Pikachu

The children received some toys from our friends Nakabayashi and his wife Shoko when they came over for dinner last month. In one of the bags was this great Pikachu costume. Both of them love to wear it and they are learning how to take turns...





Sara's turn.
RJ is wearing the hat for a different costume.
This is still Sara but she was showing me her tail. Both of the kids love to play dress up, whether it is a fireman, a chef, or a Geisha girl...

Good Strong Friends

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Before my tire blew last weekend, we were headed to some flower gardens. On our way there we spotted some fun friends. RJ and Sara wanted to have some cake with them. So we stopped and took a few pictures.





After the photo shoot, we hopped back on the bikes. But that is when my tire blew. So while we were walking back to the bike shop, we decided to stop in and have some real cake. I thought you all might like to see how beautiful the Japanese cake shops are. They put so much effort into the decorativeness of their items.


Almost all of them that day had some kind of fruit on top. Very delicious!!

ABC Tag

A-Attached or Single? Attached
B-Best Friend? I hate to answer this question because when I was younger, as soon as I would say it, we would end up in a fight....
C-Cake or Pie? Chocolate Silk from Marie Calender's
D-Day of Choice? Saturday, because I get to spend time with my family
E-Essential Item? my husband
F- Favorite color? Green
G-Gummy Bears or Worms? Gummy Bears
H-Hometown? Phoenix, AZ
I-Favorite Indulgence? ice cream, or as they call it here in Japan, Softo cream
January or July? January, I love a chance to go find snow somewhere and now that we have kids, I love to take them to build a snowman or go sledding
K-Kids? 2 great ones!!
L-Life isn't complete without? Family.
M-Marriage Date? October 6, 2001
N-Number of brothers and sisters? 2 brothers and I am getting a new sister this summer!!!
O-Oranges or Apples? Oranges but not Japanese ones, you have to peel the inside skin off too...very messy!
P-Phobia and Fears? losing my children
Q-Quote? "Growing old(er) is mandatory, growing up is optional"
R-Reason to smile? RJ & Sara playing "Tickle Me" with Mitch
S-Season of choice? Fall
T-Tag ten people? Mitch, Sara, Taube, whoever else is willing to try...I know you have lots of time on your hands....
U-Unknown fact about me? Can't tell, it's a secret!!
V-Vegetable? too many to choose from...edemame, spinach, corn...
W-Worst habit? wasting time on the computer
X - Best use of X in scrabble? considering I have been playing Scrabble a lot since being in Japan (a great game to help with English learning) I can't think of a time that I have be able to use X...
Y-Your favorite food? After being Japan for 8 months, anything Mexican!!
Z-Zodiac Sign?- Sagittarius

YEA!!!

I just got word that I have a job back in Arizona!! I will return to Palo Verde Middle School in August! I will teach 7th grade math. I am so excited to be going back there!! Now we just have to find a house to live in...any suggestions?

A Fun Day with Friends

Sunday, April 13, 2008

One of our friends, Mayumi, invited us to meet her son and his family who had just moved back to Kobe from Texas. We had planned to pack a bento (they all wanted to see what Mitch would pack) and head to a flower garden and a fun playground. But on Saturday she came knocking on our door at 9pm to tell us we would not be going to the park because it might rain. She wanted to make sure Mitch didn't pack the bento for everyone.

So the next day, Mayumi, her son and his family and Miho and Akiko picked us up and we went to Saizeryia. RJ loves this place as it has a drink bar and he can get his own refills. He will even fill everyone else's glass if they ask. He loves it.

Anyway, Mayumi's grand daughter, Kurumi, is already 5 and her grandson is 3.

This is everyone except you can't see Mayumi as she is behind her son.

After lunch, we all went to the Children's Museum so the kids could play. RJ and Kurumi played well together and Sara loves playing with Akiko.

I think Akiko enjoys playing with Sara too!

Sara just being cute.

Mayumi, her daughter-in-law (sorry I forgot her name), me and Miho. The ladies had fun talking while the kids played and Mitch and Atsushi (Mayumi's son) talked.
Sara was trying to pull her arms over her head. She kept trying but they managed to stay where they are suppose to.

We were headed to the cafe to find a piece of cake (I think) and some volunteers told us about a Hawaiian dance that was going to happen in a few minutes, so we decided to step in side and watch.

There were several different dances

Akiko, Sara and RJ enjoyed watching the show.

The Kurumi joined the crowd.

I am not sure why the school girls are in uniform and wearing bright yellow jackets....

After the last dance, the audience was invited to join in for a hula dance. The kids got a kick out of trying.



Sara wasn't too sure what was going on....

The kids all got leis for dancing.

Then of course the celebrity factor..these girls really wanted their picture taken with RJ and Sara but she wanted nothing to do with it, so Kurumi agreed to be a stand in.

As we were leaving, the kids wanted to hang from this. Sara just wasn't strong enough.

After we got home, Akiko and Miho came up to use the facilities. Akiko decided to sit down and play some more.

We had a great day even thought we didn't make it to the flower fields. We always enjoy meeting new friends and we hope to see Atsushi and his family again!

Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge

Saturday, April 5, 2008



So I am a bit behind...at least I am posting....



During my Spring Vacation we decided we wanted to go on a picnic at the beach and to visit the world's longest suspension bridge. So I attempted to make onigiri and packed us a bento (lunch). We hoped on the special rapid train to Akashi and then transferred to a local train to Asagiri. There is a foot bridge there from the train station to the beach. This is the same beach we went to on December with one of my co-teachers. Upon reaching the beach, RJ and Sara asked nicely if they could play before we had lunch. Of course being the cool mom I am, I said "yes". So off they went. As Mitch and I approached the playground, we found a safety sign. We only tool one picture, but thought you would enjoy it...





there is a sand toy contraption that the kids love playing with..


After they played fro a while, we set out the picnic tarp and got out our bento.
It was a bit windy that day.
You can see the foot bridge behind us. It is the long white thing coming out from the right side of the picture.


After we finished lunch we decided to walk to the bridge as we were not sure which train station to get off at and Mitch was convinced it would be a short walk. Along the way we saw some decorative stones on the sidewalk. Made me think of Trina and her stone work she put in her new house....



Mitch and the kids sitting on the way by the ocean.



RJ and Sara didn't seem to agree with daddy that is was a short walk (can you see that Sara is sitting on RJ's lap on the stroller...)

Daddy got them to pose in these "wheels" I am not sure if he was just tired of pushing 2 kids.

We finally made it the the base of the bridge.



There was a museum next to the bridge. RJ is standing on a replica of the cables used on the bridge. Pretty big, uh..


A family was at this spot and we offered to take their picture for them and in return they took ours.

So by now you are probably wondering why have we walked all this way to see a bridge up close. Well, since you asked, I will tell you. There is a promenade out under the bridge that you can walk out to and look down on the water.

This is the spot on the bridge that we are going to walk out to. (it has glass windows all around it)


Part of the walk is open air. There are metal screens on the sides, but you can feel and smell the ocean air. The kids and I thought it was pretty cool, but Mitch said his knees were knocking...(and he says he jumped out of an airplane...chicken....)

We were 38 meters (125 feet) above the ocean.

This is where the floor is glass and you can see "walk on the water" Needless to say, Mitch walked on the wooden log down the middle, closed his eyes and went very fast.

RJ and Sara thought it was a game. They went over the log many times.

The view from the bridge. This is looking towards Kobe, I think.

Another area where you can look down at the water. Sara would have stayed all day. We didn't see any wildlife. I think it was still a bit too cold.

Ok, I will eat and drink in stores interior...

Which way do we go home....

The Maiko train station is in the middle of a busy area of Kobe. But right next to it was this pine tree forest park. It looked so idyllic (we have watched the movie Holiday many times this week).

It was great day. The kids have been real troopers while we have dragged them all over Japan. As long as there is at least one thing in it for them, they seem to do good. We usually try to find ice cream somewhere along the way....

If you want to learn more about suspension bridges, here is a link. I think Mitch and I have either been on or under about 5 or 6 of the top 30 in the world. Not bad...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_suspension_bridges

No More Training

Now that the weather has finally turned nice, we have been taking the kids out on their bikes again. Today we had planned to go to a flower garden about 1 hr, by bike, north of our house. On the way there, my tire blew....after walking to the bike shop (30 mins) then going home, RJ decided he wanted to ride his bike. So he and daddy went to the store, bought some wrenches and came home and took off RJ's training wheels. I took a few short videos for all of you. I hope you enjoy...

His first ride, it was OK... I htink daddy was much more excited than RJ...

then they moved to the bigger parking lot that is on the other side of the apartment building. His second ride was a good ride...

This was a short ride...

RJ Said "that was scary" I asked him if it was fun and he said "yes!"

This was a great ride.

But as we all know, all great things must come to an end...don't worry, nothing is broke, except maybe his pride. We will get him out there again. Maybe by the time we come home he will be an expert!!

Shosha Craft Museum

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

During my Spring vacation Miss Sara, Trisha and I rode our bikes up to the Shosha Craft Museum. Mitch had some free tickets so we thought we would check it out. Here are our findings...

This is a bamboo forest outside the museum. I just love to see bamboo forests. Don't ask me why, I just do...


In the main room, there were these 300 Buddhist image statues.
This was a 3-d wall hanging of a Chinese Dragon
an engraved bamboo stick. It is a decoration.
There was a toy section. Trisha tried her hardest to make these tops flip over....
But they didn't seem to be the right kind for flipping

This nice security guard showed us how to make them go. You 'whip' them while they are spinning to keep them going.

This is a hands on craft area where you can paint and decorate a mask. Maybe RJ and I will make it that way soon to make a mask...

Trisha and Miss Sara outside the museum (just in case you have forgotten, Miss Sara is an English teacher from Phoenix, Sara-chan is our daughter and Teacher Sara is RJ's teacher at school)

I thought this would make a great picture. This was right outside the museum. The river is the water on the left. I am not sure if these tributaries have a current purpose, but they are cool looking.

more of the bamboo forest.

I am glad we went but VERY thankful that the tickets were free. Thanks Mitch!