Halloween and Home Improvement

Oh, coming home from vacation!  Real life started to sink in as we waited for our bags after our flight home from Hawaii . . . It was too much for some of us.  

I think we're going to have to make an effort to travel within one or two time zones more often.  Jet lag is beastly.

But come Monday it was back to our regular schedule.  The sunrises lately have been "beatuminus" (to borrow a word from Dad), which makes it a little easier to get up early.  

We got back just in time for Halloween.  I painted myself green for work and significantly scared a few people who happened to glance my way unsuspectingly.

For trick or treating we decided to go with a jungle theme.  Vivi and Rafe chose 2 costumes we got from a friend whose kids had outgrown them.  Drew and I were explorers (I have malaria . . .).  Our trick or treating this year consisted of walking upstairs to our neighbor's house to see her Halloween village, never actually leaving, and taking all her leftover candy at the end of the night.  I'd call it a success!

The next day was the "Halloween Howl," which is a weird party for all the people ranked E8 and above on base.  Every unit decorates a tent according to a theme (there was Game of Thrones, Roaring 20's, Nerds, Circus, etc.), and each tent serves their own special chili and alcoholic drink.  The clinic's theme was an insane asylum.  Drew and I made an appearance, but left before the drunkards got too boisterous.  

We've started to normalize a bit in November.  Vivi has been enjoying going to youchien every day and Rafe is getting used to Little Angels.  They are always excited to see each other by the end of the day.  Rafe says "Vivi!  Vivi!  Vivi!" from the minute I pick him up until he sees her.  

 It's gotten colder here, and is especially chilly when we leave at 6:45 in the morning, so I made Vivi some leg warmers with the wool I got in New Zealand.  They also come in handy when we play on cold playgrounds.  Vivi's new favorite game is one of her own invention.  She calls it "waterscotch."  It involves going down a wet slide and laughing hysterically.  

 Vivi is picking up some Japanese words.  She says "Konnichiwa!" (hello) and "Ohayou Gozaimasu!"  (good morning).  She also comes home saying some of the directions they give her at school, but I don't know what they mean so I have to do some detective work.  She was saying something like "okaasan zawari."  Rafe's daycare people told me it's what they call kneeling in "mommy style" (sitting on ankles, knees straight in front).  She's a smarty, and she's making me practice!  I've been trying to write in Japanese in our communication book.  I got this reply back the other day:

And all Rafe's sensei's can say about him is that he eats SO MUCH!  He has started to say words without having to parrot them, which is fun.  He likes to say "what doing?" and also to announce "poopy."  He says "sensei" and "mata ne" (see you later) and "iru" (I need it).  He has almost stopped screaming when I drop him off at daycare in the mornings . . .

 Our weeks have gotten pretty boring now--school, work, eat, and sleep--so we have been trying to do fun things on the weekend!  We went to The Chicken Shack again a few weeks ago, because it's Vivi's favorite restaurant.  It was decked out for Christmas.  Christmas is really popular here, but it's solely commercial, which is kind of odd.

We were not the only ones taking a picture of the little blond girl in the Santa suit, but we were the only Americans doing so.  

 We sat in a different place than we ever have before, which is not surprising because the place is huge, but there were some really cool carvings around us this time.  

 They have chairs for the kids to sit on, but they most unfortunately have a little squeaky toy in the seat, so when they sit down it beeps.  Our kids bounced up and down on them ALL NIGHT.  They sounded like a horde of finches.  Good thing they're blond and cute, or we probably would've been kicked out.  

The next weekend we took off after work on Friday and drove down to Fukuoka.  We decided to stay in a Japanese-style room with futons and tatami mats.  It probably would've been more fun if Rafe hadn't slept in the car the whole 4 hours down and then decided to wander around the room at will until 1 in the morning, jumping on your head unexpectedly.  Definitely bringing the pack and play next time. 

 Also, there were these fun robes to wear.  Japan!

 In the morning we woke up and bought some pancakes at the FamilyMart and ate them in front of a huge train station.  I like how Vivi is sinking her teeth into that chocolate one.  

 After breakfast we walked down to Canal City so we could get some outfits at H&M for the kids' portraits.  We stayed for the fountain show, which was set to Sleigh Ride.  I cried.  

 And then we did what we had come to do--shop at IKEA!  With the death of our bookshelf some months ago, we were in need of some new storage options.  Pictures of the finished product to follow when I get a minute to iron the curtains and actually put stuff on the shelves :)

 Here's the cool bridge between Kyushu and Honshu (the island we live on).  It was a pretty day for a drive, and a good drive to finish listening to Jim Dale read The Deathly Hallows . . .

Decorating has been on the back burner this week though, because I was knitting hats for Vivi's youchien's fundraiser.  Here's one that I made out a ball of yarn a lady who had come to get her flu shot at the clinic gave me after we talked about knitting for awhile.  

 The fundraiser is a bazaar held at the youchien.  There was food on the playground and games upstairs and a market in a room downstairs, and then they had a whole room full of all the projects the kids of done so far this year.  Here's Vivi in front of her class's creations.  

 It kind of felt like the It's a Small World ride at Disneyland.  There was stuff hanging from the ceiling and then every available space seemed to be covered with bright colors.  They were also playing Disney music as we walked through.  

 All the projects were labelled with the child's name.  Vivi was excited to see her work displayed.  I think this is an acorn cake.  

 They had some of their pictures displayed as well.  I loved this group of 4 students' interpretations of "My Family."  Vivi's is top right.  

After the bazaar we went to the Pinewood Derby for a bit.  Drew is doing a really good job with the scouts (lots of moms tell me so).  

 Vivi wasn't all that interested in the races, but she did try her best to choke on grapes.  She looks like a Japanese baby--they all have humongous cheeks like that.  

And then straight from the Pinewood Derby, we drove to Hiroshima for a fitting.  A fitting for what you say?  Well, Drew is the Facilities contact at the clinic so he has been working with some of the Japanese contractors who are painting the building.  One of them has a friend who is starting a photography business and wanted us to come and take part in a Japanese Tea Ceremony while he photographs it; some sort of promotion thing.  We got fitted for the kimonos this week, then we'll meet them in Miyajima sometime in the next 2 weeks for the actual shoot. 

 I do not fit in kimonos.  My arms are like 5 inches too long, and I was at least a head taller than every other Japanese woman there.  There are so many layers involved, and some of them are really heavy.  They wrapped me all up and tried on 3 different kimonos to see which one the photographer liked best.  The ladies wore white gloves to handle the kimonos.  I told Drew I felt like a Hobbit in an Elf dress.  He knew what I meant :)

The layer on the bottom by my neck is stiff, and if you don't stand up straight it almost cuts off the carotid arteries.  Honestly I can't remember how many layers there were.  It was a lot.  The photographer  would take some pictures with his camera, then he would take some on our iPhones for us.  He posed this beauty.  It reminds me a lot of a certain scene in our wedding video . . . When they finally took everything off, my torso looked really small in proportion (sort of like how after you get off a treadmill you feel like you're moving still).  It's going to be in an interesting experience.

Until next time!