While Hazel naps in the morning, Max and I like to read books and do “projects” together.  Sometimes this means baking, sometimes playing a game, and sometimes it means artsy crafty things.  I am not crafty at all, but he enjoys it.  I try to find things in advance that aren’t too involved but often we just wing it.  This is “Yarn Rolled in Elmer’s Glue then Stuck to a Piece of Cardboard Painted with Finger Paint.”  Truly a masterpiece – of Max’s artistic skill and my artistic vision.  

Also, note the washi tape on the table.  Sometimes the “project” is me handing him an entire role of washi tape from the 100 yen store and telling him to have fun (”quietly!”) while I take a shower and Hazel naps.  #momlife

Exploring the other playground on base. 

This is our 6th house since Ben and I have been married.  Max had three homes before his third birthday.  And we’ll probably move back to the U.S. next summer.  Before our couches and beds and picture frames even arrived in Okinawa, we had a notice on our door (of the house to which we were assigned) telling us the Air Force (who manages the housing here) would be renovating and we would be moving to a new house on the same base in April of 2018.  We attended a meeting last month and were told we would be moving sometime between April and October of this year.  We can expect to get a call at some point in this six month period, telling us our new house number and giving us two weeks notice to move.  If they don’t fall behind schedule.  Again.  

One of our neighbors got a call that they might be moving her, so several of us all trekked to the other side of the base to check out the new digs.  The appliances are newer and the cabinets aren’t painted with five layers of paint, but everything else is pretty much the same.  The really big deal, though?  We’d be moving from the PURPLE and ORANGE playground to the BLUE and RED playground.  There’s a tire swing, though, so the littles all seem to be fine with it.  

The joys of military life!

Typical Wednesday.  Hazel still takes a morning nap and an afternoon nap, so our days are pretty choppy.  Most days we try to squeeze in a run after breakfast before morning nap, and then we have 2.5-ish hours to eat lunch and run errands and maybe have some fun before afternoon nap (for Hazel) and rest time (for Max).  After afternoon naps, we head to the playground and hang with friends until Daddy gets home from work.  At least twice a week, we try to spend our time between naps at the beach.  I pack a lunch, some towels, and our tent and we head to the sea.  I’m so grateful for this “typical.”

Some days these beach days are super fun and relaxing, some days stressful keeping the sand out of Hazel’s mouth and helping Max get the sand off him when it’s time to go.  Packing up the tent and wrangling Max while wearing a sandy baby is actually never fun, but it’s almost always worth it.  Most days, I try to appreciate the total sensory joy that is the seaside.  The rich colors of a deep blue sky against a cerulean ocean.  The sweet breeze (for now!), the warm sun, the soft sand.  The smell of salty water and sunscreen.  The sound of the waves gently hitting the sand, Max’s “mommy, come look!”, the birds’ chatter.  The salty tang you can taste, the sweet grapes and strawberries we always pack.  Cleaning sand out of my tub multiple times a week seems a fair price to pay.  

A typical Tuesday around here.  Max has been curious about jellyfish lately, so I showed him a livestream from one of my favorite places, Monterey.  The aquarium there is pretty cool, and Max watched them for a solid 10-15 minutes.  Later, errands to the library and grocery store.  They are loving that double cart lately.  I don’t love pushing it, but it does make them happy.  #momlife