Valentine's Dance @ the Schilling

So you've seen the video of them dancing, here are the pictures from the night. We are going to go out to Mardi Gras tomorrow, so I figured I'd better get these ones up and out of the way! Olivia looks too grown up in her Hello Kitty outfit, courtesy of Aunt Dandy, but she loved the skirt and loved twisting and turning all night in it.
Check her out posing before the dance:

Outside, going into the Schilling. Can you tell they are excited?

Strike a pose!

Taylor can strike a pose too!

They were full of smiles, so I kept catching them:

Dancing the night away:

Requesting "Baby:"

Uh Oh, they dragged Daddy/Mr. Mike out on the dance floor!

Cheesing because they just got goodie bags!

It did not escape us that people probably thought Taylor was ours and that Olivia was the friend visiting :)

Funny thing about this picture - I have no idea who the girl in red at the end is. She just saw we were taking pictures and thought she would join us. So she hopped up there, smiled, and didn't move :)

After the dance we headed home to get our PJs on. No, we didn't have a sleep over, but we changed into jammies in case Taylor fell asleep on the way home.

Big Hugs:

Great Friends - Loved having their jammies on together, complete with slippers.

Family Valentine Dance

Saturday night we went to a family Valentine Dance at the community center on base. It was pretty good, not a lot of people were there so it wasn't crowded and we could just let Olivia and Taylor have all the fun they wanted. Dancing and pizza - a perfect night for two two-year-olds!
More pictures to come soon, but for now you can enjoy this video of Taylor and Olivia dancing the night away!

Some Sapporo Footage

Well you've seen the pictures of her sliding down, now see it in action and actually hear the giggles! Here are some short videos of her sledding while we were in Sapporo. Brace yourself, she does fall off in the first video, but she doesn't get hurt. She jumps up and wants to go again! And in one of the videos, she runs right into me! Oops, I forgot to jump out of the way. Enjoy!

More on Sapporo!

Here are some more pictures of our trip to Sapporo! I'll show you a few and then tell you how you can see all of the pictures on Snapfish.

These are from the night of the festival, walking around at all the snow and ice sculptures. Some of them were pretty amazing and must have taken a lot of time and patience. Take a look!

A little play area for the kiddies to sit on some:

Analog TV. Click to read what the sign says:

Buddah with Ramen:

She pouted to get this fox. Then left it on the airplane. I called the Japanese airlines and tried to explain that we left it and asked if they had it. They did! So I drove back to the airport to rescue him. She named him puppy and loves him.

"Car of the year":

Mommy and fish:

Daddy and Beer:

Olivia and a girl:

-5 degrees C

This was the biggest snow sculpture. I love the moon in the back.

The whole thing was amazing.

And it lit up!

She loved the show!

Owl going after fish:

The lion king was the theme or sponsor or something:

This is a little Ramen shop we went in. The one small alley had ramen shops lined up and down.

I got the Crab Ramen! Crab legs and Ramen = YUM!

She knows how to eat ramen!

Catching a snowflake!

Ok, since I took a ton of pictures and I can't possibly pick which ones to share, I am putting the rest of the pictures up in a Group Room on Snapfish. The Group Room will be something you can go in to see all the pictures from Sapporo. You can even buy prints if you want! Prints can be mailed, or I think even picked up from a store maybe RiteAide? I will be able to add more albums later to the Group Room, so I can use it to share a lot of pictures at once with you all.

Here's what to do:
Got to: http://ellisfamilytravels.snapfish.com/

If it asks you to make an account or log in, you might have to. Otherwise I made a room code so just put that in.
room code is: okinawa

Also here is a link to the facebook album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2245477&id=46208593&l=2195f67649

Sledding in Sapporo

Well, this is a sneaky little face. If you are wondering what this sly little smile is for, it is because she knows what she is about to do. She had a taste of the snow the night before, and now knows what to expect when we say "go sledding." See, we spent last weekend at Sapporo, in Hokkaido, Japan. We went on a tour up there to see the Sapporo Snow Festival. I took a ton of pictures. Between my big camera, my little camera, and my iTouch - I think I got about 40o pics and some short videos. Needless to say, I will post them in spurts. And I've also created an album on Snapfish for you to view all the pictures. But first I want to share my favorites with you. This post is the second day we were there. The snow festival didn't start until Monday, so on Sunday we (eventually) made our way to a park where there were playing in the snow opportunities. It took us two tries and a lot of Yen in cab fare, but we made it. And Olivia enjoyed herself a lot - which is all that mattered in the end (even though, if given the chance, she would have just as well played in the snowbank outside the hotel). Anyway, take a look at our day, and let me know if you think she had fun!

This is her first trip down the hill in sequence. She loved it and never stops laughing.

Trying to show her how to make a snow angel, but she's just being an angel instead:

She's excited she stayed on here:

Learning to stay upright and hold onto the rope:

Our Boots:

Daddy's Turn - He went to the top:

I think he realizes what is about to happen:

Crash:

And Mommy got a turn too:

Just realized I had on Olivia's gloves (better for taking pics) and trying to quickly change them:

Ok here I go:

Eeeek:

Olivia thought that was funny for me to go down:

And this. Is. My favorite. Of the entire trip.

But this face is pretty good too:

She was loving it. Kept saying "And now, again."

She had so much fun. Snotty nose, big smiles, and all:

She would get right back up and drag him up there:

All of us:

Calm. Peaceful. Cold.

Heading in. You can almost see the disappointment in her walk.