"Make Your Own Sushi Night" at the Martyniak House

One of my Japanese students, Kazuko, is always teaching me lots of cultural things and has taught me how to cook many foods. When I asked her how to make sushi rolls, she told me what her family does. They put a big bucket of sushi rice in the middle of the table with lots of "fixins" and sheets of nori and everyone makes their own. So last night I made miso soup and my first batch of sushi rice and we gave it a try. It was yummy.

More Geocaching Pictures from Totoro's Forest

One shrine we visited had a collection of statues of the seven dwarfs and snowmen. Sometimes there are things I just don't get as a foreigner in a foreign land.

Geocaching in Totoro's Forest

Yesterday we went geocaching in Hachikokuyama nature park famous for being the inspiration for "My Neighbor Totoro". We walked around this large area and found 4 out of 5 treasures. Scarlett no longer likes to sit by but wants to be out walking and exploring on her own these days. She was one dirty mess by the end of the day. We had a great day treasure hunting. The picture of Quinn and Scarlett in front of the rice fields is the scene in Totoro when Granny and the others are working in the rice fields as Mei, Satsuki and their dad ride by on their bike headed to the hospital.

Yochen Does It Again

This time with spider puppets made out of toilet paper rolls. Quinn put on a spider puppet show for me and Scarlett. It involved a lot jumping and racing. Everything we do seems to turn into a race these days. Quinn wants to race eating, getting dressed, going up the stairs, washing up in the tub, everything. Even when I say no he still thinks it's a race. The problem is he doesn't like to lose, especially to Scarlett.

Santa Sushi

Quinn requested we go to Santa Sushi on Thursday. He said , "Mommy, me, Scarlett and Daddy are gonna go to Santa sushi and you stay home and cook dinner." Where does he get that from? Lucky for me I was pardoned my duties to go too. Quinn enjoyed his usual ikura (salmon eggs) and kappa maki (cucumber rolls ) with miso soup, and Scarlett had tamago (sweet egg) with miso soup. Yummy Yummy!

Neal's Birthday

Keeping with tradition, Quinn and I went to "31 Flavors" (a.k.a Baskin Robbins) out in town to choose an ice cream cake for Neal. This year Quinn had to have the Snoopy Space Cake. We celebrated by going out to Santa Sushi (check out the next post for pictures) and coming home for cake and presents. Quinn really liked the Star Wars light saber chopsticks and Neal liked the deadhead stuff.

Mommy aliens must have taken your presents.

Yesterday for my birthday, I awoke to Quinn waking me up shouting, "Mommy it's your birthday today. I'll go down and look for your presents." He wouldn't believe me that there were no presents. When I came down the stairs, he told me that aliens must have taken my presents (effects of watching E.T. recently). I spent the day teaching English to kids at the Sweet Kids Club School. I did get presents and cake from them. The best present was that Neal finally came home at 9:30 pm that night.

Read Me a Story

Scarlett likes books but only if she controls the page turning. However she will sit down and listen to Quinn reading a story. i caught them reading on the floor in the kitchen.

A Wink and a Smile

Quinn has been trying his hand at winking with not much luck. He wanted me to take his picture while he winked (but ended up closing both eyes). When he looked at the picture he said, "That's not right. I'll do it again". On the second try, he used his hand to keep one eye open. The whole thing was pretty funny and made me smile.

Mario Kart Wii (said the right way)

Shintaro came to visit on Saturday and of course Quinn had to show him how to play Mario Kart.

Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street?

On Saturday Quinn, Scarlett, and I went to see the gang from Sesame Street. At first Scarlett cried and was scared but by the end she was dancing along to the songs. Quinn had big eyes the whole time. He even rushed the stage to shake hands with Cookie Monster. We were hoping to be able to take pictures with the characters but no luck. We could only take a picture with a big poster out front. Oh well we had fun while it lasted.

Total Impact "Strongman Show"

Two weeks ago the kids and I went to see a Strong man show called Total Impact. It was a little strange that it was in the chapel but it did involve a little preaching too. I guess they have a TV show. One guy was an Olympic athlete and the other a world champion weightlifter. They bent frying pans & iron bars, broke concrete blocks with their head and blew up a hot water bag until it popped. Quinn loved the whole show. The video may be a bit shaky but i was trying to fend off Scarlett from grabbing the camera.

Baby Stella

Scarlett loves her Baby Stella. She undresses her, pretends to feed her, walk her and give her a bath. Scarlett has entered the phase where her dolls can not have clothes on, She will fuss at me if I put Stella's dress on.

Quinn's Christmas School Program December 2009

Better late than never. I'm way behind in posts because Neal is still stuck in Singapore and I have zero free time to post. But today I am leaving the cleaning for later. So Quinn was a green "tori" bird for his class song. He loves to sing and enjoyed performing. I love to hear him sing American songs with a Japanese accent.