It is Saturday afternoon and Zack has duty today. Caraline has been sleeping for the last two hours and Noah is playing independently with his wooden blocks. This is affording me the ability to update all of you on the happenings of our life.
Zack went back to work this week from his holiday leave. He took ten days instead of the standard fourteen. We decided to only take the ten to save up some leave for our spring trip to Australia. He seems to enjoy working security...or at least he isn't hating it! He may be back in his regular shop sooner than we anticipated...just depends on the ship. We shall see. We have mixed emotions about him going back to a regular work schedule. This schedule isn't much fun when he works the three day period and the kids don't see him for those three days...but it is nice when he's off for a few days in a row. This schedule allows him to be home during the day and actually spend more time with us. And gives us the freedom to go on more day trips because he works less days...as well as gives me the opportunity to have some mommy time. And I was thinking about taking some Japanese culture classes/art classes...so I'm praying that we stay in security for a bit longer!
Noah has been enjoying his Christmas presents. His major gift this year was a Melissa and Doug easel set with various accessories...various family members bought him accessories to go with it. He enjoys painting, coloring, and using the chalk. He loves to sit at the kitchen table and do little art projects. I got a toddler art idea book for Christmas and it's amazing. Yesterday he used scissors to cut and tear paper...and then used a glue stick to stick the pieces on a background sheet of construction paper. This entertained him for an hour! As I mentioned before that we put away some of his other toys...and its taken him this past week to forget about some of the toys and play with the wooden blocks, trucks..etc. We'd much rather him play with items that he has to use to entertain himself...not visa versa. His face is healing well from his multiple falls on vacation. He has been loving more on Caraline instead of trying to beat her...so that's great!
Caraline is growing and is just about the same size Noah was at her age. And they look eerily similar! She is also similar in the fact that her internal clock is well functioning...and likes to have her bedtime routine. She really enjoys baths and sitting in the warm water. She can hold her head up pretty well and likes to play on the floor batting at toys on her activity gym. And she loves her mommy!
Now for me...I am doing well and loving our life here in Japan. Zack and I have thrown around ideas of where we would like to go next in our family adventure. To the outside the reality of moving every three years can seem tiring and ridiculous...but to us this allows us to have new and exciting adventures! And in three years I am sure that we'll have accomplish quite a few things in this area of Japan. We'll probably be ready to move on to another area. After coming to Japan and learning about a new culture, seeing amazing sights, being able to travel to other countries, getting on a train to see amazing things...etc...I just don't know if I could be happy returning back to the States. I would get that itch to get up and go. It's been a week since we took a train to Tokyo and I'm already itching to get on a train and go! We could travel in the U.S. but we can do so so much just in a few hours here. Plus I just love the environment and the sense of family that is created here when we all must band together to be each others family. That doesn't happen in the States. While in Virginia, I got tired of Zack leaving and going out to experience the world...here I too get to see the world. And I don't think I'm willing to give that up anytime in the near future. Australia, China, Bali, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia...all on my list to see...plus many more. Even with a bit of the baby blues...I'm happier here than I've ever been! Living abroad has been amazingly wonderful for our family!
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