Adventure Time

Our Halloween didn't exactly have a great start. Sunday night Tyler woke up and asked me to come with him to the bathroom. Upon entering the bathroom, he stopped and had a good look in the mirror. I was rather horrified to see one eye practically swollen shut. It was his eyelid. During the day, he was under the weather with a bad headache, fever, sore throat, and ear ache. He actually fell asleep on the sofa which only happens when he is sick. Of course, I immediately worried that the swollen eye might be linked to his sickness. Steve phoned his mom and she said to run some warm over the eye. During the night, I checked on him only to find the other eye became badly swollen. Instead of the top eyelid, it was underneath his eye. He assured me he didn't feel any pain and that he was fine. The next morning, both eyes were looking awful and so I called him off from school and made an appointment to have him checked over by the doctor. The nurse took two swabs of his throat to do a test for strep throat. She said that may be the cause for the swelling. The doctor then came in and checked him over. He prescribed medication and eye drops. While we were waiting for our medication at the base pharmacy, the nurse contacted us and said the strep test came back negative. Thank goodness!!! So we are guessing that he had a bad reaction to the body/hair wash he used the night before. He had been saying for a couple weeks (ever since we had been using the new kind ) that his back was itchy. It wasn't labeled hypo-allergenic, and he said he got some in his eyes during his shower.

We got home and I gave him his medication and eye drops. By this time, his eyes looked much better. The doctor said he should be good to go for Halloween, which we were super happy about. It would have been just terrible if he missed out. This year his heart was set on being Robin, not from Teen Titans, but from Batman. He looked super cute in his costume and when got dressed he ran around trying to make his cape fly up in the air. LOL We had a mini photo shoot before we headed out for our trick or treating. Tyler got in character for his photos. He is such a great actor! He had a lot of fun with it.

This year Steve had the idea that not only Tyler would dress but we would as well. Oh my goodness, it was sooo much fun!!! I already can't wait to do it again next year. Originally we wanted to be the Ice King and Princess Bubblegum from the show 'Adventure Time' but we had a difficult time obtaining some items for the Ice King costume, so Steve suggested we become Finn and Fiona from the same show. We ordered the backpacks and hats online.Steve spray painted the swords to be the correct colors. We turned out looking awesome!!!

 We met Yasuko and Yuki over at Yasuko's friend's house. We did the same neighborhood last Halloween. It is "the" place to go for trick or treating. There is one block that gets carried away with the decorating. Everyone comes out to see it. The weather couldn't have been more perfect. The kids had a blast, as well as the adults. Even though our Halloween, didn't start out on a good note, it definitely ended on a fantastic one. I'm sooo thankful that Tyler was feeling much better to have a good time.

Weekend Highlight - Dinner with Michelle

If this week were to have a theme it would have been " Sigonella Friends". We were ever so glad to catch up with our good friend, Michelle, who just happened to be visiting in the area for a work course she was attending. Michelle was Steve's co-worker when we were stationed in Sicily. Often we would go out to dinner with her and her then boyfriend and looked after each other's pets when we would go away. It's been 6 years and a lot has happened since then. She is now married with two beautiful girls. We went out to dinner with her Friday night and it was like we were never parted. It was an awesome time together!!! Unfortunately, Michelle had to board the plane the following day to go back home to San Diego, but we're keeping our fingers crossed that their plans for moving to the East Coast workout. :)

Bring on Halloween

It's been a two weeks for Tyler waiting for the day we could carve our Halloween pumpkin, so it came as no surprise the overwhelming excitement he had when he found out that today was the day. Because we only bought one pumpkin this year, we had to separate the responsibilities. Tyler had the most important job of the designer. His design was inspired by Lumpy Space Princess from the television show 'Adventure Time'. Dad was designated the carver and the scooper. While Tyler sorted out the seeds. As you can see, the pumpkin turned out really cool. And what did I do, you make ask? Well, I was the baker of the seeds. Gotta love teamwork.

PTA Skating Party

Tonight we attended the Parent Teacher Association's Skating Party for Tyler's school. As members we got admission and skate rentals for all three of us. It had been years since Steve and I had a pair of roller skates on. I used to practically live on mine when I was growing up. Tyler, on the other hand, claimed he knew how to do all kinds of tricks and jumps even though he said he never skated before. LOL He actually surprised us by doing an awesome job skating. He only fell a handful of times. We all had a blast and we'll definitely go roller skating again.

Jess is in Town

It had been 6 years since my good friend, Jess, and I last seen each other. We were stationed together in Sicily and even though it had been such a long time, we still managed to keep in contact with each other. She is in town to catch a flight to Bahrain to see her husband who is stationed there. We met up for lunch with her daughter and newborn son, as well as her mother. Her daughter was only about a year old when they moved from Sicily. I couldn't believe how much she had grown. Her son is super cute and has the sweetest smile. It also so nice to meet her mom. We had a lovely afternoon together before I had to go pick up Tyler from school.

On the Trail Again

We had another beautiful day for caching. So, we took advantage of the weather and headed back to the Dismal Swamp Trail. We thought the trail went all the way to the North Carolina border, however we came to a dead end. A little disappointed, we got back in the car and drove to the North Carolina Dismal Swamp State Park just down the road where the trail continued. This part of the trail was absolutely beautiful. We really enjoyed our hike. After our hike and our finds, we went to the Visitor's Center to do an earth cache where we had to answer some questions to obtain a find. The center is on the other side of the canal and we saw the canal bridge go up which was rather neat. Here are some more photos from today's fun:

Casey's 6th Birthday Party

After we found some morning caching, we got together with our friends today to celebrate the 6th birthday of Tyler's good buddy, Casey. as always his mother, Tina, hosted an awesome party. Everyone had a blast! The kids got to jump around in a bouncy house and paint pumpkins. Tyler painted a cute face on his. It is always nice getting together with our friends. Steve took some photos for Tina. Here are some more:

Teeth Inspection

Yay!!! Tyler is still in the "No Cavities Club". This morning before school, he had a dentist appointment for a cleaning and a checkup. The dental hygienist used birthday cake fluoride. Tyler liked it a lot. After the cleaning, his dentist came and looked over his teeth. She said they looked awesome and congratulated Tyler on how well he is taking care of his teeth. Way to go, Tyler!!! Unless something happens, we don't have another appointment until April of next year. 

Breakfast for Two

Tyler is super sweet. For the past couple of days, my boy surprised me while I was in the shower by setting his table for the both of us to enjoy breakfast together. He got out yogurt for the both of us with napkins. Today he even added a graham cracker. LOL I always enjoy our breakfast together. These are the special days in our lives we'll cherish down the road.
In other news: Steve came home with the news that his deployment in March got cancelled due to the ship going into dry dock. Yay!!! They did "pencil him in" for a deployment in May, but they said they are hoping to find someone to replace him since he already went on two deployments during this tour. He also found out that we have been extended our tour here in Norfolk. Instead of having to leave in January 2013, we'll be here until July. This is super awesome because I not only love it here and have made some really good friends, but also Tyler won't have to leave in the middle of the school year. :)

6.5 miles

A trip to the pumpkin patch wasn't the only thing on our agenda yesterday, we also did another cache run out on the Dismal Swamp Trail like we did last weekend. This time we walked a total of 6.5 miles while Tyler drove his bike. Despite it being such along distance, Tyler did an awesome job on his bike and Steve and I felt great after our hike. It was such a beautiful day to get out. We plan to get more along the trail that used to be a highway.

Pumpkin Picking

This morning we hit the road and headed out to the country where we went to Clark's Farm to pick out our Halloween pumpkin. There were many to chose from, but Tyler picked out an awesome one. It is quite large and nicely shaped with a cool stem.

After we paid for the pumpkin, the lady told us we could check out the rest of the farm. They had several livestock to view, including some goats, geese, and Tyler's favorite-chickens! Afterwards, we checked out the children's play area where Tyler had fun going down some slides. It was a great time and of course, we got some photos to share with you all. Here are a few; enjoy!

Supporting Yuki's School

Ever since Yasuko invited us to attend the used book and bake sale for Yuki's Japanese school we were quite excited. As you probably already know, we love Japanese food. They had a large selection from sushi to curry chicken to various desserts. We started off with family style sushi and then had rice balls, shrimp with rice, and finished with some Japanese desserts. Everything tasted awesomely good. We then sipped on some authentic Japanese green tea while shopping for the rest of our Japanese books. Tyler even picked out one, which he loves. Overall, we were very happy to support a great cause and we are excited for next year's sale.

Hello Dollies

After school, Tyler helped me make Hello Dollies for tonight's dessert. For several years, I've always wanted to try making this dessert; they always look so good. Tyler did a really good job putting the ingredients together. We had family style sushi tonight for dinner which was super yummy. Then it was time to try the Hello Dollies. To our surprise, Tyler didn't like them. However, Steve and I loved them. Tyler ate the graham cracker bottom and the chocolate chips off of his. Oh well, less sugar is not a bad thing, right? LOL

Drawing with Dad

Lately, Tyler has really taken an interest in drawing. In fact, instead of playing with his toys, he often wants to sit down at his table with his paper, pencil and crayons. This afternoon he asked Dad if he could practice drawing on his computer. So, Steve got out the Wacom tablet and Tyler had a blast with it. Meanwhile, Steve practiced his artist skills on paper.

The World Needs More Rita's

So, a trip to the store to get milk tonight also found us a Rita's down the street. When we lived in Maryland, Rita's was like our second home. We would meet often with our friends Richey, Barbie, Glen, Beka, Katherine, Rodney, Sue and Mark to get some frozen custard. Eating our "Rita's" tonight brought back some great memories. And sure enough there was a cache nearby. :)

Found lots of Fun

It had been quite a long time since we went geocaching around the area, but this weekend we loaded up the GPS and hit the trails. Yesterday we went to the Dismal Swamp trail for a bunch of caches. We had a blast and it was great exercise, we walked a total of 5 miles. In total we found of 18 caches this weekend. Not too shabby. And I think we caught the caching bug again. We're so excited to get back out and find some more.

My Sailor. :)

Tyler Says the Darndest Things

Tyler to Dad: When I was in Canada, I went fishing with Uncle Joey. The only thing we caught was a small fish called bait. LOL

Spelling Kitten

Yesterday morning Tyler said he wanted to spell the word 'kitten' and went and got a piece of paper and pencil to write it out. He said he wanted to surprise me. When he passed me the paper I was surprised how close he came to spelling it correctly. He got all the letters right, just needed to put the letter 'e' somewhere else. He said he spelled it out in his head first. Good job! Below it he printed the correct way after I helped him with it.

Steve's Birthday Weekend

It was a weekend celebration for the Smith family; Steve turned 38 on Sunday. To start things off we went to this fantastic Italian restaurant where Yasuko and I celebrated my birthday. Larissa not only joined us, but she also treated us to dinner which we very much appreciated. The food was incredible as always and we had a great time. Steve picked up a few desserts to take home for us all to sample.They were divinely good.

The next morning, I woke up extra early to make his birthday dinner. This year Steve asked me to make lasagna. I used my authentic Italian recipe from one of my Italian friends I used to work with. For breakfast, I went to Dunkin Donuts to get us coffee, since our espresso machine died the day before, to have with the rest of our Italian desserts for breakfast. Later on, we went to World Market to pick up some food and things we needed using Steve's birthday coupon they sent him. Then we came home and had our birthday dinner followed by cake. I made Steve's favorite, carrot cake with cream cheese icing. It was the first time I decorated using cream cheese and it was definitely a learning experience. LOL But it tasted oh so yummy. Overall, Steve said he had a pretty good birthday. We were so happy to have him home with us to celebrate his special day.