Disney Land

Hannah Lee has a girlfriend in her class that she loves to run with. I love to hang out with her Mom, so we decided to all go to Disney Land together. It was very busy with long lines, we only rode 4 rides, but they were good ones. We saw two parades that were very theatrical, with great costumes and dancing. We saw an indoor "bear singing show" that had the mechanical puppets. It was really entertaining. We loved walking through the Swiss Family Robinson Tree house. When we were leaving and getting our lighted Christmas tree photos I had two Japanese teenage girls ask me to take a photograph with them. I was surprised, and flattered. They each wanted a photo with me by themselves with the tree in the background. Who knows what that was all about???

Christmas Performance

Here is just a tiny taste of the Treehouse Ladybug class Christmas Performance!

Bonsai

Sky Mall in Tokyo

Adam and I used our once a month date to check out a very unique mall in Tokyo, and do some Christmas shopping. The ceiling looks like a beautiful night sky inside the mall, and creates a romantic atmosphere. Enya, and soft Christmas music was playing. The store we wanted to shop at was the Hello Kitty store. It has a cafe that sells pancakes, and girls can get their nails done. It was pink everywhere!!! On the ground level of this building is a different story. It is totally catered to dogs. In fact there was dog performances happening while we were there. This was obviously a mecca location for people who's dogs are their babies. The retail stores were stocked full of outrageous expensive outfits for dogs. They had a huge variety of doggie strollers that cost at least $700 U.S. dollars. One huge, fluffy, dog walked past us that looked like a stuffed animal, it was surreal. We knew we needed to get off that floor when we tryed to order food, and realized it was a "dog food" menu only.

December Happenings

Hannah Lee was excited to decorate her little Christmas tree. We were excited to start the tradition of "Elf on a Shelf" with her. Her Elf who she named Pancake reports back to Santa each evening on whether she was naughty or nice and ends up in a different place in the house to hang out for the day and observe her. We are counting down the days until our trip back home to TN for the holidays.

We experienced another earthquake this past week. Hannah Lee was at school and had to get under her desk. I was actually on a massage table receiving reflexology. At first I thought the therapist was rocking the table as part of the treatment...after it went on for quite awhile I realized it was an earthquake. Adam had a hard time getting in touch with me on my cell phone to make sure we were all right. We all just went on with our day as usual.

Izu Penisula

Blanca from Costa Rica invited me to go on a tour to the Izu Penisula to make wasabi, and hike to 7 waterfalls. It was on a Saturday, so Adam and Hannah Lee got to spend some quality time together while I was gone from 6am to 9pm. There was 36 of us on a Jack Rabbit tour bus headed 3-4 hours away. The tour guides made the time go by quickly with games and prizes. On the way back we even sang together. There were many different countries represented with all the tourists, and the one song we all knew the words to was "Jingle Bells". Blanca and I sang into the microphone and led everyone to "It's a wonderful world", and "It's a small world". First we went to the wasabi fields. (last picture) We made 2 batches of our own. It was pretty easy to make, and had a little bit of a sting to the eyes like when you cut onions. After that we went to a Japanese restaurant where you removed your shoes in the foyer and placed them in lockers. We had a beautiful room to ourselves with floor seating. I sat right next to a window that had plants, and a coy pond. The variety of food that was served was amazing. I did not know most of what I was eating, but I enjoyed every bite! It was the best Japanese dining experience I have had. After lunch we headed for the hiking and waterfall viewing. Blanca sprained her ankle the week before the hike, so we stayed at the back so she could walk slower. She is a budding professional photographer, so she took tons of gorgeous photos. I carried her new tripod and was her assistant for the day. Go to her website and click on her blog to see the awesome pictures of the waterfalls. http://www.blancamelendez.com/ We had a really good day!

Potato Dig

Hannah Lee's school goes on a sweet potato dig field trip every year.

She was so excited about going, and loved wearing Adam's backpack for the event.

She got to sit next to her friend Adrian. (We just celebrated his 3 year birthday party last night...it was very fun!) The kids rode on the bus an hour to the potato farm, and got to dig their own potatoes. They all seemed to have fun digging in the dirt for the day. As soon as Hannah Lee and I got back to the house I boiled her potatoes to soften a little before making them into french fries. They are different from Western Potatoes and ended up falling apart into mush. I was disappointed that we did not get to have them with the yummy homemade herb hamburgers I have been making these days. My friend Lotta from Sweden taught me how to make them nutritious and better than any we can buy here. By the way, I have spent more time cooking in the last 4 months, than in my entire life!!!