Ice Skating on the Island

One of those things we have been meaning to do for awhile now: Ice Skating.

Do you remember the first time you went Ice Skating? I certainly don't remember the first time, but I do remember going as a kid (and as an adult) but know that it has been many years since I have tried my hand at getting out on the frozen pond.

The girls have been talking about it for awhile now. Luckily for them we met Nicole here in Okinawa (who not only skated competitively as a child, but taught as an adult). I know that with Brad gone for a bit, Ice Skating would not have happened without her help (and the help of her trusted male family members). The Colvig 4 and the Aiello Girl 3 headed to the indoor ice skating rink down near Naha.



Alessandra having a quick snack and gearing up.
(personally I love the helmets)

Olivia ready to go!

In all honesty, I really had no idea what to expect out of the girls today. I knew Olivia was a bit nervous (always gets nervous about the unknown), and Alessandra really couldn't picture what we were going to do anyway, so she was all good.

With Nicole's awesome leadership (yes, I totally default to the professional) the girls really gave it their all today. They got out there, worked hard and got to the point where they were able to get around by themselves.

Some videos... for your viewing pleasure.

The larger kids behind Olivia were a school group from one of the local schools. For awhile they took a break and had lunch - I took this video shortly after they had come back on the ice.

Olivia - Green Belt 3rd Stripe (from October... oops!)

Sorry - Bad blogger Kelly forgot to put up photos and video of Olivia from back in October when she tested for her 3rd Stripe on her Green Belt.

Happily Brad was able to be at our testing that day. I also tested (and recieved) the third stripe on my green belt too.

Here is Olivia doing the Kata that she needed to perform. This is called "Kihon-Bo". It is a beginner Bo kata (one that Sensei and Brandon Nix came up with). In our style of Karate, we do learn how to use weapons, and the Bo is the first weopan we learn. (yes, that is my baby throwing around a big stick...)

Olivia with Emily and Christopher - long time karate buddies!

Thank you Sensei!

So excited to have that third stripe!

Olivia and Mia

Another exciting thing that happened was our Sensei was given the opportunity earn his 9th Don (that is his 9th Degree) Black Belt. He didn't know that it was going to happen today (that is how "testing" is traditionally done). I did post this video on facebook, but it was worth putting on here too. He is one tough guy - and someone I am amazed by every time I see him perform.

And now what next, you ask? Well - we move onto the Brown Belt. In the kids classes, Sensei makes them take a testing cycle off (they have to perform 3 Kata's at the testing for Brown Belt). However, being an adult - if you can do it, he allows you to test at the next cycle - which for me is THIS WEEK! YIKES!! Wish me luck and hopefully I will have video for you coming up soon.

Did I tell you about Our "Caring Gecko" ?

One of the great things about being a parent is seeing your children succeed. Along with that goes the times when they don't - or when they think they don't.

It's no secret that Olivia is a sensitive kid. She takes so many things to heart and gets emotional when things aren't seeming to go her way. Every quarter the school host's an awards ceremony. There are a variety of awards given (once the kids are older, this is where honor roll awards are given out etc.) Every quarter (to date) our lovely lady hasn't been recognized. She stands up and cheers her friends on and is genuinely happy and excited for them, but once she comes home and lets her guard down, she spends that evening upset and teary at her own misfortune.

This quarter all that changed! Mrs. DeMeulenaere (otherwise known as Mrs. D) recognized Olivia with the "Caring Gecko Award" As she said why she chose Olivia (see below video) I teared up simply because first: I knew all that she was saying was true. and second: I knew how incredibly happy Olivia was going to be about it.

After the presentation I said thank you to Mrs. D for recognizing Olivia and she first told me that "she totally deserved that award" and then continued to tell me how she teared up while watching Olivia's reaction to her award. She was so excited and thrilled. I don't ever think I have seen her happier.

Second Grade Awards Recipients

 

Olivia getting ready to head back to her classroom. SO HAPPY!

'Twas the Night Before Christmas...

It's Christmas Eve! We had such a wonderful afternoon and evening. The weather outside was gorgeous, so the girls and Brad went on a walk to the "San-Ei" (grocery/all things store) and got some last minute needs for our home (like fatabulous strawberries for tomorrow's breakfast) while I spent time finishing up food items for this evenings yummy spread.

The Walther's came to join us for dinner and we had a wonderful time. After exchanging gifts, the dad's and the girls headed upstairs to make sure we were set for Santa to come with our annual "Santa Landing Zone"

After the girls came back in, we said goodnight to our friends and got ready for bed.

But, don't you worry. The girls had plenty of thoughts about just what needed to be done before Santa comes tonight...

Alessandra getting ready to arrange the cookies...

 

Olivia pouring the milk...

 

Alessandra sniffing the cookies.. (we aren't really sure why...)

 

A note letting Santa know that he could take the carrots "to go"

Olivia's Santa letter

Alright, I know this is a short post, but I need to get a move on. Santa's elves have to get a move on (so we can get some sleep before the early morning wake up).

Lots of Love to you all. Merry Christmas.

Holidays' are the time for MUSIC!

This past weekend we had the honor of escorting Olivia to her second piano recital. If you remember, she began taking piano last spring and after taking a break over the summer, she started up with her fabulous teacher Melene again this fall.

Every year Melene has the kids put on a Christmas recital. We were all looking forward to it because Olivia has learned to read music this fall, and was tackling her Holiday music book with special zeal. She practices every day (without any argument at all!) and has progressively gotten better. She has now informed us that she wants to learn how to play the harp. (we told her that she had to learn to read music well and play the piano with some pretty good mastery and then we would support whichever instrument she would like to play. At least the girl has goals... I just keep trying to imagine a harpist in the school orchestra...)

Here she is, her two pieces, both alone and as a duet with her teacher Melene.

Tokyo Disney Sea - Day 7

For our final day in Tokyo, we had told the girls we had a surprise for them. We decided that it was best to keep it for the end of the trip (a token of appreciation for good behavior) - and we told them the night before we went to the park. SO exciting!!

So, in order to get to Tokyo Disney from our hotel we had to take the subway - all in all, the trip took us about an hour (with walking etc.) and the train dropped us off at a connection with the "Disney Line"


Here are the girls on the Disney Monorail - unfortunately I didn't get a good photo of the windows which were shaped like none other than MICKEY.

Here is Daddy Brad and his girls making their way into the Happiest Place on Earth.

Inside the entrance of Disney Sea - a giant globe (we have a bit of an obsession in our home with maps and globes, so this was a great treat!)

 
The water area (this is where the night light show would be held)

Right on our way in we came across Jimney Cricket!

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (our first ride of the day, completely scared Olivia to death)

Made our way into Ariel's playground - and a version of the "teacups"
A photo before the ride began...

And I had to add this - because they were SOOOO funny - giggling the whole time.

The little kid roller coaster (the girls' first ever). Loved it so much that when Olivia and Brad went on later to the "big" roller coasters (where Olivia got to go on one that went upside down), Alessandra and I came back here and had to ride this one 3 more times, so she could sit in the front.

A 2 story carousel in Aladdin Land (I don't remember what it was really called)

Now, a note on the locals and their love of Disney. In truth, I have never seen anything like it. When we got into the park area we started noticing people with their Disney items with them - bringing them INTO the park.

At one point Daisy Duck was in a spot where you could take your photo with her. The girls wanted to do that, so we waited. While in line one of the "Daisy Handler's" told us it would be 20 minutes and that we could take 1 photo - and that was all. These two young women in front of us were waiting also... Please notice their Daisy items...

They got up to Daisy and I figured they would have the staff member take their photo, but NO, they took a photo of Daisy - by herself. And then proceeded to have her autograph one of the other MANY photos they had of her in their photo album that they whipped out of their Daisy bag. Fascinating.

Our girls and the coveted 1 photo rule.

Alessandra posing outside of the roller coaster exit that Brad and Olivia went on

And both girls with a few of their new friends.

Later on in little Mexico (again, forgetting the name of this part of the park) Donald came through with a train of people. Our kids waved at him and he grabbed their hands and off the went... we caught up with them down the way a bit..

Happy girl.

Alessandra and Brad

and into little America (or something like that)

We stopped at the fruit stand for a snack and Lo and Behold - check that out... fresh pineapple from the Hudson River Valley...  teehee

Water from the Hudson River Basin also... If only it was Kingston City water...

And check this out - Captain Jack Sparrow. (Olivia had no idea who he was, since she hasn't seen the movies, but she was pretty stoked about the "pirate guy"

On the way home... A great ending to a wonderful vacation.

Tokyo - Day 6

I bet you thought I was never going to get back to our trip to the Mainland...

Day 6. The thing we realized about Tokyo is that there is SO much to do, that making the decision on what to see is half the battle. Since we had seen some royal landmarks and some important historical goodies, we decided to venture out a bit.

We took the subway (have I mentioned how much I love the public transportation system in Tokyo yet?) up to Ueno Zoo. I consider myself a bit of a zoo snob (thank you Jack Hannah and The Columbus Zoo), and since living in Asia have decided it is best to put all of my expectations aside and just see how it goes.

The Ueno Zoo is inside a larger park complex. As we approached it we assume that at some point there MUST have been a Panda here, because there were statues of Panda all over the place. Here (however) is the sign at the gate where be bought tickets...

The girls were happy as clams with the fake plastic panda to sit on.

And now we digress. There is really nothing more funny in Japan as the signage - so please excuse my random photos of signage at the zoo.

We spotted this one outside of a monkey cage. I assume it is telling us not to feed the monkey because he will then get sick... ??

Here is Alessandra outside of the tiger enclosure - he was pretty close there.

Again...more  signage...

Comparing ourselves to gorilla statues.

And, mom's everywhere - taking the kids to the zoo for the day.

A group of school children - LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the matching hats. You see this all over Okinawa also, matching colors.

I have to say I didn't know these guys existed.

Don't pull a rope of the flamingo's might escape.

This was my favorite. There were these trees hanging over the walkway from the sloth enclosure - apparently the sloth's would go into those trees? And poop would fall on you? hmmm

And then we found this giraffe. He was causing quite a stir as he was eating leaves out of the rhino's enclosure next to his.

Olivia imitating his large tongue.

Thank you, I will be sure not to stick my finger in the sharp teeth of this animal.

After lots of walking at the zoo and park, Alessandra passed out on the way to our next destination.

The Shibuya Intersection
The Shibuya intersection is supposedly one of the busiest intersections in the world. We decided we had to see it for ourselves.

An awake Alessandra getting a "tall American" view

Olivia's vantage point

AND, you didn't think I could talk about this little place without video did you?
You are in luck!!

All in all, the video really didn't do it justice. We walked across the street 3 or 4 times - never getting bumped or anything. Really incredible that THAT many people can be in one place at one time and not run into one another.

On our way back, I caught a photo of the map of the subway system. Talk about an enormous system - amazing.