July 4th, Tanabata, Shopping Trips, and More

Okay, fair warning I'm about to give. This post is going to be a bit long and maybe a tad too detailed for some, but sometimes I like to write these types of posts because it just kind of helps me to organize my thoughts somewhat.

So, where to begin. I will start with the Fourth of July. I was pretty sure that I would not be seeing fireworks this year. I mean sitting in the heat for hours on end just didn't sound like my idea of a good time....though thousands of people in NYC may disagree with me since a lot of people do it. However, I completely lucked out and got to see fireworks twice. On the 3rd, I started to hear a booming noise and assumed it was thunder. When it kept on and on though I suspected that it just may be fireworks, so I ran up to our rooftop deck and somewhere on the NJ side of the river they were having a nice display. Same goes for the 4th. Macy's said that there would be limited visibility where we live, but it was still good enough from our apartment. Ten and Mia missed out both times since they were in bed....but I was glad I got to see some my first 4th back in the States.

What did we do to celebrate though? We finger painted flags, listened to some patriotic music, and I made the infamous flag cake which turned out great (gotta love Trader Joe's). We also (George Foreman) grilled some hamburgers. We kept it pretty simple but maybe next year we will do a picnic or something.

Skipping to this weekend. We were pretty busy in a good way. On Saturday morning we were up by 6:00 a.m. so we headed out to play at the soccer field. We had a good time running around and kicking the ball, but it was so terribly hot by 7:30...or I guess I should say humid. We didn't want to just go sit at home though so we headed to the Metro Diner for breakfast. Ten suggested it and I had been wanting to check it out. I didn't have my phone with me so no pics. Ten ordered the biggest chicken quesadilla that I have ever seen. I had the Mykonos Omelet with toast and home fries. It was a huge amount of food, but Ten finished off both plates! He can put it away. After breakfast, we decided to go to the play room in our building since it was just way too hot to play outside. We met a nice dad and toddler and spent some time playing with them.

Fast forward to Sunday, we headed to swim lessons and did our usual thing followed by a trip to TJ Maxx to pick up a few things that we needed. We ran in and grabbed a new roasting pan, grater, a coverup for me, two pairs of capris for me, and a pair of swim trunks for Ten. All much needed. We also did a few things for Tanabata. I had more planned, but I kind of dropped the ball on both holidays. We ate somen, listed to the Tanabata song, and a few other small things. Nothing big but we did at least acknowledge the holidays.

Let's see in other random bits of news....we just received a large Amazon order of things for Mia. These I do surprisingly have pictures of....

DK flashcards. These are great because the pictures are all textured, and they are so big. We love these, and I definitely recommend them.

Odwalla Chocolate Bars. We all love these, and they will make great snacks for Disney.

I hate how Blogger keeps flipping my pictures. We got Mia a shape sorting elephant, a Rody horse, and a fishing rod with three little fish. All pretty good toys.

Mia adores Rody. We noticed how much she loved him at class, but she only gets to play with him a few minutes a week....so we got her one. She may be a tad spoiled.

Elmo book set of four and Little People books...all great for vocabulary building.

Teach My Baby kit. This sounded like a good product, so we went ahead and decided to try it.

Everything that you get with it. In reality, great concept but the actual cards/books are kind of cheaply made. Mia seems to like it for sure, but I'm not sure I would have bought this for what it sells for. We will still try to get our money's worth though.

Some new cups as well as snack holders. Very cute and work great!

Hmm...let's see other tidbits. I've decided not to buy a planner for next year. I've debated and debated which one is most suitable for me. I need something to write down to do lists, appointment times, a shopping list, weekly menu, and money tracking. Basically, nothing is going to work...so I've decided to go ahead and do away with my paper planner for next year. Instead I've downloaded a bunch of apps that I think will help me like Cozi Calendar, Mint, Color Notes, and a few other things...so far...so good. I'm hoping that this will save a small chunk of money and be most practical. After all, my planner right now is so big that I can't even carry it around with me.

Also, did you know that I have a certificate in Sports Nutrition...yep it's true. I have one more year or so before I need to submit my renewal application with my Continuing Education Units....Not sure if I want to use the money to renew it though....it's not like I'm doing a whole lot with it at the moment. Ten says it may be something worth keeping up to date with though. Decisions to be made.

Well those are just the odds and ends of what has been going on here lately. What do we have planned for this week? Two play dates at friends' homes, a play date at the AMNH, a music lesson, and a day at the play gym...not including a few other soft commitments that I've made....may not have time for anything else though.

Anyway, like I said...long detailed post....but this is just what we have been up to.

Getting Ready for Disney

A little less than a month from now, we will be on a plane to Orlando for our first official family vacation. We need a vacation so bad...and we thought that since Disney is the happiest place on Earth...then that is where we should go. 

I booked 100% of our trip through the Disney travel agents. They even took care of the flight...and no....they don't charge additional for the flight. I checked and the flight was the same exact price as if I would have booked it through Expedia or something like that myself. It was the easiest trip booking ever...usually I have to deal with a million hotels, restaurants, flights, etc...but this was all done for me. Love Disney already!

So, we are heading out on the 23rd of July and returning on the 30th (flying on my birthday as usual...oh well). I decided to go with Jet Blue since we get to check our luggage without an additional charge, are provided with refreshments, and have screens on our seats to watch TV....this is vacation....so I didn't want to be dying of thirst on the plane once my $5 bottle of airport water is all gone.

Anyway, so we will be staying a the Animal Kingdom Lodge which I am super excited about. It is supposed to be amazing! 

The other day we received a few items in the mail for our trip. 

Disney luggage tags, tags to put on our bags for the Magical Express, a book of maps and things like that, and a book containing our vouchers, flight numbers, etc

I am also so relieved that Disney will actually pick our bags up for us at the airport and then have them delivered to our room! One less hassle with a toddler for sure.

So, right now I am starting to organize for the trip in terms of our packing list...and I'm really most anxious about Mia on the plane. She has been on a plane a grand total of three time so far...but she was so much smaller. I have seen toddler meltdowns in the air...and it can be terrible...terrible for the toddler, terrible for the parents, and terrible for the other passengers.

With all that being said, I did some research and found some ideas on different websites. Here are a few of the things that we will be packing on the plane with us....or at least what my ideas are for the moment and what I have ordered...this may change slightly before we go.

DK Ocean Book (for the pictures--however, not as many pictures as I would have liked...so will save this for another occasion), a lift the flap book with 40 flaps...should keep her busy, and The Very Hungry Caterpillar which is new to Mia.

Lots of stickers...not only for the plane but also for restaurants too.

Travel Magna Doodlge, a cool mist fan (for the parks), some ABC/picture flash cards, and a Teach Me Elmo

A Toddler busy box called Lauri Toys Toddler Tote...lots of things for her to play with...don't know why Blogger keeps flipping this picture.

These are some of the things that I'm hoping will distract her for the nearly 3 hour plane ride....if you have any other ideas...please let me know.

Another Weekend

We had another pretty typical weekend. I wonder what everyone else does with their families all weekend long, but this is pretty normal for us.

We started with Friday evening going to a "Friday Fun for Everyone" program at New York Kids Club. It was a two hour long event where the kids got to play on the rock wall, balance beam, uneven bars, and trampoline. They also had the mats set up in an obstacle course. Mia spent about 45 minutes just running back and forth on the trampoline. She was having a great time!

After a while in the gym, we went over to the craft room and made monsters out of foam shapes. Mia's was so cute, but she ripped all of its body parts off before we could get a pic. This followed with a sing-a-long and then more gym time. Ten was able to show up for the last 45 minutes of the party, so we played in the gym some more and then had snacks and pizza.

Next weekend they are having a USA themed event. It sounds like a lot of fun, so we went ahead and signed up for that too.

On Saturday morning, we were all awake a little bit before 6:00. Ten was like....let's go for a walk...and that sounded like a good idea. We were walking up towards Morning Side Heights when he said that there was a really good bagel shop that we should try. We ended up walking a short 12 blocks to get to the bagel shop when we found out that they didn't take debit cards. Oh well, another time then....so we headed to Starbucks for a quick breakfast. 

Checking out the store.

Mia saw a dog outside, so she had to go check him out too. She loves dogs!

Eating an apple fritter with juice. We all shared this since it was so big. Really good.

Ten and I each ordered Iced Coffees. He got caramel syrup and I got vanilla....they were really just so-so. We actually make it better at home.

I was so sad that there were no seasonal summer drinks at Starbucks. They had some chocolate something or another special drink, but I didn't feel that it was all that summery.

After going home, Mia and Ten took naps while I cleaned up and started getting things prepped for dinner later (chicken wraps and stuffed mushrooms...so good). 

We all ate lunch when they woke up and decided to go to the park to play in the water. I told Ten about a really fun park called River Run, so we walked down to 83rd. This park has a fountain as well as a little canal for the water to run down in....lots of fun.

On Sunday morning, we headed to Hippo Park at like 7 am. Can you tell that we hit up lots of parks on the weekend? There are just so many options to choose from!

At 11:30 we went to swim class and after did some shopping at Michael's, Modell's, and Whole Foods. We actually went to Whole Foods to just pick up milk but then got some mac and cheese, soda, and canned raviolis because they were cheaper at Whole Foods and "organic".

Here are some of the things we picked up:

Something to hang on the door for 4th of July

Flags (Mia loves playing with these) along with this cute USA piece that Mia and Ten picked out.

A soccer ball for Mia (apparently Ten promised her he would get her one the other day), some star shaped cookie cutters for Tanabata, and multivitamins.

Finally, we played on the soccer fields near our apartment (which are astro turf) until about 8:30 pm after dinner and then came home and all had baths.

Blurry....but you get the idea.

Our plans for today include mainly just gymnastics and art/music/story time since the weather is supposed to be terribly hot! Also, I'm hoping to finish up the second season of Big Love....maybe...and making an herb grilled chicken for dinner with corn on the cob and mashed potatoes. Easy day ahead of us.

What we are reading, eating, and doing...

In an effort to try to eat healthier, I am going to a 95% Japanese menu for the next week. Even some of the most unhealthy Japanese foods are a million times less bad for you than typical American dishes.

So, I made up my list and we were all set to head to the Japanese supermarket together....however, Mia decided that she would take a nap instead. Ten volunteered to make the trip alone :( ... but it all worked out. Here are some of the things that were on my list.

Lots of tofu...grilled and normal. We are going to use this for the last nabe of the year as well as miso soup, etc

Natto (for Mia and Ten), takana, and miso

Dashi powder, furikake, 2 boxes of curry, 1 box of cream stew, and snacks for Mia. No idea why this picture is all stretched out.

Nori, cooking sake, white sesame seeds, ajipon, and bath powder (milk protein type). I was especially excited about the bath stuff!! Seriously...the best.

Ten also brought us back bento and a jasmine tea for me. I had the salmon and he had fried chicken...Mia ate bites of both. Seriously...in Tokyo this would NOT have been an exciting meal...but it is like a taste of...home...I guess you would say. 

After putting everything away and having an early dinner, we decided to head over to the Dinosaur Playground. We were surprised to see that they had the water features on since it was kind of chilly out, and of course Mia toddled over to the water as fast as her little legs could carry her.

Not a flattering photo I must say...and where am I looking ?? Creepy.

Getting ready to run through the water.

Needless to say, we had a great time...but we were cold and wet so this meant that when we got home we did showers and took baths.

Finally, Mia's library has been getting a little bit bland shall we say. We only have about maybe a dozen and a half Japanese books. English books...tons from the library, but we needed to switch them out. We took a quick trip over...and here are just a very few of what we are reading right now. Some of these Mia picked out herself...and some I found from recommended reading lists.

The Napping House, Moomin books, Dr. Seuss nursery books, Dear Zoo (the best book!), and some DK books. Ten also grabbed the Row, Row, Row your boat book since he recently learned how to play it on the xylophone...I know we are super cool.

We also placed an order with Amazon Japan for some Japanese books, but we decided that it would be best to go to Kinokuniya and pick up some new ones while we are waiting.

I guess you would say these are similar to ABC books...but they have so much more in them.

Different sounds and the faces that you make when you say them...so cute.

The Japanese version of "Do, Re, Mi"

Anyway, so that is what we basically did this weekend. Our summer is about to kick into warp speed from this week. Lots of classes, play dates, planning for vacation, working on projects, figuring out apartment stuff and so much more! How to avoid burn out...this will be the challenge. Wish me luck!

Shopping, Toddler Projects, and Play Group

I feel like it is such a weird type of Wednesday. The week is crawling at a snail's pace and going super fast at the same time...doesn't make sense at all.

Anyway, a little round-up of what we have been up to this week and a few random bits from last week as well.

Last Friday we went to a Japanese playgroup at the Unitarian Church on the UWS. When we walked in, we were surprised to see that it was Mia's teacher from the school that shut down. Mia was excited to play with her baby friends and see her teacher!

But the activities weren't really holding her attention very well. This goes the same for the other kids her age. They were running around the church and exploring every inch of it. When we asked the teacher if the lessons could maybe be made a little bit more challenging/interesting for older kids, we were met with what I believe is a rather typical Japanese answer. The material is fine...we just need to encourage our kids to sit through it and we ourselves need to make sure that they are engaged....hmmm....I only half agree. Anyway, the class is going to be moved to Mondays at a friend's apartment for the rest of the summer. We won't be able to make it since Mia has her gymnastics/pre-nursery program that day. Actually, I'm not too disappointed though since I've felt for the past few months that this Japanese class just isn't cutting it anymore. I'm hoping we will be able to find something better in the fall :)

Monday we went to Mia's new summer class. It was really amazing. First, the kids got to play on the obstacles that were set up which included things like a balance beam, tunnels to climb under, and so much more. They then practiced their stretches, played on a sensory board with scarves, and did trampoline work. Mia had a pretty good time.

After that, we headed to the class room where they ate their snacks while listening to a story, made an art project, had free playtime with toys, and then ended with puppets and songs. I so wish I would have taken some pictures, but I was sent an email before the first day of class talking about how cellphones/cameras weren't allowed. However...everyone was snapping pictures during class...so I will too next time! I was glad though that we could just focus on the class for the first day.

Mia's Cat Puppet...coloring by Mia and I helped with the face of course.

When we got home, Mia was pretty tired from all of the activity. So, I had time to make a roasted chicken and warm potato salad. They both turned out pretty good. Yum! 

Let's see...yesterday we spent a lot of time at both the library and the park. We got lots of great books! I should really post some of the great stories that we are reading right now. We also did some sensory activities with rocks and water. Some other activities that we did yesterday were playing with pipe cleaners and water bottles as well as filling up the bathtub with 200 balls for bath time! Lots of fun. I actually took pics, but they are on my camera. 

We are always doing lots of little games/projects at home during the weekdays. Mia loves them and it prevents her from destroying the house too much. Anyway, so I am going to try to do a better job of blogging about some of the projects that we do. That way she can look back in 20 years and say....oh that is how I spent my baby/toddler days. 

Mia in a duck headband we made one day...notice the crayon in her teeth.

Lastly, this morning we went shopping to buy some things for more fun activities at home.

Two packs of stickers (cats and bees), letter magnets, chevron buttons, glass bowl, food coloring, play dough, puddy, glitter, glass rocks, slinky, squidgy caterpillar, peace signs, and ocean beads. Lots of fun things.

We also headed over to Walgreens to pick up a few things we needed for home/crafts.

Freezer bags, giant thing of hair gel (for projects), mouthwash, and Aveeno Moisturizer. I didn't take a pic of things we got for Ten's Father's Day gift :)

Plans for the rest of the day include projects with Mia, possibly ordering my planner for next year, and checking out another DVD of Big Love from the library...LOVE that show!

Our First Costco Purchase

Wow! I thought groceries were expensive in Tokyo, but they are ridiculously expensive where we are right now. It makes me want to faint just thinking about how much I spent on peanut butter the other day at the "cheaper" supermarket. So, Ten did some research and found out that we can order from Costco online and have it delivered through a third party. Now, I have been told that Costco isn't actually the cheapest, but in this case it really was. We sat down with all of our grocery receipts and calculated per pound what was cheaper where and then placed our order...so it was money saved for us.


So, here is what we bought....

Bulk Diapers and 30 rolls of toilet paper for almost the same price as 12 near our apartment.

14 pounds of ground turkey (not all pictured) and some pickles (love pickles).

Mushrooms, plums, red onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, and Greek yogurt (love Greek yogurt).

Tons of turkey bacon, two giant bottles of ranch dressing, almonds, minced garlic, seasoning salt, pico  de gallo.

Four double sized boxes of Cheerios and 2 packs of English muffins (whole grain).

Tons of peaches, green beans, hot sauce, and trash bags. There are also 3 jars of marinara sauce back there.

Chickpeas, black beans, kidney beans, and oatmeal.

As you can see, nothing really fancy. We almost never buy pre-made frozen meals or anything like that. We would much rather cook as many of our meals as possible...and it becomes all too easy to pop those in the microwave...so better not to keep a bunch on hand. Though...I can see a few here and there in our future....just the way it goes.

Hmm...so I'm wondering...what is on your weekly grocery list?