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!

A few pics from the week.....

I had over planned our trip as usual. I had all sorts of museums, zoos and amusement parks schedules and locations ready for us to visit....when all we really wanted to do was relax with friends. The kids were happy playing with the other kids and Shunsuke got a full day of golfing in and I got to shop for a whole day! New Years sales are big in Japan!
Our hosts "The Wilson's) did a super job of making our vacation perfect!

Sunny day at the park...






We met up with Shunsuke's brother and his family in Chigasaki, where they live (45 min from Tokyo). We also spent time with them during the Japanese New Year celebrations.




One of the best parts of staying with friends, is that you don't even have to get dressed to have a play-date!

We celebrated Kai's 7th birthday. It brought back memories because I was in the delivery room when he was born. We told him the whole story...potato chips and all!!



One benefit to being a teacher (and hanging out with teachers) is that you always have a place to let your kids burn some energy.....just take them to climb the walls at school...

The morning after....

Shunsuke woke up with a sore back and an allergic reaction to something. He got around slowly that day.....a little bent over with big Julia Roberts/Mick Jagger lips...



This is the difference between him and Fred....



Trying out Kai and Keiran's Christmas gift!!



We ended boxing day with a "chili party" and Ben and Alina's. We were entertained by the in-house band....and a few skits as well;)

Christmas Dinner

After the excitement of Christmas morning we hopped on the Shinkansen to Tokyo. Our friend Phil picked us up at the station and we headed to Elaine and Fred's new place...where the party was already in full swing!!

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning was exciting as ever this year.....
Our families were very generous again with gifts and Santa did not disappoint either!




Kianah's highlight was Taylor Swift concert tickets