Iphone Update

Last week I went to develop some pictures from my iPhone and realized I had about 1,100 pictures on there!  I think it's time I start documenting some of the favorites and start deleting :)

This is one of my favorite spots in Yomitan - It's about a 10minute walk from our house and it's just so peaceful at sunset.  When the tide is low we are able to walk out on the rock... I've listened to some great music and had some pretty amazing times out there throughout the days living here.

Speaking of Yomitan, we are moving out of Yomitan to a place called Chibana in a couple weeks!  We are very excited about it.  We decided we wanted to pay a little less per month, live in a newer house, and be closer to base.  Right now the grocery store and my friends are a 30mn drive away.  It's getting old making that drive. Oh - and the golf courses (3 of them) are within a 10mn drive now from our new place for Tony.  He is very happy about that ;)  Here are a few pictures of Yomitan just so we can always remember ;)

If you look closely, that's Tony taking Quinn for a walk around the 'hood.  

Just a few different places in our Yomitan neighborhood.  They are all so different...

Some are very new, very old - and some are just simply ugly. (just being honest)

This will be our new place come November 15th!  There is no yard, but all that blacktop is basically ours.  We share it with our neighbor (just to the right of the picture).. The house is almost exactly like ours (bigger) and they haven't moved in yet.  I'm crossing my fingers they are either people we like and can hang out with OR they have a 16 year child who loves to babysit ;)

We will be about 5 minutes from Kadena, which means we are 5 minutes from the grocery store, the gym, golf course, etc.  YES.

Our neighbor here in Yomitan has an absolute beautiful garden.  On our nightly strolls I always go past it and stop and look.  Wish this picture did it more justice, but you can see why it's so beautiful.  Well, look what the typhoon did to it :(

I'm guessing this shows the direction of the winds during Vongfong.  Crazy, huh.  Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm not sure what else it could be.

Last night we went to one of our favorite places to eat here in Yomitan.  Of course we have no idea what it is called, so we just call it the "pig place" because of the pig statue in the front of the restaurant.  We sat on the floor, true japanese style and had a great dinner with a delicious ice cold beer.  So once again, I have to admit, I still don't know how to use chopsticks very well.  I think I can blame it on my "half finger nub" - although that's just an excuse.  Anyways, when we got to the restaurant the waiter brought out a plastic bowl, spoon, and fork for Quinn.  (funny).  It was perfect because guess who got to use the plastic fork and not be frustrated throughout the entire dinner???? Yup, ME!

Last, but not least, I gotta throw in some favorites of this girl!  You might be wondering why I put a picture of that cute diaper.  My favorite diaper company (who delivers a months supply of diapers and wipes to your door back in the states) now delivers to FPO addresses.  It takes forever, but I'm happy about it :)

This girl LOVES to stand :)

One of our favorite times of the day: When dad comes home!

told you they are cute!!!!!

Hope you all had a wonderful month of October.  Time is flying!!!

Typhoon Vongfong

*blue dot is Okinawa

Since living in Japan (July 2013), Tony and I have experienced 6 typhoons.  Quinn has been through 2 already....

Of all the typhoons we've been through, Typhoon Vongfong was probably the worst one yet.  As you  may have heard on the news back home, Vongfong was considered the strongest typhoon of the year.. and the looks of it on satellite you could have seen why!  The typhoon was moving SO slow (around 8mph) that we had the strong, loud, obnoxious winds for nearly 3 days.  Here's the breakdown

Friday night:
The winds really started to pick up Friday night which caused a few lost "zzzzz's" on my part.  Tony and Quinn slept great - not sure how!!  We knew Saturday was going to be the worst day as Vongfong was predicted to hit Okinawa directly around 11:00pm.  I remember wondering Friday night how the heck it was going to get any worse!  It did.

PREPARATION

Satellite came off the roof

Margaritas poured (notice how small my drink is - had I not been nursing, I can assure you more margaritas and more wine would have been consumed)

Bringing the flowers/plants in.  The salt water ruins them in a matter of minutes.  I saved them all!

Filling up the bathtub, just in case we run out of water

Saturday:  Little did we know that today we would lose power for 28 hours straight.  The morning was fine.  Quinn took her normal naps (somehow) and Tony and I did our normal chores inside.  I made some food and did all the laundry in case I wouldn't be able to.  Around 2:00 the power kept going in and out. I crossed my fingers, but it didn't work!!!  We lost it at 3:00pm  The night was actually pretty fun.  We lit a lot of candles and cozied in for the night.  Quinn was amused and I'm sure was wondering what the heck was going on with her weirdo parents!

Through the window to our backyard.  Wish I would have recorded the sound of it that day!

Starting to burn the candles...

What else to do when you're bored????

Our Japanese neighbor brought over some GREAT curry!  

Tony made me some coffee from his Jetboil.  Thank god.

Saturday night:  I was over it.  The cozy night in, constantly checking the weather, the TV not working, worried all our food was going to spoil, blocking out the wind as much as I could, etc.  It was finally time for bed and there was no way I was going to sleep a wink.  I managed to get a couple hours of sleep, but I couldn't get much knowing that the eye of the storm was going to hit us.  My phone was about to die, but thankfully my mom bought be a pocket juice charger before I left the states.  That gave me another hour or 2 of weather updates.  Quinn ended up sleeping with us that night.  She also decided to spread her arms out as wide as they possibly could go, too.  BED HOG! ;) We put the sound machine on right above her head, in-between ours and turned it to the "rain" option - thought that made sense considering...

This is what comes up on our phones when there is an emergency.  Now if only I could read it!

Sunday:  Lets just say that being inside with no power for a day can really put your marriage to the test :)  Tony and I were going a little stir crazy...ok, A LOT.  We decided to get out and take a drive and look at all the damage.  The crops looked awful - so did all the trees, bushes, flowers, etc.  It was all brown and dead...so sad, especially for the farmers.  As I was putting Quinn to sleep that night the power finally came back on. I've never been so thankful for power in my life.  I felt human again.  After Quinn went to sleep, I ran a quick mile on the treadmill (training for the Thanksgiving mile run) and made some dinner.  Phew.  It was over.  Here are some pictures that I took from people who posted on Facebook.

Cape Zanpa.  This is about a mile from our house.... 

The typhoon didn't cause as much damage to the island as some were predicting.  I am thankful that the houses here can withstand all of the craziness that rips through.  There will be more of them in the next 18 months we are here, but for now I am happy that the typhoon season is about to come to an end.  Free until June now!!!  Or so we should be :)

Time never stands still...for a reason

Ever since Quinn was born - well, actually since she was 6 weeks old - I have wanted time to just slow down!  For as long as I can remember, time has always been my enemy.  In high school, I just wanted to be in college.  In college, I just wanted to get a job and have my own apartment.  After a few years of that, I just wanted to get married and start a family.  Looking back on it, I wish I would have slowed down a bit, but I have such great memories regardless.  Nowadays, I just want time to stand as still as possible.  Many of my friends and family are probably wondering where this is coming from because all I could (and still do) talk about is WHEN i'm coming home next!  I have always been known for my infamous countdowns (In case you were wondering we have 629 days left on Okinawa..It's an app on my phone so don't think I have a calendar that I mark off everyday. I like it more than that here).  But today I am so happy with the now, yet excited for everything yet to come!

Anyways, back to time.  I thought this would be a blog worth writing after a conversation I had with my good friend, Rose the other day.  She has a 10 year old daughter, Anna (sweet girl) and 7 year old son, Nate.  Nate has just joined tackle football with the 8 year olds (against Rose's preference) and he is excelling beyond belief.  I saw a video of him - and it was unbelievable.  He even runs like a football player (Don't laugh at that comment - you know what I mean).  The other thing that I remembered is my niece, Mya.  She is 6 and has recently been invited to join a gymnastics team with a few other girls.  When I was fortunate enough to spend time in Canada last month, I was able to go watch her and she blew my mind.  This kid has talent....  So many new things every year with all my nieces and nephews and friends' kids.  It's easy to get sad seeing them all grow up, but man its FUN!

So as I sit here soaking up Quinn at 3 months old,  I can't be too sad when I put her newborn clothes away - and soon her 0-3 months.  Tony and I have SO much to look forward to!  Every age of a child's life is awesome.  Sure, there are the challenging days...but how lucky are we as parents, grandparents, family and friends to witness all these changes and see their world expand!

for the record, this blog was not written after a glass of wine.  ;)

Quinn is 3 months old!!

Our sweet little Miss Q is 3 months old today.  Where has the time gone?!  As much as I am looking forward to all the new things ahead, I sure wish time would stand still for awhile.

Quinn is growing so much these days and discovering so many new things.  She enjoys her crib, her fingernails grow at record speed, and her smiles and cooing are in full effect.  It's actually more of a yell than a "coo".  She continues to gag on any pacifier and refuses to take any bottle.  I've tried 5 different ones.  Not going to give up!  She is sleeping about 12 hours a night (bedtimes ranging from 5:30pm-7:30pm).  Her longest stretch is the first stretch anywhere from 4-7 hours.  The 7 hour one was just after we arrived back in Okinawa, so not holding my breath for that to happen quite yet, but it is welcomed!  After her longest stretch she is up every 2-3 hours the rest of the night.  Quinn isn't the greatest napper in the world right now.  She takes a 30 minute nap (exactly) every 1.5-2 hours.  Some days I feel like all I do is put her to sleep! We are working on different strategies.  Just yesterday I got out a cozy fleece blanket and she had her best days' sleep.  Don't worry Grandma's, she hasn't been cold!  Who knows what the trick is.  Once I think I know, she'll change it up on me anyway ;)

She is loving the Baby Bjorn and going for walks.  We try to get out a couple times each day to get her some fresh air.  Thankfully the weather is cooling off now so our walks will start to get longer and I can put her in the actual stroller.  She kicks her feet with excitement when I lay her on the floor while I snap the bjorn in place.  She knows what is coming :)

As the grandparents pointed out, looks like Quinn is holding the umbrella!

Tummy time is happening a whole lot right now.  She enjoys it for about 1-8mns.  Yesterday she rolled over from back to stomach!  I put her on her back in the living room and went to the kitchen to get my water out of the fridge and when I came back she was up on her elbows!  I was one proud momma!  She did it about 10 more times that day.  We even were able to FaceTime the Grandma and Grandpa's to show off her new skill!  Dad was one proud dad when he came home from work, too :)

Quinn has been a drool queen lately.  She loves to get her fists in her mouth, often choking herself on a couple fingers, and sucks on anything that is near her face.  We've gotten the bibs out and using them daily!

Tony has had so much fun with her when he gets home from work.  He plays a lot with her on the play mat we have and takes her outside quite a bit.  I swear she gets really mad when we come back inside.  Today, we had the football on and Tony purposely stood in-between her and the TV so she wouldn't watch it - and she got MAD!  It was cute.

My morning coffee, news, and babes :)

As for me, my heart grows more each day I am with this little girl.  She is so fun and sweet.  I enjoy all the snuggles I get through the wee hours, the smiles, and everything about this girl.  I am so blessed to be staying home with her.  We sure love our little buggers.

The meanings of "home"

Recently, my sister and I had a conversation about all the places that "home" has been for us.  I've thought about it a lot lately and I realized that I have called many, many places "home". Luther was my first "home away from home".  Started with Brandt, Ylvi, Dieseth, and then the Tree House where I spent my senior year.  I've referred to the city of Decorah, Minneapolis, Murrieta, and Okinawa as "home."  After college, my sweet apartment at Excelsior and Grand was home, then the 2 duplexes in Linden Hills, 2 condos downtown, a loft in Minnetonka Beach, a house in California, and now our place in Japan.  There were other short term stays in between all of that, too.  I'm sure I will live in many other "homes" in my lifetime, but the one constant place that will never change is Decorah and where my parents live.  It's the one home I have always had and always will have.

Quinn and I were very fortunate to spend 7 weeks back at home with my mom and dad this past summer.  Even married with a newborn I still felt like I was 16 somedays.. raiding the fridge, not making my bed, and some nights staying up too late.  I can guarantee you that I wasn't nearly excited to see my parents when they got home from work back in high school as I was this time around.  It was one of the highlights of our day to see Grammy and Pops drive up at 5pm.  Maybe it was because Happy Hour started in the backyard shortly after 5:00 (like 5:15pm) or that I had some free time and free hands, but mostly because I have the best parents in the world. Who wouldn't want to spend every moment they possibly could with them.  I love going home.

Back to Oki

Well, Quinn and I made the long journey back to Okinawa last Thursday!  We took off from Edmonton around 12:00 noon on Wednesday and arrived in Okinawa Thursday evening at 8:50pm!  The Hoden clan helped me check in my luggage at the Edmonton airport, which was a great help.  I had the big BOB stroller, a carseat, suitcase, and a pack 'n play.  Glad they were able to come help and say our goodbyes at the airport, although those "goodbye's" are never fun.

The trip started with a fast entrance into the security line.  When you're a single parent carrying an infant, you get a whole lot of help!  This held true the entire way to Japan (more on that...)
So as I was waiting to put my bags on the belt to be scanned, a kind gentleman took my bag from me and pushed it through.  He asked a million questions about my travel ahead... did Quinn have the appropriate shots, was I planning to nurse on flight (weird question I thought!), was my tetanus updated, etc.  Turns out he was a pediatrician in Canada with small kids of his own.  He was giving me all sorts of tips for the journey ahead.  I thought this was a good sign to start off the 20 hour travel day :)

So we arrived in Calgary just an hour later.  Calgary is a 2.5 hour drive from Edmonton so the flight was a whopping 35 minutes long.  That was awesome.  Quinn slept most of the way so I was able to relax a little bit.  When we got to Calgary, I strapped on my K'tan (baby wearing) and made my way to A20 gate for my 10 hour 40 minute flight to Tokyo.  My only anxiety for this trip was, of course, how Quinn would do - and just praying that she wouldn't have an outburst of tears and wake up every passenger on board.  Well, she didn't.  If she woke anyone up it was because of her LOUD talking she was doing!  Quinn was an absolute rockstar.  We flew Air Canada to Tokyo as well and the best part is that we got a whole row to ourselves! (Air Canada is my new favorite airline).  My mom and I spent many nights talking about what would be best to bring on flight for Quinn and decided on a memory foam pillow which THANKFULLY we brought!  She never did sleep on it, but she spent about 3-4 hours on flight laying on it, talking, playing, etc.  It was a lifesaver when I needed both my hands whether that was to eat, get something out of my backpack, or just a break!

We made it to Tokyo and boy was I tired.  I think I slept maybe 20minutes on the long flight and now I had to get all my luggage, go through customs, and do all that annoying stuff.  Well, like I said - when you're a single parent carrying an infant child - PEOPLE HELP!  Someone at the Tokyo airport helped me put all my bags on a cart.  I was wearing Quinn at the time and although I probably could have gotten it all on the cart, it would have been tough not having the help.  I was very thankful...When I asked the gentleman who helped me (he was Japanese and didn't speak english) if ANA (my airline to get to Okinawa) was "this way" or "that way"  he thought I was asking him to wheel all my stuff TO the ANA counter.  OOPS!!!  So he did.  I felt bad, but I decided to just continue to be thankful.  Besides, I was dead tired.  Checked in on the ANA flight, sat at the gate for 2 hours -and boarded!  This flight was a little under 3 hours and again, we had our own row!  Quinn slept for the whole flight in my arms (where she would sleep on every flight)...

Our arrival to Okinawa was pretty awesome.  I was beyond excited to see Tony and have Tony see us.  I knew he would be so surprised at how big Quinn was!  That he was! :) A lot happens from 5weeks to 11weeks!!! No one is allowed through the glass door to the baggage claim so Tony asked the guy working if I could just hand Quinn to him through the door quick so I could get all the luggage ..baby-free.  That was actually a nice 20 minute break :) I couldn't help by to stare back at Tony holding Quinn the whole time.
An hour drive back home and here we are 4 days later.  Home sweet home.

Edmonton to Calgary flight.  Happy girl!!!!

Sleepy girl :)

Calgary to Tokyo!  She had room to kick, turn, and roll! :)

I turned this monitor on about 10 times during flight.  The time went by fast!  You can see where we are and the direction we went.  

Watching the beverage cart.  The flight attendants loved her :)

Watching a little TV.  This was a perfect "I don't know what to do with you for 20mns" activity.

My luggage in the Tokyo airport.  I was at the ANA counter at this point.

ANA counter still.  Her body time at this point was 3am :( poor girl.

Slight smile in her sleep because in just 30 minutes we were going to see DAD!!!