One Down and ....

many more to go.  Quinn finally lost his first tooth.  He has been wiggling it for 4 days and fighting us about pulling it out. This morning it was hanging on by a thread and I gave it a good push and he was able to pull it out himself.  I hope they are not all going to be so dramatical as the first.

Christmas Eve 2011

On Christmas Eve, we headed into Tachikawa to do a little geocaching, eat at "Communist gyoza" and then over to Showa Park for the Christmas lights.  We had success finding a few caches and even found a cool park for the kids to play that had a great big "oni" slide.  In traditional fashion, the slide is made out of concrete and is super fun to climb up and go down.  It was cold out but the kids were too busy running around to notice, yet.

After some gyoza and beer, we walked over to Showa to see the lights.  But half way through the park, Quinn started to get tired and cold.  So he didn't want to be in many pictures.  Scarlett quickly obliged and even tried to do the victory sign but couldn't figure how to do it with her gloves on.

Trying not to be cold in front of the tree made of champagne glasses .

The kids crashed on the ride home and were in bed as soon as we got home.  Nobody even wanted to help put the cookies out for Santa.  Luckily,  Santa knew where to grab a few cookies by himself.

Zenrin Yochien Christmas Show 2011

Here are a few photos from the kids Christmas Show.

Wiseman # 3

The kids had their Christmas Show at Zenrin Yochien on Tuesday December 20th.  I was so excited and nervous for Quinn because he had to recite his lines in Japanese.  He practiced and told me he was ready. And he was right, Quinn did a great job.  Many parents came up to me after the show to tell me what good pronunciation he had and that he did a good job.

Quinn-kun, we are so proud of you.  You are so brave, determined, and talented.
He is the wise-man on the righthand side of the table.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

1. Decorated a Gingerbread House:                       Check

2. Made cookies for Santa:                                 Check

3. Took pictures with giant Japanese Christmas Cake:            Check

OK, we are officially ready for Christmas.

New Beds

Neal and I decided that we should probably buy one of the kids a bed before we move to Alaska. Scarlett is still in her crib converted into a toddler bed and Quinn sleeps on a government loaner.  We opted for a cool loft bed from a Japanese furniture store.
Funny story about our first visit to the "Rooms to Go" store in Hachioji.  We were looking at a couple of different beds that were on sale and tried to ask the salesman about when the sale would end.  Well he came back with a calculator offering us a lower price (I guess he thought we were trying to negotiate a cheaper price.  Who Knew; we didn't).   I asked my student if negotiating was Ok and she said yes.
So on our second visit we got ourselves a sweet deal that included delivery and set up.  Nice.

We put Scarlett and Quinn together in the same room for the week before the new bed was delivered.  She was so happy to have him in her room.  So much so, that she cried the day the bed was delivered and Quinn went back to his own room.  Scarlett wasn't even happy about being in a big girl bed (as you can tell by her picture).  The only thing that made her stop crying was that she got to use her dad's old Star Wars pillowcase.

Scarlett's Solo ....

This is the song that Scarlett will be performing with her class tomorrow at their Christmas Performance. I was afraid she would not perform tomorrow when there is an audience watching her.  So I asked her to let me make a video of her and she agreed.   I just love this video with all her hand gestures and vocal variations and the sassy ending.

It's Christmas Time

Here's a few photos of bento lunches and our Star Wars snowflakes.  Quinn just had to have the snowflakes after seeing them on the web.

Sayonara Honda Capa

I sold my favorite little Japanese box car today.  BooHoo.  I guess we really are leaving Japan.  BooHoo.

Santa (Sorta)

Being overseas you have to take what you can get for Santa photo opportunities.  I was just happy that Scarlett was willing to stand near Santa.

Tokyo Disney Sea

we have tried to go to DisneySea three times.  Every time we made plans to go, the forecast called for rain, usually down pours.  As our time in Japan is limited, we had to just do it.  So a few weeks ago, the rain was drizzling down and we decided we would go anyways.  The traffic was bad getting into Tokyo and we didn't really dress as warm as we should have, but we arrived at 11:00am and hit the park running.  It was lots of fun.

Neal rode the roller coasters on his own but got to go on the single rider fast lane.  He wanted to force Quinn on a few rides but he was too short.  Q did ride the kiddie coaster and it was so funny to watch him hold on tight and close his eyes.  He said he liked it after it was
over.

Yum! Strawberry Popcorn 

Scarlett went on a few rides but she is always cautious.   She talked about liking the characters and not being afraid (but only when the characters weren't around).  As soon as Donald and Goofy came out she was demanding to be picked up and had a death grip on Neal.  Just check out her positioning/posture in every character photo

Prince Eric statue

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