Will someone please remind the child that she's only 6 months old? Talk about trying to keep up with big sister. She also has developed quite the attitude when you take something away from her. I know I said before that she was easy going, but lately she certainly has her own opinions and has a pretty loud, high-pitched, shrieky way of letting you know what it is. Now THAT is familiar!

Here is Mia in her new Belle dress. She has many other princess clothes. But I was informed that she did not have a BELLE dress. Belle's dress is yellow. Belle is a princess. No Disney princess has ever worn a purple or aqua dress such as the ones she has apparently. This one was very special. And it comes with the requisite crown and wand which may be modeled at a later date if the bribe is just right.

As a side note, I haven't really mentioned Mia's potty training progress here on the blog much. When we first started, she was great at it and picked it up right away. She rarely had an accident and was staying dry at night. Then one day it all changed. Suddenly and without any explanation. She wasn't just having *more* accidents. The child had quit using the toilet altogether. She would squat and pee right there in the middle of the living room. Five times in an afternoon. Not cool. It got better, then it got worse. We flip flopped back and forth a few times and tried every trick in the book. The most frustrating part is that I knew she could do it, she just was choosing not to. Obviously, more bribing was in order. If Mia kept her underwear clean every day for 5 days in a row she could get her beloved princess dress. Guess what the child can do if she sets her mind to it?

Well at least that is what she says she wrote. It looks like "MAPE" but I say give the kid a break. It's still pretty impressive! She was watching Dora while drawing and then she came over to show me what she did. She said it was a map (not sure to where) and she had labeled it and drawn herself wtih Dora (big hair) and map (pretty good likeness) on the road to... somewhere! This child never ceases to amaze me.

A few weekends ago, we discovered a place quite close to our house that collects salt from the ocean. You can tour the factory and see how the whole process works. We had to guess at some of it because of our limited literacy. The funniest part was at the end where they had a salt-man on display!

She is also trying the smallest bites of food on occasion. One grain of rice, here it comes back out. A taste of a lemon? Eww, not so much. Celery stick to alternately wave around and teethe on? Ding ding ding! We have a winner!

Mia is currently on summer break until September 1st. When she goes back she'll be joining the older kids in class. This is a big step for her. There's a lot more structure and she will have to remember many more routines every day. I think she'll eat it up though. We tried on uniforms last week so we know what size to order. She was adorable looking like a little Japanese schoolgirl! When ours arrive I'll have to have her put on a fashion show. I know it will be easy because she frequently poses and performs for the camera on cue...

She speaks quite a bit of Japanese already. The other night at dinner she took it upon herself to recite her before eating prayer. I hear random songs I don't know or understand. And yesterday I saw her run up to a Japanese family sitting near us and shout out something to them. They responded and there was a brief exchange so I guess her pronunciation must be passable!

Mia is going to school until 2pm now. She gets to eat lunch "like a big girl at school" and I'm packing her bentos on Tuesday and Thursday. Apparently bento box making is a competitive sport among Japanese mothers.

For the record, mine are not nearly that creative.

Ellerie is already threatening to crawl. She got her knees up under herself just right the other day and propelled herself a few inches. She's also "talking" up a storm. She's still the happiest baby anyone has ever met-- smiling, gurgling, cooing, and laughing her huge belly laugh. And yes, still growing like a weed.

In non-kid news, I've got the photography business up and running! Check it out at www.kimberlymitchellphotography.com.

This is the very same pink poodle that Mia shunned when given the choice between two stuffed dogs Grandma brought as a present. Suddenly, when Ellerie can play with it, Mia has decided that it really should be hers afterall and Ellerie will have to take the other dog-- the one that Mia originally wanted. The grass is always greener. This is going to be a fun ride.

Ellerie is practicing her sitting these days. If she gets in just the right position and the wind isn't blowing on her too hard, she can do it for a few seconds!

We had to go to a birthday party for one of Mia's friends this weekend and at the last minute I realized I had forgotten the card. I asked Mia if she wanted to sign it so he would know who the present was from. She said, "Yes, I'll write Mia." And then she did.

Our first day was mostly taken up with traveling, so we just checked into the hotel and went down to dinner at Kikuya, the Japanese restaurant that we wanted to try last time but ran out of time to do. I think it was the last Japanese food we had. We turned the trip into quite the American affair between Outback, Hard Rock Cafe, a Banana Republic shopping spree and of course Disney. I think after a year of living in Okinawa, going to Tokyo isn't for experiencing Japanese culture as much as it is for finding the American things we haven't seen in ages!

This trip we took a lot of excursions outside of the city. On Thursday, we went to Kamakura, home of The Great Buddha.

On the way there, we had some Senbei, a little snack that the area is famous for.

We walked up a touristy shopping street on the way to Tsurugaoka Hachiman Shrine. Lots of steps to climb with a couple of sleeping kids strapped on!

Friday was Mia's birthday. We started out the day with breakfast in bed.

Then we went on a 2 day tour of Mt. Fuji & Hakone. We are usually not prepackaged tour kind of people, but this one was really good. They picked us up from the hotel and drove us out to Mt. Fuji for a few different views of the mountain. I had no idea that you could leave the bustling city behind and be driving through the mountains in minutes.

At the hotel where we stopped for lunch, the girls attracted quite a crowd. At one point there were no less than 9 girls taking turns fawning over Mia or Ellerie, all cooing "Cawaii" over and over again which I think means something in the general ballpark of "Cute".

The afternoon consisted of a tour boat cruise around Lake Ashi and a ropeway ride up to Mt. Komagatake where we found another little shrine and some great views of Hakone.

That evening we stayed at the Prince Hakone "Lakeside Annex". There's always a catch isn't there? We had been circling this beautiful hotel all afternoon and the sign seemed to indicate that it was the Prince Hakone, the hotel that we were supposed to stay in overnight. Then they dropped us off at the Lakeside Annex... Oh well, it was nice, clean and I'm not complaining. It was a little smaller than expected in the bed department, so Mia was excited to get to make a tent bed that night.

One fun surprise was that there was an Onsen, an open air bath filled from hot springs which are said to have healing properties. The protocol to use them is to 1. get naked in front of anyone else who happened to be there at the same time, 2. scrub yourself in the shower like you've never bathed before, 3. once you're super clean, you may go sit in the special water for as long as you like, but for us was about 5 minutes before getting overheated and leaving. There are separate baths for men and women and I'm told that the men's bath had a great view overlooking the lake. Hrmph.

The second day we were on our own to tour around Hakone and get back to the train station to catch the shinkansen on our own. We found Kurotamago in Owadakuni which are eggs that are hard or soft-boiled in the hot springs. The sulfur in the water turns the shells black. Eating one gives you 7 years of extra life! We split one so maybe we'll each get to live 3.5 years longer.

The rest of the afternoon we spent at the Hakone Open Air Museum. The main point of this was to give Mia a big park to play in and run around but I think we had more fun than she did! We loved the place. Especially the dim sum restaurant with the great views. As luck would have it, this is the day my camera battery died. We might find some more photos when I download the other camera.

That night we stayed at a different hotel because our favorite one was full. I use that term hotel loosely. But that's not the point. We hadn't been there before and although we thought we had prepared ourselves by bringing a map, it was apparently not such a good map and we wandered around for an hour looking for the place. Lugging 2 kids, a carry-on suitcase and 2 backpacks. I finally went into an establishment labeled "hotel" on it's sign to ask for directions. The woman saw me with the baby and said "No! Couples only!". I glanced around the walls and I realized it was one of these Love Motels that I had heard about when we first moved to Okinawa! I guess it isn't an urban legend afterall!

Sunday morning we made our way back to The New Sanno, our little piece of heaven in Tokyo. I'm telling you, we make our vacation plans around the availability of this place. It's that good. After checking in, we went over to the Imperial Palace Gardens to look around.

On the way there, we had some tasty cheeseburgers with itty-bitty french fries. And on the way back we had Outback. A few minor changes to the menu, but overall pretty tasty! Oh, almost forgot. We tried to find square watermelons but to no avail. A friend who used to live in Tokyo gave us one lead but that wound up a dead end. The concierge who is wonderful and has never failed us before made a few calls and told us that we'd have to wait until August. Guess we'll have to go back!

Monday we went out to Yokohama for the biggest Chinatown outside of China. The vendors there sure do want to sell you chestnuts! We also discovered that the train goes right to the mall. Not near it, when you step off the train you step INTO THE MALL. Now we're talking!

You can also make it to Landmark Tower without ever going outside. It's got the highest observation deck around. It was a rainy day for us so we couldn't see too far, but we had a nice relaxing break at the little cafe up there. Two sleeping children, a couple of beers and a great view.... oh wait, one of them woke up.

When the rain cleared up, we went across the street to ride the ferris wheel. That thing is TALL!

Then we ended the evening with some more classic American food.

Tuesday morning: We're going to Disney!

As you can see, it's the happiest place on earth.

I think Ellerie enjoyed her first Disney trip.

As usual, Mia loved the teacups.

They sell every flavor of popcorn imaginable, and then some others. Chocolate, caramel, sure. Sea salt, yeah... Strawberry hmm well ok. But I have to draw the line somewhere:

Wednesday we went to Disney Sea. I had no idea what to expect, but I really enjoyed it! Mia was thrilled to find Minnie Mouse there. The previous day we asked her who she wanted to see. She said Minnie Mouse. We looked all over for her but didn't see her. We even went to her house but she wasn't home. Mia didn't want to talk to any other characters besides Minnie. So it's a lucky break that we found her!

Mia also got to ride her first roller coaster! She held on for dear life, her little knuckles turning white as a sheet, but said she loved it and rode it 3 times.

She barely made the requirements-- 3 years old and 90 cm. I'm not sure she actually fit the 2nd one, but the nice woman with the yardstick gave her her pass into the world of big girl rides on the benefit of the doubt. And wasn't she proud of it!

We ended the day with a splash in the fountain. It was actually pretty fun to watch since the water would spray to the music they had playing there.

To celebrate the end of a successful vacation, we had a tasty Italian dinner in the Venetian section of the park then closed the place down as the girls slept. It was a fine time.

On Thursday we had to head home. See you next time Mt. Fuji!

See all of our Tokyo Photos.

This year we couldn't decide between a Strawberry Shortcake or Princess theme. Luckily, I found the perfect marriage of the two. Mia invited 16 of her closest friends to Monakids Jungle to help her celebrate her 3rd birthday this morning. This was an indoor play place where kids can climb, bounce in ball pits, slide down slides, and burn off all that birthday cake energy. We ate pizza.

We played in ball pits.

We blew out the candles on the strawberry ice cream cake.

We opened presents.

And to keep with the strawberry theme, each guest left with a "plant your own strawberry kit". Hopefully they'll grow a tasty crop!

More photos from Mia's 3rd birthday.

Ellerie has recently discovered hers and just can't get over how FUN they are. Who knew there were special toys built right onto the end of those legs? And with her new skills, she has trumped herself in the entertainment department. She used to flash one of her super sweet big smiles and everyone around her cooed and giggled back at her. Now she has added on a "grab your toes and pull" act right on top of that. People fall all over themselves trying to tell her how cute she is for that one. Who could resist?