Big News

It's just an 11 week ultrasound (or is it 10?). But we've definitely got a wiggly one on the way. Expected opening date is June 12th, 2013. Which is the penultimate day of school. Ben says no big deal, he doesn't need to be there to hand out finals anyway. 
We're excited. I'll be more excited when I'm not nauseous anymore. Because it's constant. But it's all good, it just means the baby is growing, right...

Hakone

On Columbus day we threw the girls in the car right after breakfast and took a long, long drive (about 2 hours) along Sagami Harbour (read: the drive was gorgeous)
 The funniest thing were these barrier holders in a construction area. Only in Japan would they make a cute version of that.

Once we were in Hakone (which is a sort of national park/resort area), we first went to the Open Air Museum. It was pricey, but totally worth it. I loved that it was a real museum but still very kid friendly. So here is Ellie and Clara playing in their "Woods of Net" playground.

 This is what it looked like on the outside.

They had a large building dedicated to Picasso that both Ben and I were really excited to see but ended up being a bit disappointing. It had a lot of his pottery in it which was, well, uninspiring. But there were some fun things. I guess it didn't help that it was all curated in Japanese.

Here are a few more of the exhibits we liked.

This is Ellie being a triangle inside all the triangles.

 From the inside of the a large silo like structure that you could go up. I forgot the name...

And Ben in front of a giant buffalo. Because we love Wyoming.

And then we visited what Ellie called "the Ice." And  Ben called really cool tessalations.

I have no idea who is photo bombing back there...

 We had to drag Ellie away from this, but it was way past lunch time.
So we went and grabbed some lunch at a nearby cafe and then hopped on the train to go the the cablecar and ropeway that would take us up a mountain and over some very majestic valleys to Lake Ashi.

 Clara fell asleep waiting to ride on the ropeway. And when we went over the "Valley Greater Boiling" I got incredibly nauseous from the smell of sulfur. Side note: the Japanese people in the car with us kept saying how great it smelled, because it reminded them of an onsen. To me it wreaked of rotten eggs. Though it was really cool to see all the "volcanic" activity below us as fumes plumed from the valley.

That my friends is Mount Fuji from our ropeway car. Every time we take a picture of it we can never do it justice. It was so huge compared to the mountains we were in, which were not small. Huge I tell you, HUGE!
Then we arrived at Lake Ashi were it's apparently tradition to ride the "pirate ship" from one end to the other. So we did. Um...a little anti-climatic.

 It looks so cool you just know it's going to be fun!

But it's just a diesel smelling boat that gets you from one end of the lake to the other with lots of other people,

And this pirate captain who wishes for a better life in Disneyland. Well, Ellie loved it anyhow.

But by the end of this ride I was feeling so unwell that we decided to forgo going to the shrine on the edge of the lake, and took the bus back down to where we parked our car.

Despite my nausea and the lackluster pirate ship, we really did have a great time.

 

How could you not with these two cuties?

Halloween 2012

I love that everyone in our family loves to get dressed up almost as much as I do. Ben is always a good sport and does great "character roles." Eleanor would were a dress up dress everyday all day if I would let her. And although Clara is only 15 months old, she too loves to dress up, especially if it means she gets to carry a "purse."

So this year Eleanor wanted to be Snow White and couldn't have been more thrilled with how her costume turned out.

 Clara went as Little Red Riding Hood, because I thought she'd love carrying the basket around (which she did)!

 The girls painted little pumpkins and Ben carved our Picasso pumpkin to decorate our Trunk for our ward Trunk or Treat.

 I wish we had taken a better picture of Ben and I, but we went as Bert and Mary Poppins. And in this picture you can't see my awesome hat (which was the trickiest part of my costume to make). Oh well, we had a ton of fun and sang "Chim-chim-cheree" all day, even Ellie.

 Ellie really got the hang of trick or treating this year and kept running ahead of us to go get more treats. She's a riot!

Happy Halloween!

Epic Family Home Evening on Tithing

As many of you are aware, Eleanor and Clara have done some modeling while we've been here in Japan. Like this

 and this

 Seriously, how cute are our girls!?

So this means that they have earned some money, and it's no small chunk of change. So we finally got all of their "paychecks," cashed them and exchanged the yen for dollars. And then we had the world's most epic FHE lesson on tithing.

Yes, those are Franklins. 

Of couse, they have no understanding of how much money was sitting in front of them. Ellie just liked to count how many there were. And Clara just wanted to grab things.

But we did have a great lesson talking about how much we have been blessed and how we want to give back to Heavenly Father so he can bless and help other people too.

But, they now both have tithing slips to turn in next week. And they both have made more money this year than me.

We also told them how we would save most of the money (like 95%), but they could each pick out a fun thing to buy. And the first thing Ellie shouts out is, "A big shovel!" So later this week we'll go to the 100Yen store and get that big toy shovel and rake that she's been asking for since the beginning of spring. Yeah, we're big spenders over here.

Happy Girls

Okay, let's get a closer look because, seriously, could there be two more precious faces on the earth. I think not.

Nothing like some love between sisters. And I don't usually dress my girls matchy-matchy, but I made these dresses and I just love how they turned out. It was also cool that I made them using some super wide eyelet lace that my Grandma Sunny gave me. So they are sort of heirloomish....

So We're on Vacation...

We left Japan mid-June and we are now just less than a week from returning home. I would do a real post, but my parent's computer really seem to get along to well with my computer. In the meantime please enjoy this sweet little face in the Sacred Grove.

At Our House Lately: In the Dining Room

Clara has picked up a nasty habit of being a picky eater. And if she doesn't want it in her mouth, she usually thinks it will make for a great facial. Avocados being the preferred facial right now. It's weird because she used to love them.

Chocolate and Peanut Butter ice cream

Good to the last drop.

Best part of this photo: after I took it Ellie asked to see the picture. I showed it to her and she said, "Oh my hair. It's funny." And the chocolate all over your mouth is...normal?...