christmas lights

I was told to post a blog and some pics :)

Street lights from the 15th floor of the Marriott

Nagoya Station, notice the trees at the bottom
These are the trees under the castle in the pic above

Date Night :)

First of all, I must thank my darling husband for fixing my blog so that comments can be left again, and for a wonderful day - just the two of us :)

Sam and I had "date day/night!" Our friends, Tom, Hami, and their daughters, Emily and Sara entertained the girls for us today. They baked cookies with them, played games, ate popcorn and watched movies, and read stories at bedtime. The girls had a wonderful time!

Sam and I rode the subway to Sakae. We shopped at some of our favorite stores and then went to eat at The Outback. We had a beer (remember we rode the subway) and sat and talked and enjoyed some wonderful food! We went to a few more stores and then headed for Nagoya Station. Sakae had beautiful Christmas lights, but Nagoya Station was amazing. I will try and get pictures posted tomorrow. Imagine that - we actually had a chance to stop and smell the roses AND take a few pictures :) We then went back to Sakae and went to the Hardrock Cafe and split a pitcher of Kirin Ichiban- yum! We made it home about 8:30, and Sophie had already crashed :) It didn't take long for Gracie and Izzy to nod off either. We talked to Tom, Hami, Emily, and Sara until 11:00! We had a wonderful day thanks to some wonderful friends!

Happy New Year!
~Michelle

P.S. I have our Christmas picture cards, but need to get them mailed. As Sam said, they may be Merry Christmas/Happy Easter cards :)

Christmas Eve

I don't know what I've done to the "comments" button. I've tried to go in and "fix" it, but now I seem to have made it even worse. I'll work on it over the Christmas break because I love reading your comments.

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and the girls are excited! Our friends, Kim and Wayne, came over today. Kim helped me cook and bake. We made pecan pie, pumpkin pie, fudge, candy strawberries, date-nut bread, spinach dip, 7-layer dip, cranberry relish, and broccoli, rice, and cheese casserole. She is going to heat the ham and bring some desserts, deviled eggs, and more things for dinner. Kim was a huge help - things went twice as fast, AND she kept the dirty dishes done for me - so sweet! I made the cookie doughs several days ago, so I just need to bake them and wah-lah! I'm going to cook a turkey, dressing, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, and macaroni and cheese tomorrow. We will have 14-20 people joining us for Christmas Eve dinner - we're so excited! I appreciate Kim's help and enjoyed "big girl" time.

Wayne went with Sam and the girls to play. They came home with some really cool things! I will post a picture of the plaques the girls made today.

I'll be thinking of you all! We miss and love our American families and friends and adore and appreciate our friends in Japan!

Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday, Jesus!
~Michelle

Christmas in Japan

I'm so looking forward to Christmas! We will be having neighbors and friends join us on Christmas Eve. My friend, Kim, will be coming over tomorrow to help me cook and bake. It's nice to have "girly" time.

Sam and Kim's husband, Wayne, are going to take the girls to play, while we cook and bake.

The girls are excited (ok, totally out of control) about Santa coming. They DO know that Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

I know some of our family and friends have been worried about us. I can honestly tell you that Sam and I are loving this opportunity! We are so blessed to be given this opportunity. We are going to miss the people here so much! I can honestly tell you that I feel "at home" now. However, it is very difficult being away from family and friends as they are enduring extreme hardships. Please know we pray for you daily.

My new love- I love onigiri, which is a triangular-shaped rice cake. It is covered in dry seaweed and has a filling - I love the salmon!

We love you and will be sending Christmas cards - late as usual. I'm totally playing the triplet "card" at this point.

Merry Christmas!
~Michelle

Playgroup

We had playgroup today. There weren't a lot of moms/kids there, but we had fun. I was "in charge" of something since joining the group - woo hoo! I brought reindeer cookies (I had so much fun making them) and animal crackers, apples, and mikan. Mikan is a Japanese tangerine. They are in season right now, and I haven't seen a kid, or HUSBAND, that didn't like them. Sam actually bought Izzy and me a Mikan tree!

We had a new potential member come today. She is Japanese married to a Nigerian. How cool is that! I love being able to experience such diversity!!! Her baby is absolutely beautiful :)

After playgroup, we went to the park. It's nice because our children play, and we get to visit with other moms. There were only three moms today, but our kids played so nicely together, and I had a great time visiting! Adult conversation....who would've thought?!

Missing friends and family in America, and rejoicing at new friendships God has sent!
~Michelle

Our Christmas Party

We had our Chayagasaka Playgroup Christmas Party today. Wow! What a wonderful time we had. Our friend, Mike, helped us out a "ho! ho! ho!" lot (wink, wink)! He helped to make the kids' day so wonderful and magical. I just couldn't explain to him, but wanted him to know what a wonderful thing he did for a group of very sweet children. We truly got to witness the Christmas Spirit through the expressions on our children's and Santa's face. The girls have been talking about it all day. Not only did Santa take time to spend with OUR children, but he stopped for every other child and teenager he met coming and going to our party (there was no where to park the sleigh, so he had to park it a few blocks away and walk). If the children were Japanese, he spoke Japanese to them! Their little faces were priceless - there weren't as many smiles as there were, "I can't believe Santa is talking to me" looks. What a gift God sent when he sent our Santa! So, again, I have to say a very heartfelt thank you to Mike (and Lana for helping with the wardrobe) for getting Santa to visit today and helping to bring the Spirit of Christmas to our children and ourselves. You have given the most precious gift of all!

Sam got to meet all of the cutie-patooties I talk about every week. He sees now why I love the playgroup so much. The girls and I get to know and learn about people from all over the world. The moms and their children are all so incredibly sweet! We got to meet a lot of the dads today, too, which was so nice. Not a day goes by that we don't talk about what an amazing experience and opportunity that God has provided for our family.

Tonight, we are feeling and appreciating all the blessings God has given our family. We have health, a loving family, and wonderful friends! We are truly blessed!!!

Love and Hugs!
~Michelle

So proud of our girls!

Sophie came running into the kitchen while ago and said, "Mommy, you know what 4+4 is?!" I said, "What Sophie?" She tells me 8! I asked her how she learned that, and she said, "I studied and then I counted it." We haven't sat down and formally worked on addition. I've just introduced it in play or situations where it came up. I "tested" her a few more times, and I was amazed that she does not count on her fingers - she looks up with her eyes and visualizes it. She even did 6+7! She got 12 the first time, but when I told her to recount, she came up with 13. She is one of those blessed people, who can look at or hear something and commit it to memory. If you knew, or remember, how sick our Sophie Bear was when she was born, you would understand how wonderful these moments are for me. We were so thankful to God to simply have her, but to have this wonderful brain, too.....we are so incredibly blessed.

Gracie's talent.....well....she can cross her eyes (makes my chest swell with pride). She loves right now to cross her eyes to make you laugh. I have tried to break her of it with the old "motherism," your eyes will stick that way, but tonight she did it for her daddy, who burst out laughing. So, we are back to square one. Sam was also teaching her how to stand on her head last night. She can make it to balancing her knees on her elbows - pretty impressive! HOWEVER, Sophie was also attempting it. The girl may be smart, but coordination is not at the top of her repertoire. I suspect that in the near future you will be reading about our first trip to the Japanese emergency room.

Gracie and Sophie are very into Barbies and Princesses right now - very girly. The other day Gracie had a prince driving Barbie and her cat around the house. I, looking for trouble, asked Gracie why the prince was driving and not Barbie. She never looked up, but said, "Because Daddy always drives (with a tone of voice like, Duh, Mom)."

And Izzy....Izzy, Izzy, Izzy. As we're discussing Gracie's eye-crossing talent, Izzy pushes her nose up with her finger, and says, "I can see my nose!" Again, a very proud moment. Seriously, she was depressed for about a week, but is doing great now. She is such a funny girl. She loves anything related to nature or science, and the Shinkansen train. For Christmas, she asked Santa for a Shinkansen train, a dinosaur playset, a stuffed dinosaur, and a toaster and coffee pot - that's my well-rounded girl! I laugh that she plays Barbies too - she uses the Barbie car to drive her plastic beetles and dinosaurs around in.

Our dear friend, Ms. Sue, kept the girls for me so I could get some shopping done (and have lunch with my hubby). While sitting and snuggling Izzy on the couch, I told her, "We need to put up our stockings." She says, "I told Miss Sue that you sellded them." "Izzy, you told Miss Sue I SOLD them!" "No, I telled her you sellded them." Big Sigh!!! So, Miss Sue if you're reading, I did not sell my girls' stockings in Garage Sell-Palooza 2007! Again, big sigh :)

I have discovered the origins of stone-washed jeans and the source or all those "embarrassing" kid stories floating around the internet - 4 YEAR-OLDS!

We had Japanese lessons last night. I just love what we're learning, but I told Sam today that I know just enough Japanese to get myself into a heap of trouble. The phrases that you use to let them know you DON'T understand Japanese, apparently have the opposite effect. I need to ask our sensei, Keiko-san, how to say, "I'm an idiot, and you should not try to communicate with me." Sam and I are just loving this whole experience. We're looking forward to Christmas!!!

Love and Hugs!
~Michelle

Our trip to Asuke

This weekend we went to Asuke. I googled some information about it:

Asuke is a town of just over 10,000 residents in northeastern Aichi. In the Edo period (1603-1867) in particular, it thrived as a post town on the chumakaido highway, which was the route to transport the salt produced along the shores of Mikawa Bay in the 19th century. The town still has many old houses. In fact, most of the historic wooden buildings still standing are kept in good repair by the townspeople themselves, and almost all remain in use as homes, shops, or showplaces.

The Korankei Gorge, home to about 4,000 maple trees, is one of Aichi's best-known spots for viewing the brilliant colors of autumn. The gorge is illuminated at night during the foliage-viewing season when over 4000 trees beautifully change color.

We also visited Sanshu Asuke Yashiki. This is an old farmhouse from the early Meiji Era, reconstructed in 1980. Inside, aspects of farmhouse life and manual work are reenacted, including straw crafts, weaving and paper making, which were common features in every Japanese mountain village until the mid-'50s. We actually got to watch some weavers, paper umbrella makers, woodworkers, basketmakers, a lady making/using indigo dye, and a couple of ladies going through the processes of paper making. The highlight for the girls was a man with a trained monkey that wore a purple kimono. I'm pretty sure he was a snow monkey.

We will post pictures on our image event site (link above, to the left), but as Sam said, they just don't do it justice. The river is pristine with huge boulders, as well as rocks that fit the hands of 4 year-old rock-throwers. There were huge redwood-looking trees. The food, as typical for Japan, was very interesting. I had some rice stuck to a stick, which is then slathered with a BBQ sauce. I also had buckwheat soba noodles. The girls had pineapple on a stick and sausage on a stick. Sam tried a large glutenous ball covered in sesame seeds. I'll have to find out what they're called. We saw a lot of foods that looked really good, as well as some octopus and fish on a stick (head, tail, and all). It was a wonderful day!

Exceptional Customer Service!

Mr. Sakabe, the president of Tomei Homes, came by today to make sure we weren't having any problems with the house. When we moved in, he brought a gorgeous plant and a gift for each girl. Today, he showed up with an adorable Christmas basket, and three, cute Santa bags for each of the girls. He gave me his business card, which has our house on the back - how cool is it that they used our house for their business cards?!! Since we moved in, several of Tomei Homes' representatives have come by, bearing gifts, to make sure we were happy with our home. It's really nice how the Japanese value their customers :)

On another exciting note, Sam and I started Japanese lessons tonight. We take them every Thursday, from 7:00-8:30. Our teacher, Keiko-san, comes very highly recommended. Sam is teasing me because I'm just giddy, but it was so nice to sit and LEARN. The girls were really great about not interrupting. I'm looking forward to taking Keiko-san to the grocery store for a lesson, or several. We also want to go to some restaurants and have her help us with the menu and ordering. Sam reminded me that next week, we can have her tell us what our alarm "voice" is saying when we activate and deactivate it :)

We were also excited to get a quick visit from our friend, Ai! She came by to give the girls their Christmas gifts - they LOVED them! We're hoping she will be able to come for Christmas Eve dinner.

I will have to post pictures of our Christmas tree. We let the girls decorate......I'm dying to "fix" it, but I have to say there is something about it that just gives me warm fuzzies :) They were so proud!

Oyasuminasai (good night)!
~Michelle

Our first Thanksgiving in Japan

On Thursday, Sam and I drove to Osaka to go to Costco. Our friend, Kim, watched the girls. The mountains were beautiful and a few even had snow on them! We saw a couple of rainbows on the way back. We had a great time just talking and shopping, without interruptions :)

All of the LMTASIC families met at Todd and Sue's house on Saturday. The guys didn't have Thursday off, so we waited until Saturday to celebrate. We had the most scrumptious pot-luck dinner. One of our friends, Debbie, "smuggled" a turkey and ham back from the States. We were all very impressed and very appreciative.

We also had a white elephant gift exchange. It was so much fun, and the girls sat there and watched the entire time. Sue had already gotten each of the girls a present, but they were very into the unwrapping and stealing of the presents. I ended up stealing a sleigh with stuffed reindeer in it. Gracie guarded it and gave anyone showing an interest in it "the look." Of course, Mr. Wayne, who is like a grandpa to them, teased her all night that he was going to take it. She finally "bribed" him with a cookie, so he wouldn't. She was quite proud of the fact that she protected my "stuff," but she has since decided the sleigh is hers.

We had the best time, and got to meet our Japanese teacher. We start lessons on Thursday!

We got "Elfed" - Check it out!

My dear friend Cindy did this for us. I actually got to SEE and TALK to her today!!! She has a webcam, so we got to see her, her fish, and precious kitty, Gracie! We will be getting one soon - I've already got Sam on it :) We could see and hear her, but she could only read my replies. It was so wonderful (and very reasonable, Honey)!

Hope you enjoy :)

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9517746799

Crows in Japan

Hopefully, this will work. It is a BBC video showing just how smart these crows are :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGPGknpq3e0

Christmas in Sakae

Sam, being the most wonderful father and husband, took the girls to the aquarium today, so I could do some shopping. Actually, I think he wanted me to clean the house, but there is just no point on the weekends. Monday, it will be shiny and clean. I was trying to decide where I wanted to go. Sam talked about meeting in Sakae on their way back from the aquarium (they took the subway). Suddenly, the light bulb went off - I could walk to the subway, without three hooligans, and go shopping in Sakae, without three little hooligans!!!! I had so much fun, and it really lifted my spirits seeing the stores decorated for Christmas. I went to the Disney store and found ornaments (not really ornaments, but I can fix that). I actually managed to find 3 My Little Ponies! I also found an advent calendar, a few more ornaments, and some tinsel for the tree at the 100 yen store. Fortunately, Sam brought some lights, because you wouldn't believe what they charge for lights here!

The stores here are set up a little different. I went to Mitsukoshi, Matsuzakaya, Skylie, and Tokyu Hands. All of them have about 10 floors, including the basement. Each floor has different departments.

There were several bands playing in the park. I sat and ate a cheeseburger from the 100 yen menu at McDonald's, and listened to the Japanese version of Bon Jovi's Living on a Prayer. Sam and I are really impressed with how awesome the bands are here. I didn't see the "Dancing Elvises" today. I've got to get video of that for you all.

Sakae has their Christmas lights throughout the park, so we are planning on going back in the evening to see them. It's supposed to be really pretty.

We met up at the Tokyu to say "hi" to our friends, and then walked to the subway. The subway stop near our house is Issha Station. Typically, we catch a cab back to the house, but it was so nice outside, we decided to make the girls walk(maybe they will be tired tonight). We stopped and played at a park on the walk home. The girls, but especially Sophie, took to tree climbing today. Sam and I looked up, and Sophie was WAY higher than we wanted her to be. Sam lit the fireplace when we got home, and we are all chillin'.

Thank God, Domino's delivers! We usually order a large, spicy deluxe, and a large pepperoni and Italian sausage. After our coupon, it's 4,692 yen. Tipping is not customary, but we always tip our pizza guy about 500 yen. They are always so excited about it, which makes us feel really good, too. To make it easier on us, we think of the 4,692 yen as $46.92, and 500 yen as $5.00. So the 99 and 100 yen stores are like America's 99 cent and 1.00 stores.

Sam and the girls got to meet "Cody" from Surf's Up at the aquarium! They were really excited about it. I'll post the picture. Surf's Up is the last picture we saw before coming to Japan, and it will be showing in theatres here on Dec. 15th. Sam said they were asking questions, which of course were in Japanese, but Sophie still kept raising her hand :) We were talking about how we would love to be a fly on the wall the first day of kindergarten!! We're also taking bets on whether the girls' teacher will come back after the first day. They really are good girls - just a little overwhelming at times.

Love you all!
~Michelle

Email

Just a quick note - I'm sending emails, but people aren't getting them most of the time. Sam changed my yahoo page, so we're hoping that will fix it. So, please don't think I'm not responding. I probably did, but it didn't go through :(