Disney Sea

I took the kids, plus a few of Shailey's freinds to Tokyo's Disney Sea during spring break . Disney Sea is next to the regular Disneyland and its theme is largely based on "The Little Mermaid".

There is a section called "King Triton's Kingdom" with Mermaid Lagoon, Scuttle's Scooters, Flounder's Flying Fish roller coaster, Ariel's Playground, etc. Jonas and Emma loved Ariel's playground best... it was like being in the movie discovering all of her "human collections".

Everything had special features... this treasure chest had a huge 3-D Ruby that was just a trick of light when you tried to steal it. Disney popsicles were very Japanese... made of orange juice and grapefruit juice and the ice cream was "sea salt" flavored... sounds gross but actually yummy. We never did find the chocolate dipped sprinkle ice cream we wanted (and we ask ourselves, "why are Americans fat?" :)

There is a storybook ride dedicated to the movie "Sindbad"... never heard of this Disney movie, have you??? This was Jonas' favorite ride... mine too... no lines!

There is also a Mayan Temple area of the park with the Indiana Jones ride.  Unfortunately Jonas was TOO SHORT to ride and super bummed.  So I did what any good mother would do and bought him a knife!

We call him Indiana Jonas and he pointed out that this piece of cargo looked like it had HIS NAME on it! Cool.
There is also a really cool middle east section with beautiful tapestry and rug shops. We tried CURRY POPCORN and loved it!

Shailey was happy to go on "big kid" rides with her friends. I think this picture of Shailey is my favorite of the day... she is so naturally beautiful.

Word to My Mother

The best thing my Mother did was read to me.

Rain or shine, tired or not tired, my Mother read to us every single night. This is especially amazing considering she grew up in a home with a single Mother who NEVER read to her because she always worked the night shift. My Mom made a promise to herself that life would be different for her kids and she kept that promise.

We were mostly middle class, bordering on poor growing up, but that did not stop us from frequenting the Monrovia Public Library. And poor or not, on Book Fair Day at school, we got to pick out a new book marker and a couple of books. I loved that! Our home bookshelves were always brimming with treasures. And, at Christmas time, you could be assured a few classics in your stocking.

I love reading to my kids. It is probably the most consistently nice thing I do. It is my favorite moment of the day. I love to create voices that transcend the grumpy end-of-the-day Mom into a happy one. I love children's books.... you can't get any better than Frog and Toad,  Magic Treehouse, or Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus... they are fabulous.

I also love my children. I am thankful to pass on my love for books to them. Emma and Shailey are superb readers and Jonas is not far behind. Jonas' teacher at school told me that for as wiggly as he is, he can sure sit still during story time... she said he gets so engrossed in the story that he does not move... amazing.

I am thankful to be a mother. I am thankful for a Mother who loved reading to me and 36 years later, still does! Thank you Mom and Happy Mother's Day.

PS, thank you to my sweet husband who, all on his own, captured this candid reading moment on film. That is the best Mother's Day present you could have given me. I love you.

Mothers Need Validation

Okay so being a mother is hard and being the mother of a pre-teen is even harder. Sometimes your daughter loves you and thinks you are the best thing since sliced bread and other times she is in your face yelling at you all the reasons why you are horrible. And then you go to bed at night and review your interactions with said daughter to the point you start feeling guilty and you know you can do better and be more patient and cool and awesome and just plain old amazing, and after all of this pep talk you realize you only have a few more years with this child and your heart aches.

Does this make sense? It does if you have a pre-teen/teenager.

This morning I was still feeling the blues of "I am not a good mother" when I came across these pictures. A few weeks ago, I signed up to be a helper at Shailey's school field trip to the Parasite Museum (yes, this is a real place). That day, I started to clean my messy kitchen and then thought to myself, "you know, today it is St. Patrick's day, wouldn't it be fun to take green cupcakes to Shailey and her friends on the field trip?" So I stopped cleaning and started baking. The cleaning did not get done until the next day, but you know what.... it was worth it. I made Shailey's day and she was so thankful. She told me I am the coolest Mom in the world. For that moment, I felt like a mother who put her priorities right.

Today I needed this "self" validation. A mother's job is tricky business.

My mother once told me that it tears your guts out to think of your child ever leaving you... and then they become a teenager. She thinks this all part of God's plan to make it easier to let go. Hmmmm something to think about :).

Charlie's Angels

When I was a young girl in the 1970's, my sister Trisha and I were HUGE Charlie's Angels fans.... tough, smart, gorgeous detective girls, what's not to love? Afterall, we were the children of a new generation of women. I loved Kelly, she loved Chris, and whenever we played, those were our stage names. I cannot tell you how many times I begged my Mom to pllllllleeeeeeaaaaaaassssssseeeeee let me get my hair cut like Jacklyn Smith (Kelly). Nope. No amount of pleading got her to cut my long, stringy down-to-my-waist hair... that was my one true beauty.

However, 30 years later, I had a hair appointment with Nobu of Zooto. I went in as Tracey, but came out as.....

A CHARLIE'S ANGEL!

Don't worry Bosley, I've got your back!

(ps, this was not my intention to have Charlie's Angels hair....)

Melt My Butter

We had Jonas' girlfriend Charley stay with us for a few days while her Mommy was in the hospital. Charley commented on how "untidy" Jonas' room was. She told me she makes her bed everyday. I told her, "Charley, do you know my kids NEVER make their beds... in fact, I don't even think they know how to make a bed!!" She was completely shocked (Hiromi, you are a better mother than I).

After picking up the kids from school, I was cooking dinner and Jonas came in and said, "Mom, Mom, you have to come here RIGHT NOW!" I asked him if I could come later because I was busy getting dinner ready. He insisted I come right that minute so I did ("cat's in the cradle with the silver spoon".... gets me teary every time).

He lead me into his room with a big TA-DAH! and shouted "See, I DO KNOW HOW TO MAKE MY BED and I even made both beds!" Ooooh, I covered his sweet little face with furry purry kisses. He knows exactly how to melt his Mom's butter. :)

Emma Makes a Splash with Nikon

It was a gorgeous day for a modeling shoot.... a gorgeous studio with a gorgeous pool.

Emma read her Magic Treehouse book while the hairdresser got her ready. The crew put on their matching Crocs to keep the studio "dirt free"The weather was chilly, but the "instant warmers" they put into Emma's pockets and hands, kept her cozy.
Her day got even better when the model dogs arrived on set, Mama Tee and Lala.Emma thought she would bust when the dog trainer taught her how to make the dogs do tricks and give them treats.
She enjoyed the costume changes and more pampering from the studio stylist.

The teenage model, Sasha was super nice and friendly.

Yes, life was just about perfect...until.....

THE SPLASH!!!!!!!

Emma could not resist the tempting pool in the middle of the set, so when she got a little too close in her slippery shoes.... in she went, shoes and all!!!

She refused to let me take her picture in her wet clothes. Instead, she wanted to quickly slip back into her own clothes, but there was one small problem... no dry underwear.
So she had to get dressed SANS underwear.

One of the set helpers diligently held Emma's underwear on hangers in front of a space heater until they dried.

Yes, Emma made a splash with Nikon that day. But she also made a splash with me... look at these great shots I got of her that day :). I love my little Bemma.

The Domino Effect

Tonight, was Friday and Glenn had a late work dinner. My house was really clean, so I decided to have a little party with my kids and do an "EASY" dinner by ordering Domino's Pizza (yes they have Domino's in Japan, but it is expensive unless you have a coupon, which I had). So I called in and ordered 2 "Regula crust, pep a ro ni, pizha, L-size".

50 minutes later, the pizza man arrived with 2 pizzas that were NOT pepperoni. Instead these were ONION TOPPING PIZZAS. Sick. (I think they also had Japanse mayonaise on them too). Now, I hate onions more than I hate the hassle of returning unwanted pizza, so I called back Domino's and told them they sent the wrong pizza. (I figured after spending $50 bucks on pizza I expected perfection). The person at the other end of the line had no clue what I was saying.... and since my favorite translator was not home, I asked Shailey for help. She tried her best and could not get Domino's to understand the problem, so she called in for reinforcement from her Japanese friend Julian. I told the person on the line "choto mate kudasai" (wait a minute please) while Shailey wrote down her friend's translation. After 30 minutes of this back-and-forth nonsense, we got it all straightened out and the person on the line agreed to send us new pizzas in another 50 minutes. Fine. In the meantime we downloaded our American Idol show because we were still trying to have a little Friday night party.



1 1/2 hours later, we were still staring at our 2 cold onion pizzas. I called Domino's again and started trying to communicate that our replacement pizzas were missing (I could not even begin to think how to communicate that in Japanese). The girl on the other end takes our order again and 15 minutes later a pizza guy arrives at the door.




He has the right toppings this time, pepperoni, but only brought ONE pizza, AND.... he expected me to pay for it. At this point I was ready to spit nails. I tried to explain that I already paid for the last two but they were wrong and the order is still wrong. The look on his face told me my tone was clearly scaring him (apparently I have a tone issue...just ask Glenn). So I stopped my freak show and handed him the WRONG pizzas and said, "Da meh, da meh pizha" (which translates to "bad bad pizza"). I opened up the pizza boxes, and said, "no onions". I see a light click inside in his head. He makes a phone call, apologizes, takes the bad pizzas, and leaves.




Are we having fun yet??




Another hour later, the same pizza guy comes back with 3 pizzas this time; wrong number, but right flavor so I did not complain.




And I thought this was going to be an "EASY" dinner...ha! This is the domino effect in Japan.


And thank you Ptarmi for helping me to see the humor in a frustrating situation... laughter cures just about everything... and thank you for suggesting I blog about it too :).

Life with a Son

A few days ago, I picked up Jonas from school. While talking with the other Moms, Jonas handed me his favorite pair of bright red gloves and said, "put these in your pocket", so I did.

A few days later I found a pair of WET GLOVES in my coat pocket. I kind of freaked out when I felt their wetness and asked him to explain why.

"Mom, I had to go potty and I could not get my gloves off fast enough, so they fell into the potty. That's why I gave them to you, so you could wash them." I asked him why he did not put them in HIS coat pocket and he said, "because, I PEED on them!!!!"

Ooooh, lucky me.

Daddy Daughter Dance

Emma is old enough to attend the church "Daddy Daughter Dance". She had such a fun time dressing up and dancing with her Dad. Before the event, she confided in me that she was very nervous and asked if I would teach her "the dance". I was confused until she explained, "Mom, I am embarrassed to say, but I don't know the dance routine!" I laughed and explained it is just a free dance not a routine dance. She was completely relieved.

They had a great time and best of all, while other girls hung out with their girlfriends, Emma insisted on spending every second with her Dad. These two clearly outlasted all other father/daughter couples!

Three Wishes

Every year the kids make Leprechaun traps hoping to catch a Leprechaun. This year I asked them what they will wish for if they DO catch one....


Shailey:

1) I-Phone with free unlimited Internet access

2) Gerard Butler (lead in Phantom of the Opera film) would live in Tokyo and hang out with me

3) Infinite amount of currency so all my family and friends could live here with us in Tokyo

Emma:

1) A million dollars

2) 5 more Webkins

3) A dog that I never had to feed or pick up his poop and he would be my very own dog and his name would be Sakura

Jonas:

1) Chocolate coins

2) A leprechaun costume

3) Real superhero powers

We Love TRAVIS

Just after Valentine's Day, Glenn surprised me with tickets to see TRAVIS in concert in Tokyo. We have recently discovered we LOVE this Scottish band... every single song is awesome: My Eyes, Side, Sing, Closer, Ode to J.Smith, Selfish Jean...the list goes on and on.

Francis Healy was born in 1973, one year younger than us... he is our age and living his dream, lucky guy. Travis sound similar to "Cold Play"... but better (sorry Chris). Chris Martin credits his style to Travis and calls himself a "poor man's Francis Healy". Travis played with energy and personality... gotta love the Scottish accent :). What surprised me the most was how many times the band changed instruments....just goes to show how truly musical they are. Outstanding concert.
At the end of the concert, the band unplugged everything, including the microphones and just sang acoustic... it rocked. Their voices blend in perfect harmony.(my "Rock ON" face... what other face do you make at a concert? Cheesy?? :)