Japan

I am back from Japan.  I had a fantastic trip.  Had so much fun with Jeff, Chikako and Mom.  The first weekend we went to Hongu (Southern Wakayama).  We had excellent weather, visited a Shrine and World Heritage Center, spent the evening in a hotel at Kawayu Onsen and went hiking the next day.  This particular Onsen is a river that is a natural hotspring.  It was a full moon the evening we went to the Onsen and we saw it crest over the mountains.  Beautiful!

Kawayu Onsen

Houser Clan Hiking

Mom, Jeff and I went to Kyoto for two days.  Kyoto has many temples to see and we did a blend of temple visits and power shopping.  I liked the history of Kyoto and the temples, I did not like the loads of people that were there. 

Ryozen Kwan-On Temple

On Thursday, Jeff drove us up to Koyasan and Mom and I spent the night in a Buddhist Temple.  We ate the traditional Monk food (vegetarian) for dinner and breakfast.  We also attended the Monk service in the morning.  Koyasan is a magical place, we had a tour of the cemetary where the founder of Shingon Buddhism, Kobo Daishi is said to be in eternal meditation.  I would have liked about a half day more of Koyasan but we had a Taiko drum show to attend in Kudoyama. 

Girls night at the temple

 

Mom and Amanda

Friday, Saturday and Sunday were crazy days full of eating and preparing for the wedding party.  Jeff's friends, Andy and Tracy, from Wisconsin arrived Friday afternoon.  It was nice to have people to speak English with.  We spent Saturday together for lunch and then did a little shopping. 

Lunch

Family/Friends Dinner night before Party

.

Sunday night was the party and it was elegant and awesome.  Chikako looked stunning and Jeffrey as handsome as ever.  The party turned out perfectly and great blend of English and Japanese.  There was an after party at a local bar with a Karaoke machine.  A small crowd gathered there and we all took turns singing (Mom and I partied it up)!

Bride and Groom

Table #1 with Couple

Jeff's Family Table Picture

Chikako and Mom Karaoke

Read and post comments

Walk to the park

Sharon is out of town this weekend so Cooper and I walked to the park this afternoon.  We had a nice walk, it did not rain on us.  Cooper found several puddles and rocks to throw in them.  He had clean jeans on the way there and by the end had muddy knees.

Smelling/Eating flowers

DSCI1014

Mommy and Cooper

Read and post comments

Then and Now

Here is Xander 4 months, Elliot 5 months and Cooper 6 months in January 2008.

The Baby Lineup

Here are the kids in May 2008 getting ready for a walk (no one was walking yet).

Babies May 2008

Here they are one year ago, all walking.

Kid parade

And here they are now: running, jumping, exploring and talking!

DSCI1009

Read and post comments

Cooper's Adventures

A lot has been going on since Cooper turned 2.  Cooper is constantly trying new words these days.  He will say almost every word we say now.  When asked a question he will answer with a word now, example, A: "do you want to go inside or outside" C: "outside".  It is great to be able to communicate with him more and more.  He loves to jump and run.  He loves to take Riley on walks and ride bikes (which means he likes to ride behind Mommy on her bike). 

The end.

We went peach picking on Sunday, we picked 73 pounds of peaches.  I proceeded to can them and now have 15 jars of peaches for the winter!  Cooper had a great time helping pick the peaches, he also helped me can them this morning.

Picking peaches

We finished Cooper's first swim class last Friday.  He was in the Starfish class and next year will be in the Goldfish class.  He was not thrilled with the structure of the class, he prefers to splash around on his own and go down the monster slide about a zillion times.  During the class the slide is turned off and he does not appreciate that.  The last class, however, they turned on the slide for the last 10 minutes and Cooper got to ride down the slide with Mama (Sharon) five times.  He is crazy in the water, just loves it!

He continues to scrape his knees this summer.  Here's a picture of him with two boo boos. 

DSC00169

Cooper is enjoying longer periods of alone play.  He likes to play with his train sets and his cars.  He will play with them on his own for about 1/2 hour, it's fun to watch him.  He's also starting to randomly talk and sing throughout the day.
TWO is so much fun!  Mommy and Mama are having a blast watching him grow and explore his world. 

Read and post comments

Cooper's 2nd Birthday!

Cooper celebrated his 2nd birthday on Saturday, July 18th with friends and family.  It was a beautiful day in Portland and Aunt Janet hosted the party.  We had a pool for the kids to play in and that kept them occupied for most of the time.  The theme was Cars (his favorite movie). 

Smiling

  

Kiddos in the pool

Cars birthday cake

Cake

Lightening McQueen

Sheriff

Happy Boy

Presents

Holly and Nona

Playing with Aunt Janet

Read and post comments

Lake Almanor July 2009

Our fourth annual trip to Lake Almanor, California.  We didn't camp as long as we have in the past so the trip seemed too short.  Cooper had many firsts including a pony ride and swimming in the lake and bouncing in an air walk thing.  He loves camping and had so much fun in the dirt.  We took several walks everyday, played with Papa and Grandma, went to the Fourth of July parade in Chester and had a great Fourth of July party at Dick and Betty's. 

DSC04736

DSCI0918

DSC04738

DSC04772

DSC04866

DSC04895

DSC04885

Read and post comments