Pray

I asked Adam to show me how he plays. He thought I said pray. Ha. Notice he says, "Oh, Jesus, not dear Jesus." Then he talks about maybe going to the library.

Taking Pictures

Adam thought I was taking a still shot. He's a character!

Sitting

All of a sudden, Lottie's sitting is getting much better!

Grunty

I sometimes call Lottie "Grunty." Here's why.

Mini Me

This picture really shows Lottie's resemblence to me. Scary.

Here you can see the pretty highlights in her hair. They might fade now that fall is here - we'll see.

Smiley

Hat Siblings

Adam and Lottie look so similar. Here they are at 6 months (Adam) and 5 months (Lottie) with cute hats!

Sleep for Lottie

After her first 11 hour sleep, Lottie continues to sleep well. She slept 7 hours straight, then another 6 hours after feeding the next night. Last night, she slept another 11 hours straight. I guess when you FINALLY figure out how to sooth yourself to sleep, you don't need Mommy anymore. Thank goodness!

Cuteness

Lottie, looking like a doll.

Adam trying to hold Lottie upright. Next time, we'll go back to using the couch to pose.

First Day of School

Adam started Joy School today. Here he is, excited, but distracted. He also just started getting a cold, so that's bothering him too.

Here he is at the park when I picked him up. Joy School always ends with outdoors play time. He was happy, but still busy. He's ready to go again on Friday!

Zama Football

On Friday, we took the kids to the Zama High School JV football game. The varsity game started at 7 PM, which is waaaay too late for them. Adam had a great time sitting with Calum and Jesse.

Lottie enjoyed watching all the people. Zama is like a small town - you run into everyone you know.

Adam and Calum cheering for Zama.

Sleeping!

One really great and one equally yucky thing happened last night. Lottie cried herself to sleep - it only took five minutes. Then she proceeded to sleep 11 hours. Straight. This has NEVER happened before. I got up twice to check on her, because I was convinced she was dead. The first time I checked on her, I realized that the reason the dog had gotten up in the middle of the night was to go poop in Lottie's room. At least I had turned on the hall light and didn't step in it! Thanks, dog.

On Our Own

We are officially on our own for the rest of the week. Chris is at a class in Korea until Sunday, leaving me a single parent of two!

We survived our first soccer practice without him, with a lot of help from the parents. They were so helpful. Adam got to spend a whole hour playing in an elementary school classroom. Lottie got held and pushed around the track. When I got them back, they told me that Adam was super smart and polite, and Lottie was sweet. What nice compliments! They can have the kids anytime. Ha ha.

Adam starts his Joy School (pre-preschool homeschooling, since they don't have a preschool program here) tomorrow. Two and a half hours without him - whatever will I do with the time? Maybe poor Lottie will actually get a little attention...

Hanging Out

Here are the terrible twosome, really hanging out.

Wet Head

This is what happens when you spend half an hour crying in your room instead of sleeping. Half a wet head.

Lion

After I took Lottie's hair out of her pigtails, we got this fabulous do. Grrr, she's a lion!

Owls

Adam loves Mommy's stacking owl dolls, but only gets to play with them with supervision. He loves taking them apart and putting them together. He even gave Lottie the "big one daddy owl."

He decided that the bigger top pieces could be hats for the smaller owls. Then he decided that the bigger bottom pieces were bathtubs for the smaller owls. "Baby owl, taking a bath!" So versatile, those owls.

Explaining Ethnicity

While trying to explain ethnicity to a two year old:

"You're Polish too."

"I'm not Polish. I'm hanging out."

Beer Lover

Lottie loves Daddy's Japanese beer.

Actually, she just loves trying to mouth the edge of the can. See how pretty and fallish the can is?

Nani, Babysitter

Nani loves taking care of Lottie. In return, Lottie grabs her tongue.

And her gums.

More Posing

Adam still always wants to "hold it hold Lottie." She's usually pretty agreeable.

Children's Hall Videos

Here are some videos of the kids playing at the Children's Hall. Adam is mowing the lawn, very seriously.

Rest of the Trip

After our visit to the park, the battery in the camera died, so no more pictures. We did go to Ueno Park, famous for its panda. Unfortunately for us, Ling Ling died on April 30, 2008, which was advertised on numerous flyers all over the zoo. Adam did enjoy the animals though, including elephants, (jackass) penguins -according to the sign, pygmy hippos, rhinos, zebras, giraffes, and snakes! On the way out, we saw some monkeys that we had missed on the way in, as well as the American exhibit, which included a poor buffalo in a very small enclosure (hard to roam that way) and some prairie dogs. Japanese zoos are notorious for their horribly small enclosures for the animals. Sad.

After the zoo, Adam got to ride a Thomas train ride at the amusement land near the zoo. Then we went back to the hotel for a nap. We finished the day with a Japanese baseball game. We went to Meiji Stadium again to see the Yakult Swallows play the Hiroshima Carp. We believe the Carp won, but we ducked out a little early, since the kids were tired. We sat next to a couple with divided loyalty. He was a passionate Carp fan, she was all decked out in Swallows gear. They both had the team clappers, and Adam had a great time cheering for both teams along with them. Organized cheering, of course. Daddy bought Adam a Carp towel, and a fancy Swallows towel, with Tanaka's number. (That's my mother's maiden name, for those who don't know.) Lucky boy.

Asukayama Park

On Monday, we visited Asukayama Park, one of Tokyo's oldest public parks. It's famous for its cherry blossoms, but we went for the trains and the playground. There were two trains to explore, and a huge castle to climb. Adam spent most of his time running from train to train. He was by far the sweatiest kid at the park.

Sitting on the elephant's trunk. This is also a slide!

Lottie with the mermaid statue.

We decided to take a small tram to get to the park instead of the usual JR (Japan Rail) trains. This tram was light rail, and wound its way through the back streets of Tokyo. It was basically a glorified bus.

Children's Hall

We then took the kids to a Children's Hall, which is an indoor place center, with play equipment, crafts, music, science stuff, and more. It's wasn't as great as it sounds, and there is another one that is supposed to be better only blocks away, but this one is FREE. Adam had a blast on the indoor playground, running around with all the other kids.

Lottie enjoyed the baby play area, although there weren't really any toys for her.

The baby play area on the third floor had more toys for both Lottie and Adam. Adam just loved all the stuffed animals, especially once he found Mickey Mouse. He also attempted to steal the rolled walkers from all the one year olds. Once he got one, he pretended to mow the lawn.

That night, we checked in, then tried a Thai place that we had noticed our last time in Tokyo. Fairly good, and they were super nice to our two little monsters, who were pretty tired. Adam did manage to eat most of his pad thai (noodles).

Extended Weekend

Chris took a few days off, so we took advantage of the New Sanno Hotel's 25% discount in September and went Tokyo-exploring. On Sunday, we started in the Harajuku-Aoyama area and had lunch at our favorite, Kua Aina. It's a burger place originally in Haleiwa, Hawaii, that has expanded, but only to Japan. Soo good - the burgers have an entire slice of onion grilled into the burger. Adam wouldn't eat, but loved his guava juice.

We passed a dessert place with insane cakes. Look at all that fruit. One had mangoes shaped like roses. And, of course, they were super expensive.

Candle

Adam's new favorite game is building a Lego "candle," then parading around with it, while singing.  We figured out that he's pretending to be an altar server and carry the candle down the aisle, like at Mass.  What a good Catholic!

Sleeping Beauty

Loving sleeping on her tummy...

Cho Cho Lips

My best effort (in the car) of getting a good picture of Adam's cho cho lips.  He gets it from his Mommy.If you don't speak Pidgin, here's the definition.  

cho cho lips
(choh choh lips)

Definition: fat or thick lips
Used In A Sentence: Ku`ulei get shmall kine cho cho lips yeah?
In English?: Wouldn't you agree that Ku`ulei's lips are quite voluptuous?

New Parents

Adam picked out some new parents at the Japanese department store.  Adam's two new Mommies love scarves!

Laughing

Lottie loves hanging out with Daddy, as long as he makes her laugh.

Adam's Wishes

Adam's thoughts for the day. He hasn't forgotten about Disney, you'll see. Also, you can see what happens when you don't strap Lottie into her bouncy seat.

McDonalds

Adam is loving McDonald's milkshakes.

Is a free Smile on the menu at American McDonald's?

Coaching Soccer

We are coaching a youth soccer team AGAIN. We had thought about not coaching, or just assisting, but everyone knows we are suckers, so we are coaching the 11 and 12 year old boys. They have elected to be the Spartans again. They played Ikego today, and managed to walk away with a 1-1 tie. Not too bad for only 2 1/2 practices beforehand, thanks to the rain. Adam was fairly good, but managed to put a huge dent into the water supply, by filling cups and dumping them. A lot. He also managed to get a bloody nose. Too much nose picking, I think. Lottie enjoyed staying in the shade and being passed around by the moms.

Stats

I forgot to post Lottie's new stats from her 4 month appointment. She was 15 pounds, 1 ounce, and 25 1/2 inches. A little smaller than Adam, but still a big girl. She definitely carries a lot more weight on her thighs than Adam did! She gets lots of comparisons to Suri Cruise, Snow White, and general baby dolls. Maybe we have some Halloween costume ideas?

Chaos

How much damage can a toddler do in 30 minutes? This much!

Calum's Birthday

We went to Calum's house to celebrate his birthday on Sunday. We flew to outer space to eat our cake on the moon, then came back. It was a short trip! Here are the boys in their "space suits" in the space shuttle. Jesse was all decked out.

Adam inspects Calum's birthday present. They both have chocolate all over their mouths. Good times.