Family Picture

Family Picture

9.21.2011

保育園 2週間目/Pre-School Week2

保育園2週間目の報告をする前にまずマディソンの作品...
金曜日先生に赤い服(その週は赤色を習っていたらしい)を着せて下さいって言われたんだけど、私は赤い服が一着も無くて大騒ぎ!この事を知らされたのは前日の木曜日だからお店にかいに行く事も出来ず、仕様が無く濃いピンク色の服を着せてこれ赤だよって言う事にしました...:(
Before we talk about week 2 of pre school here are the pictures of Madison with her Artwork...
On Friday we were asked to dress her in something RED because they are learning about Red the whole week and I guess the teacher was gonna ask the kids about the RED in their clothes. Well if you know me and what I do you can guess how freaking out I was that Madison does not own any RED clothing! And we only found out that she needs to wear RED the day before so there is nothing I could have done about it, the next day I shamefully put on her HOT PINK top and told her the color is RED(AKA)...:-(
自分の作品に大満足!
Well she is very proud of her artwork!

2週間目は思ったよりうまくいってマディソンも学校楽しんでいるみたいです、特にジョーダン先生がお気に入りみたい...今週の色はオレンジ色だったんだけど、先生からのお便りを見忘れたパパのせいで金曜日オレンジ色全く無しで学校に行かせてしまいました...でもオレンジ色を着て来なかった子達結構居たみたい:)先生も前日の木曜日よりも月曜日から両親達にお知らせした方が良いと決めたらしく今週は金曜日に黄色を着なきゃいけないってもうわかってまーす:)
The Week 2 went surprisingly well and Madison is really enjoying it and Ms. Jordan(Sensei Jordan)... The color of the week was ORANGE and since Daddy forgot to read the notice on our sign in book that she should be wearing ORANGE on Friday we totally did not dress her in anything ORANGE... and so did most of the other parents so this week the teacher put a notice about this Friday on Monday so that we(parents) have better chances of being notified. Yup, you guessed it, it's gonna be a YELLOW Friday:-)

そしてこれが2週間目のオレンジ色の作品!
And this is an ORANGE artwork from week#2!

3週間目は既に予想以外の事が...特に昨日(火曜日)...乞うご期待!
Week3 is going interesting... Especially yesterday(Tuesday)... Stay tuned!

9.15.2011

夏休みの楽しい思いで/Extra fun moments from this summer...:-)

秋気分に入る前に夏休み中に撮った未公開の写真とビデオを紹介...
Before we move onto the Fall season I wanted to share with you a few more cute pics and videos from the fun summer we had...

去年のクリスマスにお母さんとお父さんから貰ったミッキーのブーツ、去年はとても大きすぎて履けなかったから今年の冬には大丈夫だと思うんだけど、この前マディソンがいつも履いているクロックのサンダルを一足教会で無くして来て(大丈夫、無事見つかりました)その夕方また教会に行く時にマディソンがこのブーツを靴棚から見つけて来てどうしても履きたがったので真夏の中で履く事に...とーってもかわいいでしょ、冬が来るのが待ち切れない!
Madison got this super cute mickey mouse boots last Christmas from my parents but was way too big for her and probably ready to be worn this winter season... Anyhow we dropped one of her favorite croc shoes in the Church parking lot(we found out later) in the morning and so when we were getting ready to go back for the evening service we needed a different pair, well Madison found them in our shoe shelf and insisted on wearing them even though it was pretty hot outside... Well can't wait for this winter because she looks super cute in them!
そしてこの写真は違う日曜日に教会で撮った写真。バイブルクラスで作った冠を嬉しそうに着ていました。つい最近まで嫌がってなかなか行ってくれなかった2才と3歳児ようのバイブルクラスは今は行きたくて仕様が無いほど:)この冠この後3、4週間敗れずに生き残る事に...
And this was from a different Sunday, this may have been the very first Sunday Bible Class she was able to attend without freaking out at the teachers...:-) She made this crown thing in her class and kept wearing them until this past Sunday(probably 3 or 4 Sundays later) when she finally ripped it apart...

このビデオはレイバーデイの日に撮ったビデオかな?
These videos are from labor day I think... Enjoy our water baby!!








最後に、カリフォルニアアドベンチャーでメリーゴーランドにのっているマディソンとパパが私に手を振っている所...:)最近とっても可愛い笑い声を出す様になったマディソン、聞ければ良いんだけど!
Lastly, I filmed Madison and Daddy riding a carousel in California Adventure and waving at me...:-) She has this really cute laugh now wish you could hear it!

9.13.2011

The First Week of Pre-School.../保育園1週間目...

So summer came and went and I have gone back to work and Madison has finished a week of full-time Pre-School. She seems to be settling into her new routine nicely enjoying her cereal(She has a container of her favorite cereal at school and they provide milk, bowl and spoon:-) at school to start the day. Her school is called The Belmont Shore Children's Center and she gets her little cubby to keep her stuff in so technically we don't bring anything with her every moning... Right now only 8 kids are in a class room which is a really nice number and Madison really likes her teacher Ms. Jordan and she calls her Sensei(teacher in Japanese)...:-)
あっという間に夏休みが終わり僕は仕事に戻りマディソンも一週間目の保育園を無事終了する事が出来ました。毎朝学校に到着した後マディソン用に置いてあるコーンフレークを他の朝ご飯を食べているお友達と一緒に食べて学校開始...マディソンの教室にはちゃんと決まったロッカーがあるから毎朝いろいろ持って来る必要も無く、子供は現在8人居るのかな、そして先生って日本語で読んでいるらしい...:)

So I(Anna) was able to go pick her up on her first day of school... and that meant she was there until close to 6, sad I know and she technically was the last one to be picked up(there are two other kids besides M but they belong to Ms. Jordan...) but she was so excited to see me and said Hi Mommy!! and seemed to have had lots of fun...:-)
マディソンの最初の日は火曜日だったのでアンナがマディソンを迎えに行ったんだけど、と言う事は6時近くまで学校に居る結果先生の2人の子供を抜くとマディソンが最後の子に:(でも私を見るなりハイマミー!って走って来て楽しんだみたい...:)でも最後に迎えが来る子って何か可哀想だよね。
保育園3日目、やっぱり私の車から出たがらずノー先生って泣いたんだけど、学校の中に入って他の子達を見てコーンフレークが登場すると嬉しそうに私にハグとキス...:)
On her third day of pre-school, she definitely wasn't too excited to get out of Mommy's red car when we pulled up, but once we walk in and when she sees other kids and her bowl of cereal arrive she is usually okay and gives me a cute kiss and a hug...:-)

I took a picture of her class schedule so we know what she may be doing through out the day...
今日、教室にあった一日の予定表の写真を撮りました...

Madison being so brave has helped in Dave and my transition to full-time work ourselves. It hasn't been easy, and it has only been a week, but we feel blessed to have found a daycare we are happy with only a mile from our place as while we would have enjoyed her getting the language benefits we can't fathom making that long drive on the 405 after work if Madison was at daycare in Torrance.
マディソンが思った以上に保育園を楽しんでくれているので家の近くに良い保育園を見つける事が出来て本当にありがたく思っています。

Oh and the BIGGEST ACCOMPLISHMENT of this first week would have to be that Madison quit her paci absolutely-totally cold turkey!! Because the school won't allow paci we tried during the summer to phase it out and we almost got the usage down to her nap time and bed time but the first day of school comes and she goes totally paci-less.... Even at home for bed time(Dave almost gave in once, but we toughed it out!) Who would have thought!
今週の大革命と言えば保育園が始まって以来パシを止めた事です!!保育園ではパシを使えないってことを知っていたから夏休み中何とか止めさせようとしたんだけど保育園が始まる前日までお昼寝の時と夜寝る時は必需品だったんだけど...本当に信じられない!

So of course our first weekend we had to go to Disneyland. It was actually raining a bit, but we managed to get on the Nemo Submarine ride which we hadn't been on since we first went last Halloween because the line is so long and Madison hated the dark. Of course this time she had just finished watching Nemo and she loved the ride.
そして、保育園1週目をお祝いしに土曜日はディズニーランドへ。少し小雨の中ニモの潜水艦に久しぶりに乗る事にしました。ニモの映画好きなお陰で最初に乗った時より断然楽しめたみたい。

We also went on one of her other favorites...Autopia. Anna sat this one out to go grab her overdue cup of coffee and was able to video a bit of us arriving back at the garage...
直ぐ横にあるオートピアには僕とマディソンで...コーヒーを買って来て見ていたアンナが無事に帰って来た僕とマディソンの運転の様子をビデオに撮る事が出来ました...




When we got home around lunchtime, Madison decided to forego her nap and instead help with the shucking of corn. We let a lot of the summer slip by without corn because Anna was waiting for the bi-colored kind we enjoyed back East...once we discovered that wasn't out here, we tried what they did have and it was yummy.
お昼頃に家に着いた後お昼寝をしなかったマディソンはママがトウモロコシの皮を剥くお手伝い。ニューヨークで食べ成れていた2色のトウモロコシがこっちに無い事に気づくのが遅すぎてお店に来るのを待っていたのでこの夏はトウモロコシをあんまり食べる事が出来ませんでした。でもこっちの黄色のトウモロコシもなかなかおいしいくて良かった。

9.04.2011

Rest of G-ma Linda's visit...

For the last three nights of Linda's visit she had a room at Hilton(about a mile and a half away) for more comfortable sleep and safety instead of booking a room at an almost right next door Beach Plaza Inn... It was kind of sad for us all to not be in a same building anymore so I believe after her first night at Hilton is when she went ahead and booked her 17th floor gorgeous room in our building for their upcoming visit at the end of this year...:-)

Anyhow, I wasn't there but Linda took a picture of Dave and Madison comfortably snoozing in her hotel room and followed their lead soon after...

On her last day with us which was Friday I was able to take a day off so after A LOT of brain storming sessions we decided on breakfast at Creme Cafe and Wild Rivers Water Park for the day... and I would say Linda happily added Creme to her "Definitely need to take Steve to" list for their visit in December:-)

We arrived at Wild Rivers Water Park about 30 minutes from the cafe, 10 minutes before the opening time, got almost a front row spot for parking, and went ahead and got in to compete against the other thirty people, or so to start the day... We were really surprised about how toddler-friendly this place was...it had multiple spots with water features galore, and swimming pools to just chill in and Madison was allowed to use her swimmies in the lazy river and just float along tubelessly which she loved. Also they have sooo many tube rides and crazy slides for older kids plus a wave pool and another one that has much bigger waves that you can ride bogey boards on so it's a great place for everyone:-) BUT this place is unfortunately closing at the end of the season... RIP:-(





For the final evening of Gma's visit we hit an Italian Restaurant in Belmont Shore that we had heard good things about and were definitely not disappointed...great food and great service made for a lovely experience. Of course this place got added to "The List"! Following it up with a walk to Yogurtland for dessert was the perfect capper!!

8.31.2011

A Visit From Grandma Klein/リンダお婆ちゃんが訪れるの巻き

Grandma Klein arrived for a visit last Friday...and Madison immediately started showing off her improved flexibility...
先週の金曜日にリンダお婆ちゃんが到着しました...そしてマディソンは体の柔らかさを自慢げに見せました...
For the first five nights we were able to book the guest suite in our building on the 17th floor, which was soooo nice! Grandma took a picture of her view...
最初の5日間は僕達のマンションの17回のスイートに泊まる事が出来ました...その部屋から見れる豪華な景色を写真で見せましょう...

Saturday we got up bright and early and took Gma to Disneyland...whenever we bring a guest our first stop is always Fantasyland because the lines get long quickest there...but this morning we had a short ten minute wait for Peter Pan and then basically walked onto Dumbo and the Carousel!!
次の日の土曜日、朝早くさっそくディズニーランドへ...いつもお客さんをディズニーランドに連れて行く時はまず最初にファンタジーランドへ。なぜかと言うとそこの乗り物が一番速く混んじゃうから、でもこの朝はピーターパンにはたったの10分待ちでダンボとメリーゴーランドにはほとんど待ち時間無しで乗る事が出来ました!!



Not sure what ride this is, but it must be interesting...
何に乗っているのか忘れちゃったけど2人とも真剣そう...
Here Madison is waiting for the train...
サーカス列車を待っているマディソン...
The best part of the day was Madison with Sailor Mickey...
船員ミッキーと写真を撮っているマディソンの顔が面白い...
She went right up and gave him a hug...
自分一人でミッキーにハグしにいったマディソン...
One bonus of coming to the park with Gma is the gifts...
お婆ちゃんとテーマパークに行く得点の一つと言えば、お土産...
Madison having some fun before the parade starts...
パレードが始まるまで走り回って楽しんでいるマディソン...

And video of our final ride of the night...Autopia...a car stalls in front of Madison and Gmas car and Anna and I bump them while I am trying to film...
そして、家に帰る前に最後に乗った乗り物は...オートピア...マディソンとリンダお婆ちゃんが乗っている車の間の車がエンストしていたんだけど、それを見ていた僕達がマディソンの車に追突...


Monday we went to the Aquarium of the Pacific where Madison loves to visit Turtle Crush...
月曜日はタートルクラッシュを見に近くの水族館へ...

Wednesday we went to the Kidspace Children's Museum in Pasadena, right outside the Rose Bowl...Madison had a great time at first...
She cheesed for the camera...
水曜日はパサディナにある子供館へ...早速楽しんでいたマディソン...
カメラに向かってチーズ...

Made her cute face with Gma
お婆ちゃんと可愛いポーズ。

Played in the water...
水で遊んで...

And tossed fruit out of the kitchen...
台所から果物を投げて...

Then she put in some hard labor at the construction site...
そして、建築場で汗働き...


And cooled off in the fountains...
そして、噴水で遊んで一休み...





Then things took a turn for the worse...it looks like Madison knew what was about to happen...
そして、状況は予定外に悪化する...マディソンもそれを予期しているみたい...

She even pouted in advance...because two minutes later she fell head first over the railing of this hut and smacked her face against the wall and hard floor giving herself a bloody lip...
約2分後にこの後ろから顔面落下して壁に顔をぶつけて唇を切ってしまったんです...

And I'm not sure if you can see it, but the BIGGEST fat lip I have ever seen...
it was super-duper-duper-duper sad!!
そして、この写真では見にくいけど今まで見た事の無いほど大きく腫れた唇...とっても、とーっても悲しい結果!!
We iced it with a fruit bar (a strangers idea...thanks stranger) and were going to leave when Madison perked up a little on the way out and I decided to take her up the hill and see what was there...it turned out to be this river complete with waterfalls
that the kids could play in...Madison loved it...
氷で唇を冷やして帰ろうとした時に、急に元気を取り戻したマディソン、丘の上を上ってその向こう側に何があるか見に行く事にしました。そこには子供達が入って遊べる小川と小さな滝が...マディソンは大はしゃぎ...
After eating the remainder of her ice and some snacks for lunch, she fell asleep five minutes into the ride home and hasn't awoken yet (about a 3 hour nap)...I have her boo boo bunny kitty (hello kitty ice pack) and some ice cream on the ready as soon as she wakes up :-)
そして、フルーツアイスとおやつを食べた後車に戻るなりお昼寝を始めたマディソン、3時間が経過する所なんだけどまだ起きる気配無し...マディソンが起きるなりブーブバディハローキティ(ハローキティのアイスパック)とアイスクリームを用意してあります:)