Christmas Season 2016

The Christmas season was busy, as usual.  It started off with a Cultural Christmas Coffee at my place early in the month.  I had so much fun spending time with 7 amazing ladies, talking, drinking coffee, and sharing holiday favorites that I only took one picture at the beginning of the party.  Trust me...it was good times! ps...this was the first time I've cooked a ham in the crockpot...oh.my.yum!

The very next day we had to say goodbye to an amazing family.  So, a year ago we had quite a large group of boys living in our Sakura building.  One by one, these boys have PCSd to another duty station.  With the departure of this family we lost two wonderful boys from Garytt's group.  My dear friend, who I spent many hours chatting with on the playground and laughing at the hijinks our boys could conjure up, is greatly missed!

One last group hug!  And one last goodbye.

The next week the kids and I made our way to Nagasawa Station so we could spend our third year watching Junko-san's English classes perform a play in English.  This year was The Gift of the Magi.  We had a great time listening and sharing in the progress of the children we have watched grow over the last three years.  What an amazing night!  

Walking to the community center where the performance was held.
Of course, the kids remembered the way as I was a bit confused
on which building we were supposed to enter.  

One of the kids' favorite parts of the evening...the massive BINGO game...you can get BINGO as many times as there are gifts on the table.  I loved the fact that this year the kids and I were able to understand what the number was in Japanese and in English.  :)

The commissary may have been a mad house two days before Christmas, but I always forget a few ingredients and have to fight the crowd and the rushed, crazy, rude people who don't want to be there as much as I don't want to be there.  But, as I walked out to get in my car I was blessed with this amazing sunset!  And, it was fast...pink, purple, blue when I took the picture then completely blue two minutes later when I pulled out of the parking spot.

Garytt, Emily and Kenzie

Friday night we ran outside to watch the fire parade pass by.  It was on a different route this year, but we ran across the street just in time to watch it all go by.  Shew....it was loud!  

We were so happy to be invited to a Christmas Eve potluck at our friends' house.  We had a great time eating delicious food and then playing a White Elephant game.  The kids were supposed to play the game as well, but with a few really little ones in the group were afraid they wouldn't understand when someone else stole their gifts.  Especially when Garytt said, "You mean I'm ALLOWED to take someone else's present?  Without getting in trouble?  I'M IN!!!!"  So, the kids just picked presents out of the kid pile, opened them (G got an alligator, M got candy), and then they headed upstairs to another friend's apartment to watch movies while the adults hung out and played their White Elephant game.  

Then, just a short while later we were graced with the MOST amazing Christmas Caroler EVER!!!  Sweet Alyssa sang us two songs, helping to close out a pretty awesome Christmas Eve!  Then, we all ran downstairs so the kids could sprinkle Reindeer Food all over the road in order to help Santa's Reindeer find our apartment.  

After our annual reading of Twas the Night Before Christmas by Pop Pop...

...we checked on Santa's progress before hitting the hay.

The kids were up bright and early the next morning.  Kris and I slowly made our way out of bed around 7 and then 8.  I put all the yummy food in the oven and on the stove top and we got down to business!

The annual sibling photo...still just as hard to get all three looking in the right direction with their eyes open and smiling.

Some of the yummy deliciousness for the morning.  And, the weird shot on the right is the first one I took with my new iPhone app-operated camera gadget.  haha.....He wasn't ready.

What.A.Mess.   

The Boy fell in and we lost him for a few minutes!

The boys building Mackenzie's new doll house and furniture.

I almost got all the food in the picture.  Delicious spread!  

The turkey was the best one I think I've ever made!  

 

Like father...like son...with the new silverware holders from Mom/Grandma.

And, some of the play time with new toys.  Garytt got a new mini nerf gun, so we built about two dozen targets with Legos and then set them up around the dining/family rooms and watched him work on his aim.


What a fabulous Christmas!  This is likely our last Christmas in Japan and it did not disappoint! Great time with friends and family!

Showa Kinen Koen ~ Koyo 2016

A few weeks ago, at the height of the Ginkgo season, I took a day and traveled to Showa Kinen Koen.  I've tried going to this park during ginkgo season for the last two years, but on the days I usually have available it was either raining or so cold that I didn't think the kids would last long.  This year, however, my amazing husband had the day off, so I made the two hour trip on my own.  

So, I hopped on the mid-morning train out of Yokosuka Chuo switched to the JR line at Kawasaki, which put me on the Nambu line and that thing stopped a million times!  Ok, not a million, but close to 30 in one hour.  Whatever it was, it was a lot!  I hopped off at Tachikawa station and then walked the awesome raised walkways to find the park. 

As I was waiting at the crosswalk to enter the park I took a little look around this city.  And, what else would you expect to see on the outskirts of one of the busiest cities in the world...goats, of course!!

Ok, focus Terra!  Park time!  And, when I say park, I mean P A R K!!!!  This place is insanely huge!  I spent almost five hours here and I didn't even cover the whole park!  It's that big!

The entrance doesn't look like much

There's a large grass area at the entrance.  There were a lot of people here picnicking and kicking soccer balls around.  The bridge in the picture below is the Floating Garden.  The greenery on the rooftop is supposed to help control temperatures inside the building, keep it cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter.

That's Tachikawa city just outside the park

Here's a view of the Floating Garden's underside

After a walk around the Floating Garden, I made my way across the bridge and then toward the area I've been waiting to see for years!  

That's it!  That's it!  Yellow!  Yellow!  GINKGO!!!!!!

A cloud of yellow above and a carpet of yellow below!  My most favorite tree ever!

Not only were the ginkgoes amazing, but the maples were in a range of blooming stages.  Some were all red, some were red and green, some were red, orange, green and yellow.  

All. The. Colors.

This is a view toward the entrance I came in.

Just past the ginkgo paths was a little area with wooden creations.  I'm not sure if it was a play area for kids to climb on, or if they were just to look at.  I didn't see anyone climbing, so maybe just to look at.  Beyond this little area was the pond.  The big pond.  I took a right hand turn and followed the edge of the pond all the way to the back.  

The reds on the maples were so unbelievably vivid!

This was a little maple area with a boardwalk over a marshy spot.

Here's a shot of a section of the boardwalk.

There was a little flower garden back in this area.  Since it was almost winter, there weren't a lot of flowers in bloom.  But, there was a cute frog freezing by the tiny pond.

There was also a bird blind.  I only saw two little birds.

Around the pond and across a bridge brought me to another gingko area.  

There's a good size play area back here.  It even has a small outside shower to get all the dirt off when you're done. 

Another gigantic open space.  According to different maps I saw around the park, there are tons of different blooming areas...sakura, gingko, maples, rapeseed, azalea, tulips.  I think the flower area is on the back side of this large grass area.  I opted to visit that another time.

From here I made a turn back toward the other side of the lake so I could get back to the train station. It was almost 4 pm and the clouds were starting to roll in, making it a little chilly.

A few flowers I found along the way.

Pictures just don't show how magical this flower is!  The center was almost a fluorescent yellow color.  

  

This is the water park inside the main park.  Obviously, it's closed right now.  But, it looks like a nice place to cool off during the crazy hot/humid summers.

Strange sculpture, anyone?

For 410 (3 hours) or 520 yen for the full day,  you can rent a bicycle and ride all over the park.  There are nice paths everywhere.  I'm sure you can get a good view of the entire park this way.  For an extra fee you can also rent different kinds of boats.

Ok...I'm back to the ginkgo paths!  This time it was near sunset, so the yellows took on another shade of yellow.  So beautiful!

Then, as a last little goodbye, an amazing sunset!

Back at Tachikawa station (only a ten minute walk or so from the park) and I made my way home.