Catching Live Salmon with our HANDS!

So we traveled to the Rokkasado Salmon Festival on Sunday! I was OVERLY excited!!! Since we got here a year ago, I have wanted to go to this festival! You get to catch LIVE salmon with your hands that are swimming around in calf high water! All three of us suited up in our rain boots and went in. Check out the timeline of events:

10:45 - Love waits in line to enter the pool. I talked a BIG (I MEAN BIG) game to everyone around me! There was NO fear in my voice! I couldn't wait to catch my lunch!

11:00 - WHISTLE was blown and salmon catching started! I screamed and froze in the water. I could feel the fish swimming through my legs and around my boots! I turned around to get out the water....I looked at Elijah and he was 'in it to win it'! He was being so brave and sticking BOTH hands in the water! I felt ashamed and turned around to catch a fish for real. I had to take 2 deep breaths and pray silently for strength to get this done! (I AM NOT JOKING!!) I don't like animals of any kinds, let alone live ones that are swimming between my two feet!

11:03 - whistle blown again to stop catching - I had 1 and Eddie had 2. I was sooooo proud of myself! SO, SO, SOOOO proud of myself! Eddie caught one for Elijah....what a good Daddy!

My PROUD catch! I was more proud of myself catching a fish then when I finished grad school! Can you tell with the cheesy smile!?

Eddie's great catch! He caught the biggest one! The Japanese TV stations filmed him!They cut our fish into fillets and one into steaks. Hmmmm okay so I know it was a lot of blood huh? Elijah didn't like this part. He sad he didn't like that the body still moved after the head was chopped off. We had 2 females and 1 male. Both the females had sacks of eggs. There were LINES of Japanese people that wanted our eggs....we gladly gave them away. It's a Japanese delicacy. Elijah tried some of the eggs and said they were good. Eddie and I have had them before...they were a bit salty for us.

1:00 pm lunchtime! Now that is a FRESH catch! D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S! This was the freshest fish we ever had! Can't wait til next year! We would love to bring any and all visitors down for some salmon catching fun if you are in town during the festival.

Mohawk?

So for 2 months Elijah has asked for a mohawk!

We figured ...'whatever'.......he can have one, honestly there are so many more important battles to fight --- we let him have it.

So when he looked in the mirror for the first time he frowned and asked for it to be cut like normal??? This is his embarrassed look:)
YEEEESSSS!! Victory on our parts! Eddie finished cutting his hair and I am pretty sure he won't want another mohawk cut!

Superwoman?....I am NOT!

Okay so I know I have totally slacked on the blogging lately. You must be thinking:
1. What's up?
2. She is in Misawa.......How busy could she possibly be?

I know, I know it seems like I and the whole family have been in 6th gear for the past 2 weeks. So after talking to Eddie about me not being superwoman -- mind you he has NEVER expected me to be....perhaps it was false expectations I had on myself?? hmmmm

Could that be some residual Christian guilt?

Anyway we decided to get a mamasan. Basically a Japanese housekeeper. She will come once a week and stay all day. I will see how it works out next week. This would be such a help to me:) Just think of all the time that just got freed up because I don't have to scrub a toilet, shower walls, change sheets, wash or fold clothes! YEAH -- More family time!

I NEVER thought I would be one to get a housekeeper either! Whew I just don't know how MY MOM did it with 6 girls, husband in the military and she worked! Hats off to you Mom!

Training for our Jr. Fire Marshall

This week was Fire Prevention Week on base. There was a base Fire and Rescue Parade and plenty of demonstrations for Elijah to want to become a fire fighter when he grows up. Here are some pics of our experiences today.

Getting dressed to 'fight a fire!' Just the right size!




Fire prevention parade...yes they threw out TONS of candy! No need for Halloween -- he collected about 80 pieces! I am NOT exaggerating!

NEW KICKS!

Eddie has been on this kick to buy Jordans for himself lately. I don't understand ... I mean the man has been retired for awhile now? Hmmm I guess he feels the same way about my purse fetish huh? Ohhh sorry I digress!

Today I brought home Elijah's first pair of Jordans. He was too excited. He asked me to take a picture of his new shoes and put it on the blog. I am pretty sure no one cares...but he asked me to do it.

voluntary nap time

This weekend we went out for a family outing. We went to Veedol Beach. It's about 20 minutes from the base. It's the site of the first trans-Pacific flight. So there is a model of the airplane that was flown, a huge tower to walk up and of course miles of open beach space.

Elijah jumped out the truck and watched a group of Japanese men fly model planes high in the air and do tricks. I have to admit it was pretty cool!

Then he drew pictures of Naruto (Japanese cartoon character) in the sand.

Afterwards, we walked out on the peir .......... Elijah was very hesitant, but he mustarded through it.

Finally we walked up the stairs of the lookout tower. So we went home, ate pizza and of course Eddie and I took a nap. Elijah was playing in his room. We asked him if he was tired. (Come on .....what were we thinking.......he has never said yes!)

I woke up 45 minutes later to COMPLETE silence in the house! Please understand that Elijah does not do silence in ANY form! He loves to make noise. I walked in his room and I found him asleep! Wow, I was shocked that he voluntarily took a nap. Right after I snapped the picture he opened his eyes and was ready to play again.

.....complete concentration

Our lil guy is a very INTENSE person. When he does something he REALLY focuses on it with everything he's got! Tonight we watched The Blue Men group on TV.

He said that is what he wants to do when he grows up.

He is fascinated with music just like his Daddy and Grandpa!

....TAG?

Okay so I got tagged by Kim....the only thing is I only know like 5 people that blog (Kim knows all 5) so I guess I can't keep it going huh?

The rules are:~Post the rules on your blog~Write 6 random things about yourself~Tag 6 people at the end of your post~If you are tagged, just do it, and pass the tag along!

1) I am deathly afraid of cockroaches! DEATHLY! I mean I will run and scream....start sweating and let the ugly thing have the whole room! They are GROSS!

2) I am a bit OCD about organization in my life. I have recently begin to realize that everyone doesn't have their closets organized with like items and then place them dark to light in order. I guess everyone doesn't iron out their work outfits for the week on Sunday evening huh?

3) I love massages! I love pedicures and manicures...heck I just love being pampered!

4) I struggle with listening to doctors when they tell me not to workout and give my body a rest......umm like when I am sick or something?

5) Gosh these 6 things are difficult! I enjoy learning about different cultures. It's pretty interesting to me to learn the customs and courtesies of other people.

6) I think I had an incredible childhood - I was able to live abroad and do a lot of traveling.

Okay that's about it!

1. Jaime
2.KT
3.Jenn
4. Nayibe

and that's about all the people I know that actually blog.....super sad!