My baby is learning to drive......whoa Max!

Max got his learners permit last month and I'm now in the process of teaching him how to drive. He's great at parking....now we just have to work on the driving. Today was the first day he's driven on one of the busier streets, and he did a great job. On the way home he said "well, I guess I must be improving because I didn't feel like peeing my pants today for the first time!" It was a very, very funny moment!!
He'll begin taking a driving course next month, and I'm sure that will help him feel more confident also. In Okinawa, teenagers have to be 16 years old to get a restricted learners permit, 17 years old to drive on base, and 18 years old to drive off base.

a few videos....Mika sings a song and reads a story.

Mika read her favorite story to me this morning. She likes to sit on the bedroom floor and read books every morning while I get dressed and make the bed. She's always very happy in the morning.

Mika was stuck in the house for a few days because of the Okinawa rainy season right now. After she had her bath and got ready for bed, she came downstairs with her ukelele and sang a song about the rain. Luckily, I had the video camera sitting on the counter and grabbed it! She's singing a song about the park being "broken." It was flooded.

We stayed at the Disney Sea hotel in Tokyo to celebrate our one year anniversary of being a new family. We had lots of fun at Tokyo Disney!

Mika 

met Cinderella!

Our one year anniversary! April 28, 2010

It's so hard to believe it's already been one year since we brought Mika home and we became a new family! We celebrated our one year anniversary on April 28th by taking a trip to Tokyo Disney. It was so much fun to see Mika's reaction to everything, and to see Max explain all about Disneyland to her.
David and I also celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary in April, so it
was a double celebration family trip. Disneyland was deserted for the first three days we were there. If you look thru the window behind Max, you can see how empty the parking lot was. We were riding the Disney monorail and it felt like we had the park to ourselves.....then on the fourth day, the Japanese holiday "golden week" started. It was absolutely crazy and packed with people. Luckily, that was the day we went home to Okinawa, so our timing was perfect!

Max and Mika rode Dumbo first! She loved it.

Mika put the flower napkin ring on her head!

We went to a polynesian dinner show.











Max got called on stage to dance. It was hysterical!!

Mika met Cinderella and was speechless......for a moment.

She told Cinderella, "Cinderella is Mika favorite."

Max rode the Star Wars ride by himself and we waited for him at the exit. Mika was very excited to see him!

We enjoyed seeing the electric light parade.

This was the view from our hotel room on the fourth day when Golden Week started. People were running into the park!

We stayed at the Disney Sea hotel. We had a "triple room" wth three beds. I love this room! We could see the monorail from our room.

Mika watched a Disney movie in the lobby while we checked out. She's 3rd from the left.

Time to go home......

Look at the bicycle parking lot! Alot of people in Tokyo ride bikes.

We bought this Cinderella doll for Mika at the Disney store and surprised her when we got home. She was VERY surprised.

Happy Easter April 4, 2010

We celebrated our first Easter with Mika this year! We had so much fun coloring Easter eggs and trying to explain to her what we were doing. The phrase of the day was "WHAT'S THAT?" She's a very curious child and always has lots of questions. Unfortunately, it poured down rain all day, so we weren't able to join in the big Easter egg hunt at church. We improvised though and ran outside to hide eggs for her as soon as the rain stopped later in the afternoon for a few minutes. She hates the rain and will NOT walk outside if it's even sprinkling. David and I are convinced that she was left out in the rain at some point when ahe was little because she absolutely hates getting wet and will even cry if it sprinkles on her. We've learned to always have an umbrella in the diaper bag, just in case we need it.
Max did a wonderful job helping her color eggs and then look for them and place them in her basket. They both had lots of fun. It was a very happy day.