We're Home!

Sitting at daddy's locker before leaving Japan for the offseason

Okay, so we've been home a couple of weeks, but who's counting? Things have been crazy to say the least, but at least we're eating some great food and visiting with our friends and family.

Jake and Jordyn started school again and absolutely love it. They are getting used to speaking only English to their friends, but still have their occasional Japanese accents when talking. It is truly one of the funniest things ever. Jordyn started her ballet class again and can't get enough of it. Her teacher is our good friend, Holly, which makes it even sweeter. She has also joined the 3-5 year old team and will be performing in holiday shows starting next month. She dances all over the house and sings songs from her favorite Barbie DVD.

Jake has taken a huge liking to golf and soccer. My uncle Alec, bought him some lefty golf clubs and he is loving every second of his "golf time". We are currently trying to find him an after school team that he can play either baseball, basketball, soccer, and get all his energy out. Both kids start swim lessons next week as well, so we are already keeping extremely busy.

Mike has been trying to lay low and catch up on some American TV time. He feels so guilty that he's not working, but then realizes the lack of days off throughout the season, and thus, continues to sit on the couch. I've kept him pretty busy the last couple of weeks, running errands, going to appointments, and of course, shopping! Oh how we've missed Target! I think I have been 10 times since we've been home and it has been rejuvenating. Yes, I said, rejuvenating.

I am feeling really good. I am now 25 weeks and our baby girl is keeping busy inside my tummy. Jake felt her kick for the first time today and nearly did laps around the house. They are both so excited for their new sister. I feel like I am getting a lot bigger, but people say I am still pretty small. I think everyone is just used to seeing me pregnant with the twins, so I guess, I am smaller than I was the 1st time.

This was taken when I was 22 weeks

Mike and I are leaving in a week for Las Vegas. We are taking our annual mini vacation ...AKA....time away from our sweet children. We decided to sway away from the longer, further vacation spots because, truthfully, how much can I do on a beach these days? So, we are heading to the Strip to do some house hunting, show watching, and a tiny bit of Blackjack. Okay, for those of you who know me real well, I am not a little, but a lot excited about Blackjack!

Other than that, not too much else is new. I will continue to post some updates and some pictures as our offseason continues. Before I had out to the market, I will answer the ongoing question.....where will the Schultz's be next season? Well, we still have about a month or so before things could get final, so I will only say this, we will either be in Japan, or back in the States with a team here. :) I know, I am so uninformative! Sorry! Take care and have a great week!

The Countdown Begins!

Well, we are just about on our way home! YAY! We don't know the exact date until probably next week, but we know it will be relatively soon. We have been so lucky to have such a great year, but, it is time to go home. We are so excited to see our friends and family. I will be coming back looking a little different than when I left. I am 21 weeks and feeling great. Our sweet baby girl sure is active and is practicing her LA time by being up and kicking at night while I am trying to sleep. Jake and Jordyn are telling everyone that they are going to "America" soon and are already talking about all their friends at their LA school. We have quite the offseason planned, so we will be in and out of LA nearly the whole time. Mike has done great this year and we are so very proud of him. Who knows what's in store for next season? Whatever it is, we will enjoy our offseason first! Looking forward to seeing everyone and getting back on non-baseball time. We hope everyone is doing well and Happy New Year to all our Jewish friends! Here are a few pictures from the last few weeks. Enjoy!

Playing at the indoor play gym in Kobe

Where is Jordy?

Mommy & Jordyn having Mexican food in Kobe

My sweet boys!

Jake and Jordyn hanging on daddy's bus before they left for the field in Tokyo

Many have asked, so here I am at 19 weeks!

Schultz Family Update

So, it's been a fun and exciting week since Auntie Kristy has been visiting and daddy joined the baseball team again. Over a week ago, Mike caught a ball barehanded and bruised his pitching hand which led him to go on the 10 day D.L. He rejoined the team today in Nagoya, so luckily things are better and he's ready to finish out the season. We have done some fun activities with Kristy and will be going to Tokyo on Monday. The weather has been amazing and actually enjoyable.

Playing Dora and Diego, feeding the turtles, at the Shukkein Gardens

My almost 4 year old...where has the time gone?

My silly goose entertaining even in the bathtub

Since I am always the one taking the pictures, Auntie Kristy took this one of me and my handsome fella!

I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow, so hopefully our child will have his/her legs open and we can tell the gender. We tried this 2 weeks ago and already learned that our sweet child was very modest and didn't want us to know what "parts" he/she has. It's all in God's hands, so we'll see.

Jake and Jordyn started regular school again after having almost a 2 month hiatus. They went to camp during this time, but it's definitely not the same. Today they came home telling me how much they love their teachers and their friends. I guess they will have to love them up quickly because we will most likely be home in about 5 or so weeks. We are getting geared up for the offseason planning lots of fun trips before the next Schultzy arrives. We will probably live in the same condo as we did last offseason and we are really looking forward to seeing our friends and family.

So, that is our deal....for now! I will update as soon as something exciting happens, like perhaps the announcement of our tie breaker. One girl, one boy, what will it be?

Lastly, I wanted to post a video especially for my friend Heidi at home.....does this bring back any memories? This is Jordyn's favorite song to sing.....thanks to my sweet mom teaching it to her!

Thankful!

Sometimes your day goes unlike you expected. Sometimes your week goes unlike you expected. The only thing I expect in life now is to be the best mother I can be to my sweet twins and the new one on the way! I just want certain friends to know that I appreciate your kind words when I am down, and the ability to talk to you when I really need it. JC and JL you have been a blessing to me this week! I just wanted to post a couple pictures of the reason I strive to be the best! I love you Jake and Jordyn!

Fun times!

Well, the visitors are starting to wind down. My dad and brother leave on Monday and then after 2 weeks, Mike's sister Kristy comes to visit. She is our last visitor! The season is inching closer to an end, which is a bittersweet feeling. We are super excited to come home and see all our friends and family. Here are some fun pictures from the last couple of weeks! Hope everyone is having a blessed week!

On our way to the A-Bomb Memorial with the whole fam!

Ummmm....yeah, that is where she gets the 'tude from!

The A-Bomb Memorial lantern ceremony...what an experience

Nothing like a night out with the whole family!

Saba with his sweet grandchildren

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My dad, brother and I in Miyajima for the day

Our home away from home, the family pool! Thanks for playing Uncle Elan.

The famous/typical Japanese pose!

Hot but fun!

My dad and I eating Yakaniku for dinner. Yum Yum!

Rain, Pool, Sumo, and more Rain!

We have had such an amazing time with Mike's parents visiting. Unfortunately, the weather didn't get my memo about sunny and clear skies, and gave us rain, rain, and some more rain! We made the best of it; swimming in the rain, sightseeing in the rain, and of course, watching baseball games in the rain. We went to Nagoya to play the Dragons this last weekend and went out to our friends' bar for dinner, and enjoyed watching the games inside their dome. The All-Star Break began after the Dragons series and we started off the break with some sumo time!

Outside, Shooters, our friends', Takako & Dennis' bar. Yummy food & great company!

On our way to Sumo, luckily Jordyn cooled herself off with her pink fan. Sumo begins at 8 am and lasts until 6 pm. The higher ranked wrestlers don't start until about 3 pm so we got there around 2:30 to make sure we saw the ceremonies. Mike, the kids, and I sat in a box, meaning we sat on the floor, on mats, without shoes, and had enough room to sit Indian style. Mike's parents had seats not far away from us. We were there until the last fight at 6 pm.

This was the opening ceremony for the higher ranked wrestlers, the Maegashira & Ozeki levels. Each patterned cloth they are wearing costs between $4000-$6000 each. These aprons are beautifully made of silk, richly embroidered with different designs and hemmed with gold fringe. These ceremonial aprons are called kesho-mawashi. Sorry about the history lesson, people I was just amazed by all of this.

This is Asasyoryu, one of our favorite wrestlers, he is in the Yokozuna level which is the highest there is. There were two Yokozuna's and they were amazing to watch. Their opening ceremony was incredible. They go through this traditional ceremony with their sword bearer or attendant nearby. The Yokozuna wears this massive braided hemp rope weighing from 25 to 35 lbs. tied in a bow at the back and ornamented in the front with strips of paper hanging in the zigzag pattern. This is a familiar religious symbol in Japan. On a side note, the people who tie their "diapers" as I like to call them, have a very important job. This is their only job and it is a disgrace if these cloth "diapers" come undone during their fight, so they are extra careful when tying them. None of our friends here have ever seen one come undone, until.....today! Yes, the referee had to stop one of the fights in the middle, because one of their cloths were coming undone. After he fixed it, he put the wrestlers back in the exact position they were in before stopping the fight. It was so incredible. Luckily, we did not see too much!

My Loobi and I loving every second of our Sumo experience. It was so awesome!

This was Asasyoru the Yokozuma (highest level) fighting against Kotomitsuki the Ozeki (2nd highest level). If Asasyoru were to have lost, the audience members chuck their seating mats at the Sumo ring, because the higher guy would have lost to the lower ranked guy. It does happen pretty often, but not today. Mike and I were ready to chuck our mats, but left them under our butts instead!

This was just about toward the end. Jake and Jordyn had no nap, but faired pretty well. What a day!
Back in Hiroshima at the Family Pool. It rained on us nearly the whole day, but who can tell when you are in the pool! Jordyn practicing her jumps to daddy!

3 Generations of Schultz's!

Mike and his parents in front of his jersey at Sam's. What fun it was for Janet and Gary to see our world here in Japan.

Well, today is Sunday for us, and we leave tomorrow for Tokyo. Mike's parents leave from Tokyo on Friday and my dad and brother come to visit on Tuesday night. We have a full house yet again. It has been awesome having them here and we are sure going to miss them. Other than that, not too much else is new! Have a great week!

Visitors!

We have had some fun filled weeks so far, and it is about to get even better. Mike's mother, Janet and Mike's brother Joey have been here for about 2 weeks, and it has been a blast. For the first week we were on the road with Mike tooling around Tokyo and Yokohama. We went to a mini amusement park with the kids, went to baseball games, of course, and ate yummy food. For the 2nd week, all of us but Mike came back to Hiroshima. We hung out in our town for a few days, letting the kids get back on somewhat of a schedule, while Janet, Joey and I walked around the city. We had a little routine going too; we would drop the kids off at school and go to Starbucks for our morning coffee. We would then sit there for about an hour watching all the people walk/run/fall/bike by. There was one day that we actually saw a barking lady. I guess wherever you go in this world, there will always be entertainment if you wait for it. One of the days, we took the kids to the family pool that is just open for 2 months in the summer. It was so much fun!

On Thursday, Janet and Joey surprised me with a mini vacation with Mike. I met him in Nagoya and we both just got back tonight. It was so needed and so sweet! Our week is about to get better. Mike's dad, Gary comes tomorrow night, and we are just over the moon. Gary hasn't seen Mike pitch in years, so Mike is thrilled to have the man who taught him how to play, watching him. Joey leaves on Thursday, but Janet and Gary stay for another 2 weeks. We will be leaving next Monday for another road trip altogether, but then have 5 days off for the All-Star break. I have posted a few pictures from the last week. I will post more as I load them on the computer.

Mike has been doing awesome, and continues to amaze all of us. The kids are so great, and just make us feel like the luckiest parents in the world. Jordyn thinks she's 30 so it's like I have my best friend around. Jake only wants to play sports or do his puzzles. He is so happy Joey is here to play with him. Thanks again for the continued love, support and well wishes. We hope everyone is healthy and happy and doing well!

This is our mini pool on our balcony. It is too hot here for indoor play all the time!

Jake with his uncle Jojo watching daddy pitch at Tokyo Dome against the Giants

"Mimi" and Mike took J & J on one of the world's tallest Ferris Wheels....I waited at the bottom, thank you.

Beating daddy at air hockey, another one of Jake's favorites!

The fam walking along the bridge on the way to the Amusement park in Yokohama

Janet & I with the big Ferris Wheel in the background!

So excited to be at the Family pool and actually swimming!

"Momma, I have gum stuck on my lip"

Jordy and her many things. She is a collector, if you can't find something, check her backpack....thanks, Dora the Explorer!

Mike & I at Shooters, our friends' yummy bar in Nagoya