Favorite books from 2014

I read 24 books in 2015, here are my top 3:

1.  How could I not put the long awaited new novel from the Outlander series?: Written in My Own Heart's Blood. Laura and I even went to the book signing event.

2. If you're a fan of Outlander, you should read the The Bronze Horseman.  It was as amazing (and almost as long).  The only downside is that the following 2 books of the series aren't as good, but that really shouldn't hold you back.

3. Finally, another epoch of a story, The Thorn Birds.

Obviously I love long novels, these 3 are 825, 656, and 692 pages, respectively.

These 2 are my runner-ups: The Stand and The Boys in the Boat

        

Happy birthday Jamie and Happy New Year!

Jamie is 10!  We got him some handsome new clothes from Tokyo (the Gap, no less).   On the morning of his birthday we went out to the Daiei to pick up some stuff for his birthday, including a cake from the French bakery.

He's so tall that he wears size 14-16 boys in Japan!

That evening after dinner he opened his presents (or most of them as some are still in transit - shipping to an APO address is extremely slow).  Then we sang Happy Birthday and ate cake.

Jamie thought is would be funny to switch the candles and pretend he was one.

The cake was yummy!

 After that we decided to head down to the park to see how the festivities were progressing.  It was still pretty early so there weren't many people yet but there were vendors set up and we got a snack and some drinks.

All sorts of meat on a stick.

Chad got the squid.

There were lots of food tents

And a stage

A Tori gate with a bell to ring in the new year.

Christmas 2014

We had a lovely Christmas this year and even though we missed our family and friends back at home, it was a fun and relaxing day for us all.  We started off the festivities by attending a Christmas Eve service on base.  When that was finished, we went out to dinner at a Japanese restaurant that serves mostly steak and hamburg (a seasoned beef patty served with a sauce).  After choosing your main dish, the salad and fruit bar was all-you-could-eat.  The kids had a great time and all the food was very good.  We took a few portraits on our way back into the apartment building.

Once the kids were asleep we put out the presents.

And since we had no fireplace or mantle we put the stocking in front of the tv stand.

A park in Taura

The weekend before Christmas we took it pretty easy.  On Saturday we visited the library on base and then on Sunday we spent a few hours at a park in Taura, which is only one train stop from where we are in Yokosuka.

We had to walk through a tunnel to get to the park, but on the way since we missed the train by only minutes we decided to walk the whole way back, which was about 5 tunnels.

Abby is rocking the cowl that Laura made for her and a Japanese woman asked me if I made it (the sign language for knitting is universally understood!) .  I was unable to convey that it was my sister-in-law who made it (with my limited  to non-existent Japanese) so next time I might just take credit (sorry Laura).

Chad and Jamie play catch at the park.

Abby and Tristan really liked the swings.

And Tristan really loved the slide too.

Decorating the tree

Instead of cutting down a tree this year we had to unfold it from it's box.

It even came pre-lit.

My friend Kelli gave us some extra garland and balls to decorate with.

And we brought one ornament from home that we bought in the San Juans this last summer.

Abby made us a star out of paper and also an ornament too.

We didn't bring quite enough tracks for Thomas to go around the tree so we put him nearby.

And even though the tree wasn't much bigger than Tristan, he still put most of his ornaments on the bottom.

All finished!