Christmas in Hawaii

Christmas in flip flops? Sure!

Leo and I made it and are enjoying the 80 degree weather. We are staying on Pearl Harbor Navy Base and have spent the last few days getting settled and exploring the base a little. It's pretty beautiful here. We will be here almost two weeks.  We'll definitely have time to venture off base, to the beach and spend a little time exploring the island.

It's been a little lonely today, but it's hard to be too blue with this cutie for company :)

Merry Christmas!

Christmas in Japan

We were able to celebrate Christmas as a family together before Leo and I took off for Hawaii. We had Christmas Eve on the 22nd and our Christmas on the 23rd. Nathan and I were worried it would feel pretty weird doing it early, but we were happily surprised at how real it felt. 

Our last shipment of storage stuff arrived on the 21st, so we broke out some of our Christmas ornaments and had fun putting some finishing touches on the tree.

 

Stockings! 

Oh, the excitement going to bed on Christmas Eve!

Tons of fun ripping into the gifts they've been staring at under the tree all month!

The boys playing with their new gifts.

We hope you all had very Merry Christmas, too!

Leo's 2!

Leo had a roaring good time at his 2nd birthday 'party.' Wilson took the day off of school to help Leo celebrate. The three of us hit up playgroup together, had a fun lunch, picked up Dad early from work and then went to the zoo and had dinner at Coco Curry House - Leo's favorite restaurant. When we got home, we did presents and cake. By the end of the day, Leo was exhausted - turning 2 is hard work!

He loved his lion cake.

And even blew out his own candle!

When we told Leo it was time to open his presents he ran for the Christmas tree! Once we redirected him to his birthday presents he did a good job ripping into them.

Wilson practiced some great self-restraint when Leo wasn't ripping fast enough.

When Leo opened his new lion backpack and lunchbox, he immediately put them on and left the party for "school." 

Leo picked chocolate cake and we partied with some animal plates sent by Grandma.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Leo! We sure love you a lot!

Hawaii

Leo and I are headed to Hawaii for another round of doctors. Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu is an even bigger hospital than the Navy one in Yokosuka, where we went last month. The good news is that Leo and I will stay in Hawaii until all the test results are back and meet with the specialists there. So, we're happy to not be sent away to wait around for answers. The bad news is that we fly out December 24th for appointments starting on the 26th. The next available appointments weren't until February. We're planning a long trip to the States to see family soon, so Nathan's unable to take any leave for him and Wilson to come with us. It will certainly be a Blue Christmas for us!

Here's Leo showing Lion the ropes.

Snow!

It got cold enough to snow here this morning! We spent about 10 minutes watching it before we decided to get suited up to go play in it.

Sadly, once we got out there the snow had stopped! The boys still had fun and stayed warm running around in their new suits. We're hoping for some more snow over the holidays. If we've got to deal with the cold, might as well have some snow!

Decorating

We're getting in the holiday spirit here! They bring one load of trees to the base so you have to get one early or you're stuck with one of the neon pink, fake ones they sell out in town. Ours is a little crooked and we don't have any of our regular ornaments (they arrive with our last shipment on December 26th oddly enough!) but we're happy it feels like Christmas in our house.

The boys had fun decorating their gingerbread men tonight.

Love this time of year!

Sensei

Today Wilson's sensei sent home a gift. He really loves all three of his teachers. They always have smiles on their faces and big hugs for Wilson. Sometimes when I ask him to do stuff around the house he responds, "Hai, Sensei." (Yes, teacher)

Playgroup

With Wilson at school for a few hours every day, Leo and I have had some great one on one time. We do things like play at home together, run errands or hit one of the many playgroups that the base has to offer. So far Leo still likes to play on his own, but he sure likes being around and watching the other kids. Here is a picture from today's playgroup. He's checking out a cutie little girl he likes named Amalie.

Yokosuka

Yokosuka is a larger Navy base in Japan near Tokyo. Leo and I took a quick trip up there last week to visit some doctors and do some tests. It was a whirlwind with two full travel days on Thursday and Saturday and all day at the hospital on Friday. Leo was an angel the whole time. We hear back in a few weeks, but the doctors suspect celiac disease.