Farewell Winter Break

We decided to spend the kids last day of winter vacation at one of the Japanese parks off base. The kids had been nagging Al and I to take them to one park in particular with a "drop slide", I prefer to call it the slide from hell. I can't blame the kids for enjoying it though...it's a riot.

You begin by climbing the stairs 15 feet into the air where you then sit on a platform, slide your rear to the edge, and grab hold of a bar that is positioned over....thin air. Once you fling your body from the platform you hang suspended from this bar until you work up the nerve to DROP 8 feet to the slide. I do believe the design is meant to give you such an adrenaline rush that you fail to notice the massive bruise beginning to form on your tail end.

The park also boasts a HUGE roller slide. These are indeed a great deal of fun...about three times as high as the drop slide, you use it as you would any regular slide...with one exception...it is VITAL that you sit on cardboard.

This slide is made up of small rollers. You sit on the first and it rolls you to the second and third and fourth and so on. Without the cardboard ones Gluteus Maximus would feel as if it were shooting flames by roller 500. This, as you can imagine, is absolutely excruciating. With or without cardboard however, the rider will reach such a speed as to be catapulted a good 50 feet off the end. Talk about fun!

Then there are the individual merry-go-rounds. If not approached with care one is liable to walk away with a slight concussion. These toys consist of a disk and pole placed in the ground at a slant (to add to the danger eh um I mean fun). One would sit on the disk and hold the pole (much like they would a sit and spin) while another would spin them at such a speed as to make the rider hold on for dear life until being flung 100 MPH from the contraption.

Japanese parks are a far cry from the more conservative ones in the states. Although I am fairly positive that if any of these playthings were installed stateside there would a great many lawsuits filed. Crazy Americans ruining our fun! Hehehehe!

Here are a few photos from our afternoon. My apologies for not snapping any shots of the "drop slide", I was busy reading...perhaps next time.

Happy 2006!

We hadn't any definite plans for ringing in the New Year until about 3 hours before the blessed moment. But come midnight Al and I were tooting our horns and clinking our plastic champagne glasses with seven of our friends and about 300 other people who didn't feel like partying out gate 2 in the pouring rain.

We danced and laughed until midnight. Then we all counted down, kissed, hugged, toasted the New Year and called home to wake up our sleepy children. Somewhere in all that excitement R.L. had the pleasure of receiving my first "bird" of 2006 at which point he gladly returned the favor. It was all in love though as we fondly embraced afterward. Thanks R.L. for that honor!! Hehehehe!

It was close to 3 when the eight of us piled into my van (Al and I weren't drinking) and headed out to the infamous Club X for a bit of Karaoke. I laughed my tail end off! I sang a few songs to get everyone warmed up (that means they all had time to down a few beers). A.J., who enjoys a bit of karaoke I am told, rocked the mic with a little "Paint It Black". K.L., J.G. and I belted out a lovely rendition of "Hollaback Girl" (I'm using the term "lovely" veeeerrrrryyyyyyy loosely here). And we all about threw down when some guy tried to steal our mics during "Sweet Home Alabama". Finally Al and R.L. finished us off with "Hotel California", now THAT was a treat!

Our voices raw and gravelly we trodded back to the USO where K.L., R.L., Al and I decided to head to CoCo's for our first 2006 curry run! At 6 a.m. the four of us sat zombie-like in that booth attempting not to fall asleep in our Chicken Cutlet Curries. Needless to say, we crashed hard when we finally rolled in around 7.

It was a good New Years Eve. Hope your was as safe and fun as ours! Happy 2006 all!!

Back to Reality

Well, Christmas is officially over which means I now have to find a place for all this stuff the kids have accumulated. Normally I would have had them clean their rooms prior to Christmas day, and the truth is....I did, only the rooms didn't exactly stay that way. Besides the fact that I haven't gotten in there to do a good thorough cleaning in a couple of months which means.....YUK!!!!

So, here I am...the day after Christmas, scrubbing my kids' bedrooms. This is no small task let me assure you. I haven't the foggiest idea how the hell my kids can manage to be such slobs. For heaven sake...they came from MY gene pool! Those rooms truly disgust me sometimes.

I just finished Bobby and Cindy's room. THREE trash bags of assorted cut up paper, old crayons, ripped books (sorry Grandma), broken toys and who knows what. I probably filled up the canister of my vacuume in that room alone. N-A-S-T-Y!!! Whatever...beds are made and fabreezed, a window is cracked to let in a bit of fresh air, everything is dusted and the glass is gleaming.

Now I get to move on to the boys room. NOT such a terrible feat. Amazingly Greg and Peter are very clean. Fifteen minutes in there and I will be finished. After that unfortunately, I must tackle Marsha and Jan's room. This I dread. Those girls have one of the worst rooms I've ever seen. Literally within hours of cleaning, it somehow they destroy it once again. Not only do I have to scrub that room (with face mask and rubber gloves), but when I'm finished I will have a whole new Mt. Washme on my hands. As if I don't have enough laundry already.

So I suppose the next couple of days will be devoted to the laundry room. Heck if I have enough I may have to make my piles on the living room floor (nothing quite motivates one to finish the wash like piles invading their living space). Yep...these are good times!

Oh and by the way, if you were thinking of dropping in for a little visit this week, don't bother. I refuse to entertain until the end of this hellish nightmare! Toodles!

A Holt Family Christmas

Holiday Kids

Christmas Morning

It is 6:30am and the kids have had me up for an hour and a half. I am brewing coffee at the present with the hope that it will help to hold open my eyelids and perhaps even bring me to life a bit.

When I attempted to wake Al this morning he asked for just one more hour of shut eye. This I gave him (so to brew that coffee), however in the back of my mind I thought of my wonderful in-laws and how now, with no small children in the house, they don't make a big event of decorating trees, hanging lights, and rising at 5am to see what "Santa" left during the night.

Already Marsha is celebrating her 13th Christmas. The years truly are flying by. There will indeed come a day when I won't awake on Christmas morn to the sounds of laughter, excitement, and remote control cars racing up and down the hallway. And as much as it pains me to say...there will likely come a day when Christmases may be spent without us all being in the same house (or country even).

So here I sit....6:30am....Christmas morning....waiting for this coffee to finish brewing so I can pull my husband from the comfort of our bed and join our kiddos in the living room. And as they tear into the gifts under our tree, laughing, squealing, and playing, I will remember that these days are numbered. I've no doubt that Al and I will enjoy every sleepy-eyed second of this.

Kim

Happy Bithday Woman! Much Love!

Kyle and Maliea

Congratulations! You both know that there is no where I would rather be right now than watching the two of you begin your life together. Know that Alex, the kids and I all send our congratulations and best wishes. We'll be there soon enough to do our celebrating in person, until then...Blessings and Love! ~Randi

Addition to the Family

Don't get ahead of yourself here, I'm not having another baby. THANK GOD!!!!! Don't get me wrong...I have six of the most fantastic kids you will ever meet, but I'm not looking to have anymore! No, no, no...our little family addition is a puppy. Yes, it's official, I am certifiably insane.

The puppy came to us by way of a neighbor who decided she really didn't want a dog. Thus my children pleaded and begged and I (being the sucker that I am) gave in. He came with the name "Jake", but I would have none of that. We don't give animals people names in this house. We needed something a bit more Japanese to mesh with the rest of our household pets. Our Golden Retriever, Sumo. Our Betas (Japanese fighting fish), Sushi and Sashimi. And the infamous Parakeet, Kamikaze.

I'd like to make a side note here. Our dogs have names that are only and will only be theirs, however ALL of our Betas are named Sushi and Sashimi, and every Parakeet-Kamikaze.

Anyway, we needed a name. The kids and I came up with a few to try out. Nibana (meaning second)-nope. Yoshi (Marsha flipped out) "We can't name him after a character in Mario Bros." And finally, Cindy's name request-Samurai Jak (Sammy for short).

So Sumo and Samurai. Poor Sumo. The old man is chillin', sittin' back, relaxin'. enjoyin' the peace and quiet, when out of no where this young kid jumps in and turns his world upside down. Such is life! Just wait until we get back to the states...momma has every intention of getting herself a kitty to name Geisha. Sumo may very well turn himself into "Kamikaze", Hehehe!

Raiders

Here are a few photos from Greg's first game (Friday night). Threw one in of me and my baby girl (she isn't much of a baby anymore...sob).

Eagles and Falcons

I'd just like to take this opportunity to say "Happy Birthday Grandma!!!" (Dec. 7th) I've posted a virtual smorgasbord of photos for your veiwing pleasure. Just because you asked! Love you tons. Hope your birthday was a spectacular one! ~Ran D.

Here are photos from Peter's and Jan's games last night (Thursday).

Cowboy

Ah football season. I know it has long since passed for most of you....but here in Okinawa we are just getting started. And what perfect timing! The weather is just now dipping low enough to toss on a warm sweater. In fact, I've had to break out my long wool trench coat just to sit through practices! GOOD TIMES!! Anyway, enough of that...here are pictures from Bobby's first game (Wednesday night). I don't think they won, but who really keeps track in flag football? And my apologies for the terrible photo quality. Wouldn't you know it? My batteries died after the first few minutes, so these are camera phone photos. No worries, it won't happen again!

Taiko Girl

Here are a few photos from Marsha's Taiko performance last Saturday.

Rain On My Parade

Friday night was the Tinsel Town Parade. All the kids except for Cindy walked. It would had been terribly fun had it not started to rain just as it began. The photos aren't great by any means, but they are photos none the less. Enjoy.

Happy Birthday my friend...

Thanksgiving

The last weekend has been nothing if not eventful, but I've decided to break it up between posts as there is just far too much to fit into one blog. So Let's begin with Thanksgiving.

We headed over to J.G. and A.J.'s for the afternoon. There were only four families, but we added up to 23. We had SOOOOOOO MUCH FOOD. It was crazy. A.J. harnessed the kids and let them try out his climbing wall. (No I didn't take any photos, but K.L. did....so soon people). We all ate way too much and then each fell into our own respective food comas.

After we all regained consciousness we did a quick clean up and then A.J. broke out the cards and poker chips. He had to explain the rules of Texas Hold 'Em a good three times before J.J., T.J., and I felt comfortable enough to try a hand (K.L. had no problem as she is an avid Celebrity Poker watcher and if R.L. needed lessons he never did elude to that fact).

So the games began. We had was a blast, played twice, J.G. won the first game, R.L. the second. Believe it or not I held on for a good while during both games. (I'm so proud). After that we loaded up and left.

It was late, we were tired, and I wanted nothing more than to unload the leftovers, put everything away, crawl into bed, and crash.

Veggie Burger Please!

I think I may have the youngest member of PETA living in my home.

As we speak I am browning hamburger for Taco Salad. Since Cindy and Bobby are the only two home at the moment I was letting them hand me the vegetables to cut up. Somewhere in between the lettuce and tomato Bobby looked into the skillet on the stove and asked what "that" was. I told him it was hamburger...I said "It's a cow." WHAT!! The boy went ballistic. "Why are we eating a cow?" "Who killed that cow?" "Farmer's are supposed to take care of the cows, not kill them!" And my personal favorite..."Cows stink, but people shouldn't kill them!" Oh the mind of a five year old.

I tried to explain to Bobby that cows make up the hamburgers he eats at Burger King. That I put it in our Spaghetti, "Cowboy Stuff" and Chili. I told him that steak was cow, hotdogs were pigs and all that chicken we eat REALLY is chicken. I honestly thought I would win him over on the Burger King thing. Nope...the child has sworn off all meat (including his precious hotdogs).

So now I suppose I will be dishing out a bowl of taco salad minus the taco. And the veggie burger patties that I bought for Jaz when she eats over here, will now be put to good use on Bobby.

Hmmmmm. Jaz would be proud. And farmer's everywhere shed a tear for another child lost.

Your Band is Named What???

If I've been waiting for something terribly interesting to come along worth blogging about...last night it probably happened.

My friend M.C. is BIG BIG BIG on karaoke. Me? Not S'Much! Now, anyone who has heard me sing may very well think me a liar right about now, but the truth is every time I walk into a karaoke bar and open my mouth one of three things happens. One, the people I'm rollin' with decide not to sing in front of me, two...20 people in the bar ask if I will sing a duet with them, or three...everyone leaves. This does not make for an interesting evening. Thankfully I have indeed come across a precious few that are willing just to have a good time and sing regardless of talent (this can be a bad thing if you're not careful!)

Anyhow, last night M.C. and I are chillin' in the back of the room...minding our own business (which really means cringing at the screeches coming from the speakers) when Bring Me to Life by EVANESCENCE Feat. PAUL MCCOY cues up. Obviously the guy singing the Paul McCoy portion of this song didn't plan ahead because there was absolutely NO ONE prepared to pull off Amy Lee. Oddly enough, this guy points across the room at me and asks if I can sing at all..."Skoshi" (a little) I said. "Cool, whatever...just come sing this please!" No worries...I got this. So I grab the mic and start singing at which point this guys mouth drops open and a hush falls over the room. I must admit this is ALWAYS my favorite part. It makes me giggle a little.

So we sing and the song comes to an end. The "Paul McCoy" guy bows to me (which I find a bit odd), then I quietly walk back to my little hole in the wall. Now this is where things get interesting...The next thing I know there is this HUGE guy towering over me. He is dressed completely in black, has a scraggly goatee, black fingernails, and piercings EVERYWHERE! I have to admit I was a little freaked out at first (and I am rarely freaked out). He introduces himself as Thomas and quickly apologizes for approaching me like that. Then he proceeds to tell me that he's the lead singer of a band called Slit Throat (eeeewwwww!!!) and hands me a card with his name and website on it. He tells me I have an amazing voice and that they've been looking for someone to sing melody in their band, and I am exactly what they've been searching for. OOOOOOOO-KAY.

I guess they are playing at 7th Heaven in a few weeks and he wants me to drop in and hear them. I'm flattered, a little weirded out, but flattered. I suppose I'll drop by and give a listen. Who knows. It might be fun just to sing along for a bit. Hehehe, giggling at the thought.

If nothing else it's made for a slightly amusing blog. This should make my grandmother very happy as she now doesn't have to PLEAD and BEG for me to write something....anything. Good Times!

Sad and Pathetic

I know I haven't posted in a while (thanks to all of you who harass me about that daily!) but I really just haven't felt creative enough lately to bother writing. No worries, I am writing now. And if you're lucky this will light the creative fire under my rear!!

My big worry today? It is the middle of November, and usually I am FINISHED with my holiday shopping by now, but as of this moment I've only purchased ONE GIFT! AAAAHHHHH!!!! With all my heart I hope Al has been shopping in the states. If all else fails on Christmas morning I will be telling the kids that "this year we wanted to focus on the MEANING of Christmas". Which we all know will be the load of bull explaining the no gifts under the tree! HA HA! So I guess this weekend I need to get a little shopping done...Ya think?!

Along with my hurry to purchase gifts I also need to get to the commissary. My luck, all the turkey and ham will be long gone by the time I get there. Last night Jan asked if I could make mashed potatoes for her class party on Tuesday. Tuesday? Surly she didn't mean THIS Tuesday. Why on earth would her class be having their Thanksgiving party so danged early this year? OH MY GAWD!!!! Thanksgiving is NEXT WEEK! It always seems to sneak up on you, doesn't it? One minute you think you have all the time in the world to accomplish something, and the next the time is not only upon you, but shoving itself down your throat (lovely picture!)

So yeah, I've lost the list from the "inner circles" planning meeting as to what I am bringing to Thanksgiving dinner this year. I suppose I will need to call J.G. for that today. And then I'll have to give K.L. a ring and we can do the commissary run together (because I know full well that the woman hasn't gotten any more shopping done than I). I am going on great faith that they still have green beans and rolls.

The new tradition as of this year? Pumpkin Curry. Yep, it sounds disgusting, but I swear to you is absolutely fabulous. I can make some KILLER pumpkin curry. Unfortunately J.J., J.G., and K.L. agree, so now I am on curry duty as well. HEY, maybe I can come up with an egg nog curry recipe before Christmas! Hmmmm....not s' much!

I simply can not believe that the holidays are upon us. By this time next week Christmas music will fill our house and the kids and I will sit surrounded by the 7 boxes of holiday decorations (yes people, I said 7...I know I have a problem). I love love love Christmas. Laughing about old Christmas memories, having the kids hang the ornaments from Christmases past and having them each open their ornaments for this year (which I still need to purchase). I just usually am a bit more prepared for this time of year.

Maybe it is just because we have been so busy. Not bad "can't make a meal, clean the house, or BLOG" kinda busy. Just....busy. We have practices Monday through Thursday, but none overlap to the point that I am trying to juggle. In the evenings the kids and I are at that table eating together. And we still have plenty of time to do homework, chores, and showers with some down time. We aren't rushed, just healthily busy. (Again, falling back on the "not creative as of late" excuse for the BLOG!)

So with any luck this weekend will be a fruitful one. I'll finish (or rather begin) my Christmas shopping, seal and mail those Christmas cards, run to the commissary, blog a little, and maybe even mow the lawn!

Monday I'll fill ya in on how it all went! EEEEEK!!

My Spat

Well, well, well. THAT was a lot of fun. Nothing like a little online spat to scare folks away. I'm sure it was terribly shocking for everyone out there to find that I can indeed be a bi@#ch from time to time. No worries...my halo is still intact (she said while batting her eyelashes).

Nothing much is happening here on my little rock in the East China Sea. I spend my days with K.L. while R.L. is at work (it's the only time we have), and I spend my nights reading, writing, and listening to my I-POD...woo hoo! (sounds exciting....yes?)

The kids are well. We're still waiting to hear if the younger boys have football coaches yet...and Jan is waiting to hear from her cheer squad as well (OH the drama). This month is pretty much a bust as far as school goes. They only have class 2 days this week...and with Thanksgiving, I really don't think they've much to accomplish. Ridiculous.

I'm basiclly just preppin' for the holidays, chillin' with my girlfriends, and trying (once again) to quell the accumulation that is Mt. Washme.

Life is good, all is well, and the world continues to turn!

My Apology

I have an amazing husband.

He is gentle and caring, loving and kind. He never purposely says anything to hurt me. He loves our children. He is helpful, supportive, and strong. He has always been open and willing to share his thoughts with me. And he has never treated me as anything less than a queen. (I hardly deserve that honor).

So why do I blow up when the man compares me to Carmen Electra, Mariah Carey, and Shakira? Because I DO NOT see myself in them. I see three stunning women who are about as far from me as the moon.

However, after a "lovely" argument at 4:30 "his" morning, and later a far more level headed conversation with my friend Ginger, I realize that yeah, maybe it's possible that Al looks at these beautiful and talented women and sees me in them. Why? because...he thinks I am beautiful and talented.

Funny how we just can't imagine people would view us in that light. I love you Al...and I'm sorry.

Football

I'm being chewed for not writing, but I've nothing to write. Or rather don't feel like taking the time to write. So I've decided to meet you half way. Here is a photo of Greg at last nights practice. He was so cute I had to snap this shot with my phone (my camera is still in M.C.'s car from last weekend). So there you are...my boy. Have a good one!