Ringing in the New Year

This blog is clearly not a source of breaking news.  We sent out a picture of our family in Hawaii in our Christmas cards, because even though there was at least one grimace, it was the closest thing resembling a good photo happening soon.  (Anyone else feel like taking family pictures is some sort of purgatorial suffering?)  That trip was last October, and our snail mail cards flying overseas still beat the pictures on here!  Now that's slow.

But hope springs eternal, so we'll start off the New Year appropriately late.  ;)  For once, we have some timely travel news!  We're off to New Zealand!  This is our last big trip before we move back this summer, so we're excited (and sad).  We'll be spending the next two weeks driving RVs through the South Island with two other families, and Nana and Papa are even going to meet us there!  Hopefully they still like us by the end of the trip.  ;)

First, though, a few holiday highlights:

• Elena had her first piano recital!  She's been taking lessons from Ms. Michelle down the street for the last few months, and has really been enjoying it.  Excuse the silly video, it was my first time editing.  I'm joining this century!

• We got special visitors the day after Christmas!  Aunt Kathryn and Jackson flew in for a few days on their way up to Hokkaido.  The snow they got up there was incredible.  Our plan to meet them up there for a few days got cancelled by a snowstorm, but I'm so glad they got to explore Northern Japan.  It's supposed to be some of the best snow in the world.  We're hoping to get the girls skiing sometime this winter, and they'll be ready to hit the slopes with Kathryn and Jackson next year!  

Exploring Kamakura

A friendly little guy

Breaking a little plate for good luck?

Eating our height in sushi

The girls soaking up the play time

We can't wait to be closer soon!  :)

• All year the girls have been dreaming about ice skating, even though we'd never been.  I think we read about it somewhere.  So during the holiday break, we all headed up to the Yokohama Red Brick area where there's a seasonal outdoor skating rink.  It was much wetter and harder than they had imagined, but they still want to go again.  :)

Fearless Madeleine.  

She started on regular skates, and it was almost like witnessing a cartoon.  She'd fall, then jump up and zoom a few feet, fall, then jump back up.  Repeat without end.  

Elena, on the other hand, was rather cautious and mostly wanted to hold Dad's hand.  When Madeleine eventually switched to "trainer" skates, with two blades on each skate, Elena was disappointed there weren't learning skates in her size too.  

At that point, Madeleine just ran on top of the ice.  :)

Claire hung out on the side watching

Here's a video of them too.  :)

• Claire's walking!  I love this toddling stage, where the mere distraction of watching something is enough to topple her over.

• And Elena's running!

Elena is increasingly asking to do big girl things, and I'm trying really hard not to stand in her way of growing up.  (*sniff!*)

When she asked to come with me to sing in the choir at Midnight Mass (while Adam stayed home with Madeline and Claire), I refused.  But then I reconsidered, and it turned out to be a really special time to share, and now Elena says she wants to join the choir.

So when I told her I was going to run a 5k on base and she asked to run with me, I refused.  But she really loves running, and there are no kid runs here, so I reconsidered.  I agreed with the expectation that we'd stop partway through, and that would be fine.  But we did the whole thing!  Walking for parts of it, of course, but she had a blast.

I love a child's approach to exercise.  When I asked if this was what she wanted to wear to the race, she looked at me as if to say, "Why not?"  She was about to wear it to the playground, so how would a race need anything different?

I hope she keeps that pure joy forever.  :)