Happy Birthday Jane!

We've been working on getting Jane to hold up two fingers for her birthday. I think if it weren't for her birthday it wouldn't even occur to me to teach that. 

 Ryan and I got this great pseudo-high chair for Alice when we travel far and wide. It works great at home as well since we are a couple months away from actually eating real food. 

 Is there anything as tasty as an ice cream cake roll for your birthday dessert?

 These are Jane's favorite gift. They're purple, they're sparkly and you wear them on your face...Sunglasses!

The blue thing you see her shaking is her streamer. After discovering streamers at the 100 yen store we can hardly have a birthday without them.

Spring is Here!

Thus far, this is the best picture we have of the three girls. I love all these bright spring colors!

 Alice is getting to be such a big girl. Helen is the best at getting her to laugh. Without fail, when it's bedtime Alice dissolves into giggles watching her sisters bounce up the stairs.

 The snow has finally all melted and our kids hardly knew what to do with themselves, so they just went back to their default outdoor activity. You can't tell from the picture, but Jane's singing Jingle Bells at the top of her lungs.

 I think that I should have put bags of sugar and flour in the sleds for a little additional weight going up the hill. I like to see kids work hard, it means they sleep well afterwards. :)

 Quite time is one of my favorite times of day, here is how Helen likes to pass the time. 

Aquarium

While Ryan was getting some additional training the girls and I took a trip with the base travel office to an aquarium. These girls were so happy to be on a bus. I was happy that we made it, as the departure time was 7am. In the picture below, you will note the snow-covered pine tree well into April. The picture is foggy because I left the camera in the car overnight so all I had to do in the morning was get three girls packed up.

The highlight of the trip was the dolphin show. We talk about dolphin shows all the time now and pretend that we are dolphins on a regular basis.

I love these giant Japanese crabs.

We just potty trained Jane three weeks ago, so I packed extra clothes just in case we didn't make it to the restroom in time. I was sure glad that I did because when I wasn't looking she put her foot right over the Plexiglas wall separating her from the clams, starfish and crabs that she wanted to grab. She was dry all day other than that incident.

After the aquarium they took us to the mall. I couldn't help but take a picture of these delightful little puppies.

Nijo Castle

This was our last, and perhaps best stop for our kids on vacation - the famous Nijo Castle. "One of the most striking features of the Ninomaru Palace are the "nightingale floors" (uguisubari) in the corridors. To protect the occupants from sneak attacks and assassins, the builders constructed the floors of the corridors in such a way as to squeak like birds when anyone walks on them."This is a tired pair, but only one is showing it. Can you tell which one? The gardens were beautiful and we weren't even there during cherry blossom season or fall when the leaves turn brilliant colors.
Helen loves vacation, gardens, orange pants and rain. So does her mother.
Listening to Robin Hood on tape for months had prepared us to fully appreciate the two moats, "Poor Robin, he never even had a chance." Don't worry, we checked for Robin breathing through the reed every time we crossed over a moat.
Helen and Jane are preparing to sail away on the west wind, just like they learned from the Mary Poppins book on tape. Jane fought the whole walk to gain sole possession of the umbrella, and finally she was given the chance.

Gion and the Kyoto Zoo

This is the beginning of our descent into Kyoto via the Gion. Jane was really happy to be free from the stroller. Here we are going down the "three year slope" where local folk lore says if you slip here you will have three years of bad luck. I am confident that veteran mothers will recognize what Jane is saying without any words, "I am not going to hold anyone's hand, much less Helen's."
If there are flamingos to be found, our girls can find them. You might not be able to tell, but they are standing on one leg each, except for Ryan, he only does that at home when we listen to our flamingo music.