Sunday, July 29, 2007

Trip to Disney Sea

We had a very, very good 3 day weekend!

Friday we took Rose down to Disney Sea for her birthday. I really think enjoyed it. Well, except for the characters! We ran into many of the characters. Rose would get very excited looking at them from far away, but once we got closer she'd clam up or hide her face. It was pretty funny!
Since it was Rose's birthday she got to wear a special birthday sticker and everyone, EVERYONE, at the park wished a happy birthday! I think Rose liked the Mermaik Lagoon the best because they have things for the little kids to enjoy. Plus it's fish themed so she was pointing out all the fish to us! They had a Little Mermaid show too, which she totally enjoyed!
She fell asleep while we were waiting to get in the first time and slept through it! But when I went to the Tower of Terror Nao took in once more and Nao says she loved it!
We took plenty of pictures! You can see them here.....

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=9361&l=cd40f&id=656131175

Saturday, July 28, 2007

Answered Prayers

My prayers have been answered! The Chicago White Sox have traded Iguchi to the Phillies.
We've got a Japanese player on the team!!!!!
I might be able to see Phillies games on TV and news here now!!!
OH, HAPPY DAYS!!!

The only bad news.... What's going to happen once Chase Utley comes off the DL???

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Happy Birthday Rose!

Today is Rose's birthday! She's 2 years old... Oh no... The terrible twos???
We're going to meet Jiji and Baba for cake at our favorite birthday restaurant, Fujiya's.
They have the freaky singing, dancing Peko-chan doll. Which for some odd reason Rose loves to watch. It looks a little like Chucky, but without all the scarring.

The great news is that Friday is a company holiday, so I've got the day off. We're going to take Rose for a birthday trip to Disney Sea. (I think it's for Rose, Nao has been saying all the time about how much SHE wants to go to Disney Sea!)

Monday, July 23, 2007

Festival Season Begins...

Had a pretty good weekend. Even if we did end up on a train to nowhere on Saturday!


Ok, the train to nowhere was all my fault actually. I was pretty psyched cause this weekend was the Kumagaya Festival. A pretty big festival in the neighboring state. Nao's grandma used to live there so we'd always go alot. The festival is really fun, with crowds of people, food stalls, beer girls, and huge floats that are pulled through the streets.





We left Saturday afternoon and thought we'd take a train into town, because parking would have been a nightmare at that time. However, once we got on the train we realized we'd end up paying something like over 30 bucks to get there and back! So we got off the train heading into Kumagaya and went back to the station we got on at. Nao got off to pick up the car. Rose and I stayed on the train and headed to Nao's mom and dad's house. Rose really likes riding on the train so it was fun for her! We ended up hanging out at Nao's folks house for the evening.



Rose gives her version of PEACE! in front of the station.
On Sunday, we headed to Kumagaya for the festival. By car this time!! We got lucky on the parking and found a good spot near Nao's grandma's house. We walked around drinking beer and eating snacks, while watching the floats go past. There were game stalls where you could try and catch fish and turtles, which Nao doesn't let me do anymore. (I mean come on, it's not my fault all five goldfish died the next day last time!!!) We tried to get Rose a gigantic Elmo doll, but sorry I couldn't do it! We got a Stitch note book instead.... Rose got tuckered out from the long day and fell asleep on the car ride back.
Check out all the pictures by clicking here!

Friday, July 20, 2007

Harry Potter's Here!

It came today! We've got our copy of the last Harry Potter book!!! Can't wait to crack it open to find out what happens to our bespectacled hero. Will he die? Will he kill Voldemort? Will they both die as has been kind of hinted in past books? That being that Dumbledore explained that Harry and Voldemort are linked in a way. What's going to happen!!!!!!!!!!!
Trust me, I won't say anything about the end here!

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Typhoon Number 4

It looks like the typhoon has come and gone. The sun was shining over our house for a bit as the wind kicked up one last time and blew the remaining clouds away. As I took Rose for a little drive so that she could close her eyes for a nap a quick look in the distance showed the remaining dark skies over the mountains. Rose and Nao are fast asleep now for an afternoon nap. I'm going to have a cup of coffee and think if I should go ahead and cook the lasagne Nao wants for dinner. She said she'd cook, but maybe I should let her have the night off (hhhhmmmm). Anyway, I've gotta make up for the slop I put on the table last night. Sometimes you experiment with not always the desired results...

This morning the kids in the neighborhood were supposed to have their annual summer fest. They'd carry a portable shrine around, collecting money to put towards activities for the rest of the year. But, because of the typhoon that was cancelled and we only had the official ceremony indoors. The priest placed all of his instruments in front of the small shrine and we stood behind him while he performed the rituals. One of the final actions called for us to take a small decorated twig to be placed in front of the shrine. So I watched as everyone else took theirs trying to remember all of the actions involved. Ok, stand in front of the priest. Bow. Take the twig from him. Bow. Then turn to the shrine and place the twig on the ceremonial plate. Bow twice. Clap twice. Bow once. Then turn towards to the priest once more and bow. Then go back to your original spot. Now that I think of it that's 6 bows! Luckily they ran out of twigs so all of the people who didn't do it already did it along with the last person. Multiply 6 bows by 6 people, yes. That's alot! It really is ashame that the kids couldn't carry around the shrine because it's really cool looking...

It was still raining pretty hard after the ceremony so we decided to go for a little karaoke to get out of the house. We went to the local Shidax, because Nao wanted to try out what they had for lunch. It wasn't bad, but a little pricey. But they had Rosie's favorite, men-men, so she was very happy! Aside from the food the price wasn't too bad, 300 yen for an hour of karaoke. We were in a family room for the first time. Let me just say, it's very nice! They've toys and games for kids to play. Plus tons of kids songs, even some ones from Sesame Street. Rose really loved that so much she sang along with Mommy and Daddy!!











Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Happy Fourth of July

Took a day off work to celebrate the Fourth of July! And what better way to do that than go to the mall??? ANYWAY it's been pouring rain all day. UGH....

Rose started daycare on Monday! Her first day went very well I heard. Nao said she cried for a bit when she was dropped off, but she calmed down and had fun after a little while. The teacher said Rose is a great dancer! Of course, Rose has been dancing since she was in the womb. Today I went to drop off Rose for the morning with Nao. It's a very new building and all of the teachers were very nice. Rose cried again, but because both Nao and I were there to say goodbye too. But once we left she stopped and played with the other kids! (But she had no problem saying goodbye to everyone when we came to pick her up!)




Then we went and did fireworks in the pouring rain. Oh well, we had fun, even with Nao's delightful comment, 'I don't know why he wants to do this....'

Happy Fourth of July!

Sunday, July 1, 2007

Weekend in Chiyoda

It was a nice weekend around the house. Some good, shiny skies. We even got a little sunburn today. Maybe I'm the redneck of Japan? Good ol' cracker.

Anyway we stayed around the house this weekend just relaxing and unwinding. Jiji and Baba picked up Rose early Saturday morning to join them for a walk in the par with Bell. While Rosie was out Nao and I cleaned up the house a bit. What fun!! Jiji and Baba brought some lunch back with them so we ate a bit together. Then we did a little shopping. Nao had to pick some things up, because Rose is going to start daycare tomorrow! It'll be Rosie's first day of school ever! Nao had prepare a whole bunch of stuff: towels, blankets, garbage bags... I don't know, but Japanese schools are very demanding! The school is a really nice new building nearby to our house. We're hoping Rose will get to make some new friends while she's there. There's no other little kids around us! We're surrounded by old people! Old People!
I found a really cool little popsicle maker thingy at the store too. So I made cookies and cream ice pops for dessert. Hey, just mix some oreo cookies with vanilla ice cream and viola! You've got yourself a tasty treat! (I made an apple juice pop for Rose too!)


Then we went to Karaoke! There has always been this little out of the way karaoke place near our house. But I never went to it because I always thought it wouldn't have any good songs in English. But boy was I wrong! They had almost anything and everything. THE BEST PART: 4 dollars for an hour. Plus you can bring anything you want to drink yourself. They had some soft drinks for sale too. So we had coke and apple juice. Rose loved singing together with us. Her favorite songs were Under the Sea and Winnie the Pooh. It was a blast!!


Today we took Rose to the park again to meet up for a walk with Jiji and Baba for a walk with Bell again. It's a really nice park with a lake in the center and a tower. Why a tower? Who knows.... I think Japanese people just like towers. (But I really think it's because or local govn't is in cahoots with the construction biz, so they pay tons of money to the construction companies to build stuff that nobody really needs... Hmmm?) Rose had a blast again. She loves chasing Bell around screaming, 'BEEEELLLLLEEEE! BBBBBEEEELLLLLEEEE!'
On a side note Nao and I are in BIG TROUBLE now. Rose has learned how to say please. 'PLEASE'.... She can also say ELMO.... ALL we hear everyday is ELMO PLEASE! ELMO PLEASE!! Then when Elmo is over she'll say, 'ONE MORE, ONE MORE, ONE MORE!!!!!'