Animal sounds

Callie has had a little cold the last couple of days so we have been laying low.  It's seems like she is slowly getting over it.  Hopefully we will only have to endure a couple more days of it.

So I thought I would post this video of Callie trumpeting at the elephant at the zoo last week.  She absolutely loves animals and can make a ton of different animal noises, not to mention tell you what just about every animal is.  Sounding like an elephant is one of her favorites, along with the monkey and a dog.  About the only noise I can think of that she can't quite do is a ribbit, but she is getting really close.  She has the "r" down, but not the rest yet.  

Enjoy!

Play date!

This morning Callie and I went on a little adventure with Amanda (another baseball wife) and her son Caden, who is one week younger than Callie.  We went to Motomachi, which is a short train ride away and has tons of shopping.  We were in search of some wooden toy trains for Caden and a friend told us about this store that has tons of wooden toys and then downstairs is a great play area.  Once the store finally opened, at 11am!!!!!, we headed straight for the play area.  It was amazing!!!!  They had a dress up area, a shadow room, a mirror room, a little kids area, a ball pit, etc.  The kids had a great time and never really played together until we found the marble toy.  I know, marbles are a little dangerous for one year olds, but of course it was their favorite part!

chasing after a ball in the little kid area

checking out the balls in the ball pit

playing with marbles

Callie and Caden on the train ride home.  They were playing footsie, and then Caden tried to take off Callie's socks :)

Callie is now officially done with her Doc Band (well Thursday was supposed to be her last day, but it seemed a little too tight, so I took it off a day early).  The band needs to be adjusted every two to three weeks and there isn't a Cranial Technologies in Japan so we had it adjusted right before we left and now we are done!  The Doc Band did an amazing job and Callie's head is almost completely round.  I'm so glad we did it and would recommend it to anyone that is thinking of doing it.  It will be big change seeing her without the band on, oh and making sure she doesn't bump her head all the time :)

ZOO!

Scott had an off day on Monday so we decided to head to the Zoo!  It was a chilly day, but there was no rain in the forecast so we braved the cold and headed out.  Callie had so much fun and loved looking at all the animals.  She was such a good little girl and stayed in her stroller for most of the visit, which was great for our backs :)  Her favorite stops were the peguins and the elephants.  The zoo has a baby elephant that is only two days older than Callie and I was really excited to see him and how much he had grown from last year, but they had him all closed up.  I guess it was too cold for him.  Hopefully we will be able to see him on our next visit.

Callie and Daddy posing at the entrance to the panda exhibit.  Pandas are a big attraction here.  Pretty much everything in the gift shop has a panda on it :)

Trying to jump in with the penguins :)

Checking out the penguins from underwater.  At first she started quacking at them, but once we said they were penguins she started to say penguins, well her own version of the word :)

Callie was sitting and eating a snack while watching the penguins and I was taking pictures of her.  The lady at the info desk brought this panda over for a photo-op I guess?!?  It was pretty cute.

Checking out the sleeping tiger.  Callie was doing a great job sitting in her stroller, so Scott just picked the whole thing up so she could see into the windows :)

Driving!

I had my first foreign driving experience last week and we all survived :)  We took a short drive to the Price Club, a small warehouse type place on Rokko Island that sells a lot of US products.  It's about a five minute drive so it was perfect for my first attempt.  

I managed to stay on the correct side of the road the whole time and even successfully avoided all pedestrians and bike riders, which there are an awful lot of on Rokko Island.  The most frustrating part was that just about every time I went to turn the blinker on I turned the windshield wipers on instead :)  The lever that controls the blinkers is on the right side of the steering wheel which is opposite from US vehicles.  Scott had a good laugh at me :)  My next drive will probably be to the baseball field in Osaka, about a 20 minute drive on the highway . . .

In our sweet minivan in the parking garage after driving

First week down, many more to go . . .

Well, we have been here for a little over a week and all of us are adjusting well.  We've already been to Toys'R'Us twice so Callie is well stocked with toys.  At least for now :)  The weather is starting to get warmer which is so nice.  When we arrived it was in the 40's and 50's which isn't too cold when you are just getting in and out of your car to go somewhere.  But when you have to walk to get pretty much anywhere, it's pretty chilly.  Today the sun was out and Callie and I were both in short sleeves and loving the sunshine!

These pictures are from a couple of days ago.  We got this little car for Callie at Toys'r'Us and she just loves it!  We have to hide it in the hallway because anytime she sees it she says "car, car" over and over until you get it out and push her around :)  She also really likes to play with the strap and tries to clip herself in :)

Callie really felt like she needed to take her Barrel of Monkeys with her on this car trip.  She held onto it the whole time, but never took any of the monkeys out.  Too funny :)

We've been on a couple of adventures the last few days.  We drove over to Universal Studios in Osaka to have dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe.  That's right, I said drove.  We rented a car, actually a mini van, this year and it is so nice.  Instead of a one hour train ride to the Hard Rock it is just a 20 minute drive.  So great!  It was a little nerve racking being in the car with Scott driving for the first time, but we made it there safely :)  (For those of you that don't know, the Japanese drive on the left side of the road and the steering wheel is on the right side of the car)  This week I will try driving . . .  I'm sure there will be a future post dedicated to it!

At the Hard Rock Cafe.  They don't have high chairs, only booster seats, and Callie did a great job sitting in hers.  She looks so big in this picture!

Scott had an off day yesterday so we went Ikea!  It was a really fun trip and Callie liked picking out all sorts of stuff.  We got her a great little table and chairs, for only $35 and a little train set, plus some other things.  Ikea had these great little "kid centers" throughout the store too.  I can't remember if they have them at Ikea back home, but Callie had a ton of fun playing with them.  This is a great thing about Japan.  It is a very kid friendly country.  In bigger stores there is usually some sort of kiddie play area, plus they have huge changing/nursing/feeding areas in most stores.  It's been a real help when we are out and about in places we don't know.  There is usually a place where Callie can sit and play and we can relax :)

Playing with Daddy at Ikea

Our grocery store has also made some great improvements.  Last year there were two small grocery stores on the bottom level of our apartment building, and then half way through the season one of the stores closed.  It was great to get here this year and see the changes they made.  The one grocery store was turned into a pharmacy/household goods/clothing area, and the other store was turned into a large grocery store with many more food options than last year.  They also have these great carts now!  Since Callie is now crazy about cars these are perfect :)

We made it!

We made it safely to Japan!  Callie is still trying to recover from her jet lag, but is getting closer to being on a normal schedule.  Our flight was pretty good.  Callie had a great time watching all her favorite videos on the computer, until the battery died :(  We flew from DFW to Tokyo and Callie slept for the last two hours of the flight and then we had a three hour layover and then a short one hour flight to Osaka.  Callie had a great time playing in the Tokyo airport and crashed before we even took off on our second flight, and then slept until we got to the apartment and had to wake her up so we could put her back to bed!  

Waiting to board in DFW.  Callie had a great time pointing out all the trucks and cars and watching all the people.

On the airplane getting ready for our long flight!

This is how I pulled/pushed Callie through the airport.  It's a contraption that locks onto the back of the carseat and has wheels and a handle to pull/push.  It is the greatest travel device ever!  I didn't have to bring a stroller and she had a great time in it :)

Playing with her carseat in the Tokyo airport

We are both very excited to be with Scott again.  Callie definitley missed her Daddy and has had a great time playing with him since we have been here :)  She also misses our dog Ozzie.  She woke up the other morning calling his name!

We've reconnected with some of our friends from last year and have had a play date each day so far!  Callie is getting used to playing with the other kids, one little boy is just a week younger, and having a great time!

Here is a picture of her today with her first pony tail!  Her hair is getting so long so I decided to put it up, it is too cute :)

Carnival

Today we had a great family outing to a nearby church that was holding a free family carnival.  Scott's parents and his sister, and her family, came over and we had a lot of fun.  It was great to be able to spend time with everyone before we leave for Japan.  Callie had a great time with her cousin Haley and was even saying her name by the end of the night!  

Before we left for the carnival Callie and her cousin Haley had fun playing in the backyard.  Callie was really into the Play-Doh and made me open every jar!

Callie and all her Play-Doh

Ozzie wanted to get in on the Play-Doh action :)

Here are some pictures from the carnival.  There was a petting zoo with llamas, Callie's favorite animal.  I'm not really sure why she is so obsessed with llamas, but we have a toy one from the Little People farm set, and it is her favorite!  There was also a little train, pony rides and a bunch of bounce houses.  Callie is still a little small for the bouncy stuff, but her cousin Haley had a great time in them :)

Callie saying hello to the ducks

Checking out all the animals.  She kept wanting to sit down and crawl when we were in the actual petting zoo, so I made her stand outside instead :)  She didn't seem to mind too much :)

Very first pony ride!  She doesn't look too excited in this picture, but I think she just wasn't too sure about what was going on.  She was really excited the whole time we were standing in line and was neighing at the horses :)

Cousin Haley on her horse.  One the way over she requested a pink horse for her pony ride.  No pink horses, but if you look closely her pony has a tuft of pink hair!

Below is a video of Haley really enjoying the slide at the end of the bouncy house obstacle course.  She did the just the bouncy slide first and her dad and to carry her up the stairs and then slide down with her.  She did the obstacle course all on her own and loved it!