a big week for us! school, stink and snow!

It's been a big week! Ghett started school at the Achi Intrnational school and he is enjoying it a lot. He isn't sure about the lunches, or the morning exercises but he is loving his new friends, his new teacher Miss Sekiguchi, and the big park across from the school. He is reading a lot now, has gone through five books already this week! (i'm so proud) He is doing math homework and has a speech coming up in a couple of weeks on who he appreciates. He chose his Kindergarten teacher from Mukilteo, Miss Katsh, very sweet.

This week Jaxon and i have been buddies. going places just the two of us. its been very nice. he has been a little trooper getting errands done, and is pretty easy to please with the Children's center or the Tomica toy store to play.

We have made some wonderful friends, the Wandji family. Sandrine and Severine are easy to be with, easy to talk to, and it seems that we have similar parenting styles. Their children are lovely and sweet and thankfully all of our kids seem to get along great! Kelyan is 3 and gives my boys a run for their money. he is a delight, spunky and funny and full of energy. Annais is a sweet, adorable two year old, and i am so thrilled to be around a little girl! she is darling but can keep up with the boys too. we have all been having a great time together having them over to dinner and playing. We all went to dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe the other night. it was great! just like home! loud music, videos, big burgers! hot dogs! coctails! yum! i was happy to find my stomach has gotten smaller, i was full after half of my burger, and those of you that know me well know i can eat burgers with the big dogs! but looks like i'm losing my touch! hope my Lasagna capacity hasn't gone down too!

we are entertaining again tomorrow night, a young couple from Boeing; gonna try for some authentic Italian meatballs. should be fun! Welcome Joe and Emily!

It's been a long week of deliveries and unpacking. We received all of our things from overseas and I found a few things at local second hand furniture stores, cool old asian bench, what i thought was a lamp, but for now will just be "art", a gorgeous girly table cloth! and two colorful, comfy chairs. All came this week, all needed to be unpacked and homes found for. ugh. more shopping for cabinets, and shelves and i think i will still need more. poor Kirk had to put them all together. good job hon! this downsizing has it's draw backs. space is at the top of the list. we have tons of boxes all over the house, and being the way we are about crafts we can't part with them until we have colored all over them, or made something out of them. the boys love it. i am going to cut some down to make big building blocks for them. (the wisdom of this will remain to be seen) so far they are having a blast with all of their toys, train tracks all over the floor, space ships, pirate ships, cars, trucks etc. i think every toy is out in their room right now. they haven't wanted to go outside at all, just play in their room. which is good, no complaints from me, in fact i went out for a monster 1oK walk this morning all by myself! (we woke up to snow this morning which was lovely but cold) and I came back to find Kirk unpacking boxes and the boys playing in their room. lovely! why can't it be like this all the time?

the walk was fantastic. everything is right off this one main thorough fare Higashiama-dori, the kids school, the zoo and botanical gardens, the Terraces shopping area, department stores, grocery stores, pizza place for lunch, starbucks, post office, an art store. It was wonderful!

I sat and had a relaxing lunch of risotto and mushrooms with a lovely chardonnay, and quiet. no kids, no noise, no one needing something from me. i could've stayed there all day! i may make this a tradition for my saturdays. starbucks, walk, lunch, wine, grocery store, art store, blog.

so far i havent' even tried to learn japanese, too tired and busy absorbing what's around me now. as soon as Jaxon is in school i will get a teacher and get busy. i figure, why stress myself out more right now? it'll come, and i have three years, what's the rush. just absorb and have fun! so far, so good.

i'm getting around great with the car, can find the school, the mall, the grocery, the zoo, etc. i'm feeling pretty comfortable. the walk really helped get to know the area better. things aren't really so far away, surprisingly. when you take the subway it seems things are so far apart, but really the stops are all only a few blocks apart. so walking was nice. it made me feel very good about our choice of homes. this place is so close to so many things, the subway, grocery, a park, McDonalds (although we rarely go there, yeah!) the Starbucks, a good pizza place, an art store, donuts, etc. and you can't beat our deck! we made a sandbox for the boys, but it is full of water, so it is the mudbox right now, and put together a picnic table and long benches. i am looking forward to getting some fruit trees, blueberry bushes, and planters full of veggies, herbs, and flowers. it'll be a little oasis in the city!

the only real downside is this awful, horrible, rank, stink that comes from somewhere in the laundry/ bath area. At first i blamed Kirk for it, really bad gas? come on! but then it would be back there when he was in the front room. hmmm? either the sewer is backing up? people downstairs are giving permanents to everyone, or maybe they are cooking eggs or cabbage? yuck! whatever it is, it stinks! makes it hard to come home, but then you get used to it or it goes away, not sure. but it could almost run me out of here, but as long as i can go out on the deck for fresh air, hopefully i'tll be ok. we'll see.

I had lots of fun Skyping with my sister in law Cheri and her family this week too. (they even got the cat in the act) what a blast to be able to talk and see one another. i carried the laptop around and showed her our new home. fun! the kids especially loved it, or loved seeing themselves really. but fun was had by all! we will be able to "attend" family gatherings now and see everyone. we have a "date" to talk to the Grandparents next week, and hopefully convince them to get Skype themselves! hope you all get Skype so we can talk! it's free!

I am missing everyone a lot, that's one hard part. we have our photo collages out so we can see all of your smiling faces (can you find you?) it doesn't seem real that we are so far away and we can't just have you over for dinner or to play! boo hoo. i miss that. i also miss drive through coffee stands, or good coffe for that matter, they have Starbucks but not one on every corner like home. I also miss garbage cans on the streets. the city here pays to have people out picking up trash but the city doesnt' offer garbage cans. odd. they can pick it off the street by hand but can't change a can liner? anyways.....

the change really shows in the little things. dish soap sucks, no paper towels, or they cost a fortune! all kinds of strange and different foods, can't find Wheat thins, blueberries are $16, no baby carrots, they put corn and undercooked eggs on everything, tuna on pizza? we are adapting and getting adjusted, but it is different. but that's what makes it an adventure!