Wow, so the 21st of December is the last you heard from us. Goodness, it's worse than I thought.
The winter has been long, and very cold, but lots of fun. I can say that now because Spring is officially here and although it's still freezing most days we're excited and have even tried to venture out in less clothing. Sarah has taken this to the extreme. The Spring icon went up on the weather chart at school and she now only wears summer dresses. Because, 'it's not winter anymore!' We have emerged very white and pasty, some of us don't fit into our clothes so well, but on the whole our first Winter in Japan went very well.
We were lucky enough to have Jill and Gavin Stokes stay with us for a weekend before Christmas, along with Kirsten and her husband Shiro. Jill and Gavin were going to stay with Kirst and Shiro at their home in Okinawa so they all decided to spend some time in Tokyo first. It was a brilliant weekend. Very busy, Jill and Gavin definitely got the whirlwind tour of Tokyo but it was great fun. The kids loved having them here. Sarah totally fell in love with her surrogate Granny and didn't really let Jill have any quiet time at home but I think it was enjoyed equally by both parties. Getting to know Kirst and Shiro was really nice for us, we love knowing that we have family living in the same country and hope to visit them soon on their beautiful island.
After that Greg and Marinda arrived! They were my favorite Christmas presents. Family means so much to us and having them here for Christmas was such a treat. We spent a few days here exploring the city and then headed out of Tokyo for a skiing trip on Boxing day. We went to Hakuba, a gorgeous ski village, famous for hosting the 1998 Winter Olympics. It's absolutely beautiful there, and the best part was that we arrived in a huge snow storm! Before that there had been no snow on the ground in the village so we were very lucky with our timing. Chris and I have been fortunate enough to go on a ski holiday before in France, but we found Hakuba breathtaking in totally different way. The 'Christmas card scenery' and deep snow was gorgeous. It's so much fun to play in such a lot of powdery snow, it can make you feel like a kid again. It was Greg and Marinda's first time in big snow, and of course, our kids', which made the trip even more special. Sarah was thrilled with the snow, she was outside pretty much all day! We didn't organise lessons for her on this trip but she made friends with a group of little girls at the lodge over the road and played on their snowboard a bit. Her balance was very impressive and she loved it so we'll definitely book her in next time. She made snow angels galore and built lots of snowmen. It was divine seeing her so enchanted with it all. Ronan seemed a bit confused with the white world around him but got the hang of it eventually. Unfortunately he was sick while we were there so he couldn't enjoy it as much as he wanted to, he prefered staying indoors watching Sarah out of the window. We will definitely have to go back again, while we live in a place with such nice mountains and snow it would be a waste not to!
As it does, the time flew while Greg and Marinda were here. They saw so much of this huge city, I'm surprised their feet survived all the walking. Now that I have revived our blog we'll have to ask for a contribution from them. We had a great New Years Eve party in Roppongi and introduced them to Karaoke and dinner at Gonpachi, a restaurant all our guests have enjoyed. All in all, it was an amazing holiday and we loved having them here! Come back any time, there's lots more to see!
After all the festivities were over and guests had left life settled down again into our normal 'routine'. Sarah went back to school very happily, she is so content there. Chris went back to a difficult month at work which he got through relatively unscathed, and Ronan and I stayed at home! I have to admit, when we don't have visitors I'm a bit of a homebody. It's just easier. And warmer. We do have a bit of a weekly plan going, ballet lessons, baby classes, parks and playdates. It all works, it's all do-able on my 'Mama-chan' (the correct name for my bike), and we have a lot of laughs along the way. And I suppose although we're living in this foreign country that is so different to SA it is the way life is supposed to be.
I will post loads of photos with comments, it's probably the best way to catch up on all we've been doing, but like I said, it's been quiet. Our next visitors are my mom and Tracy! I can't even begin to describe how excited I am. It's been 8 months since I last saw them and I am so ready to have them here. Sarah already has it all planned, she's going to sleep with Grandma, eat with Grandma, shower with Grandma, and I must tell Grandma how to get to school because she's going to walk Sarah to school without me. As far as outings go, the only thing Sarah HAS to do with them is DisneySea, because she has to take Grandma on the teacups, and on the scary rollercoaster and into the Mermaid's Lagoon.... I'm sure you get the picture. I think she just might be more excited to see them than I am.
You'll see in the photos how grown up the children are now. Ronan has quite suddenly changed from a baby into a little boy. He is longer and thinner and his face has changed a bit. We shaved his head on New Years Day as his very straight hair was getting a bit too long. It's grown out a lot now but what to do with it next? It's at an awkward stage that's for sure. He is a gorgeous little guy all the same, he melts hearts with random hugs and cuddles and has a great sense of humour. He's got a very cute naughty streak in him and surprises us with the mischief he gets up to but we can't help but laugh at everything he does. He is talking a lot now, mainly his own special language but his favourite words are 'hello, bye and of course, Ma!' It's all I hear all day. Along with 'uh oh', said for everything. He knows how to say 'dad' but unfortunately doesn't say it often, I think this is just to irritate me. And there is definitely a word for 'sarah' although I couldn't even attempt to put it down in letters. It's very cute. He is understanding so much now and can follow simple instructions which can make things a little easier. One of his biggest frustrations to him, I think, is that he is still so young. His favourite place to play is in Sarah's class with all the 'big' kids, he loves all her friends and wants to do everything they do. And he's not scared to try. He's starting school in September, also at Willowbrook for 3 days a week. I'm sure he's going to love it. I'm going to miss having my extra limb around all day but I think I might just love it too! Apart from being attached to me he is besotted with Sarah. He hates to see her go in the morning and loves nothing better than fetching her when school is over. At home he is her shadow, she really can't do anything without him right behind her and trying to do what she's doing. It's a gorgeous relationship. They do fight, and he does break her things and drive her insane but the love is mutual for sure. Sarah absolutely cannot stop hugging and kissing him and will not let him go to bed without a goodnight cuddle from her. Today I saw the sweetest thing. I found them in the passage. Ronan was lying on the floor and Sarah was sitting next to him gently stroking his face. They did that for ages, it was really really sweet.
Sarah is now about 16. She can be so difficult to manage that we really do feel like we have a teenager on our hands most of the time. But she's also just so smart. Her conversation is amazing, the things she says are so grown up, and we can thoroughly enjoy a 'real' conversation with her now. She loves school, loves her friends and loves her family. She's a leader, might be a bit bossy, but she does everything very gently and with a lot of love. As we've said before the way she has handled this move has given us so much strength to deal with it. Her enthusiasm for everything is genuine and gets us all excited. I know she misses many things about SA, she misses having a garden and her jungle gym. And she misses her family a lot. It breaks my heart when she gets sad thinking about someone and wanting to see them but I think that's better than forgetting about them instead. So we stay focused on holidays and visits and she's content with that.
Chris and I have also made some great friends here. We have lots of fun and are fortunately never short of plans and options to keep us busy. We've recently done a bit of a holiday plan for the next couple of years which is exciting and might make for some good photos on the blog so watch this space....
Speaking of photos it's time to put some up. Don't want you all to get bored and stop reading...
Till next week!
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