Camp Rock!!!

Well, another sign that we're big girls....Disney has been showing previews for "Camp Rock" for at least a month now. I promised that on August 1st, the girls could stay up past their 8:00 bedtime and watch it. We bought special treats to eat and pop!!! They don't get pop very often, especially at bedtime. Things are very exciting right now!!! They are really only interested in the music, but still, tonight is BIG I tell you :)

Sophie and Gracie's Photo Shoot

The girls wanted to do the modeling for the Mode Gakuen. It was a wonderful opportunity, in that I talked to them about making a commitment to someone or something, and the importance of following through.

Gracie didn't like the time it took for the assignments, but she stuck with it. She did the practice session, but the photo shoot took most of the day (about 6 hours), which is way too long for a 5 year-old. She decided she didn't want to do it anymore, which was OK with me. The students at the school emailed me that they needed to redo the shoot, so I told them Sophie would do it instead. They were much faster this time, and Sophie loved everyone doting over her. She really did a great job!

Things you don't want to hear from your 5 year-olds

I could write a book listing the things you don't want to hear your 5 year-old say, but here's what happened today.

Today is dress-up day at the Glenn House. Gracie and Izzy had on cheerleader outfits/pom-poms. After showing me the cheer they made up, they head downstairs. Gracie says, "Let's go play Kim Possible!" Izzy says, "Wait, we have to get on each other's shoulders first!" Mom says, "No!!! You do not get on each other's shoulders!!" As I'm typing this, Izzy comes to me hurt - apparently, she fell off of Gracie....hmmmmm, wonder what they were doing?

WOW!

Thanks to my wonderful wife who stayed home with the sick kiddos I got to kiteboard for the first time!

Over the last 2 years I have tried several times to take lessons but kept having problems finding an opening that fit my schedule or the weather and finally the language. About 6 weeks ago everything finally lined up and I was able to take kiteboarding lessons. Wasn't able to actually ride but learned the basics. I went to the river a couple times after that but the wind was not good enough for me to actually try to ride but I praticed flying and re-launching the kite. Re-launching is a nice way to say the darn thing kept falling out of the sky!

Yesterday the wind was great and I was able to actually RIDE! It was a great day!

The pictures are small but if you click on them you get a larger picture.


This is the sandbar on the river where I go to, when the river level changes this whole area is a couple feet underwater. I know the tide changes the water level but there is also something else because in 5 hours I watched this place go from beach to 2 feet under water and then back to beach.






This is one of the guys I have met there, everyone there have been very nice and helpful.

Our new family members

A couple of weeks ago we went camping at Araragi. We were hoping to find some beetles. The sweet man who runs the camp, went and found several beetles for the girls. We ended up bringing 4 small beetles home, and "Missy" (who I think is a boy). He has quite the personality. He tries to act all big and bad, but the girls just scoop him up anyway. I guess I might have a bad attitude too, if I were a guy named "Missy." Anyway, here are some pictures:

We left the snake and fire-belly newt (salamander) we caught. We did also bring home 3 different kinds of caterpillars. One died, but the other two made cocoons.

The next picture is of "Claws." Sam brought her home from kiteboarding. I believe she is a fiddler crab, and she seems to be doing really well. We are feeding her flaked salmon, and she is very active :) Sophie donated her My Little Pony house for Claws to live in.

That's all for now. I will be trying to catch up on sharing our latest adventures

Love,

~Michelle

Update on Sophie

Dr. Sasake took her off the Amoxicillin, and told me to continue with the Benadryl. I went ahead and gave her the pink eye antibiotics (eye drops). I went to check on the girls at about 9:30, and noticed Sophie scratching in her sleep. She had hives all over her again, and her face was swollen. I gave her Benadryl and applied Cortisone again, and she is sleeping peacefully. I will be giving her Benadryl every 4 hours just to make sure. What a scary afternoon :(

Will the "sickies" ever go away!?!

I took the Girls to the doctor yesterday. Gracie tested positive for strep (I almost didn't take her), and Izzy and Sophie were both "iffy." All three have tonsillitis AGAIN. Fortunately, he put all three on antibiotics. Sophie also got drops for her horrible pink eye, and Gracie got some ointment with steroids and antibiotic for her flaring eczema. We have been fighting the tonsillitis since we got back to Japan in May - one of them always has a red, sore throat.

Today, the girls and I went out to get some cold medicine for their cough. Sophie kept telling me she was itchy. I told her I would give her some Benadryl when we got home. When we got home I checked her itchy spots, and the poor baby had hives all over. I shoved a Benadryl down her and put cortisone on the patches. All I can figure is she is allergic to the Amoxicillin :( So, after researching it, I called Dr. Sasake in a panic. I didn't want to give her anymore at bedtime, in case she has a worse reaction - not good with her asthma. I'm also worried about the reaction getting worse, although she seems to already be much better. So, we are off to Dr. Sasake's in an hour. They are always wonderful in getting us in very quickly, and they can usually understand me. It can be scary to be in a foreign country with a sick child and not be able to communicate effectively :)

Poor Sam, we had all these big plans for his week off, but at least he's been able to go kiteboarding. He is planning on blogging about his experience :) I can't wait to see the pictures. I am worried because he has started coughing now. What are the odds we gave him something?

Hopefully, we will get them well by the time school starts. I'm starting to feel like a horrible mother :(

Love to you all, and thanks for letting me hang out on the pity pot.

We're still here :)

Sorry we haven't blogged in awhile. I have a ton of pictures and stories to share! Thank you to those of you who have been checking the blog!

We stay so busy, but love it! When we do get a day off, I have to clean house and sneak in a nap ;)

Sam is on natsu yasumi (summer vacation) this week, so we will be running all week probably.

Sophie is sick again - pink eye and tonsillitis.

I promise to write more and post pics! Love you all!

~Michelle

Metaphor of Motherhood

I was asked to write a metaphor of my life before children and after. I came up with:

The 7-year drought and The perfect storm. It took me 7, long years to get pregnant, and it has been the most perfect storm since :)

I know I keep saying it, but, what a week!

Sophie "Bear" is living up to her name. She used to be a Snuggle bear, but lately, she's been a Grizzly. Poor baby has been sick since we got back from home leave. I checked her mouth this morning, and she still has blisters, red throat, and patches of assorted colors. She has been diagnosed with tonsillitis, stomatitis, and now, oral herpes (lovely, I know). I honestly don't know what to think at this point. I am thankful that the other two haven't gotten whatever "it" is.

We went today for the girls' modeling assignment. They were asked to be hair/makeup models by a couple of students from the Mode Gakuen. We met them last week. The girls committed to doing it, so today was "practice," Gracie volunteered to be first, so she was "foofed" for a couple of hours. Sunday, we will meet the girls and do the photo shoot. It is definately, like most things we've experienced so far, not what we were expecting, but they all had a great time. I was amazed at the art the students create with hair and makeup. Most of all, I was amazed that our girls sat there so patient and well-behaved, especially Gracie! We had a talk about how people were "counting" on them and what a special responsibility that is. I was ever so so proud of my little ladies today. Sophie is SOOOO excited about getting to go next. Izzy was her usual, "whatever.." Ok, keep in mind, the hair and makeup reminds me of what you would see on the "runway." The photos I took just don't do the colors and itricacy justice. Just about everything the students create is done by hand. The pictures of the finished product will go into their portfolios. The "flower" is an American, who interprets for us. She is so kind to meet us at Nagoya Station and take us to the School. She arrived in September, and is exceptionally fluent in Japanese already. She said she was an exchange student in high school. She is now going to university here - no family, etc,...Quite amazing! Thanks, Katy!!

Your Category: Things you might see in a Japanese pet store

Actually, it's a pet store/plant store, but whatever you call it, the girls and I LOVE to go and look at all the cool stuff :)

Back to the game....see how many of these you could guess:

1. dogs ($800-1,500 US dollars)

2. cats ($800-1,000 US dollars)

3. rabbits (I believe these were around $200)

4. guinea pigs

5. What I believe was a hairless guinea pig (at first I thought it was a baby pig)

6. hamsters

7. gerbils, rats, and mice (with or without hair and tails)

8. birds (every kind imaginable, including babies without their feathers yet - I'm starting to see a trend here)

9. lizards and frogs (again, every kind imaginable - I didn't see ANY snakes :) )

10. beetles

11. tortoises and turtles (Izzy wants one really bad)

12. chinchillas

13. ferrets ($300 and, no, that doesn't include the cage - Izzy wants one of these, too)

14. ducks (just your plain-white-with-orange-beaks ducks - Sophie wants one)

15. A monkey ($5,500 - he was really cute)

16. chipmunks (yep, Chip 'N Dale are big here)

17. What I believe were squirrels (you NEVER see squirrels here, so maybe someone has figured out a market for them)

18. Fish (including salt water, tropical, stingrays, puffer fish, lion fish, shrimp) I have to say, though, we can get a nice goldfish for $1 - 5.00

And, the biggest surprise of all, we made it out of the store without any bites !!!

Remind me to tell you all about Gracie getting bitten by the goat.....
~Michelle

camping pictures

I thought we had some narrow roads in Nagoya until we went to the mountains!


A suburban it's not.


The tent is up where is diner?

The stream behind our camp site.

Izzy wasn't too crazy about the bridge either :)
Our camp stove, the small can of gas loads in on the side and we have fajitas!

Prayers for our dad and Pa Pa Hoyt

Dad, aka, Pa Pa Hoyt, is having some dizzy spells. Mom took him to the doctor, and they believe it is blood-pressure related. They are planning on doing MRIs to try and figure it out. Mom said they think that the disease (Dementia) has possibly affected the part of the brain that controls blood pressure. Please keep him in your prayers. We are praying that the doctors can pinpoint the cause of the problem and fix it with medication. He means the WORLD to us all, so please pray for answers for this health concern.

Thanks for remembering our special ones in your prayers!
~Michelle

Our First Real Camping Trip

Last weekend, we went to the mountains, way up in the mountains, to Araragi (ah-dah-dah-gee). It was an amazing adventure! We only stayed one night, as this was a trial run for future trips.

We were the only idiots, I mean people, BRAVE enough to go camping in the rain, with three, five year-olds :)

The first afternoon/night we were there it rained, and rained, and rained. We were very, very cold throughout the night - not the girls :) I will be buying a down comforter to take on our next trip. Sophie's asthma was really bad, so she coughed all night and had to have a treatment. She and I sat right outside the tent, next to the plug-in, at three in the morning, and I watched for bears.

Sam bought me the coolest little grill (thanks Todd and Tim), and I cooked beef fajitas for dinner, and we ate the rest the next day for lunch.

Sunday, was beautiful. It was dry enough to have a fire, and the girls roasted and ate a whole bag of marshmallows. It warmed up, but not hot, just nice. We went for a short hike, which involved me walking over a suspension bridge. I'm not crazy about heights when there is very little around me, but I did it! :) We spent a lot of time fighting the bugs, Sunday.

The owners were so sweet to us! The husband brought the four girls umbrellas, and brought Sam a "kasa," which is the traditional style hat. "Kasa" means umbrella, which is what the hat resembles. On Sunday, the wife had a "presento" for the girls - a children's book with the katakana and hiragana characters. When we checked out, they gave each of the girls a little hat "kasa-style." We bought a souvenir "kasa" just to remind us of our wonderful time!

Despite the rain, cold, and bugs, we had an awesome time as a family! We are all looking forward to another expedition!

Prayer Request

I really appreciate those of you who read and pray for those special in our lives.

My dear friend Cindy's sister is having some pretty major medical procedures/problems. Please keep Sonia in your prayers. We are praying for answers and healing.

Malorrie has been "checked" ( lumbar puncture) again, and she is still in remission!! This is wonderful news! She still has so much to go through, but she and her family are so strong. She will graduate this month. How amazing a young woman to fight cancer and finish her requirements to graduate! I'm pretty sure she is finishing in the top 10% of her class, as well!

Again, thank you all so much for your prayers! They mean the world to me and my friends.

~Michelle