March was a really special month. Arabella chose to be baptized and it was made extra special because she got to share it with her best church friend, Erica. She proved to be an incredible little missionary! Erica's dad was hesitant to let her be baptized but Arabella took it upon herself to talk to him and ask him if they could be baptized together. He said yes! She was also sure to invite her neighborhood friends to her baptism and one of them came!
We had a little photo shoot of Arabella and Erica.
So many friends came to support these girls. It was such a special day! This was the little display table I did for them. I gave each girl one of the shisa so that they could always remember their baptism day and the covenants that they made. I told them that I hope they will call each other years down the road and check on and encourage each other to keep those covenants.
Where has the time gone?!?! Keeping up with life and this blog has felt completely impossible but I guess that just means we are really living, right? When I think of all of the posts I need to write I get overwhelmed. We have done and seen so many incredible things since my last post including traveling to Thailand, Cambodia and back to Korea! Rich and the kids have had so many incredible accomplishments that I've failed to post because I felt like I needed to write about our trips first. I'm changing my ways and I'm going to allow myself to make 'everyday life' posts before life passes me by and the memories fade.
December and January were filled with trips and recovering from trips so I will start in February. We started the month with a day off of school and warm enough weather for our first beach day! We went to Maeda Flats.
We followed our perfect beach day with our favorite Family Mart snacks.
February also marked the beginning of the blooming of the cherry blossoms in Okinawa. We don't have very many sakura in Okinawa but the few that we do have sure are beautiful!
Aidan and Maya tested for their 2nd stripe on their green belt and did such a great job.
We took advantage of the cool weather and spent a weekend camping at Okuma. It was so nice! Cool enough to camp but warm enough to enjoy the beach too. We are going to miss our happy place!
Okuma has the most beautifully breathtaking sunsets. Pictures just don't do it justice.
Woke up to Arabella being the best big sister.
We had been looking forward to going whale watching for a really long time and it was finally time for it to happen! We got up early on a crisp morning and boarded the boat along with 3 other families.
We rode out over lots of waves for about an hour in search of the whales. This was the last picture I took on that day.
Were whales spotted? Yes, they were! Did I see them? No, no I didn't.
The moment the boat stopped I started puking. I puked and puked over and
over again for the entire 2 1/2 hours we were out looking for whales. I was joined by Rich, Arabella, Eva and over half of the other passengers. It was the most horrible experience ever! Whale watching was NOT a success for us.
We had a month filled with a lot of our usual happenings like our Baker Sunday Selfie's
pizza~ice cream~movie night
Hashiren Ramen
And trips to the banana stand.
Then, there are always those exciting moments like getting to hold a snake at church...
Aidan making the Honor Roll!
Oh, and of course there's that time when I though Eva had snuck out of the house so my neighborhood friends helped me canvas the neighborhood and encouraged me to stay calm when I wanted to call security forces. Knowing it wasn't like Eva to just take off like that, they encouraged me to check my house one more time. I found her asleep in the tiny area between the washer/dryer and the closet doors. She added a few greys to my growing collection.
After getting off to a rough and late start, we made it! We were so tired and SO cold!
Sleeping on the subway
We got to our Airbnb around 1am so we didn’t force ourselves to wake up too early for Disney the next morning.
The toughest hurdle our entire trip was the cold! We knew it would be cold, that is why we borrowed coats from friends but I don’t think we quite imagined just how cold it would be. It. Was. COLD! Ok, truth be told, it only got down to 43 degrees but for those of us who have enjoyed an Okinawan winter the last 2 years, 43 is cold! We had fun between shivers.
It was awesome seeing the parks all decked out for Christmas!
Entering Tokyo Disney
Our first order of business was to measure Eva so she could get a wristband pass for some fun rides. This girl is gonna be a rollercoaster junky.
Eva riding rollercoaster
Jungle Cruise
Carousel
Going to an amusement park in a foreign country that doesn’t cater too well to American’s is always an adventure. We got in line to eat at Hungry Bear and were handed the menu to check out while we waited.
Thank goodness for smartphones and translation apps.
The curry at this place was so good!
Philhar Magic is always a must.
Smartest purchase ever.
So many people!
Sometimes, we take a selfie just to prove I was there too. I’m almost always the one behind the camera.
Waiting for electrical parade
Monsters Inc.
We all went through the Haunted Mansion.
The projection on the castle.
Christmas tree selfie
End of the day and we are all so ready to get to bed.
By the end of the day I was ready to go but Rich insisted on one more ride so I sent them on their way while I went and picked up some souvenirs.
Splash Mountain!
What a fun…coooold Christmas Eve!
We got to bed late, once again. Christmas morning, the kids woke up to a fun surprise. Christopher, our elf, came to Tokyo to surprise the kids on Christmas with a couple of little treats. They were so excited and it got our day off to a great start.
We took the Disney train to Disney Sea.
Do you see Mt. Fuji in the second picture between the palm trees?
We headed straight to the lottery for the Big Band Beat show and we got it! It was an awesome show!
Next, we went to Triton’s Kingdom.
This place will always hold a funny memory for us, one which Eva will never live down. Inside of Triton’s Kingdom there is a really awesome play area and last year when we went there, Eva peed there and they had to shut down that area for clean up. Then, we had to spend a ridiculous amount of $$ on a pair of panties and pants for her. We jokingly kept reminding Eva not to pee this time.
This place was awesome!
Did you know that matching, in Japan, is a must? It is! Japanese people, friends, couples…they love to match. I’m talking from head to toe matching a lot of the time. I heart Japan…and it’s people.
I realize now I took way more pictures of other people than of my own family. Oops!
Japanese selfies
We all rode the Tower of Terror. My first time and I can’t believe I let Eva ride it.
By the end of the day it got so cold and Rich got desperate. He will kill me for posting this picture but he did fit right in with everyone else.
Eva "lala-ing"
Merry Christmas
We thought the adventures for the day were over after that last video but they weren’t. As we were walking out, Rich realized that his wallet was missing. He ran back and retraced his tracks and was able to recover his wallet with over 200 yen and credit cards within minutes! Just another reason why we love the honest people of Japan so much!
