Family Christmas Party

 Dan is attached to H&HS, and the family Christmas party happened on Saturday.  They put on a pretty good shin-dig!  The only sad thing is they ran out of cheesecake.  I waited too long to go through the food line, and while there was plenty of yummy dinner, the dessert selection was vastly diminished.   The kids had been too busy having fun to bother with finding food.

There were drawings and prizes but we did not win anything.  Kids under 8 got to sit with Santa and got gifts.  Delaney and Rylee were delighted, and Callie was pea green with envy.  A very good time was had by the children.

Frosting a cone to make a Christmas tree was a hit.

Rylee spent 20 minutes to carefully color her picture.  She did a marvelous job, too. 

Looking less like a cone and more like a tree! 

And the tree has now become dinner.  You see why there was no desire to wait in the line for dinner! 

This picture cracks me up, every time I see it!  I love these 2! 

Rylee finally finished coloring her page and moved on to frosting a tree. 

Joshua also felt the need to make a tree. 

He said he wanted a picture, and then gave me this face. 

I tried again.  I'm not sure which one is better. 

So happy with Santa! 

And they were even more thrilled when they got gifts.

Waiting for the Bus with Rylee

I'm sorry.  She is just too cute for words and I need to squeeze every last drop of adorable out of her stinking expensive uniform.  Plus, we kill time waiting for the bus taking pictures some days.  So I just knew you'd want to see all her photos!

Japanese stuff that cracks me up

Why yes, I'd love a steaming mug of..... poop? 

This snake felt freakishly realistic. 

I imagine they were going for a "moisture wicking" sort of endorsement, but kind of missed the mark with this one.

The Chicken Shack

 On Friday, Dan had an event for work, sort of a Christmas party without the work.  We drove 30 minutes into the mountain to an iconic restaurant here called "The Chicken Shack" by the Americans.  It has a much nicer name in Japanese, but everyone knows it as The Chicken Shack.  Apparently they decorate quite lavishly, and you go for the atmosphere more than the food. It definitely had character!  You really cannot get the full scope of it all in pictures.  It was fun.

Giant Santa to greet you in the parking lot.

Another giant Santa and enormous Christmas tree.  The tree is mainly decorated by those strips of paper.  I think people write their wishes  on them and hang them on the tree.

So happy to be here! 

There was this impressive Santa display.  One of Dan's Japanese co-workers said each Santa represents a different country.  I wasn't sure if each one was collected from that country or not, but I got the impression it was. 

I was unclear on where exactly the restaurant started.  There were 2 of these little buildings.  They sold trinkets and stuff, yet also had billboards with pictures of the trademark chicken on a stick.  I wasn't sure if you could buy your food there or what.  We followed the folks who knew on past this.

We walked through the little buildings to a little area that had this in it!  so pretty. 

There was so much to look at, including this.  No clue what it is, but it sure in interesting! 

This area held outdoor seating.  It was pretty darn cold, so no one was out here, although I understand there are warmers under the blankets to keep your legs warm. 

Since we had reservations, we got to go inside the main building.  It was full of random and fascinating stuff!  There was so much to look at!  From floor to ceiling and on every side was something to see.

While awaiting our food, we were vastly entertained by the table behind us.  This is my sneaky attempt to get a photo over my shoulder.  I should have tried a video.  I know the Japanese are suppose to be very proper and serious.  Um, not so these ladies!  They were playing a game that apparently is popular and and very funny.  They placed a seat cushion on the floor and 2 ladies stood on it, back to back.  They would then bump butts (yes, bump each other with their bottoms!!) and whoever stayed on the cushion was the winner.  So the goal was to bump your opponent off.  It was hysterical to watch and evidently just as fun to play, judging by the sounds of revelry.

Mmmmm... gyoza. 

I had ordered the "Chicken Meal" with no clue what it was.  Well, this was it.  Rice, cabbage salad, miso soup, and chicken.  It was tasty, although they do not debone the chicken.  When you bite into the delicious, crispy chunk of meat, you may  get a yummy bite of just chicken, or you may also get some bone.  Not such a problem, till you throw in the lack of silverware, which limits you to chopsticks!

Did I mention we sat at one of these low tables?!  I am so not meant to sit on the floor! It offered blankets for your lap, but despite that, I was pretty cold by the time we finished.

It was a great experience and it is true, the ambience is fantastic!

It did WHAT?!

 I woke up Wednesday morning and got ready to run.  It was suppose to be clear and 34 degrees.  It was not either of those.  It was a snow-flurrying 31 degrees.  This was delightful to the children!  Never have they bounded out of bed so quickly and gotten ready for school.  Yes, alas, when one walks a block to school, it does not give you snow days. I found that a little surprising since I have heard it rarely snows here.  Actually, everyone I talked to said this was the most snow they had ever seen in Iwakuni.  (I think they believed the weatherman who said it would be gone by noon.  Ha!)

7am, and I thought the snow was done.  

Playing in the yard before school. They are lobbing snowballs. The snow was coming down again by the time they left for school.

Rylee's Yochien bus wouldn't come in the snow, so I got to drive her.

The road her Yochien is on.  Slushy, but not too  bad.  And the snow was still coming down!

It was so pretty!

I was delighted when Marian's teacher sent me photos of her and the class playing in the snow.  Have I mentioned how much I adore her teacher?!

Look how happy Marian is!  These are her 2 friends here and the snowman they built at school.  And yes, the snow started back up again.  

Ug, I cannot rotate this photo but I thought she was so cute.
I was so pleased that Marian's teacher let her class play in the snow, and the school allowed the kids to have outdoor recess so they could all play in it.  I love this school!

Somehow it was perfect packing snow.  Joshua started rolling a ball 2 blocks away and by the time he rolled it into our yard, this was what his snowball turned into!

The snow was perfect for snowmen and Callie stole Joshua's snowball and made a snowman in the yard.

So sad the snow is melting, but having fun!

  Callie did an awesome job on her snowman.

Callie used olives for the eyes and cranberries for the mouth and the traditional carrot for the nose.  You can see that most of the snow has already melted away.  So sad.  But such a super-fun day for us!