Happy Birthday Heather

Happy Birthday!!!

Heather turned a whoppin' 20 years old on the 19th (please do not count the extra 9 candles on the cake and disregard the age of our children). Heather got cards from the boys and a necklace from Scotty.

Wake up sleepy head, we're going to Disneyland for Mom's birthday. The boys have been waiting all week for this day, Jared was so excited he was determined to tell everybody that he was going to Disneyland on Tuesday. Ethan's response was more like "ok" not quite sure what Disneyland was really all about.

So, we (all four and half of us) took the hour long drive that seemed like forever for Jared (Ethan fell asleep) to Tokyo. Scott took the day off of work to take us on a Tuesday in hopes it wouldn't be overcrowded. The day was perfect, it was overcast so it wasn't sweltering hot, no rain and the lines were relatively short.

Welcome to Tokyo Disneyland

in English!

We were welcomed just inside the gate by Jiminy Cricket, Eeyore, and Mr. Smee. We saw many of the other Disney characters but didn't make it to all of them.

We took a boat ride on the Jungle Cruise.

Ethan protected us by "spicing" the hippos, alligators, elephants, tigers, snakes, cannibals, and one banana salesman.

Jared and Ethan sportin' their new adventure hats and munchin' on churros.

Jared's favorite part of Disneyland were the parades,

Look out Lightning McQueen!

Here's team Pierce making the rounds at Motor Speedway Disney!

Goofy's Bounce House...

I think Tigger said it best - "Bouncy trouncy fun, fun, fun, fun, fun!"

And of course we had to ride the Cinderella Carousel - it was one of three rides considered "not too scary" by Jared (the others being It's a Small World and Motor Speedway)- I think Ethan would do whatever without a second thought.

Ah, the Light Parade!

It was totally awesome! We only caught the last few floats but the boys loved it. Disney Tokyo definitely has a"one up" on the stateside light shows!

Pete's Dragon!

Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Lilo and Stitch, Nemo, Sullivan (Monsters Inc.), and of course Mickey and friends lit up the night!





Talk about Enchanted Castles...

Inside the enchanted castles were 4 or 5 mosaics that told the story of Cinderella and a Glass Works store full of Disney Collectibles.

Tryin' on Hats....

Goofy?

or



Celia?

The End!

The Great Race

Fun Run

"Here is one who likes to run...He runs for fun in the hot, hot sun! OH me! Oh my! Oh me! Oh my! What a lot of funny things go by." Dr. Seuss

To Jared everything is a serious endeavor...Saturday morning at 7:00 he was lined up and ready to go. His first FUN RUN! I think we should put Jared in track!

Where's Waldo? I mean Jared...

En Route...

The BIG FINISH! Here he comes and then just as he crosses the finish line - ta da - somebody or rather two somebodies waltz in front of the camera...imagine that! Way to go Jared! We are so proud of you. The race was a half-mile and he ran the whole way!

Words of the Month

The other day my sister Hillary told me on the phone that we needed to post more with Ethan talking - so we did include the Easter video but I thought I'd better let you in on some of our new lingo straight from Ethanese - Ethan's favorite words right now are "compy" (which is usually a derogatory term) and it is stated in multiples ie "Compy compy compy compy..." Our other new word is "jamoted" - I have no idea what that means - maybe it means something like demoted - but we all get called Jamoted a lot....try them out - they're fun to say!

Easter

Dyeing Easter Eggs...

in the buff!

TADAAA!

Ethan levitates an egg just like a master magician!

Well not really but it does look a little creepy - like some glowing orb of power conjured up by magic...

Happy Hunting

Ethan cashes in...the Easter Bunny left a whole bucket full of fun stuff...and the favorite is....

Somebody was really excited about playdough...

so much for the candy, silly balloons, dart gun, books, and eggs.

Jared finds his stash...He was so excited when he found it that he did a little victory dance and squeaked like a girl. His favorite...obviously the dart gun...hmmm I think the Easter Bunny was anticipating wants but not focusing on the real reason to celebrate this holiday when he dropped that into the bucket! OOOPS!

This is a stick up!

Kinugasa Park

A Saturday Walkabout...

This first photo is the street we walk along to reach the train stations and any shopping we want to do out in town - just thought ya'll would like to see what "home" looks like here... We began our trip with a walk through Verny Park (Yes, it is named for a French guy - so not Japanese)...

After we caught the train to Kinugasa we walked through this covered shopping center/walkway and then through a little tunnel that crossed under the tracks and up into a neighborhood where we wandered in the general direction of the place we wanted to go...after about 15 minutes we asked someone for directions....which of course was delivered in perfect Japanese so when we missed the turn off the guy was referring to he shouted at us and drove his car to the trail head we needed - so many people here are so nice!

On the trail...the right one this time!

Group shot...at the base of the park

Bonzai!

At least it looks like he could be saying that...Just in case you missed the enthusiasm in the group shot we wanted to do a special close up for the little guy.




















The boys loved playing at the play ground and loved the roller slide that ran just above the picnic area.

The Playground

After Scott told Ethan he didn't have to crawl he had a little more fun.

The Obstacle Course


Scotty, here at the top of the climbing course......>>>

Uh, what can I say? The Japanese love obstacle courses and this is one of the most impressive we've come across. Of course Scott couldn't pass up the opportunity to test his skills.

The boys loved the wild life at the park - namely the fuzzy caterpillars. Scott and I admired the landscape and the flowers while the boys admired the bugs and sticks.

The Bridge

The Stairs

At the end of the dirt path the stairs begin...

and continue...stairs, more stairs

and more stairs!

Jared needed a little break and so did Mom! There were so many stairs set into the hillside - it took us about 20 minutes to climb all the way to the top.

Can't get enough of those cherry blossoms!

The View

The view from the top of the hill - this is Yokosuka City.

The Flowers...wish I knew what they were! The flowers were all along the trails.