Spring Recital

I snapped this photo on my phone before the chaos began at recital, I was hoping to get more but I knew that this was probably going to be the only one. Seeing the Kanji next to these dressing rooms was a bit surreal.  As I've said before, everything about living on Okinawa is so fast paced.  Families are constantly moving in and out so I have found myself having to be more personable and on top of my game.  I think the hardest part about working at this studio now and in the future is knowing that most of these children are only going to be with us for a short time as most of them belong to military families.  We are losing quite a few students to military PCS season.  Recital here isn't just a culmination of their dance accomplishments but also a time to say goodbye.  One of my favorite students, who I didn't even know was PCSing told me at dress rehearsal that they were moving soon. One thought that went through my mind was, " I hope I've given her enough, I hope that what I've taught her will be able to help her wherever she goes next."  This mentality has helped me be on my toes more as a dance instructor.  I want them not only to be their best on the stage, but I also want them to do their best wherever they go so their transition into a new studio goes smoothly.  I love military children, these moves are not easy them.  These kids are tough, hard little workers.  I have loved being able to work at Footloose, it has provided so many blessings for myself and this community.  I'm looking forward to the next season with anticipation and excitement.  

Fukushen Gardens

About a week ago we visited the Fukushen Gardens in Naha with a few women from our church.  It is  in the middle of the city, and I probably never would have just stopped by there as it is kind of hidden. This seems like an incredible place to take family pictures, I definitely didn't get as many as I would have liked as my focus was to keep Ely from falling in the ponds that were there.  A definite must visit one day with Sean when he isn't working!

 

Sean's Birthday & Dragon Boat Races

 The first week of May is always a little nuts for our family.  Sean's birthday is during that time and Mother's day usually follows fairly close.  I kind of think that the universe works in Sean's favor for his birthday, at least in terms of his super hero movies.  Marvel almost always releases a new movie on or right around Sean's birthday and those are his favorites.   We didn't expect Sean to have the day off for his birthday, but just the week before he passed his PT test with a high score and was able to choose which day off he wanted, so he was given his birthday off.  The day before I tried my hand at making angel food cake, which after 5 years of being married, and 8 years of being together as a couple, I was finally able to present Sean with a birthday cake that didn't fall apart and that he actually liked.  Sean and I were also able to go on a day date in the American Village and watch Captain America Civil War.  I kind of wish we would have been brave enough to do this before.   We have always gone to see movies on base. We have missed being able to select our seats before hand like we were able to in Nebraska.  At this theater we were able to select our seats beforehand.  The movie was in English with Japanese subtitles.  I forgot about the subtitles almost immediately.  I'm partial to going off base now for our cinematic experience and definitely prefer going off base than going to a movie on base. The movie was good to!  I love my superhero movie loving man. He is our own super hero.  His birthday present was a custom made wet suit from Bubbles, of which he is still deciding on what super hero he wants his wet suit to resemble.  I'm excited to see how it turns out!  

Some of the women from our church have decided to try and go on weekly adventures around the island.  I having never been to the Dragon Boat races so didn't know whether or not it would be a good idea for small children.  I think for next time I will err on the side of no, or maybe, possibly bringing a stroller or another parent. Ely is just really squirmy, and large crowds are tough with her.  This was a popular event so there were quite a few people.  Parking was tricky.  It said the races started at noon, but they were going when we arrived at 11, and from what I heard they had started around 10:30.  If there is a next time, we will definitely go first thing in the morning as parking was sparse and we had to drive around for a while to look for a spot.  We watched the races here and there, but Ely kept bolting for the carnival.  I bought her an inflatable puppy that she tried to ride. 600 Yen for the darn thing, it deflated probably 3 minutes of us owning it.    She also wanted to go on a carnival ride so bad, so I paid way more than I should have for a silly carnival ride that once we were on she started freaking out because the worker was getting in her personal bubble.  The ride was one of those rides where you go around in a circle in a rocket ship, so for the first few rotations I had a screaming, crying baby who was so emotionally scarred from being strapped in.  I got a picture of her grumpy self once she realized we were on the ride she wanted to go on so badly and the scary guy was gone.  We went back to watch one full race, which Ely for the most part behaved for.  The actual races are really neat, people row in unison and many if not all of the boats have someone pounding on a tambourine or drum to keep the group in sync with one another.  I was pushing my luck with the one race, Ely was quite daring.  There were 3 flimsy ropes keeping people from falling off the edge of the marina into the ocean, she snuck around these a few times.  I decided it was best to go after the one race, I didn't feel like today was the day to see if swimming lessons worked from last summer.  I'm trying to have an open mind as she gets older and more mobile, that at least if I go on adventures I learn where things are so for the future we can just go and be familiar with how things are run.  Even though I was only there for a little while it was nice to socialize with some of the women from church as well.  This was one of those activities that made me feel like I was participating in Japanese culture & tradition.  

A Kitty and His Girl

I think this is one of my favorite series of photos of Ely & Converse.   I was just telling one of my friends that a part of motherhood is just thinking your child is the greatest.  So yeah, I know these are all basically the same picture but I love each and every single one of them.  These two are so silly together, I'm glad that Converse puts up with Ely's shenanigans and every now and then does something sweet like this.