A Week of Fun and A Schnauzer with Chicken Pox

A what??? Izzy drew a picture of a puppy for me the other day. She brought it to me, and said, "Mommy, what is your favorite kind of puppy?" I told her I like all puppies, but I think Schnauzer's are so cute! She looked at her picture, looked back at me, with a disconcerted look, and said, "Look, I made you a picture of...... a Schnauzer with chicken pox!!" I looked at my beautiful picture and realized that I had given the wrong answer. I think my favorite dog was supposed to be a Dalmatian, but Izzy cleverly and quickly changed her plan to accommodate me.

At dinner, we were having our daily discussion of which animals are mammals (we've been discussing this for a year now - sigh). Anyway, one of the girls asked me, "What about bears?" I told them that yes, bears are mammals. Gracie looks at me very seriously, and said, "What about Pooh Bear?" I said, "Of course, he is a bear." She looks at me, and says, "I don't think he is a mammal." To end the debate over whether Pooh Bear is a mammal, I finally tell her, "He's warm and snuggly - of course he's a mammal." She was satified with that, and we moved on to solving some other world problem :)

As for Sophie, we were driving in the car, and I told the girls, "Wow, Mommy's tummy is really upset today!" Sophie begins a lecture. She tells me it is because I'm not drinking enough water, and that I'm drinking too many Diet Cokes. At this point Izzy pipes up and throws in, "And wine." So now, I have an upset stomach and a VERY guilty conscience about being a Diet Coke junkie and a wino. I guess I will be replacing my vices with more water. Next they'll be wanting me to exercise!!! :)

We had our weekly lesson with Keiko-san and she was telling us the Japanese word for shoes. Sam looked at her kind of puzzled, and asked, "So what's zapato then?" I leaned over, giggled, and reminded him, "Zapato is the Spanish word." We both just laughed :) Japanese lessons are at the end of a work day, so most of the time, our minds are a little slow.

Last Wednesday, we met our friends from playgroup at the Aichi Children's Center. We had so much fun, and the girls were so excited that I would let them go by themselves to play. Of course, Izzy stuck to my side like glue, but Gracie and Sophie went on and on about being "big girls" now. We always go over the rules on the way to activities. They crack me up! From the back of the car I'll hear, "Rule number 46 - no rough-housing." Then someone else will follow with, "Rule number 13 - we do not run." It's funny the random numbers and crazy "rules" they come up with.

Friday, I took them back to the Children's Center. They made clay sculptures, and then we went outside. They climbed and did the big slides. We had a great day!

Saturday, we had our Winter Social with Lockheed. It was so much fun!!! I painted the girls' nails and did their hair. They put on lipstick, body glitter, and a little bling. We bought new shirts the day before. Of course, it ended up with the usual - the girls were beautiful, and I was trying to do my hair and makeup in 5 minutes :) We took the subway to the Marriott at Nagoya Station. We had a wonderful buffet and drinks. I had built up the party all week, telling them how they were getting to be big girls and go to a big-girl party, so they were excited! Sam and I ordered Shirley Temples for them, again telling them they were big-girl drinks. Gracie looked at me and said, "Babies don't get to have THESE." They were really good girls and had wonderful table manners (for 4 year-olds). They would just go off to visit with our friends. They are truly social butterflies :) Izzy took pictures. She did a great job, until she made her way to the table next to our party. Sam said they didn't look very thrilled with the barrage of flashes. She apparently was also making faces at them. She thought she was just being cute, but I was mortified. I'm not sure what happened to my bashful girl, but by the end of the evening, I was beginning to question just what was in those Shirley Temples.

As we were getting on the subway to come home from the party, Sam was invited to an after-party. I told him to go on - the girls and I would be fine. He got off at the next stop, and Sophie was asleep before the door closed behind him. She can just pass out anywhere. Izzy followed soon after, and Gracie, of course, had absolutely no plans of nodding off. I was really proud of them for holding it together. They were cranky, but the only problem I had was explaining to Sophie that she couldn't rest her head on the stranger sitting beside her. With the subway, an adult is allowed to take 2 children for free. Going, Sam was with me, so I didn't have a ticket for an extra child. Coming home, I had three kids, and no extra ticket. I was prepared to pull the "Wakarimasen!" with the station attendant. As we were going through the exit, I started pointing to the person in front of us, telling the girls to get with "her." I kept rushing them to catch up with her. Apparently, he bought that we were "with her," but the girls, and probably the complete stranger I kept trying to push my girls on, thought I was a crazy :) The girls asked me if we could PLEASE catch a cab. Hmmmm.....make my exhausted, very cranky no-longer-big girls walk 15 minutes to our house, OR pay to take a cab. I would have paid A LOT!!!

Saturday was also Hina Matsuri, or Girl's Day. It is celebrated throughout the weekend. Young girls recieve Hina dolls, which represent an emperor and empress. They display the (very expensive) dolls for a few days and put them away for the next year. The girls received sweets from their friends at playgroup, Sean and Joe. They also received sweets from another playgroup friend, Jake. We just wanted to say "Thank You" again!!!

Sunday I had a Mommies' Night Out with my friend, Kirste. We were scoping out places for a future Mommies' Night with the other playgroup moms. We shopped for an hour or two then went to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. After that, we went to the Elephant's Nest, which is an English Pub, for drinks. We caught the subway, and I didn't make it home until after 10:30!!! Talk about feeling like a big girl!! :) Kirste wants to try Karaoke next time. That should make for great photos!

Yesterday, for the first time in over a year, I got my haircut!!! We met Kirste and Jake, and we had lunch then went to the Hilton. They were having a charity event. I got my haircut and got to make a donation. We were running late (big shocker), so I sent Kirste on to get her hair cut. The girls, Jake, and I had a nice, leisurely walk to the Hilton. I told Kirste that I always was amused at the looks I got with just the girls. When I threw Jake into the mix, the looks of confusion were hilarious. To add to the "show" we sang, Happy Birthday, The Wheels on the Bus, and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star as we walked. At the Hilton, we met up with Emi, another friend from playgroup, and her mom, Betty. After our cuts, we went to have a snack with them at a pastry shop. Emi had made a little mess with her straw, and in the effort to clean up her mess, she dropped her straw on the floor. Betty was giving her the same lecture the girls have gotten MANY times about how that wouldn't have happened had you not been playing with it. As the girls would have done, Emi looks at her mom and asks for another straw. As Emi and Betty are discussing why Emi doesn't have a straw, Gracie pipes in, "Can't you just get her another straw?" Oh no she did not just say that to an adult!!! Gracie then got the "She has a mommy - you need to worry about you and YOUR business" lecture from me. I did let Kirste and Betty know that if they ever needed parenting advice that I could loan them one of the girls, since they seem to be authorities :)

After a day of lots of walking, visiting with friends, visiting the Tokyu Hotel, etc,.. I had to push my luck and take them to the grocery store. As we were standing in line at the checkout, I was griping at the girls about their behavior, blah, blah, blah. I look up and my friend Lana is standing behind us grinning. The girls start telling Lana random stories (Izzy looks at her and says, "My favorite sandwich is ham and cheese"). I just look at her, grin, and ask the girls, "Who wants to go home with Miss Lana?!" We laughed, but I did end up bringing them home with me - better luck next time :)

Saturday, we are having a going-away party for our friend, Ivana, from the Tokyu. She will be returning to Brazil. We're really looking forward to the party, but will miss Ivana terribly. :(

Sorry for the novel! If you've made it this far, thank you for reading! We appreciate the sweet, kind comments and love hearing from you!

Love,
~Michelle

WOW ! What a day!

So today I (sam) took my first beginner snowboarding class and it’s a lot harder than it looks.
I was able to find an instructor at Takasu who said she would do the class in Japanese and English. Turned out that she demonstrated everything very well so there wasn’t much need for English instructions but her English was great as she lived in US for a while. Because I had to leave the house early the family decided they would pass on this adventure. Left the house at 6:15 and at 8:35 I was parked at the ski resort, the roads were clear all the way up and it didn’t start snowing until the last couple of miles. Got dressed for snow, went to the information booth where it took a few minutest to get it communicated that I was looking for the snowboarding school, one of the workers walked me over to where the checking booth was and I signed in at 9:05. The classes started at 9:30 and went over all the basics of how to put on your board, how to move around on flat ground, how to turn, stop and most important, how to fall which I’m quite good at. I had what Michelle and I call a “Japan moment”, while I was sitting in the snow I took a second to take in the beauty of the mountains while it’s snowing and looked around to realize that everyone around me is Japanese and I’m on the side of a mountain in Japan trying to learn how to snowboard … WOW. Then we went over to the BIG hill, ok so it wasn’t that big but when you strapped to board trying to make your way down it for the first time it really seems big. She taught us how to get up and slide sideways so as to not go to fast. My first few tries didn’t go very well but when class was over at 11:30 I tried the bottom of the hill a few more times and the last time I was able to make it the whole way (less than 100 yards) down without falling. It was now 12 and it had been dumping snow all day so I decided to call it quits on a good note and figure out how to get off a snow covered mountain and make it home. Loaded up the car, changed into shoes, took off the ski pants, jacket, a sweat shirt and headed out. After almost not making it up the hill out of the parking lot I had to pull over and put on the snow chains. While I hated driving with the chains on I was very glad to have them for the drive down the mountain. About 3 to 5 miles down is a little town where I pulled over to take the chains off. The scenery driving down the mountain was spectacular, the trees had a bunch of snow in them and it was snowing the big fluffy snow flakes. It was almost 1 when I got back on the road and finally got home about 2:50. While I didn’t get to actually snowboard much I did learn the basics, got to ride a little and had a really great time. Can’t wait to go again!

Oh me, Oh my!

At playgroup yesterday, we were doing a really cute craft to celebrate "Girl's Day." I was telling Gracie to glue her "crowns" on. Crafts are great, but three, four year-olds with glue can get a little crazy. One of the other moms was helping Sophie - so sweet! I came back to Gracie and she had glued a "crayon" on each of her princesses heads! I just died laughing. You see, I was telling my mom the other day how Sophie says "crayon" so funny, but that I can't mimic how she says it. Well now I can, Sam asked Sophie what was on the head of her prince and princess. She said, "A crown." Sam asked her what she used to write her name on her craft. She said, "A crown (crayon). Hmmmmm....I guess I know what we'll be doing for "speech" next week :) My Granny Combs is smiling down from Heaven over Sophie's accent.

In the last couple of weeks, letters and phonics have just clicked with the girls. They have been watching Letter and Word Factory for one, and they love to play with their Leap Frog Fridge Phonics and Word Whammer. All they want to do is write letters and any words they know. They will write a string of letters and ask me what word they wrote. I think they like hearing me try and pronounce things like,"BGSQAME." They LOVE dot-to-dots (numbers and ABCs), mazes, and anything drawing/coloring related.

Izzy was playing with one of our Magna Doodles, and I asked her what she was doing. She said making a shapes picture. I looked at her picture, and asked her what shape has three sides? She pointed to the triangle. I decided I would turn this into a teachable moment, and I asked her what TWO shapes have 4 sides? What would YOU have said?? She stops, pauses, and says a diamond...I roll my eyes and say, "You're right! A diamond has 4 sides! Now what OTHER two shapes have 4 sides?" She thinks for about 3 seconds, and says, "A square." Yeah Izzy! "There's one more shape - do you know one more that has 4 sides?" She thinks, and says, "A Wektangle." I was telling Sam about it, and he was impressed and all, but really concerned that the first shape that came to her mind was A DIAMOND ;) That is their birthstone.

And Sophie.....I was hoping to sleep in a little this morning - didn't go as planned :( Anyway, I was talking to her about something, and she mentioned an "elderly" lady. I grinned at Sam and told him to listen. I said, "Sophie, what were you telling me about the OLD lady?" She looks at me and says, "Mommy, we say, Elduhwee (elderly)." This comes from a conversation in the car where the girls referred to an "Old" lady on the street. I told them that "old" wasn't a really nice word, and they should say "elderly." Well, Heaven help me, a few weeks ago I said something about someone being "old." Sophie quickly corrected me and said, "Mommy, we don't say OLD, we say elderly."

Hamamatsu

One of the kites

A windmill - there are lots of modern windmills in Hamamatsu because of...well....all the wind :)

We went Hamamatsu yesterday. It takes a couple of hours to get there and is about half-way to Mt. Fuji on the Pacific side. It actually snowed on us while we were at the beach!

It was a very beautiful beach - the water was a gorgeous blue! We got to see the Nakatajima Dunes - they make it a long walk to the ocean. Because of all the sand, the Loggerhead Sea Turtles come to nest there. Apparently, the eggs are gathered and kept until they hatch. Then the hatchlings are released to return to the sea. Hopefully, we will get to watch this in the future!
We saw surfers and then I understood why Sam wanted to go "exploring" here. He told me this is where he wants to take kite boarding lessons.

We also got to watch some people flying their kites - really large kites. They have a festival every year in May. Over 160 kites take to the air at the same time for the kite battle. They literally fight each other, trying to cut the strings of the other kites. The festival originated about 430 years ago, when the lord of Hamamatsu Castle celebrated the birth of his first son by flying kites.

The Shijimizuka Ruins are also located in Hamamatsu. They are the ruins of a primitive village from 3000 - 4000 years ago. Houses were reconstructed to help show the life style of the primitive people. The park includes the Hamamatsu History Museum that displays excavations from the ruins. I didn't get to go to this, but look forward to going back to tour it.

As with the other places we've gone, it was a beautiful place with a lot of fascinating history.

~Michelle

Valentine's in Japan

Valentine's Day is celebrated differently here than in the States. On Valentine's Day, women buy chocolate for the men. On March 14th, the men by chocolate for the women. Children do not have Valentine's parties or exchange Valentines. I guess I was a little down knowing the girls wouldn't be able to celebrate with their friends, but we made a big deal out of it at home :)

Debbie brought the girls back some wonderful Valentine goodies from the states. She is like a grandmother to the girls, as are a few of the other Lockheed Ladies :) I don't know what the girls and I would do without them.

They also received some Valentine goodies from their Grannies, so they haven't really missed out on much.

I always play Cupid for the girls, so we had a great day. Sam and I had a heart box full of goodies for them (stuffed animals, stamps, playdough, dinosaur eggs, lipstick, nightshirts, puzzles, and art supplies). Izzy was up at 7:00 wanting to see her loot, so of course, Gracie and Sophie weren't far behind. Every year I make them pink, cherry-flavored, heart-shaped pancakes for breakfast. They had heart-shaped PB&J sandwiches and mikan for lunch. They played with their Valentines Miss Debbie brought them (Granny sent them some, too), colored, stamped, and had a great day! Of course, both Grannies made sure they had cute clothes for the occasion! I bought them dinosaur eggs (about the size of a chicken egg) that you put in water and wait for it to hatch. Sophie's hatched first, and I heard her squeal, "This is the best day ever!!" Gracie's hatched - I think hers and Sophie's had A LOT OF HELP ;) Izzy, Miss Patient, is still waiting for hers. She got a stuffed panda, and held it up and started telling Sam how Pandas come from China and eat bamboo. She has changed it's diaper about "12 times" (her words) today. I know they are rotten, but it's so nice to see them so happy! I was really moved at the number of times I heard, "Thank you, Mommy!" Sophie even told me tonight, "Mommy, I weally apwiciate the wonduful dinnuh you made." Sam's rubbing off on them - he tells me every night in front of them how much he appreciates what I made (ordered, or scrounged up).

Keiko-san brought Sam a box of chocolates tonight - so sweet!!! I know I keep saying this, but I love our Japanese lessons!!!

And finally, my darling husband brought me flowers tonight! Thanks Honey! I love that he's always bringing me and his three baby girls flowers :)

I'm hesitant to say this, but the girls' behavior has been awesome lately. They are really helping me a lot lately. They pick up their toys (sometimes with A LOT of persuasion), get themselves dressed, brush their teeth, comb their hair, put their dishes in the sink (and "rinse" them if I'm not paying attention), and sorry, but they can take care of most bathroom issues on their own - WOOHOO!!! Of course, all these little accomplishments require some occasional tweaking, in the form of time-out, but they're really making the effort. Letters and sounds have really started clicking with them lately. They are always writing letters and words, asking me how to spell things, and telling me what some word starts with. All they want to do is write, draw, color, and cut. Izzy told me today, "Egg starts with eh, eh!" I asked her what letter says, "Eh?" She told me, "E!!" She can do that with most of her letters now! God is so very, very, very good!

Love you all!
~Michelle

Holy Guacamole!

Not quite sure where Gracie has picked up this expression, but it's her new phrase. I wasn't getting up in a "timely" manner this morning (kept telling her "just a minute"). As she is coming up the stairs to try and rouse me from bed, I hear, "Holy Guacamole! How long is a MINUTE?!?" Well, it worked - I got up.

I'll have to take a picture of our kitty, "Stubby." Of course, she is not our kitty, but she uses our yard as a potty box and detour to get where she wants to go. We call her Stubby, because she has no tail. She is a big, orange cat. Pretty sure she is a girl, because she spent several nights outside the girls' window yowling for a boyfriend :) When Sophie was so sick with her asthma, she and I would lay in her bed laughing at Stubby.

I stepped away from this post for about an hour. I looked outside and it was snowing!! Of course, we had to go out and play in it. It's actually starting to accumulate - we'll see :) Right now, the girls are drinking hot cocoa and eating vanilla wafers.

Poor Sam was trying to sleep in when the girls noticed the snow - he's wide awake now :)

That's another difference between Nagoya and Fort Worth. Typically, it just snows here - not all the sleet and ice that Fort Worth gets.

I ordered pizza last night. I'm quite proud of myself in that I know what they are asking, and I can give some of my order in Japanese. The problem is the more Japanese I use, the less English they use :) Not really a problem because it forces me to keep learning and practicing.

At Japanese lessons this week, Keiko-san taught us time. Lessons are getting more challenging, but I feel they are really helping. Each week, I'm able to use a little more Japanese.

We're looking forward to our home visit. We will be in Fort Worth for a week, Oklahoma for a week, and a week in the Turks/Caicos Islands. We are staying at Beaches, which has tons of things for the girls to do. Before we fly home, we are going to stay a few nights at the Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine. It's a very kid-oriented hotel with a water park inside! The girls should really enjoy their vacation! I'm looking forward to Walmart, Target, Kohl's, Big Lots, Hobby Lobby, Chinese food, Mexican food, and Sonic!

Nagoya compared to Fort Worth

I'm always fascinated by how different it is in Nagoya from what I'm used to. Take the weather for instance:

Fort Worth's Forecast:

M 84/62
T 65/33
W 53/38
Th 60/38
F 66/37

Nagoya's Forecast:

T 47/32
W 49/29
Th 48/29
F 47/29

Fort Worth Population: 661,850 (2006)
Nagoya Population: 2,223,148 (10/04)

Number of Japanese in Fort Worth: 413 (2000 census)
Number of Americans in Aichi Prefecture: 1,453 (2000) (couldn't find Nagoya)

Area of Fort Worth: 298.9 square miles
Area of Nagoya: 126 square miles (Aichi pref. has an area of about 1,990 square miles)

Density of Fort Worth: 1,999 people per square mile
Density of Nagoya: 17,446 people per square mile

Hopefully, my math is close to being correct :) It is kind of neat to compare the two places. I'll try and add more later - time to go play mommy.

~Michelle

Takasu Snow Park pictures

Here are a few of my favorites! Check out the rest on our image event site (link to the right).

Takasu Snow Park

Of course, in all the pictures, I misspelled it. Last Sunday, we went to Takasu Snow Park! It is about 2 hours from us. It was a beautiful trip through the mountains! The park is for skiing and snowboarding, but they also have a really cute kids area. We took a sled, but they also have some for the guests to borrow. We sledded for a long time then just played in the snow. The girls dug holes and built snowmen - so much fun! It was magical because the girls have never seen so much snow! We went into the lodge, and I took off their shoes and socks, which were cold and wet. Before we go again, we'll get them snow boots. They were quite the little troopers - never complained once, but I guess I can understand why :)

Sam got sick on the way home Sunday night, and by Monday night, the girls and I were sick. Of course, most of you heard about me teasing him about it being a man-cold. By Tuesday, I was apologizing to him (he's still making me apologize). I'm pretty sure this was the flu. Fortunately, we all got it at the same time. The girls and I cat-napped most of the week with cough, fever, headache, and bodyaches. My teeth literally hurt! Night before last and yesterday, was probably the worst of it for the girls. Kim called to check on us Friday, and I HAD TO BRAG that Sophie hadn't had all the asthma problems. When will I learn??? Friday night and Saturday were really scary. I finally got her under control at about 3:30 in the morning. She had a lot of trouble yesterday (even started running a fever again), but slept until midnight, then 3:30, and then until Daddy got up with them this morning. She and the other two are much better today, so I'm hoping we've gone through the final stage. If we could all get rid of this nasty cough, things would be perfect again :) It will be awhile before I tease Sam again, who went to work every day feeling really bad! But just in case a million apologies aren't enough - sorry Honey!!!

Hope you all are well!
~Michelle