Megan's School Field Day

She's a natural model. Look at her - she could be in that movie "10".
Poor Megan... she's holding the bat backwards and upside down....but she hit the ball!
And of course Cricket had to help out.  These people don't know what they would do without her around.

More pics from Tokyo

Shrines are Shinto and Temples are Buddhist.  I can't remember if this is a temple or shrine, but it's pretty famous for the big red lantern you see here. 
Here is Cricket getting her picture taken by the masses, yet again.  I don't know if it's every American baby or if there is something about her, but whenever we go out into town she gets soooooo much attention.  People were getting their picture taken with her, I swear.  It was so weird.
This is part of a local brewery.  I won't say anything else about it.
On the way home Cricket was putting Chex between her toes and then eating them.  She's sooooo her fathers child!!
On top of Tokyo Tower.  Megan was running around crazy and wouldn't stop to get her picture taken.  

Getting Busy

I've always worked. Even when I was pregnant with the girls, I worked right up until the day I went into labor.  I did take about a year off when Megan was a baby, while Paul was out to sea, but then I went back to work.  When Paul and I decided that I would stay home with the girls, I thought I would be overjoyed and I am up to a point.  It's now been over a year since Cricket was born and I am having a hard time staying home.  So I've decided to volunteer a bit and to become one of the Ombudsmen at the Naval Hospital.  Also, we're going to the states for about a month this summer, and I cannot wait.  We cannot wait to see everyone and spend some time in the good ol' US of A.

Part 4

Japanese people get married... a lot!  :)

Isn't he soooooo cute?  Just like a teddy bear.  If your teddy bear wanted to tear the nose off your face and beat you over the head with that wooden bat thingy.  He "works" at the Meji Shrine.  I guess he's some sort of Shinto monk... or the bouncer. 

A pic of Paul and me!!!  We are sooooo hot. :)

And yet again, more pics!

Here are Paul and the girls at the Meji Shrine.

This path goes from the main courtyard of the Shrine into the gardens.  I just thought it looked really pretty.

These are prayer requests.  You write your wish down, put your offering into a box, pray to the Gods for whatever it is you wish and hang up your prayer request.

More Tokyo pics

This is part of a cleansing ritual you do to cleanse yourself before entering a shrine and going before the Gods.  You dip the dipper into the water, pour it over your hands (first the left then the right), and then you rinse your mouth but DO NOT LET YOUR LIPS TOUCH THE DIPPER.  That's a big no-no!

The water was cold and I had a hard time spitting it out gracefully.

Another view of the fount.

Tokyo Trip Part 1

The girls before our trip...  Aren't they so sweet?!
SAKE!!!!!
This is a huge a#% Torri gate made from Japanese cypress at the Meji Shrine.
Ok, here we go.  We went to Tokyo today:  the Meiji Shrine, Tokyo Tower, another shrine and then a really long boat ride... all in all it was a pretty good trip.  Enjoy!

Megans new haircut

We got Megans hair cut; about 4 inches in all.  I really like it.  What do you think?

Pudding time

No time to make it to the table, they had to sit down right there on the floor and eat the chocolate pudding...nice!

These boots are made for walking

Cricket loves her new rain boots, she's got this whole shoe fetish thing going on....she loves shoes, weirdo.

Cheese!!!!

She's working her way up to MT. Everest

Every time I pull her down from someplace she has been climbing, I feel a little bad... like I'm repressing her climbing spirit and holding her back from her destiny.

Kurihama Flower World

...only, it's too early in the year for a lot of flowers.  So it was more like Kurihama one flower world - on a bunch of freaking hills.  OH, there was a HUGE Godzilla slide, so I guess that part was ok.

I am so not kidding.

This is not the boys bathroom.  Do you see now why Megan freaked out?  Oh, and old Japanese ladies get upset when you bring a camera into the bathroom :)~

I'm not that kind of mom.

Ok, so most of the time, I don't mind having the girls around. They are cute, and they amuse me. And while there are moments when I wish them on my worst enemy (tee-hee), for the most part, they are pretty cool little dudettes. However, I am not one of those mommy moms. I took Maddie to this "PT Tots" class, there were a bunch of soft gym things for little ones to climb and play on. I thought, great, she'll have a blast. Only, we had to do "circle time". I know that the concept of connecting with your community through a circle has roots in the ancient world. I just don't buy it with a bunch of 18 month olds though. She wanted no part of it, she just wanted to play. So I let her play, while all the other parents and kids were singing "The Wheels on the Bus" I was NOT singing and Maddie was playing happily. I don't WANT to sing stupid kid songs. I don't WANT to run around a gym clapping my hands trying to get Maddie to do the same thing. So I don't quite understand the looks I was getting from the other moms.....:) We did our own thing, and we were happy.

We went to Yokohama on Saturday and rode on the world's tallest ferris wheel. It was really, really tall. After that Megan and I rode on the log ride. We had a great time!

The good news....there was toilet paper.

In the train station at Yokohama, the second biggest city in Japan, the toilets are holes in the floor. Seriously. I wish I had taken the camera in to show you, next time I will. Walking into the bathroom, it looks all high tech, a grid on the wall tells you when and which stall is empty. So we go into one, and Megan freaks. "THIS IS A BOYS BATHROOM!", she yelled loudly. Luckily, there is a good chance no one there understood her but me. There is a bar to hold onto as you squat and try to keep your pants and undies from getting wet. And, when you squat down, there is a sound of a waterfall, I guess to keep others from hearing your bodily functions. It was interesting to say the least.

The Green Goblin!

Yes, we have another minivan. This is our 1994 Toyota Lucida, aka the Green Goblin. It's great... for a minivan. ;-) It has a sunroof, a moon roof, captains chairs that spin all the way around, sonar on the bumpers so you don't hit anything while you are parking, it is sea foam green... Best of all, the ac and heat work.
That is our tower in the background. If you look very closely, two balconies above the roof of the van, you can see Megan sitting on our balcony in a pink shirt and yellow pants! (You may have to click on the picture and enlarge it to see her.)
PS - Minivans are tangible evidence of evil.

Maddie Hanging Out

Maddie loves to be outside.  She knows how to open the doors that lead to our balcony, last night, she just sat in her little pooh chair and watched the world below....she's such an old person sometimes.

Megan lost her tooth (she ate it)

Megan's tooth finally came out.  Unfortunately she didn't know it at the time and she swallowed it.  It's all good though, the tooth fairy totally understands!