Nikko, Japan November 2014

Last weekend we ventured to Nikko, Japan with four other families from our church community group to have a weekend away from the city in the woods. We had so much fun! It is always fun when we rent a car and get on the interstate. I love the rest areas in Japan - they are clean, have everything, and we ate at a restaurant in one rest area on the way with a kids area next to our table so the kids got to play a bit. It was as if we had our own personal play land at our table. We arrived Friday evening and spent all day Saturday exploring around our cabin, playing by a creek, and grilling out for dinner. We sipped lots of coffee and made smores which is a rare treat since nobody has fireplaces in their apartments. Sunday we were hoping to enjoy the city and show our friends around a bit as the fall colors are beautiful at this time of year in Nikko, but the rain kept us away. We managed to see the waterfalls, eat pb and j and then all of us got on the road to head back to Tokyo since the weather was bad. I am so so thankful for our church and specifically our community group. We are all quite unique but we all really enjoy each others company. And it is always fun to get outside the city and spend some time in nature for a few days.

Miss M's first race - a 1K!

The sports class Miss M attends organized a race for the students and we signed her and Daddy up to compete. It was a 1 K and you could tell she was really nervous. It was such a funny environment. Some parents were decked out in the most fashionable sports wear and were warming up with their kids. You could tell they trained with their kids. Other parents were wearing tennis shoes from the 1980's. My husband and I found it quite comical. Miss M was nervous but she did great. I will be honest, I was a bit nervous at the beginning as every other child started sprinting really fast. I thought she was going to come in last and we would have a crying daughter on our hands and we would be teaching a lesson on how to lose. But she kept a steady pace, chatting the entire time with daddy, and the other kids started to slow down so she was able to gain a little space between them, coming in second to last. :) As a runner, I got tears in my eyes when she crossed the finish line. I was so proud of her. I hope once we have this baby in February I can start taking her out on some short runs around the neighborhood.

 

Scrapbook Day November 14, 2014 - a Friday

This year the November scrapbook day fell on a Friday. If we have music class in the mornings then Fridays are fairly busy. This one proved to be just that. In the morning, Miss M and I did three subjects of school before heading out to music class. While the K Man and I attend his music class, Miss M attends her Japanese lesson at the local library with her teacher. Her Japanese continues to improve and during class today she wrote thank you notes in Japanese to her Japanese friends for their birthday gifts they gave to her. She even signed her name with her kanji. Her Japanese writing is better than her English writing as her teacher has been helping her for quite some time now with writing. After her lesson, we switch and the K Man takes Japanese and Miss M and I spend time together reading books at the library. The K Man is following in Big Sister's footsteps as he LOVES his Japanese teacher and classes. It is so cute to watch him speak it with her. We enjoyed lunch at the local bakery, came home briefly to finish math for Miss M, and headed back out to soccer for Miss M. We used to do swimming on Fridays but we switched recently to soccer. One reason I wanted to switch is because the swim class for Miss M was a lot of younger kids. I wanted her to be with kids more her age. Plus, the soccer has a class for the K Man at the same time. Right now there is no availability for him, but I am hoping come spring when the new academic year starts in Japan, then he can get in a class also and I can combine activities. I think it will help having as many combined activities as possible once the third child comes along. Miss M is still a bit shy at soccer because it is new. It takes her a really long time to warm up to new environments and people. But I also love with the soccer that she is outside and running (at swimming there was lots of waiting in the pool as people took their turns with the teacher). Daddy and her are going to start swimming at indoor pools nearby on the weekends to keep up her swimming and make sure she stays comfortable in the water. Later in time I may try to get her in a different swim class but for now we will do sports class and soccer. We came home from soccer and enjoyed some dinner and relaxed after a full day. Here are some recent pics of the kids from the past few weeks. Love these sweet gifts from The Lord. 

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.

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.

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! 

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.