Pink Ballerinas

If there is one thing I love about the ages of my girls right now it would be that they love doing the same kinds of things. They love the same books, the same toys, and for the most part they get along pretty well. One of the first books Emma picked up at the library this summer was a small book about a pink ballerina. Both Emma and Abby loved this book and made me read it at least a couple of times each night before bed. They would get their pink dress up skirts and twirl around their room pretending to be ballerinas. Emma was smitten with the idea of being a ballerina. For weeks she kept asking me if I could sign her up for a ballet class. I finally signed her up for the 4 & 5 year old class which was a little bit more demanding than the toddler ballet class. At the time I did not know that there was a class for Abby. Emma's first class was interesting as she did not know anything about ballet and so she just listened to her japanese intructor with her poor english and watched what the other girls were doing. It didn't take Emma too long to figure out what was going on. At times she played the shy card which is funny to me because she is not a shy girl. After a couple of classes Grandma Ann sent Emma a new leotard and skirt and a new pair of pink tights. Emma is always telling me, "I can't wait until we can do twirls in class." She just loves to twirl around at home in her tutus and skirts.

Over the course of a couple of weeks I noticed how excited Abby was for Emma during ballet days. I watched Abby during Emma's classes as she would sit on the floor and mimick some of the things Emma was doing in her class. One day another mom in the class leaned over to me and told me about the toddler class for 2&3 year olds. I was sold. It was a done deal. I immediately signed Abby up that day. I decided to try just one class before signing up for the month just to see how she would handle it. I was amazed at how well she did her first class. I really wasn't expecting much. There was no crying and no shyness. She loved every minute of her special time in ballet.

I never thought my girls would love ballet this much. I love how they both get excited before class and how they love to wear their ballet clothes all morning before class. I love dressing them up in their pink leotards and doing their hair in fun pony tails and buns. I love how they get to do something fun together. I love how cute they look walking together into their class. Who knows how long this interest in ballet will last. For now I am enjoying every minute of their happy little faces as they get to do something fun on their special day!

The Great Buddha in Kamakura

We took the kids to see the Great Buddha in Kamakura after a half day at school. We walked down to Mutsuura train station on the Keikyu line which only took about 10 minutes from our house. We had to climb down 4 or 5 sets of steep stairs and I hilariously watched Mike carry Abby in the stroller down all those stairs. Andrew enjoyed running down the side runner along the stairs which made me nervous but I had to smile at his pure enjoyement. Once at Mutsura we took the train to Higashi- Zushi. On the train Emma spotted an advertisement with a sad face painted on a pear and she just thought it was so funny. She made me take a picture of it. It remained a funny thing to spot in all of the different trains we took. From Higashi-Zushi we left the station and walked two blocks to the JR line at Zushi so we could take another train to Kamakura. At Kamakura we got on a local trolley train and went the 3 stops to Hase which is where the Big Buddha is located.

We walked a half mile down the road and entered the beautiful grounds. I love all the tori gates and shrine like entrances everywhere. After paying to get in we headed to the little hut to wash our hands. It is tradition to wash your hands to purify yourself before entering. The kids had fun pouring water on their hands and playing in it a bit. They were fairy reverent about it but eventually we had to tell them that their hands were indeed clean enough. It was a BRIGHT SUNNY day outside so I already knew a picture in front of the Buddha would be hard with my squinty and sensitive-eyed family so we found a shady spot and had someone snap a quick photo.

The Buddha was bigger than I had remembered from a picture I had seen of me visiting there when I was 2 years old (still trying to find that photo). The kids were enamored by the massive statue. Peter turned to me and said, "Look mom, he is sitting criss cross apple sauce." Sure enough he was. It was funny to see tiny little Abby pointing up at the gigantic Buddha. She looked so small compared to the large statue. All of the Japanese people around us just kept saying "kawai" which means cute in Japanese. Our children were a bit of a highlight for the people as we were the only blong haired blue-eyed people there. It didn't take long before the kids found a water fountain. Near the fountain we spotted Buddha's gigantic sandals hanging on the wall. They were really neat looking. We continued to explore in the wooded area behind the Buddha and then we headed back through a wooded trail to the road that lead us back to the station. The kids enjoyed ice-cream cones on our way back and Mike and I shared a crepe which we ended up having to share with everyone because we all LOVE the crepes here. It was the perfect little adventure for a Friday afternoon.

A little history on the Buddha:

The seated Buddha, Amida Nyorai known by the familiar name of the Kamakura Daibutsu is the principle deity of Kotoku-in temple. It is a national treasure. Daibutsu in Japanese means Great Buddha and most westerns refer to Daibutsu as the Great Buddha of Kamakura. The Great Buddha of Kamakura is located in Kamakura, Kanagawa prefecture, Japan. It is made of bronze and it is located in the Kotokuin temple, one of the most famous Buddhist temples of the Pure Land sect in Japan. The Daibutsu of Kamakura is said to be the second largest monumental Buddha in Japan.

The Buddha was founded in the year 1252, but the buildings were wiped out by the tsunami tidal wave in the 15th century and now, the statue lies in the open with no roof. The buddha of Kamakura is 13.5 meters tall and weighs about 93.1 tons. The great Buddha is seated in the lotus position with hands forming a gesture of meditation called “DHYANI MUDRA”. The Daibutsu is located in the backdrop of wooden hills.

District Conference

This weekend was District Conference (Stake Conference) for our church up near Yokota Air Force Base. Since Yokota is at least 2 hours away we booked a room at the temporary lodging facility at the Air Force Base so our commute on Sunday morning would be only 10 minutes instead of 2 hours. The room was spacious with a full kitchen, washer and dryer, dining table, living room and 3 bedrooms. It was perfect and super cheap ($60). We left Saturday evening after dinner and made the long drive up to Yokota. It took us over 2 hours because we ran into some heavy traffic along the way. Luckily the kids fell asleep after watching a movie.

It was nice to be in a more Americanized place for a night. I looked at the American sized oven and thought it looked absolutely enormous. I think I even commented to Mike that it looked bigger than I remembered. I don't know what I would do with myself with a normal sized oven. Oh how great it will be when we have normal appliances in a couple of years.

The morning was calm and we even made it to the church building with 5 minutes to spare. We had to split up so that we could sit in the main area but we were only an aisle away. I took the girls and Mike took the boys. The kids were amazingly reverent and I was able to concentrate on all of the talks. Today I was called to be the District Primary Secretary. The new Primary President is one of my friends and I am so happy to be working with her. Our District Primary covers all of the Military Branches on mainland Japan (Iwakuni, Yokosuka, Zama, Yokota, and Misawa). I hope that we will be able to travel some to get to know the other members of our District. A new District Presidency was called today and with that we were able to hear from Elder Stephenson from the Seventy as well as the Mission President and all of the new Presidency. The talks were so amazing and so spiritual. I was so glad that we made the extra effort to be at this District Conference. We were amazed and a little jealous of the huge church building. I wish I could have captured the entire building in one picture but it was so big and my lens was not wide enough and the building was right off the main road. We can't wait to come back for the next District Conference.

Our Rock Garden

Our kids loved going to all of the Japanese gardens while we were living in the US. Now we have our own little rock garden in our backyard. Our backyard is more like a side yard and although it is not as huge as our yard back in Washington it has some nice features to it. Half of the yard is a rock garden that is quaint and peaceful while the other half is a grassy area. That part needs a bit of work to get the grass to grow in properly so it looks a little better. It is large enough for a trampoline which we are debating about getting for the kids. I am a little hesitant after Abby broke her leg on the trampoline before our move. Since it has been so hot here the kids don't play outside for very long. Today I suggested we bring the cars and sand toys outside and play in the tiny rocks. They all loved it and there was a slight breeze which kept them cool. Yeah for a little yard! Most places here don't even have a yard so I consider us lucky.