At home in Okinawa....

We did have some days with a lot of rain and we just hung out at home.  Those were great days as well, being with Niki and Cooper and talking with Tosha and Austen.  Although I was there to "help", Tosha did all of the cooking and it was all good.  She kept saying that playing with the kids was what she needed me to do....it is a tough job but someone has to do it!!

Niki started calling me "Me-Maw" early on and it stuck through out the trip.  It was fun to be his "Me-Maw" in person rather than just facetime.

Here are some shots from our time indoors....Last year my gift for Niki made him scared (the Monster truck book that roared) but the duplo bulldozer was a big hit.  He and I played legos frequently during my stay.

 Ben and Jena made drawings for Cooper and Niki

Picture Ben drew for Niki

 These all are hanging on the refrigerator at their house.....

Jena made the welcome sign for Cooper
and Ben colored the picture of children for him.

 This was a great week to visit as Cooper was just working on his social smiles.  He is a very social child and wants eye contact with who ever is holding him at that moment.

Brothers hanging out...every once in a while Niki would bring Cooper books or toys to "play with"

Niki loves to have books read to him and we spent a lot of time reading books.  This is a picture of me reading "I loved you before you were born" to Cooper with Niki joining us.

This is the blanket my mother made for Tosha.  It is their favorite one to wrap him up all snuggly while we are enjoying the air conditioning.

I brought my cap and tassel to take some pictures (I still haven't done this with my other grandkids yet because we were sick with the stomach bug before my trip and I got the cold that Jena and Gary had when I got home from Japan.  My goal is to take some type of picture of each other them with the cap and tassel and do something creative with them. We will see if that works out.)

Niki prefer his own cap.

 Trying to get as many looks of that cute face before I left.  He will change so much by the time we see him in person again.

I even got to babysit both boys while Tosha and Austen ran errands a few times and even had a date night.  On date night, the weather was good so we went out side and played with bubbles. Niki spent about 30 minutes chasing bubbles up and down the hill in back of their house.  It was impossible to get a good picture since I was blowing bubbles with one hand and holding Cooper with another hand but it was such a fun time together.