Category Archives: Life

Life

2010 A Look Back: The Things I’ve Seen

Part two of quest to share some of my favourite photos from 2010. You can see part one: the places I’ve been here.

Looking through my favourite photos for “the things I’ve seen” has been a great reminder that I need to take more photos of the everyday. Perhaps it was due to the amount of travel that we did, or the fact that I quit project 365 after just a few months, but I found that I wasn’t very good about documenting our day-to-day lives this year. Definitely something I plan to focus on in 2011.

2010 A Look Back: The Places I’ve Been

The clock has already turned in Australia and, since I was born in Australian time, I suppose I am already officially in 2011. Happy New Year!

At the end of each year I try to look back and choose my favorite photographs which, of course, becomes more and more difficult as I take more and more photos. So, this year I plan to separate my picks into three post: The places I’ve been, The things I’ve seen and the people I love. It still won’t scratch the surface, I’m sure, but at least that way I can share some of my favourite shots without being paralyzed by choice.

This was a big travel year for the Ishidas with two major international trips and many small local adventures. In March/April we headed to Australia for my brothers wedding, we had family from Ohio visit in July and took a long-awaited trip to Japan in October. Mix in with that a couple of trips to the coast, an embassy visit in San Francisco and a little business travel, and it honestly feels good to be home as we ring in the new year. It was exciting, fun and a little exhausting all at once.

Only the Best Pre-Christmas Family Day EVER!

We woke up on Saturday without any specific plans, only that we would try to visit Santa at Macy’s downtown. So we headed out the door, parked the car on the outskirts of the city, and jumped on the lightrail.

After hopping off the train and making a very quick stop at Finnegan’s toy store (that place is a parent trap), we finally turned the corner to see this.

I’m sure it’s even more beautiful at night, but I was satisfied with the cold wintery day and the flashing led lights that look like little sprinklings of snow.

After looking at the tree for about 2 minutes before the kids got bored and asked to move on, we headed into Macy’s. Based on past experience I had my doubts about whether Thomas would be comfortable talking to Santa and, since Samuel takes Thomas’ lead on most things, our chances of a picture with the big guy were doubtful. Sure enough, Thomas told us he’d rather stand back and look at Santa from a distance. Unfortunately the setup at Macy’s means that this was the closest we got.

And I’m OK with it. Sure, I won’t have that iconic photo of a screaming child in Santa’s lap, but part me of me likes the fact that Thomas is a little wary of strangers, especially the kind who ask you to come and sit on their lap and offer you presents.

The biggest benefit of choosing Macy’s for our Santa visit was that Santa is not the only draw. Reindeer and elves were there in abundance.

Even Rudolf made an appearance.

We then headed over to Pioneer place for lunch and a stop at a couple of stores (the ipad was calling my name at Apple – sadly I left empty-handed).

And then, without warning, it SNOWED! Inside! Sure it was some weird-smelling foam substance, but for the few minutes that we were in the mall it was amazing.

At one point, Samuel simply looked up at the falling snow and let out a big sigh of contentment.

So, you’d think getting a glimpse of Santa, saying hi to Rudolf and an unexpected indoor snowstorm would be the highlight of our day, right? Wrong.

We headed back outside and looked across the street and that’s when Thomas’ head exploded.

They were there to draw attention to the Salvation Army bell ringer (it was working). Of course Thomas was too afraid to get close – those Storm Troopers are bad guys you know – but Samuel was game for a Chewbacca high five.

He even tried to relieve one of the Storm Troopers of his blaster.

That’s one authentic Chewbacca outfit.

After adding a little money to the Salvo bucket (they earned it), we headed further up the street and that’s when our day reached it’s peak. I think the only thing that would have made this moment better would have been if Carrie Fisher herself walked out in a gold bikini (circa 1985 Carrie, not 2010 Carrie). Since that was unlikely to happen, we settled for a Princess Leia stand-in and the scariest guy in the universe. (and some random child in my photo because it was difficult to avoid other people’s photo opps and there was no way my children were going to stand anywhere near the dark side of the force).

I’m told that the guy above on the right was trying to be Luke Sywalker because he has the green lightsaber – but that he “doesn’t REALLY look like Luke Skywaker mum”. I explained to Thomas that even Luke Skywalker doesn’t look like Luke Sywalker anymore. I hope I didn’t crush his dreams.

Thankfully, this guy never changes.

Alas, Darth and the Ishidas had to part ways – Darth, to collect more money for the poor and the Ishidas to enjoy a little hot chocolate as the perfect end to our day.

Well, almost perfect. Thomas’ snow globe ornament that I let the him choose at Macy’s earlier that day was not long for this world and ended up in a wet, glassy mess on the floor of Peet’s (rookie Mum mistake).  And, since I couldn’t let the day end on that note, I quickly ran back to buy a new one before we hopped on the train to head home.

Then it really WAS perfect.

And then Samuel got sick later than night and threw up on me – the end.

Ahhh, reality. It always brings us back with a thud.

Christmas. Taking it Seriously.

We take Christmas very seriously in our house.

We have an elf from Prep and Landing who makes sure the house is ready for Santa…

Uncanny

And of course Santa himself makes an appearance…

Carrying his toys (and a passenger) on the back of his sleigh.

But how would he get anywhere without his reindeer?

It takes a team to make this whole Christmas thing work.

In the Spirit

This year I am definitely in the Christmas spirit. It seemed that the day after (or maybe even a few days before) Thanksgiving, I was ready to go out and get a tree and begin decking the halls immediately. Maybe it’s the promise of opening a new door each day on our Lego Advent calendar (really, it’s embarrassing that I am just as excited as Thomas to see what’s next) or perhaps the thought of experiencing the holiday with two little boys who are now old enough to truly enjoy it. I

Last year I scheduled a few activities in the hope of building traditions. We went for a ride on the Polar Express (fun, but the boys were a little young, especially Samuel) and took in two tree lighting ceremonies, including the one in downtown Portland (at one point Kei was carry both kids). This year, I realized that our traditions can be the simple things like sharing some spiced cider or hot chocolate (and perhaps a little mulled wine for Mummy), trying two separate Trader Joes stores before finding my Eucalyptus wreath for the front door, reading the christmas stories that come out only once a year and finding some time to do random things together as a family, whether that be decorating the tree or spotting Happy the Elf in the morning.

All pictures taken on the iphone with hipstamatic.

And then yesterday the spirit overtook me and I baked cookies. I. Baked. Ok, it was from a cookie mix but I still added the egg and butter and rolled the dough. The kids had SO much fun and were still taking about it today. Of course now we have about 20 cookies to eat over the next couple of weeks (I knew I should have added that gym membership to my wishlist), but it’s a small price to pay for a little bonding time over baked goods. I thought about taking the cookies to work to share with my colleagues until I caught Thomas, more than once, licking the knife that he then used to spread a little more icing. I apologized for the lack of cookies today but said they would thank me when they avoided the plague that has been infiltrating our house.

I still have a few things on my list this year – Zoolights, watching holiday movies, visiting Santa. Thankfully, though, Christmas shopping is not one of them. When you have to send gifts to a variety of different countries, you are not afforded the luxury of last-minute shopping. I like to think of it as a cure for procrastination. Most of the gifts are in my hot little hands and now I just need to package them up and send them. That DOES mean, however, that I need to brave the Post Office during the busiest time of the year. Not looking forward to that little adventure.

Oh, and there’s a birthday to celebrate on Saturday. CAN’T forget that!

Overall, though, I’m looking forward to a relaxed and peaceful Christmas. I would even welcome a little snow should it wish to appear at a time that is convenient to me and then disappear again when I need to run errands… Told you I was in the spirit.

 

Hustle and Bustle

Well, Thanksgiving is over, the turkey is almost gone (almost) the Ishida boys are back at school (albeit grudgingly) and most of us are sick or in recovery. Sounds like a pretty successful holiday weekend to me.

We celebrated in traditional style with our take-out turkey dinner – a tradition I started when we first moved to the states about 8 years ago and one I intend to maintain for years to come. It’s just so much more relaxing than standing over a hot stove and then having your children reject the food anyway. This year our good friends spent the day with us which made the whole day a little more festive and fun. The men watched football, the kids watched Totoro (highly recommended) and the women enjoyed a day when everyone was occupied and they could enjoy a few hours of chatting and sipping on hot mulled wine. Perfect.

I didn’t take any photographs, mainly because it was dark and dreary and I preferred, this year, to simply relax and enjoy the day rather than deal with the disappointment of trying to catch a few moments on film without a decent shot in the bunch.

So, without a thanksgiving photograph to share, I thought a little I Heart Faces challenge photo was in order. This week’s challenge is a tough one – scenic black and white with a person in the photo. A. My photos are 90% colour and, B. I usually choose people OR scenes. It’s rare that I combine the two unless it’s the standard tourist-in-front-of-a-landmark pic.

At first I was focused on finding a landscape shot, but ended up settling on this photograph that shares a little of the hustle and bustle of Yokohama’s Chinatown. Frankly, we didn’t see a whole lot of landscape during our recent visit to Japan but I love that I was able to capture a snapshot of time in the city and I feel as though the black and white places more focus on the people than the bold red and gold colors of the street.

Now, off to lie down and try to kick this illness so I can finish up my Christmas presents this week. Printing and international shipping deadlines are breathing down my neck.

 

Life With Jekyll & Hyde

You never know what you’re going to get with Samuel and, OK, maybe the title is an overstatement. He doesn’t exactly turn into a terrible monster, maybe more like Oscar the Grouch.

But when this kid is ‘on’ he really knows how to charm and entertain. Take tonight when I was putting him to bed for example. We went from stories about daycare and singing do-re-mi “like music teacher” to crying because he wants just “one more” story – one more on top of the 5 “one mores” he has just had. Still, listening to him tonight was easily the best part of my day and even the crying didn’t spoil it.

A few other things I am enjoying right now:

  • Finally being able to give Thomas a bath without having to tape a plastic bag around his arm.
  • Sitting down to dinner each night and having Samuel begin to tell me about his day without even waiting for me to ask because he knows that dinner time is the time when we catch up. (“well today I played with…”).
  • The red peppers (capsicums) that are finally growing in our vegetable garden – although not sure two peppers were worth waiting four months for.
  • Thomas laughing uncontrollably while watching America’s Funniest Home Videos – while I tell him over and over that these are examples of what NOT to do. His laugh is easily one of my favourite sounds.
  • Samuel’s endless trips around the house on his “mini bike” while singing the Goodbye song from Yo Gabba Gabba – complete with Jack Black rock screeching at the very end.
  • Seeing some light (and a vacation) at the end of the tunnel, along with the promise of a little photographic inspiration. Feeling the need to break out the camera again after a short self-induced hiatus, and…
  • Little boys in kimonos.

It doesn’t get much better than that. (photo taken with iphone)

Big Brothers are Hilarious.

Lucky to capture this quick moment at the school harvest festival on possibly one of the last days of Portland sunshine – and between the whining and complaining.

It’s a new favourite.