Stonehenge, London, and York

After over a month, we finally have unlimited internet, so at last here are a few pictures.This was the best we could get of a family photo at Stonehenge.


One of our first weekends here, we stayed with Irene and Diane in London. On Friday, we started at Greenwich and took a boat on the river to Westminster. Then we walked up Whitehall, past the House Cavalry and Downing Street, to Trafalgar Square, back through St. Jame's Park to Buckingham Palace. On Saturday, we started at the British Museum, then headed to Covent Garden, the West End, to Picadilly Circus, along Regent Street to Oxford Circus, and then finished the day with a nice roast dinner at the local pub.
Diane, Sam and Lane, Hana, and Irene at the British Museum. We figured we could keep the kids in line for about an hour, so we ran past the Rosetta Stone, Elgin Marbles, some mummies and some samurai armor.
Hana and Lane at Pope's meadow, just up the road from our house. It's where Alexander Pope grew up.
Hana riding a donkey at Scarborough.
At Scarborough. Hana really wanted to go in the water, so I told her she could put her toes in first, and if she decided she wanted to put the rest of her body in, she was welcome to it.
Andrew at Ye Olde Starre Inne - a family favorite.
Walking through The Shambles, the oldest street in York, over 900 years old at least.
This weekend we took a trip up to York to visit Andrew's family. We had the best time staying with his Aunt Sue and Uncle Ken just outside the city. Here, we've just come down from walking along the Bar Walls in York. From left to right is Hana, Bethany (Hana's second cousin), Sam, Lane, Sue and Ken (Andrew's aunt and uncle), and Mark (Andrew's cousin)
Hana dancing, again, in front of St. Mary's abbey in York.

Happy, Happy Birthday

Here are some belated pictures of the girls' birthdays.
Lane had all things Dora the Explorer.

Hana wanted to go ice skating...

...and got it in her head that all she wanted was an Ariel birthday cake. We didn't have much luck finding a doll with red hair, but I think this was good enough.

James and Christina's wedding

James and Christina looked fantastic! Kerry did a great job at organising the celebration.
I was quite proud of the cake if I say so myself, although I was quite stressed making it on the morning of the wedding.

Lots of Glee

Here are the girls with a few favorites - their new kitchen and grocery store, Strawberry Shortcake karaoke, and regalia.

Christmas Singalong

Here is what we were able to see of the Christmas Singalong at the preschool. It's still pretty cute.

Happy Birthday Andy!

Hana chose the decorations for Andrew's birthday this year - Buzz Lightyear with blue and orange streamers.

Poof, look at all that smoke. I'm glad I'm not that old. I was so busy fixing my Japanese feast (see below) that I decided to invent a new birthday cake recipe for the hopelessly lazy. First, make a small box of cook-and-serve Banana Cream pudding, according to the package directions. After the pudding has come to a boil and thickened, dump in a yellow cake mix and stir until smooth. Pour the batter into a greased springform pan, and bake for about 25-30 minutes at 350. Cool cake for an hour or so in the freezer. Top with sliced bananas and cool whip. I'm sure you could do the same thing with any flavor, like lemon pudding and lemon cake mix. I got the idea from a recipe my mom makes with chocolate pudding, devil's food cake mix, and chocolate chips. It was surprisingly delicious. I might even venture to take it to the next potluck.

"Cheese," said Lane.


I thought it would be an adventure to make some traditional Japanese New Year's food. I'm not sure what Andrew thought of it (well, I am - he hated most of it, especially the mochi). But I had a great time. Clockwise - sort of - from the left is kurikinton, kuromame, sunomono, panko shrimp and gyozas, steamed rice, datemaki, and spinach with sesame paste. In the middle is a big bowl of udon with egg, shrimp, and kamaboko. Delicious.

Merry Christmas!

We took a lot of video this Christmas, which I still need to edit. But here are a few quick pictures for now. These are the Christmas dresses my (crazy) mom made. They're both hand smocked with candy canes and have fluffy petticoats underneath. I have to admit, they're pretty cute.All Hana wanted from Santa was a princess dress (the video is coming soon). Lane made off with plenty of Elmo and Dora in her stocking, but she was still feeling a little left out, so my sisters dressed her up.


The girls are having a great time with all of the new toys. As soon as we unloaded the car, I started de-junking the house to make room for their spoils. Their favorite thing to do now is cook and shop. Michi and Grammy sent the pretend kitchen, and the play grocery store and shopping cart are from Nana. Of course, now I have two kitchens to clean.