Hosting Japanese Kids

We hosted 4 Japanese children from Fukuoka on Saturday to show them our American home and how we bake cookies the Japanese do not have ovens so the kids had never baked before they had a great time mixing all the ingredients and rolling the batter into balls. We had a great time and look forward to doing it again with another group of kids. The kids took home about 2 dozen cookies each :)

The kids coloring Autum,Amber,Maki,Kayleigh,Eiki,Momoka,Akari,me

Us again

Momoka and Kayleigh

Eating lunch we did Hamburgers,Hot dogs on the grill and had mac salad and cole slaw

All of the kids in front of the tree

Maki holding Kayleigh
Akari and Sora and Eiki

Mixing all the ingredients together they had a really good time with the 1st batch of cookies after that they were ready to play.

Akari and Momoka with Kayleigh they were rolling the batter into balls all of their cookies came out big :)

Enchanted Holiday Event

Autum was interviewed during the Holiday Enchanted Event by AFN it should air on Tuesday or Wednesday. She really enjoyed it! Thanks Stacy for getting these pictures. I was in line with Kayleigh for Santa. That is Fake snow :)

Kayleigh coloring while Mommy stood in line for Santa

Kayleigh,Gaga, and the fire dog

Playing Gator Golf

Hello Kitty put on a performance for us Kayleigh also got her picture taken with Hello Kitty and they will mail that to us.

We had a great night was cold but we enjoyed it :)

Our Christmas Decorations

Our neighbors house had a spongebob blow-up so Kayleigh wanted her picture in front of it. Amber putting up the lights around our fence

Autum getting our deer together

Kayleigh outside the house with the Polar Bear Kayleigh getting ready to help put up decorations outside

Sumo in Fukuoka

Tony and I went to the Sumo Tournament in Fukuoka on Sunday we went with a bunch of our friends on the MWR bus, we had a really great time and it was nice for just Tony and I to get out. We will Definitely go again. Sumo comes to Fukuoka every November. Enjoy the pictures below. Tony and I outside the Venue in line to get in.

The sumo ring is called the dohyo and takes its name from the straw rice bag which mark out its different parts. The greater portion of each bale is firmly buried in the earth. The dohyo is 18 feet square and 2 feet high and is constructed of a special kind of clay. The hard surface is covered with a thin layer of sand. The bout is confined to an inner circle a little over 15 feet in diameter. Over the dohyo suspended from the ceiling by cables is a roof resembling a Shinto shrine with four giant tassels hanging from each corner to signify the seasons of the year.

On each day of the tournament immediately before the maku-uchi matches are scheduled, the colorful doyo-iri or "entering the ring " ceremony take place. Down one aisle in reverse order of their rank comes one team of maku-uchi rikisii wearingkesho-mawasii or ceremonial aprons. These aprons, beautifully made of silk, richly embroidered with different designs and hemmed with gold fringe cost anywhere from 400,000 to 500,000 yen

The leading roles in the dohyo-iii are reserved for the yokozuna who have not taken any part in the ceremony up to now. A yokozuna comes down the aisle attended by a senior gyoji and two maku-uchi rikishi in kesho-mawashi one bearing a sword. Over his kesho-mawashi the yokozuna wears a massive braided hemp rope weighing from 25 to 35 pounds tied in a bow at the back and ornamented in the front with strips of paper hanging in zigzag patterns. This is a familiar religious symbol in Japan. It can be found hanging in Shinto shrines and in the home over the "shelf" of the gods where offerings are made at New Year.

These banners were Advertisements the bigger the match the more banners we saw.

This one came out a little blurry but had to put it in the mix :)

The concluding rite of the day is the "bow dance". After the final match a specially picked makushita rikishi climbs into the dohyo, is handed a bow by the gyoji with which he performs the yumitori-shiki, a brilliant routine with a twirling bow. The ceremony was introduced sometime during the Edo Period when a winning rikshi was awarded a prize of a bow and to express his satisfaction performed the "bow dance

This is Yokozuna Hakuho he took the top division championship with a 15-0 record for his 12th Makuuchi Division title!! He got a lot of big Trophies :)

Reminds me of the Stanley Cup

I was told by our Tour Guide that this was the Prime Minister of Japan but after looking for his name the face doesn't match their Prime Minister so still doing some research on who this is.

Our Christmas Tree

We woke up at 530AM Friday Morning to go get a real Christmas tree we were told if you waited too long they would be gone so we got in line at 6am lol picked out our tree shoved it in the car lol and went over to the Exchange to do a little black Friday shopping, nothing there don't know what all the fuss was about :) We got back to the house at about 9am put up the tree and decorations :) I'm so glad we can continue on the our real tree tradition :) The girls love it too :) Going to give our tree lots of TLC cause we were told these trees will be brown by Xmas lol. love you all enjoy the pictures.
Kayleigh putting window clings up :) Our Christmas Tree

Tony finishing up the decorations on the tree Autum moving the tree into the corner

Kayleigh helping Mommy with the decorations

Kayleigh loved putting the ornaments on the tree

Carrying the tree through the hallway

Thanksgiving in Sasebo,Japan

Today we celebrated Thanksgiving in Sasebo, Japan this was only the 2nd Thanksgiving I have missed in West Virginia :( Tony has missed a lot but the girls and I were always able to go. I missed the Evick Thanksgiving a lot and all of Meme's GREAT food:) It was very quite today guess cause there was only 5 of us to celebrate lol us 5 were together and that is all that mattered to me :) Tony has missed out on so much in our lives since the Iraq War started it was great to have him at the Thanksgiving table. Enjoy the pictures below and HAPPY THANKSGIVING.
Amber enjoying the meal :) Our Turkey Tony did a great job :)

Our Family Picture thanks to delay snap lol

Tony putting the Turkey in to get cooked!!! Autum and Amber helping with the Turkey they had a lot of fun

Putting Stuffing in the bird

Autum helping Tony chop up the veggies to put in the turkey

Our Turkey 14.5 lbs :)