Risa's Pieces

Birthday Boy

The Marcster is another year older and still looks like the 22 year old I married.  Unfair!  One of the teachers I worked with was telling me how sweet she thought my husband was.  Then she added that he looks like he's fourteen.  Grrrr. 

 

We went back to the sushi-go-round so Marcus could experiment some more.

 

This time it was squid.

 

I had to rub his age in and made sure he had 36 candles on his cake to blow out. The girls stopped, dropped and rolled after he blew out the candles and a huge cloud of smoke lingered in the living room.  We didn't have to rush the to the hospital to clear their lungs though, instead we opened a window so the fire alarm won't go off.

I plan on putting candles on his cake every year, even when he's 86.  I'll just have to buy a bigger cake I guess.

 

Tomorrow is a big day for us, we're taking a trip back to the states.  I'm so nervous about going to sleep, afraid I won't wake up in time to get ready to make the flight.  I might just stay awake all night.  Maybe.

 

Dad's Day

Because it was Marcus' special day, we let him decide what he wanted to do.  He opted to go the Churaumi Aquarium (because he knew the girls really wanted to go - he's so sweet). 

We were greeted with fishy smiles.

 

After the aquarium, we headed to Pizza in the Sky to get... pizza! And well, salad too.

 

Caitlin got the bill. 

 

With money Marcus handed to her.

And just one of the reasons he's a super Dad,

 

he saves us from those huge, terrifying, nasty bugs.  Our Hero!

Caitlin's Birthday

Caitlin hit the big 8 yesterday.  Man, she's getting old.  We celebrated by going to Round 1 to play. I think it's the place that gives a little joy to everyone. All of us had fun, each in our own way.

 

 

 

For me, it was the massage chair.  Nice.  Marcus and I plan on having our next date there.  He beat me at pint-pong and I have to even the score.

Caitlin got to pick out where she wanted to eat.  She has expensive taste and requested Four Seasons so she could get some of the delicious Kobe beef.  She decided months ago (I think around Christmas) that the Four Seasons is where she wanted to go to eat her birthday dinner and the Kobe steak would be what she ordered.  As much as she wanted the Kobe, she filled up on pasta and could only eat a few pieces of the steak. But her Mommy taught her how to share and we were all able to get a piece of the melt in your mouth meat.

 

Then home for cake and presents. 

 

When we get to the states, she'll get another birthday party.  This one will be the surprise birthday party at Grandmommy and Grand-daddy's like she requested. 

School's Out!

Last year, I kind of dreaded school getting out.  I wondered how I would entertain the kids, if I would have to listen to a lot of arguing over who had what Little Pet Shop or whose turn it was to turn off the light.  This year, nothing but excitement pumping through my veins. I'm not waiting for the phone to ring to see if I'm going to work that day. I have time to do the stuff I need and want to do.  I even have plans for the kids, on top of a trip to the states.

On our busy last day of school, we attended Chloe's fifth grade award ceremony.  We. Are. Proud.

 

She received the Principal's Honor Roll for getting straight A's all year.  The other kid who made it (who happened to be Chloe's crush) had PCS-ed already.  Chloe and the principal kicked up their legs in celebration.

She also received the President's Education Award for Outstanding Academic Excellence. 

 

At every award ceremony, the principal has the children turn around to say thank you to the parents for their support.  Since, some of the parents can't be there, they've been instructed to yell Thank You at the top of their lungs so their parents can hear them no matter where they are.  It gets pretty loud.

Caitlin had exciting news too.  She lost one of her top teeth and has an adorable smile now.  That tooth has been hanging by a thread for a least a month but she finally got it out when she bit Chloe's butt.  No.  We do not condone butt biting.  Yes.  Chloe has buns of steel.

We also found out the Caitlin will be in the gifted education program next year. 

To celebrate the wonderful events of the day, we let the girls pick where they wanted to go for dinner.  They picked an cook-it-yourself (CIY) restaurant we had visited before with friends.

 

  It seemed like it took forever for us to cook the food, maybe that's because we were starving, but it turned out pretty good. 

 

Our first weekend out of school was jammed packed with sleepovers, bowling parties, birthday parties and we even squeezed in a movie.  Ahhh, summer is so relaxing.

Barrel of Monkeys

We're probably the last ones to make it to Tonneau, the Barrel Restaurant, but at last I can say we went.
 

 

There must be something about eating in a barrel that makes you act silly.  My girls decided to act like goofy monkeys.

 

The restaurant even fed them monkey food, bananas drizzled with chocolate.  What monkey doesn't love chocolate to help them be even more hyper.

 

They did get some greens, soy  beans that they popped into their mouths. I can't take them anywhere.  Thankfully, it wasn't too crowded so not to many people witnessed their loony behavior.

 

The sushi was huge, definitely two biters or stuff your mouth and not talk for the next four minutes while you chew.  Me, I prefer the bite sized sushi.  The two biters always fall apart and make a mess that usually lands in my lap.

 

The cucumber rolls, those are bite sized, were presented so pretty like.

 

The atmosphere was splendid.  The food was okay and the service was ... all right, but I still haven't found any place for Japanese that I like more than Kitakaisen.