Someone's turning 2!

Wow is July 4th really around the corner?!...in less than 1 week our lil firecracker is turning 2! The nice thing about moving to a larger place, we can now use it as the venue, which also means plenty of work ahead for mama. All my design energy is now going into the preparations for her party and sure I hope it turns out to be a fun one for her and the guests! Leyna's website has been quite neglected since her first birthday but it's up and running again for her 2nd. So if you stop by you can get a glimpse of her theme this year...and especially for all our friends and family in the US, you can still be apart of the celebration by leaving her a birthday message and we'll save all the notes to a memory book for her!

Stay tuned, we'll be back to share the party details...

Geared Up

I was super excited to find some miniature safety gear in a Japanese store. I couldn't resist.

Easter Fun 2011

Wow March and April sure breezed by and we are long overdo for a post!... Danno came back safe n sound from mainland early April, well in time for us to enjoy some Easter fun together as a family. We were going to have Leyna dye some eggs, but since it was the one time I managed to crack every egg while hard boiling them meant we'll save it for next year! So on to opening her Easter gifts. First Leyna made sure to pose her bunny n dog to 'take pics' of them, she makes these camera hands all the time. (No surprise considering mama is always in her face with a camera! haha)

She loved her turtle stuffed animal/pillow/blanket friend, along with some sweet treats and new coloring book. She went right to work!Then off to our church's Easter picnic, which was held at the same park as last year. The sunny weather sure was a treat so we didn't have to be confined to the recreation dome. It was Leyna's first time to participate in the egg hunt. She's got her lil purse handy and all ready to collect...Eggs all gone?! Maybe I should've collected faster!

While everyone else is looking in the grass, someone found the jackpot!

I don't know what she was thinking to express this attitude!

..and few more Leyna faces with mom...Cheese, Surprise!, Sad, and Thinking

While eating our picnic, she got to check out a lady bug for the first time.

Just like last year, she had fun playing with the jump ropes and hula hoops.

..but the best part was having daddy there with us!

Another great Easter picnic

To see the rest of the photos in our facebook album, click here

Operation Tomodachi

Danno remains in the mainland and not looking like he's coming back any time soon. You can follow how the Marines are aiding the mainland by checking out these links. They are updated daily with new photos and info.

III MEF Japan
Facebook Page
Facebook Photos

Flickr Photos: Operation Tomodachi
Flickr Photos: IIIMEF MCB Japan
Flickr Photos: USMC

Update

To our friends and family, thanks for all your thoughts and concern these past few days. Be assured we are doing fine in Okinawa. Below is a map so you can see just how far away Okinawa is located from Sendai, Japan, so we weren't directly affected by the earthquake or tsunamis, nor have we felt any aftershocks.

At most we received tsunami warnings. Our friends and their dog who live right at the coast spent some time at our place while we waited for the tsunami warnings to pass. Occasionally we hear sirens and Japanese announcements blaring in the distance. But all is clear and silent now...

Photo: Cpl. Justin Wheeler / Marine Corps

Just yesterday Dan was deployed to mainland Japan to help with the relief efforts. Minutes after returning home from Men's Bible Study in the morning, he received a call from work and was putting on his uniform. Within a few hours, we were driving to Futenma Air Base, he was aboard a plane and lifting off. Where exactly he will be, what he will be doing, and how long he'll be there is all uncertain. Fortunately he was able to make phone contact with me since he arrived there. For any deployment, as much as I want to hear from him and have some idea of how he is doing along the way, it's not something I should expect either. It wasn't easy to watch his plane take off, but I know the mission out there is far greater and more important than the need for him to be home with me and Leyna right now.

So we wait...and we continue to pray for the healing and restoration for the mainland...

Christmas 2010 Part 4: Mo' GTMO

Finally it's time to wrap it up about our GTMO holiday and final visit...We had a fun Christmas Day on the ocean. For once, not lingering on the beaches, but we rented a pontoon boat and went fishing! I can't even remember the last time I've been fishing, so I was convinced it was my first time. It was sooo fun! Here's Capt. Danno as captain of our boat with his lil assistant who was very eager to take over and drive herself.

Leyna's first time fishin. Surprisingly she didn't swing it around like a weapon

Initially I was distracted by all these jellyfish I saw swimming around the boat. Once I got over my temptation to catch one of those, I caught my first fish in just a few minutes! Then this hearty lil snapper, followed by 3 more bait fish all at once.

Armed with a bunch of bait fish we headed out to the deeper waters. Leyna had to hold on tight (actually I had to hold on tight to Leyna!)

We didn't catch anything bigger than that lil snapper. But it was still so much fun we went out again the next week. Here's Leyna helping daddy call port control before we head out...and later chillin out on the boat while we make attempt #2 to catch something...

...someone loves the camera...So here's our catch (booo) ...versus some other guys' that dayIt was a hammerhead shark!

Now back to more beaches...this place is our favorite, Glass Beach.

Leyna and daddy had a great time exploring behind the huge rocks, finding tons of tiny hermit crabs to cool stones...Her lil raisin toes had enough beach for the day haha.
The reason why I can't resist going back to Glass Beach again and again, is that it's the ideal location to collect sea glass, hence the name. My entire collection is a lot of time spent combing its sand. Hey in GTMO, it's something you have the time to do, and I find it relaxing! I have a stash of the common greens, browns, ambers, light blues, and clear pieces to ship to Oki and somehow add into our home decor. This was on a good day when the tide brought in a fresh batch of stones n glass...

It's certainly rewarding to find the most rare colored glass. I was always on a mission to find cobalt blue ones. The pieces aren't just rare, they're usually pretty small too. Yes, I think I picked up every blue speck I saw haha. But in the process I also came across pink and even lavender! New Year's Eve was spent watching back-to-back movies in the theater, and by then we just went home and knocked out. But thank goodness for the outdoor theater since it allows us to watch movies with a toddler who wants to run around every now n then. In between beach time, movies, and enjoying the galley food, the library was our other key spot to kill time. I wish I could fill Leyna's playroom with all those huge stuffed animals!We're obviously never tired of beaches..this is one of the more rocky ones, but lovely views.
Leyna loves hanging out with daddy.

Finally a family pic! =)
Farewell GTMO it was a nice final visit. Thanks for being good to my hubby and sending him back home safely!

Christmas 2010 Part 3: GTMO!

Ah nothing like finally being in the arms of daddy. We were so grateful to finally reach GTMO. Every Christmas has been pleasantly not-so-ordinary in it's own way. 2008 was spent in a practically empty townhome as we were moving out of Quantico...2009 was our first Christmas while living in a foreign country plus celebrating our newest special addition (Leyna)...and this year we spent it on the sands of Cuba. Despite Danno's deployment, it was another holiday of being together which we were so thankful for.

Escaping to Cuba's warm weather to thaw out from the chilly East Coast was just splendid. First things first...hit the beach! Leyna was ready to get started on one of her favorite things......pickin up rocks!

What's a day at a GTMO beach without one of these guys showing up?

Since the last time we visited, GTMO turned 'holiday' as much as it possibly could. Lights adorned the lamp posts along its one main road...the galley was decorated...and at the Exchange entrance you could always smell the long row of Christmas trees desperately waiting for someone to buy them. (What a contrast to being in Okinawa where people anticipate the moment live trees arrive for purchase like it's Black Friday!) The most impressive was the huge Christmas tree and a series of various light displays saturating a little hill.

We didn't have a tree this year, but this ginormous one will do!Leyna was so excited, she did a lil song n dance about the biggest Christmas tree she's ever seen.
...followed by running around the tree touching all the ornaments. They were larger than her head!

Christmas Eve was spent hanging with Danno's co-workers. It was a nice get together with food, the classic gift-exchange, and some carolers to sing along with. They had an entertaining GTMO version of the 12 days of Christmas Song that included "...5 bananaa raaats...!" And some group pics with the decked out jeep sealed the night. We know Leyna's highlight was chasing around the boss' dogs.

Christmas morning we wanted to give Leyna something to open. We tried to keep it to 'packing-friendly' gifts. It's much more fun watching her open presents this time around...especially how she constantly "wow's" at everything....more Christmas fun to follow...