Skiing & Snowboarding

The boys went skiing (Hodaigi) and snowboarding (Oze Iwakura). It was Danny's first time for both -- of course he picked it up right away! He prefers skiing at this time.... Ric, as usual, is a double-black diamond skier and is beautiful on the slopes!

Guess who turned 8!!

Yup, you guessed it! Danny turned 8! We celebrated by going to Sea Paradise with some friends. Sea Paradise is like Sea World in San Diego but it has a LOT of rides -- Danny rode on an ENORMOUS roller coaster (among other things)! During the evening, Danny had his friend Liam spend the night -- we played games and watched movies! Of course, Danny's cake had a "triforce" on it!

Christmas Magic!

Who is more excited?

Santa was very, very good to us! (Danny saved his money and bought Ric the Nintendo DS gaming system in the top photo. Santa brought each of them a Guitar Hero game.)

Getting ready for Christmas!

From our house to yours, Holidays Omedeto Gozaimasu!

Our tree is decorated with candy canes and Japanese washi eggs. Japanese washi is handmade paper made from wood bark. Each washi egg is also made by hand. The washi is intricately decorated, extremely colorful, and beautiful.

We are getting excited already!

In keeping with our annual tradition, we made a gingerbread house. This year, however, we made a duplex-mansion!

No, this is not our yard.

We spent the day after Thanksgiving in Chinatown (in Yokohama - about 1.5 hours away by train). The food was fantastic; the ambience festive -- there were even chestnuts roasting on open fires! The weather was fully cooperative and, while it was chilly, there was no rain. It was an absolutely wonderful day!

Thanksgiving - a day of food, fun, and friendship!

Pre-dinner bowling!

Daniel's friend, Liam, enjoying dinner. We ate our main course at the galley, which was surprisingly good -- turkey, ham, roast pig, roast beef, dressing, mashed potatoes, a salad bar, etc.; then we had coffee and desserts -- more desserts than you could count -- at Brian and Sarah's house (Liam's parents). It was a really fun and relaxing evening.
Brian, Sarah, and a family friend, Ki.

The pig -- he didn't enjoy dinner as much as we did.

Boy Scouts

Danny is a Wolf Scout and was recently awarded his Bobcat Badge. He has also received a number of belt loops (Archery, Soccer, Piano, etc.)!

Danny's Rock Climbing Adventure - Ogawayama Nov 2008

Tetsuya San, Sachusko San, and Justin took Danny and me (Ric) along on a late fall rock climbing trip to Ogawayama, near Nagano. Beautiful Fall weather... though a bit cold at night... changing leaves. A last chance to camp before the winter cold. Danny took to rock climbing like a young goat. Best of all he loved it and wants to do it again. We can't wait for the spring.