Our Family Vacation to Florida

We just got back from our first family vacation and airplane ride. Brett had a class he had to attend for work at Hurlburt Field in Florida, so Mallory and I joined him and made it into a 2 week family vacation. We had a great time shopping, laying on the beach, eating American food, and just spending time together. Here's a few pictures to document our great trip and Mallory's very first plane ride and trip to the USA.

This is how Mallory rode on the plane from Narita (Tokyo) to Dallas. This bassinet clips into the bulkhead wall, so you don't have to hold her for the entire 13 hours. Bliss.

Mallory asleep in the bassinet.

Mallory's very first trip to the beach.

Chillin' in the hotel room, watching some tv. Note the Route 44 Sonic cup- we miss Sonic in Japan.

My new sleep position- one finger in my mouth, the other in my ear.

So stinkin' cute, and drooly!

Such a diva.

Hello there cutie! (Both of them!)

Aaaahhhh...

The boardwalk in Destin, FL

We ate dinner on the boardwalk. It was calm and relaxing, as you can see. Mallory throughly enjoyed it.

My shirt says I'm a "super star", and well, I am of course!

Feeding the birds on the pier

Visiting with some close, family friends

Hanging with Mommy in the hotel

My Daddy is so fun!

We stayed at the Ramada Plaza Beach Resort. This is the pool that backed up right into our room. Inside the cave was a swim-up bar (but it was off season in October, so no drinks for us- in the pool anyway).

Our family beach picture.

Mommy and Mal on the beach

Our little sunbather. Such a diva at 2 months.

Leaving her mark on the beach :)

Daddy and daugher time

Check out my cool sunhat. Keeps the sun off my face and neck. Also hides my face in all the pictures.

Laying on the beach is hard work- it's time for a nap!

Trying to keep the sun off our little diva. Since we didn't have an umbrella or anything, the next best thing was pulling out all the contents of the diaper bag.

My shirt says "Could I be any cuter". The answer is, of course, NO!

What is this stuff on the ground? Sand? What is that??

Brett + Kim = Mallory 2009

Mallory's Party Tricks

While we love getting out and about in Japan, Mallory is our main focus these days. But, with such a cute face, can you really blame us? :) Here are just a few pictures to show you what she has been up to lately:

She can "fly"!

Look closely and you can see a lovely little spit stream on this one. That's another trick of hers- she's a juicy kid!

Her very first Christmas ornament, given to her by my friend Christina (hi Christina!!) in my DFW ornament exhange.

Sucking her thumb. She found it a few weeks ago, and it is now her self-soothing mechanism. it is usually her left thumb, with her fingers up on her face. She takes her right hand behind her head and rubs her head in a diva-like pose.

Helping Daddy hold the bottle

Holding her own bottle (not really, it was sorta just propped up on her, but it looks like she was holding it so of course I had to snap a picture of it) Please ignore that her fingers look freakishly weird- she was actually making a fist.

Looking adorable after bath time. Couldn't you just eat her up, she's such a cutie pie?!

And not to be forgotten, my first baby, Maverick. Here is Maverick and his buddy Huey (our neighbor's dog). Aren't they cute? Huey is around 8 months to Maverick's 8 years, but they still have fun and run around together.

Hot Mamas go to Kichijoji

Here at Yokota I am blessed to have made friends with lots of people, many of them mommies of little ones as well. One such group calls ourselves the "Hot Mamas". Super fun group that meets Friday mornings in the EDIS playroon to let the kids socialize (as well as us). But we also get together at other times and go on "field trips" together. It's great to get out and about in Japan. Plus, when you are with other mommies, they understand about having to stop to nurse or change a diaper. And you are pretty much guaranteed that if you forgot something in your diaper bag- someone else has what you need!

On October 21st, 7 of us (and our babes) loaded up our kids, strollers, carriers, blankets, food, diapers...you get the idea...and headed out for a stroll and picnic in Kichijoji Park. As you can see, we had a great time!

On the train...off we go...

My view of Mallory, in the baby carrier.

We didn't, but you can rent these swan paddle boats and go around the pond in them.

Mallory stopping for her picnic lunch :)

Mallory hanging out on the picnic blanket.

The group stopping for a picnic lunch.

The temple located in Kichijoji Park.

Mal and me on the temple bridge.

7 mamas and 7 babes.

Just the babies- and Rachel and myself :)

Everyone again.

A stone near the temple. I have no idea what it says :)

Beautiful park.

The group in front of the temple.

A Japanese artist painting the scenery in the park.

Enjoying a dessert crepes break in a pavilion on the way back to the train. Crepes are a delicious dessert they sell here. It's like a huge flat pancake and they will fill it with just about anything you want. Mine had ice cream, bananas, chocolate sauce and sprinkles on it today...I ate the entire thing and only managed to drip one small drop of ice cream on Mallory's head :)

Obviously a spin off of Hard Rock.

The whole group on the street in Kichijoji, walking back to the train station.

An escalator in the train station. When someone in a wheelchair needs to get up or down, they rope off the escalator, slow it down, have a few of the stairs attach together to make a "platform", and down they go. We'd never seen that before- kinda neat, huh?

The walk from the train station back to base. I'm the one wearing the backpack. Mallory is in the carrier on my front- that way I'm balanced out! The little boy in front of me wasn't with our group. He was a Japanese kid hurrying home from school.