Who does he look like now??

Oh well, it was only a matter of time I suppose. Tysei fell into a chair and split his skin open just beside his eye. He is looking more and more like a Conlin every day!

Happy 4th birthday Tysei

I am not sure if its considered jet-lag, vacation hangover, or just the effects of over-night flights....but here is Tysei making his own birthday cake at 1 am, the day (night) we got back to Japan.



....and after a few hours sleep, its his birthday!

Vacation in Thailand

For our spring break we headed to an island in Thailand for some much needed R and R. We most certainly had bad timing with our vacation as it rained every single day...some days it rained all day, other days only in the afternoon. It is actually supposed to be their dry/hot season?! It is the wettest March in history for Thailand! Glad we were part of that record breaking history!

The kids were happy to be on the move again. Here they are at the Bangkok airport at about 4am Japan time. They learned young to just roll with it. (and pull your own bag too)



Loved the transportation....never a dull moment


The waves were as fun as ever.....



Kianah's choice of activities was to go elephant trekking. It was great fun! Althugh, even I was a little nervous when the guide hopped off and walked WAY up ahead of us on the trail. I was really contemplating what my first move was going to be if the elephant decided to bolt (he had been misbehaving the entire trip, venturing off the path into swamps and down cliffs).





<

Tysei's choice was dinosaur mini-golf



But most of the trip was wet.........



But...it didn't keep us out of the pool.....




...and the food alone, made it all worth it!




A little fish spa therapy before heading home...and Shunsuke's feet were as smooth as a baby's bottom....



One last sandcastle before we head to the airport...

Added challenges

This is why I don't have much symapthy for teachers that complain about the amount of time they spend doing lesson prep at home...that don't have children;)

Refugees

We hosted our good friends Elaine, Fred, Kai and Kieran when they fleed to our house from Tokyo. The kids were so excited to have sleepovers on school nights!

Night out

We had a late night out with friends in Osaka. It started with a Jack Johnson concert, and snow-balled from there....

Kianah singing

Here is a little performance that Kianah did with some other kids from school. The song is "The Scientist" by Coldplay.

TAYLOR!!

Kianah and I went to see Taylor Swift in Osaka today. It was a fun day. The concert was great...she was great!
We showed up in the afternoon to find out where we had to go...and then our plan was to find a place to have dinner. BUT, we noticed this massive line-up. So asked around about what people were lining up for, and apparently it was for the tiny tent to buy souvenirs! We couldn't believe it, so we stuck around to people watch for a bit...and ended up meeting Taylor's dad and many crew members....you know me, I talk to everyone (and embarrass Kianah)
Taylor's dad was really sweet to Kianah and gave her lots of "tips" about becoming a singer, and more importantly to just DREAM BIG. He told us some stories of Taylor when she was Kianah's age. He was very sweet!

This is the line....for the little tent to buy t-shirts and calendars! The crew were all in disbelief. They kept saying "I can't believe this..."


A Real photo of Taylor and her dad(not today)....


...Kianah and her dad today

He gave Kianah a few Taylor Guitar picks.

Kianah and a few crew members (One guy does all her PR web stuff, others are promotion and merchandise)

Before the show...


The concert!! This was a mellow song...we were sitting long enough to take a photo..


OK, the long awaited Taylor Swift concert has come and gone. It was a great show, although our seats were not as good as we thought they would be......but show sounded awesome and we knew all her songs! Danced and sang the way through them all......

This week...

Ty doing some Ice Cube art at school....


Tysei likes to put his hair up like Kianah's after his bath..


Some of our "teacher friend's" kids......you know what they say about teacher's kids;)


Saturday morning Mazes. These 2 both love to do mazes...I think they have both gotten better at them than me!

A snowy Sunday in Kyoto

It is back to routine in Kyoto, and we survived the first week!! It snowed on and off all day Sunday. We went for a walk in our neighborhood in the morning and snapped these pictures....

New Years Eve

We started the night early with a karaoke party with all the kids. Let me tell you, they kept our music choice current!!
After we headed back to Elaine and Fred's for dinner and drinks. We put all the kids to bed and brought in the New Year with our friends (you will notice that it is almost the same couples as last year, we are missing Cindy and Lee, and gained Elaine and Fred)

Here are a few pics from the night. Happy 2011 everyone!