Winter is here...that means we need to go on a vacation!

Heidi playing in the snow. 

Our small town in Northern Japan has officially turned into it's own little snow globe. We have about a foot of snow on the ground and more on the way. The first time Heidi ventured out in the snow she did not enjoy her little sledding adventure. I thought she might be traumatized but we have been out there since then and she seems to be warming up to it more and more. If we get some more snow soon I was thinking about taking her snow shoeing with Dennis. It could be a family adventure with Heidi on Dennis' back and he can consider it his workout for the day. 

First time sledding. Fail. 

Second time sledding. Loved it. 

Soon we will be escaping the snow to take a 3 week vacation down under to Australia and New Zealand. Visiting the city of Cairns first to enjoy some beach time and snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef. Then we will get a camper van and explore the south island of New Zealand for about 10 days. We end the trip in the big city of Sydney. It's going to be an amazing vacation that we are so blessed to take. I am sure I will be posting lots of pictures in the near future.

Now an update on the little girl.....Heidi went in for her 15 month appointment and our little lady is 29.2 pounds and 33.2 inches long. She is now in the 99 percentile not only for height but weight too. Her vocabulary is starting to expand. "No" has become a favorite word of hers lately...I am sure she learned it from imitating her mommy but "ball" and "dog" are still her go to's. And speaking of favorites her Daddy has become her favorite now. She gets so excited when he comes home and constantly wants to be held by him. It just melts my heart. She has started coloring but needs to be reminded a lot not to eat the crayons. Definitely a future artist in the works. Her favorite song is the itsy bitsy spider and she loves to do the motions with it. Elmo and Mickey are in competition for her favorite TV character at breakfast. Elmo's voice is pretty awesome to her but Mickey's songs mean she can get her dance on. We will see who the will win Heidi's love once she can start making requests in the near future. This little lady is beginning to pick up on more and more and it's exciting to see her learn new things. One thing that is not so exciting is she has also started to have opinions about things now and will occasionally throw a tantrum. This has been all sorts of fun but I am trying my best to be ahead of the tantrums by distracting her with something else. As my Grammy said to my mom and my mom tells me....it's all a phase. Hopefully, not a long one.

My Movie Star! 

I can't believe we only have about 6 months left in Japan. This assignment has been amazing and it will be so hard to leave but our 3 years are coming to a close. We have put in for our next assignment and will find out in less than two months. All we can do now is prayer to the assignment gods that we will get one of our top picks.

Thank you to everyone who sent presents and cards this Christmas. We are so thankful for all of your generosity and thoughtfulness. Please don't be offended if you did not get a card from us....we did not send any out. It's one of my goals for this new year.