Broken Bone

Can you tell what is wrong with this picture?

Brand was in our backyard, playing with friends after school, when he tried to jump from the top of the ladder to the middle of the slide. He had made the jump many times and was somewhat famous with the neighborhood kids, but on this attempt something went wrong. Poor kid, I don't think he will be trying that again (or shall I say he isn't allowed to try that again).
As the x-ray shows he split the radius in his left arm just above his wrist. And if that wasn't bad enough the two ends of the bone were overlapping about an inch, making it very tricky to set. Brand had to be sedated because setting this type of break is very brutal and they often break the ulna in half in the process. As his mom all I can say is thank goodness he was dreaming while they set the bone. I couldn't watch and Josh only made it through the first of two attempts before he joined me on the outside of the curtain. After many minutes of pulling and twisting it worked and the doctors were able to straightened out the radius without breaking the ulna or having to pin it together in the operating room. The bone is still very unstable and can slip back even while in the cast. The two ends don't fit exactly the same way, but in kids it usually adapts with time. He will get another x-ray next week to make sure everything is still in place. If it has slipped back he will need surgery to pin it together.

Brand is the bravest kid I know. He barely made a sound as we drove the 2 blocks to the hospital (yes, we actually live next to the Navy hospital). It took an hour and a half before he was given any pain medicine, if you can even call 400 mg of ibuprofen pain medicine. Around this same time he started going into shock so they moved him from the waiting room to a bed. The doctor finally saw the x-rays after two hours and then gave him morphine. It most likely was because he was going into shock, but through the whole thing he stayed calm, waited patiently, and allowed the doctors to take care of him. He was such a tough kid. Here he is with a morphine induced smile.

Brand's favorite things about breaking his arm. He got to stay home from school for two days, watch movies and play games. He got balloons and a gigantic cookie from our friends (thank you so much Cat!). He got a triple scoop ice cream cone from Big Dig for holding still for the IV. All his friends can sign his cast. He is the current "King of the Playground" after such a fantastic fall. And lastly, he has a cool story about how he broke his arm.

Notice how he has the same shirt on from the day before. We were both too afraid to mess with his arm just yet.

Brand's Field Trip

I got to go with Brand's 1st grade class on a field trip to see a childrens play at the Okinawa Community Center. The entire thing was in Japanese but it was amazing how much we could figure out through the acting. The first play was a story we hadn't heard before about Forest Animals. There was a lot of singing and dancing. The second play was the Ugly Duckling so it was much easier to follow since we knew the basic story. Here is a bit of what we saw.

This is a lady welcoming us, I wanted to share a bit of the language we hear around us everyday.

Here is some of the Forest Animal Story.

Lastly, here is some of the Ugly Duckling.

The majority of the audience was Okinawa preschool age children. Don't they look so cute in their uniforms. It was amazing how well behaved they were for their age.

We were suppose to have lunch at a park after the play but in true Okinawan style it changed from beautiful sunny skies to pouring rain during the play. Brand and I ended up eating lunch at Burger King on-base just the two of us. I had a great time hanging out with Brand for the day.

Here Comes The Humidity!!!

When we woke up this morning the outside of our windows were all steamed up. Here comes the humidity after magically disappearing all winter. The humidity mixed with the heat in the summertime here is completely stifling. The only way it is bearable to be outside is if you are near water, thank goodness for the beaches and pools. I wonder if growing up in the desert has anything to do with my inability to handle completely stifling humidity. It looks as if living in humid Michigan the last 7 years didn't prepare me at all for Okinawa. The saddest part of all is we are banished to running on treadmills for the next 5 months. Crazy how it is backwards here, you run outside in the winter not the summer!

Favorite Running Spot

One of Josh and my favorite things to do is go running along the seawall on the East China Sea. From our front door it is a 5 minute run to the water. How lucky are we. The pictures say it all.

Just outside the base we live on.

Beginning of the run along the water.



This is the view at the end of the seawall.
Now we turn around and run back home.

Gated Community?

How many of you can say you have watched your 3 year old child be removed from your vehicle and walked across the street holding hands with a Marine who was also holding a gigantic M16 while you were told to remain in your vehicle with both hands on the steering wheel. Then, after your child was safely across the street being guarded by the Marine with the large gun and bullet proof vest, you were ordered to open and close all compartments and doors to your vehicle and subjected to a full vehicle search. Well, I can now say it has happened to me. Even though I had been warned "Safety Training Exercise" were going to occur this week I didn't know exactly what to expect so it was quite a nerve racking few minutes. The Marines were all business, far from friendly. It happened to me on the first day of the training exercises so I hadn't seen anyone else searched making it a real surprise when it happened. Of course I passed the search, no illegal contraband in my vehicle. I guess it is nice to know the gates to our bases have guards that take our safety seriously. How many other gated communities are guarded by military personnel with M16's and bullet proof vests!

What a great 9 days...

We were very sad to say goodbye to Suz’s parents last Saturday. After a whirlwind 9 days they were probably glad to get some sleep on the long 23 hour trip home. It was so nice to spend time with family. The boys had a great time wrestling with Papa and playing games with Mimi. Josh and I had fun taking them to all of our favorite restaurants and showing off our amazing beaches. The boys really miss them. Max thinks they are still at the airport and continues to ask when we are going back to get them. Here are a few highlights of their visit.



Goodbye Mimi and Papa, thank you for coming to visit us!

We love you!

Yeah Visitors!

We are so excited! At this very minute Suz's parents are flying over the Pacific Ocean to come see us. They're our first visitors from home and we can't wait to show them what our life is like over here. But the biggest thing, I can't wait to see my kids give them a hug!