Is This Even Legal?

For Pioneer Day, our branch activity was held the Citizen's Forestry Park in Misawa.
This hill is covered with plastic grass. You bring your sled and GOOOOOO!!!! Super steep.

This would never fly in the states. Never:)

The kids had a blast! They are daredevils. Robert had even more fun than the kids. Mark stayed home for obvious reasons.

Alex's 5th birthday!

Finally, I get to tell you about Alex's birthday this year. My previous post was supposed to be part of this post, but I got sidetracked.

So on Alex's birthday we got up early, changed into our swimsuits, and watched Alex open his presents. I love having Christmas in July.

Then we drove for a little over 2 hours to Morioka to spend the day at Kenji World. On the way back, we stopped at Papa Geano's for a great Italian Buffet at the Shimoda Mall. The place is great because it has different menu items every time we go and the best part--it has unlimited gelato and soft-serve ice cream. We were stuffed.

On Saturday, July 31st, we decided to invite several of Alex's friends and their families to our neighborhood park for some pizza and cake. Alex wanted to have a Lion King theme birthday and an Elephant Graveyard cake. That's right--an ELEPHANT GRAVEYARD cake.

This is a picture of what it looked like in the movie "Lion King"

And this is what Robert created:)

While kids are singing "Happy Birthday" to Alex.

Alex's face in this last picture is cracking me up.

We made a crown for Alex (as in Lion KING) and had a couple of games for the kids. I printed out quotes from the movie and had the kids guess who said what. And then I printed out some paw/hoof prints from the internet and made the kids guess which prints belong to what animals. The main entertainment was the playground though. It was a cloudy day and the kids had a blast for a couple of hours.

This is Alex pretending to be Scar, I think:)

Our wonderful friends who came to the celebration.Happy Birthday, Alex!!!

P.S.Mark had a bit too much cake.

Five years have gone so fast!

July is a busy month for our family. Alex's birthday was on July 27th. Actually, Alex was supposed to be born in August. His due date was August 6th, first day of Robert's three-week vacation after first year of dental school.

Instead, my body was slowly preparing to go into labor and was walking around like nothing was uncomfortable dilated to a 4 cm for a week or so. I wasn't feeling any painful contractions at all, just tightning. But since I was so scared to not make it to the hospital (25-30 min drive to downtown Minneapolis), and I really wanted an epidural, my doctor decided to schedule an induction for the next day after my 38 week appointment--for July 27th. I still went to the hospital earlier that day thinking that maybe my tight stomach meant something--I guess that's how my contractions feel because I was slowly progressing to a 5cm. Then I got my epidural, the doctor broke my water shortly after 6 pm. And at 9:16 Alex was born after just two pushes. Please don't hate me for that.

I am so glad that I got to be induced early because Alex came out weighing 9 lbs 9 oz! That's 10 days early. I am not sure where how he fit inside of me (that's me the day before Alex was born, the date on the picture is wrong).

Alex is 5 days old.

He had a bit of a rough start with his jaundice. Made us very nervous since he had to be put under the lights in a "take home" suitcase. He was under the lights for several days and had to be supervised at all times. Everything worked out well after a dozen pokes in his little foot (I don't think moms should be allowed to watch that).

The main thing I remember about Alex in his first year is what a happy and chubby baby he was. He loved to socialize (and still does). And he loved to eat (and still does).

This is Alex at 4 months.

By then he was weighing around 24 lbs. I had to stop using the carrier kind of carseat at 3 months because he was so heavy. And that was just me nursing him.

Now, five years later, he is still my cuddly bear Alex who loves hugs and kisses. Except now he also loves to pretend he is part of "High School Musical"; memorizes random quotes from movies he watches and then tries to use them in real life; loves cars, especially emergency vehicles; enjoys torturing Mark any moment he can; loves to eat spinach, feta cheese, and prunes; and wants to be a policeman/cowboy when he grows up.

We love you Alex!

Kenji World

"You drove for two hours down here just to go to this waterpark for several hours?"--This is the impression that a Japanese lady at Kenji World was giving me when I was "talking" to her.

Yes, today, because it is Alex's birthday (but that's going to be another post) and because we have been planning it for half a year, we went to Kenji World, an inside waterpark in Morioka.

I was counting on Japanese schools still being in session...but I was mistaken. The place was CROWDED. In Ukrainian, we say, "There is even no room for an apple to fall down".

The entrace fee was $21 for adults and $13 for kids older than four years old. But guess what it didn't include--the use of the beach chairs--the ones to lounge on while watching your kids play in the wavepool. It's a good thing we brought beach towels to put on the cement floor, otherwise,I think, we'd have to pay $10-$20 for just one.

Can you spot Robert?:)

Also, if you ever go, bring your own floating devices for kids. Way cheaper than buying a $20 floating ring (we bought ours the night before at Homac for $4).

So,to describe the waterpark for you, it was not huge by any means. Nothing like the Dells in Wisconsin, or even like Grand Rios in MN. There is a wavepool there (half of Morioka was gathered there, I swear), small kiddie area with rock slide, lazy river and five different fast slides. Two of the slides, you didn't have to bring a tube on, but on the rest, you did. We were VERY lucky that Alex was tall enough to go on those slides. You have to be at least 120 cm or 47 inches tall.

Later I told Robert that I am sure Alex was the tallest five-year old there today:)

Here is our birthday boy.

We are getting to be really good at understanding Japanese signs:)

The kids had a blast. The slides were not terrifying and not very long. The best park was the Katya and Alex were allowed to just carry the tube up the stairs themselves and then slide down without us.

Mark didn't have as much of a variety of things to do as Katya and Alex, so it was a bit more challenging with him. He absolutely loves being in the water though, so he still enjoyed this trip VERY much. Possibly when he is three, we'll go back to Kenji World again.

Mark was wiped out. He fell asleep with his cereal bar still in his hand:)

I think we will take a break from day trips for the next...umm....10 days:). Stay tuned.

P.S. We were the only Americans there today, so I could spot my kids anywhere, even with wet hair.

Hakkoda Ropeway

We wanted to do something unique and slightly adventurous one Saturday, so we ventured out to the Hakkoda mountains to ride the ropeway.  It had to be at least 80 degrees out, but we figured the top of the mountain would be windier and cooler, so we donned long-sleeved shirts and light jackets (layers, layers, layers they always say). 
 
We arrived just in time to catch the next gondola up to the top.

There’s something surreal about sailing a hundred feet over a blanket of trees.

Passing the down-bound (I made up that word) gondola.  Everyone waved.

These two ladies were smiling so much at Mark, we just had to get a picture of them.

Looking back down from where we came – sort of magical don’t you think?
 
At the top.  So happy together.

The trail at the top was a figure-eight loop.  We took off down the narrow trail and soon realized that maybe this was a one way . . . going the other direction. 

EVERYONE’S LOOKING AT THE CAMERA!!! 
For those of you with kids, you understand how awesome that really is, especially because the camera was on a timer.

Just trudging along the “trail” also known as two planks of wood.

Note the rolled up shirt sleeves and the jackets around the waist.  It was not windy and it was not cold.  Wish we had bug spray too.  But that didn’t dampen our spirits.  On the contrary, it made for a greater adventure as we searched for a shady picnic area where we could munch our lunch in relative peace from the near constant onslaught of those really weird flying bugs that buzz like bees, but aren’t really bees, and fly annoyingly around your head, and land on your arms, which are exposed because it’s too hot to cover them up, and you left the bug spray in the car because your wife said it would be a good idea to bring it along, but you thought it would be too much of a hassle, and now you regret not listening to your wife like you should, always, and you try helplessly to swat them (the bugs, not your wife) but they are so stinking quick that it’s impossible so eventually you just try to outrun them, hoping you don’t trip on any misaligned wooden planks, but that’s a fruitless effort so finally you give in and hope the bugs don’t bite too hard, which they didn’t.

I don’t know the name of the mountain/volcano behind us, but if you can zoom in on the picture, I’m sure the plaque says it.

The fog cleared away, but we still couldn’t see the station at the bottom.

Ice cream cones.  Enough said.

Mmmmmm.

And finally, I have to add this last picture.  As we were driving back down after our ropeway adventure, we spotted this footbridge over the river and just had to stop and play a bit.

Look who is a big boy now!

Happy day in the Watson home!!! Mark has officially turned 18 months on June 28th. In our church it means that he is old enough to go to Nursery for the last two hours of our church meetings!!!

The first day at nursery went fantastic. Robert dropped him off. Mark found his new friends and toys and didn't even look back. Let's hope it stays that way.

These pictures were taken on Sunday, June 27th, but our camera is still set for the US time. My apologies:)

Mark is holding his sippy cup with "green smoothie". The kid loves that stuff--fresh and frozen fruits with a ton of spinach all blended together.

By the way, at his almost 18 months appointment, Mark was 28.5 lbs (just to give you an idea, Alex at 12 months was 32 lbs-hahaha).

Not sure how tall he is, but he is taller than our two year old neighbour, so he must be tall:). And still the blondest of all our kids.

Green soup

We have been experimenting with some healthy vegetable recipes for the past half a year or so. One of my favorites is a Kale and Potato Soup:) Sounds weird and looks weird but it is good! Katya and Alex eat it only if they have french bread with it, but they still eat it.

About a month ago or so, I made Green Soup (that's what we call it), but I tried to change its color to a more appetizing one with food coloring. I tried to make it more blueish or orangy but it did not work. The whole soup became BRIGHT green instead.

I won't mess with nature next time.

Our Katya turns 7!

Seven years ago today, July 10th 2003, was my due date for baby Katya. I remember we had a really fun 4th of July dinner with Lisa and kids that year. Then on the 5th of July which fell on a Saturday we spent a long time walking around furniture stores looking for a rocking chair. Finally we had dinner at Wallabees--Utah folks must remember this yummy place:), and then I ate about 2 lbs of cherries, my favorite fruit ever. Robert convinced me to go to a 10 pm showing of X-men at the dollar theater in Provo. We got home at 12:30 pm and two hours later my water broke.

So, Katya was born on July 6th at 1:16 pm. 

And she turned 7 this week!

Okay, so it looks like she got a million things. Not really, I just wrapped small things in big packages:) My favorite present is a gallon ziploc bag full of beads bought at our on base thrift store for 50 cents.

It is amazing to see how over the years, Katya has learned the right way to receive gifts:). She showed how grateful and excited she was for every present, even the ones she didn't exactly love. It was a pleasure to watch her open her gifts.

Bracelet maker from Babushka, Dyedushka and Lyena.

Katya also got her hair trimmed at the base beauty salon. Her Japanese hairdresser went all out and did her hair too. I guess they do it for all little girls who come in. Katya absolutely loved it! She and I had lunch together at the food court. AND I even let her have a soda. That was the biggest treat of all:)

In the afternoon, we had a birthday celebration (not a party) planned for her at the base beach. The weather was absolutely perfect playing at the beach all morning long. We had lots of friends come and wish Katya a "Happy Birthday". The only unfortunate thing was that it started to RAIN hard minutes after we got there. The celebration didn't last long, but all kids got to taste some yummy cake, MADE BY.....ROBERT, of course.

Barbie's legs had to be removed-haha.

Katya was being a bit shy/excited/nervous to blow out the candles, but just for a moment:)

Some of her friends who came to the celebration.

For dinner, Katya decided to go to McDonald's....I know.....But she was the Birthday Girl so we couldn't refuse.

The new Barbies had to come as well.

Happy Tato and his Katya.

It was a perfect day (except the part where on the way back from our dinner Katya told us that we shouldn't have named her Katya. She likes Kate better...ouch....)

Happy Birthday, my beautiful little girl!

We are getting old....now we have a seven year old!