Sunday, February 27, 2011

Hanoi


So the end of January Eric and I and 4 of our good friends all went to Vietnam and Cambodia for 10 days. I have to admit I would have never thought of visiting Vietnam--it wasn't too high on my bucket list, but when we started talking to people to see where their favorite place to visit was, Vietnam started popping up. My dad was the first one to tell us how much he enjoyed Vietnam (and he has traveled ALL over the world. So anyways, that is where we decided to go and it was amazing. We started up in Hanoi and slowly worked our way down south and then went to Cambodia to see Angkor Wat and spent 2 1/2 days there. We took TONS of pictures, so enjoy. It was really the most amazing trip and we had so much fun. Here is part 1 of our AMAZING Vietnam trip. This first post is about Hanoi, where we started out. We started our tour seeing Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum. Ho Chi Minh is revered in their country and when he died, against his wishes, they embalmed his body and now he is on display for everyone to see. It was kind of weird to see him laying there. Also, every year they send his body to Russia for upkeep--crazy!! Don't worry, I already started building Eric's mausoleum so I can look at him everyday--j/k!!

We also went and saw a couple of different temples and pagodas. They were interesting, but I think less interesting than I thought--we see temples and shrines ALL the time here in Japan--so it was anything new. Their temples are a lot more colorful.

It was really interesting being in Vietnam when we were--their Tet holiday started 2 days after we left, so they were getting ready for it. Tet is their lunar New year celebration--biggest holiday of the year. We saw kumquat trees everywhere--during Tet it is customary to get a kumquat tree for your home (sort of like a christmas tree). Vietnam is interesting in that most people ride motorbikes--we saw all sorts of crazy things on the backs of motorbikes and 4 person families. The craziest things we saw were a live water buffalo, pigs and chickens (not all at the same time) on the back of a motorbike. Crossing the street was also interesting--it takes a lot of faith--cars don't stop--you just walk and they drive all around you--you can' t hesitate at all--it was crazy. We just had the most amazing time--I loved seeing Vietnam and would go back in a heartbeat!!

Ueno Zoo

Last weekend we stayed up in Tokyo. One day we went to this great park called Ueno park. The park has tons of museums, a lake, and a zoo--we went and checked out the zoo. I have to say it was one of the best zoos we had been to. We were SO close to all the animals. Here are a couple of pictures from our fun weekend!!
What a cute little girl!!!
Looking at elephants
So close to the tiger--we also got so close to gorillas, monkeys, alligators, etc.
My little gorilla

Kailey throwing a temper tantrum and refusing to get up and walk (luckily it didn't last too long)!



Pushing Ethan--what a nice little sister!
Playing on the slide--they are such good little friends
My cute Japanese mailman and mailbox!
Found this little gem in the vending machines--HOT LEMONADE!!! Tasted great on a cold day--I think we had like 3 of them!!

Thursday, February 17, 2011

My pretty ballerina

A couple of months ago, I took Kailey to a ballet class and one of our friends, who is a professional photographer, took these pictures of Kailey. I think they are so cute and anyone that knows Kailey well, knows that she would wear her tutu everyday if I would let her!!





Monday, February 14, 2011

Butterfly House--More fun in St. Louis!!

That is one of the most adorable faces ever--I never get tired of looking at Cade and he is usually so happy!! Still catching up from January--but while we were in St. Louis, we went to the Butterfly House with my mom--the kids love it. The highlight is walking around in an atrium and having butterflies fly all around you. Here are a couple of pictures:

Inside of the beetle dome
Looking for butterflies with Grandma
Looking at the butterflies that are being hatched

Cute kids
A butterfly flew by them-AHHHHH

Playing on top of the giant caterpillar

Monday, February 7, 2011

Doesn't take much to entertain us!!

We are easily entertained as you can see. Here is Ethan playing in Grandma's bathtub--he was in heaven!!

My little bubble monster!

My hot husband!!! We found this hat at his parents' house and had fun trying it on!

Ethan can you see us??



This girl makes me laugh all the time--she is just so dang cute, but again, all of my kids are!!

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Temple Lights


A couple of days before Christmas we got to go take a carriage ride around Temple Square in Salt Lake City and see all of the Christmas lights. We loved it. I have to say being in Japan, that is one thing we missed out on last Christmas--Christmas lights!!! We went on the carriage ride with Granny and Gramps, Eric's grandparents. They were so nice to come up from Texas to see us for a couple of days.

All bundled up!!
The kids with our horse--they thought riding in a carriage was so much fun!!
Silly kids!!

I am so glad we don't have snow here!!!

Okay, so I am WAY behind on my blogging and have TONS of pictures to post (Christmas, trip to Salt Lake and St. Louis, Vietnam and Cambodia), so I am going to try posting a little bit each day to catch up. So to start out with, we spent Christmas in Utah with Eric's family. Here are a few pictures of playing in the snow with Daddy and Uncle Adam!!
Giving Daddy a push!
Pushing Kailey and Uncle Adam
My cute snowkids!
Fun playing in Grandma's dress-up bin!
ROAR!!!!