Zama Tsunamis First Swim Meet!

Madeline and Gracie both swam in a relay! It was Gracie's first relay! She was the first in the pool with her speedy backstroke. Madeline swam the 100 meter Freestyle. She did a great job! It was her first 100! I think if she builds her endurance up, she'll be a force to be reckoned with!

We had our first swim meet this week at Atsugi Navy Base. There were four teams that competed! The two Navy teams were huge compared to our little team of 12! But, our team had a ball and I was hoarse after a day filled with screaming and cheering! The girls did a great job and we had a lot of fun. Next month, we'll compete against an international team! Hopefully, our suits will come in! We did have fun wearing our swim caps and jackets! Steve drew tsunamis on all the girls' backs!

I can't wait to see their times! I think they have improved a lot from this past summer. Madeline was competing against 12 and 13 year olds and holding her own! They both look so good in the water!

Tokyo Disney!

I thought the sign was pretty funny! It is a small world after all!

Over the three day weekend, we decided to take a trip to Tokyo Disney. This was the girl's first experience at a Disney theme park. I haven't been since I was Madeline's age and Steve says he remembers going with his grandparents many many years ago. There were many of the same sights, sounds, foods and rides that Disney goers know and love. We had a great time. It was a little cold and crowded, but the girls were thrilled! We went with our friends: Terry, Anna, and Layla. Layla is in my class. She loved hanging out with the girls.

We ate dinner at the Blue Bayou. It was located inside the Pirates of the Caribbean Ride. It was pretty cool. The ride we all loved the best was Space Mountain. We waited 90 minutes to take the 3 minute roller coaster ride. But it was worth it to hear the girls screaming with fright and glee the entire ride! I took a picture of some of the people in line. The one thing I noticed was that everyone had on headbands, funny Micky hats or other silly souvenirs. The girls had to get some warm hats to keep them nice and toasty in the brisk air. Gracie enjoyed being silly in her hat all day long!

Happy Birthday Gracie!

Happy Birthday to Gracie! I can't believe she's 8!

Gracie's 8th Birthday!

Gracie turns 8! Wow! To celebrate we had a rock star party...perfect for our littlest Diva! They had fun decorating

guitars. Check out Gracie's name in Katikana (sp?)...a form of Japanese writing used to write the sounds in Gracie's name! Her friend, Sera wrote it for her! They played Dance Dance Revolution, had a Diva Dance Walk (similar to music chairs) and topped it all off with yummy cake and lots of sodas! Even Clara and Clancy got in the fun. They had to sport back stage passes to be a part of the fun. Clancy, the ol' man that he is, got a little tuckered out! Too much rockin' for him! :)

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

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Our first big snowfall came this morning! Gracie did the snow dance a few days ago...it must have been a delayed reaction! The kids had a ball! Above: Emily, Madeline, Natalie, Gracie, and Katie. "The girls" had a great time building a snowman! Complete with golfball eyeballs, pepper mouth and chili pepper nose! Clara was a little spooked by it all, but enjoyed running circle after circle and barking at the newest member of the girl group! Clancy took it like an old man! He enjoyed making yellow snow! hahahaha !

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!