Big L On My Forehead

I swear my book is almost done and then I won't be so neglectful of this blog. Anyway, here are some of our latest pictures.....

Brad running the Yokota Frost Bite Half Marathon with a few bizillion of his Japanese friends. This was on an Airforce base, but you would have never known because 95% of the runners were Japanese.

Check out this guy running in full samurai gear including the tabi shoes. He finished in full get up. Brad was a little bit miffed that the woman dressed in a bowling pin outfit beat him.

I read a website wrong and we ended up at the train museum on a day it was closed. Thankfully, we hadn't talked it up to Anders and we billed it as a train zoo. He was happy to see the engines through the fence.

Lucien and Jude's Taiko drum instructor, Tom (not his real name, but the only one the kids can pronounce), had a performance at a local venue so we took the big boys. His group put on an awesome show and were nice enough to pose with J & L.

Grinpa - Sledding Trip. A small hill with fake snow on the foot of Mount Fuji meant a day of fun for all of us. Luckily our southern boys aren't too familiar with snow and weren't disappointed in the least, which they probably should have been.

Jude!

Anders decided that his day of sledding was over when he found this room with 5 train tracks.

This just cracks me up. At any amusement place we have ever been to in Japan, we have seen people napping in the oddest locations. These two, whom I hope don't actually have any kids, were completely sacked out and snoring in the little kids train and truck area. I understand napping on the train maybe even a restaurant but here?

I like this kind of thinking - massage chairs parked in front of the world's biggest bounce house. Talk about a win - win situation.

Brad was nice enough to get the kid's out of my hair for a day so he took them to this enormous roller slide in Yokohama. These are way too dangerous to have in the states where people sue like crazy so Parker boys need to get their fill now. Anders is sitting on a booty sled designed for these slides while Lucien is going down squatting. If you go down just on your butt it reminds me of the cellulite jiggler machine my grandmother used to have. You know the old school kind that looks like a treadmill but instead walking on it there is a huge band that goes around your backside and shakes the bejeezus out of you.

SNOW!! We even had our first snow day ever last week which was ironic because the snow had melted before school started.

Some fruits and vegetables you can get year round here, but some are strictly seasonal. Strawberries are in the latter category and they are divine. I have never ever had such amazing strawberries in my life. I honestly don't know how they taste and look so good. We can easily eat two containers of these a day. There really is something to eating local produce in it's season.