It's been a very interesting past few weeks for us here. Out of the last 35 days, we have only seen Brian 6 days. 17 of those days, Brian was back in the States, and we were here in Japan, basically flip flopping from when I spent all those months back in the US and he was here!!! We keep joking about why on earth we came out here, we've hardly seen each other the past month!!!
It all started when Brian and his team went on a ten day road trip. Then the first game they had back here, Brian pitched 2 innings and felt something was not right with his elbow. He tweaked it bad enough that the team felt it was best for him to fly back to LA to have the doctors there do some tests and see what exactly was going on. We had to make a decision if the kids and I were to go with him and stay home for the rest of the baseball season, (as we have no more tickets to fly back here), or do we stay put in Japan, and hope for the best with Brian's arm and that he will be back soon.
The optimist in us came out, and we decided to stay here, hoping Brian didn't do anything too serious and would be back to finish the season here. Thus the start of 17 days without him, and us by ourselves in a foreign country!! It really wasn't that bad, for once Brian got to LA and had an MRI, they discovered he definitely did not need surgery and a short stint of therapy would probably do the trick. Brian then headed off to Phoenix to start therapy at a place there and the lucky duck, he even got to stay at our home and see some of our family and good friends!!
While Brian was off working on his arm, the kids and I tried our best to keep ourselves busy so we didn't have to think about how much we missed him. At that point we didn't know how long he was going to need therapy, so we waited day after day, not knowing when he was coming back!! We knew he was coming back, just not when!! We didn't go home, for we knew we couldn't come back, and the time left in the season was a lot longer than the time it took Brian to rehab. It was tough, but we got through it, with the help of the only other 2 american girls here (there are only 3 of us left!), and a lot of time spent playing with the kids ;)
Brian finally got back here a few days ago, and it was SO incredibly amazing to see him and have him back here with us!!! I wish all of you could have seen the joy and enthusiasm radiating off of Austin as he jumped up and down screaming "Dadda!! Dadda!!" and the tears in my eyes the first night we saw him again. It was the best ;) Brian is back with the team pitching again, and of course, we only get him for 3 days, before he is off on another road trip!!! Gotta love baseball!!!
So, what does one do with 2 kids in a foreign country all by themselves for so long (besides want to rip their hair out some days they are so exhausted, lol!)?! I know this is going to be the longest post of pictures you have ever seen (I'm not kidding, there are over 90!!!), but as I am making this into our family scrapbook, I wanted to remember all that we did...mostly keeping busy at the park, the beach, taking walks and entertaining ourselves in our apartment...but we had a lot of fun together, and survived!!! So here are literally a bazillion pictures of what we did, feel free to scroll through them...or not, I totally understand (I mean who seriously posts this many pictures?!! but you all should know by now, I am not good at editing photos!) And so it begins...
We spent a lot of time hanging out and playing in this water fountain/stream that runs in front of the public library here, it is the perfect place for Austin to run around and keep cool with all the other kids on the hot days here!
Austin initiating a water fight with the Japanese kids...Bring it on!!
Taking a break to smell the flowers...or rather pick a bunch of them and watch them float down the stream!
Keeping cool on a hot summer day!
Making friends :)
Taking in the world...
...and loving every minute of it!
We spent a lot of our time here, at the park having mountains of fun!
Brooke loves her excersaucer!!
We also spent a lot of time just veggin out! Austin found himself a cool new recliner, perfect for enjoying a snack and kickin back!
...ahh, this is the life!
Picnic in the living room!
We also did a lot of this...Brooke trying to help Austin play with his trains! (When Brooke got "too" close to his trains, Austin would yell, "No, Booke, my choo choo trains!" It's pretty funny!)
We smiled a lot!
We went to visit Daddy's stadium and even went to a game to cheer them on!
We admired our big brother...
...and laughed a lot too!
We prepared for football season...
...and tried our hardest to make funny faces to entertain Brookie...
...and it always worked, she laughed everytime!
We went on lots of walks and loved exploring...
...and played lots of peek-a-boo and showed off our battle wounds from the park (see elbow!)...
...we got brave and started climbing things...
...and jumped up and down to celebrate when we did it!
we spent lots of time kicking balls at the park...
...scoring goals...
...and climbing rocks...
...and being really brave and jumping of those rocks!
We loved being out in the sunshine...
...blowing bubbles...
...and being silly!
At the library fountains again...we made lots of friends running around in the water here!
We showed off our new haircut...(the best barber shop ever, they let Austin sit on my lap while they cut his hair and entertained him the entire time with toys and even danced for him to get him to sit still!! It was seriously the best!)
...we enjoyed so down time...
...which never lasted too long!!!
We were very happy...
...and smiled a lot for mom!
We spent lots of night goofing around in the apartment...
playing all sorts of games...
...and cracking each other up!
We got all dolled up for our outings!
And just melted mom's heart with our smiles...
We chewed on lots of toys...
...and grabbed lots of toes...
...and worked on sitting up all on our own!!
More walks than we count...
Austin politely telling me enough with the camera already!!!
More trips to the park...
...to run free...
...and climb high!
We tried to be a big helper and push the stroller!
We explored cool tunnels...
...and marched towards tall towers!
We smiled some more...
...and splashed some more...
...and more...
...and loved every minute of it!
We pondered life while showing off our dimples and guns...
...and all of our ruffles and frills!
We loved just hanging out...
...sharing secrets and telling stories...
...and trying to make each other laugh...
...which always worked!
We took some self portraits with mom (the only way it seems I can get in a picture with my kids!)...
...and practiced standing up, which makes Brooke beam with delight!
We grabbed our toes a lot!
...and ran in water whenever we saw it!
We loved going to the beach and driving cool boats...
...and standing tall like the Fukouka Tower!
We explored the beach...
...finding lots of fun treasures and seashells...
...and took more self portraits!!
We did lots of laundry...
...because of yummy treats we got at the beach!
We snoozed at the beach...
...and drove some really cool cars too!
We tried to crawl, but didn't really get anywhere.
More treats at the beach!
Waving hello from our favorite hangout "The big banana!"
We walked along the beach a lot, it's been so nice out lately!
And played with our good friend Tessa, who's Daddy plays for Softbank too!!
We got better at standing up...
...and we're happy when we got to go venture out!
We made lots and lots of silly faces...
...laughing so hard...
...we had tears in our eyes...
...and couldn't stop!!!
Our delicate little flower...well, not so delicate, she just weighed in at 18lbs 9oz, at 4 1/2 months old!!
More silly faces (A favorite activity of ours!)
And more self portraits of me and Brooke!
Austin having fun climbing walls at the park...
...and sharing a laugh with his new friend!
We spent lots of nights with Brooke just staring at us eating our food...
...so we decided to give her some of her own and she loved it!
And finally, we got to see Daddy again, and it was the best day ever!!!!
It made us so happy!!!
We had so much fun being at his games again...
...back to throwing balls down by the locker rooms waiting for Dad after the game...
...and playing with him when we got home from the game at night!
And just loving having him home again...
We missed you so much Bri, as busy as we were, it wasn't the same without you.
We love you!
4 comments:
Brian is one lucky gal to have such an amazing wife and mother like you Sandy. That must of been a long 17 days.
OMG, that was definitely your longest post ever. Seriously, I thought I was go with the flow, you have far surpassed me. I would have been on the next plane out of Fukoka!!!
Your kids are absolutely adorable and if they are half and wonderful as you, they will turn out okay;-)
Not the same without you here...
I love the pics, adorable! I wish my era was able to do scrap booking on CD's like you girls as the old way was expensive (printing pics, buying paper to be creative...time consuming!). Especially, we love that we get to look at your life everyday anywhere anytime! xoxox :)
Holy cow, that was a long post! you are amazing! Great pics! Your kids are so lucky that you are so fun! and you have an amazing amount of patience! Thanks for sharing! Miss you guys lots!
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