Christmas Adventures in Japan - five (go)

The last two weeks have been filled with many fun and festive events for the Christmas season.  Here are some pics from our holiday fun...

Hayden's school had a holiday shopping and auction event.  Here are the boys enjoying cookies and hot chocolate.

Our first Santa sighting!

Hayden as the Grinch!

My culture group had two different meetups.  One was a Christmas party with Japanese Hula dancers.  We got to learn a hula to jingle bells and exchange gifts with the Japanese ladies.  The next week we had a Christmas lunch at the O-club.

The boys attended a winter wonderland event at the Natatorium pool.  They had another photo opp with Santa and Mrs. Claus in their beach wear.

While the boys were swimming I attended a ladies tea with the women of the church.  We enjoyed listening to two great speakers and also had the treat of watching two Geisha's perform.

Eric and I attended the Med Group's holiday party.  We enjoyed the chance to get dressed up and have dinner with friends from the hospital.

I ran in a Santa 5k on base.  It was chilly but fun.  Here I am before the race with my neighbor Clare.

Lincoln's school held a Christmas Festa on a Saturday.  Here he is all decked out in his formal uniform.

Singing Christmas songs

He didn't do much singing but he did some of the motions.

Another Santa!  This one was a sort of a scary old Japanese man.  Lincoln was stone cold throughout the performance and Santa excitement.

He did enjoy showing us his artwork after the performance.

Family photo

After Christmas Festa we went to the hospital where they had a med group holiday party for the kids...and another Santa.

Hayden had to make cookies for his holiday class party.  Unfortunately he ended up having to stay home with a fever but we had fun making the cookies together.

We had friends over to watch The Polar Express and decorate cookies.

Ta Da!

The night before flying to Guam we stayed at The New Sanno hotel closer to the airport.

From the hotel we walked to Roppongi Hills to see the lights which they call Illumination.

The lights changed from blue to orange.

Family selfie

We also stopped by the German Christmas Market and had some hot mulled wine.

Checking out the trees

Linc and Mommy

Cheese with the snowman!

Linc is getting crazy

I love Christmas!

Walking through the lighted trees

Back at the hotel.  Peace out Japan.  Next stop Guam!

Adventures in Japan - four (chi)

The past four weeks have been busy!  Here is what we have been up to this Fall in Japan....

We had a neighborhood block party to carve pumpkins before Halloween.  Hayden did this one all by himself.

Eric outdid himself with this Japanese happy cat pumpkin.  Unfortunately it rotted before Halloween.

The boys trick or treating at the hospital

Family of ninjas

Eric also carved a Mt. Fuji and Kokeshi doll pumpkin.

Oh happy day!  Our household goods arrived on November 7th.  It took us about 2 weeks to feel completely unpacked.

I am part of a Japanese culture group.  We take turns hosting each other and doing things related to each of our cultures.  We hosted the Japanese women in November and decided to do a service project making Operation Christmas Child boxes.

Eric and I did an ITT trip to a Japanese winery.  Here we are wine tasting at 9am.

We were also able to visit Shoshenkyo Gourge.  There were many beautiful views on the hike up.

Fall in Japan is absolutely beautiful

We rode this cable car up the mountain where we had lunch and enjoyed many beautiful Mt. Fuji views.  They packed us in like sardines.  Luckily it was a short trip.

This view made the ride worth it!

Hayden was off school so daddy took the day off and we rented bikes at Showa Park.  Lincoln was at school so it was nice to have a day with just our Bo.

Hayden enjoyed it too!!

About a week before his birthday Lincoln got to ride one of the ponies at his school.  He had been talking about this since starting school.  Each child gets a pony ride during their birth month.  The school sent home pictures.

He also made the newsletter for having a birthday in November.  Here he is with his Senseis.

We were going to have an outdoor party for Lincoln's 4th birthday but the weather did not cooperate.  We moved the party to the bowling alley.  We had fun celebrating with friends.

Lincoln ready to bowl.  The bowling excitement did not last long. 

He was too excited about the awesome ninja turtle cake in the party room!

Happy Birthday my sweet boy!

Thanksgiving Day it snowed!  We got about 3 inches and the boys spent most of the day outside playing in it.

Snow fight with the neighborhood crew.

Eric pulling Lincoln on the sled.  No hills on base.

We had our neighbors over for Thanksgiving dinner.  We shared in cooking the meal and everything turned out great!  Hayden ate a whole turkey leg.

One Christmas item that did make it to Japan is our elf on the shelf.  Here is Hayden reading the book to us this year.

I was so excited our tree was not damaged in the move.  We got the tree up Thanksgiving weekend and Boo started off in the tree.  Funny how a silly tradition can make it feel more like home.