We're Thankful

It is hard to believe that American Thanksgiving is already past and Christmas is well on its way, eh? Well, this thanksgiving, we are thankful for friends...including friends who can cook:) We had a great time at Chris and Abi's house, although we did have to trek through the snow to get there. Thank goodness we only live a few minutes away! Yes, it is true - it is still November, and we have already had a couple of feet of snow! Kaiya celebrated this Thanksgiving by having her first taste of non-rice cereal solid food in the form of carrots. Since then she has also been introduced to sweet potatoes and apple sauce. Surprisingly enough, apple sauce is not her favourite. We only know this because she makes some creative faces as we are trying to shove it through her tightly pursed lips. She only resists for a short time, though, because food is food. And she likes food:)

Last weekend we had a ceremony at our church called the Hanging of the Green. Hyatt and I had a very important role to play, as we were the ones who read about the significance and meaning of poinsettias at Christmas time. For those of you who do not know what the Hanging of the Green is, which I am assuming is most of you, it is when the church decorates for Christmas and prepares for the advent season. I had never heard of it, either, until a couple of weeks ago, but I think that it is a great idea. It was so special to start this season off in the right way - keeping our minds on Jesus from the start. We're hoping to do advent as a family, too, although that means that we still need to find a wreath for the table, and a book to guide us through. Perhaps this year we will just be a little creative, and maybe we will come up with some traditions of our own. Anyways, at the end of the Hanging of the Green ceremony, they had everyone in the church come up and hang an ornament on the tree, and Kaiya was more than happy to participate (truthfully, she was in the nursery, so she had to hang her ornament after the ceremony was done).

I've also included a picture of Kaiya sitting up, although it is a little misleading. Yes, she can sit, but she cannot sit for very long on her own, and someone has to be right ready to catch her as soon as she takes a dive. So, she's getting there! You will also notice a classic picture of Kaiya spending quality Halo time with her dad on a Saturday morning:)

Kaiya's Not Crawling

Yes, rather anticlimatic... Kaiya is not crawling yet... but she IS beginning to make slight attempts at it. So, here is a video so you can watch her wiggle around on her tummy and make noise. This noise has become her new favourite thing to do for the past few days. She most frequently lets me hear it when I am feeding her rice cereal. I get to listen to it in between most bites. At least her mouth has to be open to do it, which assists me as I am trying to get another spoonful in there:) Oh, and I should mention that she had drooled on the plastic piece on her playmat, so that's what she's trying to reach out and smear around:)

Lady Liberty in Japan

I'll keep this short, but Ellie and I (along with the girls, of course) took a little trip today to see the Japanese version of the Statue of Liberty... just a short 20-25 minute drive away from my door! How convenient. I suppose since Lady Liberty knew that I couldn't see her in person for a while yet, she decided to come see me instead... in Japan:) The park was beautiful, as all of the parks here seem to be. What I can't quite figure out is where the money comes from to create and upkeep all of the parks here. There are so many, and they are all on the grand scale. Yet another question to add to my list. Right now it is still a mental list, but at the rate that I'm adding questions these days, I will need to start actually writing them all down (especially at the rate that I'm forgetting them all these days).

Our Little Bunny

Today I took our little bunny to the doctor's office for a weigh-in. For those of you who I haven't spoken to in the last few weeks, Kaiya weighed in at 10.5 lbs 4 weeks ago, which is really small for a 4 month old baby... as in off the charts small. So, she has been getting formula in addition to her regular milk, and that has done the trick! As of today our not-so-little-anymore daughter weighs 13 lbs 4 oz (which is around the 10th percentile) and her head is 39.9 cm (also the 10th percentile), while her height is in the 25th percentile (I can't remember if she was 24 or 24.5 inches). So, we have no more worries about her weight gain, and I'll have to determine how much to keep supplementing with formula.

This evening we went to church for the harvest festival there, which was fun. Our friend, Brian, and Kaiya won a cake at the cake walk... and now Kaiya's mommy has to eat the whole thing herself. What a shame. :)

Fall Colours

On Saturday we finally reunited our whole "gang" for a trip to Oriase Gorge to take in the fall colours. We also managed to procure a group photo, compliments of a kind Japanese gentleman (we made sure to ask one who was carrying a really high tech looking camera himself, as we figured that this would give us a better chance of a good photograph even though it would be with our camera). The day was quite delightful, with the drive up to the gorge (it takes a good hour and a half or so, not including really slow Japanese Bongo-type trucks in front of us), some walking around and lots of picture taking, and a stop at the foot onsen on the way back. For those of you not familiar with onsens (while I may technically fall in that category myself as I have never been to an onsen, I do live in Japan, which means that I know about them), an onsen is a place where there are hot springs and people usually enjoy them without any clothing. Some of said onsens separate genders, while others are open to all who are free enough to visit them. When we first moved here, I was pregnant, so the onsen was out of the question. Now I no longer have that alibi, but I do have a baby and a postpartum body, both are minor obstacles to overcome in my new goal to at least do as the Japanese do... once.

That long rabbit trail following the onsens really was leading to a point. The point being that we went to a foot onsen. Even with my knowledge of onsens, I had never heard of a foot onsen until Saturday when we visited one. Essentially, it was a sunken table under a covering that was in the middle of a parking lot, which was in the middle of a park. Under the sunken table was water that was naturally heated. So, we seized the day, removed our socks and shoes (despite the rather frigid weather), rolled up our pants, and sat down at the table for a nice foot soak. It really was a bonding moment... as was the moment several moments later when we had to put our socks and shoes on our wet feet in order to get back to the vehicles. The lesson that I learned from this experience is that one must always be prepared with a towel in the vehicle for just such occasions.

Our day ended at a new restaurant called RamTei. I don't know the name for this kind of restaurant, but I think that you'll at least understand the terms "all you can eat" and "cook your own food". Although they always have salad offered at these places, meat just seems like you're getting more for your money. I don't know that that is really the case, especially with the high prices of produce here in Japan, but the perception was there nonetheless. So, plates of meat it was. And Hyatt has said, once again, that he will never eat at one of those places again. I really think that they should have a cheaper fee for women than men at those places, because we women don't have a hope of achieving the stomach capacity of men.

And such was our last Saturday. Just another wonderful day in Japan.

But what would a blog post be without a new adorable picture of Kaiya... she looks pretty proud of herself for figuring out how to get her foot through the opening in her sleep sack.



And a new family photo...

Still Alive and Writing

Once again, I feel the need to apologize for my tardiness in writing. Well, I suppose tardiness would imply that I have actually written, so perhaps I need to be apologizing for the absence of my writing, rather than just the tardiness of it. Although I am writing now.... I had a concerned friend e-mail me wanting to make sure that we were alright, since she hadn't seen anything on the blog in so long. So, I thank you for your concern. We are all fine, and have been back in Japan now for 2 weeks, after a very long time away from home. As it would be nearly impossible for me to relate all of the details of our trip (by impossible, I mean that it would at least take more time than I am willing to spend at this computer at the moment), I will simply give a summary of our travels, and post a few pictures (which is really what you want to see anyways, I'm sure).

I believe that the last time I wrote, Kaiya and I were still in Okinawa with Hyatt. Since then, Kaiya and I flew on a military flight with our friends Ellie and Sadie, across the ocean to Whidbey Island (via Atsugi and Alaska), spent 3.5 weeks in Langley, Canada with my family (with a few days down in Seattle with Hyatt's family and a couple of days in Kamloops with Lisa and Jeremy in that time) followed up by 2.5 weeks in Hawaii (a week on Kauai with my parents and a week and a half on Oahu with the Salvadors), and completed with a couple of days in Yokota, Japan, for good measure. Hyatt was able to meet up with us in Hawaii, and we had a fun flight back from Hawaii to Yokota on a big miliary plane where we sat in jump seats along the side of the plane and were able to take naps on the floor.

The update on Kaiya is that she turned 4 months on Sept.22, and on her birthday she rolled over from her tummy to her back! She followed up that amazing feat with a belly laugh the very next day, and now we are just working on getting her to crawl:) She almost rolled over from her back to her tummy, but she did not move her arm out of the way, so it does not count yet. Kaiya is reaching for things like crazy, and loves her playtime mat that Lori and Virgil got for her when we were in Hawaii. She's also a big fan of her baby bjorn carrier now that she can face outwards and watch everything going on around her. The comment we hear about her most often (besides that she has long eyelashes that usually only boys get) is that hse is very alert. As long as she's in a place where she can see what is going on, she's a pretty happy little girl! We got her one of those baby einstein play centers the other day, and were amused to find out that she is not tall enough to touch the bottom of it yet, so her legs just hang in space... yet she did figure out how to spin herself around in it using her hands instead. What can I say? She's a genius:)

Also new is that Hyatt is now 29 years old! For his birthday we had a campfire by the lake, with a little frisbee tossing, followed up by hot dogs and s'mores galore, and some guitar playing by Hyatt and Chris. As you can tell by the pictures, it was a little cold.

Now for some pictures...

The Tip of the Island

I won't write very much today, as I mostly just wanted to share some new pictures with all of you. These pictures include some tummy time with Kaiya, some castle ruins with a view, as well as a little slice of paradise/Utopia/Heaven that Hyatt and I found on a tiny fishing village island called Hamahiga (accessible by bridge from Okinawa). Also, we went on a hike the other day (a LOT of stairs, and some very sore calves later...) to Hiji waterfall and drove the rest of the way to Hedo point, which is the northern most point of Okinawa. Wow, God is good - the ultimate Artist!