End of October Activities

Erin and I took Sterling and Brayden to McDonald's yesterday morning for breakfast and playing on the playground. I had them stand there so I could take their picture and Brayden wanted to do the peace sign because that's what all the Japanese kids do for pictures. So then it became hilarious trying to get both of them to make a peace sign, smile and look at the camera- I obviously never succeeded in getting all of that, but it's a cute picture anyway. And then there's Sterling giving his biggest "CHEESE!" possible.


We finally cut Sterling's hair (and it was a HUGE ugly affair with lots of screaming and tears and me having to hold Sterling's arms down so that he didn't hit Luke while he was trying to cut it...) But anyways, here's a picture of the new buzz cut. I love this picture because I actually caught him smiling so nicely instead of looking like a goober which is the face he usually likes to make for the camera.

We went to the Okazaki Zoo on Saturday. It's small, but the perfect size for a morning activity as a family. Sterling especially enjoyed getting to feed the deer and looking at the pig. We got there just in time to watch the zoo keeper feed the rabbits, turtle and pig. It was a fun morning together!

Birthday

This was just one day that I was outside with Sterling letting him ride his bike.

Later that night we had over our friends on the team for cake and ice cream. Before they all came over, two of our neighbors brought over flowers and the Winnie the Pooh card- it was so thoughtful of them!


This was the morning of my birthday, Sterling was handing me my present from him and Luke.

ABC's

Here is Sterling singing his ABC's while Luke cuts his fingernails-- anything for a distraction because he hates nail cutting time!

Kacie's b-day with the girls

Last friday the girls on the team and Carolyn and I went out to dinner in Nagoya for my birthday. It was so much fun! I was really thankful that all the husbands were able to watch the kids so that us girls could go out to dinner and coffee for the evening. The first picture is Caitlin, Carolyn and Erin; the second is me and Rachel, the last is all of us together.

Kyoto with Carolyn

Last week, Carolyn and I went to Kyoto. I've mentioned before that it's a really old city with lots of historic temples and shrines to see. When you go to stay at Kyoto, it is common for Japanese people to stay at a "ryokan", which is a traditional Japanese inn. Carolyn and I decided to get the full experience, so we stayed at one! It was very interesting!!

This was our room when we first came in. It was very small, but clean and nice. These tables were sitting out with hot green tea waiting for us. The room was just this area, with a small bathroom.

They brought our dinner to our room at a specified time and it was so fancy! It was all traditional Japanese food. I tried most of it, but not all. There were a few things I just had no desire to even try- the sea urchin, the salted anchovies, and the slimy black stuff...Carolyn tried everything but the sea urchin- way to go!!

This was a piece of shrimp that still had it's eyes in it...I wasn't too sure about that.

After dinner they took our trays of food and moved the tables over to the side of the room. Then they laid out our futons for us to sleep on...They were very nice futons, but both of us weren't used to sleeping like that! They were hard and uncomfortable all night long.

The next day we walked around Kyoto. We saw lots of temples and the grounds around them- which were gardens and huge gates and stuff.

We also walked along the "philosopher's path". It is along this really pretty canal and you can stop and visit other temples and shrines along the way.

When we got done with the walk we were tired, so we stopped for a "cream soda" which came out green! We were surprised with the color, but it was really tasty and refreshing.

Sterling

I'm really tired from walking all over Kyoto today with Carolyn (it was a GREAT time with pictures to come in the near future, but for now I'm just going to bed) so I'm just going to say briefly that these are pictures of Sterling lately. The third one is from when Chris and Carol DeWelt (Prof. DeWelt is on our advisory board) came to visit us about 2 weeks ago. We did many things with them, but this was the night we had a pizza party. Sterling was climbing on Chris-- I guess it's good that our child is so friendly and not shy!?!

Last Sunday

Last weekend was my teammate Erin's b-day, so we went out to eat at a Mexican Restaurant in Nagoya- it was the first time to try a Mexican restaurant in Japan and it was interesting, but turned out to be pretty good in the end (they had very strange things on the menu like octopus stew and carrot salad which was literally all shredded carrots). But before the dinner, the three of us girls that go to tutoring went to our teachers house with our families to spend the day. Her name is Megumi, I've posted pics on here before of her and her family the day we went to the old village. So anyways, we had a fun day. The pictures above are of the kids playing and watching cartoons and Megumi's house. We also went to church late that afternoon with Shu (Megumi's husband) and her and their kids. It was unfortunately all in English, so they didn't understand most of it. It was fun for us to be there and meet a lot of new people, but we were sad that they had to sit there through the whole thing and not understand a lot of it. That's why our goal is to plant churches that speak in ALL JAPANESE!!

Last week of September

Sometimes cliches are so true, so I'm just going to use one here-- time flies when you're having fun. The last few weeks have been a lot of fun and here are just a few snapshots of the highlights.

This was our last day with Steve at the airport. Going to the airport is like a treat for Sterling. There is a viewing deck where you can watch the planes take off and land and he could spend all day out there. Ever since Steve left he's been telling us EVERY day that he wants to ride on a blue airplane and go high up in the sky. We keep replying, "Okay, next year, after your baby is brother is born, in the summer we'll go on an airplane." Of course, at 2, he has no concept of time, so he continues to ask us if he can go on a plane (only now a lot of the time he adds in "with my baby brother can I go on the airplane?")

He's just so sweet when he's sleeping, I couldn't resist.

Sterling got a package of Sunday School materials from the Weltz's the other day (thank you guys!!!) and there were also some Thomas the train stickers. After we did some on paper, he decided to decorate his legs like this.

We went to the zoo last Saturday. It was a beautiful day. I only took one picture because we were just so busy looking at all the animals (the Nagoya Zoo has the infamous green polar bear, for those of you who saw that on the news).

And on Sunday one of our Ozark professors and current board members Chris DeWelt and his wife Carol came in. Our whole team went out to Outback and then back to the Parsons' to hang out. It was a very fun night.