Exploring Nature

Okinawa had it's own Natural surroundings.  Our back yard consisted of all sorts of things from Habus to dragonflies, frogs to dragonflies, and even mongoose to geckos.  Zach was very used to these things so it was a real shocker to move here.  He had never even seen a squirrel until a week ago!  Now we have squirrels on our deck constantly!  The dog doesn't know what to do.
I am very excited to share this wonderful world with Zach.  He is very interested in his surroundings, and what better way to show him then to encourage nature to come to us?  So this week we set out to make a bird feeder.  The plan was to make our own, but we found this great kit and put together our own.  Zach was so interested and once it was set up, he kept pointing to it and asking where the birds were.  For some reason he thought they would come right away.  Sorry Zach!

Gathering our supplies

All set!  Gotta hang it now so the squirrels don't eat it all though!

Every evening, after dinner, we set aside family time to play.  That usually has consisted of playing in the driveway lately, with Zach's new play car.  While playing this week, we found a salamander!  I haven't seen one in years and was excited to show Zach.  We named him Sal, and Zach liked waving to him and occasionally getting out of his car and talking to him.  We sure do love science!  Can't wait to see more in the next 3 years!  We are even debating getting a fish tank set up soon.

Our friend Sal.  He was being attacked by bugs.  Poor guy!

America the beautiful!

After over 3 years in Japan, there are many things we missed from America.  Produce was without a doubt the number one thing- as prices in Japan were insane.  They were also always bad by the time they got to us.  We are so happy to be able to get real, organic, fresh food at a good price again.  We even started a garden in the back to get the freshest we could find!  We are looking forward to attending a weekly farmer's market soon too!  

Here are some photos of some of everything- America!

Giant grocery stores.  They are the same company as Stop and Shop (the store my brother works at)  They have great stuff, and are one of the best stores in the area in my opinion (after Wegman's of course!)

Oh how I missed you!!  Apples were 3 dollars a pound in Oki and they didn't taste very good.  We are so happy to have apples again!  Can't wait for the fall!

Strawberries!  Yum!  We missed Strawberries too.  They were always moldy in Oki!  And about 7 dollars for something half this size!

4 dollars for this huge bag?!  Talk about culture shock!

Mangoes were no joke about 60 dollars for THREE in Japan.  I kid you not.  

Mommy's new ride!

My favorite cooking oil.  This is a huge thing of it.  I use this stuff for everything.  I even use it as moisturizer and deodorant and in my hair!  

My beautiful tomato plant.  I've already gotten 2 tomatoes from it!

You know you're in Virginia when you see these on the shelves!  These are limited edition ones so they're different from the regular ones.  I didn't buy them because the best Krimpets are the original ones!

Creating our garden.  Cardboard on the bottom, then leaves and grass to help the soil, and then tons of dirt on top.  Can't wait to get some yummy veggies from it!

Elijah 365- Part 34

We are Americans again!  After a very long series of flights, we made it.  We stayed our first night with Dima's cousin, who lives near the airport.  We then got our new phones and headed to our new house!  It is huge compared to our old Oki home, 3800 square feet.  It even has a man cave for Dima to watch football in.  It needs a bit of work (the front hasn't been weeded in ages!) but nothing too horrible.  The location is good, close to shopping and base, but far enough away that it's not too "Military."  Eli and Zach's rooms are both so big, and so empty without anything in them!  Eli has had a rough week getting used to the time change, but he's getting there.  It hasn't helped that he has new teeth coming in! We look forward to bringing the boys out for walks around the neighborhood when we get our stroller in a few weeks!

Day 240- May 6.  An empty home, but at least we have toys!

Day 241- May 7.  Eating Hummus for the first time!  Yum!

Day 242- May 8.  Playing at the kid's area at the car dealership.

Day 243- May 9.  In the car being a big boy!

Day 244- May 10.  Playing outside with the family

Day 245- May 11.  Outside the new house

Day 246- May 12.  Smiles for Mommy on mother's day!