Make New Friends, but Keep the Old

We had a new family move into our branch recently with 3 little kids close in ages to ours.  They came over and played with us while their mom went to a doctor's appointment this week.  They were thrilled that we have a back hoe in our yard and spent most of the time watching it from the balcony (sorry Paula, more balcony pictures!)

 I did try to make some more interesting places for them to play inside for when I need to get things done and can't supervise them on our personal cliff.  There is a new "secret place" in the bookshelf that hides all the cords for the wifi and computer charging cables.  They're rather fond of hanging out in there.

 They also like to pull ALL the books off the shelf and spread them around the house, but I don't really want to move them out of reach, because sometimes they do this:

And then I can do stuff!  I made some newborn sized marine dress blues hat for a photographer on base this week.  They turned out pretty cute.

But while I was working on them, Vivien chased Rafe around the house with one of my round brushes.  It was not pretty.  

 This is her "we were only trying to drown her!" face.  She's naughty and she knows it. 

And I promise I get them dressed EVERY DAY, but I turn around 10 minutes later, and they're already taking off their clothes again.

We had a ward camp out this week.  Drew had to stand watch so I decided to be brave and take the kids myself.  We played in the water (of course).

I think this is a funny pose/face

We had tasty dinner thanks to our handy camp stove.  I brought some garlic and mushrooms and spinach that needed to be eaten and we had pasta.  Actually the kids had noodles and I had lots of mushrooms and spinach!

We actually had a pretty good night.  The kids snuggled with Elder and Sister Pierce by the fire until Vivien announced it was time for bed ("Yes ma'am!").  She was excited about sleeping all together in the tent.  Rafe went right to sleep and Vivi dropped off after singing about 20 verses of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to herself (we had left the rain fly off "so the stars can twinkle me to sleep" she said.).  Rafe woke up about 2 because he had wriggled out of his blankets, but when he was resnuggled he slept till 6:30, which is impressive since it's light at about 4:45 here.

Sorry, can't get this picture to rotate, but isn't it SNUGGLY?

In the morning we had breakfast and played with friends from the ward.  The campground was beautiful--right next to the river and with a huge open area perfect for frisbee!

After breakfast we got in the water again . . . and then packed up and drove home.  First "solo" camping trip--success!

Later that day I went to lunch with some Japanese friends and then to the Sinfonia downtown for a craft exhibition.  We don't have much common language between us, but we do what we can!  I got an email from Mariko (holding Rafe below) afterwards.  "Thank you very much for a good time yesterday. Children very cute, smile of Sabrina was also nice.  I went in without studying English, I'm sorry you can not talk about most But, I really enjoyed."

See the smoke bush clipping Mom?  I tried to tell them you had the plant in your garden. "Kono hana wa watashi no haha no niwa ni arimasu!"

There were lots of interesting things on display.  These little model scenes were really cool.

My favorite was this one depicting Children's Day.  Takako told me that there is a legend that a carp that swims upstream becomes a dragon, and on May 5th for Children's Day they display the koi banners "swimming" in the wind to symbolize the children growing into adults.

 There were also lots of paintings and calligraphy pieces on display.  I mostly tried to keep Vivi and Rafe from touching them.  Luckily the plants were on high tables--too far out of reach for their little fingers.

Takako said they thread wire through this grass so they can mold it into cool shapes.  The Japanese have INCREDIBLE presentation skills!  Maybe we'll be able to pick some up while we're here . . . but I doubt it :)

Friendship Day and a Few Exhibitions

The Monday after we got back from New Zealand was Friendship Day, where they open up the base for all the Japanese people that live in Iwakuni to come look around.  Every time people on base would talk about it, it sounded like it was going to be some kind of apocalypse--150,000 people crawling all over the place, buying Pizza Hut out entirely, and taking anything that wasn't nailed down.  I had to fight off a strong desire to flee to a friend's house for the day.

All the peoples on the flight line

The air show was cancelled this year due to budget cuts and the weather wasn't fantastic, so it turned out to be a pretty tame day.  I think they estimated there were 50,000.  The bathroom lines were still pretty staggering.  There are definitely some benefits to Vivien not being potty trained yet . . .

They had all the Japanese and American military planes out to look at.  The pilots were standing in front for people to take pictures with.

Sometimes we see this monstrous blue plane take off from our window.  It was fun to see it up close.

There were booths set up around the planes, some selling food and military paraphernalia and others giving out information.  The Japanese use Friendship Day as a recruiting tool.  I think Vivien would be happy to join the military police if she got to work with giant dogs every day.

There were also bouncy houses and bands and other activities going on.  We stopped to watch a wind quintet and I missed orchestra so much I wanted to cry a little.  Vivien knew all the instruments except the bassoon.

The funniest part of Friendship Day was watching people take pictures with our children like they were Disney princesses.  One of the doctors at the clinic had joked about setting up a booth with all the blonde children on base and charging a dollar per picture or something.  I think it would have been a very lucrative scheme!

It feels a little weird to stand back and let strangers crowd around your children, but I also find them irresistibly cute, so I guess I can relate.
And now's as good a time as ever for another episode of . . .

Funny Things Vivien Says

-When I was getting ready to do an exercise video the other day, she came in with a hairbrush in each hand chanting: "How way jumping jacks!   I'm jumping jacking!  One! Two! Three!"

Falling asleep in the snuggly blanket after a night where she wouldn't go to sleep and a morning that began at the crack of dawn.

-She refers to Mickey Mouse as Mickey Mark (a testament of her love for her Papa)
-Pointing at our open sliding door: "A mosquito bite got in!"

-She has an imaginary Master.  Drew watched an episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars with her and she really latched on to the concept.  The other day on the playground she asked me to come sit on the bench with her:  "We are waiting for master."
"What is master doing?"
"He is going to get us some food."

-She is WELL versed in travel related terms.  The other day we had the missionaries over for diner and she told them she was going to ride on the shuttle bus.  She talks about trains, huge planes, little fast planes (the fighter jets), and ferries quite often when she plays as well.

She really likes to dress herself, and most days she does a pretty good job (actually most days she does a pretty good job 7 different times . . . lots of laundry around here).  She picked out this scarf to go grocery shopping with me the other day and felt very grown up.

-She has now figured out how to take pictures with my phone.  I have to go through and delete about 100 pictures of her fingers, the floor, or whatever else she has decided to photograph multiple times every night.  She's getting better at it though.  Here's some of her best work:

Vivien Forbes
Independence
2014

Vivien Forbes
Cornered
2014

Vivien Forbes
Careful Play
2014

They are putting in some big shades at the park below our window.  The kids have been having a blast watching the back hoe dig big holes right at their feet.

They're out there pretty much every day, rain or shine.  It's kind of like a backyard, right?  At least they're getting fresh air.  I did have a nightmare the other night of one of them climbing over the railing and falling, so I have to keep a close eye on them or lock them in (which they hate).  It's almost like having a pool!

We'll be glad when the shades are installed at the park so we can actually go down again.  It's starting to get pretty warm here.  There were some torturous days this week that it was gorgeous and we wanted to go outside, but Rafe had a bout of roseola so we were forced to keep our germs contained.  Our railing started to look like prison bars . . .  At least Rafe is still pleasant, even when he's sick.

He is starting to get interested in books for reasons other than chewing.  He will almost allow us to hold the book and turn the pages so it can actually be read.  We have to keep them generally out of his reach though, because most of all he enjoys crinkling the pages into little balls.

He just doesn't know his own strength.

I think all the marines in our branch are rubbing off on him.  He's getting used to muscles.

This is Drew's EQ 2nd counselor whose wife is expecting.  He'll be staying home with the baby, and he's so excited.  

And speaking of the branch, we had a variety show Saturday night.  The young women were in charge and we were going to do decorations for mutual, but then it got cancelled and rescheduled suddenly, so I made a nauseatingly cute, last-minute banner for decorations.

Vivi had changed my camera filter and I didn't figure out how to change it until today.  Our theme was "I am like a star shining brightly."

It was a really fun night.  The Japanese people from our sister missionaries' English class did a group number, a Brazilian dance, a piano piece, and showed their prowess with a kendama (a Japanese toy that I can't explain succinctly.  You'll have to look it up).  Then we had a recitation of the old McDonald's ad that lists all the food they make, pogo stick, magic show, a judo exhibition, many jokes, some improv skits, belly dancing, and one of the young men did an awesome light show with gloves whose fingertips lit up.  I played "Hatsukoi" (first love) on my violin with my visiting teacher on piano and it went very well.

Drew had to wrangle children because our MC got detained and I had to tell jokes between all the acts (Thanks for the "Bye son!" buffalo joke, Colette.  They liked that one), but next year we'll make sure he showcases himself by performing a one-man play of the entire Fellowship of the Ring, complete with costumes.

"I want to see mountains again, Gandalf. Mountains!"; NZ Day 9-12

We spent our next 3 nights in Arrowtown (next to Queenstown) at a little bed and breakfast called Willowby Downs.  It was fun to stay there because we got to talk to the owners a lot and learn more about day to day New Zealand (and watch lots of cricket and rugby on TV).  They always had a grandchild or two around as well that were thrilled to play with our children and listen to their American accents.  One of them was named Niamh (pronounced Neev).  She was 11 and Vivi was especially fond of her.  When Niamh's cousin Harry came over to play and asked Vivi what her name was, she said "It's Vivien, and I play with Niamh, not boys."

They had two alpacas and a couple sheep on the property.  We took Vivi out to get an up-close look at the sheep since mostly we'd just been driving past them.  She thought they sounded angry when they baa'd.

 At this point of the trip, Vivi was so tired that she'd started falling asleep in the car around 5 on our way to dinner and therefore wanted to go to bed a little later at night.

We stuck Rafe in the walk-in closet in our room so he could go to bed at a good baby time and we could still have the lights on in our room.  Poor little Harry Potter boy.

 On Tuesday we decided to drive to the head of Lake Wakatipu and hang out in Glenorchy.  On the way we passed by a campground/picnic area called Twelve Mile Delta.  It had a beautiful view of the lake and surrounding mountains from the beach.

It kind of made us laugh though, because this is where they filmed the scene in Lord of the Rings where Sam and Frodo see the Oliphants.

They just don't show you the gorgeous blue lake in the background . . .

 It never ceased to be a stunning drive the whole way there. 

We ate lunch at a cafe in Glenorchy, ogling the 360 degree views of incredible mountains.  Also our cute babies.

Then we drove up to Paradise.  We stopped in Lothlorien on the way and let Drew pretend to be an elf for a little while.  I told him to walk like Legolas and then he started doing what looked like prancercise.  We had a good chortle.

Drew actually would look quite a bit like an elf if we got him a nice blond wig and some pointy ears, I think.  His eyes are dreamy enough :)

Paradise was aptly named.  My panorama didn't turn out very well, so you'll have to take my word for it that it looked like the picture below all the way around us.  They film lots of movies here, because the mountains are even more unbelievably beautiful than any CGI ones you could create!

We decided to go for one last hike.  We did a very small portion of the 32 km Routeburn track.  

The whole thing was shaded, so by the time we got to this waterfall, we were cold and sweaty enough to feel we merited turning back.

Vertical panoramas!  I really like my iPhone camera . . .

Vivi and her favorite Daddy in their puff-puffs.

A sample of all the cool mosses growing on everything.

We kept seeing these little birds called Riflemans hopping all over the ground.  They were like a little puff of green feathers, and we wanted more than anything to squeeze them.  They were too fast for me to even take a picture of them though, so I had to take a picture of the "Birds You May See" sign at the trailhead when we returned.  

On Wednesday we took a coach to Milford Sound.  It was a 3 hour drive.  We stopped often to get out and take pictures.  Our first scenic stop was at Lake Te Anau, the 3rd largest lake in New Zealand.  Vivien did her best squat protest when I requested a smile.

We stopped again at the mirror lakes.

And took cool pictures until some ducks decided to show off for us and rippled our mirror.

The drive was like looking at the night sky when it's so clear you can see more stars than you ever imagined were there.  We just drove through canyon after canyon after canyon and the walls were so steep and the mountains so tall, it felt like the rest of the world could have exploded and we were so far away from everything we wouldn't have known.

The characteristic U shape was so apparent everywhere we looked, it made it easy to imagine the glaciers crushing through on their way to the ocean.

And Vivi threw rocks in the water.

We followed the valleys until we got to a particularly foreboding wall, at the foot of which was the entrance to a tunnel that seemed laughably small compared with the scale of everything else.  The tunnel was 1.2 km long and took 20 years to build due to avalanches and a delay during WWII (it was built by New Zealand's version of the CCC).  It's a one lane tunnel operated by stoplights at either entrance.  

 Here is the other side of the wall.  It seems so impenetrable!

 Here was our view from the other side.  Just look at that lovely, glacial U!

When we got to the end of the valley, we were greeted by Mitre Peak and our cruise boat waiting to take us out on the water.

We were told that the best time to go to Milford Sound is when it's raining on the way out and then sunny on the way back.  After about 20 minutes of rain, all the lakes on top of the mountains fill up and the resultant waterfalls are supposedly stunning.  We made do with the more permanent waterfalls.

There were a couple seals sun bathing.

And I'd like to say the rock they chose to sleep on is pretty gneiss.

We got to the Tasman Sea and then turned around to come back.  

 A nice lady from Missouri who was there to visit her daughter who is going to college in New Zealand took our picture.

Our guide called this section The Palisades.  It was cool because you could totally see the different stages of erosion slanting off to the left as glacier after glacier carved out the valley.

 This is Mitre Peak from the side.

 And this was a cool mountain that looked like the lions at the front of fancy buildings.

More waterfalls.

 We managed to find some Asians onboard to fawn over our blondies.

Breathtaking Milford Sound!  I'm glad we went, and I'm grateful Drew took the reigns wrangling our rather overwrought children so I could actually enjoy the day.  On our way back to Queenstown we watched "The World's Fastest Indian," starring Anthony Hopkins.  It's about a New Zealand man who makes his way to the Bonneville Salt Flats to try to break the land-speed world record with the motorcycle he built.  Fun for us to see Utah in New Zealand!

On Thursday we woke up, packed, said goodbye to our host, then went to explore Queenstown.

Shotover River on the way to Queenstown

We wandered among the shops for awhile and were sorely tempted to buy a sheepskin rug on more than one occasion.

 Then we remembered that we don't like to shop, so we got ourselves one last meat pie and drove down to Lake Wakatipu to skip rocks instead.

They were PERFECT skipping rocks.  (I threw a good Devil's Throat Dad--you would've been proud)

They were also good for rock sandwiches.

Vivi made one for everyone.

Queenstown is on the hillside on the left

Then it was time to go!  We turned in our rental car without incident and got to the airport, expecting the usual airport rush.  It was such a small airport though that they didn't even have us go through security until our plane was ready to board, so we had lots of time to kill.  I bought "Hairy MaClary from Donaldson's Dairy" at the gift shop.  Liahona said it's an iconic New Zealand children's book, and the characters were on all the diapers we bought there, so it felt appropriate!  We did not buy any Icebreaker clothes, as I'd feel uncomfortable wearing a $300 wool sweater anywhere near my children. 

I will miss walking outside to get on the plane when we're back in the states.  It feels so adventurous.

Drew took this picture from the window.  I think it's the most amazing window shot ever!  Thank you New Zealand, for being gorgeous.

We flew to Auckland and stayed in a hotel close to the airport.  Mark and Liahona brought us KFC so they could see us again before we left.  We were sad to say goodbye.  We got up early the next morning and boarded our flight to Tokyo.  There was room on the plane again, so Drew and I each got our own row and the kids just switched back and forth between us the whole day.  Vivien watched more Scooby Doo in one flight than I have ever seen in my life and Drew and I got to catch up on all the movies we've missed since we've been in Japan (Monuments Men, Life of Pi, Saving Mr. Banks, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, The Book Thief--lots of tears!).  Our flight from Tokyo to Fukuoka was less fun.  It was bedtime for the kids and they were too wired to sleep, so they basically cried for 2 hours and everything the sweet stewardesses brought out to tempt them just made them cry harder.  Everyone was pretty dazed when we got to Fukuoka.

Miraculously we made the 3 hour drive home without falling asleep (thank you Harry Potter), and thus ended the most amazing trip the four of us have taken yet (and this mind-numbingly long series of blog posts)!