Birthday party

Okay, I am seriously loving this new camera and I haven't even begun to explore all of it's capabilities!  So far it is really impressing me!  There are too many pictures to post!

This afternoon we celebrated Carter's 1st birthday!  Carter is the son of one of my good friends here on Rokko Island, Kiley, and we went over to their house for the party.  It was a bug themed party and Callie really loved looking at all the butterflies and playing with all the bugs around the house :)  She even dressed the part with ladybugs on her dress and a bee on her hair clip :)  We played with sidewalk chalk, cars, trains, played games, and even had a great time in the sand.  Carter loved his birthday cupcake and the adults enjoyed some good food, laughs and a couple of Chu-hies (Japanese drink) :)    

Callie playing with the flowers from the beanbag game

Callie with her new BFF Andrea :)  Lately Callie has really been into hanging out with the other Mommies.  While Carter opened presents she cried very time Andrea got up, to chase her own two children :)

The proud parents!!

Carter really enjoying his cupcake :)

Callie didn't really like the cupcake until I ate it and gave her the empty wrapper.  Then she went to town!

Yummy!!

Feeding her new frog friend a treat 

Playing in the sand box.  Callie loved this, and even after all the other kids got bored and came back inside, she stayed and played by herself!

New camera!

I am finally starting to get the new camera figured out!!  Callie was quite the subject this morning and afternoon, providing some pretty funny picture taking opportunities . . .

Callie found this new hooded towel in her laundry and insisted on wearing it while she played this morning . . .

I don't know how she can see with it on her head . . .

Still playing with the towel.  I don't know if I will ever understand her fascination . . .

Eating breakfast with the cow towel . . .

At lunch time we moved on from towels on our heads to bags . . . (if you look close, the cow is still hanging over her high chair, she did not want it moved)

She wanted me to have a turn :)

Happy 4th of July!

Well, our July 4th is winding down to a close here in Japan.  This holiday always makes me miss home, even if we weren't in a different country . . .  Wish I could be at the beach having a BBQ while Robbie and Colin shoot fireworks at each other (or Robbie just shoots them at random women :) ).  Or just hanging out with family celebrating a great summer day.  So, needless to say we didn't do too much celebrating today, but Callie did have a great Red, White and Blue shirt on :)  We played with the water fountain at the park and fed and chased birds with Daddy in the morning, then after nap we swam and played with Caden.  

Loving the water fountain!

Trying to figure out how to turn it on herself :)

Feeding birds with Daddy

Saying "cheese" for the camera

We also had a great road trip with Scott earlier in the week.  We traveled to Nagoya which is about a one hour ride on the bullet train.  Callie did pretty well on the train and seemed to really enjoy herself the whole trip.  We had adjoining hotel rooms and it was great!  Scott and I didn't have to tip-toe around and whisper because Callie was sleeping next door.  There was also a great park pretty close to the hotel and Callie and I had some great fun playing there one day while Scott was at the field.  We didn't go to any games, mostly because the Nagoya Dome has a history of being way too warm and I didn't want to hold a squirmy, sweaty child the whole game :)  It was a great trip and fun to get away from our normal routine on Rokko Island for a couple of days.

Callie loved laying on the pillows on the bed.  Here she is enjoying some morning cartoons with Daddy before breakfast :)

Go, Go, Go

Callie has been very go, go, go for the past week.  She is walking and running (with our help of course) everywhere we go.  She especially likes to chase after Caden and any bird or dog that she sees outside.  Lately she has been very interested in using her walker and pushing her little grocery cart, which is very exciting.  She can pull herself up in the walker and turn around to walk all on her own.  When she first started using the walker I had to hold her hips and push the walker for her, now I have to hold it back because she goes so fast!  

This picture is from the first day she got the walker back in March.  I don't have any recent photos since she moves too fast for me to take any :)

Pushing her grocery cart :)

We haven't been doing anything else too exciting.  Just lots of playing in the water and trying to stay cool.  My camera is still broken and my mom is sending the new one I purchased on Monday so hopefully I will have some new photos soon :)

We are going on the road with Scott in a couple of days to Nagoya so that should be exciting.  It's only about a one hour ride on the bullet train so hopefully Callie doesn't get too bored.  We hear there is an aquarium close by so we will definitely be visiting that.

Cute video

Not much has been going on.  Scott left for a road trip yesterday and it rained all day today.  I also have sad news to report, my camera is broken :(  It's very sad and also makes blogging kind of boring.  My Japanese cell phone has a pretty decent camera on it so I have been using it, but it's just not the same.  I'll definitely be doing some online shopping for a new one.  I'm thinking of getting an SLR camera, any suggestions?  

So, since there are no pics, here is a video of Callie dancing away when my parents were visiting.  Enjoy!

Goofy day

Callie had quite the goofy day yesterday.  We were out for most of the morning walking around the local flee market, playing at the park, checking out the dogs at the dog park and walking along the River Mall looking for fishies.  There are no fish in the small "river" that runs through Rokko Island.  It's water that is about 2 ft. deep at it's deepest that runs down a concrete path, but Callie insists that there are fish in it :)  

When we came back inside to get lunch ready Callie was pretty hot and dirty so I stripped her down to her diaper, but a big towel on the kitchen floor and gave her a large pot with soapy water.  This was a suggestion from a Mommy friend and it kept Callie occupied for quite a while, while cleaning her arms and hands too :)  In fact, she really didn't want to stop playing, even to eat!  At first I gave her a spoon to play with in the water but she kept dipping it in and then drinking the soapy water.  So I gave her a cup thinking she would put the spoon in the cup . . .  She ended up filling up the cup and then dumping it all over her belly and giggling.  She was having too much fun!

Playing in the water

Once lunch was ready I scooped her up in a big towel, dried her off, put on clothes and then we sat down to lunch.  She kept talking about her hat before she would eat and I had no clue what she meant until I realized that she wanted the hooded towel I had used to dry her off.  She sat for most of her lunch with her towel "hat" on.  What a goof ball!!

Callie and her towel "hat"

Apparently the hat fascination didn't wear off once she woke up from her nap.  We were getting ready to go outside and play with some friends.  I had my sun hat on while I was trying to put on Callie's shoes and she kept asking for it.  She had so much fun wearing the hat and even started posing with it when I was taking her picture.

Having fun with Mommy's hat

Posing for the camera :)

What's really funny about the whole hat thing is that ever since her Doc Band came off she has put up a huge fight when I try to put a hat on her.  It gets so sunny here in the summer and she is so fair I was worried she was going to end up with a sunburnt head for most of the summer.  Hopefully she continues to love hats :)

Callie vs. the Laundry Basket

I got one of those small pop-up laundry baskets the other day and Callie had quite the time playig with it . . .

Inside the laundry basket

How do I get out of this thing???

Starting to figure it out . . .

Finally sitting up straight.

Get this stupid thing off of me!!

Going in for more!

Rats, I got stuck again!

Showing the basket who's boss!