Out and About

The temperatures have been spectacular for weekend outings. This weekend we headed down to Enoshima which is the closet beach to our house. There is an island that has some touristy areas that includes a little hike up a hill/mountain. 

The obligatory Torii gate on the way up the island. 

Traditional Japanese shrine.

Great views! 

We ate lunch at this yummy Italian cafe at the top.  E is still working on her peace sign. 

I ordered a personal pan pizza with (alleged) sardines. On the way up and as we walked through the town we notices that all the shops and vendors were selling little tiny translucent looking fishes by the bucket. I think this was what was on the pizza. Whatever it was, it was really delicious! LC is showing the fish... right before she ate them.  

After the island we headed to the beach. The girls had an absolute ball. They started off a little shy with the water and by the end of it they were both soaking wet. 

Matching Halloween shirts from Gramma and Grampa

We took bets on who would dive in first and we were both correct. E never disappoints. 

This beach is a popular beach for surfing. 

In they go! 

We found a really cool indoor play area at a mall. Everything was padded and had tons of stuff to climb on and run on. 

Still can't quite get the peace sign.... yet. 

Getting dressed for school. 

LC and E's Sports Day 2015 (continued)

Shannon already wrote about the girls' sports day but here are some of my pics from the event. I found it very interesting on how they were able to corral the kids and keep them in order. It went really smooth for the amount of kids that were involved.

Ellis' Class (Kotori). All the kids just sat there for days while they waited for their events. We can't get E to sit still in a chair for 5 minutes! 

LC's class (Fuji). 

E absolutely loves school. As soon as we round the corner to take her in in the mornings she just lights up and waves and goes with a huge grin. Pretty cool. We get great reports about how sweet she is and how well she is doing. Leyton on the other hand..... 

LC's class ready to start sports day

E's class and Sakura class making their way to the field for opening ceremonies. 

Opening ceremonies. 

Time to stretch it out so no one pulls a hammy. 

Stretching the traps and core. 

Flag dance. This was an "all play" where all classes participated. 

LC and her class headed back to their chairs. 

This was E's class lining up for their event. Its the "sprint to your teacher" event where they run to their sensei on the other end of the field and give them hugs. E was super fast! 

LC's class getting ready to head to the field to start an event. 

the 3 year old classes headed back to their seats. 

This was the grandparent event where the kids and their grandparents threw balls at a piñata like object. Sports day is serious. Even the grandparents have an event. 

Again, E loves school and loves the idea of school (for some odd reason).

This was the parent event where all the K3 classes danced a frog dance with a parent. E knew all the moves. 

Killing it.

Lunch break was from 11-12. Here all the families ate lunch and then all the kids handed out candy to each other. Here is where I watched LC and other kids horse trade for candies and favors. 

LC and myself getting ready for the box pull event. Shannon posted some pics on that one in the last post. 

Closing ceremonies. 

Here is where the Sensei's told them how great they did and gave them all medals. 

E getting her medal from Yuka Sensei. 

Both E and LC were very popular throughout the day for photos. Here is E hanging with her classmates. 

It's Fall, Y'all!

E's hair

The temps are cooling down and the bugs are dying off.  We've been spending a lot more time outside lately, which is awesome.  

E is finally brave enough for the 100 yen pony rides at the park.

E and I went blueberry picking.  

Love from Daddy

I've cleaned out the space under our bathroom sink and the girls love to play in there

They also love to take their mattresses off their beds and jump on them.  Perfect for a rainy day.

E's hair

In Kyoto we went to the hotel pool.  We all had to wear a swim cap.

Finally got the girls a real haircut.  LC went first, just a trim and she did great.

Ellis was also very patient.  Now she still has plenty of curl but less tangles.

There was a fall festival at our local train station.  Halloween is becoming more popular each year in Japan. 

Leyton wanted to be Hello Kitty AGAIN this year.  While she can technically still fit into the size 18 month costume she was worn the past three years, I decided to try and convince her to try something new.  I knew it would have to been something awesome.  This Paw Patrol Skye costume did the trick.

On Monday, Hosen had it's annual Sports Day

Here is Ryan pulling LC in a box.  It was very entertaining and borderline dangerous (a couple of kids took a spill, but LC didn't).

Ellis did fabulous.  She stayed in line, didn't cry and had her dance routine down solid.

We were very proud of our girls

The girl's got medals with Mickey Mouse on them.  I got major cool Mommy points when I pulled out my own Mickey medal from my first marathon.

This week the girls switched to the 'winter' uniform at school.

I tried to get a cute picture of them together.  Instead, Ellis had a giant fit because I wouldn't let her push her babies to school in her toy stroller.  Oh well.  She got over it...eventually.

Hope you all are well!  Love you and miss you!