Are you watching closely?

This is Drew's office.  Sometimes we come to visit when we have to get out, or we have gone to a certain bakery and have delicious goods in tow . . .

Since there is a scale in Drew's office, everyone's been watching what they eat very carefully lately.  This was from dinner the other night.  Drew watched for tomatoes, Vivi watched for Italian sausage, and Rafe watched for pasta. 

We could all do a bit more watching, really.  I obviously need to be watching the children more closely so I stop finding them in precarious positions.

Rafe continues to watch Vivien's every move.

And every Japanese person we pass can't help but watch him too.

We went on a little trip to Sasebo this week so we could watch Drew get his "dress and summer whites" (they don't have Navy uniforms on our Marine base).  We stopped at "Canal City" in Fukuoka on our way home and watched their fountains dance to music.  There are about 200 shops crammed into this shopping center, so there was a lot more to see there as well, including a Coldstone Creamery!

And the most wonderful thing we watched this week was spring's arrival!

We took a Sunday stroll to Kikkou Park to enjoy the "sakura" (cherry blossoms).

The park sits at the base of the mountain that Iwakuni Castle is on top of.  There were hundreds of people there today enjoying the flowers and sun and water!

Vivi and Rafe were desperate to get in the water.   

Sunday attire isn't the best for wading though, so we attempted to distract them with cherry blossom photo shoots.

Vivi has a bruise on her cheek from falling off a teeter totter at a park in Sasebo.  

This shot was captured by many Japanese cameras as well.  Sometimes I wonder what they do with the pictures they take of my children . . .

Rafe wasn't having it.  He kept getting magnetically drawn back to the water, so he was banished to Daddy's shoulders.  He perfected his parade wave for his adoring fans.  

I attempted one last picture of my people before we went home.  It was definitely not one of those "and then we got the perfect shot!" moments.  Vivien is yelling "no, no, no!"  while Drew says "cheese," and Rafe wouldn't look at all, even when I made all my most ridiculous noises (in a very public place).  Ah well.  I still think they're the most beautiful people in the world.