Nikko National Park

Back in November on Veteran's Day, we took a 2 1/2 hour drive up into the mountains to visit Nikko National Park. It was a very peaceful, beautiful day with no agenda...just how we like it! Here are a few things we did.

Tobu World Square

We started out the day at this place. Everything is miniaturized. The kids thought it was so cool that everything was so small. We visited all sorts of places including...

Tokyo Train Station

Tokyo Narita Airport

New York

(Yes I am wearing a hot pink sweat outfit...don't worry, this was the 1st and last day that I wore it outside of my home. Cut me some slack though...it was a day off and it was really cold. I didn't feel like getting dressed. I don't think I was called by my name that whole day...instead I was called the Pink Panther. I might wear it again just to embarrass my family-he he)

Egypt

Vatican City

Germany

(this picture is for you Uncle Rick)

Italy again.

Paris

China

Gosh, we crossed off a whole list of places we wanted to go all within one day....and we didn't even have to buy any plane tickets or go through jet lag. Awesome!

The drive through the mountains was absolutely beautiful!

Waterfall & Lake

We then drove up the mountains to this waterfall and lake. To get to the bottom of the waterfall we took an elevator down through the mountain...it was pretty cool...that's my style of hiking on a cold day :)

Another great day!

And, of course...we finished off the day at a local hot spring. We drove around the lake, found a neat log cabin hotel, and asked if they had a hot spring. They did...yay! It was a cold night which made it a perfect night for an outdoor hot spring. The only downfall was that it was a sulfur hot spring, so we stunk for about 2 days after...phewee! It was still worth it though.

We didn't get to do all that Nikko had to offer so I am sure we will go back. Till next time Nikko...Sayonara!

Happy Halloween!

I know I'm 3 months off, but hey...that seems to be my life nowadays...oh well! :)

Jayden was Sully for the 3rd year in a row. He was Diego last year for our Church's Trunk-or-treat, but on Halloween day he actually ended up being Sully again...so that makes it 3 years....crazy kid! I've tried to prepare him by explaining that next year he probably won't fit in Sully anymore, but he doesn't want to believe it.

For those of you that have never seen Monsters Inc...here are some pictures of Jayden & Tia's favorite characters:

Sully, Mike, & Boo

Halloween 2008:

Halloween 2009: This lady had Sully & Mike hair ties.

Halloween 2010:

The first year that Jayden was Sully I made a little Mike costume for Tia, but I couldn't squeeze her into it again (it's a size 18 months)...darn it! This year I told myself I wasn't going to STRESS the whole family out by making another costume...so I didn't..............until the night before. What was I thinking??? I just couldn't NOT make her a costume that would match Jayden. She really wanted to be Boo, so I gave it the best shot I could in just a few short hours. It was actually really fun...maybe a little stressful (okay A LOT stressful)...but totally worth the results on Tia's face. She was so excited!

I really don't know how to sew, but I'm a perfectionist so I will spend forever working on something until I like it. It drives me nuts, it takes a billion hours to complete something. My poor husband has to put up with this nonsense...he really is a sweetheart!

To make the costume I found 2 really cheap puffy coats at a Japanese store, cut them apart, and then pieced them back together to make something that looked like Boo. The best part about it was she was totally warm & happy that night.

The Japanese love Monsters Inc just as much as our family! Here are a few people taking pictures with the kids.

I found these Spider Web bandanas & spiders at the Dollar Store and made a Bubble Skirt for Tia by following my friend Tanya's pattern, and then made up a funky tie for Jayden.

I know...we are totally NERDY, but why hide it!

Happy LATE Halloween!

Look who's 3!

That's right...our baby girl turned 3 in October!

What better way to start your birthday out than by getting the flu shot? I know...what mean parents...but Jayden had to be up to date with his vaccinations in order to continue in pre-school so it was just better to knock them out at the same time.

A few facts about Tia's birthday:

1. We were NOT going to have a FRIEND party

2. We were supposed to have a FAMILY party

3. We apparently are NOT as cool as friends :(

4. I made some emergency phone calls to Tia's 2 friend's parents to see if they could come over that afternoon for a little party

5. Tia wanted a PRINCESS party

6. Tia's mom DOES NOT like Princesses so was not prepared

7. Grandma Atkin saved the day by sending a birthday package (that we received THAT morning) with lots and lots of Princess Party Supplies in it

8. Grandma Andrews sent a birthday package a few weeks earlier with lots of princess books, princess socks, and princess dresses in it -we ended up using everything she sent

9. Tia had a PRINCESS FRIEND party on her birthday!

10. Tia has 2 AWESOME and INSPIRED Grandmas! Somehow they just both ALWAYS know what we need!

Tia's Princess Party

1st activity: Dress up

The "Princess Closet"

Since it was a party of girls, dresses, barbies, jewelry, and pink, pink, pink....we had to think of something Jayden could do to feel part of it all...so he helped me by taking pictures the whole time. He did AWESOME and he LOVED it!!!

Dressing up like princesses.

Showing off their shoes.

Little fairies.

I just love how much fun Tia had!

A Japanese Princess :)

2nd activity: The Spa

The girls then got Pedicures/Manicures while reading "Princess books". That's right...Shane IS painting toes...he'll do anything to make his little girl happy :)

Thanks Grandma Andrews for sending all of these books for Tia's birthday...how did you know we needed them?!

3rd activity: The Cake

Tia's Sleeping Beauty cake and princess cupcakes. Simple right??? That's exactly why I did them! Although, the dress did try to crumble and fall off of her when I was frosting it 5 minutes before the party started...I don't know why I always wait till the very end to do these things. Luckily, the dress stayed on long enough for Tia to blow her candles out.

She was so excited!

Group effort to blow the candles out.

The girls decided it was much easier to just eat right off of Sleeping Beauty than their plates. Silly girls!

A few facts about Tia:

1. She can write her name. Sometimes it's TIA and sometimes it's TAI

2. Loves to play house (she calls it "family")

3. Learned to sing her ABC's just by listening to her brother

4. Loves to sing songs

5. Loves Pet Shop bobble head toys

6. She's a GREAT artist! She loves to paint, color, cut, and glue. She colors, and paints inside the lines better than I do.

7. She loves to make jokes and laugh at herself

8. She can put a 108 piece puzzle together all by herself.

9. She has a favorite giraffe stuffed animal and pink butterfly blankie that she ALWAYS carries around.

10. Absolutely LOVES her big brother Jayden.

Happy Birthday Little Princess!

We love you more and more each day!

Holiday Greetings on TV

Just wanted our family and friends back home to know we love and miss you! We hope you are having a wonderful holiday season!

Check out this link for a quick video of us saying hi on KSL in Utah. Scroll down the names on the right and click on Andrews Family.

Also, here's a video the base just produced spotlighting the Yokota Veterinary Clinic. Go Shane! :)

Joe, Jamie, & Carson Come to Visit

October was a very exciting month for our family. Not only did my parents come, but 1 week later my brother's family came to visit for 10 days. We would have kept them all month if we could have! It was so fun having a cousin, aunt, and uncle around! Joe is not in all of the pictures due to business trips in China and Osaka Japan.

You'll notice that Shane is NOT in any of these pictures either because he was still in the Philippines doing a humanitarian mission. Hopefully we'll get a post from him soon with all of the details (hint hint). He had a great experience and we are so happy for him.

Jamie and Carson's arrival

Jamie and Carson arrived ON Jamie's Birthday! Here's the cake we celebrated with because you can't come to Japan on your birthday and not have a authentic Japanese cake.

The kids had a blast getting to know each other again and making lots of silly faces together.

Okutama Mountain

This was kind of a bummer trip. Remember the Roller Slides we went to earlier this year...we'll we thought we'd go again since it was such a blast. The only problem was...when we arrived this time they said kids under 1st GRADE could NOT ride the slide...WHAT??!! Jayden kept saying.."but, I've done it before". Needless to say there were many tears shed (I'll admit that I probably shed the most) and we had to walk away. Luckily, there was a park nearby that got our minds off of the sad experience (and 2 hour drive).

You had to cross this bridge to get to the park. This bridge was hilarious! It played this "carosal" music the whole time we walked across it! It was out in the middle of no where in the mountains. RANDOM!

The musical bridge.

Playing at the park and trying to get over the experience at the roller slide.

Jamie & Carson on the zip line.

Looks like we got over it and are now making silly faces.

Walking across Lake Okutama.

Trip to Hakone

Notice all 3 kids crying (Carson is hiding and crying)...& notice my brother Joe laughing??? I can't remember exactly why they were all crying but I think it had something to do with us not putting their 3 carseats right next to each other. We just had to laugh because here we are getting ready to take off on a fun adventure and ALL 3 kids are bawling...What are we thinking???

The hot springs in Hakone (the kind you wear swimsuits at). Thanks to a friend we found out how to get REALLY discounted tickets to the hot spring. I love getting good deals!

Our favorite...the Dr. Fish bath.

Here's what it looks like to have fish eat your dead skin. This is Joe's foot.

The Dead Sea "Salt" bath. My kids do not like this bath because it stings every sore and makes you itch, but it's fun to just sit and float. At least Carson tried it out.

The Green Tea bath.

We stayed in a hotel right on the Lake Ashi. It was really fun. My favorite part was the Japanese bath the kids and I went to that night. We loved it! I couldn't quite convince my brother and his wife to try it out...maybe next time :)!

My kids love this pirate boat ride.

Joe, Jamie, and Carson.

Jayden & Carson's first documented fight. These two were cracking us up. EVERYTHING was a competition. They would say..."I can do it better, I can run faster than you, I can climb higher, etc." Keep on reading to see the time we finally just gave up and let them go at each other ;).

On the other side of the lake we took this ropeway up the mountain to the smoking sulfer pits in the distance.

If you eat these black eggs cooked in the sulfer pits then you will live a longer life. There were hundreds of Japanese people there eating black eggs so we had to do it too. Even the kids ate some. Don't worry...they were NOT black on the inside. Jayden was REALLY sad that dad didn't get to eat the eggs and have a longer life, so it looks like we'll have to make this trip again :) Good thing Hakone is one of our favorite places to go.

I've started collecting pictures of these wood cut out boards. They are EVERYWHERE here. This one is of them riding the ropeway up the mountain with the pirate boat and Mt. Fuji in the background. That pretty much sums up our trip.

Eating Sushi

Can't come to Japan and NOT eat at a sushi-go-round. The kids had a fun time grabbing stuff off the conveyor belt. We're not big sushi fans, but it was still fun.

Showa Park

Jayden and Tia in TIME OUT at Showa Park. I don't even remember why, but I do know that they weren't supposed to be by each other, but how can you break up two sad kids crying like that?

Jamie & Carson riding their Japanese bike.

Disney Sea

It was a little rainy that day but it didn't stop us from having fun!

It was almost Tia's birthday so she got a birthday sticker from the employees and she picked out this Mini Mouse hair accessory to remember her birthday fun.

Tia is finally tall enough to ride a roller coaster...YAY! This is her & Carson on their 1st roller coaster. She was a little nervous, but absolutely LOVED it! I think we ended up riding this ride 3 or 4 times. It was called Flounder's Flying Fish Coaster.

Jamie, Jayden, Joe (on his iPhone :) & Carson.

Jumpin' Jellyfish ride.

The whirlpool (tea cups).

One of our favorite things at Disneyland and Disney Sea is their popcorn. They have really fun popcorn buckets you can buy and then you keep refilling them with all flavors of popcorn (chocolate, strawberry, carmel, curry, soy, and lots of other crazy ones).

Taking the train around Tokyo

Visiting Hachi the dog at Shibuya Station.

Sorry this is blurry...I was trying to hurry and take a picture while I was still moving. Most of the train stations in Tokyo DO NOT have elevators or escalators. Look at these nice business men helping us get our sleeping kids down those stairs. The Japanese are usually very very helpful in situations like this.

Taking the Tokyo Cruise through the bay.

Playing at the beach on Odaiba Island. Yes I know...I look 9 months pregnant. The wind caught my dress in the worst possible place. Don't start any rumors because I am NOT pregnant...sorry ReAnn :)

"The Fight"

Joe, Jamie, and I finally just gave up on the 2 boys. They were competing the ENTIRE trip, so we finally let them go at each other. Don't worry, we didn't let them hurt each other, but believe me...it was hilarious to watch.

Carson getting ready for the attack.

Carson yelling 3 year old profanities at Jayden (you can hear it on the video below--he he).

I think Jayden is actually laughing.

You can clearly see who won...but I wouldn't mention it to Jayden!

A short clip of the fight.

Other than that Jayden had fun doing this.

And Tia had fun doing this...

...showing crack and playing in the ocean!

We then went up into the ball between those buildings...

...and had a beautiful view of Tokyo.

The last few nights we stayed at the New Sanno hotel in Tokyo (our military hotel) and the kids had fun swimming, playing, and enjoying a fun night watching a movie and eating popcorn. Even though everything was a competition between the two boys, they still had a GREAT time together.

Joe, Jamie, & Carson we LOVED having you here! Please come again!!! We already miss you like crazy!