One Down and ....

many more to go.  Quinn finally lost his first tooth.  He has been wiggling it for 4 days and fighting us about pulling it out. This morning it was hanging on by a thread and I gave it a good push and he was able to pull it out himself.  I hope they are not all going to be so dramatical as the first.

Christmas Eve 2011

On Christmas Eve, we headed into Tachikawa to do a little geocaching, eat at "Communist gyoza" and then over to Showa Park for the Christmas lights.  We had success finding a few caches and even found a cool park for the kids to play that had a great big "oni" slide.  In traditional fashion, the slide is made out of concrete and is super fun to climb up and go down.  It was cold out but the kids were too busy running around to notice, yet.

After some gyoza and beer, we walked over to Showa to see the lights.  But half way through the park, Quinn started to get tired and cold.  So he didn't want to be in many pictures.  Scarlett quickly obliged and even tried to do the victory sign but couldn't figure how to do it with her gloves on.

Trying not to be cold in front of the tree made of champagne glasses .

The kids crashed on the ride home and were in bed as soon as we got home.  Nobody even wanted to help put the cookies out for Santa.  Luckily,  Santa knew where to grab a few cookies by himself.

Zenrin Yochien Christmas Show 2011

Here are a few photos from the kids Christmas Show.

Wiseman # 3

The kids had their Christmas Show at Zenrin Yochien on Tuesday December 20th.  I was so excited and nervous for Quinn because he had to recite his lines in Japanese.  He practiced and told me he was ready. And he was right, Quinn did a great job.  Many parents came up to me after the show to tell me what good pronunciation he had and that he did a good job.

Quinn-kun, we are so proud of you.  You are so brave, determined, and talented.
He is the wise-man on the righthand side of the table.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

1. Decorated a Gingerbread House:                       Check

2. Made cookies for Santa:                                 Check

3. Took pictures with giant Japanese Christmas Cake:            Check

OK, we are officially ready for Christmas.

New Beds

Neal and I decided that we should probably buy one of the kids a bed before we move to Alaska. Scarlett is still in her crib converted into a toddler bed and Quinn sleeps on a government loaner.  We opted for a cool loft bed from a Japanese furniture store.
Funny story about our first visit to the "Rooms to Go" store in Hachioji.  We were looking at a couple of different beds that were on sale and tried to ask the salesman about when the sale would end.  Well he came back with a calculator offering us a lower price (I guess he thought we were trying to negotiate a cheaper price.  Who Knew; we didn't).   I asked my student if negotiating was Ok and she said yes.
So on our second visit we got ourselves a sweet deal that included delivery and set up.  Nice.

We put Scarlett and Quinn together in the same room for the week before the new bed was delivered.  She was so happy to have him in her room.  So much so, that she cried the day the bed was delivered and Quinn went back to his own room.  Scarlett wasn't even happy about being in a big girl bed (as you can tell by her picture).  The only thing that made her stop crying was that she got to use her dad's old Star Wars pillowcase.

Scarlett's Solo ....

This is the song that Scarlett will be performing with her class tomorrow at their Christmas Performance. I was afraid she would not perform tomorrow when there is an audience watching her.  So I asked her to let me make a video of her and she agreed.   I just love this video with all her hand gestures and vocal variations and the sassy ending.

It's Christmas Time

Here's a few photos of bento lunches and our Star Wars snowflakes.  Quinn just had to have the snowflakes after seeing them on the web.

Sayonara Honda Capa

I sold my favorite little Japanese box car today.  BooHoo.  I guess we really are leaving Japan.  BooHoo.

Santa (Sorta)

Being overseas you have to take what you can get for Santa photo opportunities.  I was just happy that Scarlett was willing to stand near Santa.

Tokyo Disney Sea

we have tried to go to DisneySea three times.  Every time we made plans to go, the forecast called for rain, usually down pours.  As our time in Japan is limited, we had to just do it.  So a few weeks ago, the rain was drizzling down and we decided we would go anyways.  The traffic was bad getting into Tokyo and we didn't really dress as warm as we should have, but we arrived at 11:00am and hit the park running.  It was lots of fun.

Neal rode the roller coasters on his own but got to go on the single rider fast lane.  He wanted to force Quinn on a few rides but he was too short.  Q did ride the kiddie coaster and it was so funny to watch him hold on tight and close his eyes.  He said he liked it after it was
over.

Yum! Strawberry Popcorn 

Scarlett went on a few rides but she is always cautious.   She talked about liking the characters and not being afraid (but only when the characters weren't around).  As soon as Donald and Goofy came out she was demanding to be picked up and had a death grip on Neal.  Just check out her positioning/posture in every character photo

Prince Eric statue

.

Thanksgiving Trip 2011

Our time in Japan is quickly dwindling down... boohoo.  So this week, the Martyniaks loaded up the Honda Capa and headed west.... northwest that is.... to Fukui.  It was about a 6 hour drive.  We chose this starting location because it had a castle,  a temple and was a short drive to the Fukui Dinosaur Museum (which is considered to be among the top 3 such museums in the world).

Unfortunately this whole trip did not quite go as I had planned it.  I'll elaborate on this further as the story continues.

We arrived the first day with enough time to check out Maruoka Castle.  It was leveled by an earthquake in 1948 but was rebuilt with 80% of the original materials in 1955.  It has 3 stories that you can climb up using very steep steps and a rope.

The next day we woke up to rain, and thought, no problem, because we are headed to the Dinosaur Musuem.   But first we visited Eiheiji Temple, for a stamp, of course.  It is a huge complex of over 70 buildings.  

Here's the not quite as I planned part, when we arrived at the museum it was closed (down side to living in a foreign country and not reading the language).  We made a quick decision to move on to our next stop, Shirakawa-go.   Little did we know that the journey would take us through 4 different weather patterns in an hour.  We drove through rain, sleet, hail, and snow.  As we are driving through the mountains in the snow, we were told at a gas stop that the road we were on was closed further up the way.  We had to backtrack and go all the way around.  It was crazy and I was a nervous wreck. Luckily, Neal kept calm and did a great job driving the whole trip.

Back to Shirakawa... It is a village in the mountains that still uses thatch roofed farmhouses called "gassho-zukuri" (translates to praying hands because the steep thatched roofs look like the monk's hands in prayer).   The roof uses no nails and usually lasts about 30-40 years.  The houses traditionally used the attics for raising silk worms.  Even in the rain, it was interesting to walk around and see the houses.

at the hearth

headed into the tunnel 

Finally we needed to get to Takayama (another town isolated in the mountains).  It was another crazy drive in the snow but this time we found a toll road to get there faster.

That night we arrived at Minshuku Kuwataniya in Takayama.  We settled into our tatami room and futons.  I had my first onsen experience.  Lucky for me no one else was in the bath at the same time as me.  Even Quinn and Scarlett enjoyed a good soak.   

yukata on & ready for the onsen

enjoying tea in our room

The next day was raining and nasty so we decided to drive the 2 hours back to the dinosaur museum.  This time we thought it best to hop on the toll road to get there faster... but we were stopped at the entrance of the toll and told our tires were not good enough for the snow.  Neal wouldn't take no for an answer and the toll workers did not speak English and didn't want to deal with us and let us go.   It was another harrowing ride through tunnels and snow, hail, and sleet to get to the museum.  But it was open!   It was well worth the ride too.  The displays were fantastic, especially the life like animated dinosaurs.  After an initial fear , the kids got used to the displays and even agreed to pictures with them. 

Our last day and night was spent in Takayama seeing the sights and geocaching.  They are famous for Hida beef, which is supposed to be better than Kobe beef.  We all ate our share of Hida beef, even Scarlett, and we declare it to be oiishii!    You can even get roast beef sushi here (check out the picture).

The whole village was decorated for Christmas.

sarubobo-good luck charm

Biggest Ginko tree I have ever seen.

geocaching success

It was a beautiful day and a great drive home through the mountains.

These electronic signs are in the rest stops on the toll roads.
Japan loves bathroom technology.