Kurishaki Dam Again

We took a trip to the dam again - this time with Steve. And me armed with my camera trying to play photographer.

How sweet is this? Avery loves her bunny blanket she calls "Sleepy Yawn."

Castle Fun

A couple weeks ago we visit a pretty sweet castle. We had just gone to see the movie "Brave," so it was very fitting. The kids loved it. First we got to hike along a path to get to it.

Steve took these pictures up on the wall. Avery went up with him, but Noah didn't want to. He's a cautious little guy!

We sat here and talked about where the king and queen, etc. might be. Also, where the bear would be! (because of the "Brave" movie):

Walking back through the trees along the castle walls.

 Stopping at a pretty cool overlook.

Very hard to tell from this picture, but the trees were FULL of spider webs with HUGE spiders on them. We couldn't believe how many there were. We were sure to stay on the path!

Buying/Selling Shenanigans and Our New Couch

Wow, it's been a busy couple of weeks! Steve has been in the field since last Thursday, and he gets back this Saturday. The kids and I had a great weekend. Once I get all the pictures up I'll post all that we did. I'm still patting myself on the back for doing so much with them! Normally I'm all about laying low, but this weekend we were on the move. I will share what happened to us tonight for those of you who didn't see on facebook. This is what I wrote:

Here's a laugh for everyone....tonight I was about to walk inside carrying a huge armful of clothes (our washer and dryer are outside) with the kids following me when a bird literally attacked me!! So I'm screaming, running, and swatting around trying to get the thing off of me with clothes flying everywhere, Avery (completely terrorized) screaming louder than me, and Noah laughing. When it finally flies off me we get inside as fast as we can without letting the crazy bird in! It's been an hour and the bird hasn't budge from right outside our door, and our clothes are still all over the yard. (I'm too scared to go back out there!) And of course Steve is in the field this week! What a night...

Yes, this really happened, and my heart is just now starting to slow down! I'm thinking maybe we were too close to it's nest or something. I don't know, but last I looked I didn't see the bird, but I think we'll be using our other door tomorrow.=)

Back to what this post is about...Steve and I have realized we made some mistakes with purchases for the house. I think we were in a rush to just get everything, that we didn't love anything. We just thought it would work. I tried and tried to make the brown shag rug, the brown futon, and the way too small Japanese couch work but I never really loved the results. But I knew there was no way I could buy another couch or rug because we had both - each less than a year old. And we only have 2 more years here. I should just deal with it. Well, that was until I was strolling through Yellowbox (American furniture store) looking for a storage ottoman when I found this:

I've been wanting that gray/blue shade of couch for awhile now. It's such a nice neutral color (like blue jeans!) The cheap, simple, small Japanese one has been a pain in my side since we got it. It's not for lounging at all, and our whole family can't fit on it. Well, this couch was the last one left, and enormously marked down to $247. A comfy, microfiber, blue/gray couch that our whole family can fit on for that price! And I just love the nailhead trim too. Of course I had to call Steve, but this was the week my phone was not working. So it was up to me with Noah in stow. I figured if I went home and immediately posted our rug, futon (we thought it would be more functional, but all it does is take up space in Noah's room and collects dirt like you wouldn't believe), and couch on Okinawa yard sales, we could make enough money to cover the new couch and then some. Even still, this new couch was a total steal. I got it. We all LOVE it. It was nice to get rid of this:

Seriously! So small! Steve may or may not have been the leading voice in the "non loungey" couch decision ("I've got my bed to lay in!" haha love you hun!). It's not that I hated it. In fact, I tried to petition to keep it by sticking it under the window in our dining room:

I don't have a picture of the actually couch being there, but what I did was scooted the table closer to it, and used the couch like a bench....yeah, Steve thought I was crazy. I thought I was going to pull it off, but in the end it just didn't work. The length was all wrong, and I prefer the table in the middle of the room. I really only tried that set up when I thought there was no way we could sell that couch because of it being so small.

But we did! It found a home with a nice couple who had a very small apartment. They had just sold their big sectional and wanted something much smaller. They even gave us a tip for delivering it, so we got $235 for it. Almost the price of the new couch, and much more than I thought we could sell it for.

Also happy to be rid of this big, HEAVY (soo heavy!) thing in Noah's room that was not too comfortable either. I think our blow up air mattress is more comfortable for sleeping! Steve will be happy he will never have to lug that thing up any more stairs (I may have had him move it around our house a few times....that's how I roll with just about everything I buy).

I probably had about 30 people contact me about this futon. It was piece of cake to sell. Since Noah doesn't have a bed waiting for him back in the States, I wouldn't mind getting him a bigger bed here which can also be used for guests. His room is huge!

In the midst of all the crazy selling our house looked like this for a day and it drove me crazy (we had one no show for the futon which was why it was in our living room and had to stay there another day.) 

So we took the amount of money lost on furniture and added it to our $247 "Steal of a Couch." It was like we bought a great couch for $750. So that makes me feel better about all our mistake purchases. We've now learned to not buy a thing for the house unless we LOVE it. If I say "this will work," it means "don't buy!"

Hopefully I didn't put anybody to sleep with this post. I'm trying to just write whatever's on my mind, instead of always playing catch up with all the sites we've seen. I think a blog should be written in real time. Even if it's about boring house stuff.=)

Here's a picture of my two cuties from this week - the first time Avery held Noah off the ground. She asked if she could hold him, which I didn't think she could do. Low and behold, she's stronger than i thought!

Nature Walks, a Waterfall, and New Restaurants

We went on a cool nature walk that reminded me a lot of Torrey Pines because of the views of the cliffs by the ocean. The path was paved (unlike Torrey Pines) which made it easier for walking.

They had little shops there so Avery picked out a cute yellow dress and Noah picked out a Japanese lion shirt that he refers to as his "lion king shirt."

Here's some old photos of Torrey Pines, a place we loved in San Diego:

Us with Avery - November 2008

Grandpa and Avery - April 2009

Grandpa and Avery again - July 2010

Then we ate at a little restaurant that looked like a hut because Steve heard they had sandwiches there.

Nothing to really rave about, but they were ok. We enjoyed the atmosphere!

Another new restaurant with a great view. Noah doesn't like the heat and wanted to sit inside. lol
Avery is wearing her new dress.

They're known for offering fresh, seasonal fruits and vegetables.

We hiked to a waterfall but didn't come prepared with swimming suits (or the nice camera).

We loved this little clearing in the forest.

Taking a little snack break. It only took about 25 minutes of hiking to get to the waterfall.

That's Steve and Avery to the right of the waterfall watching some people swing from the rope.

Noah and I stayed by the rocks. We didn't want to swim in our clothes!

This is Noah's "lion king" shirt. The big lion is on the back.

That's Steve!

I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of mosquitoes that bothered us and the cooler temperatures in the forest (or is it a jungle??). We will definitely be checking out some more waterfalls/hiking and visiting this one again. Next time I will be bringing the good camera since most of these turned out blurry.=(

The Pineapple Park

The kids were so excited to see the pineapple park after driving by it. But first we had to eat! Steve had heard of a place nearby

The landscape and buildings were so pretty.

Inside was a huge restaurant with shops attached. Each table sat next to a the window walls they had. So pretty!

 The view at our table:

It was a soba noodle house so we got the vegetarian version. It was ok. Steve and I aren't huge soba fans, but the kids will eat any noodle dish possible. It really doesn't matter what's on it.

Walking around the restaurant to see more views.

A special room I'm assuming:

Then we went outside to walk the grounds a little more.

 We climbed.

 And climbed.

 We made it to the top!

 Lots of waterfalls to see.

Next up, the Pineapple Park!

The pineapple buses:

 Waiting in line to ride one

Their favorite part by far....driving that bus! Of course it was on an automatic setting so she wasn't really driving it.

Baby pineapple plants

Never have I seen so many pineapples before!

Getting off...

Off to the shops that sold everything pineapple. First we tasted some pineapple wine.

And some juice and cake

They just had so much.

We ended up getting some jelly and wine

 Ice cream before heading home. Avery couldn't wait to tell her friends at school that she drove a pineapple bus. She asked to go back all that week.=) Good times.