Christmas party/gingerbread houses

We attended a Christmas party with the K Man's youchien friends on Wednesday. It was a lot of fun. I love how the Japanese make such cutesy little things. The mama hosting this party put names on our plates and cups with stamps. I am  not sure how she has the time for this with two kids, one being a baby, but I did appreciate it. The kids had a lot of fun. We rushed home after the party to make gingerbread houses with our dear friend. Grandma sent them from the US. I am not sure if the kids enjoyed making them more or the moms, but we had a lot of fun. I know the kids have enjoyed sneaking bites of the candy off the houses when mama is not looking. Miss M made Cinderella's castle and the K Man made a train. After a full day of Christmas fun, we were all ready for bed by 8:00 that night!

Scrapbook Day 12/15/15

Scrapbook day for December fell on a Tuesday, the day after our trip to Disney. To say the kids were tired is an understatement. Mama had her sitter and did some errands at the local mall trying to start on Christmas gifts. The K Man had a short day at youchien and took a nap in the afternoon. Miss M had a regular day of homeschool. We did not make our normal play date in the afternoon as the kids were wiped, as was mama. Miss M and Mama went to BSF while daddy and the boys bonded. It was a normal regular Tuesday. The pictures below are of some fun milestones for our family. The K Man is riding his bike now without training wheels. In Tokyo, when you get a kid to bike everywhere with you, you feel like you have reached a huge milestone and have endless freedom with transportation. We biked up to Ginza as a family, about two miles one way, and he did fabulous, never complaining. We looked at the store window decorations for Christmas, had lunch at a favorite restaurant, picked up the violins oji-chan and mommy-chan gave us (they needed some repairs since they have been around since daddy was a kid), and did a little shopping. The kids biked home and we only had one bike accident about 2 minutes from our house. He is also biking to soccer now and the view on the way is pretty spectacular as you can see in the pictures below. Also, below, is a picture of Miss M's latest creation from art class. She spent the month of December working on this log house with snow on top. She did a fabulous job. I so wish I had found this class sooner as it is a perfect fit for her. Enjoy some recent pics of our family.

Tokyo Disney Land, Christmas 2015

One of my favorite days of the year is our annual trip to Tokyo Disneyland during the Christmas display. Miss M and the K Man are at such a fun age for Disney. They love it and we have been so blessed to live so closely to it (and have a friend who works there for our discounted tickets). I can no longer do Disney though by myself because the kids have such different interests. Miss M has a hard time trying new things, so on Monday when we went we made her try one new ride. The K Man tried the Roger Rabbit ride which is quite dark - a taxi spins and turns. He did not cry but he did tell Daddy it was scary. However, at the end of the day he wanted to go again. Miss M was FORCED to go on Monsters Inc as we got fast passes for it. She cried all the time while going through the line. However, after 90 seconds of fun with daddy helping him find Boo with the flashlight and others monsters, she was ready to do it again on our next visit to the park. Our next new ride will be Peter Pan. We even made them try new restaurants which was brought with resistance, but they enjoyed the Japanese curry for dinner and the chocolate cake at the parlor for an afternoon treat while Mama and Daddy loaded up on coffee. Daddy made the wise call of getting the car share service and drive there because all three kids were asleep within ten minutes of our 30 minute drive home. We were grateful that we did not have to take a crowded train and walk ten minutes from the station with tired and cranky kids; rather, we could just drive right home. The K Man was quite disappointed the kids rollercoaster was not working as he was too scared to do Star Tours since it is an inside dark rollercoaster ride. But he loved driving the cars, which he did twice, one time with each parent. Even J Man lighted up with a smile watching the parade and small world, and he even rode Monsters Inc, Pooh's Honey Pot and the tea cups! Disney land never disappoints our family. We always have such a fun day and I am thankful for the endless memories we have made there while being in Tokyo. 

J Man - 9 months

The J Man is nine months old now. Seriously how did this happen? The other day I had the chance to take just him out to get his flu shot. I attempted a selfie on our train route. He is into everything now and crawling everywhere. He loves to watch his big brother and big sister and they can make him laugh. His laugh is adorable. He is our smallest kid - 5th percentile for weight right now and 20th for height. He loves picking up everything off the floor and putting it into his mouth. I am constantly checking his  mouth to make sure there is not a tiny lego in it or some random rubberband or piece of tape. Some say he looks the most American and some say he looks the most Japanese of our three kids, so I guess that is good that he looks like us! He gets ignored often but that will often make him tougher - life of the third child. I cannot wait to see what his little personality will turn out to be. I also took some random pics of the beautiful fall colors walking to the station as I went out with him on this morning. I love that it is December and we are still enjoying the beautiful fall colors. 

Tokyo and food

One thing Tokyo has that simply cannot be touched is the food - not just Japanese food, but seriously, every type of food can be found here, and it is all really really good. From the presentation, to the freshness, to the taste, to the ambiance - every time we dine in Tokyo we are not left disappointed. We do not go out on dates often because said food plus babysitter can be quite expensive, but last weekend we ventured out for our monthly date and ate at one of our favorite Japanese restaurants. It is a Kyoto based restaurant and the meat comes from a farm outside of Kyoto, and the restaurant is located on the 35th floor of one of the Maranouchi buildings near Tokyo station so it provides quite a beautiful view. Enjoy the pictures of our food...it tasted phenomenol.