entrapment and Fair Game.

So after we dropped off the luggage we hopped on another tour bus to cruise around the city and see what is has to offer. On the bus it started raining pretty heavily so we took advantage of this time by napping on the bus. Time well spent! We woke up around the same time the rain stopped and just in time to get off to see the towers. We were all really excited to go up and see the amazing view the buildings had to offer. As we entered the lobby and made our way to the visitors area we noticed giant signs saying the towers were closed every Monday for something. So guess what day it was? That's right, it was Monday. Buggy! What city seriously closes down its main attraction one day a week? Its not like the US closes the Empire State Building, or Paris closes the Eiffel Tower. They need to change that policy!

We were all pretty bummed out so we just tried to make the best of it. We wandered around and found a place that made smoothies, American style. They were yummy. Then we checked out this giant mall and looked around. The shopping was super expensive and they had really high-end stores so needless to say we didn't buy anything.

One thing we noticed was every building had tons of flags on it. You couldn't look anywhere and not see at least 50 country flags. I don't know if they're always this patriotic or if it was some kind of holiday. Either way I think it would be nice if the United States did that once in awhile.

After looking around we finally found the cheap places. The streets were packed with shop after shop. It was very similar to Shanghai. We found a place that had awesome kids clothes. Rhett bartered with the guy for ages and ages to get him to come down in price. They people weren't nearly as willing to negotiate as the Chinese. Which is weird cause this place was way ghetto and the knock-off stuff wasn't nearly as good a quality. Rhett finally got the guy down to a reasonable price. The guy looked like he was going to cry as he bagged the clothes for us.

After hours of bartering it was dinner time. This was quite the experience. The city was ghetto and the food didn't look as appealing as other countries. James is very picky and not adventurous at all in what he eats. So with all these factors before us we went with something that sounded familiar, Kenny Rodger's Roasters. lol. Gross, I know, but we didn't have a choice. We sat down to order. Rhett saw on the menu, Spicy tangy chicken spaghetti. The waitress said it was a little sour and wanted to know if he could handle it. Rhett was sure he could. After we all ordered the waitress said it will be like 30 minutes before they start our order, because of Ramadan. Ramadan is like Fast Sunday, but on steroids. They fast all day for 30 days! So here we are trying to squeeze our way in between dozens of starving muslims and their chicken. We were pretty nervous about making it out alive ;)

After what seemed at least an hour our order finally arrived. The chicken was good. No complaints. The spicy tangy chicken spaghetti on the other had. Wow! Right when they set the plate down next to Rhett all I could smell was sour milk. It smelt like 10 babies had all spit up into a bowl which they used as spaghetti sauce. Rhett just stared at it with tears in his. "Do I really have to eat this?" He picked up his fork and forced in a mouthful or soggy, sour spaghetti. He was done, I could tell. I handed him the rest of my chicken. James and Fabi gave him their leftovers too. Luckily between the 3 of us there was enough to nourish him. lol.

After dinner it was time to head back to the airport. James was adamant about have a shower before the flight! Seriously, the guy was not going to get onto that airplane without a shower first. We got to the airport and talk to some guy who said they had these secret showers in the airport. James got super excited! We followed the directions and it seemed for sure like we were in some restricted part of the airport. We kept going down these back hallways and the only people we saw were employees. We thought for sure we were going to get in trouble.

We finally found the showers. Now I'm thinking James was assuming these showers were going to be of hotel quality. Instead of a hotel room with its own shower, it was more like a bathroom and the last stall had a shower head instead of a toilet. James wasn't having it.

After more debate Rhett and James decided to go check out the hotel inside the airport and see how much that was gonna cost. They took off ahead of us as we stopped for some shopping. By the time we finally made it to the hotel Rhett and James were coming out to get us with wet hair and giant smiles. I knew right away they were up to no good. They grabbed us and we headed down to the spa from which they just came. As we walked they told us the game plan. "You girls just keep walking and follow the signs. Walk with purpose like you know where you're going. When you reach the end turn right, thats the girls side. We'll see you again in a hour." We had no choice but to trust them. Besides, sneaking into places is Rhett's specialty, or is it getting in trouble. Maybe its both.

We made it in. It was beautiful! Fabi and I were too scared to do anything more than just shower and blow dry our hair. Rhett and James on the other had put the spa to good use. They hit the cold jacuzzi, then the hot one, then the steam room, then back to the cold jacuzzi. They just sat there watching tv like they owned the place (or at least paid to be there). Boys. After Fabit and I were ready we headed out and the boys were ready for us. We all felt soooooo much better. Its seriously amazing what a shower can do to your attitude!

We headed to the terminal and checked in. We were all ready for another night's sleep on the plane. This time we were a little better prepared. We all popped some Benadryl to help us sleep.

The Petronas Towers

The tallest twin towers in the world!

These buildings are gorgeous

Expecto Petronum!

It looks like the American Flag behind me, but its not.

Rhett wishes! The watch he wanted was over $23,000!

They had a guard on the inside who would let you in. You couldn't just go open the door and walk in. They must've thought Rhett looked like he could actually afford the cheapest thing in there. They were wrong.

Day 8

2011-09-05T18:05:00.000-07:00

Day 8- Bali

We had one last day in Bali and honestly we just wanted to have a beach day and relax. We had done so much sight seeing over the last week that doing absolutely NOTHING was just what we needed!

We started the morning off by heading down to get breakfast at the buffet in the resort. It was really good. They had all sorts of food and the fruit bar was incredible. I had never seen so many choices in one place in my life.

We ran up and changed into our swimsuits and decided to head to Kuta to the beach. Fabi and James had scoped out a beautiful beach while we went on our elephant ride the day prior. We got there about 1/2 hour later and were on a mission for some great waves. We had decided that we wanted to learn to surf. None of us had ever tried it so we talked a guy into giving us a pretty good deal. The boys would get an hour lesson with an instructor and we would get three boards for two hours. I'm pretty sure we paid about $15 for me and Rhett.

The boys went out and learned and then they taught me and Fabi on the second hour. I felt like we all did really well. Rhett and James got up a ton and I got up about 5 times. I have to say that it was a little harder then I had anticipated. We started getting it after a few runs, but it just wiped us out. You really have to paddle hard for those waves. It was bitter sweet to catch a wave all the way in because then you had to paddle all the way back out. :) My poor arms aren't strong enough for a sport like that. It was a blast though and something we have always wanted to try. I was pleased with our progress.

After just lounging around the beach for most of the day we headed over to a little restaurant and had dinner. Rhett and Fabi got Thai food again. :) I think we may have to save up and hit up Thailand while we are here. Rhett loves their food so much! I had an enchilada and they did Mexican pretty good!

We hit up the streets and did a little shopping for kids jerseys and I bought a coach purse for the girl watching my kids at home. We also bought a small duffle bag to throw all the junk that we had bought in. There was no way that we could throw it in our luggage.

We headed back to the resort and Fabi and I hopped out to get massages at the spa across the street from Melia Benoa. I got an hour long, hot stone massage. It was a little different than the spa we had been to everyday. They were a little younger and little less professional. Oh and she was not too great with the draping of the sheet. I felt like I was naked and the sheet was on the floor most of the time. It was just a little hard to relax like that. :) Fabi got the balinese. The boys were planning on showering and heading back over to Kuta to check out the nightlife. I was SO exhausted and opted to stay and pack everything up with Fabi. During our massages Rhett came in and stole most of my cash. Little twerp. He really made an impact on the girl doing my massage though. After he left she couldn't stop talking about him.

It went a little like this, "That is your boyfriend?" "Nope, my husband." "Oh, wow, he is so good looking. He has tall beautiful legs, and a nice butt." I almost died laughing. I quickly agreed that yes he was tall and his butt was pretty nice. I thought that would drop the subject, but she just kept going. She said, "I think he is the most handsome man that I have ever seen. I would love to bring him to my bed." By now it is getting a little awkward. I just smiled. Fabi is laughing in the background. She then goes on and says, "He has the nice face and the beautiful eyes. His nose is perfect too." I'm trying not to laugh as I'm wondering what Rhett did to this poor pretty girl. She then says that she too is married. Wow! I DID NOT see this coming! The whole conversation was a little weird, but made me proud that Rhett is my husband. He is a handsome guy! :) Anyway, the highlight of the night is when she asked me if we could switch husbands for a night.

All this was going on while we had paid to have them wash and straighten our hair. I wanted to hop out of my chair and help them straighten Fabi's just so the conversation would be over. :) It really was hilarious. We paid $11 for everything. It was so cheap. A little unprofessional, but definitely unforgettable. She really was sweet. As we were leaving she said to make sure that next time I bring my husband for a massage. :)

I went back to the resort and packed everything up. We had to be at the airport at 4:00 a.m. to catch our flight to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

I did ask Rhett what he did to the poor girls at the spa when he got home that night. He said, "Nothing, but I sure felt like they were checking us out." :) Yes, Rhett. They totally were! lol.

Paddle paddle paddle!

Good Job Rhett! He did so good. It was fun to watch them make it look easy.

James coming in for a break.

Rhett with his instructor getting some pointers.

Me and Fabi heading out into the water. They boys got the instructors and we got Rhett saying this, "Yeah, just go out there and paddle. Then you just stand up." Nice instructions guys! Rhett did come out after a few minutes to help us a little more.

Look I was on my way to getting up. It's hard to tell that it's me because of the ugly rash gurds they make you wear. I'm pretty sure mine was a large in guys. It would fill up with water and drag me under all the time.

Rhett giving Fabi some pointers.

Our last meal in Bali :(

Day 7

2011-09-05T06:46:00.000-07:00

Day 7- Bali

Get ready for a load of pictures because this was my ALL-time favorite day of the entire trip!

We woke up really early and headed to the Batur Volcano to bike downhill for 2 1/2 hours. The tour we went on provided transportation, breakfast at the top of the volcano (which I might add is still active), and lunch when we finished the bike ride. It was so cool! I have to say that there is nothing better than having someone take you to the top of a mountain and let you bike all the way downhill. The scenery on the bike ride was absolutely gorgeous and it was by far our favorite activity of the whole trip. They started by taking us on a tour of a little plantation where this little company grows its own coffee, cocoa, and tea. I guess the soil up near the volcano is the very best soil for growing plants. They also had tons of spices that they grow up there. Fabi and James really enjoyed the coffee while Rhett and I bought a big bar of chocolate. It is made without milk so it that means it melts in your mouth, not in your hands (take that M&M's!). :)

They had this coffee called "Shit Coffee". It is suppose to be some of the best coffee in the world. It is made by the help of a mongoose. The mongoose eats only the very ripest coffee beans. They wait for the mongoose to poop out the coffee beans. They then take those beans and brew up a special pot of coffee from the ripest of beans. Gross, huh? James went ahead and tried it. He said it was actually really good. Personally, I have a very strong policy in my life to NEVER eat anything that comes out of someone's guaco-shoot. This policy has worked well for me in the past and I'm sticking with it. :)

After the plantation they drove us up the mountain. Once we got there they served us fried bananas, snake skin fruit, and papaya for breakfast. James and Fabi had a small argument over this breakfast. Fabi had wanted to go to the free breakfast buffet at our resort, but James had told her that the breakfast was included with the biking so we would all enjoy the breakfast they provided. Fabi absolutely refused to eat the fried bananas and wouldn't even sit up by us. She made James walk around trying to find something more edible, but to no avail. I offered up the crackers and milano cookies from my bag and it at least filled them up a little. Rhett and I ate the breakfast. It wasn't too bad. It sort of tasted like a plantain wrapped in a scone. :) I really liked the snake skin fruit. It looked like a brown or rotten strawberry, but was crunchy like an apple and a little tart. :) It was just fine for us. I was just thankful they had something before we took off riding a bike for hours.

We got our helmets on and they had a bunch of mountain bikes lined up for us to chose. Rhett was pretty nervous though after looking at what they had to offer. All the bike frames were too small for him so he knew he had a rough ride in store. On top of that he noticed all the tires were bald! Heavens knows how much longer that breaks were gonna last. You gotta remember, this ride is all downhill so these brakes have been used tons and who know when the last time they were change. After looking at the tires, Rhett figured they hadn't been changed. He made sure to tell everyone if their brakes give out they'll have to put their foot in the back tire to stop. We turned and headed downhill and it was FANTASTIC! We rode through tons of little villages and rice fields. The scenery was so pretty. We were cruising along just enjoying the breeze and we came across a group of people buying tickets for something. We asked our guide what they were doing and he said a cock fight was about to start. Rhett and James about freaked out with excitement! We payed and went in to check it out. It was something we had never seen before and honestly it was really interesting. They take they two roosters (or cocks as Rhett and James loved to say) and strap big knives to their feet. After all the cocks are paired up and the betting ends the fight begins. These two cocks battled it out for a minute before one was injured. Then they put both of them into a tiny cage and the fight was over in an instant. Two cocks enter, one cock leaves. lol. It wasn't bloody so Rhett and James were a little disappointed. We didn't have time to stay and watch more, we had to hurry and get to our next destination. After we finished this amazing downhill bike ride they fed us a nice lunch of chicken and rice. It was yummy. Next stop... elephant riding!

This was what I had been waiting for the whole trip! We pulled up and walked in and right away there were elephants all over the place. And not behind giant fences or across huge barriers either. You could walk right up to them and touch them (which of course I was way too scared to try). We met our guide and elephant. Our guide was hilarious. He made sure to drop hints that we were expected to tip. He'd say stuff to the elephant like "don't drop the customers, or they'll drop my tip." He probably said something to that affect about 20 times. It was pretty funny. Our elephant was a teenage female and it showed. She was a little on the lazy side and kept stopping along the ride. Now, I'll just let you know right now that riding an elephant is not what it seems. Elephants have a hard time walking downhill and the little bench you sit on feels like its trying to kick you out. Its super bumpy. The guide sits right on its neck and rests his feet right behind its ears. At one point he started shaking his legs really fast and it got the elephant to run and blow his trunk. It was pretty cool, but scary because you it makes realize you are totally at the mercy of this giant animal. If the elephant went rogue and started running around you'd be totally screwed because you're strapped to the top of it and there's no way you'd be able to get off. Overall all though, it was fun.

After the ride was over, we saw the cutest thing ever! They had twin orangutang brothers in diapers. They were two years old. They totally reminded us of Hunter and Ryker. They just sat on this table and played with each other. It was beyond cute!

After taking pics with the oragutangs we ate, again! By this time we were stuff. We headed back to our hotel which took way longer than it needed to. Our driver got lost twice. He apologized many, many times.

When we got home we got all dressed up to go out to eat at a Brazilian restaurant that James got the hook-ups for. For those of you who have never had the opportunity to eat at a Brazilian place before let me give you a little hint of what to expect. Meat! Lots and lots of Meat! It was freaking crazy how much meat there was. Think of being a vegetarian, now replace every vegetable with a different kind of meat. That's Brazilian. It was delicious, yet made me feel disgusting at the same time. Rhett is 90% sure he'll need coronary bypass surgery because of that night. They should give out Lipitor instead of mints when you go to pay the check.

After dinner Fabi and I got 40 minute foot massages, while Rhett and James got 30 minute head and neck massages. Price? About $5 each. Money well spent :)

After we got back to the hotel Rhett and I feel into a deep protein induced coma.

This is the little plantation. The view was awesome. The best thing about this jungle? No bugs! Not one mosquito, gnat, or fly was seen. That in itself is priceless.

This guy has quite the job. He just sits there and stirs the coffee beans all day because they have to be constantly moving. Our guide told us we can all take turns stirring them if we wanted to. No one did.

Here I am among some of the different plants they grow. I think these were the coca trees.

This is the active volcano. Its way cool. We were way up in the mountains and at the base of this peak there was the lake. The ground all along one side of this peak was all charred from the last eruption. It was pretty neat to see.

The Cock Fight (not to be confused with Rhett and James playing swords. lol). Each one of those baskets has a cock in it ready to fight. I felt like I was at a UFC pay per view event. They even had ring girls. They weren't nearly as cute as the ones on tv though. The fight took ages to start because they wait for all the betting to be done. Rhett wanted to throw down some money on Anderson Silva, but he wasn't fighting in this event.

This is just one of many temples we past on our biking journey. Each little village has its own temple where the villagers come to give blood sacrifice. j/k. Its more like a fruit basket.

Look mom, no hands! This right before Rhett remembered that his tires were about one revolution away from blowing out. He quickly reapplied his hands to the appropriate 10-2 position.

The four of us at another temple. They wanted to sacrifice a virgin, but unfortunately we couldn't help them out.

Alongside my favorite person in the world! Rhett made sure to stay close to me even though he knew he was putting his life in danger by riding his brakes so much.
James was the one really putting his life in danger. Fabi didn't have the right footwear so she needed to go a little slower.

The ride was seriously beautiful. Pictures just don't do it justice. But maybe the help of Rhett's sculpted body can help you get the idea.

Rice patties everywhere!

This cute little kid was out fishing for minnows. All the kids in Bali were so cute and friendly. They loved to yell "hello" to us as we past on our bikes. Some of them would line up so we could give high-fives to like four kids in a row. It was really neat to see all the kids outside instead of inside playing xbox or watching tv.

Bali or Machu Picchu? Either way, freakin' gorgeous! The rice patties look good too ;)

This is where the bike tour ended and we had lunch. It was delicious and scenic!

Starting our elephant riding tour!

This is Elsa, our elephant. Her whole body would start to buzz and shake when she was going to drop some extra weight. It was crazy the first time it happened. We were like "wth is going on? Is she going to explode?" To which the guide just said she was going to poop. I'll just tell you right now the elephant poop is exciting. These huge pellets of hay/crap come out and they have to fall like 5-6 feet so when they hit the ground there's a loud splatting sound. When she pee's it's like a gallon of lemonade comes out all at once. No stream. Rhett loved it.

Me and Elsa. What a truly unique opportunity to do something crazy.

Rhett wants to save up his money and buy one. Too bad this elephant eats as much as Carter. He'll never be able to afford it.

After our ride together we got to ride it by ourselves. The elephant would stand up on that little cement column with all four legs. It was pretty scary. Then it would climb down and sit on it. Pretty amazing an animal that big has that kind of dexterity.

Hunter or Ryker, I can't tell. j/k. These baby orangutangs were soooo cute!

They craziest thing about holding them is the hands. They're so close to human hands. It was super cool to hold an animal, but when you touched the hands it felt like you were holding a baby.

This is a fun picture. It's feet are just like it's hands. It's sooooo weird!

All dressed up and ready for some Brazilian food!

*Disclaimer- Rhett helped me do this post!* :)

Day 6

2011-09-04T07:45:00.000-07:00

Day 6- Bali

We slept in and hit the breakfast buffet right around 10:00. The food again was simply incredible. We had to check out of the Novotel Resort and head over to the Melia Benoa Resort right around noon. We ate and packed up our stuff. We went over to the Melia Benoa Resort and it was so gorgeous. I could have lived there. They had so much outdoor living space incorporated in their resort. It really was amazing. It felt so spa like as well with all the stones and water features. In Bali when you check in they always give you a little drink. We thought that was pretty cool! It was some type of fruit drink and it was delicious. We also got one of these each time we went to the spa.

We walked around the hotel and checked out our rooms. We went up and got dressed and headed down to the beach for some relaxing. The beach was right on the other side of the pool. That was really nice. When we got to the beach we went to check out some of the activities that they had. Fabi and I wanted to do the parasailing and the boys wanted to do something called the Fly Fish. It took like 15 minutes and a few cocktails to talk Fabi into doing it with me, but when they hooked us all up they said we had to go one at a time. Fabi DID NOT like this idea at all. I went first to show her that it wasn't scary, but after I was strapped in and they got some air in the parachute I shot up like a rocket. After that we all knew Fabi was NOT going. It was so beautiful up in the air. It was a little boring compared to skydiving, but was still fun to try.

After I went parasailing the boys got to try the Fly Fish. It's a new water activity. It was a huge tube thing (See picture below) that is pulled behind a boat. You lay down on your back and hold on to the handles and the boat causes it to fly up in the air. Rhett and James really enjoyed it and said they would definitely be getting this in the states soon if they don't already have it.

After the activities we started walking back to the resort and saw this beautiful pool at a new resort. Not one person was in it so James asked if we could swim. They said if he bought a drink at the bar then we could all swim. It was so beautiful and it was a blast to have the entire pool to ourselves.

We caught a taxi back to our place because we were all soaking wet and it was a little ways away. Poor Rhett actually ran back to grab our wallet that we had left in a bag on the beach and by the time he got back we had been swimming for about 20 minutes. Poor Rhett. I was so thankful that he did it though because I was worried about all our money being stolen just laying there without us near it.

When we got back it was near dinner time so we decided to head again to the Bali Collection. It had such a great variety of restaurants that we never ate at the same place twice. We had a coupon for two for one, hour long massages so we hit that up first. We had planned on heading to Kuta to check out a nightclub, but we are so old that we were worn out by the time we ate and had our massages. Rhett wasn't feeling very well either. I felt so bad for him. It's never fun to be sick on vacation.

Here are some pictures. I wanted you to be able to see what a beautiful resort we were staying in. Enjoy!

This is the front lobby!

Here I am with the welcome drink. (Non-Alcoholic of course)

Out on our balcony.

The view from our balcony.

The hallway.

Just a little reading nook!

The Pool.

This was our room.

Fabi showing off the beautiful landscaping.

Right off the lobby. They had outdoors incorporated everywhere you turned. It was so amazing!

Getting ready to go parasailing.

The wind caught me and took me up so fast that I went from 0 to about 100 feet in 10 seconds. You can see my ugly henna tattoo in the picture below. lol. I am so glad that thing only lasted 2 weeks. That was right when I got done. I was still trying to convince Fabi to give it a try, but she opted to just sit and watch.

The boys getting ready for the fly fish!

The boys flying up. I guess the guy who was on it with them got them up high in the air and asked Rhett and James if they wanted to flip over. Rhett immediately said, "Yes." He thought it would be a blast at first thought. Then he really thought about it. What if they were flipped over when they came back down? The guy went to fake flipping them and both guys freaked. He then just started laughing his head off. :)

Just another flying fish photo.

This was the hotel that had NO ONE in their pool and let us swim.

Here was the pool. They even brought us all towels out. They were so nice!

Being goofy. The girls taught us those beautiful poses we are doing.

Me and Fabi at the spa. That was our favorite place in Bali for sure.

Day 5

2011-09-02T21:01:00.000-07:00

Day 5- Bali

We started the next day bright and early. We had rented scooters for the day and were really excited to play around on them. We rented 3 so Fabi and I were planning on taking turns riding our own. It was cool because it was was $10 for the entire day. As the guy was explaining the rules about the scooters he said, "If you get pulled over by a cop you should just give them money." That way they won't give you a ticket. Nice! We started by cruising down to the Bali Collection for our daily massage. We did 60 minute full body massages for $14. It was so nice. Rhett and I were in one room and Fabi and James were in another. The music was playing and it was so relaxing I almost fell back asleep. That's when they started to slap Rhett's leg. I started giggling and couldn't stop. We had just had a conversation with Fabi about when they were in Thailand and the lady at a spa had asked James if he wanted a happy ending right in front of Fabi. I had this on my brain I guess. It made such a funny noise when she was slapping him. I know it wasn't very professional of me, but I just couldn't stop laughing.

After our massage we got brunch at one of the restaurants. Rhett and Fabi got the coconut curry and James and I got sandwiches. The food was great. We then decided to head to Kuta. Kuta is where the younger crowd tends to hang out. We dropped my scooter back at the hotel because I was nervous about keeping up with the boys. I hopped on the back of Rhett's and we were off. That was the SCARIEST ride of my entire life. I thought for sure we were going to die. There were scooters everywhere weaving in and out of the cars like a delicate dance with everybody inches apart. All hell could have broke loose at any given moment. There really are no rules when driving in Indonesia. It just was sort of a free for all. When we finally made it to our destination Rhett was very surprised we hadn't wrecked!

We drove all around and stopped at a quiksilver store to try and find a backpack for their little girl. Then somehow James got turned around and we headed back to Nusa Dua. We filled up with gas and asked how close we were to Kuta and the attendant just smiled and said we were no where near. We changed plans and headed to Ulawatu because we had met someone one the plane that highly recommended it. The beach was suppose to be incredible.

We got to Ulawatu and headed to the temple first. They gave us sarongs to wear and we had a good laugh about Rhett and James in theirs. As we were about to go in we saw our first monkey. James went behind it to touch it and let me tell you these monkeys don't have much of a sense of humor (See video below). Before we walked in there was a ton of old people trying to get us to hire them for protection from the monkeys. We opted to fend for ourselves. They warned us to watch our belongings because the monkeys tend to steal stuff. We laughed thinking this to be false. Boy were we wrong! We got to the temple portion and it was gorgeous. It was on a cliff and the waves were huge beneath us. As we walked around a corner a monkey snatched James' sunglasses right off his face. I thought I was going to die I was laughing so hard. He chased the monkey in his purple sarong but couldn't get them back. He finally paid a local to get them for him. He tossed some fruit to the monkey and it left the glasses for the fruit. I have my suspicions that they may be trained.

After walking through the temple and the beautiful grounds we started back out the gate. Rhett and James were walking really fast and I started to freak out. There was a HUGE monkey between me and Rhett and he was totally eyeballing me. I mean I knew he was going to attack or something. Fabi grabs me and we are both frozen and screaming as the monkey scampers towards us. Rhett and James are laughing as we try to run back from the monkey. Fabi stumbles and loses her flip flop. The monkey quickly snatches it and runs for the trees. I, at this point, was just glad to see the monkey gone. Fabi paid another local to get her shoe back, but he had totally broke the bottom of it. We then watched another monkey jump right on a girl. I would have peed myself for sure. I made Rhett hold my hand the rest of the time around the monkeys.

After the Ulawatu temple we headed to the beach. It was AMAZING. It was like a little village carved out of the cliffside. You walk along these cool pathways past restaurants and stores right on the cliff face. You finally reach a set of stairs that lead you down to the water. It was absolutely breathtaking. We walked down and wanted to get in the water, but the waves would have eaten us alive. We were all starting to get a little bit hungry at this point so we headed up to this cool little cafe right on the cliffside. It had the greatest view ever. You looked right out at only water. The atmosphere was awesome, but I have to be honest, we felt a little out of place there. It was like they there were shooting an Abercrombie and Fitch or Calvin Klein ad. All the people were super tan with chiseled bodies, and sun-bleached hair. All these beautiful people walking around in bathing suits made me feel super self conscience. :) And it certainly didn't help that I felt like I was walking with a pirate limp due to being on the scooters all day.

We ordered another pizza and a couple of chocolate shakes. The pizza was okay, but the shake was worthy enough to be compared to a Wendy's frosty.

We went over to the other side of the restaurant and saw this sweet pool. It was an endless pool that was completely overlooking the water. It was for hotel guests only and we didn't want to pay the outrageous price to swim in it, but boy did we enjoy the view. We watched the sunset and then thought we had better head back. It was quite the drive back to our hotel with crazy drivers and ridiculous turns through nowhere. :) We finally reached our beach and they were having a big seafood BBQ there. Rhett and I decided to head back and swim in our pool while Fabi and James were ready to eat again. It was such a great day. We played in the pool then headed in to make good use of the HUGE bathtub that our room provided. ;) It was a much needed hot soak after being on scooters all day!

Oh before I forget... A fun fact about Bali Indonesia- Their money is called Rupiah. For $100 US you get about $850,000 rupiah. I was totally a millionaire there. :)

Our scooters for the day.

This was one of the temples. This one was at the Bali Collection. They have a temple in every little village so you see them EVERYWHERE!

Fabi showing off her coconut curry. She and Rhett got Thai food almost everywhere we went while me and James stuck with familiar foods. :) I know, no adventure. lol.

Taking a break to look at quiksilver.

This was the coolest part of seeing all the scooters. Everyone adapts their scooter to fit their needs. Some people use it to sell fruit while others carry huge boxes or crates. Some people use it as a van and carry their two kids and wife with them. This broke my heart because none of the kids had on helmets. :( We even saw a couple guys carrying shovels and pick axes with them. They really use the scooters for everything. It was a little scary.

A monkey at the Ulawatu Temple.

At the temple. Don't mind the ugly hat. I bought it a few minutes prior to the picture because my ears were getting burnt. Also, don't mind the "peace" sign. I've been in Japan too long. lol.

The monkey that stole James' sunglasses. You can see them in his mouth as he was running away!

Rhett in his beautiful sarong at the temple.

Heading down to the beach.

Check out those waves. They were seriously so big.

Up at the restaurant. Check out that beautiful view!

Just waiting for our food to get done.

Rhett enjoying the amazing view! Uluwatu is seriously a must if you ever go to Bali!

A sweet kiss as we watched the sunset.

This was that awesome pool. Isn't it incredible! I love how it just looks like it goes on forever.

Rhett getting ready to hop in our pool back at the resort.

Here is a little video of one of the monkeys at the temple. Remember to pause the music in the top right corner so you can hear the video.

Day 4

2011-09-02T04:47:00.000-07:00

Day 4- Bali

We got to Bali right around 3:00 a.m. We were all so tired and ready for a cozy bed to sleep in. We checked in and they gave us this yummy fruit drink. We were all too tired to drink it except Rhett who drank all four. :) We got assigned to our rooms and were a little disappointed that they were in a different building, but they were all booked up so we couldn't move closer together. We stumbled up to our room. I was so tired I couldn't really appreciate how beautiful the resort was.

I debated about taking a shower right then or in the morning because it was a complete toss up whether I wanted sleep or to be clean. I chose to take a quick shower. I hopped in, washed my hair, and hopped out. I was walking around the room brushing my teeth naked when all the sudden the phone rings. I IMMEDIATELY drop to the floor knowing who it is and why they are calling. Rhett answers the phone and James says, "Tell your wife to close the blinds." I was horrified! Rhett walks over to the window and says back to James, "Can you see me? I'm doing the helicopter." I seriously had the hardest time looking James in the eye the next morning. It didn't really help that he teased me about it several times. :) Oh well, live and learn! They could only see because they were up one floor from ours and directly diagonal from our building. They both had a good laugh though!

We slept in, and it was so nice to be able to sleep in a bed. We went down to breakfast right before the buffet closed at 10:00. The food was so GOOD! They had all the fixings plus all the breakfast foods from any country you may be from.

After breakfast the girls went to facebook their kids while the boys went to check out the tours.

When they came back we were chilling in the outdoor bar area on a comfy pillow couch and Rhett says he is in dire need of a nap. I had finally woke up and a nap was NOT on my list for the day so we split up. I went to check out the Bali Collection with Fabi and James while Rhett went back to bed.

As we were discussing what we were going to do we threw out the suggestion of a massage. Rhett wanted to go and do the massage, but instead we decided to head over to the shopping mall. That is why he went back to take a nap. We promised to do massages later in the day with him.

The Bali Collection was this beautiful outdoor mall. It has tons of stores and restaurants. We walked up to the Tropical spa and saw that they had a deal for a neck, shoulders, head massage. We did 40 minutes of that and it felt so good that we did another 40 minutes on our feet. The total cost $14. Sorry Rhett, it was just too tempting. :) We called Rhett after we were finished with the massages to see if he wanted to meet up for lunch. We shopped around for a little bit and decided we wanted to check out the beach at our resort. They had this amazing little restaurant right on the beach. Rhett and I got this BBQ chicken pizza that was FANTASTIC!

We stayed and watched the waves for a while until it started to cool off. We thought a jacuzzi would be divine. James called the spa and they assured us that they had one. We headed over to the spa where the jacuzzi was and were way disappointed that they were separate. Mens and Womens. At that point we didn't really care. I hopped in and hopped back out nearly as fast. Ours was ICE cold. The boys were enjoying theirs way too much to feel bad. They kept telling us to sneak over, but it wouldn't have worked. The lady was constantly checking on us. Fabi and I decided to head back to our rooms and shower and get dressed up to head back out that night.

We decided to head back out to Bali Collection and hit up one of their restaurants. It was amazing and so cheap. I had 4 huge shrimp and fresh clams. They grilled everything and it was the best seafood I have had. That is saying something because I love Red Lobster. :) They had this band that was playing music and singing all the popular songs. The atmosphere was absolutely incredible. Rhett requested a couple songs for the band too, Hotel California and Rhinestone Cowboy. They did a pretty good job!

It was a really fun night and a perfect relaxing day!

Rhett and James coming back from checking out tours. Love the height difference. :)

They had landscaped everything so beautifully.

Getting ready to head over to the Bali Collection with Fabi and James.

In the massage room. James wigged out about having a boy so I gladly took him. I did laugh my head off though as he explained that he wouldn't be able to relax at ALL with some dudes hands on him. :)

At the Novatel beach. That pizza was so yummy!

Rhett in front of the fresh catch of the day. Check out the size of those shrimp. That's what I had.

At the restaurant listening to the band and just enjoying being together!

Here is one with the band in the background and check out how long my hair is. We got those extensions in Shanghai! :)

Day 3

2011-08-31T07:00:00.000-07:00

Day 3- Singapore

After the absolute WORST night's sleep in the world we arrived in Singapore. We got a bite to eat at Burger King at the airport. Rhett was super excited because they had Milo. Milo is like hot chocolate in Australia. He took a huge drink and scalded the heck out of his mouth. I felt so bad. He had like 50 pores in his tongue that were completly sticking up in protest. It hurts so bad to burn your mouth and then it feels funny for days. Poor kid! After dropping off the luggage at the luggage locker we were off to explore. We didn't have a hotel room for the day because our flight for Bali was leaving that night at 2:00 a.m. We bought tickets to the hippo tour bus for all day so that we could hop on and off as we pleased. We started the morning by heading over to little India. We had fun walking through their little shops and Fabi and I even got a henna tattoo together. :)

Rhett was teasing me so I made the lady add his initials. lol.

We got back on the bus and listened to all the fun facts about Singapore and learned several cool things. One thing you may not know about Singapore is that it is illegal to chew gum there. It is also one of the CLEANEST places I have ever been. They have very strict laws on the buildings and they have to be redone every so many years to make sure it looks brand new. It is also very expensive to be a car owner there. They only allow cars that are 5 years old or newer. They send all their older cars to Japan. Interesting, huh? Singapore is also home to the world's largest ferris wheel.

After being on the bus for an hour or so we headed courtesy of James to the Raffles hotel. The home of the Singapore Sling. It is an alcoholic drink. It was really important for us to stop so that James could get one. They seated us and me and Fabi starting chowing down on the peanuts. They brought us a menu and James almost died at the price. It was $26 for one Singapore Sling. We quickly looked over the menu hoping to find something we could actually afford, maybe a coke or something. ;) They had nothing so after weighing our options we left $5 for the peanuts and quickly snuck out just praying that our waiter wouldn't come back in time to see us.

We went back to the bus and rode over to the botanical garden. It was so gorgeous. We walked around for a few minutes, but it was later in the afternoon and we were all dragging. No hotel was pretty brutal. We found this beautiful gazebo with a few benches down by the pond. We sat to rest for a bit and immediately feel asleep. I'm pretty sure we slept for about 2 hours. We woke up to a landscaper sweeping the gazebo. I was a little embarrassed, but he didn't seem too mad about our little rest.

We headed over to this little Thai restaurant to have dinner. It was so good, but I have NEVER had anything so spicy in my life. Rhett thought his mouth was on fire. It was funny because we all ordered it mild and the staff thought we were hilarious as we drank gallons of water with every bite of curry!

We split up after dinner so the boys could check out this world famous 5 story electronics store. The girls went to check out clothes and other stuff like that. We just had a place to meet back in an hour.

After we got back together we headed back to the airport.

We hung around the airport for several hours trying to sleep on the benches before boarding the plane for another HORRIBLE flight! Thankfully it was only a an hour and a half to Bali. Which was good! We were starting to really get to know each other well at this point with no sleep and crazy food schedules. We learned that Fabi and Rhett are ruled by their stomaches. If they started to get mad we knew it was feeding time. :)

On the hippo tour bus. Look how tired we look! lol. It was a double decker bus and we loved sitting up on the top for the breeze and the view! It was a fun experience. It told you about every area before it would stop so you could see all the cool attractions when it dropped you off.

This is Fabi's tattoo. I got mine on my lower belly. I did not realize that you had to wait 20 minutes for it to dry. I looked AWESOME with my shirt tied up high. I was so embarrassed! :)

The largest ferris wheel in the world.

The Raffles Hotel- Home of the Singapore Sling.

Me and Rhett at the clock in front of the botanical garden.

Fun fact- Singapore is one of the only cities to have a tropical rainforest within it's city limits.

Everything was just so green! It really was a very beautiful city. Very expensive though!

It's funny to look at this picture. I have to say that honestly I slept better right here than I did on the plane coming to Singapore. Poor Rhett though. That does NOT look comfortable!

Day 2

2011-08-31T01:03:00.000-07:00

Day 2- Shanghai

We woke up the next morning and got everything all packed up and ready to go. We checked out of the hotel and left our luggage with the baggage claim for the day. Our flight wasn't leaving until midnight and we didn't want to have to carry it around with us.

We got a taxi over to the Bund, or historical part of Shanghai, again and decided to do a little shopping. We started by going down a couple rows of street shopping. They had all the normal junk from Mexico and MORE. :) We had a blast trying to barter and get them to come down to our price. It surprised me how into Angry Birds every store was. They had clothes, backpacks, toys, pens, magnets, and school supplies. We walked along and picked up a couple toys for the kids. Rhett bought a watch from someone carrying it in his little briefcase. This is still a sore subject because not only is the watch crap, but when he gave us our change he gave us Russian money which no one takes or exchanges. Little con artist. His lazy eye was so distracting that when he switched us our Yuan for Russian money we didn't even notice! :)

We had bought fruit smoothies on the way over to the shopping and let me tell you- Chinese do NOT know how to make a fruit smoothie. It was more like water with a mango aftertaste. Poor Fabi had ordered pineapple and papaya and learned that they have two names for pineapple. If you just say pineapple it means you want pear, but if you say puu then you want pineapple?!? Hmm, that sounds like a scam if I have ever heard one. Anyway the water juice was pretty gross so we were all starving. We saw a KFC and got totally excited for lunch. There was a guy that James had been talking to so when me and Fabi walked in the store he touched my arm and said, "I'll wait right here for you." "Okay, whatever!" It would have made more sense if we had known James had been talking to him. We just thought he was a little creepy! :)

We ordered a box of chicken. It came with 3 cokes, and a small roll. No sides though. It was sort of weird to be eating JUST CHICKEN! It tasted so good though. Nothing like something familiar when you are starving.

On the way out there was this lady holding her unconscious baby that broke my heart. She was begging for money and it just tore me up seeing this poor baby that we all donated to the cause.

After that the same guy was still outside waiting for us. He took us around to all these fun hidden shops. He went to show the guys some stuff for iphones and then he had Fabi and I come with him. As we were walking down a tiny little alley going deeper and farther from the guys we started to get a little nervous. He was right there to assure us in his broken English, "It okay. You safe wit me." Yikes! Now that I look back that could have been a really scary situation. He seemed nice enough though. I mean he had waited for us to finish eating. :)

Anyway, we ended up in a store full of designer purses and watches. We each picked out a new coach purse and he assured us countlessly, "It's real." Yeah, real fake! :) It is a fun, pretty little thing though and as long as nobody else thinks it's fake I'm good, right?

After that, the boys bought new head phones and Rhett bought a really great North Face coat. Me and Fabi also had fun buying hair extensions and outfits for the kids. :)

After all that shopping we headed over to the beautiful Yuyuan Gardens. We loved walking and seeing the cool architecture of the buildings. We made our way up to this old tea house. This tea house was 180 years old and people from all across the world come to do the tea ceremony. It is said to bring you luck through your lifetime. Fabi and James love tea so we obviously had to do the ceremony. It was fun to watch as they made us 13 different types of tea. They were all herbal and had different uses and meanings. We don't drink tea normally nor do we like it, but it was cool to see James and Fabi enjoying the different flavors so much.

After the tea ceremony we headed back over to the Huangpu River for the tour we had missed the night before. It was relaxing and by this time I was very much in need of a chair to sit and chill for a little bit. The tour got a little boring towards the end so Rhett made up this fun game where he would pick out somebody on the shore and we would all wave to them until they waved back. Every single person waved back to us EXCEPT one. He knew it was him that we were waving to, but just wouldn't do it. Several other people on the ship joined in on the fun and waved right along with us.

Side Note- I am going to stereotype the Chinese people for just a second. Please don't take this personally anyone... this was just my own observation. Chinese people are rude! I am so used to the Japanese that are overly kind and would slam on their breaks on the freeway to let someone in. Chinese people at least in Shanghai were rude. They have no concept of what a line is and they push a lot. I think this may be do to the crazy population and they just have to fend for themselves, but seriously they need to learn some manners. I'll throw out just a few examples even though I could go on and on about this subject. First, I was waiting in front of a stall in the restroom for my turn to go. Two ladies ran right around me to get in when it opened it. I mean come one. Wait your turn. Second, we all were waiting for an elevator and we were directly in front of it having learned our lessons earlier in the day. They shoved me as it opened up just to run and get in. Third, when we were at KFC and even though there were four registers open there were no lines. It was just a mosh of people clawing to get to the front. There were at least 12 people standing right at the front bar just hoping to order next. It was mass chaos. Grr... I am a person that likes my personal space and Shanghai was not the place to get it!

Back to the day- After we did the boat tour we headed to the French Colonial part of the city and had dinner at this AMAZING Greek restaurant. It was so good! This side of the city was absolutely gorgeous and you could really tell that they cared about presentation. I wish we had spent more time in this area. It was so great! The food was amazing. The restaurant was on the second floor overlooking a road and the weather was perfect for outside dining!

We then headed back to the hotel to grab our luggage. After being out in the heat and humidity all day we were all in dire need of a shower. We begged the front desk to let us run up to the spa showers and they obliged. It was nice to get a quick shower in before heading to the airport. It was a fun filled day and we were all tired. Our plane left at midnight heading to Singapore.

This was in the hotel lobby. This is the largest single piece jade carving in the world! It took 10 full years to carve it.

A view of the strip from the bund in Shanghai.

Right after our water juice! Yum yum!

The Yuyuan Gardens. Lots of bamboo, but not a lot of kung fu pandas.

This was a guy that tried to slap Rhett for taking his picture. lol.

Rhett bartering for some headphones.

This guy was out sharpening his knife for one of the kitchens.

The 180 year old tea ceremony!

My handsome husband-

This is what I picture when I think of China. It didn't disappoint!

The Huangpu River tour.

The Greek Restaurant we ate at!

This is how we all felt waiting for our flight!

Again, please pardon the typos. I really need to do this earlier in the day when my mind hasn't completely turned to mush!

Day 1

2011-08-30T00:50:00.000-07:00

Day 1 of our totally awesome, kid-less, vacation together!

I guess I really need to start with a few weeks prior to the trip.

Rhett and James planned this whole trip and I felt really out of the loop. I couldn't really even tell you where we were going or when the plane would drop us back in Okinawa. It made me feel very panicky and I felt like something was going to go wrong. I asked Rhett about 15 times if he had made sure to do ALL the paperwork and if there was anything else we needed to do to go. He assured me that he and James had everything all worked out.

Fast forward to the evening before we are to leave. Our neighbor Chris came over to wish us a good trip. While visiting with him he casually asked me if we had made sure to get our passports stamped?!? I immediately went to grab Rhett to ask. The answer was NO. Chris said that they had missed their flight because they didn't get theirs stamped before they left. We called James and he immediately apologized for forgetting to tell us this was a must. Then we ran to the AMC terminal praying they had a space A flight going out. We got lucky and the terminal was open. The stars must have aligned for us to get those dang passports signed.

Okay now on to the first day-

We started by waking up early and getting everything packed up. We had packed the kids earlier and just had to throw the last few items into our suitcases. We put everything out into the car just hoping and praying that we didn't forget anything too important. Next, I headed to the babysitters and dropped off the kids and the van. Rhett picked me up downstairs and we were off! Rhett had grabbed the other couple, James and Fabiola, and we all headed to the Naha airport.

After arriving at the airport we had a car service pick up Rhett's car where they would detail it and be there to pick us up in 9 glorious days!

We waited in the LONG LONG lines and made it through to our gate. I was seriously so excited. A little nervous for the babysitter watching our children, but excited to be with Rhett. Rhett was pretty sure that either the babysitter, her husband, or one of the kids would be dead before we made it home! :) We were headed to Shanghai, China. Here we are at the Naha airport in Okinawa.

It made me smile because as we were checking in they saw Rhett and immediately asked if we wanted the emergency row on the plane because he was so tall and it had more leg room. People in Asian tend to be a little on the shorter side so everywhere we went it was super easy to find Rhett. He was about a head taller than everyone else around us.

The flight was about an hour and a half so we got to Shanghai right around 4:00 p.m. We grabbed our luggage and headed to the FASTEST train in the WORLD! The Maglev. It was wild to watch out the window as the cars on the freeway looked as though they were standing still. It was fun to watch the numbers go up as we went faster and faster. We got across the city in about 20 minutes versus the hour taxi ride. It was cool.

Here we are sitting on the train chairs. I got some video of the outside of the train, but no pictures. :( You'll just have to trust me that we were indeed on a train!

That's right... we were going 431 km/h. Sorry folks, but we are in the land of kilometers and meters. I can't actually decipher how fast that is to you folks at home, but it was quick. Rhett was a little nervous that we would just fly off the tracks while I was hoping for a loop de loop. :)

Famous bridge to which the name has escaped me. I will have to look it up and get back on to post the name, but for now... just enjoy the beautiful view!

We got to the Radisson Hotel and were shown to our rooms. The hotel was absolutely beautiful. We decided to take showers and change into dressier clothes before hitting the town. Our night plans were to head to The Pearl Tower and take a boat tour along the Huangpu River.

We jumped in the taxi and talked as the driver drove us around. A fun fact about Shanghai is that they put the little kids in chaps and they just poop right on the street. Pretty gross, huh? There are also about 20 million people in the city of Shanghai. It is crazy populated and it's not just the kids that poop on the street! As we drove around the city James started to get worried. He knew that we were headed in the wrong direction and tried to tell the cab driver. Actually he had Rhett. The conversation went a little like this-

James from the back of the cab yells up to Rhett, "Hey Rhett, tell him that we are going the wrong way. We need to go to the Pearl Tower."

Rhett looks over at the driver and says, "Hey sir, we are going the wrong way... We want to go to Pearl Tower." It was hilarious because all he did was say the exact same thing that James said. Not that it did any good because the guy spoke NO english.

Twenty minutes later we are clear out of the city and he is trying to drop us off at a ferry! Maybe he just wanted us out of his country. :) We kept speaking to the driver and letting him know we were going the wrong way. James kept getting mad at Rhett because he wasn't talking to the driver and telling him where we needed to go. Rhett just looked back and said, "Dude, the driver doesn't speak any English and I only know Nihao ma." Finally, James gets out of the car and the driver gets out. They both climb back in after several minutes and we asked James if he had cleared everything up. James says, "No, we just got out and stared at each other." We all busted up laughing. Best quote of the trip!! Finally, James pulls out some paper and draws a picture of the Pearl Tower and we got going in the right direction. I felt the theme of this trip was turning into "Lost in Translation."

We got to the Pearl Tower, but than had a fun little argument about paying full price for the taxi ride around the city. We didn't want to pay the full price because the crazy guy led us everywhere BUT the place we wanted to go. He wanted the full price! He stopped at a hotel next the the pearl tower to clear things up with someone who spoke English.

After about 20 additional minutes of everyone arguing with the cab driver. One lady that was on our side took the money we had to offer and just stuck it in his hand. She then told us that we could leave.

This is a picture of the Pearl Tower! We walked all over the place that night and I found myself thinking back and feeling sorry for all the girls that wear heels on the strip in Las Vegas. My toes were extremely pissed at me that night. I vowed to wear flip flops the rest of the trip! :)

This city definitely has a night life. It was close to midnight and we still saw lots of parents with children up. I couldn't even imagine keeping my kids up that late. They would not be happy campers.

We made our way over to the Grand Hyatt Shanghai. It is the 2nd tallest building in Shanghai.

We went to a place called cloud 9 on the second tallest floor. We had a couple drinks and an appetizer and would have bought food, but it was a little out of our price. After our little snack we headed back down to the street to get some real food. We were all starving and opted for a little French Bistro that was still open. Rhett got some Thai inspired chicken and rice while I stuck with the good ol' club sandwich. I was way to hungary to try something I may not like. Rhett said the food was definitely not Thai nor was it inspiring. :)

After we ate we headed back to the hotel for some much needed sleep. I asked Rhett if he wanted to push our twin beds together to which he lovingly replied, "Heck no. Lets actually get a good nights sleep for once." That proves that this was not a honeymoon. We have been married 8 years now! Little twerp. I did sleep really well though! The first day was a success. We had a really great time.

Let me just apologize for all the typos. I am really tired typing this-- Hopefully I will get a chance to go back and fix all the errors, but for now just cut me some slack! :)