Shopping--a taste of normal!

My friend Cyndi and I planned a shopping outing today while the little kids were at after care at school. Found an Old Navy and enjoyed some normal shopping. It's hard to shop in Japan as their sizes don't match the average American woman's sizing. We are too tall and hippy! Hah. But Old Navy was a safe bet! 

Green Faces!!

Abby has been begging me to do my new green face mask with her. Finally remembered and we made it happen! 

LUSH--Green Lettuce Mask 

Maddy wanted no part of it--no surprise! 

It's like an at-home spa night.....because having kids is SO relaxing.....

Garlic Fried Rice

Come visit, just to eat this! YUM!!

Amazing but simple. Arrives to your table sizzling on this cast iron pan and you toss it together yourself. Maddy had Guoza and rice, Abby had fried rice and soup! 

Kamakura Big Buddha--With the kids!

The girls and I set out for the Big Buddha this morning!

Just needed to get out of the house!! And it was a dry day, with no direct sun, so it was a WIN!

 

Abby was impressed at the massive size and height, and I took her inside!

 Just outside the Buddha we stopped at a Turkish place for a quick bite. 

The place was recommended by a friend, and did not disappoint! 

Shaved chicken on a rotating spit, in a bun! The Mango Turkish Ice was delish too!

 

Abby went in the Buddha shrine cave with me!

After lunch we headed to Hasadera Temple--I needed to go again anyhow, to start my temple stamp book! Each time you go to a temple in Japan you pay about $2.50 and they will hand paint the temples name in Japanese on a new page! Collect them all!! (if you dare!! I'm up for the challenge...)

 The girls really enjoyed the Koi ponds!

 The Hydrangea garden was in FULL bloom this visit, and with the increased patronage they started a timed ticketing system. Last month when Mike and I came here there were no Hydrangeas at all, so this was a nice change and made it special with the kids. 

 

 

They walked a TON today. And walked up ALLLLL of these steps. This is just a quarter of the path and they are steep. No complaining about walking the entire day. I'm wondering if we have them trained now after a month of not bringing/using the stroller!

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is what this statue looked like 7 weeks ago.....early May

And this is late June with all the blooms!

  

This variety (above) was my favorite--very interesting

 

 

Summer Camp Girl!

Abby finished two straight weeks of Camp Adventure today! She is BEGGING to go back every week now. This is after I had to convince her how much fun she would have. She basically went kicking and screaming last Monday, and after two weeks she has had so many wonderful experiences. 

She walks to and from camp daily--at 730am so she can eat their awesome breakfast! 

And she's been coming home around 3:30/4pm daily. She just calls to make sure I'm home, then walks back! It's a 2 min walk from our house. I can almost see it from our front door!! So lucky. 

In the last two weeks she has gone bowling, been to the pool twice, went to a field trip at Fuji Safari Park, made oodles of crafts, learned new songs that she loves performing for us.....and more! 

Proud that this almost 8 year old can appreciate the fun of organized summer activities--she now knows it's the best option when available compared to hanging out with mom and home! 

Next week she has Cheerleading camp!

And the week after that she has a Japanese Cooking class and starts swimming lessons to work on strokes!

Then camp will resume to an every other week event! 

Got frosting?

We had friends over for dinner tonight--so of course I made a cake! Maddy was my beater licker!! She approved.....until it came to the actual frosting which I put pineapple and coconut in.....then she was not interested!! Such is life as a picky eater. 

My Cutie Patootie

She's just too cute not to share!! 

Sleeping......

Found the kids like this when I went to bed last night.

Maddy asleep with her flashlight on and book open.

Abby on her back with a pile of tissues on her face. 

House

I realized I haven't posted a photo of the outside of our townhouse! Here it is!!

Much more bland from the exterior.....fully decorated inside!! 

Fun "Down Under"

Mike was lucky enough to spend his first port call of this deployment in Brisbane Australia! A first for him!! 

He got to go wreck diving!!

He held a koala bear

And he hand fed a kangaroo!! 

We will definitely be making a family trip there in 2016! 

Last Weekend

Just a quiet weekend at home! 

Movie night on the couch snuggling, afternoon at the pool, and a visit to the base library today! 

A Little Fishy

After our trip to the Japanese grocery store last week, Abby has been enjoying some fishy cracker snacks she picked out. She was disappointed that the first bag didn't contain the dried baby sardine it advertised--on bag two she found it!! And ate it!! Could she be a more adventurous eater??

Summer Camp!!!

Abby is signed up for a few weeks of summer camp on base! She is finally old enough for these activities and they are weeks full of fun! They hire college students from the USA to come over and be counsellors and entertain the kids each day! One day a week they go off on a fieldtrip and twice a week they go to the outdoor pool for three hours! 

They serve them breakfast, lunch, snack and provide entrance fee to field trips! Best of all it is a two minute walk from our house!! 

Might have to sign her up for more weeks! After this fun week I think she will find herself quite bored next week......hanging out with mom all day. 

Next summer both girls will be able to attend--you have to have completed Kindergarten! She rode her bike the first day. 

Costco Wednesday

Took Maddy for her first Japanese Costco experience!! I hadn't been for 3 whole weeks!! That has got to be some kind of record stateside or overseas!! We stocked up on 100% perishable items--salmon, beef/pork ground, breaded pork cutlets (specialty out here), potstickers, Thai Green Curry and more!!! Lots to vacuum seal and prep/freeze tomorrow! Wish I had a certain extra body around to help me eat it all!! 

Coming to Costco here is a must for a foreigner!! It's an experience--every time I go I see something new/odd! 

Aquarium Madness

So you can hear the excited noise while they did a aquarium feeding

Dispensing the goods!

Ice Cream!!

Our ice cream experience in Asakusa! 

You choose your flavor tub....then the man inserts it into the dispensing machine and you hold your cone under it! 

 I didn't realize til after we were outside eating our ice cream that the ice cream was the same price as a cup of beer......I should have opted for the beer!! NEXT TIME!!

Asakusa Trip

Sunday we embarked on our first base led trip in Japan!

Chartered bus direct from base to our destinations, all entrance fees handled!

We were off to Asakusa in Tokyo--home to Sensoji Temple (oldest in Tokyo)

 Abby is 100% joining the drama club! She is FULL of it!!!

 The huge hanging lantern outside the temple

 Cute "Happy Lucky Cat" statue! It magnifies through its eyes and tummy from the opposite side

 My posers

 This building intentionally looks like a tall glass of beer!!

Its the Japanese beer company--Asahi

The building to its right replicates a torch

And the tall skinny one to its left is the Tokyo Sky Tree--destination on our list!!

 Rickshaw transports! These drivers have the most amazing legs!!

And they wear boy shorts/underwear as their uniform.....

 Sensoji Temple entrance

 Our guide explained that the you wave the incense on parts of your body you wish to heal....the kids got in on it

 The Tori gate (above) represents the entrance to a shrine

While these red archways (below) represent the entrance to a temple

 Before praying at the shrine you cleanse your body

They take a cup of water to cleanse each hand then drink a bit and spit it out to cleanse their mouth.

 Protectors of the temple gods

 The streets of Asakusa were amazing and required MUCH more of our time than we had available on this trip. The kids loved these toy shops with trinkets GALORE!

 Endless blocks of foods to eat and trinkets to buy!

 After enjoying a wonderful lunch at a Ramen bar (high praises from the kids!!), we met our group at the cruise building for the next part of our tour--a 40 min riverboat ride down the Sumida river. The timed tickets get you on a boat, but there are MANY styles! Your boat is whatever shows up next. These were some of the ones we saw before and during our cruise.

 View from the back of the boat in motion as we left Asakusa

 The kids and I sat below in the dining area to relax!

They got pretty giggly, as usual. Cracking themselves up!

 The end to their goofiness!

The end of our trip was a 2 hour visit to the Kanigawa Aquarium

I didn't take many photos, but the kids had a good time!

 Walking into the aquarium I couldn't pass up a photo op with these two girls dressed up as.......who knows......

The shark tank. Two HUGE sharks swimming in circles in a small tank.