China Town

We decided to go to China Town today! WHAT an experience. In the pictures above, we had an interesting time looking at the million restaurants. I love the way they show their menus! We tried many things at the street corner shops. I've never had so many dumplings in all my life, but boy were they good. We even stopped to have our hands massaged! Me too! The lady said I had a tense back (maybe it was just my stress of having my hand pressed on....hahahaha). The ladies told us about all the pressure points in our hands. Too interesting! There were tons of people and many temples. We visited one, but couldn't learn too much about it...all the writing was in Japanese or Chinese...unfortunately we were not able to tell. There was a lot going on for the New Year's celebration. We were hoping to see a parade, but we might have missed it! We decided to buy a steamer and some Chinese bread dumplings! Dad, I KNOW you would like these! All in all it was a fun day! We'll have to go back...if anything for those yummy dumplings!

Madeline's 10th Birthday party!

We all had fun at Madeline's Gingerbread Party! All except the little man! hahahaha! The kids decorated gingerbread houses and made gingerbread ornaments! Madeline had a lot of fun and really enjoyed being with friends! I can't believe she's 10!

Merry Christmas!

Here's a little video from the girls and me. Don't look too closely, we did not take our showers yet! Hahahaha!

Christmas Day in Japan! Santa Found us!

Santa found us all the way on the other side of the earth! It was fun watching Santa Tracker this year! He came to us first! Madeline and Gracie had fun opening their many presents! They even got presents from Rudolph, Mrs. Claus, and the Bumble! Clara and Clancy got tennis balls from Donner and Blitzen! What nice reindeer! We had a great day. We missed all our friends and family back home, but it felt good to celebrate as a united family this year!

Halloween Night! What a fright!

Oh yeah! I'm a cheerleader! Oh Yeah!
No, I'm a soldier!

No, I'm a cheerleader! I'm mysterious!
ooooooooooooh! Midnight fairy and cheerleading chick! What a team!
Precious!
Scary!
Happy Halloween!

Ueno Park

The girls on the train to Ueno Park.
Overlooking the beautiful "pond." It was filled with lillies. We'll go back when they are in bloom. It is supposed to be spectacular.
The city in the distance.

Our own little monkey!

It took us about an hour and a half to get to Ueno Park by train. When we got there it was an amazing oasis of trees and people in Tokyo. We saw some pretty interesting characters performing in the park. They liked choosing Americans as their subjects, so we didn't stay too long! :) We saw a blimp flying high in the Tokyo sky. The girls found a shady park to play at. It was a great day!

Our trip to Ueno Zoo in Tokyo!

Queens of the Jungle!
Gracie? Madeline? Quit monkeying around!
I had to take this picture! This is a class of Japanese Kindergarteners. They were at the zoo on a field trip. The walked in precious pairs, holding hands and very well behaved! Wow!
Photo op #9,788!
Cool Gorillas. The Japanese have a T.V. show highlighting the fashion tastes of one of the Ueno Zoo Gorillas. We saw one that had a blanket. He wrapped it around his waist. Apparently, he liked to change his clothes for the newest fashion.

The girls loved all of the photo opportunities! And there were plenty...just keep scrolling down! hahahahaha!
An elephant! Our favorite!
The animals were very close at this zoo. It was amazing! This polar bear was a little too close!
More photo opportunities!
Again, more photo opportunities!

A last family photo op!