Kamakura to Yokohama

Finally convinced them to sightsee...

Taking pics

Dim Sum

Sam wanted Dim Sum, too! 

It's always so busy here! 

When in Japan, pose as the Japanese do! 

Sumo Day

It looked cold out so initially Coop had his winter PE uniform on over his Summer one. 

Justino participated in the arm wrestling competition. He didn't take home the gold but had a good time anyway! 

Coop didn't want to stay with his class...

...and was a bit distracted...

...until he spotted Justin! 

Yup, they really had sumo wrestlers at Sumo Day!  

The older boys competed against each other. They looked pretty serious about it! 

Coop and a few classmates seemed more interested in playing with their thermoses! 

It's said to be good luck if a sumo wrestler holds your baby. We thought the photo op would be kind of fun!

Sugar Bear and Mommy :)

Hakkeijima Sea Paradise

Coop's first school field trip was to Sea Paradise. I was told that it was similar to Sea World so we were pretty excited to go. When the big day finally arrived, Coop was sick. Sick Cooper equals cranky Cooper and the overcast weather didn't really help his spirits. After a few unfortunate setbacks getting to the chartered buses, we were on our way to Yokohama. The bus ride was pretty interesting because the teachers sing and tell stories to keep the kids entertained. The parents have to sit in the back so I couldn't tell what Cooper was doing, but I hope he was paying attention.  After we arrived, Coop had a minor meltdown when it came time to take the class picture. I knew he was tired, but we couldn't exactly abort the trip so I got him excited again by promising that we'd see some animals very soon. It worked and he completely lit up at the sight of the dolphin exhibit! 

The only thing asked of the parents was to make sure that your child saw the "dolphin show".  

He LOVED the dolphins. 

Class pictures first! Hope the camera was too far away to spot his tear

We spent a few minutes watching them swim before heading over to the Dolphin show. The show was a requirement because apparently they were going to draw or color sea creatures at school the next day. We walked into a packed stadium and ended up sitting in the back. I think the show would have held Cooper's attention better if we weren't so far away. I had to feed the baby and Coop saw that as his opportunity to start jumping off of benches and such in the very back. The show looked pretty cool so we'll have to go back again one day and sit right up front! I'd like to go back anyway (with dad!) so that we can explore the other exhibits at a more leisurely pace...or he can chase Coop around while Sam and I do the moseying along! 

That look was him planning his escape. I should've seen it coming! 

Pretty gnarly looking fish, right?!

So much to see, so little time! 

I wonder if there will come a day when he actually smiles for a pic without making silly poses first. 

I think he was missing our regular trips to Sea World.

Seika Yochien

He forgot to properly greet her on his first day!

 Coop only goes to school a few days a week for now, but after summer break (in July), he'll go everyday. After 2 weeks, he finally greets his bus teacher with a bow and says, "Sensei, ohayo gozaimasu! (Teacher, good morning!)" She then helps him onto the bus. He has to bow after he gets off as well and tell her goodbye. It's pretty darn cute.

You never know what he'll do when you ask him to smile! 

The Adventures of BSQ

Auntie Tita came to visit us!! We were excited to spend some time with her...when she was awake! Jet lag kicked that girl's bottom, but we were still able to sneak in a little bit of quality time. Her trip was too short and the weather was too cold, but we miss you already, BSQ!

Stay tuned for a slide show of pics proving that she did actually leave the house at least once! hah!

I wasn't ready! 

Auntie Tita and Sam (@almost 2 months old)

Suddenly an old man

It was bound to happen sooner or later, but is anyone ever really prepared to send their babies off to school? We'd gone back and forth so many times regarding the best time to start Coop in school and with my mom leaving just as the new school year was starting (It's April-March here), the perfect time had arrived.
Cooper likes to be aware of the schedule of things so we spent a lot of time preparing him for leaving our nest. First, we visited the school with him so that he could see the children in their uniforms and having a good time. Then we talked about how cool riding a school bus would be and, finally, we encouraged him to be brave and willing to try new things. Maybe those things helped or maybe he was just ready to go because when we took him to order his uniform and be interviewed, he was very excited. The principal  seemed to be very impressed with Cooper and everyone chuckled when she gave him a gift and he bowed and said, "Thank you gozaimasu!"

Figuring out his uniform sizes

Cherry Blossoms are EVERYWHERE!

Tokyo (Ueno Park)

On base

Sakura Cake at Starbucks

Mom in Tokyo

Mabori Kaigan

Ueno Park and Zoo

 One of the coolest things about Tokyo is that you can go a million times and still find something new to see or do. Our latest discovery was Ueno park/zoo. Rain was in the forecast but that didn't stop us from venturing out to see some animals! The train ride was super easy and while there are never enough elevators when we need them, the kiddos were in good spirits and that's about half of the battle when trying to sightsee with little ones!

Baseball

Now that Coop is 3, there are all kinds of activities available for him to try. We gave Tap dancing a shot, but (to dad's relief) he just wasn't interested...and being only one of two boys in the class didn't help either.  We took him to Tae Kwon Do (which he LOVED), but the instructor felt he might be a little young for the discipline aspect of martial arts. We'll try that again in a year or so. Piano lessons have a waiting list, but one of our new friends knows someone who teaches and his preschool offers lessons so he'll probably start that fairly soon. That left t-ball. He loves playing catch with Justin and has been pretty confident about hitting the ball so we had hoped that he would be very happy on a t-ball team. Just as we suspected, he LOVES t-ball. He is so eager to go to his practices and seems to be the only 3 year old that doesn't lose motivation towards the end of practice. We're still trying to get him to stop chasing after the ball every time someone gets a hit. He really loves to throw the ball so maybe he's telling us that he wants to be a pitcher one day? Anyway, here are a few pics from his last practice. There's a video clip of him hitting the ball and running on Facebook, too. Enjoy! 

Waiting for his turn to bat

He loves t-ball! 

Running to second

Waiting to run home

Coop turns 3!

Three years ago the most amazing little boy came into our lives and a day doesn't go by that we can't see how blessed we have been since that very first moment that we held him. Thank you to everyone that called or sent messages to wish our little guy a happy birthday!

Coop, here are a few of our favorite memories from your year as a not so terrible two year old:

We LOVE...

1. Your bedtime prayers. Sometimes they seem to go on a bit (You get that from Grampy! :P), but they're always so pure and sweet.

2. Your unnatural ability with electronics. 

3. Your love of music and dancing. You were born singing and your crazy, haphazard song remixes today conjoined with your Just Dance/Puss in Boots dance moves are priceless! 

4. Your love for figuring things out on your own....even when it means mommy has to resist the urge to do it for you because patience was never her strong suit! 

5. Your passion for all things outdoorsy and anything stereotypically "boyish" (i.e sports, dirt, superheroes, climbing, jumping, video games, martial arts, wrestling, et cetera!). 

6. How you are constantly kissing your brother's head because you love him so much. 

7.  How you associate counting in Japanese with your one Tae Kwan Do class so now you always punch when you count...

Ok, I think we could go on forever so how about some pics? :)

Skyping with PaPa while opening presents

Granny and Coop

Video games

A new instrument for our songbird

There was a major storm out so we stayed home all day

Enjoying a celebratory dinner with Bella