Christmas Break so far

School has been out since the 13th and Sumire has been having a blast. First it was a Pajama party on the last day of school, the next morning off to the Itakura's, then to Disneyland (actually we went to Disney Sea this time), then to Lego Land and then today it was Christmas.

Christmas in Japan is a bit different than home - it isn't a holiday to begin with so most people are working. Yuki took the day off to spend with us today and instead of turkey we had Ramen for lunch (with Reggae Christmas tunes playing) and then sushi for dinner!

Friday we head down to Yuki's family's for the New Year's festivities. Back to school on the sixth.

Enjoy the pictures.

Pajama time

Itakura baba

swings at Itakura baba's house

some shells



mommy and Sumire

all of us on the swings

i love slides!

another of Itakura baba and Sumire

Disney Sea

Ariel!

Suchan attracted a lot of attention in her princess dress

Minnie!

Yuma, Amon and Sumire

Ariel again!

Sumo lego!

Lego Workshop

Sumire's tree

Big Lego Friends!

build a lego car and launch it off ramps!

Christmas presents!

Winter Break!

Winter break has started!  Sumire enjoyed a pajama party on her last day and there was a PTA arranged bake sale with lots of festive treats to get the kids all sugared up before sending them home to their parents for 3 straight weeks!
We will head to Disneyland on Monday, then daddy and Sumire will go to Jiji and Baba's on the 26th until mommy joins us with the family at Michan's house for New Years. More pix to follow.
For now, enjoy Sumire's school photos for Grade 1 below.
Merry Christmas everyone!

Fall vacation

We had all last week off for our fall vacation. We drove down to Kansai to spend time with Yuki's family.  Here are some photos of the fun.  Enjoy.

The Nara City mascot - part deer (the city is famous for its deer) and part Buddha (the city is also famous for its Buddha) - freaky I think

ipad mania

Yui at her sports day

at Yui's sports day

at Yui's sports day 

Kenji and Yui in a race

Keita Kotaro and Sumire

We went on a trip to Tottori - famous for its sand dune 

the Tottori sand dunes

what would a sand dune be without camels?

Sumire and Cherry

on top of the sand dune

The sand dunes

Sumire mom and baba

more Tottori scenery

check out the holes in the rocks

more scenic shots

a beautiful landscape

there were plenty more shots i wanted to take but the camera battery died...

On the way home to Tokyo, we stopped in for a visit with Jai and his family in Nagoya - lots of fun but no pix. Next time I wont forget to take the charger!

No training wheels!

Finally we were able to take the training wheels off today!  Enjoy the videos.

Sumire starts grade 1

Our apologies for no posts for a while. We enjoyed a great time in Canada with our family during the summer - lots of pictures to filter through so I will have to post about it later.

Here are some pictures of Sumire on her first days at her new school. She entered grade 1 at daddy's school. Mom and Dad are very proud.

Enjoy

new friends

with Issei - they were both K babies!