July 2011...

Excuse me for my absence, I know I've been gone forever...I'm trying to play catch up now, so of course there's going to be some pretty lengthy posts ahead! I am finally on a blogging kick so hopefully within the next week I will be all caught up, and finally have some pictures of Natalie on here!! (So sorry for being gone so long!) I am just going to post all the pictures I took for each month I've been gone...so get ready!! Here' July:

July has of course come and gone already, but boy what a month it was!! Brian and his team were gone literally half the month, but they also had the All Star Break in July which meant he got 5 whole days home to be with us, so that made up for all his road trips!

We had sort of a rough start to July...Hand Foot and Mouth disease was going around Japan and of course we got it, right after the 4th of July. Well, Brooke and I got it to be exact. It was awful, I swear it lasted forever, we had sores all over our hands, feet and in our throats, we were miserable! I am already OCD about cleaning too, and this just made it worse, I was so worried about passing it on to Brian and Austin I went on a cleaning/scrubbing rampage and scoured the apartment everyday to make sure they didn't get it too! We didn't leave the apartment for days either, as to not give it to anyone else, we had serious cabin fever! All the other American families on Brian's team got it too, so we were just one happy bunch!

Once that went away and we were back to normal, we just spent the days trying to beat the heat and humidity that comes with the summers here. Thankfully, it wasn't nearly as hot as last summer (last summer set a record in Japan!), but it was still pretty darn hot. I guess I picked a better summer to be super pregnant though! We also had a lot more rain here this summer, Japan got more Typhoons this year, so not only was it hot and humid, but we had lots of rain too...it was a weird summer for weather!

Brian actually got the All Star Break off this year, so we finally got to enjoy a few days off in a row together as a family! We thought about going somewhere, but decided to just stay home and enjoy some fun days in Fukuoka! We hit the beach, the park, the city, enjoyed cooking dinner together and played with the kids, it was heaven!!

Well here's July...enjoy!

Cooling off in the water by the library!

Nothing better than a blow up pool to help beat the heat!

Austin and Brooke love the water table we got for them at costco!

Love when they actually share, how cute are they!

Rehydrating after a walk to the beach with some Japanese Gatorade!

This girl LOVES her rain boots...even on a hot summer's day!

She's got the posing thing down!

Loving the bounce house land at the mall!

Austin chasing after Brady!

Brady, Austin and Brooke shooting some hoops!

Hanging out at our local park...

Austin never leaves home without his bat!

Austin being goofy in Brooke's highchair!

We took advantage of any water we passed to cool off in this summer! This was a water feature on the way to our grocery store!

I don't know how she sleeps like this!

Lounging and enjoying popcicles on our patio!

Golfing inside.

Brooke is always making a mess at the dinner table!

A float designed for the Softbank Hawks baseball team for a festival!

Hanging out at the baseball stadium!

Getting dinner with Dad!

Thinking she's cool for being able to fit in her doll stroller!

Oh these two!!

Beach day with the Houlton's!

Tessa, Austin and Brooke

Being goofy.

Playing catch...it's all he ever wants to do!

Austin loves making diving catches!

Nothing like snow cones on a hot day!

Getting some exercise in at the school playground by our apartment!

The local elementary school.

Those are our apartments in the background!

Dressing her dolls...you would think she would dress herself too!

Checking out dad's computer!

Running through the halls at the Yahoo Dome at Daddy's game!

GO HAWKS!

We basically live at the baseball field during the season! Here's the kids having fun in the family room at the field waiting for Brian after the game!

Totally misbehaving in the family room!

Not sure how, but went in to wake Brooke up in the morning and she had one silver sandal on her foot!

She LOVES her purse!

Out exploring with Dad!

Getting ready to take a nap...she laid out all of her tools on her babies blanket so they would be comfortable!

A night on the beach for some BBQ!

Brooke flirting with the local boys!

Seeing how far they can throw their rocks!

Our park!

Cooking some dinner at the Big Banana on the beach!! They bring you a bunch of meat and veggies and you cook it all at your table! Delicious and fun!

Playing on the beach after dinner!

Brian and Austin, my boys!

Austin and Harry the Hawk!

Brooke and Tessa watching the festivities on the field after the game!

Brooke being Brooke. Dressing up with the items they have on display from the team store in the family room!

Playing with all the Harry's and Honey's (the Softbank Hawk team mascots!)

Austin ALWAYS plays baseball after the baseball game is over and we are waiting for Brian!

Brooke waving to the fans in the player parking lot area!

Daddy's number one fans!

Brooke high fiving a fan at the game!

Too cute, cuddling with Dad ;)

Brooke, Tessa and Austin watching the balloons getting released into the sky from a wedding taking place by the beach!

They get SO excited when the balloons go into the air!

Brooke and Brady racing the boat at the big banana!

Sharing smoothies!

So that was July!!!!