Mom. Wife. Military Life.

Hello friends and family! I write to you about to head into a super busy summer. Although school isn’t out yet, we have started to dive in (literally) heads first!

Everly still has school for a couple more weeks but there are tons of fun days sprinkled in and out. Between all the field trips and school activates she wakes up super excited for her next adventure every morning. My beautiful oldest baby has grown exponentially. Her spirit has grown and man, oh, man is she smart. She challenges me every single day… (lets just say our fashion taste isn’t the same) and I’m totally ok with that 95% of the time. She has been blessed with an amazing teacher who has helped her come out of her shell since she started in OKC. When these next 2 weeks come to a close we will have a FIRST GRADER!

Cruz is also growing…. amongst his lego obsession, he is writing his name and getting ready to take over kindergarten like a boss. He’s gotten to that age where he is ready to exercise his mind in a way momma can’t fill anymore. He is going to rock it next year, I have no doubt…. as long as he remembers to leave the potty talk and ninja moves at home (geez, MOM!). In all seriousness, my little man has a heart of gold and there are big things in his future.

Jaxy-pie is sassy…. sassy, sassy,sassy. She is the baby and the biggest boss of them all. The only thing small about her is her stature. She’s talking, trying to count and wants to be 16 and grown, like… yesterday. She is about to get her go at being the only kiddo around once school starts… bring on the jogging stroller and adventures. Hauling one kid around  seems like the worlds easiest task after hauling 3!

We just got home from our first family vacation. We went with our friends from the neighborhood. We had shirts made, matching swimsuits and A LOT of liquid hydration! We finally got to go snorkeling and Jason saw a sea turtle and eagle ray, I get a bit of anxiety snorkeling… thankfully I had my sweet friend coax me in to come exploring the Okinawa waters with me… we just saw some fish but it was awesome none the less. The weather gave us one beautiful day and we took full advantage.  The kids swam at the beach and pool all day. As much fun as we had, it’s still challenging traveling and  accommodating at family of 5, but was well worth all the packing and planning.

In a couple weeks I get to head out on my first grown-woman girl’s trip. We are going to some beautiful islands that are south of our island. They are actually closer to Taiwan then Okinawa. We have big plans to snorkel with Manta Rays and take water buffalo taxis. Its going to be a nice break from the daily grind and honestly I don’t care what we do, ITS VACATION!

One week after we get back from that adventure, MY SISTER GETS HERRREEEE! I miss her so much and can’t wait to show her around this place we have been living and introduce her to a whole new culture. My babies miss her SO. MUCH. and well, she’s my best friend. She will be here for a month, a month I’m going to be over the moon grateful for.

Jason officially heads back to the states at the start of July. The babies know its coming and you can tell now that they are older they are starting to register the amount of time he is going to be gone. This time right before he goes is always the toughest for our family… its like that anticipation of ripping off a band-aid. With that being said though, this will be the 3rd time we have gone months without him, and everything in me means it when I say, we are going to rock it. This is something he has wanted for a long time, and something that has been hovering around our family for awhile… many late night conversations about what is best for our pod. This is going to be great for him, extremely hard, but we know one thing for sure, our family pod here has everything set to go. When he is gone its like God swoops in and gives us all a little more patience, a little more understanding, and little bit more perspective. This is going to be a different side of things seeing as weeee are the ones on the other side of the world, but man-oh-man do we have an incredible group of people to bounce off here. Community moms and dads who always go above and beyond to step in at all costs. This will be hard, for different reasons for both of us, but we have a huge light (that he’s not even willing to look for yet hahaha) at the end of the tunnel to look forward to.

My sister will head home at the end of July only for Everly to start a rigorous swim class the day after she goes… 5 days a week for a month. After that ends she and Cruz start school that next week. Jason and I decided to hire a nanny a couple days a week while he’s gone so I can get out for a bit during the week and get some chores done by myself or grab a yoga class. Give myself some me-time… I thrive on occasional me time so I’m really looking forward to that. After a couple months finding our routine we will be packing up to head back to the states for Thanksgiving/Christmas.

The kids are really missing family so having this trip planned is something I think we are all looking forward to. We will be there for thanksgiving before I head out for a few days to go to my (pretty much sister)’s wedding in El Paso and then on to Phoenix to see one of my best friends and her beautiful family before heading back to Fort Worth. Good lord willing (say lots of prayers) Jason will be graduating a couple weeks after that and I will head out to Vegas to celebrate AND BE REUNITED with him before taking him back to Fort Worth to reunite with his babies. We will be seeing family and spend Christmas in Texas before we head back to Japan for the New Year.

We have SO MUCH coming up this year. These are just a few highlights of what is going on in our world… there will be lots of growing, lots of great times, hard times and everything in between. We would not have it any other way. God has us exactly where he wants us and we have so much to be grateful for. Summer snuck up on us so fast and I have no doubt we are going to blink and its going to be fall!

Thank you for checking in on us, we love and miss you all so much and can’t wait to see you in a few months!

-The Bonds