Bali Trip

Scott and the Girls in the Lobby of the Padma Resort

This year, we decided to take a week long vacation to Bali, Indonesia, leaving Dec 17th, returning the night of the 23rd. What we didn't realize was that it is the official "rainy" season in Bali...which doesn't necessarily mean it will rain. Last year, it was a "draught" year, and the weather was hot and beautiful the whole time...this year however, we went during the torrential downpour part of the season! Out of the 5 full days we were there, it rained non-stop for about 2 full days, and intermittently during part of the other. Scott and I both say we have NEVER seen rain like we did there- crazy, up to your calf water(of course, Bali has next to no infrastructure, so there is no where for the water to go!). The night we arrived, it was raining when we landed. Thanks to our friends Joell and Chris and their friends Greg and Atin (who have a home in Bali), we had a fella meet us, and get us through customs with zero wait (actually we went through the "Crew" exit!). By the time we got our luggage and walked outside it was a complete downpour, with HUGE thunder and lightening...crazy. We were booked to stay at the Padma Resort Bali and Legian (after much research on Trip Advisor), and were THRILLED with our resort- everything from the location of it, to the beautifully kept grounds, to the pools, to the staff and rooms- we couldn't have picked a better place to stay.


Christmas Tree at Padma

Day 1
The first full day, we woke up to a beautiful day- partly sunny and nice and warm. We headed to the pool, where we spent the entire day swimming, laying in the sun, playing with the girls, eating by the pool...what a magnificent day it was. Our friends, Greg and Atin, arranged for Atin's sister, Nurul, and their driver, Achok, to drive us around and help us with the kids for the next few days of our trip- it was fantastic to have help, and to have someone who knew the area and places to go. Nurul was really good with the girls (they both took to her and liked spending time with her!), and Achok was a great driver- it is nuts driving in Bali- reminded me of driving in Beijing, with less traffic lights and more motorcycles and scooters!



Day 2
The second day, we choose to go to Waterbom, a water park in Bali that we were told was a "BLAST". Well....for a family with a little more adventurous and actually probably a little bit older kids, I think it would definitely have been. We have two that are intimidated a bit by water, and mostly nervous about "new" things. I had taken both girls to the Kalahari water parks last summer, and they had a complete ball, so I thought they would feel the same thing at this one. A few things went wrong with this theory:
1. Though it was "warm" outside, when it rains, it gets chilly- especially if you are in a swimsuit. It drizzled, then rained, the down poured, etc., the entire time we were there, so we were all freezing (my girls said my they have never seen my lips so purple!)!

2. The slides/rides were either for quite little kids, or pretty adventurous kids- not a lot in between to let my girls get comfortable.

The pools there were a little too deep to swim in (Maya couldn't touch at all, which makes doing flips, etc. pretty tough). So, there was some crying and complaining, which was completely frustrating to Scott and I, as we figured (incorrectly, obviously), that this choice of ours was a complete "slam dunk"! Turns out it didn't matter, as by about noon, the rain and wind became so terrible and intense, that they shut the water park down and we were forced to leave anyway. We did get to play one fun game of water balloon toss with a bucket launcher, and I will tell you this- you ask Hanna what her best time in Bali was, and she will say going to the Water park!! Our kids are going to be the death of us! :)

We ended up going back to the hotel, where the girls went to the kids club, and of course, the rain cleared up and Scott and I spent the afternoon having some drinks by the pool and recovering from our unsuccessful attempt at family fun!

Day 3
We went to Ubud, to go to the Monkey Forest, to the markets, and for lunch. This day was overcast, which was perfect, as it was a day we were wandering and not wanting to swim. The Monkey forest literally has hundreds of free roaming monkeys, and we had heard some creepy things about them and how aggressive they are. We walk in, and the first monkey in the darn place comes right for us, walks behinds us and grabs onto Hanna's pants and would not let go. Thank god Hanna seemed to think this was funny! It eventually let go when it realized she didn't have any bananas....the girls loved the Monkey park, so at least this choice of ours turned out to be a good one! From there we headed to lunch at Bebek Bengil, dirty duck diner, which was right on a rice field. The lunch was very tasty (though if you ask Hanna, she would say NO food there was tasty unless she could eat a hotdog...ugh). From there we went to the Ubud Markets and shopped around a bit. Ubud is known as the "artsy" area of Bali, and there are a lot of stores and shoppes that sell crafty things. After that, we headed home to swim and play at the resort!


Nurul, Girls and I with a few baby monkeys


At the Monkey Forest


Day 4
DOWNPOUR. Torrential DOWNPOUR. It was crazy how much, how fast and how long it rained on this particular day. Lucky for us, Nurul and Achok knew of a place where there was Barong and Kris Dancing under cover, so that was the first thing we did. The Barong Play represents an eternal fight between good and evil. Barong (mythological animal) represent a good spirit, and Rangda (mythological Monster) represents and evil spirit. It was interesting, and though the girls had zero idea what was going on, it kept them entertained the entire time.


With a Barong Dancer

After that, we headed to Jenggala, which was a Pottery shop selling gorgeous pottery. It also had a place where the kids could paint pottery- which is why we went. The girls each picked out a piece of pre-made pottery and had a blast painting it. From there, we headed to Jimbaran beach for a fresh seafood lunch. Unfortunately, it was not how we hoped to have our seafood lunch- inside the restaurant, watching it POUR outside, but non the less, the food was delicious and it was a definite feast! This was the only day in Bali that it rained the entire day- start to finish, and was a bit of a downer.


Jenggala- Pottery Painting

Day 5
The girls favorite part of our vacation!




The girls headed to the Kids' club for a few hours in the morning, and Scott and I headed out to Legian to do some "bargain" market shopping. We ended up spending more than we had planned, but found a lot of deals on fake goods! The rest of the day, we were fortunate enough to be able to spend at the Resort Pools. The one thing both of our girls LOVE to do is swim- we could be anywhere as far as they are concerned, as long as there is a fun pool for them to play in. They had made friends with two sisters that were the same age as they were during the morning fish feeding (our resort was FULL of Koi ponds), and time spent at that Kids' club. We ended up next to them all day at the pool, and the girls swam for 6 hours straight. It was a great way to end our vacation!


Feeding the Fish

We are so glad we went to Bali- the weather wasn't fantastic, but we made the most of it, and had a great time together as a family! The experiences and things we are getting to see and do while living over here in Tokyo are phenomenal- we are so lucky to have these opportunities, and will definitely miss them when we move back to "real" life in 2012!

Field trips, Winterfest and a Night out!

The past few weeks have been completely jam packed with fun things to do! Both girls had field trips within a week of each other, both of which I volunteered to chaperon. Maya's 2nd grade class went to Inokashira Park, a great park with a small animal area, temple, etc. This was a morning field trip, but once you put travel in, becomes an all day field trip! The fall colors were all around us, and we had the chance to spend all morning out in the nice sunshine!


Maya and Classmate Lauren at Inokashira Park

Hanna's 4 year old preschool class went on an all day field trip to the Children's Castle. I was assigned 4 very good little four year olds, so the day was quite enjoyable. The kiddos got to go to a Samba presentation, where they got to listen/dance to a Samba "band", then play and try out all the instruments, then make their own "shakers". The kids all had a really good time. The afternoon consisted of free play in the Children's castle, which completely wore Hanna down- she was near meltdown on our way home!


Hanna and her friend Tessa

ASIJ's Winterfest was this past weekend, December 4th. I had signed up for the Kimono booth, not really knowing exactly what that entailed, just knowing we would be paying to get a family photo taken in Kimono's. We arrived 45 minutes early to find a Tokyo Japanese Beauty school ready and waiting to do our hair and makeup (well, the girls and I...Scott didn't get his done!). To the girls, it was like playing professional dress up- they loved it! From the hair and makeup area, we were taken to a "dressing" area, where they got the girls and I in our Kimono's (let me tell you, this is a PROCESS!! Kimono's have to be put on a certain way, in a certain direction, and pulled SUPER tight- it took quite a long time!). Scott had to put on a Samurai outfit on, and because he is so big, they had to improvise to make his fit his tall body (not many if any Japanese are as big as Scott is, which I am sure doesn't come as any big surprise!). We had a really nice family picture taken, and are excited to get it from the photographer! Maya also had to sell Sugar Cookies for a Girl Scout fundraiser. On Thursday, the 2nd, I volunteered to go help the Girl Scouts (all troups, K-5) decorate and frost 2000 sugar cookies. I will tell you, it was the most organized Chaos I have ever seen- those troup leaders and mom's who have done it in the past had their game on- so well organized and thought out. We completely frosted (which included making the frosting, putting it in bowls, actually frosting and sprinkling), dried, packaged and bagged 2000 cookies between 3 and 5pm- it was simply amazing and more fun that I thought it was going to be. After the selling, the kids played on the playground, ate at the international food booths, played in the games and bouncy houses and had a great time seeing all their friends from school.




Last night, Sunday, the 5th, Scott and I went to a music concert at the Tokyo Main Dining Hall in Shibuya with Dan and Yumiko. Scott works with Tony, one of the guys in the band, and he invited us to come see him play. We didn't exactly know what we signed up for- Tony (who is Japanese) said it was a dinner performance, and that there would be three stages with three different types of music. We thought it would be fairly informal, and we could listen to some music and sneak out whenever we felt like it. It turned out to be "snacks" not dinner, so we didn't end up eating until close to 10pm...not good after a few Japanese beers! It also turned out that there was only ONE stage, and each band played a 50 minute set....we immediately started planning how we were going to escape- we don't usually go out and about until 10pm on a Sunday night! We both had quite low expectations for the evening, but it turned out to be a really fun night, with interesting entertainment, a funny older Japanese man busting a move for part of the concert, another Japanese man in the band singing in English (or I thought that was what it was...it seems like a mix of English and Japanese! I'm feering so Ronery, I could die! It is very difficult for Japanese to say their L's, so they come out as r's), and just an overall funny night. I am not sure when I have laughed that hard since we moved here, so it was very nice...the night started out with a Flamenco band (and dancers..at this point, Scott, Dan, Yumiko and I were all trying to plan our escape!), moved on to a Japanese "Dixieland" band...not sure how much of a want for Dixie music there is in Japan, but they band was pretty damn good..minus the singing part- that was just funny- but hey- I can't speak a lick of Japanese, so I give credit to any Japanese who speaks any type of English!), and ended with Christmas songs...which were equally as entertaining, as some were in Japanese, some were in English and some were in both! The entire place (minus Scott, Yumiko, Dan and I) was up dancing and doing a Christmas "Conga" line through the entire facility! During the entire last 1/2 of the show, there was an older Japanese man up dancing in the back- I am talking suit coat flying, hip thrusting dancing...to DIXIE music. Completely Funny..I feel sometimes that we live in Bizzaro world...but, how many of our friends will ever be able to say they saw Dixie music, Flamenco music and dancers, and Japanese/English Christmas carols in Tokyo?? I am betting not too many!! Fun was had by all!

Oh yeah...and Scott and I - the ONLY non-Japanese people in the place!

Not sure about this one....



Any idea? This is a sign at the local park that we go to...

Thanksgiving in Hong Kong

This year for Thanksgiving, we decided to utilize our Frequent Flier miles and go to Hong Kong for 3 days. We flew out on Tuesday, November 23rd, arriving at 12:30am, Hong Kong time...meaning our kids didn't get to bed until after 1am...which didn't start the next day off very well!

We stayed 3 nights at the Disney Hollywood Hotel. The girls LOVED it, and it was actually 50% cheaper than any other hotel that I found while researching and working with Hotels.com. However, it was on Lantau Island, which meant it was a bit further to get to pretty much EVERYTHING else in Hong Kong.

Day 1
The first day in Hong Kong was spent partly with a Tailor- Scott was measured and fitted for two custom tailored suits and 2 shirts, while I had a nice Trench coat style jacket made for myself. Hong Kong is the place to go in Asia for custom fit clothes- a lot cheaper and much better quality and fit than those off the rack or from a store in either the States or Tokyo. After our visit to Sam's Tailor- Sam has made clothes for TONS of Hollywood stars, presidents and the rich and famous of the world...and has signed pictures of himself with them posted all over his walls, we went to Kowloon park, to let the girls run around and get some exercise. From there we went to Fa Yuen Street to shop. This street was UNBELIEVABLY busy, crazy, with shops, upon shops, upon shops...behind, in front, everywhere... and everything is SUPER cheap, as nearly everything now a days is "Made In China"! It was a bit too crazy for us though, and it didn't take long to realize this was not a place we could stay too long with little kids. Those two things took most of the day, and we headed back for an early night at the hotel.


I am not sure what this was, but all the Disney Characters were doing this with their hands as well!

Day 2



On Thanksgiving day, we headed to Hong Kong Disneyland. The weather was perfect- a balmy 75+ degrees, sunny and gorgeous! The park, though smaller than Tokyo Disney, and MUCH smaller than Disney World, was a great size, not too busy and a TON of fun for us as a family. We had a chance to get onto everything we wanted to, some things twice. The only issues we had this day- I managed to drop an entire tray of burning hot pizza (shaped like Mickey Mouse!) on my bare leg and shoe at lunch time....didn't feel so great, and my white tennis shoe was a pizza sauced mess, and I also managed to forget to grab Hanna's clothes when she changed into warmer weather clothes in the bathroom, so we lost an outfit! UGH!! We did get to see the Christmas parade, enjoy the Christmas decor and songs all throughout the park, meet elves, watch the fireworks and see the lighting of the Disney Hong Kong Christmas tree- the coolest part was that they had all the buildings lit up, the lights off and "snow" falling all down Main Street for the rest of the night! The snow was actually soap bubbles, but the it was so neat to see! The night ended with the Fireworks show and we still got back to the hotel by 9pm!


Me and my Girls


With a Christmas Elf

Day 3
Friday ended up being a part frustrating, part fun day. We had to go back to the Tailor to get a final fitting and pick up the clothing items we had made. The tailor was in Kowloon, which was about a 35 min ride from the Hollywood Hotel, and the LAST place the girls wanted to go "again"! After the Tailor, we headed to Hong Kong Island, to visit The Peak, which is a "peak" location where you can view all of Victoria Harbor- the view was phenomenal-and then head to the Botanical gardens and Zoological park. But first, we had find somewhere to eat...which is ALWAYS a challenge..Hanna wants McDonald's all the time - she would eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner if she had the opportunity. Maya, Scott and I are all completely SICK of McDonald's....but, that is where we ended up, because I did not do the research in advance to see what restaurants were in what parts of Hong Kong. This meal was completely frustrating (not only were we at McDonald's, but it had limited seating- I ended up standing up, Scott had to go down the street to find a restroom, and Hanna continued to yell at all three of us the entire meal (did I mention she is in a TERRIBLE stage/phase right now? If it isn't her way, she yells, screams, hits and stomps here feet...it has been a rough month for the Garrison's! She is completely unwilling to try anything- last week she didn't want to watch Charlie and the Chocolate Factory because according to her, it was about "chocolate and a factory, and that sounds dumb!"...she also didn't want to watch How to Train a Dragon, because it was about "dragons and training", equally as dumb...however, she ended up liking both movies...she has been SO difficult!) :)I know if you have not traveled in Asia, or lived in Asia, you probably can't imagine how difficult it is to find food that a 7 and 4 year old will eat- but most restaurants are local cuisine, writing in Chinese, Japanese, etc., and not obvious on what items the restaurant actually serves...making it quite hard to make a decision, for fear of being the "wrong" decision! After lunch, in which I threatened to just take us all back to the hotel and do NOTHING (yes, pitching a fit at 37 does still happen!), we ended up walking our way to the Tram for The Peak. Did I mention how unbelievable my husband is with maps and directions? He can get us anywhere, anytime, if you just give him a map and a few minutes time..he is amazing (which is good, because the way he was fighting with Hanna, he is lucky I didn't send him back to the hotel room!) :)

The peak was fantastic. The view was incredible, plus, we got to do a little shopping, and I even found a bag of Cheddar and Sour cream Ruffles chips (both of the girls favorites, and something you can not buy in Japan) as well as US Magazine in English...oh, how the little things become big things when you can't get them!


View from The Peak


Scott and I

http://www.thepeak.com.hk/en/home.asp

After the Peak, we went to the Botanical gardens and Zoo, and then proceeded to a local kids park to let the girls play. Scott and I spent most of our time on our iPhones looking for restaurants for dinner...finally finding an Outback near the tailor (which we had to go back to to get our new clothes!). We had a fantastically normal, non McDonald's dinner, and then headed to the Symphony of Lights show over Victoria Harbor, watching from the Kowloon side. This light show is in the Guinness Book of World records as the largest, permanent light show in the world. What was even cooler was the because it was Christmas, a lot of the buildings had their entire fronts decorated with Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Christmas ornaments, stars, etc., which was so very festive!

http://www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/attractions/kln-symphony-lights.html


Symphony of Light Show, Victoria Harbor

There are some things that Scott and I have discovered about our kids- first, flying late at night, and not getting to bed until very late makes for crabby, tired kids the next day, and never starts a vacation off well...Second, not researching an Asian city enough to know where we have access to American/Western style restaurants is NOT a good idea when you have two of the most PICKY eaters on the planet. And finally, taking my crazy monkeys on a train, when we could easily take a cab, isn't the smartest idea- for some reason when you get them on a train, they think they are at a play park...! However, we are very glad we had the chance to visit Hong Kong- it is a really beautiful city, with a lot to offer, and I would do it again in a heartbeat- McDonald's, burnt leg and all!

Mt. Takao Hike and Shinjuku Fishing Restaurant

Sign at top of Mt. Takao


Scott and Girls on Mt. Takao

On Saturday, November 6th, we decided to take the girls to Mt. Takao. This is a smaller mountain that has trails, a shrine, a Monkey Park, shops, restaurants and a gorgeous view from the top. We mapped it out by train, which was about an hour ride, and decided that our kids would probably be REALLY tired when we were done, and therefore, an hour and a half car ride would be the better option. What we didn’t account for was traffic- it took us nearly 2 hours to get there, with the girls ansy and fighting in the back seat for the first hour. By the time we got there, it was about 9:45 and the place was starting to pack it in. One thing you (we) always have to keep in mind is that the later you are the busier it gets- so we try really hard to get to places right when they open, so we have less crowd and crazy to deal with.
The first thing we did was take the Cable car up. I am told this is one of the steepest cable car rides in all of Japan.


Cable Car Tracks

It was neat, and the girls thought it was quite cool. The cable car takes you up about ½ way, and then there are multiple trails to choose from once you get there. There is also the Monkey park, which we of course, went to. I thought it would be a place where we could go in with the monkeys, but lo and behold, it was just like going to a zoo- the monkeys were inside there “area” and we could watch them go about their business. There was also a Japanese man giving a presentation the whole time, with people laughing, etc…but, since we do not speak Japanese, we had no idea what was so funny!

After the Monkey Park, we continued to walk up the paved trail- thinking this would be the easiest for the girls. It was still a good walk, as it was of course, uphill, with a lot of stairs. There were shops and restaurants all the way up to the shrine, and again at the top of the hill. We ended up eating some kind of soy sauce dough balls (no idea what they were, but they tasted ok), and then found a Ramen restaurant to have lunch at. I think the Japanese who worked there needed a good laugh, because, of all the places they put us, they chose a traditional Tamimat- this is a table, with nothing dug out for feed- so essentially, you sit with your legs criss crossed the entire time…and to top it off, out girls HAD to sit by each other…so it was Scott and I squished in this tiny area, legs crossed, bumping into each other the entire meal! We both had numb legs, aching hips…man, we are too old to be sitting like a 1st grader!!

Our girls love Ramen, but they love it PLAIN. I tried to look up on my iPhone how to say Plain in Japanese, but has zero luck- it just isn’t a word in Japanese…I know now that there are similar words, but at the time, no clue. So, Maya is having a conniption because her Ramen is going to come with egg, vegetables, meat, etc. in it- nothing crazy or terrible- she just likes only noodles! In order to make peace (and make her stop pitching a fit), I ended up taking all of her stuff and putting it in my bowl…the things you do for your kids!


Eating Ramen on Tatami Mats

By the time we got to the top of Mt. Takao, it was starting to pack up- we had some ice cream, took some photos and decided to take the dirt trails back. We took trail #3, which was awesome- small, with no rail- meaning, the edge of the mountain was right by you—which meant for nervous everyone. The girls really enjoyed it though- that was the type of hiking that I think we would all like to do more regularly (maybe without the drastic drop offs!). We ended up holding both girls hands for a good portion of the hike back down- just to be safe. This trail was a lot less crowded and definitely made the day more enjoyable!

Fishing Restaurant




On Friday, October 12th, Scott and I went out to dinner with some of his staff from work. They took us to a Japanese Fishing restaurant- no idea what the actual name of it was, but it is a place where you fish for your own dinner, and then tell them how to cook it! In the middle of the restaurant there is a boat, with a “moat” around it. There are seats in the boat, in which the people just lean over and try to fish, there are “rooms” with glass side windows and open top, so they just lean over and fish…and then there are separate rooms (like ours), in which you have to come out to the boat area to fish. I am not sure what kind of fish they had in there (I know Seabream, and they had sharks too- which were for “pets” only, they told us- we were not allowed to try to catch one!), but it was a ton of fun. They give you little shrimp as bait and you just fish until you catch one. Scott ended up hooking one, pulling his fish up, having it wiggle off and then actually catching his hook on the light fixture above him! Kind of funny! We both did actually catch fish- he caught a seabream, and I caught some big, flat fish that was completely delicious when filleted and fried! When you catch your fish, they come over and ask your name, and then sing a song- aaahhhh Leigh-san….and then a song about your fish, in which you have to clap a certain way- it was really quite entertaining! It is a place however, that I don’t know if you could go to if you didn’t have someone who knew Japanese with you- the menu was all Japanese, and it didn’t seem like there was a lot of English spoken by anyone! That night, I tried quite a few things I have never eaten before- shrimp balls (not actual shrimp balls, but they were weird, white dumpling looking things that were delicious), some kind of egg soup (not a fan), tempura (have had before, but this was much better)…Tony, one of Scott’s co-workers, told me I had to stop asking what things were and just try them…so that is the motto I used the rest of the night- I think that is a much better way to go about it!

Days with my Girls
The past two weeks, my kids have had a lot of school off. Because they are on separate school calendars, they have different Holidays, school conference days, etc. Three weeks ago, Maya had 5th Disease- it is a weird little virus that you don’t know you have until you look like you have been slapped in the face many times (very pink cheeks)…then it turns into a rash, and with each person, the severity is different. Maya had some headaches and the slapped cheeks, and a mild rash. She missed only one day of school. Last week, Hanna had 3 days off of school, as a mid-fall school break. It actually was tied into a 1 day Japanese holiday, called “Culture Day”, so on that day, Scott was home as well. This past week, Maya had W, Th, F off- Wednesday and Thursday were school conference days, and Friday was just wrapped in to make it a long weekend. Hanna also ended up catching the 5th disease, but it was much worse rash wise for her- I kept her home 2 days, as her rash made her face swell up a bit, and was really itchy and bumpy all over her body. Poor kid- I was going to send her to school on the second day, and she looked in the mirror and started BAWLING, saying she looked like a clown, and everyone was going to make fun of her! So, I let her stay home with me that day too!

I had the opportunity both weeks to spend one full day just doing fun stuff with each girl. Hanna and I went to Yoyogi park to play, went to the Meiji Shrine Autumn festival (in conjunction with Culture day- there were floats, food booths, music booths, etc), and I took her to her favorite place in Tokyo to eat…..wait for it….McDonald’s! Ugh. We had such a nice day together! This past week, Maya and I had a full day set aside just for us- we met up with some friends and went Biking in Yoyogi Park, then she got to pick where to go eat….TGI Fridays!!, and then we went with the same friends to Karaoke for a bit before picking up Hanna. We had a great day. All I could think about was how fun it was to set the time aside to just spend quality time together- not doing laundry, running to the grocery store, etc….just enjoy each other’s company. I am a lucky mom.

Next week is Thanksgiving, so we are gearing up for that, as well as our trip to Hong Kong. Then the Christmas season begins and it will be a crazy month of December for us! Happy Thanksgiving!!

Nogawa Park, ASIJ Spirit Day,Enoshima Island Spa

In October we also did a lot of little neat things. One beautiful Saturday, we drove out to Nogawa park and let the kids run. This park is located next to Maya's school, ASIJ. It is green, spacious and has a lot of fun things for the kids to do and play on!

Hanna on Zip line


Maya on Zip Line

ASIJ Spirit Day- October 16, 2010
ASIJ held Spirit Day at school on October 16th, as a way to get kids and their families out to enjoy ASIJ sports and extracurriculars. There was a JV and Varsity football games, as well as soccer games, Jazz band performance, Hip hop dancers, school jam band, Girl scout cake walk (as well as other organizations running booths to raise money for different extracurriculars), food booths and just a lot of playing in the sun. We spent the entire day out there, which allowed us to see and run into friends all day long!

Maya Climbing High


Hanna- this kid has NO fear

Enoshima Island
On October 21st, I went with my friends Denise and Heidi to Enoshima Island, to enjoy a day at the Enospa. This Spa sits right on the ocean, so on a clear day, you can view Mt. Fuji, as well as look out into the ocean at all the windsurfers, etc. This spa had multiple pools- infinity pools, workout pools, salt water pools, hot pools, cold pools, pools in caves with waterfalls...it was truly fantastic. The link below is in Japanese (use Google Chrome to translate it)...after enjoying time in the pools, we went to the relaxation room, where for 4200 Yen, we received a 40 min full body massage (unbelievable!). From there, we went to have lunch at the Italian restaurant overlooking the water. We did this all between the hours of 9 and 4, and were back in time to get the older kids from the bus stop! Truly a fantastic day!

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://www.enospa.jp/&ei=SqbOTIRB0KtxiK3h3g4&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBsQ7gEwAA&prev=/search%3Fq%3Denoshima%2Bisland%2Bspa%26hl%3Den%26prmd%3Div


Denise and I on Enoshima Island- there is a temple at the top of this hill


Cave Pool


Waterfall pool


Denise, Heidi and I under the waterfall


This was the neatest picture- this woman was out in the rain, praying on the rocks

Halloween 2010

This is our first Halloween in Japan, and wouldn’t you know it, we get hit by Typhoon Chaba! The 14th Typhoon to hit Japan this year (which we are told is a lot of typhoons). It has been super rainy this fall, which means less ability to go out and about and do fun things.

Getting our Pumpkin
Halloween is another example of things being not quite as easy (and traditions not being so easy to keep up!) as they are at home in Michigan. It is not very easy or inexpensive to get pumpkins here in Japan. Every year in the past, we would take the girls to Gull Meadow farms or another equally as fun pumpkin patch, fully equipped with hayrides, apple picking, cider drinking and pumpkin picking out. We typically would get a pumpkin for each of us, each of us getting to pick how we wanted to carve it, and spending a whole Saturday carving the pumpkins,and having a really fun time as a family! This year, we had no available pumpkin patches, cider mills, etc. to go to...which we knew would not happen. However, the ability to get a pumpkin here was quite surprising. They are not sold in corner lots, at grocery stores, or really, very many places. They also run between 2300 Yen (about $26) and 4000 Yen (about $50) for a "reasonably" priced pumpkin...they run all the way up to nearly $100USD. For one pumpkin...and I am not talking a large (well, the $100 one is decent sized) pumpkin- I am just talking an average sized one! So, I went the cheapest route I could find, and ordered one from the Foreign Buyers Club, which was delivered to my house two weeks ago (yes, we got our pumpkin via the FedEx man!!!). We did have a fun time carving it, and the girls didn't seem to care one bit that we had one and not 4! I guess sometimes making new traditions is just as good as keeping old ones!


The Girls with Christy and Tessa Deki and Maggie Kallas

Halloween night we had trick or treating here in our building, LaTour, and then headed to Oyama-cho. There were so many people- adults, kids trick or treating - it was completely crazy…and exceptionally neat to see. The biggest difference that I noticed from trick or treating in the States is that people set up tables outside their homes- full of baskets of candy, and the kids just walk up and grab candy and leave. Very few kids actually said “trick or treat” or “thank you”- they just grabbed and ran on to the next place. We tried to make sure ours said Trick or Treat and Thank you, but it was hard to keep up with them due to the sheer number of people. Another neat thing was that my assumption was it would be mostly expats handing out candy (Halloween is NOT a traditional Japanese holiday) was completely wrong. Many, Many Japanese had their tables out, with houses fully decorated (another neat thing- the houses were all decked out!), and were having a really good time handing out treats (and taking pictures of the Gaijin- our kids again, were very loved by many of the Japanese homes they went to!). We did end up getting some very interesting treats- some American treats, just like at home, yet some..well..not exactly sure what they are!!


Girls Trick or Treating in Oyama-cho


Check out this crowd!


Weird "treats"- crab crackers, bourbon candy, cinnamon roll things...never know what you will get!

This year the girls school Halloween parties were held on the same day, at the same time. I was bummed, as I love to go experience these fun days with my kids. Scott was able to go to Maya’s, and I ended up going to Hanna’s. I was so happy that both kids would have a parent with them!

Maya’s party had a Halloween parade, followed by an all-school carnival, followed by a class party. She had a BALL. She dressed up again this year as Minnie Mouse, and looked adorable. Hanna’s had a great party as well- a classroom party, followed by trick or treating in the gym.


Maya with Sophia and Lauren


Maya with her class

Hanna’s school is very international- people from all over- the states, Japan, Israel, the UK, France…so the food was a mixture of everyone’s tastes and it was really neat to sample things that I have never had before. The kids put on a little performance singing some really cute songs – one fun Japanese Ghost song, and another one in English. Hanna ended up being a Hippy Girl, and she LOVED it and looked so cute! (Thank you Emma Filary!!)


Hanna with her class


Hanna with Ms. Tomoto and Ms. Carr-Barry

Adventure Park, Trips and Visitors!

Maya on rope swing over MUD puddle

Adventure Park
This is Maya at the “adventure park.” I know I have said this in the past, but there are many parks here in Japan that would be shut down immediately if they were in the U.S. This park is one of them! There is a rickety wooden structure that the kids can play on, there are saws and hammers (where they can actually saw wood, fairly unsupervised), fire pits that they have going in essentially the middle of the play area, a painting area, and this rope swing that is over a mud pond that the kids go in and on. It is a bit odd and somewhat unnerving, but the kids LOVE it. They get dirty and gritty and gross… Maya started out not really sure what to do or if she wanted to do it, but this is what she looked like by the end!


After playing..and we had to train home after this!

Trips
This year is our year of trips. We have decided that if we are only here until next December, June at the latest, we don’t have a lot of time to see everything we want to see while we are here. We are going to Hong Kong for Thanksgiving, staying at the Disney Hollywood Hotel, meeting up with Mr. Larry, a tailor that is going to make Scott some new suits and shirts, and hopefully doing some really cheap shopping for clothes for the kids. We just booked a trip to Bali, Indonesia for Christmas…we will be heading there Dec 17-23rd, staying at the Padma Bali Resort in Kuta. And in March, we will be heading to Phuket, Thailand for 7 nights of fun in the sun. We are all really excited and exceptionally grateful for all the opportunities this move has given us!

Visitors
This is also the year of the visitor! We are so happy that we have family coming to see us this year! My cousin Suzie and a friend are coming over in February to run the Tokyo Marathon. Scott and I signed up for the 10K, but did not get in (lottery for both the 10K and the Marathon). My Aunt Nancy might join them for the visit, which I would be SO happy about! Possibly some family coming in March, Scott’s mom, Jan, is coming in April, and my parents are coming in May! If any of you are reading this..beware, that I might be sending you requests of things to bring with you (spaghettios, mac and cheese, cereal…maybe some shampoo…who knows what I can come up with!!)

This year is going incredibly fast- it seems we book up the calendar like crazy and before you know it, we have NO time to relax. My new resolution is to take one day a week to get things done around home, catch up with work, and just chill out and not be running around the city! Wish me luck!