Winter Is Coming!

Hehe... Since Will and I are on a marathon watching Game of Thrones and on the last few episodes of season 5, it only seemed fitting that my blog about winter be titled with one of the most famous lines from the show :-) I wish I could think of something to write about with "You know nothing Jon Snow" but I got nothing.I know... I'm a bit ridiculous

So Winter is here in Yuzhno!!!! And let me tell you... I am already enjoying it SO MUCH MORE than last year. We are settled, we know the routine, snow storms are nothing anymore and most importantly... CJ is no longer afraid of the fluffy white stuff!

We were outside sledding the other day when Will and I just watched CJ handle the stairs and sled all by himself screaming "This is awesome" down the hill. When did this happen? My "baby" will be 3 in February and is developed far beyond his years. It is amazing watching him keep up with his siblings who are 6 and 4. 

These three melt my soul! I am convinced that Sophia is Ash and Mike's soulmate. My kids absolutely adore this little girl and how cold you not :-) 

"Lets climb the mountain guys!"

"Mrs Tiffany! The snow is yummy!"

She is indeed the apple of my eye - my little snow bunny

Then there are these fools - The Dogs Of Winter

"I dont care how much now is out here. I will find my soccer ball and be cold while chewing it"

"MOSYA KEEPS TRYING TO STEAL MY TOY!"

Watching these two clutch their miniature Burton Snowboards makes me so giddy inside! This is their first year learning to ride so I thought I would take them behind Community Center to ride on the little bunny hill. 

Tried teaching these goons the basics of snow plowing and stability on the board. WAY too much powder. Even I had a hard time! Powder was almost knee deep in some areas and then grass in the others. Not really a good day for instruction. But that didn't stop miss Ash, she strapped in and said "WOOHOO, here I go" and took off. My fearless child. She came in hot, lost her hat and got a face full of snow. Meanwhile, Mike, my son who is the epitome of the Exxon Mobil way, starts screaming "THAT IS NOT SAFE ASH! THAT IS NOT THE WAY! YOU WILL BECOME HURT AND NOBODY NEEDS TO BE HURT! 

All in all - not a successful first lesson - Next stop, the real mountain

Sledding with friends! My kids played for quite awhile with Riley :-)

The hills around here are pretty fun

Snow Angels!

Ash was so proud of her masterpiece

"Operation Finding Firepit" started early this year!!! Last year I spent a week digging out the pit. Not this year. I made a vow to stay on top of the snow fall :-) Putting the boys to work why they are willing to dig!

We got the fire pit out and in the process, made a few extremely fun sledding runs in the yard! This little sled like thing is so much fun!

Page family came over to play and this is why I love this year so much better. Yes, these kids are still little. Halle and Mike are 4 years old and she lives two doors down from me but our yards are contained and it is compound living. Extremely safe. The can play outside and we do not have to be on top of them ALL THE TIME. I can run in the house and throw dinner in the oven, or switch out laundry or anything else and they just continue on. This is my back yard and they went on for quite a while. Halle put on all her stuff and walked over, it is amazing watching all these kids grow up. Last year it was tough with them being new 3's and still very much unsure of stuff, slightly difficult, and not so independent. Now they are riding the bus to school, CALLING EACH OTHER ON THE PHONE, playing Ennie Meenie Minnie Moe (spelling?)  - And for goodness sake, my eldest turned 6 last week!!! What!!! 

It really is an incredible journey being a parent - What's the saying? "Life ain't always beautiful but its a beautiful ride"

For sure - Its hard, its trying, its complicated, but through all of it, it is so magical to see the world through their eyes. The innocence of it all. They are shielded from the ugliness that currently engulfs this planet and live in a world of imagination. 

You have Ash and Halle making up hot lava games as they climb back up the hill to Mike screaming at the neighbors yard because the light is off and that means the monster is coming, to finally "not so little" CJ and Weston playing King of the Hill tough man style with the "You Shall Not Pass" stance knocking each other down!  (Man Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings reference all in one post.... Yea, I have nerd tendencies :-) )

What I'm trying to say is that it goes by SO fast. Enjoy it while it lasts because next year they may not want us to play outside with them 

I love this picture

I am looking forward to what this winter brings us. There will be many more adventures in the snow but I wanted to share our first real two weeks of snow :-)

Japan Journey's Part 5 ~ Hiroshima

Our last day in Japan we got back on the Shinkansen from Osaka to Hiroshima. I was very anxious for this as I did not know what to expect, how to feel, and stressed about the kids making WAY too much noise in a place of reflection and silence

This is the Hiroshima Prefectural Products Exhibition Hall A.K.A "The A-Bomb Dome" ~ The building was built in 1915 and this is what remains after the the atomic bombing on August 6, 1945. This is the only structure left standing near the bomb's hypocenter. The skeletal remains of this building are now protected by the UNESCO World Heritage. When reconstruction of Hiroshima began, these ruins became part of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park

Several monuments and memorials 

More views of the A-bomb Dome

So remember when I said I was stressing about about the kids making too much noise??? CJ was the worst child ever. He did not make a noise until he got to a place that it is wise to be moderately quite. He threw the worst tantrum ever, jumped up and down, screamed, kicked..... I finally said to him that I would leave him here if he did not be quiet :-) He was great the rest of the day!

Memorial tower to the mobilized students

Children's Peace Memorial

Memorial Cenotaph to the Korean victims and Peace Pond located behind

Memorial Museum

Pictures of the "Mushroom Cloud" and the places that these pictures were taken from. The black dots on the map below signify the location

The atomic bomb hypocenter

This section of the museum was a bit hard to take in. Seeing these bits of clothes belonging mostly to children and secondary school aged children was extremely sad. I know the bomb was a necessary evil, thousands of lives were saved, but the fact that so many innocent children were killed did not sit well with me. 

This really did me in.... Seeing this tricycle was terrible

More school uniforms 

That was the last picture I took inside the museum. Between Ashlynn breaking out into a mass coughing fit and Mike asking very loud questions about the bomb and what he was seeing made me get through as quickly as possible while still reading the exhibits. 

Mike was too funny though ~ We walked into the museum and there was an exhibit with mannequins suffering from radiation damage, flesh falling off their face.... It was awful actually but Mike has no clue what he was looking at. We explained to him as delicately as possible in a way that a 4yr old would understand that a bomb was dropped on this city during the war. 

This is Mike through the museum...

"You mean we took planes and opened them up and dropped bombs on these places"

"Oh did the bomb blow this up too?"

"DID THE BOMB DO THIS TO THE CLOTHES?"

I mean... They are innocent questions and he is only 4 but he was asking them as loud as he possibly could and was very intrigued at what we were looking at

Fountain of Prayer

Hiroshima Peace Bell

Peace Tower Clock

After the Peace Memorial Park we headed to Hiroshima Castle

This is a rebuild as the original came down in the blast

We didn't go inside this castle but the inside has been turned into a museum of Hiroshima before the atomic bombing

More artsy pictures... The colors!!!

He's Happy now :-)

Hiroshima Castle Park and City views

Back on the Shinkansen to Osaka

I was really glad that we decided to visit Hiroshima. At the beginning of 2015, Will and I visited Pearl Harbor and the start of WWII for the Americans. We are closing out 2015 with  visit to Hiroshima and where WWII came to an end after the 2nd bomb was dropped in Nagasaki. 

It was a humbling experience and I am fortunate that my kids were there to see it. Although they are young, they were still there and walked on a piece of our history.