Thanksgiving 2014

We had a very big, busy, great Thanksgiving this year. There were people from around here, Tennessee and New York. It was fun though.

This is a cute fruit turkey that my daddy's cousin's daughter made. 

Emma got along well with Alfie

We had a good time. The next day was better in my opinion though. Black Friday. Aunt Cindy, Shelby, Becca, and I went shopping. I bought me a good pair of black boots at Shoe Carnival. We also made stops at Old Navy and Bath and Body Works. :D

The Last Day

On our last day in Japan, we went shopping at Livin for last minute snacks and stuff to bring home. We visited Umikaze kouen, a place I used to play often when I was little. It was a good last day.

These are what Japanese backpacks look like.

All four wheels swivel on their carts!

You bag your groceries yourself.

 Free dry ice if you need it!

And that concludes my trip. We left the next morning and took the train to the Narita Airport. The flight back didn't seem as long as the flight was coming over. Since we were traveling late on Thanksgiving Day, there was no one when we got to the Orlando International Airport. All the gates were empty, the monorail was empty, when we got past security, we saw Daddy and the Rogers! I was completely taken by surprise. It was past midnight so they must have stayed up a long time. I was glad to be home.

Piano Recital

My 1st piano recital is coming up on June 5th! Well it's not really my first piano recital. I had one in 2nd grade but that was 7 years ago. I will be playing Robert Schumann's Humming Song. It's a very formal occasion so yesterday Mom and I went shopping at the mall. We found a very pretty dress. I like it a lot. What do you think? It was $100 and 40% off! Great deal!

 Leigha

Update

When you think of the word "feminine", what do you think of? I think of skirts and dolls and stuff like that. There was one time in my life I liked wearing skirts but now it just restricts leg movement (that's my excuse for not wearing skirts. LOL). I still play with dolls though. I don't know why but I always hated it when people stereotype that girls like pink and boys like blue etc. As much as my friends call me a tomboy, I do have a feminine side you know. For the first time (in a while) I enjoyed clothes shopping! I actually bought a skirt and dress. I'm growing out of my other ones.
           Church Thursday was great! We teens are learning about making decisions in life. I admit I didn't like some of the things Brother Adam said (like "You can't decide 'not to decide'.").
           If you haven't heard yet, we're getting pigs! We tore down the old, rotting, pen near the corner of our dirt driveway (we also have a concrete one). We made lots of progress today. I am satisfied. A few days ago, we went shopping and bought a bunch of supplies and I'll have to get a picture of what we've done. I have a banged up thumb. ): It's sore.
           Ben got a duck! It's so adorable! Guess what he named it... Aflac!

We also ordered our Wyandotte chicks and they'll be coming in the mail. We're becoming and animal farm! Tonight we went to the Boston Coffeehouse in Deland where every Saturday night they have storytelling. It's mostly old people but if you've spent time around old people, you know that they tell the best stories! Here is their website! http://www.sandcastlestorytellers.org/ Well, more later! Leigha

Nov-Dec-Jan

Sorry for not keeping up. My computer broke. I also lost all my pictures. :( Here are some things we've been doing.

On the 26th we went to Deleon Springs.

They swam...I thought it was too cold. After that Daddy, Mr. Yamakawa, and I went to the shooting range in Ocala.

For Thanksgiving, we went to Hisayo-san and Mr. Bob's house. Mr. Bob let us kids (including Myu, Ben, Me, and their kids Alia, Alex, and Andy, and others) take turns riding the go kart. Unfortunately, I'm currently not allowed to get a driver's license anymore. Hopefully that will change in 2 years.  You wouldn't believe how many turkeys they made! So many I forgot. Seriously.

We got to ride on the lawnmower a lot. Very fun!

Speaking of riding in the lawnmower, that makes me think of the little accident we had. It definitely wasn't funny then but the video sure is now. I finally got over my bruised back about the 29th. Hurt bad. But thank the Lord it wasn't worse. It sure could have been.

On the 27th, we took Myu and Mr. Yamakawa to Bass Pro! Yay! It was nice because they opened Santa's Wonderland . Pictures↓

The next day we took Mr. Yamakawa to the Airport. He had to go back early because of work.
On the 29th we went to the park that's about 5 minutes away. We call it Pierson Park. It's right next to Pierson Elementary. We also went to Florida Mall because when Myu went to Epcot, she got us all Duffy bears. Duffys come in 3 different sizes and the size she got us could wear Build a Bear clothes. So we got some cute outfits. Myu's is a princess, Ben's is Obi-wan, and mine is a baby.

On the last day of November, we went to the beach. It was awesome! We went really deep and jumped the waves.

December 1st was the day we went to Disney's Hollywood Studios! Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures on hand now. We all (excepting Ben) went on Rock 'N' Rollercoaster. It was amazing. You go on a limo ride to the Areosmith's concert. Myu and I went on a second time and we got to be in the very front! We did tons of other things too.

The 2nd was a normal day with piano lessons and church.

On the 3rd, we went to Downtown Deland and painted pottery at the Clay Pigeon. I'll show you pictures after we get them back. After we painted, we went to Sweet Spot and ate ice cream! I got pumpkin pie and funfetti (cake-mix flavored).

The fourth was in my opinion the best day of the year! From 8 to 10am I baked cookies for Journey thru Christmas. Then until 3pm I spent the time eating pizza and having fun with my friend Haley. From three to four I helped Ms. Laura with random things including the hot chocolate for the parade that evening. At four we all got our Journey T-shirts and loaded onto the bus. My friend Haley and I talked all the way there. When we got there we had to split up because I was walking and she played hand-bells on the float. After a cinnamon roll, an cup of hot chocolate, and a cup of chicken noodle soup, we waited and waited and waited etc. When we finally got to move then the fun started. Passing out tickets for the Lord as I call it. It's fun calling out "Merry Christmas!" and "Would you like a free ticket, sir (ma'am)?" When I passed my family and friends Miyuu and Ben were shouting "Merry Christmas JANAI!" Which, translated, means Merry Christmas NOTTT! The whole walk was about 1 1/2 to 2 miles long. On the bus back we sang Christmas carols. Then someone started "The Wheels on the Bus". When we got to "the horn on the bus goes honk honk honk" Brother Mark (who was driving) went hooooooooonk! That was so funny! That really was a great day...

I don't really remember much after that and I have no pictures to remind me so I'll talk about some major things that happened to me since then.

Journey thru Christmas (we were passing out tickets for that) was very hectic. Though Mom and Ben weren't involved, Daddy was working security and I was the hot chocolate and cookie girl. Boy, when those groups started coming it was busy and the 5 minutes in between boring. I made some great new friends.

Ah! Now I come to the teen Christmas party/dinner! When Haley and I were waiting to get on the bus, we were seeing how far we could throw my purse (after I took the phone out of it of course). We got on the bus and headed toward the Siers' home. There Ms. Hope made the appetizers. There were cheese sticks, meat balls, chips...that was where I drank the Poison Dew!!!(Mountain Dew) It was only a small cup but never the less it had a big effect on me. Then we played a game. Everyone put their name on a piece of paper and  that's how we picked partners. Down and down the numbers went until there was only Olivia Reynolds, David Siers, Haley, and me. Well..Haley picked David so Olivia and I were a team. The game was a quiz. The quiz was about the Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer movie. Haley and David came in first. Who would know that the name of the king of the misfit toy land is King Moonracer? Then we got back on the bus and on the way to Ms. Kathrine's house we tried to see who could get everyone's first middle and last name. Since Olivia is 7(???I think she's 7... She got to come because she's the youth pastor's daughter) I sent her around with our paper and because she's so cute everyone signed. We came in second. Ms. Kathrine's house is literally a mansion! I got lost trying to find my way to the bathroom. It has 4 bathrooms! She even has a guest house. She has a exercise room that looks like a gym! Her pool has a beach entrance. So cool! She had Italian ready for us. Very good entree. It was better than Olive Garden big time. After dinner she let us explore. Just to remind you there's 40+ teens! There's a stuffed otter in one of the bedrooms! I went into the gym and asked if I could use it so the girl who was using it got off without turning it off. I have never ever been on a treadmill in my whole entire life (which isn't that long...only 13 3/4 years). She left it at 9.5 miles per hour. What do you think happened? Disaster. Fortunately I only got a rug burn on my right knee and a busted lip. It was formal and I had a very long skirt on. Could have been a lot worse. Only one boy was in the room at the time but within 5 minutes everyone was talking about it. I also went knee deep in the freezing pool. Several others tried it but it was too cold for them. Ha ha! We went to another house for dessert. The mini chocolate cupcakes were great! That was the teen Christmas disaster.

Now mind you my actual Christmas was great! Grandpa and Grandma came over as they do every year. I only asked for one thing and I got it and more! I asked for a hammock. So I got that, some flannel sheets with bucks on them, a blanket with a coyote, a purse, scarf, a travel kit that you put make-up and stuff in (like I wear make-up anyway), a calender that has brain trivia for every day of the year, and best of all (drum roll please), a Heritage Arms Rough Rider .22 pistol! It's great! That's about it. 'Cept Christmas dinner. That was great too. Mom's sweet potato casserole. Mmmmmmmm.

New Years wasn't that much fun. The 31st was a normal day. The only difference was instead of going to bed, I spent the time until midnight cleaning my room. Watched the ball go down and went to bed.

Since then nothing much has happened. The only thing worth writing about is the great opportunity I got last Sunday. Before Sunday School, Ms. Becky was wondering what to do with the boxes of candy on the floor so she said to take as many as we wanted to. At first we didn't think she was serious but just as she was going to put them outside, I said I wanted some. Did I take a LOT of candy. Haley said I was hopeless. It was good though. I will try to update more.   Till the next,  Leigha!♥