Weekend Getaway

Early last week I was talking with my friend Angela Rud who is Mark's mother (K.C.'s best friend) and she told me she was going down to Hiroshima and Kyoto alone for the weekend. I thought for about half a minute and asked if I could join. My thought was, Cameron has been there and the kids wouldn't care to see either. After a quick phone call to Cameron to see if he would be willing to take care of the kids for the weekend we made the arrangements. I cannot say enough good things about the wonderful man I am married to. He was so supportive! Even though it involved not only taking care of the kids, but making all kinds of arrangements for things he already had going on for the weekend.

Off we went in the Shinkansen on Friday morning to begin our little adventure. We started in Hiroshima, walked around The Peace Memorial Park and enjoyed the beautiful cherry blossoms along the river. There were many people "hanami"enjoying their food and drink under the trees. For dinner we enjoyed delicious Hiroshima okonomiyaki and loved it! (I'm craving more right now).

The next morning we went to the Peace Memorial Museum. It was very interesting, but of course extremely depressing. From there we took a train and a ferry to the island Miyajima. Even though it was raining the entire time, the island was beautiful. The fog and mist made it look very mystical and ancient, like I would picture Japan of long ago. We stayed in the island enjoying the sights until our shinkansen left at 4pm for Kyoto.

After checking in, there was a little bit of time left to explore. We went to the Gion district right out of "Memoirs of a Geisha". We were lucky enough to see two, unfortunately when we saw them we were in such disbelief that we didn't get a picture.

The next morning we met Sister Judith, a wonderful nun who acted as our tour guide for the rest of the day. She was an acquaintance of Angela. It was a beautiful warm day and the crowds had come out to visit all the sights and enjoy sakura. Regardless of the crowds and the traffic, we were able to visit 5 different places. First we went to Nijo Castle and had a tour of the beautiful gardens and then the castle itself. It reminded me of the book Shogun, highly recommend it. Then we went to Kinkakuji Temple, Kyoto Handicraft Center, Heian Jingu Shrine and visited its amazing gardens. After a quick lunch we headed over to Kiyomizu-dera which was my favorite site. The walk to the shrine was a lot of fun with very quaint shops all the way. On the walk up to the shrine we also saw a few Geisha and Maiko (apprentice Geisha) and I was able to quickly get a couple of shots. Here we also encountered the crowds.

Our Shinkansen left for Tokyo at 5pm and we felt very good about ourselves having covered so much ground in such a short time. I was happy to get back home where Cameron had had his own adventures with the kids. Here is one he caught on camera:

In this picture Isa wonders "Am I in trouble?"

I guess not!

Spring Break Pictures

We enjoyed a lovely Spring Break week with the boys. On Monday my wonderful friend Dawn took the boys for the day so I could just sit home and relax, let my body heal from those 26 miles... I gotta say, going down stairs was a killer. On Tuesday I took the kids and a friend to Summerland, where we met with another family. It was a fun day as we had the park almost to ourselves.K.C. with his best friend Mark. These two are inseparable, play dates almost every day! Their birthdays are 4 days apart and they still hug and kiss when they say goodbye. I love 5 year olds!Vanya coming away from the super steep slide. The great thing about having the park to ourselves - no waiting in line.Isabel enjoying a turn on the kiddie slide. As long as no water goes in her eyes, she loves pools.

The next day we checked in to the Sheraton Grande Tokyo Bay hotel next to Tokyo Disney. Even though Disney is only about an hour drive away, we thought we'd use some hotel points and stay there to call it a "vacation". This hotel is partner with Disney so it was child friendly - something very hard to find in Tokyo. They had play areas and the rooms and floors all had children themes. The kids were in heaven.

Cameron joined us for dinner after work and we ate at the hotel. Another treat for the kids since we rarely take them out to eat, they are not fully "restaurant trained".The next day we checked out early so we could enjoy a full day at Disney Sea. The park was crowded, but we knew it would be, so we just had fun walking around and enjoying the party atmosphere. We got to ride our favorite rides with fast passes and had a beautiful - though a little bit cold - day. We left after the fireworks.On Friday I took the kids to Inokashira park. Cameron had taken the day off, but he had to leave very early in the morning to attend our stake's youth conference. This is a beautiful park with a pond. There are several playgrounds, a shrine and a little zoo.We took a pedal boat ride along the pond. The boys were very helpful driving and pedaling.

It was a little tricky holding Isa on my lap, pedaling and taking pictures... however, we all managed to stay dry. The cherry blossoms were starting to bloom. Thus we survived a week of Spring Break.

I Finished!

The day finally arrived for which I'd been preparing for 4 months. The kids have been watching me run day after day in preparation and I'm sure they've been wondering what is going on. I tried to explain to them that I was preparing for a really long race and they were very excited that I would win. I told them that there would be 35,000 people running and that I just wanted to complete the course and finish the race. Last night, as Vanya said his prayer before bed, he prayed that I would finish 2nd. Today was a cool overcast day, which was what I was hoping for. We had a little bit of rain, more like a drizzle and it actually felt quite good. I managed to finish in about 5 hours, I'm waiting to get the official results in the mail and I'm crossing my fingers that it'll be something like 4:58. It was so fun to be part of something so big. Here's a picture of the starting line:Of course, in good Japanese fashion, there were plenty of characters to entertain the eye...

I don't have any pictures of me while running (hope to find some in the future). But here are some pics after the race at the meeting point.My little fans. They didn't care that I didn't win and they were SO impressed with my medal!Here's a picture of my friend Kara. We trained together and we run together almost all the way to the finish line (3 minutes apart). I could never have made it without her! What an awesome day. Training really pays off and I'm in awe of what our bodies can do - now on to recovery time. Have no plans for tomorrow but just rest... I think I earned it!

Can hardly wait....

Friday was a holiday in Japan and K.C. had a "Matsuri" festival at his school. They do this every year and it's always a lot of fun for the kids to dress up, play games and eat goodies. Because it was a holiday, Cameron was able to spend the day with us. Since it's not an American holiday, Vanya who attends the American School in Japan had to go to school.Isabel trying her luck at a bean toss clownK.C. shooting hoopsLater in the day Cameron and I went to the Tokyo Marathon Expo 2009 so that I could register and get my bib and timing chip for the Marathon. It was fun to see all the people getting ready and it got me really excited for the run!Then on Saturday we had an Easter egg hunt/picnic at Yoyogi park with the kids from church. It was a lot of fun and a beautiful day. Here are some highlights

...and another one

Well, Vanya woke up Thursday morning feeling a little lighter. There was one less tooth in his mouth! He'd been wiggling his tooth for a while, and finally it fell out of his mouth while he slept. At first I thought he might have swallowed it, but we found it on the sheets. Too bad it didn't make it straight under his pillow while the tooth fairy was still in town. She did stop by the following night and left him the usual anticipated money.

Cameron made it home safe and sound Saturday night. We were so happy to see him and grateful that it was a short trip. Of course we always enjoy all the American goodies he brings back. A little taste of home in Tokyo. I do believe though, that we will miss Japanese goods a lot MORE once we move back. They'll be harder to get in GR than it is to get American goodies in Tokyo. K.C. just informed me that he's got another loose tooth and Vanya is wiggling away as we speak. Tooth fairy, don't go too far... (by the looks of it, we need to start saving tooth fairy money for braces).

Camsito we miss you!

I am posting often so Cameron can see what we are up to while he is gone... We miss you!

Tonight for dinner we had Chicken "katsu" and "takoyaki". This is a favorite of my kids. Isabel, who is incredibly picky, loves it!

We went to a little takeout place around the corner where they fry the chicken and make the takoyaki.

On the left, takoyaki. On the right chicken katsu over rice. This is not how the Japanese eat it, but it's how we like it! I use okonomiyaki sauce on top of the katsu instead of the tonkatsu sauce you are supposed to use. They are very similar in taste.

Here's a close-up of the takoyaki. For a more detailed definition, click on the link above. Suffice it to say they are filled with octopus, covered with okonomiyaki sauce, mayonnaise and bonito fish flakes.

Here's Vanya pointing out a piece of "tako" or octopus.

And here he is enjoying it. We didn't buy enough, I hardly got any.

I was joking with Vanya about it later. Here's a boy who loves octopus, shrimp and all kinds of fish, seaweed, fish flakes, etc. However, last Sunday night we made strawberry ice cream and he wouldn't touch it!

K.C.'s new smile

A couple of days ago, K.C. came up to me with bright eyes and told me he had a loose tooth. I thought, Oh no! thinking it was the one on the top he damaged a couple of summers ago when he run into my shopping cart at Smiths. But to my relief, it was one of the ones on the bottom. Then yesterday morning while he was eating cereal it popped out. K.C. was so excited to be the first one to loose a tooth in his class. Last night the tooth fairy made a stop in our home and now the money is burning a hole in his pocket.

Last Saturday, Cameron and I went on a date to celebrate his birthday. We went to this awesome restaurant called "Kaikaya", my favorite in Tokyo. They serve delicious sea food which is a mixture of Japanese/western tastes. The manager knows Cameron by name and is always happy to see us. Kaikaya is a little restaurant and always packed, so we had made reservations a week earlier. Here are some pictures of my favorite dishes and the manager:

My absolute favorite dish is the tuna spareribs. The other picture is of a scallop risotto, yum! I could eat there every night, but I'd probably end up looking like Ippei (the manager).

When we got home, we found the boys asleep, but not in their beds.

We considered moving them, but thought they might be disappointed when they woke up, so they spent the whole night under their beds... to be a child again... I wake up with aches and pains sleeping on a comfortable bed! They were as good as new in the morning.

Cameron's Birthday

Well, it's about time for an update. I realize I will never be able to go back and post for the last 5 months I've missed, but I have to start somewhere. Maybe we'll do a look back at some highlights sometime in the future.

Today Cameron celebrated his 37th birthday. Nothing fancy, just good old family time. He slept in till 7am and had breakfast with the boys. Then he was home at 6pm for dinner. What a treat for us! We ate his favorite dinner (tacos) and had a 4 layer chocolate cake. Here are some pictures of the event. As you can see he looks the same he did when he graduated from HS.

Cheers to Daddy!!Chocolate cake! Whose birthday is next??!!

The old man needs help blowing his candles!