Happy Halloween

Although the weekend was yucky with rain, Halloween actually turned out to be really nice weather. It was actually warm during the day, but cooled down just a tad for the evening. Clara Grace's good friend and her mom came over for pizza before we headed out for treat or treat. Clara was adamant about not wearing her Daphne wig, so I don't think everyone quickly figured out who she was. Zach cried about wearing the Scooby costume until we were actually trick or treating. You would have thought I was torturing him! Here is a pic of the girls posing just before we left.We stopped at a few apartments before hitting the townhouses. Can you see the tears still glistening on his cheeks? He would not put Scooby's head on though.
This is the father of one of Clara's classmates and he was a hoot. He talked Scooby talk the entire time to Zach. Zach didn't seem to get it, which made it all the funnier.
This is another good friend of Clara and Megan, dressed as Cleopatra.
I enjoyed speculating whether this young man was a prop or if he just ran out of steam.
Zach was definitely intrigued by all the decorations.


If you recall, Zach was a raging lunatic before we left. I just threw the wig on. It looked awful, but I was apparently easily identified as Velma, so oh well. I never did get around to turning the wagon into the Mystery Machine. Oh man, I realize I never once said, "Jinkies!"

The girls posing...again.

Zach, on the last leg of the journey.

We had a great time and I still managed to get Zach in bed by 7:45 and Clara in bed by 8:30. I think it is about time for me to call it a night as well.

Happy Halloween

Clara's Creations

We had a pretty nice weekend leading up to Halloween, which is tomorrow. We kicked it off by meeting friends at the bowling alley for dinner plus and then we went to the library for pumpkin origami, tasty treats, story telling and relay races. Clara had a friend spend the night with her and I took down the crib.

Clara drew a face on her pumpkin and Zach directed her for his face. I did the carving while Clara assisted with scooping out the seeds. I think their little jack-o-lanterns turned out fairly cute. Clara is in her Daphne outfit as we did this after her Girl Scout event today.
I thought this turned out rather cute. This is a shoe Clara Grace designed using the little beads on the board and you iron them to bond them together. I went ahead and did it for her but didn't think much of it until I saw it bonded. I was impressed!
Clara and I decided to make a cake using disposable pumpkin-shaped pans. She pretty much did it by herself with me giving guidance here and there.




I know we should have used black for the face, but sometimes you just have to do what you have to do. I think she did a pretty good job though. We took this one to a friend but have been enjoying the one we kept for us at home.

OBBB Day 2

Operation Big Boy Bed is going. I suppose you would say it is even going successfully. The nap yesterday wasn't too bad. I mean, he did fall asleep although he did make numerous attempts to avoid the inevitable. Last night wasn't too bad either. He fell asleep without too many issues, however he woke multiple times throughout the night. I woke this morning feeling a little less than rested. Charlie called this morning and was surprised everyone was still sleeping at nearly 7am. Broken sleep with do that to a person, even if it is a 2-year-old.

As you can see, the bed has already had a couple of placements in the room. I'm thinking of making additional adjustments, but it is working as it is.

Proof that Zach will eventually fall asleep in the bed.

Regardless that it takes a few minutes to get him to sleep, I truly think it is going well. I would be surprised if he went straight to sleep in it each time. He likes his big boy bed and tells anyone that will listen about it. Now I have to get actual toddler bed bedding, mainly so I can go ahead and find a new home for the crib bedding, which is part of what we are using now.

On a side note, see the pink (I think it is a pig) stuffed animal. This is James, which Zach calls Jimmy, that is from daycare. It is Jimmy's misfortune to spend the weekend with a disinterested Zach. There is a journal that we are to record his activities with Zach and include pictures. Most of our pictures for the journal are like this...inserted for the photo op. I tried to get Zach to hold him and he might for a minute before he passed James right back. I tried to get him to give James a ride while he was riding his four-wheeler...he tossed James off. All the other pictures in the journal show big cheesy grins doing fun things with James.

Operation Big Boy Bed

We attempted the big boy bed a couple of weeks ago, but I wasn't prepared to put into what it turned out to require at that time. After another busy week and promising the crib to someone I decided it was time. We met friends for dinner and headed over to the library for story time, crafts and treats to make sure he was nice and tired. Clara has a friend spending the night, which I thought would make a nice distraction while I took down the crib so that I couldn't give up.

The distraction worked. I was able to take down the crib and move it into the hall without any issue and Zach was definitely nice and tired. He was very cooperative through story time and was even eager to turn out the light and complete our little rocking routine. He let me put him to bed, and out the door I went. To stand and wait. He did not disappoint. Boy is he one persistent little guy! I eventually decided to sit in the glider, but he just lay there without falling asleep. Finally I decided it was a bit silly of me to just be sitting there in the dark so started leaving again. This time it only took a few very firm returns to the bed. It has been several minutes and he hasn't gotten up again. I put the Angel Care sensor under the mattress so it would go off if he gets out of the bed. Before I go to bed I will put a gate at the door to the living area just in case so his only place to go is my bedroom.

Hopefully the night goes smoothly. I'll be having the girls go to bed here shortly.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

A colleague at school organized a ticket purchase for the last game of the season for the Hiroshima Carps. I was really hesitant to get tickets because I thought Charlie would have already left and it was a 6pm game, and Zach is usually in bed by 7pm. I finally decided I thought he could handle it and how could I not go see the Carps while living here.

As it turns out, Charlie had not left yet. He leaves Monday so he was still here. Unfortunately he had work stuff to take care of and couldn't go. The forecast was also rather gloomy. A friend that has two kids the same ages as Clara and Zach and I were in frequent communication yesterday trying to decide if we really wanted to do it. We talked at 4:30 and agreed we were doing it. I already was loaded up in the car ready to head to the train station while they were a bit delayed so I decided to head on. He arrived at the train station, got our round trip tickets and luckily there was a train about to pull out so on we went.

Zach was tickled to be on the train for the first six stops or so, then he wanted to get off. Hiroshima Station is 14 stops from Iwakuni (yes, I count as well as check the signs at each stop). The train was pretty crowded as we neared Hiro. Although I knew how to get there, these were my directions to the stadium: Once you get there, it is about a 15 minute walk. Follow the jerseys.

As it turns out, I only saw one jersey and I was afraid to take a chance. I approached her and said: Sumimasen (excuse me), Doko dess-ka (where is it?) and pointed to the baseball on Zach's shirt and her jersey. It is a good thing I asked. She was not going to the game. She pointed me in the right direction and said, "Turn left, go straight". I was thankful for her English. So, I turned left and went straight. At that point, I noticed a few jerseys and heavy foot traffic so with each kid in the wrist grip off we went to the ballgame.

It is a fairly small stadium so we had little difficulty finding our section and then of course I saw lots of familiar faces. The kids had a great time but were complaining of thirst and hunger on the way in the stadium. Once we were settled, I went in search of food. I didn't know it, but I ordered a BLT with some tater tot looking things. I was even able to have them not put mayonnaise on it and was pleased when they called it a BLT (I just pointed at the picture). The kids got chicken. Once I was seated and explored that bacon, it was definitely different. Very thick, not crisp at all and I would guess it had been boiled. Some of you will be amazed that I shrugged and started chowing down. (Since coming to Japan I have a don't ask, just eat policy). About 75% complete, a friend's nephew approaches to tell me my bacon is horse meat. Again, the shoulder shrug. Who knows? I finished eating it though. Zach ate some of the chicken, but those tater tot things must have been good because I didn't get any of them.

As you can see from the pictures, it was a lot of fun. Clara was not thrilled to go, but I kept telling her it would be a blast. Two of her buddies were there and they giggled and had fun the entire time. Zach sat in his seat and watched the game the entire time. We left around the 8th inning. It was already 9pm, we were losing big time and friends were beginning to leave. I decided to take the train back with some. We made it back in the apartment at 10:30 and the kids were in bed by 11pm. It was the latest I've ever had them out but they did great. They are both still sleeping at 7:40am which is a rare thing. Enjoy the pictures. I've included a few captions.

This thing is a bounce house! I didn't realize it when I snapped the picture but Clara pointed it out. I planned to take the kids, but never got around to it and do not think they felt cheated.

Zach really had a good time. His friend, Abigail, sat right behind him. He didn't say much to her at the game, but they sat together on the train home and had a blast! I bet the Japanese sitting around us on the train had a few stories to tell once they got home.
Yes, we lost badly. We scored a run in the 5th inning and it was a big time with the crowd.

Everybody has these little bats and hit them together for various chants. The girls found multiple uses for them.
Proper usage.
Notice the other people with sweaters on? Look at my kids. I was chilly with a long-sleeved tee. Clara had a sweater with her that she took off. She really really wanted ice cream and her friend was getting some so I gave in. It wasn't actually cold. These little helmets seemed safe for both of them so we did that. It really made Zach happy. It was near the 7th inning where they release these balloons that you see in unison. As you can see, everyone around Zach is into it and all he wants is to eat that ice cream. Zach was wearing a long-sleeved tee under his short sleeved tee but he absolutely refused to wear the fleece and hat I brought for him. His little chin was quivering after eating the ice cream!


The release! It was pretty neat.

I'm glad we did it. We might be able to squeeze in another game as a family in the spring before we move.

Kneading Time

To be honest, I do not do much cooking that is enjoyable anymore. Most of the time our food considered by trying to do the healthiest things possible, as fast as possible. My weekends are a whirlwind of activity to prepare as much as possible for the coming week by cleaning, buying groceries, doing homework and trying to have a little fun with the family too. I enjoy it, but it means I go for easy on the food.

Recently we had a three day weekend because of Columbus Day and I decided to take Saturday and do something new. As it turned out, it was also a yucky weekend so we stayed inside. What to do? Sadly, I am 34 years old and I have never made my own pizza dough. I found a very cool cooking site: Susan's Cooking School. Not only did she have the recipes, but included videos. Since I was making the dough, I decided I would go ahead and make the sauce too.

I watched the videos, was loaded with confidence and made my ingredient list. Then I crossed my fingers as I scouted our commissary for those ingredients. Luckily, everything I needed was there, including bread flour! Granted, this process took much of my day with allowing the dough to rise multiple times. I'll admit that the initial creating the dough had me a bit concerned that I did something wrong but after I finished kneading it, which was quite the workout, it looked just right and did just what Susan said it would do. Once I realized it was turning out just fine, I had a lot of fun working with the dough! I did no elaborate tosses in the air, but stretching it out for the stone was really neat.

The sauce was fun to make too, but it was just not nearly as zesty as we would like. It was a little disappointing. I think I'll still use the recipe, just make a few tweaks.

For this particular pizza I browned Italian sausage and cut up pepperoni. It turned out quite yummy and there were no leftovers. Here is a picture of the final product.

I am looking forward to making pizza again, as well as trying out other homemade bread ideas.

The Latest Scoop

The Hollowell family is potentially going to embark on a new adventure in late spring of 2012. In July, Charlie was screened to go to school to become a detachment commander on embassy duty. We have been waiting on pins and needles for news to come because the wait time is typically one month. As it turns out, it took three for us. Today we received news that Charlie's package was accepted and he has a school date for early March.

The school lasts for seven or eight weeks so he should be done by the end of April. If he graduates the school (and I emphasize the "if" because it is a tough school and one of the few that you can fail without it hurting your career) then we should know around mid to late April which embassy Charlie will be serving. It is pure speculation, but we imagine we would be moving sometime in May.

You might have a few questions about the duty. As a detachment commander, we would serve two different embassies with 18 months spent at each one. There are so many exciting places we could go.

We are pretty stoked about it. Luckily, with that school date it allows me to finish the school year or come pretty close. I'll conclude with an entertaining video for you to check out.