Chopsticks

Eric has only been working like 1 or 2 days a week for the last 2 weeks because of the holidays--we love the Navy!! So Tuesday we decided to take advantage and headed to Kamakura to one of the big temples there. Unfortunately, little hands had been playing with the camera, so we don't have too many pictures. Thankfully, we had our iphone so these are all taken with it. Anyways, here are the kids and I in front of the temple. Afterwards, we stopped for lunch and all Ethan wanted to eat is noodles--that kid LOVES noodles and Kailey loves rice--a good thing, since we can always find that everywhere. Anyways, Ethan is getting pretty good with his chopstick skills--his technique could use a little help, but he manages to get all his food in his mouth. He is so funny, because he refuses to use a spoon or a fork when we are eating out and will only use the chopsticks. So here are some pictures of him in action!

SUCCESS--the noodles made it in his mouth!!!

I can't have a post without a picture of Kailey, so here is a cute picture of the kids together!

Pictures of all 3 of our kids!!

Well, we had the big ultrasound today and found out that we have one shy and wiggly baby. Our sonographer was a little japanese man and he kept getting so frustrated because the baby was always moving or trying to hide from him. It was pretty humorous. The baby looked great and measured right on target. We didn't find out the sex--we decided (okay I decided and talked Eric into it) that we have a boy and girl and don't really care what we have next, although we are having a hard time thinking of girl names!! I am due April 19th and so excited to see what we are having and to have my parents come out--my mom for a month and my dad for 2 weeks!! Here are some pictures of the other kids:

Eric's mom sent the kids some new church clothes and they have looked so cute the last couple of weeks. Notice the sparkly shoes--Kailey LOVES them!

Matching outfits--what adorable kids!

This was last Sunday in MORE new church clothes--posing in front of our Christmas tree==we decorated for Christmas and the house looks great!! My only problem is that I keep finding Christmas ornaments all over my house--I have a little girl that likes to pull them off!

One day I was on the computer and Kailey came crawling out like this. I thought she looked so funny--she just loves to dress up and absolutely LOVES shoes--on her feet and on her hands!

This year we had 2 families and 2 single JAGs over for Thanksgiving--there ended up being 14 of us. We were so excited to put all the leaves in our super long table and fit everyone at the table comfortably. We had a nice dinner and a great Thanksgiving!

Odawara Castle

On our way home from Hakone, we stopped in a city called Odawara. We had read about it in a brochure and it sounded like fun. They had a park that had a 5 story donjon (castle) that you could tour with a museum inside, a zoo, children's playground, etc. It sounded like something the kids would love. About the only thing the brochure got right was the castle. The zoo consisted of a little cage of monkeys and they children's playground was overgrown. We still had fun. The castle was impressive and inside they had a museum showcasing different things, like armor, statues, etc. It was interesting and thankfully a lot of it was in English, so we knew what we were looking at.

Kailey going up the castle steps--she is just so cute!

Ethan and Daddy on the castle steps--look really closely and you will see them.

View from the top of the castle

The zoo--this sad little monkey cage--Ethan is making his monkey face in the picture.

Hakone

This past week we went to Hakone for a little vacation. Hakone is a whole little region up in the mountains and is a famous hot spring resort area for tourists and locals. They call the hot springs onsens. It also offers great views of Mt. Fuji. The weather wasn't quite as cooperative as we would have liked (it was rainy and foggy the whole time) so we had to change our plans around. We had planned to do a loop of the Hakone region by train, cablecar, ropeway, boat and bus, but since the weather was lousy we bagged that. We just ended driving around and exploring so next time we go we have a better idea of what is there. I do have to say that it is absolutely GORGEOUS up there. So Wednesday night we spent walking around a little town, walking through stores, etc. It was a lot of fun. The big thing that they were selling were these pastries filled with bean curds--there were tons of shops selling them. Eric and the kids love them, I haven't quite acquired a taste for them. We had a lot of fun in Hakone, but it was a lot different than the other places we have been. Hakone is very traditional, so not a lot of things are in English and the food is very traditional--meaning, you have NO idea what you are eating. On our way home, we were dying for American or just to eat something that we knew what it was. We passed a Denny's and were like, something we recognize. Needless to say, we won't be eating at Denny's again--not like American Denny's. Again, we had NO idea what we were eating and there were just so many unusual and interesting flavors. Luckily we had ordered the kids pancakes and they didn't eat them, so Eric and I ended up eating them and thought they were the BEST thing we had eaten in a long time. Besides Hakone, everywhere else we have eaten has been great and we eat out a lot, I think we just have not eaten really traditional. Anyways, here are some pictures from our little vacation.

So Wednesday afternoon we drove up to Hakone (it is about 1 1/2 from us). The drive up was so scenic--we drove right along the ocean. We drove through this fun little city called Enoshima (which we had been to before). It reminds us of southern California--big surf town. So the weather was cold and rainy, but we passed by hundreds of surfers--they are diehards. It was fun to see.

View from out our hotel window. We stayed in a japanese hotel which was an interesting experience. Oh for those of you who don't know, I am pregnant, if you can't tell--my fat belly isn't from eating too much yummy japanese food!

View from the window--this river ran right next to the hotel--it was such a gorgeous view!

Looking the other way out the window.

Our hotel room. So we had reserved a western style room and we thought we were getting two double beds, but no we got two twin beds, which Eric barely fit on and a couch that Ethan slept on. Also, being a japanese hotel, they had kimonos and slippers for you to wear. When you are in the hotel you are supposed to wear the slippers. So, with our room we got offered a japanese style breakfast. We had no idea what to expect--we knew it wouldn't be muffins and juice, but we were shocked when they placed our trays in front of us. We had a fish that had been filleted open and cooked, with bones still in it, a raw egg, rice (thank goodness for rice--we never go too hungry) and this soup and all these other little things that we had no idea what they were. I am proud of us, we did try it all, but now we know why the japanese are so skinny.

Our upcoming stay in Hakone

We made hotel reservations tonight to go stay at a Japanese bed&breakfast next week. We're very excited about the area. It's in a historic resort town up in the mountains called Hakone. (Picture at right).

As we were making the reservation, though, we had to go through a series of screens where we "agreed" to a number of conditions by checking boxes (there were little reminders next to each box that said "you always checked the boxes to proceed"). Anyways, the "conditions" we were agreeing to sometimes seemed a little weird. We were particularly dismayed that we had to agree not to bring in the one which emits a stench (that's often Kailey) and no ability to use firearms for cooking.

In all, there were about a dozen list of conditions, but one was more interesting than the rest. Behold, the sixth list of conditions that we had to agree to:

In staying period ,when there is the following act, we refuse can refuse your staying.

(1) When making an animal and birds bring But, it excludes a guide dog, a nursing care dog.

(2) When trying to bring in the one which emits a stench.

(3) When trying to bring many articles remarkably in.

(4) When the one of the ignition-quality and the flammability tries to bring in.

(5) When using firearms for the heating and the cooking, and so on, in the guest room.

(6) When doing act with the complaint which goes out of the other guest with the loud voice, singing and the noise in night.

(7) The time ( at the lobby of the meeting ) to have tried to tow an outlander in the guest room or When made to make use equipment.

(8) When trying to leave personal belongings at the lobby and in the corridor.

(9) The time that you installed alien substance in the equipment, that it was enough and that it shouldered to process as it changes the present situation of the facilities.

(10) Besides, it is when not following note, the warning of the staff at our hotel.

Costumes, Costumes, Costumes

So our kids are very lucky to have 2 sets of the most wonderful grandparents! Both grandparents were so nice to send the kids really fun packages that included tons of fun toys and some costumes. Also, here are a couple of pictures of the kids in their halloween costumes--Ethan was a monkey again and Kailey was a pumpkin. One funny story, when Eric took them trick-or-treating, they saw these 3 japanese ladies that were dressed as pumpkins and they went crazy when they saw Kailey and took tons of pictures with her. I was so sad, I would have loved a picture of the 4 of them, but we forgot to take the camera. Speaking of Halloween, we had a great halloween. We got TONS of trick-or-treaters. I bought $60 worth of candy (I know what a waste) and only giving one piece to every child I ran out in less than 2 hours. About 90% of our trick-or-treaters were japanese kids. It was funny, because so many of their parents followed them around videotaping them! Anyways, here are cute pictures of the kids!

Kids dressed up in costumes ready to go trick-or-treating!

Kailey trying to steal some of her candy--she is so sneaky!

My cute pumpkin!

My little ballerina--Grandma Nelson found this for Kailey--thank you Grandma!

Checking out the wand

ARGHH matey--my little pirate--Grandma Tolman sent these next costumes for the kids!

Her BYU cheerleader outfit--she has to help Daddy root for the Cougars!

Stop! No more pictures!!

My little firelady!

Yokohama-Part 2-Giant Ferris Wheel

I know I am a little slow posting the rest of our outing, but here it is FINALLY!! I hopefully will be catching our blog up to speed within the next week. Anyways, so last month we went to Yokohama. After going to Chinatown we walked along the waterfront to the Giant ferris wheel. This is one of the largest ferris wheels in the world and also doubles as the world's largest clock. It takes about 15 minutes to go all the way around and you get some SPECTACULAR views of the city.

As we were walking along the bay, we saw a ton of interesting things. First was that they were having a huge Octoberfest. It was kind of funny to hear German music and see tons of Japanese drinking beer and celebrating a german holiday. We also walked by and there was a HUGE crowd around this guy. We thought he must be pretty good, but Eric and I just laughed because it was about one of the worst street performers we have ever seen.

Giant Ferris Wheel--it is at a little amusement park.

This is a famous spa--you can kind of see all the people on top of the roof soaking their feet.

Japanese are notorious for building things on top of roofs. Here is a mini golf course on top of a roof.

Team Nelson in the giant Ferris Wheel--look at Ethan and Kailey--don't they look like they are having TONS of fun!!

We thought this was a funny game to have--you had to throw things into the cup of noodles

Kailey playing in Anpanman

Kailey riding Anpanman--he is everywhere!

Eric thought this was cool, so he took a picture of it--it is a wall that has grass growing on it.

Kailey--Where's your pants??

Yesterday I was busy helping Ethan with something and Kailey was off playing in their room. She was playing nicely and being very quiet-not unusual for her, she is so good. Well several minutes later, she comes walking into the living room where I was with Ethan...

and Kailey comes walking in and all I see is her chunky little legs and cute little bottom walking around--I know I put pants and a diaper on her that morning, but somehow she got them off, but managed to leave her shoes on--she loves wearing shoes!!

So I ask her "Kailey, where are your pants and your diaper?" She points and I follow her to her room...

and nicely put in her dresser are her pants and her diaper!! I guess I can't complain at least if she is going to take her clothes off, she puts them away!

How can you possibly ever get upset at this innocent face?? Kids, you just never know what they are going to do next!!

Yokohama-Part 1--CHINATOWN

On the Columbus Day holiday, we decided to head out to Yokohama. Yokohama is about a 45 minute train ride from us and is Japan's second largest city. Yokohama has tons to do in it--great restaurants, great shopping, the tallest building in Japan, etc. We decided to first hit Chinatown, which is the largest chinatown in Japan and one the the largest in the world. After just walking around for a little bit, Eric and I decided that we LOVE chinatown and can't wait to go back and explore more. First off, the food is amazing--they had tons of street vendors selling food and next time I think we will just eat as we walk. I have noticed since we have moved here, we eat out all the time, because the food is just AMAZING!! Another funny thing that happened is that we had about 3 people stop us and want to take pictures of their kids with our kids. It is so funny, I told Eric we need to start taking pictures of our kids with Asian kids! Anyways, here are a couple of pictures to give you an idea of what it is like!

Eric and Kailey in front of one of the many temples. I couldn't believe how ornate and colorful everything was!

Ethan posing in front of the lion statue

They had these really fun tiles on the sidewalk as you walked along. I thought they were so unusual.

The doorway to a chinese gift shop and restaurant. Everything was SOOO ornate and so colorful.

Almost every restaurant in Japan has a window outside where it has plastic examples of the dishes they serve. For us foreigners it makes it nice, because we can tell if we want to eat there or not. We thought this restaurant window had some interesting things in it. Notice the duck, fish and lobster at the top.