Tree Swinging



Ryan having his turn....
























We had this giant awesome tree at our Kishaba House on Okinawa...My super cool friend Darla Perkins had a fun husband, Keith, who would tie ropes up in the trees for the kids to swing on.  Housing periodically came thru and made us take them down, but they would go right back up.  The kids loved to swing on them and i just always crossed my fingers that Ty and Ryan wouldn't let go before they got back over to the ledge they had jumped off from!  This is in 2005.....


Ty going next....




Now Damian showing them how to REALLY swing!!!



3 Dive Date!

Ed took me on a surprise date on a school day.....he was off, kids were in school, so Ed loaded up our tanks, Leilani braided my hair REALLY tight, we rented a few more tanks and we were off for a 3 dive date around the island!  We hit 2 of our favorite spots and Ed took me to a third spot i had not dove yet.  It was one of those perfect dates!  I was exhausted and starving when we were done though!!!  AND.......Leilani's braids held fast!!!  Thank you!!!!

Tide Pool Exploration

This isRyan and Ty May of 2004 having fun filling up their buckets with all kinds of sea life from the tide pools at Camp Kinser.  These tide pools off the East China Sea were loaded with everything.  Hermit Crabs were by far the most popular and easiest creatures captured.

Kinser Ship Wreck

The kids loved walking the tide pools at Kinser.  There were endless sea life in all the pools.  They liked snorkeling this beach as well, but there were lots of jelly fish  and other not so friendly things to encounter on this part of the island, so i didn't let them snorkel very much, but exploring the tide pools was something we did regularly.  The kids were facinated with the ship that had wrecked just off the beach.  They removed the ship before we ever got the chance to walk/swim out to it though...This is Jorden and Vicki at Camp Kinser Beach on Okinawa in the Spring of 2004.

Tire Ritual

During our first 2 years on Okinawa, Japan i took the boys on their morning walk in the double stroller almost every day!  There was a park with a tire swing about 45 minutes into our walk.  We stopped their almost every time and they would just giggle like crazy while i swung them on the tire.  This is my favorite picture taken on the tire.  Kishaba Housing  Spring 2004 

TP Fun

Every child has their moment of fun when they escape their parents view and sneak into the bathroom and get a hold of the toilet paper!!!  Ryan was obviously no different!  This was at our Bellatrix House on Miramar.  He crawled quietly out of my sight and within a few minutes, or maybe seconds, he was out of toilet paper fun!  I found him as happy as could be feeling quite accomplished with his latest adventures!  March 2002 

Scooter Time, All The Time!

While Ed was stationed at MCRD San Diego and we lived in the Miramar Air Station housing Jorden and Vicki took a huge liking to scooters!  I loved them as they were soooo much easier to take with us than their bikes and when they got tired of them they folded up and fit nicely in the basket of the double stroller!  This was in San Diego in October of 2001.

Habu Canyon Posing

Habu Canyon was right around the corner from our Kishaba House on Okinawa, Japan.  The kids had fun walking down there and looking for giant spiders and some of the kids in the neighborhood even fished down there.  Vicki and her friends went down to do a little photo shoot in February 2009.

Here are a few of her photos....

Kishaba Walls

I hated the wall color of our Kishaba House on Okinawa, loved my house, my neighborhood, just HATED the color of the walls and didn't want to paint, to only have to re-do walls when we moved.....not knowing we were going to be there 6 years!!!  Soooo, i just covered them during the holidays.  Kids brought home lots of art work from school and so wha-la!!!  Walls covered!  It drove Ed batty.....but....the yellowish color of "you smoke in your home and your walls need to be scrubbed look" was not as dreadful looking.....



Hitch Hiking Oki Style

While stationed on Okinawa we lived on Camp Foster in the Kishaba Housing.  We had lots of friends all over the housing area and usually just walked to our friends houses for get-to-gethers.  We were walking home from a fun pinata party at the Parks house when Cody came by on his skateboard.  Ryan jumped out asking for a ride.  Cody, who lived right on the other side of the wall from us, pulled the little hitch hiker on for a piggy back ride and skated him the rest of the way home.  It is just the kind of neighborhood we lived in and the type of people we were lucky enough to live around.  All the kids pretty much treated each other as cousins......

Ryan catching a ride home from Cody, Spring 2004 

Little Boy + Overalls = Overhead

My boys had tons of overalls in their toddler years, long ones, short ones, worn in the summer, fall, winter, and spring.....a chunk of their wardrobe were overalls.  This meant they got to check out the ceiling and anything overhead OFTEN!  But, whenever Ed was around and they were wearing overalls, well lets just say the straps on the overalls were perfect handles for Ed........I love that i am married to a guy that is 6'4" and strong enough to lift the lil guys way up high over his head, but I have to admit i always had a slight pitter patter of heart beats for fear that the straps might give out one time, but the giggles and drool from the boys above their Daddy's head was worth it!  

Ed and Ryan Bellatrix House,  

Strummin' & Singin'

July 2005

The kids all wanted guitars one year...so Christmas arrived and guitars were found under the tree.  This is one of my favorite pictures of Ryan with his guitar.  It was summer 2005 on Okinawa at our Kishaba House.  He was just walking around after church one afternoon strummin' his own tune and singin' his own song....

Contemplating

While living on the itty bitty island of Okinawa, we were able to go to Peace Prayer Park on several occassions.  It is a beautiful park that tells the tragic story of what happened on this Pebble In The Pacific during the horrifying years of World War 2.  The park also depicts how the Okinawan's and the Americans rebuilt this Tropical Oasis and have joined together in peace and forgivness.  There is a wall, well several walls, in fact rows and rows of walls, simular to our Viet Nam Wall, listing all the names of those lost during the Battle of Okinawa.  I love this picture of Ty, it was a VERY HOT, HUMID day and we had just looked at all the names engraved on the walls.  We were with a couple other families and i was talking to my friends when i glanced over to check on the whereabouts of my children, there was Ty, sitting in the grass leaning against one of the walls.....he had asked a billion questions throughout the day and i think this last part with all the names had just kind of overwhelmed him in the moment.  He kept asking if each name meant that person died in the battle.  He has always been my sensative child and by the end of the walls, he just needed to sit a part from everyone and process all of it in his 5 year old mind.

Ty taking a moment to think it all over....

Ty earlier in the day before we got to the walls

HOURS To Do......Seconds To Destroy!

While living on the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego, Ca. the entire neighborhood had worked for HOURS on Jorden's latest puzzle.  We had it in the garage and everyone just randomly worked on it for several weeks.....the sand....the blue....the shadow.....the house.....sooo much of it looked the exact same!  We were nearing the end!  I took a picture of Ed putting in the last piece! We were all excited at finishing it and talked about glueing it and framing it to hang in Jorden's room or the garage.....well.....while we were out in the front yard talking and doing whatever, Thing One and Thing Two got busy!  What had taken weeks to finish was one obliterated, sobbery mess in what seemed no time flat! Yes, there was drool on many of the puzzle pieces as we tried to gather them all together.  Those two little rascals had not only detroyed it but had thrown the itty bitty pieces EVERYWHERE!!!!  I think they even ate some pieces as there were some missing when we eventually put it back together again in a different military house, on a different military base, in a different country.....Okinawa 

The Finished Project

Ed putting in the last piece!

Thing One & Thing Two....GUILTY!!!

Teach Me Jorden, PLEASE!!!

While living on the little island of Okinaqa Ryan became quite aware of his big brothers skaeboarding abilities.  Ryan had wanted Big Brother Jorden to teach him how to skateboard from the time he saw Jorden jump the stairs.  He loves to watch how fast Jorden goes and how high he gets in the air!  He thinks the wipe outs are pretty cool too!  He wanted Jorden to show him how to jump in the air and flip his skateboard and land back on it.....Jorden did his best....

Jorden watching Ryan

Ryan Jumping!

Ryan thinking he did it!