Pumpkin Run 2019

I love bringing the kids to pumpkin patches and fall festivals back in the states, but that doesn't happen here in Japan.  I really wanted to do something fun that wasn't just buying pumpkins at the commissary so we signed up for the annual pumpkin run.  

It was so fun!  Normally it is a 5k, where you run to the pumpkins, choose your pumpkin, and run with it the second half of the race.  They shortened it from a 5k a little bit because of typhoon damage, but that is ok with us.  I had to walk the whole way back and some of the way there because of Calista and Beatrix.  It is hard to carry a baby and run!

Calista was so happy to pick out her own pumpkin.  Bob was the lucky one who got to carry it for her along with her (she rode on his back most of the race) and his own pumpkin.

We let the older kids go ahead of us so we only saw them in passing, but they were all really happy when we found them at the end.  They kept talking about how big their pumpkins are.   I'm pretty sure they only seem bigger when you have to carry them for a mile race.  And yes that is a lady behind them with a pumpkin in a baby carrier.

Now we get to carve them!

Typhoon Hagibis and Shell Hunting

Why do typhoons always happen over the weekend?  Seriously, I feel like they should come any day of the week but of course we have a Super Typhoon Hagibis come right during our three day weekend.  If it was during the week Bob would have had work off.  We had one a few weeks before this that also came over the weekend.  I guess the weather was not in our favor.

Everyone was getting pretty worried about Super Typhoon Hagibis.  The one we had just a few weeks before did some serious damage to base (our house was fine) and this was was supposed to be twice as big so everyone was worried.  I read lots of different articles about how it was going to be the biggest typhoon to hit Japan in decades.  We stocked up on food and even filled our bathtub with back up water just in case.  This picture shows how large it was in relation to Japan.  It completely covers the entire country!

The next picture shows how the eye of the storm is supposed to go right over us in Yokosuka.  We are about the spot where the storm first goes over land.  And not only that but the water is literally right across the street from our house!  We've been told we are safe because we are kind of in an inlet and there is also a big seaway/boardwalk to protect us.

So we shut our shutters and stayed indoors. Here is what happens when we are home for more than 24 hours without going outside.

Lots of mess making!  Calista goes crazy in the pantry about once a week.  Below you can see how sad she was when we pulled her out of there. She also dumped out my meringue powder.  The very one that I can't find in stores or get it to ship to me so my sister brought it over all the way from America.  

 We watched a lot of conference and also finished setting up our Halloween decorations.

Then the day after the typhoon we got up early to go to the beach.  I heard that is the best day to go hunting for shells.

 It was so pretty out and really fun!

 I love that we live near the water.

 Poor Scarlett had no idea this wave was coming.

 Outside decorations.

 I'm not quite sure what our neighbors thing about all the Halloween weirdness that we set up on our house this time of the year.

Beatrix is 8 Months Old

I totally forgot to post these pictures on the blog.  Oops.  Beatrix is 8-months-old and ready to go trick-or-treating.  

She is not really going to be a witch but I thought this little set up is cute.  She is ready though, we told her we needed her to be able to sit before trick-or-treating and she can do it.  I want to pull her around in a wagon so sitting is needed.

Beatrix is really a good baby.  We just love having her around the house with us.  She really isn't that much work at all and just feels like my little buddy who goes everywhere with me.

She is totally scared of strangers, which usually isn't a problem because she is with me or Bob all the time.  Whenever someone else does try to hold her it doesn't go well.  That is ok though, she is perfectly happy to look and smile at you as long as you don't get in her face and try to pick her up.

Soccer Season

We've been busy the last couple months with soccer!  This season Penelope, Scarlett, and Leon all signed up.  I got really lucky because all their practices were at the exact same time.  Scarlett's and Leon's fields were right next to each other and Penelope's was only like 2 minutes away.  I rotated who's practice I watched and we had a good system down.  Because games were Fridays and Saturdays we had soccer four days a week, but I loved it.

Penelope got to play in the 9-11 all girl age group.  There was a huge size difference among the girls and Penelope was definitely on the small side.  She did great though and held her own.  It is nice that she is getting a little older.  I was able to drop her off early and pick her up late, because I needed to be at the other practices.

One of her coaches moved during the season and the other wasn't very reliable so she had a few extra coaches as well.  One of them wasn't very nice and I had to email and ask him to not only play the girls evenly but to be kind to them.  I don't feel like I'm over protective, but the girls should not be leaving the game in tears because the coach is telling them they played badly.  I really don't care if they win, but I do want my child to play their fair share of the game regardless of skill.  The whole things was a little funny because Penelope plays pretty well.  I'm not sure why she sat out almost an entire game and other girls played the whole game.  It is not like they are in the professionals or even a team that they had to try out to be on.  We are in it for fun, and that is what this league is supposed to be about.

 I was only able to take pictures of one game because of Beatrix and Calista.  Too bad it was a night game and they played against another pink team so the girls had to wear the pennys.

Penelope's team, the Flying Flamingos, even had a few away games that she had to travel on the bus without us for.  She was very nervous about that, mainly the lunch part, but she did it.  She had to be gone all day and was scared to order her own lunch at the food court, it was good for her to get out of her comfort zone a little bit.

Leon totally rocked soccer this year.  He had never played before and so we were surprised when he was getting like 9 goals in a game.  He did awesome and ran really hard.  I think it was because he is used to roughing it with his older siblings.  Toward the end of the season he did stop scoring as much.  I'm not sure if it is because the other kids got better or what, but even on those games he did play the about 90% of the games.

His coaches were kind of lame.  They kept cancelling practices and didn't even show up at all for the last game.  There was no communication about that so we were all surprised.  A parent of the other team was able to step in for us.  One of the coaches had twins so whenever they didn't show up they were three kids down.  Hence Leon got to play a lot.  They usually only had one or two subs.  I shouldn't really complain about the coaches because they were volunteer and I wasn't willing/able to do it myself.

 Leon's team was called the Sharkdragons and they were a coed 5-6 group.

Leon was nervous at first to play because he had never done it before but he really ended up loving it.  I expect he will want to play again next year.

Scarlett's team was called the Jellyfish and they were coed 7-8 year olds.  Her coaches were pretty good and fair.  Out of all the coaches I think I liked them the best.  They didn't seem to care at all if the team won.  And by that I mean all the kids played all the positions evenly.  The coaches always showed up to practice and seemed to know what they were doing.

I was surprised that Scarlett even wanted to play soccer this year, but she did.  In general she doesn't like to play running around games as much as the other kids, but she really tried hard for soccer.

Her last game was probably her best and her worst.  She was guarding the goal and someone scored on her.  The ball rolled right past her and she totally missed it.  Then one of the other kids made some sort of comment and she started crying.  I felt really bad for her.  She had also told me earlier that when the scrimmage some of the people try not to be on her team and they say they don't want to be on her team because she is the worst one.  We had a talk about how that made her feel and how she wants to never make others feel that way.  Anyway, later in the game after she totally missed the ball she scored a goal!  It was her first of the season and very exciting.  She even dribbled it down and took a legitimate shot.  It wasn't just a right place at the right time type of thing.  I kind of got a picture of it.

I am proud of her for working hard all season even though it isn't something that comes as naturally for her.  She even said she wants to sign up again next year, but I think that has a lot to do with the fact that she will be old enough to be on the same team as Penelope.

I'm really happy with the sports program here on base.  It is very affordable and pretty low key.  Now for a break before basketball starts.

DisneySea

We made it to DisneySea!  I've been wanting to pretty much since we moved to Japan and we finally made it happen.  It was amazing!

Here we are lined up and ready to go in.  Notice Tangled behind me?  We saw tons of adults dressed up in full Disney costumes.  

They even had a few Halloween decorations up.  For those who don't know, DisneySea is a one of a kind Disney theme park located in Tokyo.  It is similar to Disneyland but has more of a water theme, where Disneyland is centered around the castle.  We didn't get wet on any rides or anything like that.  But there is a big lake in the middle and a big focus on the Little Mermaid and other water Disney movies.

 I'm pretty sure Penelope and Scarlett wanted this next picture to be our house.

There were so many rides that we did that I'm not even posting on here.  We all got shrunk for the first time on the Finding Nemo ride.  We also went on a submarine and drove away from a boulder with India Jones.  And we went to Venice to ride a gondola.

There were a few times that we had to split up because Beatrix and/or Calista weren't allowed on the rides.  That was a little bit of a pain because we couldn't all be together the whole times.  But between Bob, Talitha, and I we made it work.  In fact I think we did everything we wanted to.

Calista and Talitha took a break while the rest of us explored a ship. 

Tucker claimed he was doing research because he is currently in the play "The Little Mermaid."  He has several parts including a sailor.

Beatrix was a great companion and rode along with me and Bob the whole time.  I got the fun job of nursing her while in line for the Toy Story ride, and a few others as well.

The Toy story ride was pretty fun.  I remember waiting in line forever for this ride at Disneyland, but with the fast passes it wasn't bad at all.

 We rode the railway around the park, and also took a boat from one section to another.

 We didn't wait in line to meet any characters, but did happen to run into Jack Sparrow.

Duffy was a huge deal there.  I had never heard of him before but we saw many people carrying around all sizes of this Duffy bear.  I think Scarlett wanted one, but wasn't willing to pay for even the small one.  I can't remember the price but I do remember they had a large one for about $500.

Here we are in front of one of the kids favorite rides.  I had to beg and plead Scarlett to go on the ride.  We were already in line when she started crying and I had missed the last ride and did not want to miss this one either.  It was a roller coaster that went upside down.  In the end she did it.  Everyone loved the ride except for her.  Actually Scarlett and Calista seemed to like the calm smooth rides and Tucker, Penelope, and Leon liked the scarier/bigger rides.

I had to post this next picture of Beatrix and I.  It was so crazy that they kept making me take her out of the carrier for the rides.  There is no way that my trying to hold her on the seat next to me is safer than her being strapped to my chest.

 Talitha bought ice cream for everyone.

I didn't get a picture of it but the Tower of Terror was my favorite ride.  It was a little short, but pretty fun!  I heard Journey to the Center of the earth is a good ride, but that one was down for maintenance so we will have to be sure to ride that next time.

Overall it cost a lot to get tickets for our family to go to a theme park like this and it can be hard to spend so much money on just one day.  But on the other hand we had a blast and I know this can be the type of thing kids remember.  I want to go there at least one more time before we leave Japan and we will be going to Disneyland Tokyo as soon as we get a chance!