Family Picture

Family Picture

12.24.2011

Christmas Eve/クリスマスイブ

Since Christmas falls on a Sunday this year Anna and I decided that we would have our Christmas on Saturday...so that makes tonight Christmas Eve!!! Can't believe Anna and I had to work on Christmas Eve :-)
今年はクリスマスが日曜日になったのでクリスマスの朝ゆっくりプレゼントを空けて過ごせるように僕達は一日早める事にしました...と言う事で今日はクリスマスイブ!


Madison is quite excited for Santa's visit...tonight she decorated his cookies...
マディソンはサンタがくるのをとっても楽しみにしているみたい...今夜サンタ用のクッキーの飾り付けをしました...

And sung some Christmas Carols she learned at school...
そして学校で教わったクリスマスの歌をお披露目してくれました...


The finished products
クッキーの出来上がり。

She taste tested one ear...
ミッキーの耳が一つ無いのはマディソンが味見したから...
Merry Christmas Eve!!
みなさんメリークリスマス イブ!!



12.23.2011

Preparing for the Holidays/ホリデイ季節の準備

Madison officially began her Xmas Break today (preschool is closed tomorrow), one day before her Mommy and Daddy, so Chris and Grace are being kind enough to come over tomorrow morning and watch Madison until I (Dave) can get home from my silly half-day around 1:00pm.
今日からマディソンのクリスマス休暇が始まりました。でもママとパパはもう一日仕事があるので明日は大好きなクリスとグレースが家に来てマディソンのお子守りをしてくれる予定です:)

Anna and I have felt like this last week has just dragged on, but now we can definitely see the light of a nice break coming up. We are looking forward to celebrating Christmas on Saturday as a family and then looking forward to my parents coming to visit the following Wednesday, with 2nd Christmas scheduled for Thursday :-)
僕とアンナはこの最後の週がとっても長ーく感じていたけど、やっともうすぐ週末が来るのがとっても嬉しくてワクワクしています。土曜日に家族3人でクリスマスをした後、来週の水曜日には僕の両親が到着し木曜日にはクリスマスの第2弾:)

With my break extending until the 9th it worked out well for my parents to start their visits with my brother Jim's family in Idaho and then fly down here and stay until after the New Year. Anna will also be able to take a few days in between the days she already gets off so we are really excited!!
僕のクリスマス休暇が9日までのため僕の両親はまず最初にアイダホ州にいる弟の家族とクリスマスを過ごしそして新年は僕達と過ごす計画をちょうど良く立てる事が出来ました!!

Some recent pics:最近の写真:
A week or so ago, when I took Anna to a restaurant in Downtown Long Beach, Madison got to practice her sugar cookie frosting skills with her friend Liam...
1週間前頃にアンナのだいぶ遅れた誕生日デートをする事が出来ました。ダウンタウンロングビーチに住んでいるムーニー家にマディソンのお子守りを頼んで。リアムとマディソンはクッキーの飾り付けを十分楽しんでいるみたい...
That method makes a fun design...
フロスティングを舐めて面白い模様を作るマディソン...

Lastly Madison catches up on some ZZZs as she knows the Holidays will be hectic :-)
遊び疲れてサングラスを付けたまま寝てしまったマディソン:)

Bonus Video: A few Saturdays ago, when I had class, Anna was able to finally make it to the ultimate frisbee that one of the Elders of our church organizes one Saturday a month...while there, our minister's daughter was kind enough to watch Madison so Anna could play.
2、3週間前に教会の人達とフリスビーフットボールをして遊んだんだけど、その間マディソンと一緒に遊んでくれたとっても優しいサブリナちゃん。きっと良いママになるだろうなー:)

12.17.2011

The Amazing Race High School Edition

Recently I have begun teaching the Teen Class at Church and Anna thought it would be fun to design an "Amazing Race" for the teens to compete in. So we recruited a few members from the congregation to use their homes for the "stops" (Reeves, Marks, Washburns) and a few others to be the "taxis" (Grace, Daryl, Brian). We couldn't have pulled off the game without these generous individuals giving of their Saturday afternoons.

All the competitors met at the church parking lot a few Saturday afternoon's ago excited about the big race.

The ladies...waiting for two gentlemen that were running late...

Madison passed the time by playing with her buddy Brian...
Orientation...

And they are off...

The first challenge had the teams uncover lego pieces from a bowl of flower using chop sticks and then construct the figure to receive their next clue which was a series of letters and numbers which directed them to the license plate number of the car they would be traveling in.

Video...the teens really got into it which made it a lot of fun...









The second event was held at one of our minister's homes close by the church building...it was a jelly belly taste testing challenge, where the teams had to correctly guess 10 flavors of the 49 jelly belly flavors.


The judge studying the flavor chart...

The last team arrives...
Waiting their turn...


Ready to go to Ralph's grocery store and solve clues to pick up specific items for the barbecue...
The Judge...

After Ralph's, teams were led to the park where teams were given a choice to memorize a short paragraph or keep a balloon animal in the air for 25 consecutive hits...each team went with the balloon...Anna, our photographer arrived after the first team had already left...


The vehicles ready to go...again...

Second to last event involved matching this picture Anna had created exactly by sifting through a bunch of pieces...the picture was on the garage of the house so the contestants had to memorize it, or run back and forth to complete the picture.

Finally we ended just before dark with a nail biting finish as you had to throw disks at a target and accumulate a set amount of points...we were surprised by how close the teams were bunched together...it was intense.

The official winners of the Amazing Race 2011

Runner's Up because the boys did not keep their receipt from their mandatory gas stop incurring a 5 minute penalty which was just enough time for the girls to finish their last task :-)
Not pictured: Third place boys

Anna did such a great job organizing this whole thing. She comes up with these events and I usually cringe, but the teens had such a great time they are still talking about it three weeks later and we hear one of the winners has the check hanging in her bedroom :-)

12.06.2011

サンクスギビング週末の巻!/Thanksgiving and more!

サンクスギビングの日の朝もちろんクライン家はミッキー達に会いにいってきました...
On Thanksgiving morning we went to the happiest place on earth to be thankful...

この馬はメリーポピンズの主役をしたジュリーアンドリューズのために、特別にデザインされたと物知りのおじさんに教えてもらいました。
We are thankful that this pretty horse was designed specially for Julie Andrews(Mary Poppins).
マディソンがミッキー達と怖がって泣き叫ぶこと無く写真を撮ることが出来るようになった事を感謝しています。
We are thankful that now Madison can take pictures with all the Disney characters without freaking out and melting down.

マディソンはミッキーのサンタに感謝、でも後ほどモンスターズインクの乗り物に置いてきてしまったので今もう持っていないんだけど...:(
Madison is thankful for the Santa Mickey although we left it in a monster's inc ride later on and she no longer owns one...

おなか出ているけど妊娠じゃないよ、ただのおなかです...
I'm thankful that I'm not pregnant at this time...



サンクスギビングデイの前に週にいろいろと学校で作りました...
Leading up to Thanksgiving day Madison made all sorts of thanksgiving stuff at school...

マディソンの初めての宿題!何か一番感謝している物の名前を葉っぱの紙に書いて飾り付けをする事でした。もちろんマディソンはママ達とエリーの名前を書いたよ:)
Our first homework! She was to write one thing she is thankful for and decorate it to bring to school the next day...:-) Of course she wrote Daddy, Mommy and Ellie:-)

サンクスギビングの食事の後直ぐにクリスマスに突入!しかも、今年はマディソンが飾り付けを手伝えるようになりました!!
After our thanksgiving meal we got busy getting ready for Christmas! AND Madison got to help decorate the tree and she loved it!!

このとってもかわいいビデオをお楽しみください...
Please enjoy these cute videos...

12.04.2011

6週間前:)/6 Weeks Ago :-)

お久しぶりデース!信じられないですけど今日は6週間も前に起こった話をしまーす...本当に悲しいことにクライン家は今とっても忙しいんです!!なので最近起こったことを簡単にまとめてみました:)
Hello out there! I can't believe we are doing this, but today we are talking about something that happened about a month and a half ago... Very sad I know but we just have been super busy!! So I will summarize a lot of things that happened in the last 6 weeks quickly so that we can be ready for the holiday season posts:-)

11月の中旬にホリデーシーズンの開始を祝ってディズニーのパスを持っている人たちが特別にディズニーランドへ招待されたということがありました:)
Early November Dave got an email saying select pass holders are invited to the very first night of the holiday season at the Disneyland after the official hours end at 8:00 and we still had to be picked after RSVPing, but we got picked! So we got to go to DL on Monday the 14th...:-)

ディズニーランドへ着くと招待状を持っている人たちには特別なブレスレットを着けられディズニーランドが閉まる8時以降に残って居れられるという事...しかもこの日は全然寒くなくて私たちは大満足です...:)
When we arrived we got special bracelets so that the cast members know we are supposed to be able to stay in the park after the park closed and the holiday fireworks were just about to start...
It was such a perfect night to be outside, not too cold just right...;-)

このクリスマスツリーはディズニーのキャラで飾り付けすれば良いのに、でもとっても大きいディズニーランドのクリスマスツリー...
I wish they would decorate the tree with Disney ornaments but they just do a normal but giant Christmas tree...




このマディソンはなぜかとっても大人っぽく見える!うれしいけど悲しい感じ、そんなに早く成長しないでね:)
This Madison just looks soooo grown up and makes me happy and sad at the same time! Don't grow up so fast okay Madison!?


メインストリートでは本物の雪が降ってきた!!
Snowing on Main Street!!


この写真良いでしょ!マディソンがパパにチュー:)
This I like a lot! Madison giving Daddy a sweet kiss:-)
クリスマスツリーの前で私とマディソンでハイチーズ...
Madison and I pose in front of the tree...
誰かがプロポーズしてる...めでたしめでたし!!
Right before this guy proposed to this girl...she said YES!!
イッツアスモールワールドも奇麗だなー...
It's a Small World all lit up...

マディソンがイッツアスモールワールドの歌を特別に歌ってくれました:)
Madison serenades...in case you forgot the song :-)


プリンセスオーロラのお城
Sleeping Beauty's Castle
5人そろって写真を撮っていたので早速列に並んでいたんだけど、マディソンは眠ってしまい家族写真は残念ながら撮れなかったんです...なのでこの日本人っぽい人たちが写真を撮っているところを盗み撮り...
We wanted to wait to get OUR picture with all the characters, but Madison was falling asleep, so we settled for a picture of these people with all the characters...
グーフィー、私のために凍ってくれているのかな...
Not sure if Goofy froze for me, but it was a little coincidental...

ボーナス写真:これは違う日に来た時のカワイイマディソン:)
Bonus cuteness: From a different day at the park...