Akemashite Omedetogozaimasu/New Year's Eve 2009

As many of you know, the kids and I tried to hop to Singapore to be with Neal but we didn't get on any flights. So Quinn, Scarlett and I celebrated with sparkling cider and special glasses at 7:00pm. Better early than never. Quinn loved the glasses and wasn't sure about the cider but drank it anyway. Scarlett took one sip and spit it out.

Christmas Day 2009

Another Christmas filled with great gifts, too many gifts as usual. Quinn and Scarlett are spoiled beyond words by family and friends. Thank you to you all! We spent the day playing with the new toys and games. Then decided at the last minute to go out for yakiniku instead of cooking...yum!

KFC.....Really?!

So it's Christmas Eve in Japan and we stopped in Tachikawa City to grab a Starbucks and what to my wondering eyes did I see .... a crazy long line to get a bucket of chicken from KFC. It's a bizarre custom in Japan to eat KFC fried chicken for Christmas Eve and I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen the line.

The 12 Days Before Christmas...

We read lots of Christmas books, went shopping, geocaching/ slept in the car, and made cookies for Santa. I think Scarlett is getting too big for the Japanese baby carts.... what do you think?

Christmas Eve 2009 at Showa Park

For the third year in a row we headed to Showa Park to look at the Christmas lights. This year we left a little early to do a little geocaching. Quinn took a nap as soon as we went in the car but woke up just in time for the lights.

The Boys of Nikko

Quinn, Jack & Sam (aka the boys) wanted their picture taken every few feet while we were in Nikko for Thanksgiving. So here is a collection of them being them.

Thanksgiving in Nikko, Japan

So Christmas is tomorrow and I thought I better get our Thanksgiving blog up quick. We headed north with the dogs and one of our favorite families, the Davis Family. It was our last week-end with them before they moved back to the US. We drove to Nikko and stayed in log cabins tucked away in a small village. Quinn split his time up between the 2 cabins. The Davis cabin was quite big and included a large loft that was great for building forts out of futons. Scarlett loved crawling around in the safety of the "padded room". We also went geocaching, of course. And I got my final stamp for my book (but silly me also bought a new book...so it's not over yet!).

She weebles and she wobbles ...

and Scarlett falls down. Scarlett is officially up and walking.

Christmas Party Japanese Style

Yesterday Quinn was invited to a Christmas Party at Kaho's house, his friend from Yochien. Traditionally Japanese families celebrate by eating fried chicken (usually KFC) and eating yummy Christmas cake (which is usually strawberries and cream). I had to do lots of charades to communicate with the Moms but it was lots of fun. Scarlett just kinda watched the whole scene unfold before her eyes. She makes so many faces these days.

Santa Came to Town....Well the Hangar

Yesterday we went to hangar 15 for the squadron's children party. They had bouncy castles, cookie decorating and of course Santa Claus who arrived on the flight line by fire truck. Quinn couldn't wait to sit on Santa's lap but Scarlett wanted nothing to do with him.

The many faces of Scarlett

The photos include Scarlett discovering lollipops (thanks to Daddy), another is a picture that Quinn took of her, and other random shots.

Farewell Photo

Here is the photo taken before Jack and Sam boarded the bus to the airport. My favorite part was when Jack told me they would send me pictures of wooden shoes and windmills. We are going to miss Team Davis Japan. Watching good friends move on to new places is one of the down sides of being a military family. Guess we'll have to visit Holland in the next couple of years.