Friday, October 24, 2014

Pumpkin Patch 2014

Last weekend we gathered with friends at a local pumpkin patch. We have been here now going on three years in a row and always enjoy it. It is not what we would consider a pumpkin patch in the US as you do not pick out your pumpkin to take home with you, but our kids do not know any different. For them, it is a pumpkin patch, and they love the adventure. The weather has been beautiful - sunny and low 70's except for an occasional rainy day. Last Saturday was the perfect day to be outside. We stayed for nearly four hours and let the kids run around, play dress up, and enjoy the fresh air.

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Tokyo Sea Life Park - field trip

We have been going pretty strong with homeschool on week nine currently. So, when a friend offered to go with us to a local acquarium I took her up on the offer to have a little change to the routine. I am so glad I did. It was a beautiful day to be outside. We enjoyed seeing lots of fish and penguins, the kids' favorite, and applying what we learned in a life under the sea book that we read together last week. We also enjoyed a picnic outside and playing freeze tag. The kids were exhausted as we had sports class on our way home. It was a perfect day out and about, enjoying a new park and area, and the sunshine before two days of rain hit us on Tuesday and Wednesday.


Friday, October 17, 2014

Disney Sea October 2014

On Wednesday we ventured out to Disney Sea, the other park here in Tokyo associated with Disneyland. I love this park, but Miss M would rather go to Disneyland which is why we often go there. But this day we had friends going to Disney Sea, whom Miss M just happens to love, so she was happy to go along, until the end when we stayed for the water show at night and they had a ten minute part dedicated to all Disney villians - after watching this, or listening to it as her face was buried in my legs, she declared she is never going back to Disney Sea! :) It was cold and rainy, but in spite of the weather, we had a fabulous time! There is an indoor area dedicated to The Little Mermaid so we spent quite a bit of time inside. We also enjoyed the Big Band show in "New York" and got a brief break from the cold and wet. The hubby was kind enough to pick us up in a car (we do car share service here so since one was available he could come pick us up) which was a huge blessing to get straight home to our door and not have walk from the station back to the apartment or ride a crowded train at night with everyone going home from work. That night Miss M prayed for our friend who works at Disney and who gets us our discount tickets and thanked God for her life. I thought that was sweet, so thank you friend! 


Monday, October 13, 2014

Scrapbook Day October 2014, a Tuesday

Tomorrow will be scrapbook day, so I thought since I am on the computer tonight I would go ahead and update as I know what our plans are for tomorrow! It is Tuesday, which means sitter day/break for mama day. After school in the morning, the kids will play with the sitter while I have a little mama time. I will be enjoying lunch with my running group for a birthday in our group. We have yet to decide the place, but knowing Tokyo the food will be delicious. At 21 weeks preggers, I am still running. Not as much as I want, but about 3 times a week and 3 miles at a time. I am also trying to walk more for exercise. My goal was to run until my friend ran the Osaka marathon as we were supposed to be training together until I found out I was pregnant. Oops. No marathon for me this year. A typhoon is headed this way as we speak. Thankfully it will come during the middle of the night, so our Tuesday activities can remain the same, a fairly relaxing day at home for all of us. These kids are growing up way too fast. I realized recently that the K Man always calls Miss M by her actual name, rather than what he used to call her (Gakko). That makes me sad. Maybe baby #3 will call her the same in the beginning and bring back those fond memories for me. We took them shopping today for fall/winter clothes and just could not believe how grown up Miss M looks with her little knee socks, skirts and trendy shirts. All she needs is some black boots and she will fit in Tokyo well. We are still plugging through homeschool. For the most part, we have good days with it, but other days can be rather tricky. It is hard for me at times as a task oriented person because I want to make learning fun for her and at the same time I want to get through our work. This balance for me is tricky to find, but with prayer and discernment I hope I can figure that out. I think at times it will always feel new because Miss M is constantly changing. But I can say we do have a routine now with our days and seem to know what to expect and when we will do what. We dropped ballet so currently Miss M is doing sports class, swimming and piano. However, in November we will switch from swimming to soccer. She was in a class with younger kids for swimming and I wanted to put her in a class where she was with kids more her age. Her dear friend does soccer so we were able to get in that instead. Plus with soccer, she is moving a lot and swimming she seemed to wait on other kids a lot in the pool to take their turn. We thought for swimming we would take her to some local indoor pools on the weekend to build her confidence in that area. She seems to enjoy soccer when she plays it on her own so I think she will really enjoy this. The K Man is doing sports class and music class. He LOVES his sports class teacher, to the point he gets jealous when the teacher plays with other kids. I think the teacher favors the K Man because the K Man likes to be rough, wrestle and tumble around where as most of the other children are quite hesitant. He also has a crush on a music teacher and cries if he does not get to hold her hand for the intro and ending songs. Not sure what we will do with him when he is 16. He is already a charmer at age 3. The husband and I are doing well...just working, working, and working. And for me getting bigger and bigger. I feel pretty good but am very tired this time around. It is a lot different having a baby at 37 verses 31. Here are some cute recent pics of the kids. Enjoy.

Cute baby cake

We hosted a baby shower for a friend who is due anytime now with her baby boy. I had to show a picture of this cute baby bump cake. I thought it was rather creative. We had a great time of fellowship with our friend before she has her baby and could shower her with some blue blessings since this will be her first boy. While I was away at the party, the husband got some fabulous pictures of the sunset from our balcony. One day when we ever choose to leave this apartment or outgrow it, I will definitely miss this view.

Hakone, October 2014

We had the opportunity to visit Hakone, Japan last weekend. It had been on a list for a long time to visit but just never made it up there. A friend of ours works for the Four Seasons hotel, so he and his family went with us and he planned everything. The husband really enjoyed that because usually I have to have him plan everything since I cannot speak Japanese very well. He felt like he actually got to relax as our friend had our trip planned perfectly. We just went for one night but that was enough. It is a beautiful area, with lots of green, space, and a nice large lake. On Saturday we did the transportation loop. We rode a small train, a cable car, a gondola, a pirate ship, and a bus back to the hotel. We also tried the blackened hard-boiled eggs, which the area is known for. They were quite tasty and had a bit of a charcoal salty taste to them. We stopped in the Open Air Sculpture museum on the route. It was really random - a beautiful outdoor area with random sculptures scattered throughout and some great play areas for kids. After a full day we were all ready for a nice dinner and bed once we got back to the hotel. Sunday we visited an onsen theme park...an onsen where you can wear bathing suits and all swim together. They had baths with red wine, yogurt drinks, and a large outdoor water park area. Unfortunately it was raining as a typhoon was on its way so we did not get to go outside to the water park area. We also did not try the yogurt flavored drink onsen or the red wine onsen. However, the kids did enjoy having a swim in the morning. If you are in the area, I highly recommend a visit to Hakone. You can access it easily from Tokyo and can even do it in a day if you like.