the big 8

Well, H turned the big 8 today.  Can you believe it???  It seems like just yesterday we were bringing that little (really BIG) bundle of joy home from the hospital in Monterey.  Now, here we are 8 years later, halfway across the world.  I was really bummed we couldn't do our Singapore vacation, as part of it was for his birthday.  I mean, not every 8 year old gets to ride an elephant for his birthday.  Since that got changed to a shorter vacation in mainland Japan, without the elephant ride, H had to get some pretty good gifts to make up for it.  At least, that's my reasoning, and I'm sticking to it.

I took him to dinner at the marina restaurant the other night, with MA and her kids.  He chose the restaurant, and I was happy with any choice as long as it wasn't Chili's.  We had a nice dinner out and saved the presents for his actual birthday.  I told him he had to wait until after school to do the presents/cake thing.  I had gotten his presents, but when I picked him up from his friends house the other day, he mentioned that he got to play a game there and he actually didn't like it.  Go figure, I had just bought that particular game and had it stashed in the back of the car.  So back to the PX today to make the exchange and it all worked out.  He had 2 small presents to open.  He got a new DS game and a Wii game.  He opened the Wii game and said, "uh, mom, this is for the Wii".  I played it off and acted like I had made a huge mistake thinking it was for the PS2.  I told him I'd exchange it tomorrow, and that I was sorry.  I asked him to put it over by the stereo so I could remember to do it tomorrow.  He opened up the cabinet to do it and found the new Wii system and was THRILLED.  I'd been thinking about getting one for awhile, but just kept putting it off.  Now all I can say, is how on earth did we not have one?  It is SUPER FUN!  We played bowling, boxing, go kart racing, air hockey and dodgeball tonight.  I think I might have injured my left elbow during a serious boxing match.  I'm not much of a gamer, but it is really really fun.  Even now, I sit here typing away, kids are sound asleep and I'm really thinking about going for one more game of bowling or maybe one more boxing match.  Took some good pics of the kids tonight and MA had taken some great ones at dinner the other night.  

I'm off to finish my tea, yes, you read that right, I'm having tea.  I've overcome my problem with drinking tea and now enjoy a cup nightly.  I mean, I am half-Japanese, and I'm living over here, how can I not drink tea??

Night night, all.  Love and miss you!