30 Weeks

10 weeks left baby!  I kinda over did it with some mad organizing and furniture rearranging yesterday, so you would think I would learn my lesson and quiet things down today but I decided the bathrooms needed a good scrub down.  Yay for cleaning!  Except now my back is killing me, but my afternoon siesta will feel all the more glorious that it is hard earned ;)

Had my first excursion off base the day before yesterday... SOLO.  Or as solo as you can be with two cute little girls with you.  Luckily Camp Lester (where the hospital is) is just a 10 min drive down the road once I get into actual Okinawa proper.  The girls were champs and this appointment ended up being a douzie!  With initial paper work and "getting to know you questionnaire" (which was really more like complete medical history of everything that ever happened to you) we were there for over two hours.  I was super prepared though and the girls did great.  I had a bag just full of fun toys they hadn't seen in a while, colorings and a little bag of snacks.

I LOVE my Dr.  She is super nice and it is a family practice too.  I am switching the girls over to her today as well and I am really excited to be able to see the same Dr for all our needs.  She was so nice and kind, really put me at ease and was super sweet to the girls.

I promised the girls McDonald's so we stopped at one on the way back to Kadena.  We were the only non-Japanese people in the joint and it was the first time I truly felt like a fish out of water.  I only accidently drove on the wrong side of the road once, plus it was a quiet little side street so I was able to correct myself without causing too much damage.  Pretty much I consider the whole thing as a raging success.  Made my way there?  CHECK!  Avoid hitting any cars? CHECK.  Yes, I am a rockstar.

I guess they do recommend that once you hit 37 weeks that you go to the hospital to ride out all typhoons as sometimes roads and services can be down for a bit during the aftermath.  I think I should be okay as the typhoon season ends at the end of November.  The hospital looks really nice and I am excited about having the baby there.  Well about having the baby out period.  I am definitely reaching the uncomfortable feeling stage, I plan on keeping myself real busy to make this last stretch go by quick!

Torii Beach

 We tried to take breaks during our unpacking of boxes blitz.  It's good for the mind, the kids and plus we were so excited to have wheels this weekend we wanted to whoop it up!  We had an Army Guy BBQ on Saturday afternoon with some of the guys Marcus works with.  We had a lot of fun meeting everyone and taking a break from the unpacking (our boxes were delivered that morning).   

Sunday we went to our new branch here and LOVED it.  Everyone was so nice and welcoming!  General Conference for us is being broadcasted next week instead of this last weekend due to the time change.  If anyone wants to know what General Conference is you can read about it HERE.  

Monday Marcus had the day off from work so we did some MUCH needed grocery shopping in the AM, grabbed some snacks and cold drinks, stopped my McDonald's on the way (the whole menu was in Japanese!  I had no idea what I was ordering for sure until I had it in my hands haha) and we hit up Torii Beach!

I picked up this chair at the PX.  It was the cheapest one there and when I took it out I was cracking up about how mega patriotic it is.  Rocking the national pride baby.

 Upside of being the picture taker?  Not having any beached whale shots of yourself at the beach.  Plus I still haven't been able to find a maternity swimsuit so I was rocking some work out shorts and a sports bra.  After I had sufficiently sun bathed I took and long, luxurious dip in the water.  I stayed in for a long, LONG time.  For the first time in many months I wasn't painfully aware of the huge ball protruding from my belly.  They salt water made it SO easy to float around.  So I just floated and floated.

Plus Marcus informed me that my sports bra top had turned see through in the water.  Awesome.  Did I mention our friend Murphy was also there swimming with us?  Double awesome.  Not only was I self conscious about my sheer girth and this point but I was also pretty much swimming topless.  Triple awesome.   So I made sure to swim, with only my head out of the water,  until the area had sufficiently cleared out and then I made a mad dash for my beach chair and my sun dress.  Real classy I tell you.

Also Marcus will probably barf that I posted all this on the blog for all the internets to see.  But I maintain he knew what he was getting into when he married me and my grand ability for over-sharing is just part of the Vashti package.

 That WATER I tell you!  This picture isn't even doing it justice for how beautiful the colors are!

 The girls were so quick to make friends with any other kids around us and they played their brains out while Marcus snorkeled with Murphy.  Olivia also had a run in with a little wave and learned how much salt water burns your nose.  She was a total champ and shook it off to keep whooping it up in the water.

 These swimsuits, as it turned out were way too big for all their bits so we were pretty much the inappropriate family.  If it wasn't me who was exposing myself due to my see though top, it was the girls with their droopy swimsuits.  Like I said, we are a real classy bunch.

 We found some sweet little sand buckets at the PX, so between building castles and looking for seashells (or SHESHELLS as Olivia calls them) they were happy as clams.

I am so pumped to beach my brains out, with a less revealing top, and rock it out until this baby comes! Oh Japan, how much I love you.

The Grand Tour

So here is the tour of our house.  We got the keys and moved in Thursday night.  All our household goods were delivered on Saturday so we were busy worker bees getting everything unpacked.  Luckily Marcus had a 4 day weekend so he was able to be home and help me get a good head start on setting up house.  

We also bought the first of the two cars we will purchase while we are here on Friday so that has been pretty exciting have wheels to drive ourselves around.  

 Disclaimer:  99.9% of the boxes are unpacked, but I still have tons of organizing to do to get things how I will like it.  So I guess these will give you a good before and after for when we have decorated and I have my pictures on the wall.

Here is the view from the front door when you first walk in the house.  The closet on the right has our washer and dryer in it and the little door to the left is a storage space.

 To the right of the front door is our dining area.  All the furniture is loaner furniture from the Government and we are really impressed with it.

 From the dining room, here is the view into the kitchen.  The kitchen is really big and I am super excited about it.  Tons and tons of cabinets.  I only have like half of them filled right now.  It is so crazy awesome to have this much space!

 If you go through the kitchen and turn left then you face the hallway and living room area.

 This is our living room area.  I am still figuring out how I want the layout to be.  The desk will probably end up being moved into the back part of the room.  The TV is right beside the computer desk.

 The is from the kitchen down the hallway.  The main bathroom is at the end of the hall.  The girls rooms are on the right side of the hall and our bedroom is on the left side of the hall.

 The loaner furniture was already moved in when we took possession and they had the beds split up in the rooms.  The girls are going to be sharing a room but with all the unpacking we haven't felt like moving all their furniture around yet so they have their own rooms for right now.  Especially after being in such close quarters in the hotel room I think everyone is just loving having their own space to stretch out.

They each picked out a set of sheets from the PX and they are just using their Princess fleece blankets right now.  I found some really cute quilts with matching shams from target.com that were on clearance for only 20.00, pretty much score of the century.  I am really excited to really get their rooms all situated once I get their cute quilts in.

 This is the second bedroom AKA Bianca's room for right now.  Eventually both girls will be in this room.

 This is the main bath at the end of the hall AKA the girls bathroom.  The tubs are freaking awesome.  SUPER deep.  Our bathroom is pretty much exactly the same as this one except for placement of tub and such, it is pretty much mirror image of this one.

Here is our room, AKA the catch all for the random little stuff I haven't put away yet.  My back has been killing me after this weekend so I am just kinda taking it easy today (and updating the blog haha). Our bathroom is through the door to the right and our closet is on the left.  The bed is a double which feels real tiny.  I am thinking that might have to be one of our first furniture upgrades we make.

A VERY long journey.

It was a very long, crazy long, NEVER ending day of traveling to cross the ocean to get here.  We got to the USO at SEATAC the night before our flight, at like 10 or so.  Apparently everyone else had the same idea of getting there early for our flight so the USO was jam packed to capacity.  We ended up making little beds for the girls on the floor and they slept for a little bit until we had to check our bags in  for our flight at a kipper 2:30 AM.  

 We somehow managed to keep the girls asleep and transported their little nest beds out into the main airport area while we stood in line to check our bags and get all situated for our flight.

 Thankfully Teri and Darrol stayed until we went through security so they stayed with the girls while we were getting all checked in.   The security to our gates opened up at 4 AM so we let the girls keep sleeping and woke them up to go through security.  They were NOT happy about waking up for that but luckily the security guys were extra quick with us so we could get going to our gate.

 The girls were really excited about riding escalators and the little tram thing to get to our gate so they were pretty good about walking, which was nice because we had three back packs and two little bags for the girls as well as their carseats, so trying to carry them too would have been ridiculous.

For the backpacks, we had one each for Marcus and I and one was just full of snacks for the kids.  All individual size snack packs and fruit snacks and fruit by the foot.  Any time they were hungry we just gave them the bag and they could pick out whatever in the world looked good to them.  It was totally perfect, especially for Bianca.  She pretty much ate constantly the whole first flight.

In my back pack I had extra clothes for the girls and I as well as toiletry essentials to help us feel freshened up.  Half way through the traveling I gave the girls little sponge baths with baby wipes, changed their clothes, brushed their teeth and wet their hair in the sink.  I also "freshened" up but will spare you the details on that one!  I noticed a rejuvenation in the girls after getting all cleaned up and it kind of reset them.

 Even though it was a lot of shenanigans to haul the carseats to the plane, I am SO glad that we did.  They girls felt comfy and cozy in their carseats and slept incredibly well whenever they took naps.   We took Bianca for potty breaks whenever she asked and walked her around a little bit each time but when we were back in the seats we told her we all had to be buckled up.  All of us stayed buckled the whole time and Bianca didn't question it very much about being buckled in her carseat while sitting down.

 Konks and I on the second leg of the flight.  We both were sleeping hard and you can kind of see me holding her hand.  She wanted to cuddle for her naps so I held her hand and we stayed like that for our whole nap time.  I was so tired I didn't even move!

The first flight felt like it went by faster than I expected it too.  We just dozed on and off.  They had movie after movie playing and served us two meals.  The meals were SO good, seriously!  Tons of food, enough to totally fill me up and it tasted so good.  It could be Stockholm Syndrome, but I swear that food was the bomb.   So it was something like 10 hours or maybe a little more until we got to Japan.

 Then we had two layovers on the mainland of Japan, each layover was 3 hours and then the last two legs of the flight were only a little over an hour in the air each time.  The layovers were hard for me mentally.  There wasn't a lot of room to stretch out at the layover points and my feet were swollen up like a (insert curse word here).  It was nice that we were on the same plane all the way to Okinawa so we could leave our carseats on the plane and any extra bags that we wanted to.  They just cleaned up the plane at the layovers, stocked up more food and we picked up and dropped off people at each stop.

Were were on a military only flight, chartered for military personnel and their families.  It is called the Patriot Express and I really liked it.  Everyone on the flight was so considerate and understanding and it really helped to reduce any stress you would feel.

 These color wonder coloring books provided literally HOURS of entertainment on our journey.  The special markers work only on the paper.  Olivia does super well with crafts and keeps things on the paper, Bianca not so much.  So it was really nice for them to have 'big girl' markers, they thought it was a super special treat and I didn't have to worry about it getting on anything.  Totally genius, totally Kaitlyn's idea and I am SO glad she told me about these little beauts.

 Olivia probably held out the longest on the nap front.  She was having so much fun coloring and watching the movies that they were playing, she was just in her own little world.  At the last layover Bianca totally stayed asleep while we took her into the waiting area, continued to sleep all through the layover and slept again once we got her on the plane.  Olivia totally conked out the last little flight.  Like she was dead to the world, the little trooper.

We landed into Kadena Air Force Base and the last bit was probably the most brutal.  Both the girls were beyond their limit and wanted to be held and we had to take everything off the plane as it was our last stop.  All the backpacks, toy bags, car seats and girls.  My feet were wretched at this point.  I have had my feet swell in pregnancy before but this was out of control.  They were throbbing and we were hauling all our stuff off the plane.  Marcus had on two back packs (front and back) two toy bags, holding Olivia and a carseat and even with his hurculean efforts there was still another girl and carseat that needed to be hauled off.  Luckily a Marine boy helped me to get off the plane with a carseat and Air Force guy helped me to get on the bus when we got off the plane.

They released all the families with children or special needs off first but ironically our bags were some of the last to come on the roundabout thing, so it felt like we were waiting FOREVER to get all our suitcases.  The girls were crying and exhausted, I was so exhausted that I probably would have just joined in on the crying except I was too tired to even exert that much effort.

Our sponsor, a guy from Marcus unit here, picked us up from the airport and took us and another family to the temporary lodging.  He has been the best!  The very next day he took us to get some cell phones and get groceries for our hotel.  He also has been taking Marcus to work and chauffeuring us around until we got our car this last week.  I am so thankful that he got assigned to be our sponsor, it was such a blessing to have all that help when we got here!

So we were in the hotel for two weeks until everything lined up for us to get our house that we are in now.  It took my feet 4 days before the swelling went back down totally.  After the first week we were totally time adjusted and ready to go.

Gird Your Loins

Yeehaaaaaw folks!  I am 

A) No longer homeless

B)  Mostly unpacked in my new house

C)  Internet accessible

D)  Have my beaut of a iMac back

E)  Rockin' it out in Okinawa, Japan

Since all those criteria are met as far as my mental health and sanity goes, I am back up and running on the bliggity blog.  Before I get to our CRAZINESS travel of getting here, I wanted to do a quick summer roundup (or picture barf) to get us all up to pace.  Also there was so pretty magical things that happened from when the blog had to take a wee bit of a hiatus due to the aforementioned homelessness and I just couldn't handle it if I didn't, at least, touch on it briefly!  Also, if you are not pictured but contributed to my magical holiday of homelessness in WA, it is not for lack of love but lack of brains in actual picture taking or remembering to whip out my camera when said magical times occurred.  

 Special SPECIAL SPECIAL!!!!! Lunch with my big big girl.  This was when we were still in San Angelo at the most amazing sandwich place.  It was totally like the soup nazi episode on Seinfeld except they do sandwiches.  They totally kick you out of line if you don't have your act together when you go to order, and they MEAN business!  But seriously the best sandwiches EVA!

 After our lunch date, my friend JoAnna was also with us, we went to my ultrasound for the baby.  Olivia got to be in the room when they told us we were going to have a wee baby boy!  It was a very special day for Olivia and I.  She was so sweet and kept asking me during the ultrasound if I was comfy .  I am so glad my sweet girl could go with me.  (Marcus was unable to attend to due training shenanigans).

 We spent lots of time with Vienna, eating ice cream and playing dress up!

 On our way to WA we got to spend some extra special time with our Holman's.  Blainey and Olivia got to go to a big girl date night of Forever Plaid at the Pickleville Theater at Bear Lake.  They are so freaking cute, I can hardly stand it!

 Here they are during intermission.  Even though they were tired and it was late, they totally had a kick out of all the magical singing.

 Bianca had a birthday and we made sure to whoop it up right with tons of sugar and celebrating!

 Also along our journey to WA we made a pit stop at Arches National Park in Utah.  It was hotter than Hades but the girls enjoyed the short little walk and see the sights.

 More Vienna time at Birch Bay!

 EEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!!! WICKED!!!!!  Saw it for the first time while we were in SLC and it was THE BEST!  I had pretty freaking high expectations as I had been listening to the complete soundtrack in my car for years and it totally exceeding my expectations.  Sigh.  It was seriously magical.  Especially made more magical by seeing it with some of my favorite people.

 Also a trip through Utah would not be complete without a stop at Smith and Edwards.  Freaking love this place and the girls killed an hour just exploring all it had to offer!

 BEAR LAKE!!  We had a week pit stop at Bear Lake before we continued on to WA.  It was magical, soul satisfying, spoke to my heart, rejuvenating and everything I needed.  We spent countless hours being beach bums and soaking in the sun, sand and waves.

 I have been able to see a lot of magical places since we started on this whole Army thang, and I must say, Bear Lake will ALWAYS ALWAYS hold a special place in my heart for it's beauty and the special things I feel while I am there.

 These girls were so cute, playing in the water and making mudpies.

 Also at Smith and Edwards, Adrienne made her debut as a swamp monster.  She donned all this camo get up and proceeded to walk throughout the whole store trying to find the little girls to scare them.   She ended up startling quite a few shoppers in the process.  This is why I love this girl.

 Lots and Lots and LOTS of cuddles with our family while we were visiting in WA.

 More birthday celebrations for Bianca and Marcus.

Eating a TON of ice cream whilst trying to stay cool.  I pretty much hit up Edaleen at least three times a week (and that is at a minimum, for REALS) for the month and a half that I was there with girls.  It was total heaven and perfection every time.  Also I always loved to treat while at Edaleen because it is so decently priced.  So the girls there recognized me before I even got up because I normally always ordered at least 7 cones, depending on how many people I was with at the time.  Big spender here folks!  Ice cream for everyone at a dollar a pop!  Haha.

NOW that I have regurgitated my summer in one fail swoop I can get into the goods of our new life living abroad.  It is crazy, fun, weird, exhausting, magical and done up Radder style.  So stay tuned!

It's Go Time!

I haven't really posted since we arrived from TX back to WA.  I have had hit or miss internet access since we got here and just have been having way too much fun.   We (read I) have eaten way too much Edaleen ice cream, spent tons of time with our family, waited for Daddy to join us, packed and re packed and re packed all our bags, stocked up on baby items and eaten a ton of spicy thai curries.

We have 8 suitcases and 6 carry on items and it is all piled up in Kaitlyn's living room right now.  We will be traveling our brains out through the rest of this week with our end stop being Okinawa, Japan!  I am excited, stressed, want to barf and feeling relieved that it is finally here.  The lead up to a big move just hangs over your head so to finally get going does feel like a relief.

It will be craziness upon craziness as we get there and try to get all set up!  Stay tuned to the blog as I will be updated probably even more than I have in the past so the fam can see what we are up to!

Wish us luck!   The Radder's are..... Japan or BUST!!

Twister

We were up on base earlier today to spend some time with Marcus.  It was really hot out and we were sitting under a gazebo trying to stay cool.  Murphy and Jacobson also joined us and it had been a while since we were all together, we were having such a good time.

A cool breeze started to kick up, which felt GLORIOUS and the dark clouds that were on the horizon were now really close.  We could see down the way that a little twister had kicked up and it looked so cool to see it up close.  It was a little one, bigger than the barracks buildings around us but we could tell it wasn't dangerous.  It swept around our way and we saw people walking get caught up in it.  Then it came right through our gazebo area.  It was kicking up a lot of sand and it was fast and furious.  Marcus and I each grabbed a girl and covered their eyes to protect them as we felt the rush of the wind all whipping around us.  The girls were totally freaked, Bianca more so than Olivia but they listened and stayed still right by us so we could cover their eyes.

It lasted less than 30 seconds and then shortly after the thunder and lightening hit and then rain started to pour buckets on us.  It was a crazy amount of rain and we all rain to the PX for shelter.  We all ended up getting soaked but laughing like crazy the whole way.

When we got home the little twister just stuck with me.  It wasn't serious and I knew we were safe the whole time (besides getting a bunch of grit in my mouth) but to the girls it was a real disaster bearing down on us.  It felt so good to shelter my kids, to literally offer protection to Olivia, to cover her eyes and keep her safe and make her feel calm.  I was laughing and hollering when it came through us, it was so crazy to experience that.  I looked over at Marcus as it was on us and saw him holding Bianca and doing the same thing I was doing for Olivia, holding her tight and covering her eyes.  It wasn't a danger situation by any means but it made my heart so happy to see him doing the same thing for our other child as I was, like we were totally on the same page.  Our little unit hunkered down together until the storm passed.

I just kept thinking back to it for the rest of the day.  Our little family, with Murphy and Josh thrown in too, all hunkered down in that gazebo.  How thankful I am for our little Unit, how we each work together and keep each other happy and safe.  How glad I am that we switched gears and came here with Marcus so we could grow as a family together.