Congratulations Class of 2014

Welp, that's it....school's out for the summer!!!  Actually its been out, I'm just super late writing about it. :(  HAHAHA

The school year came and went.  This was Sweet Pea's last year of preschool.  I officially have a kindergartner!!!  Where does the time go?  Anyway, this end of school year was pretty eventful...preschool graduation. I always thought it was kinda funny seeing those lil kids with cute little caps getting their certificates.  I don't remember my last day of preschool being so cool.  I just remember it all of a sudden being summer and I didn't have to wake up early.

Amelia's school held a promotion and graduation for the whole school.  She was super excited about it.  I remember her telling me mid-May about them practicing for their graduation.  She was def pumped about it, as she should be!! I thought the ceremony was very cute.  All the kids were dressed up in their Sunday's best and the Discovers class (ages 4-5 Amelia's Class)  all had little caps on. {I DIE}  I was taking pics left and right, filling up my SD card. All the classes did a performance and then each class handed out some awards.  Amelia got most dependable.  I'm not sure what to make of that.  Haha  She looked so proud getting it, I couldn't help but beam with excitement for her.  Once again, taking a million pics.  Then came the certificate ceremony, when the graduating class got their certificates.  I lost it.  I honestly, didn't think I was going to.  I thought, hey this is a cute ceremony, but its no biggie.  I was totally wrong.  I know I probably sound crazy.  Seeing her get her lil certificate, it hit me like a ton of bricks, I don't have a lil toddler anymore, let alone my lil baby girl.  She is a full blown kid.  I remember when she was only hours old, trying to picture her growing up, it felt like a lifetime away.  {I'm even tearing up writing this, I'm such a sap!}

I laughed at the notion of a ceremony for preschool before, but now I get it.  The ceremony isn't for the kids, its for the parents.  Every parent in that room had nothing but smiles on their faces and their cameras and iphones rolling.  The school didn't have to do that, it was a great gesture and memory for the parents to keep with them forever.  The whole ceremony was over the top, but I think it was well worth it.  Well, here is to the class of 2014 :)

Staycation

Summer is well underway here.  A/C is on full blast and kids are out of school.  Now, I love traveling as much as the next person.  Especially going to a new country.  But, we aren't millionaires and I'm a SAHM.  We are fortune to travel off island, 1 or 2 times a year.  So we plan lots of stuff to do locally.  I mean, we aren't going to live here forever , so we gotta take advantage and see the sights.

One thing that we have done a lot of are staycations.  We not only have done them here, but we've done them in places back in the states.  When we were in WA, we would get a hotel room in downtown Seattle for the weekend and roam the city.  When we were in VA, we would get a hotel room in Northern VA and roam the city.  In CA, we would get a hotel room on the beach and roam the beach.  You get the idea.  But vacations don't always have to be to to new exotic places.  Plus, staycations are quick, fun, and cheap.

Luckily, we live on a beautiful tropical island, with an abundance of awesome hotels.  We booked a weekend at The Rizaan hotel.  Its literally 20 minutes away!  Not far at all.  We got together with 8 other families and planned a weekend there.  The hotel was awesome!  Right on the beach, indoor pool, outside pool, slides, restaurants, huge breakfast buffet included and the hotel room was reasonably priced.  We spent two days there, and we had a blast.  I swear, the kids became fish.  They didn't want to leave the pools or the beach.  Even though it was 20 minutes away from our house, I felt like I was on vacation somewhere else.  It was very easy to get into that vacation mind set.

Notable mentions:

Breakfast buffet::
When I booked our hotel our buffet was included.  I always love when this is included because breakfast is usually the only meal that I know for sure we will eat when we go on vacation. Throughout the day if we are sightseeing, beaching, pooling, we forget about time and we usually consume snacks rather then meals.  This buffet was huge,lots of selection and pretty good food.  They had traditional Japanese and American breakfast options.  There were also lots of fruit and veggies.  The options changed daily, which is nice!  So we started our days with a good hearty meal to keep us going for our long days.

Rooms:
The basic rooms, which is what we booked, was actually not too bad.  Especially in Japan!  We've been to a few Japanese hotels and most of the time the rooms are pretty tiny. Our room was small, but good enough.  We had 2 beds, a pull out bed, couch, coffee table, and mini fridge.  I was really surprised with the room.  I was thinking it would be tiny.  But it was a good enough size to fit all 4 of us comfortably.

Pools:
The hotel had 2 pools, one inside and one outside.  Both had areas for smaller children and water slides.  The outside pool did have a waterfall.  The kids loved going under it.  It was nice that there was the option of inside and outside.  Sometimes outside it was way too hot, Oki summers can be pretty brutal.  The kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves at both pools.

Memories:
I know this sounds cheesy, I dont care!!!  We made lots of memories that weekend.  I loved seeing the huge smiles from my kids.  I loved seeing M relaxed and enjoying himself.  It was so much fun going with all our friends. I honestly was afraid when we were planning it, I thought it was going to be a mad house.  In the end, it was the more the merrier.  We kicked off summer with a bang!  I'm so excited for all the fun stuff this summer has to come!