Long Weekend

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July!! We had a nice long weekend. After the "workday" on Tuesday (the picnic), Brian had the next 4 days off. Wow!! If we had been here longer, we probably would have planned ahead and had some getaway planned. But..alas...everyone had the same idea and most places were booked solid. Now we know for next year! We had a low key blast anyway. The girls had swimming lessons (Daddy got to watch them!!!) and they went to the weekly summer reading program at the library. Brian and I are used to hanging with the kids during their activities, but they are now getting to the age where the activities are independent of the parentals. The librarian had to let us know that we could leave the room if we wanted (hint, hint), so we had a good time curling up with a book in a corner of the library for an hour. A whole blissful, undisturbed hour. Sweet! The only thing missing was a coffee. The girls had fun and made a paper bag bug (the reading program theme this year is "Catch the Reading Bug"). On the 4th we went to see Kung Fu Panda at the camp theatre. The girls loved it. Other than that, we hung out at home. I know...boring. It was nice to not have to fight the crowds though. Kadena had a big Airshow/carnival, but we opted to stay in instead. It was nice. On Saturday we did laundry and cleaned. Whee...but necessary. I stayed home and scrapbooked and Brian took the girls to the pool to swim. Emily passed her swimming test!! At the pool there is a system involving colored wristbands:

Pink-can swim 25 yards and can be in the pool within 5 steps of a parent, can also go to the deep end with a parent in the pool.
Blue- can swim 25 yards, back float for 1 minute and can be in the pool within 10 steps of a parent.
Orange-can swim 25 yards, back float for 1 minute, tread water for a minute and can be in the pool if a parent is on somewhere on the premises.
Green-same as orange, but age 10 or older and can be at the pool without a parent.

Emily worked really hard and got her pink wristband! She was so proud. She went to the deep end in swimming class and figured out it was fun. That was her motivation to earn her wristband. She swam the front crawl for one lap and did it! Kenzie also surprised us and earned her Orange wristband. Wow!!! As of the 23rd she will get her green band and an ID card. Yikes! She is really becoming independent. Sunday, we went out to lunch at a curry place that Brian discovered through work. It is called Cocochibana and it was nice! I also learned from the commander's wife that there is another place that is more like what we were used to in England (Tandoori), so we are going to seek that one out at a later date. I did some more scrapbooking that afternoon (I have both the girls up to date in their school albums.) and Brian took the girls to a local park. I have posted a picture (and a video-Brian falls off his carpet halfway through...sorry if you get seasick...also the cicadas are really loud in the background. Do those things have a season??? They wake me up every morning.) of their adventure.