Halloween in Japan

Well we have officially finished our Halloween festivities. Yeah! I think we are completely Halloweened out! Tonight we experienced trick or treating Hario style. I put the babies in their bones onesies for the day this morning and this afternoon when it was time to get ready for trick or treating Ben chose to wear his bones pajamas instead of his Batman costume. Fine by me. They all actually looked really cute in their bones! The base opens up for the Japanese to come trick or treating, and let me tell you, they come in droves! As usual, we had our throes of adoring fans. Kawaii!!! I think the babies had their picture taken about ten times tonight! Too funny! They always take it in stride. I think they may have a future in acting! Ben had a great time running from house to house and saying trick or treat. I think he enjoyed all of the decorations more though than the candy! When we got home he wanted macaroni and cheese instead of his candy! What a relief! That gave me time to go through everything and hide most of it! He was very willing to share with me - he said I could have anything I wanted. He's definitely a mamas boy!

All dressed ready to go. Trick or treating started at 5 so it was still light out. Very nice!

Kawaii!!!

One of the first stops. Our neighbor Grace was a peacock and Anna was a giraffe - Kawaii!!

Ben chose to wear his bag around his neck all night. I think it started to get heavy though because he kept taking his candy out of it and putting the candy in the stroller.

Mr. Bones and Ms. Peacock

Ben thought this skeleton get up was hilarious.

Japanese trick or treaters

Japanese trick or treaters - they travel in groups of about 20 - 30!

More Japanese trick or treaters!

This man had a movie screen set up in his yard! He had the movie volume muted but had spooky Halloween music playing. You could hear the music throughout the whole neighborhood. Ben couldn't wait to get to this house! He even sat down on the sidewalk for a bit to watch the movie. Again, he enjoyed the decorations more than the candy!

Ben's loot

I had to include this pic. When we lived in Hawaii we had constant construction going on around us for the first year we lived at McGrew. Well they are replacing water pipes by our house so once again we have constant construction going on. They have Japanese traffic directors set up right outside of our house. They watch Ben like a hawk. Anytime we come out they rush over with their white and red flags to help us navigate through the construction, whether we are walking or driving.

Happy Halloween!!

Pre Halloween/Fall Festival

Tonight (Friday) they started pre Halloween festivities on our housing base. The chapel had a Fall Festival and MWR (Morale, Welfare & Recreation) hosted a Halloween party at the base gym. After I got Ben off the school bus we headed to the chapel. They provided pizza, crafts and games. It was really cool and a lot of fun. Perfect for Ben. We also brought along our neighbor Michaela and it was perfect for her as well.

Craft table - Ben made a picture frame, a whistle toy and a tambourine. He was busy!

The poor babies stuck in the stroller. They do great, especially with tons of people peaking in at them and wanting to hold them and take their pictures. I will say though that they were ready to be done by the end of the night!

Ben in the "black light" room.

Slime!!!

One of the games - I think the gal said he was feeling in the honey (slime) for some kind of prize and she kept telling him to feel around or the bees would get him???

Feeling in the "honey"

Ring Toss

Balloon race against Michaela

Walking on to the next event

Hario gym - MWR Halloween event

Look at Ben's loot! With two parties he got a lot of stuff. Luckily most of it was prizes and not candy!

More Halloween to come tomorrow....

Busy week

Another busy week here. It sure helps the time go by quickly while Grant is away. We're gearing up for two nights of Halloween. Here at Hario they are having a Halloween party tonight (Friday) and then we will go trick or treating to a few houses tomorrow night - should be fun. I sure hope Ben's poor Batman costume can last! I will definitely have to go through the candy this time though. After the Running Scared event last week all he wanted was candy. I felt like he was eating candy for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I learned my lesson, hide the candy (not in my belly!)

It has been pretty warm here the last few days so I pulled out the Ben's baby Chiefs onesies and luckily they fit! It is so strange to pull clothes out that Ben wore and put them on the babies. Nate looks soooo much like Ben when Ben was his age. Heaven help me!! When Ben saw the babies of course he wanted to wear his Chiefs shirt. So even though it wasn't a game day, we were supporting the Chiefs - and I think they need a lot of supporting now. The only problem with the outfits is that everyone thinks they are both boys - sorry Piper.

My eight year old neighbor Michaela came over and went camera crazy. She was positioning the babies in front of the tv and taking pictures and video. I think she may be a budding photographer. Thank goodness for the tv. Both babies like to look at the colors, which keeps them calm off and on throughout the day. Today I was able to actually vacuum while they sat there!

One of Piper's rare upset moments. She actually laughed for the first time today!!!! (Friday)

It was so cute! Nate has been trying too as well. They both like to coo a lot. Uh oh, I am probably in for it when they starting talking - they may never stop!

Posing for Michaela.

Yesterday (Thursday) I went on a field trip for the mothers at Ben's preschool. I think they try to arrange something every month for the moms to do. We went to Omura Dream Farm. (I love the name!! So Japanese!) Omura Dream Farm is basically a restaurant and a green house plus a little store/market and an ice cream shop. We ate a buffet lunch there (which I didn't eat much of - I am not really digging Japanese food.) Many of the Japanese Moms were there. Most of them don't speak English but the ones who do love to talk to the American moms. They also love to help out. It was a lot of fun. It was a long bus ride though and I put the babies in the child development center while we were gone. I probably won't do that again anytime soon. They were all out of sorts when I picked them up. I guess I thrive on a strict routine too much because I had a splitting headache by the time everyone went to bed last night because I was trying to get everyone back on schedule. The babies did well in the cdc but they didn't nap and were very very cranky when we got home - plus they are both a little sick now.

All of the moms. I think about 30 moms attended.

The buffet

The bus drivers. The driver on the right is Ben's bus driver. Ben loves him so I had to take this picture. I stood far away and zoomed in so they wouldn't realize I was only taking a picture of them. Ben already loves to look at this picture!

The front of the restaurant. On the right is a green house. I have heard that in the spring they grow strawberries in there and they have a strawberry tart making event which is very fun. We will have to try that out!

Our buses. At Ben's school there is a swim school which takes place after school. Ben is actually going to start there next week. I think these buses are for the swim school. I am wondering if the older kids go to swimming events at other schools.

The front entrance - on the left is the market and straight ahead is the ice cream shop. The restaurant and green house were around back.

Omura Dream House sign

O.K. - for those of you who I have spoken to about the school, you know I am fascinated with the dog bus! Here are up close pictures of it. I love it!! I wish Ben rode the dog bus!

Fun Sunday plus a wound

Today we ventured out to Saiki park to go sledding and play with Jane's girls. This is the same park where Ben went sledding awhile back and got a "road" burn on his ankle from the sledding. Luckily he didn't have any accidents today but unfortunately Piper did.

My super hero ready to go sledding.

Ready, set...

Go!

Ben didn't want to sled for very long. I don't know if he was still feeling a little timid after the accident last time. He went down a few times and then was ready to hit the roller slide. I went down a couple of times with him and decided to stop. He asked me if I stopped because the slide made my body feel funny. Well yes, it did make my body feel funny. Nothing like rolling down a roller slide on your rear.

It is sweet potato season in Sasebo and at in front of the store at the park they were grilling sweet potatoes. We realized that people were also picking sweet potatoes up the hill so we decided to try it out. Remember this picture for a later picture of Piper...

Ben and Grace beginning the trek up the hill.

Sweet potato picking!

They gave us gloves and shovels and told us where we could dig. All for free! Japan is amazing that way!

Our first sweet potato!

Ben thought the rock was cooler to dig up than the potatoes! Notice how happy the farmer is behind him. They love being around the kids!

Our sweet potato!

Getting help finding more potatoes.

So in the next few pictures think back to the picture of the ladies grilling the sweet potatoes. After we picked our potatoes I bought two potatoes already cooked. I didn't realize that the foil wrapped potatoes may have hot embers on them. I laid my bag on top of the stroller and an ember burned through the stroller and fell on Piper's head!

The hole.

The next hole.

The burn mark on Piper's snuggler in the stroller.

Piper's burned head :( I immediately took her to the urgent care clinic on base. While I was getting the babies out of the car, the chief medical officer on the ESSEX pulled up. I had met him during our culture class right when I got here. He and his wife are very nice!! Well I asked him if he could check her head before I lugged everyone inside. He said that it did break the skin but that it looked like it would be o.k. I just need to keep it clean and try to keep it dry so it can scab up. Piper is such a trooper!

My poor baby! She still smilin' though!

Can't leave Nate out!