The Showa-Kinen Flower Festival 2015

I hope that everyone had a good weekend!!! Normally I would post my weekend recap buuuuuut let's be serious I worked on Saturday so I did NOTHING worth writing about Friday night or Saturday after work because I've been beat lately. I will say that the weather on Sunday was gorgeous and that gave us the opportunity to take the train about 15 minutes to the Showa-Kinen park so that we could see the flower festival that was going on. I didn't know what to expect but I did know that it was supposed to have a bunch of tulips that I couldn't pass up.

 

One we got there I was surprised at how cheap it was for us to get in. It was 820 yen for Isaac and I to get in together (410 each) and Logan was free since kids under 6 are free. They have so much to do there which is nice. You can rent paddle boats, ride your bicicyle on the multiple trails, there is a water park, many playgrounds and much more. you could easily spend all day here and Logan was in threenager heaven.

 

 

 

 

After walking for about 3 minutes we ran into the beautiful flower gardens which were hard to miss. I spent so much time walking around, admiring the beauty of the nature we were surrounding by. I know if you know me by now you are aware that spring, flowers, sunshine and my boys make me one happy lady.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So beautiful!

 

We ran across a man painting and enjoying the scenery

 

 

 

 

A nice man noticed that we wanted to take pictures and offered to take a family picture for us and despite the language barrier it worked out

 

 

After spending about an hour or two walking around we sat down to watch the street performers that they had, grab some ice cream and so that Isaac could grab a beer

 

 

 

 

it was a great, inexpensive way to spend the day and I am so glad that the weather was finally nice on the weekend and we didn't waste it by watching TV inside

 

 

 

How was your weekend?

 

Linking up

 

 

 

My Fours

A few of the blogs that I love and follow (Champagne & Suburbs and Sequins & Sea Breezes) have done their fours and so now I am joining in and encouraging ya'll to do the same!

 

Four Nicknames I've had 

1. Koya - My little brother used to call me this when he was little. I have no idea why but I liked it an went with it

 

2. Kenny G- My clever sister thought it would be hilarious to call me after the musician Kenny G since my maiden name is Goffney and obviously my first name is Kendra (and now that Isaac has read this he has vowed to call me this)

 

3. Cunningham- I was in the military for 8 years and it's just easier to call you by the name on your shirt

 

4 KTC- Isaac will call me by my initials in text messages fairly often actually

 

 

Four movies I've watched more than once

1. The Break Up - I am obsessed with this movie and I hysterically laugh out loud every time. It helped me though the worse break up of my life.

 

2. Talladega Nights- Basically anything Will Ferrell and John C Reilly do together I'm watching....often

 

3. Mean Girls because On Wednesday's we wear pink

 

4. Knocked up- I watched this during my pregnancy and identified with it more than ever haha

 

(via)

Four Jobs I've had

1. Anchor Blue - What teenager didn't work at the mall and funnel all their money back to the store they worked at

 

2. U.S. Air Force is the career I am most proud of. Did it for 8 years, from 18-26 and I grew so much as a person 

 

3. Bank of America - My first job out of the Air Force and it was my highest paying, most prestigious career. I loved being a Banking Center Manager and would do it again in a heartbeat  

 

4. Community Bank- The one I have now and I love it! Still in banking but not as much responsibility...or pay...but we are in another country with limited opportunities

 

Four Things in my purse

1. Baby wipes

2. 3 Chapsticks

3. Hand sanitizer 

4. Planner/Notebook

Four Places I've Lived

1. Lakewood, CA

2. Sumter, SC

3. Lompoc, CA

4. Fussa, Tokyo, Japan 

Four Places I've Visited 

1. Jacksonville, FL

2. San Diego, CA

3. North Pole, AK

4. Nashville, TN

 

(me with all my boys at Sea World, San Diego)

 

Four Places on my travel bucket list 

1. Sydney Australia

2. New York City 

3. Germany

4. Paris, France 

Four things I don't eat

1. Peanut butter

2. Fish

3. Muffins

4. Pie

 

Four TV shows I watch

1. The Mysteries of Laura

2. The Mindy project

3. The Goldbergs

4. Blue bloods 

 

(via)

4 Cars I've driven
1. Jaguar X-type 3.0
2. Cadillac SRX
3. Volkswagen Passat
4. These are the only three cars I've ever owned in my life

 

4 things to look forward to in 2015

1. Becoming debt free - I haven't spoken a lot about my Dave Ramsey driven financial journey on here but we are on one and we are struggling between wanting to do everything and exploring and paying off everything but I am hoping that we will stay on track and become debt free this year

 

2. Evie!!!! my Yokota best friend is having her first baby girl after 2 handsome and hilarious boys this summer and I am SO EXCITED

 

3. I found a group of other bloggers here on Yokota and I am excited to begin networking and bouncing ideas of them.

 

4. Exploring more of this beautiful country that we are so blessed to be able to live in and building my friendships with the lovely ladies I have started to bond with here

 

(via)

 

Weekending: DIY and Bad Behavior edition

Happy Monday!!!!!

So yes I have been a little MIA but to be honest these past couple of weeks have been the most stressful ever. Remember when I explained why I went back to work and a big part of it was because of the uncertainty surrounding Isaac's knee? well looks like me speaking that into existence is a real thing. After a series of MRI's and doctors appointments in Tokyo and on base we found out that Isaac will be having knee surgery, for the second time in just under 2 years, on Thursday. As you can imagine he was less than thrilled but I am trying to be as supportive and upbeat as I can possibly be for him. Then this morning we got the news that his surgery has been pushed back to June so we were relieved and less stressed and celebrated at Chili's

anyway on to the fun stuff!

Friday and Saturday were pretty regular boring days. I worked until 5 Friday night and Isaac was gone to Odaiba with his friends all day Saturday. since I didn't go and he doesn't share my love for pictures and oversharing I got absolutely zero pictures. Don't worry though after Isaac recovers we are going back as a family because there is a bunch of stuff to do there, including a maritime museum, which if you know me personally you know I am so stoked about!

Sunday Isaac surprised Logan and I with breakfast at Route 16 on base, and then came home to overhaul Logan's train table. We got this train table that Logan loves from my friend Kelly (we miss you Kelly!!) when we lived in Long Beach last year. The white paint in this year has been drawn on, stickers stuck to it, food and dirt all over it, the works. When it arrived here in Japan Isaac and Logan were talking and decided that it would be a good idea to paint it blue since that is his new favorite color. We are not DIY people....it is so much easier for us to pay someone but Logan wanted Isaac to do it so we bought a mask, some spray paint and some sanding stuff and headed out to the patio.

 

 

 

It isn't perfect but it looks so much better in his room, it hides the dirt much better nad most importantly Logan loves it!

 

 

 

Afterwards we headed to Aeon Mall, which is about 5 minutes from our house, and tried to go shopping. the key word there is TRIED. Logan was in the worst mood ever and I am just going to be honest.....HE WAS HORRIBLE. We got through H&M and then decided that before we tried to give Logan away to a Japanese family it was better to leave. There were tantrums, manikin arms pulled down and a stern, but extremely quiet, talking to. In Japan it is very bad to scold or discipline your child in public so you can just imagine how this went over. yeah it was time to go. I got a couple of shirts and decided that I was getting a sitter next time we both wanted to be at the mall.

If you follow me on instagram then you know that I was super excited for and attempted to navigate Lilly Pulizter for Target launch....

 

 

that was a big fat fail.

 

 

Once I finally got on all of the things in my size were sold our or available in store only so I quit and decided to watch Gold Rush with Isaac.

Soooo that was my weekend. How was yours??? Did you do anything cool?

Here are the ladies that im linking up with today  

Weekending || The absoutlely nothing edition

Happy Monday Y'all!

 

I wish that I could say that we accomplished as much or had as much fun as we did last weekend but the truth is we totally didn't. It was a nice laid back weekend with hardly any pictures and lots of sleeping

 

Friday night I got off at 5:15 just like every Friday, came home for a couple of hours to cuddle with my loves and then headed off to my Key Spouse Mentor's house around 7ish for a meeting. What I thought would be a couple of hours ended up turning into all of us talking and laughing until midnight! I left my phone in the car and I had 5 missed calls and a ton of phone calls wondering if I got into a car accident since it was raining. I am definitely not the type to stay up that late so I was surprised, rushed home to a worried but awake husband and then went to sleep

 

Saturday was apparently a recovery day for my old lady body. I woke up at 9, came out to eat breakfast with Isaac and Logan sat down to watch this show on Hulu called Resident Advisors which is starring Jamie Chung from the real world: San Diego (and a ton more since but i'll always remember her from there), Andrew Bachelor from some episodes of The Mindy Project and Ryan Hansen from Veronica Mars and Bad Judge (which I loved but got cancelled) and is produced by Elizabeth Banks,which by the way I cant figure out if I like it or not, and fell asleep in the middle of the 3rd episode for a couple of hours. Woke up and watched the rest of the 7 episodes available and at the end I think I kind of like the show. If you haven't check it out and let me know what you think or if you are as indecisive about it as I am. I fell asleep again and when I woke up at 5:30 Logan was already asleep for the night and Isaac was building a Gundam model and enjoying the quiet time. I went to Burger King, got some chicken tenders and then fell asleep again...yeah I know but in my defense I am pretty sure I am getting sick.

 

Sunday was the best day ever!!!! Not even a week ago after hearing me mention multiple times on social media my wonderful neighbor/friend/fellow blogger April reached out to me and offered to redesign this little old blog of mine since she is building her portfolio! I cannot speak more highly of her....y'all.....seriously....she is amazing! She listened to what I wanted, she took what I pinned on pinterest, looked for a trend and made me something that I didn't even realize I would love. She even helped computer illiterate me install it even though I had about a trillion questions and I am sure she was shaking her head the whole time. I cannot wait for her to officially start  her business and for everyone to be able to experience her awesomeness.

 

I'm sure you've obviously seen it already but just in case................

 

 

 

Isn't it beautiful?!?! Look around, grab my new button, make yourself at home!

 

It reminds me of spring and its light and airy and makes me smile every time I look at it which is what I feel like should happen. Basically I am way way way more excited than I probably should be but I am sure that my fellow bloggers totally understand. right?!? She's also designed The Ham & Cheese of it, Coffee, Wine & Cupcakes and some others which are also beautiful and I love to read them too. Even if you don't need her blog design services check out her blog Sweet Madness!

 

So nope we didn't do anything and I was totally okay with that because I felt like this week really took it all out of me!

 

How was your weekend?!? Check out the great ladies I'm linking up with this week

 

Month of the Military Child

 

April is the month of the military child. So many children have at least one parent serving in the military. As the mother of a military child, a military spouse and a military veteran I know first hand that military children are the most resilient and strong people I know and they adapt to any situation they are put in, including being away from parents for long stretches of time.

 

 

 

 

Often times the children are overlooked and the service member is the one who gets all the praise but never forget about the children who sacrifice just as much

 

 

 

 

Although we should respect our military families every day, its important to take time to show military children that they are special, that we acknowledge their sacrifices, that we understand their struggles and that we support their journey's.

 

 

Weekend Recap || Exploring and Easter Edition

This weekend we accomplished more than we have in a long time. Instead of being lazy bums and relaxing on the sofa the entire time we were determined to start getting out and exploring again. I will warn you this post is super picture heavy so hopefully that's your thing.

 

Saturday Logan woke me up super early but I couldn't drag myself out of the bed. Normally that's fine because it's Saturday but nope not this time....I had to work at 8:45 and let's just say I didn't get think I was gonna make it even close to on time. I don't know how but I made it not only on time, but early! woohoo way to go me!!! I worked until 1 and then we had plans to hop on the train to Tachikawa and explore.

 

We had no real reason for being there except for we hadn't been before, it was the weekend and we had nothing else to do. My amazing friend Nikita, her husband, Big Logan and my favorite 1 year old (The Handricks) came with us to wander aimlessly around a new city.

 

 

 

As always I took a bunch of pictures of the city becuase that's just what I do. It was like the Times Square of Japan kind of with a little bit of old architecture left over.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Obligatory family photo

 

 

After walking around Isaac had his heart set on visiting the BIC Camera store since he has gotten really really into building Gundam and they were supposed to have a huge selection. We were not disappointed. It was 8 stories tall and the 6th floor was Isaac and Logan's heaven. Trains and Gundam galore. Logan was so happy and the entire store noticed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once we were done there we took the train home, ate at McDonalds which we don't ever get anymore so it's now a treat hahaha and then headed back home.

 

Sunday morning was Easter!

 

When we woke up and the weather was overcast and dreary but I am so glad that we didn't let that deter us. The forecast called for rain but we had plans to go to a Easter celebration at Tama Hills which is a rec area about 45 minutes from the base that is owned by the base. It is a beautiful 500 acre area about 45 minutes away from base that has cabins, a hotel, a golf course, a mini golf course, a paintball course, horse stables, pony rides, a softball field, archery and hiking trains. The base offered a free shuttle to and from which was nice and I was so proud of Logan because he was in such a good mood and so well behaved on the bus and we took excited selfies!

 

 

When we got there we didn't know what to expect because some base events are kind of iffy but we were pleasantly surprised.

 

 

 They had pony rides (Logan was scared and so that was a no go ) and a petting zoo

 

 

and they had games   

 

 

After games and the petting zoo but before the egg hunt we had a little but of time to explore the grounds. We decided that we are definitely going to take a weekend staycation at Tama Hills

 

 

Logan did well at the easter egg hunt for his age group and was excited to get some candy

 

 

We took the bus back home and Logan and I slept the entire way after our awesome morning/afternoon. We were invited to dinner with the Handricks and another family (I was too busy eating and laughing to remember to take pictures) and Logan was super excited to get more eggs and some yummy cupcakes

 

 

I hope that everyone enjoyed their weekend and Easter! Here are the ladies that I am linking up with this Monday