Skiing with Uncle Stephen!

We just returned from our Christmas ski vacation to Hokkaido. We stayed at the Tomamu ski resort. This was Andrew's first time on skis and he did a great job. He had lessons every morning and afternoon. At the end of the day he would make one or two runs with his Uncle Stephen and his daddy. He really did a great job. Ethan was sick and had a fever the whole week so the day care option went out the window. Mom did a lot of hanging out in the hotel and riding the shuttle bus (the only thing that made Ethan happy all week). I did get to make 3 runs. I'm a little (lot) rusty. I fell getting off the ski lift the first time up. I was totally laughing at myself. And the lift attendant kept saying. "ok? you ok? ok, yes?" "No...I'm way too old and out of shape to be okay".

We celebrated Christmas this morning and the boys were both thrilled and overwhelmed with it all. Ethan was more excited about the unwrapping then he was about the actual gift. I hope everyone had a great Christmas week also.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

We had a wonderful Saturday. Daddy was home and we kicked off our Christmas festivities. We are getting ready for Uncle Stephen's arrival and our big ski trip to Hokkaido for the Christmas holidays.

Some of us eat our spaghetti...

and others? Well...

MEN

We celebrated Thanksgiving on Saturday (Thursday was a normal Japanese school day). I invited Andrew's piano sensai and my nihongo sensai and their families. We had a wonderful time. Jeff's job was to take pictures of the festivities. My job was to cook. These are the TWO pictures you get. At least it's evident from the one photo that I held up to my end of the bargain. The good thing about inviting the Japanese to things is that you will get doubles of every photo that they take a week or so after the event. We really did have a good time; even though I do not have the photos to prove it.

Can You Believe...

my baby is two?




Happy Birthday Ethan!

Finally...felted!

I have had these slippers knit up for quite some time. Almost every phone conversation with my Aunt Sue Sue includes "have you felted your slippers?" Finally today, during our conversation I was able to say "yes, finally". I love felting...it truly is an amazing thing!!

Before:





Ater:




These were knit using Cascade 220 yarn, I don't know the colorway. The pattern is from Fiber Trends (AC-33).

Vermont (continued)

We spent a fabulous day at the Montshire Museum. You can check it out here. http://www.montshire.org/ There were some really great experiments and exhibits. I think Papa, Uncle Jimmie, Aunt Sue Sue, and Mommy had just as much fun playing. When we were finished inside they had a great outdoor area. Many streams to watch balls float down. The boys loved the fountains.

Vermont

I think our favorite side trip this summer was our week we spent in Vermont! We LOVE Vermont! When Andrew found out that we were going, he was most excited about Aunt Sue Sue's garden. I have a boy who loves "gardening" and loves eating beets. Ethan was eating the cherry tomatoes as quickly as he could get them off the vine. And when he ran out of red ones he was quite happy to pick her green ones! :)

Father Horgan's "babes"!

While in Virginia Beach we were able to spend an afternoon with some special friends. Father Horgan is the priest who facilitated Ethan and Andrew's adoption. He also was responsible for Katie and Libby becoming John Andrew's little sisters. This great family lives in Norfolk and it was so fun to get all the kids together. I took almost 100 pictures of all the kids. Have you tried to get 5 kids to all look good in one shot? IMPOSSIBLE!! I'm now trying to organize a scrapbook of the day for Father. It is amazing to me that these children in this picture represent roughly 1/10 of the children he has touched. (not to mention all us others)





And because we love him dearly, we had to add his photo to the blog also!
This is Father with Ethan.


And with Andrew.

I'm such a loser!

I don't know why I find it so difficult to keep this thing updated. I'm always shamed in to it...thanks Tanya!!! :) The boys and I had a great time in the states. I will start with pictures from our visit to Chincoteague for the annual pony swim and carnival.

Hunter, Papa, and Andrew at the Oyster Fritter booth.


Ethan driving!


Papa and Andrew clamming! Look I've got one!!


Clamming sure is exhausting!



I'll update tomorrow with photos from another part of our summer adventure!

Anything but a haircut

This is Ethan's second haircut. He laughed through the first one but we were not so lucky this go round. After all the tears we were left with such a handsome and big boy look



We are enjoying a quiet long weekend here in Japan. I hope everyone has a happy and healthy fourth.

New Camera

Jeff took these shots of the boys last week while playing with our new camera. I look at pictures of the boys and can't believe how much they both are growing. It seems to hit me more then just watching them day to day. Why is that? We are gearing up for a fun and exciting summer. We will fly to the states on July 17 and visit with family and friends until 29 August. Until then we are enjoying the sights, sounds, and tastes that Japan summer's bring.

Baby Bum

Happy Mother's Day.

I know...it's about time. In honor of Mother's Day I thought I'd add recent pictures of the boys.

The picture of Ethan is last week at the Hot Springs. The one of Andrew is his first day of 1st grade at Ikego Shogakko.

Enjoy. I'll try to update more often.