The Commute

Planting with Auntie Liliana

At the Tacoma Kids' Museum

Just in case you haven't heard, the commute from Tacoma to Bellevue has to be the most painful driving experience I've had.  Granted, it was awesome having Grandpa Jeff and Aunt Debbie to help out with and spend time with the girls.  I don't know exactly what they did all day, but I do know Aunt Debbie got them all to the museum one day, which sounded pretty cool.  Aunt Joyce spent the night with us one day that week too.  Chris reported Kaiya starting to try and pull up.  I'm still skeptical, as she seems too small to be doing that.  We'll be able to spend more time with the Miningers when we head back down for the 7th weekend. 

We are spending this week (and the fourth) with our other Bham friends, Joe, Karen, and Sydney.  More on that later, although I will add that we're excited for the fourth and the American flag cupcakes we're going to make.

Looking for the baby rabbits

Trains, Cars, and Airplanes

Typhoon Guhcol turned out to not be so bad.  We were able to get out of Naha before the 3pm no fly mandate and got to Tokyo on time with little turbulence (as the matter of fact, it was the smoothest of all three legs).  We spent more time in line at the Naha airport than we've ever experienced.  This meant we essentially didn't get any meal until we got to Portland, as each layover of our flight was spent running to our next flight.  It made it feel quicker, but the airplane food was not very satisfying.  Both girls did great on the plane, with Reina by far getting the most sleep.  Jet lag seemed reasonable this year.  Reina adjusted much quicklier.  Kaiya is sleeping, but just waking a bit more frequently than I care for, but at least she is sleeping for the most part.

Bath's together!

Reading before bed.

Playing with Jack's new remote car.

We've been staying our first week with the Guifarro's. Therefore, the princesses and dresses are away, and the trains and cars are in full force.  Reina was actually pretty excited about playing with Jack's train set and all of them (Jack, Reina, Diego and Kaiya) have been playing together quite well.  We've been enjoying some of the best Honduran food (actually, just food in general) thanks to Liliana (and Celeo) since we've been here and have continued our tradition of smores.  This year we stepped it up with a proper fire pit and invited the "older" kids to enjoy it too. 

On Sunday we'll drive to SeaTac to pick up Grandpa Jeff, a car, and then drive to Aunt Debbie's for the week. I'm taking an AP Bio class in Bellevue and we'll get to spend the week with Chris' family before heading back up to Bham to stay with the Fuller's (Syd's family). 

My Two Favorite Girls

My new favorite thing to do is read to both little girls before bed.  I get about one book out of Kaiya before she's ready to crash and these few minutes with them both sitting on my lap being calm are precious.  Reina picks out a book and then Reina shares her blanket with Kaiya.  They both quietly suck their thumbs while I read to them.  Its a very special moment in our daily routine (and I don't think Chris has discovered it yet...shhh).  

They're matching. :)

"Ta"

Some words Reina recognizes.

Reina has been doing very good and practicing her reading and writing.  She's got some work to do, but you can generally tell what she intended to write (if you spell it for her).  She even has been practicing her Japanese Hiragana characters. I was quite impressed with her "ta" and took a picture of it.  You saw "daddy" last week, and she has of course written her name a few times as well.  Each day I try to make it a point to write a little something on the white board.  Something like, "Reina is 3," or "Reina likes Kaiya."  Just so she starts to recognize some words and is able to read from left to right, etc.  Of course her Japanese daycare is working a little against this, since her Japanese book (she gets a new "ehon" each month) is written in Hiragana from top to bottom (and the pages flip from right to left - I think I'm explaining that right).  I'm just excited that she's excited about reading and writing.  She still really enjoys her books before bed and when there is a sitter, they always tell me they have to take the books out of her bed to get her to go to sleep (I don't really mind!).  

Mmm. The birthday cupcake.

Playing with the parachute.

This weekend Kaiya and Reina went to Juju's (Julia Mendoza, ironically enough her mom, Heather, is a friend of my Mom's originally...maybe its not that ironic since everyone on this island either knows my mom or Chris' dad) birthday party.   Both girls loved it.  Kaiya was just absorbing it all. She loved watching all of the other kids play, sing, and dance. And of course Reina loved it all.  

Watching bubbles.

Kaiya finally got in for her 6 month check up (Here is Reina's post on 6 month stats).  She was 15.3 pounds (32%) and 25.6 inches (39%) in length.  After checking Reina's stats, it seems as I thought, Kaiya is narrower.  Reina was 18.1lbs and 25.5inches, so height is about the same, but Kaiya is significantly lighter.  Both girls were measured closer to their third week of 6 months, with Reina a little closer to 7 months.  Interesting.  

A visit from Skya (wearing an "old" dress of Reina's)

We're expecting a small storm tonight.  It was/is a typhoon, but I don't think it will do much to us as its fairly week (cat 1 by the time it gets close to us) and its a bit East of Okinawa.  Hopefully we miss most of them until school starts up in August again.  2 weeks till we fly!!!  After staying one night in Portland with Granddaddy and Romeni we'll head straight up to spend a week with the Guifarro's (Liliana, Celeo, Jack and Diego).