Pan Asian Day

Today is Chinese New Year.  This year is the Year of the Rooster, which is my year.  Since a majority of my friends are also roosters, I thought I'd share some lucky/unlucky things to know from this very informative website called China Highlights.

We don't usually make a big deal about Chinese or Lunar New Year, but we usually celebrate by Matt cooking a stir-fry.  We couldn't do that this year, however, because we had plans at 5 pm tonight:  Leah's Tae Kwon Do "graduation" ceremony.

For the past two weeks Leah has been participating in an after school (at the school) introductory Tae Kwon Do program which culminated in a graduation ceremony today at the dojang, which is conveniently in a shopping plaza only a couple miles away.  Today's event was really just a demonstration for the parents and to get them to sign their kids up for more lessons, but Leah absolutely loved it.

Of course we were already planning on signing her up for more lessons.  Master Park, the instructor, was great with all the kids but more importantly, this is the only sport Leah has tried that she wanted to continue.  And trust me, she's tried a lot:  soccer, cheerleading, tee-ball, running club & field hockey.  Plus, she broke a board today.  Even Aaron was impressed.  We tried to get him to take the after school lessons but he didn't want to.  We're "encouraging" him to try a lesson when Leah begins her lessons but he is reluctant.  He says he only wants to take karate lessons but I think Leah breaking the board today helped to make him agreeable to taking a trial lesson.

Leah with Master Park.

Leah focusing on her task.

Hi-ya!  With Matt holding the board, Leah
 successfully breaks it.

Aaron was duly impressed as Leah was the
only person in her class to break their
 board into three pieces.

Having spent the first part of the evening of Chinese New Year celebrating Korean martial arts, it made perfect sense to then eat Japanese food at the hibachi & sushi restaurant located in the same shopping plaza. (We had a coupon, after all.)  Although teppanyaki is not the same for us since living in Japan, it's still fun and the kids love the fire.  (Really, who doesn't enjoy seeing an onion volcano?)  This was our first trip to Super Ninja Steakhouse & Sushi and we had a tasty dinner.

Our chef performed all the usual skills...

...including fire.

He threw in a new one that Matt & I had never seen
or experienced before:  catching sake.

So that was our Pan Asian day:  Chinese New Year with Korean martial arts and Japanese food.  I hope you have a lucky and prosperous new year.  And if you're a rooster--be careful!  This is not a lucky year for you.  Take heed of diagram near the top of the page.

It's a Marshmallow World in the Winter

Remember that song, "It's a marshmallow world in the winter, when the snow is covering the ground..."?  That's what it seemed like to me this past Saturday while I was shoveling snow from our driveway.  It's the first time I've had to shovel snow in about five years, since we lived in Northern VA.  It snowed a few times in Sasebo when we were there, like it did here last year, but never with enough accumulation require shoveling.  Usually it had melted by lunchtime.  Not this time.

Our snowy house (and yard and driveway...)

By 2pm, it had snowed about 4 inches
(and was still snowing).

Now, we lived in Northern VA in 2010 when Snowmaggedon hit the Washington D.C. area and we got a foot of snow.  This wasn't anywhere that bad (although Williamsburg did end up with 12 inches) but the wind was horrible.  It was actual blizzard-like conditions for almost 24 hours.  Our neighborhood roads weren't even plowed until the end of the day (and not very well either).

View from our back yard.

Is the car on the road or parked in a lot?

Personally, I am not a fan of snow.  Actually, it's not the snow, it's the cold weather that accompanies it.  It's been really cold here this weekend, below 20 degrees.  The cold weather has not bothered Leah and Aaron.  Let me rephrase that:  Leah and Aaron are excited to play in the snow despite the cold weather.  They've been having a ball, even more so now that they had a snow day today and no school tomorrow either.

Woo Hoo!  It's snowing!

Leah and Aaron give snow a thumbs up! 

The snow wasn't the wet, sticky good-for-snowman-making
kind but the dry, powdery let's-make-snow-angels kind.

Despite all the fun the kids had playing in the snow, there was a limit.

The cold and the wind made Aaron's face
hurt and he reached his breaking point.

I am, however, not the only family member who could do without the snow.  Our Floridian cats are experiencing snow for the first time and quite frankly, they're not thrilled.  Ladybird has been more daring (hopeful?) than Shadow but both want their backyard back to normal.  I feel you, my kitties.

"Me-wow it's cold!"

Matt's Day

Today is Matt's 40-something birthday.  (Only women turn 29 forever.)  Since it snowed all day yesterday, which Aaron thought was the best birthday gift Matt could have received, today was pretty relaxed.  The day began with Matt and Leah making pancakes from scratch.  You may wonder why I made Matt cook his own breakfast on his birthday, but that's on him because he had promised Leah the pancakes and he didn't cook them on Saturday.  Luckily, he enjoys cooking so it was not a big deal.

Matt and Leah making pancakes while Matt gets a happy birthday call.

Mmm...pancakes (on the birthday plate).

Later this morning Matt got to open his presents.  He was very pleased with his personal electronics-themed gifts.

Matt got an Apple watch with a screen
protector and a charging stand.  The cats
got him wireless headphones.  (Our cats
give good gifts.)

If it snowed all day yesterday, at times in blizzard-like conditions, then today was just plain cold!  This morning it was 20 degrees (with a "feels like" temperature of 4 degrees); it never got higher than 25 degrees.  Needless to say we stayed hunkered down for most of the day.  We had lunch and a movie this afternoon and since it was Matt's birthday, he got to choose the movie.

One of Matt's all-time favorite movies.
He still knows all the lyrics to the songs.

For dinner we went to one of Matt's favorite restaurants:  P.F. Chang's.  He ate his favorites:  Chicken Lettuce Wraps and Beef a la Sichuan.  And how could we not share The Great Wall of Chocolate for a birthday dessert?

Chopsticks at the ready...dig in!

Mmm...chocolate!

I hope Matt had a good birthday.  I think that he did.  I know he loves his new watch.  (Send him a text and make his wrist buzz!)  I'm glad the kids and I could help him have a good day.