Happy Happy Birthday Baby

Its Celebrate Glenn Day

Happy birthday babe! I hope you like the slide show I put together to capture 37 years of your life. You are very special to me. Today I celebrate having you in my life. What a lucky lady I am to share my life with someone so creative, intelligent, fun, adventurous, hilarious, talented, entertaining, hard working, musical, and the ultimate LOST fan. Thank you for being my very best friend. I love you (more than my luggage). You are the BOMB! Happy Birthday.

VOTE NOW for Scariest Halloween Photo!

1. Scary Japanese Spider

2. Shailey's "dead face" carved pumpkin



3. Emma barfing up her "yucky" dinner... typical




4. Emma and Glenn look alikes (okay not exactly scary, but they are too cute)



5. Glenn the Halloween Party storyteller (I actually think he looks hot!)



6. Zorro armed for the kill


7. Emma's piano teacher Masami dressed in DRAG

8. Foreign blonde lady (Jen) practically throwing candy at kids whether they wanted it or not , "I just want to get rid of it"

9. Cat woman outfit... yes this girl is totally serious


10. And last, but not least, Tracey's BUTT, graciously taken by Glenn (my personal vote for the scariest)

Vote now and you may win #9's sexy costume for Halloween 2009!

Zorro and his Senoritas

Jonas wanted to be Zorro for Halloween. He loves the black and white 1960's Disney series starring Guy Williams.(sometimes Jonas looks like Ralph from Christmas Story... above is one of his "Ralph" faces)

And you can't have Zorro without a few Senoritas.... the girls loved the idea. They both designed their dresses and I sewed for all three of them.

Out of the night,

when the full moon is bright,

comes the horseman known as Zorro.

This bold renegade carves a Z with his blade,

a Z that stands for Zorro.

Zorro, Zorro, the fox so cunning and free,

Zorro, Zorro, who makes the sign of the Z.

Zorro, Zorro, Zorro, Zorro, Zorro.

The Candy Witch

We have a Halloween tradition in our family. The night before Halloween, we read "The Candy Witch" by Steven Kroll. If the kids go to sleep right away, then the Candy Witch comes in the night and puts a special Halloween treat under their pillow.

We were curious if the Candy Witch would travel all the way to Japan... and she did! The kids got pumpkin cookies that were delicious.

Because the their Mom is SO FESTIVE (ah hem), they got an awesome Halloween lunch for school.... homemade seasoned pumpkin seeds, a caramel apple, their "Candy Witch" cookie, and cute Halloween napkins. Well, to be healthy, they also had a salmon onigiri (seaweed wrapped rice ball with salmon inside).

Mount Takao

While Aunt Gladys and Uncle Bookie were with us, we drove to Mount Takao, then took the chairlift to the top of the mountain.The girls loved being "big" girls riding on their own... they came up with this pose for the chairlift "candid" camera. I love to see them hang out as "sisters".It was extremely high up and the view was gorgeous.

I got a kick watching the Japanese man explain in his best English, how to avoid getting hurt while getting on the chairlift. I also love that even while hunching a little, my Uncle still looks like a giant.

After our ride, we chowed down on some ROASTED MOCHI... yum yum!

Mochi is made from rice that has been pounded into a soft dough.

To date, our favorite experience in Japan so far is Yukai Toriyama. This is a quaint restaurant made up of tiny private rooms that feel like a secret village tucked into the mountainside. Inside, our room had tatami mats and a sunken table containing a fire pit in the middle. Outside our rice paper windows were waterfalls that cascaded into coy fish ponds and gardens. Soft Koto music played in the background. The atmosphere was so unbelievably serene, even wiggly Jonas was able to sit through a 3 hour, 8 course meal.... and that is nothing short of a miracle.

Here is our waitress dressed in a traditional kimono standing outside our private room.

The table design makes it look like we are sitting on the floor, but in reality, there is a sunken floor under the table to put our feet under while maintaining the tatami mat feeling.

See our tricky chair... no legs, it just sits on the floor while our legs dangle over the side and under the table.
The kids got a big kick out of grilling their meat on skewers over a fire in the center of our table... that is probably what kept Jonas entertained!Raw meat and vegetables before grilling them.... arranged them so artistically.
Fish heads, fish heads I want fish heads. Fish heads, fish heads, eat them up, yum!

Afterwards we took a leisurely stroll along the wooden bridges that circled around the gardens.

Taking visitors here is now a must. Thanks Veryan for the recommendation!

Prelude to a Kiss

Shailey had my camera and took these random photos of Calvin, uh I mean Glenn, and I leading up to a kiss... we are infamous for our kiss pictures.

And they lived happily ever after. The End. Happy 15 years Glenn and Tracey.

Sansoji Temple and Tea House

In October we got our first visitors to Japan, my Aunt Gladys and Uncle Bookie.

We took them to the Sansoji Temple where they got to sample many fun Japanese delicacies... like octopus (tako yaki). Aunt Gladys said she'll try everything twice. And, well, she decided maybe octopus is not something she wants to try more than once, it tastes a little fishy.




I love this picture of my Aunt and Uncle. The huge skyscrapers surrounding a quaint well groomed park makes the perfect Japanese background.

In the middle of this park was a large pond with a traditional Japanese TEA HOUSE in the center.

Japanese green tea is called, Macha. It has a foamy texture and tastes very bitter.

Since moving to Japan, Emma is a lot more adventurous about trying new things, whereas Shailey has always enjoyed the challenge of the unexplored.

In a tea house, you have to respectfully remove your shoes and then sit on tatami mats. To particpate in the tea ceremony, there are specific instructions Emma is reading below. You have to cut your cake a certain way before eating it and you have to turn your cup a certain way before drinking the tea.

At the park's exit, we crossed over a bridge with very green water below. Emma announced loudly, "Now I know exactly where they got the green tea from!"