Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
the great cali family vacation 2010
Went to SF with the family, then I popped down to LA for the West Coast Taikai, then back up to the bay area for a night before coming home.
Kids are still jet-lagging; waking everyone up at 4:30am!
But a good time was had by all and the strong yen contributed to plenty of shopping (yeah Old Navy!) and too much eating (burritos and froyo!)
Many photos here and here.
Kids are still jet-lagging; waking everyone up at 4:30am!
But a good time was had by all and the strong yen contributed to plenty of shopping (yeah Old Navy!) and too much eating (burritos and froyo!)
Many photos here and here.
obon weekend
Took Friday off and got on the Tsukuba Express with the posse to jiji and baba's for a weekend of non-stop eating, with the occasional break to pay respects to dead ancestors.
Mighty Mo picked just the right weekend to master the word "jiji" so he had grandpa at his beck and call all weekend. Ton got to play with Hana-chan across the road and managed to survive getting absolutely eaten by mosquitoes all weekend.
Highlight was definitely the awesome old-school shaved ice at Yamagen.
Bummer was my hay-fever / allergies catching up with me, sneezing/sniffling through Sunday and skipping the visit to the Tsukuba graves. Also bending my thumbnail whilst unfolding the stroller sucked, too, but at least the searing pain made me forget about my nose for a bit.
And it was the last time we would ever ride in jiji's old & busted. The New Hotness is being picked up this week, so when we are back from SF in early September, the next time we head to the homestead we will be cruising in style!
Mighty Mo picked just the right weekend to master the word "jiji" so he had grandpa at his beck and call all weekend. Ton got to play with Hana-chan across the road and managed to survive getting absolutely eaten by mosquitoes all weekend.
Highlight was definitely the awesome old-school shaved ice at Yamagen.
Bummer was my hay-fever / allergies catching up with me, sneezing/sniffling through Sunday and skipping the visit to the Tsukuba graves. Also bending my thumbnail whilst unfolding the stroller sucked, too, but at least the searing pain made me forget about my nose for a bit.
And it was the last time we would ever ride in jiji's old & busted. The New Hotness is being picked up this week, so when we are back from SF in early September, the next time we head to the homestead we will be cruising in style!
weekend adventure
Big weekend of fun: Saturday went to Shibuya with the kids to do some shopping, then met P for lunch at TGIFs, headed to the Nagoya Food Festival at the Tokyu Department Store and bought some good stuff, and finally had sushi dinner at Roppongi Hills which, since I have not indulged in "real" food for over 10 weeks, left me pretty damn ill.
On Sunday took the kids out again all day to give P a break; went to the park, then Appi, then the park again. Met Tai-kun, who ended up coming over for dinner with his parents, but not before we stopped by the street vendor international festival at Shirogane Takanawa Station. P had spent all day cooking, so we feasted mightily on red snapper with leek and mushrooms, radish with shrimp, grilled fish, and other goodies. The kids ended up tearing the living room apart for an hour before Tai family went home and we got everyone showered and to bed.
On Sunday took the kids out again all day to give P a break; went to the park, then Appi, then the park again. Met Tai-kun, who ended up coming over for dinner with his parents, but not before we stopped by the street vendor international festival at Shirogane Takanawa Station. P had spent all day cooking, so we feasted mightily on red snapper with leek and mushrooms, radish with shrimp, grilled fish, and other goodies. The kids ended up tearing the living room apart for an hour before Tai family went home and we got everyone showered and to bed.
getting better?
So after several days of fever, The Mighty Mo was gettin a wee bit better.
After waking up at a reasonable morning time and having breakfast, Ton woke me up around 7, just right for doing my jumps and workout.
Kazuko-baba had spent the night and was helping with breakfast whilst I sweated away in the living room before having my own food.
Then we unpacked Ton's tight new ride (her favorite part being the helmet, which she wanted to wear all day) AND The Table.
Man but do I love me that table! Back when Ikea stuff was build by Swedish hands, in Sweden. And it uses the SAME allen wrench and the same four basic bolts to flat-pack the whole damn thing.
I absolutely guarantee I am the only guy in Japan paid a couple grand US to get a 40 year-old Ikea table shipped around the world!
So after getting the table set up, the weather started breaking; last night's utterly miserable SLEET melted away as the sun broke through the gray clouds.
So we all piled onto the bus and headed to Mitsukoshi for the Eatalian Festival. As expected, it was a mob-scene, with sharp-elbowed grandma's paying no heed as they moved from free sample to free sample; Parmesan to ham to olive oil to wine...we picked up some awesome olives (first time in my life I will admit that olives taste good, so I had to buy a pack), P got a couple panecotta desserts and a sandwich, and I searched for some balsamic that could beat the white stuff I bought last week. I failed, btw.
We then took a break at the kids room, where there was an actual MD on duty, for free. (You Americans can make fun of bloody Socialists all you want; it is AWESOME that a major department store puts an MD on duty every Saturday afternoon for free consultations, just because they think it's The Right Thing To Do For Society.) The Mo-nster was starting to show a bit of a rash after having a fever for several days, so we all agreed it is most likely Roseola. Ton had it twice; pretty much all kids under two get it, no idea why or how, nothing to do but wait for it to go away.
Headed down in the basement to pick up dinner fixings. Another reason I Love Japan: department store basements. Even given that I am PCPing, I grabbed several awesome Japanese veggie dishes and some Korean umeboshi kimchi which sounds wrong but is SO. GOOD and we taxi'd home for dinner.
So glad that I could help P with the kids; gave her a bit of a break AND had a great day with the family.
After waking up at a reasonable morning time and having breakfast, Ton woke me up around 7, just right for doing my jumps and workout.
Kazuko-baba had spent the night and was helping with breakfast whilst I sweated away in the living room before having my own food.
Then we unpacked Ton's tight new ride (her favorite part being the helmet, which she wanted to wear all day) AND The Table.
Man but do I love me that table! Back when Ikea stuff was build by Swedish hands, in Sweden. And it uses the SAME allen wrench and the same four basic bolts to flat-pack the whole damn thing.
I absolutely guarantee I am the only guy in Japan paid a couple grand US to get a 40 year-old Ikea table shipped around the world!
So after getting the table set up, the weather started breaking; last night's utterly miserable SLEET melted away as the sun broke through the gray clouds.
So we all piled onto the bus and headed to Mitsukoshi for the Eatalian Festival. As expected, it was a mob-scene, with sharp-elbowed grandma's paying no heed as they moved from free sample to free sample; Parmesan to ham to olive oil to wine...we picked up some awesome olives (first time in my life I will admit that olives taste good, so I had to buy a pack), P got a couple panecotta desserts and a sandwich, and I searched for some balsamic that could beat the white stuff I bought last week. I failed, btw.
We then took a break at the kids room, where there was an actual MD on duty, for free. (You Americans can make fun of bloody Socialists all you want; it is AWESOME that a major department store puts an MD on duty every Saturday afternoon for free consultations, just because they think it's The Right Thing To Do For Society.) The Mo-nster was starting to show a bit of a rash after having a fever for several days, so we all agreed it is most likely Roseola. Ton had it twice; pretty much all kids under two get it, no idea why or how, nothing to do but wait for it to go away.
Headed down in the basement to pick up dinner fixings. Another reason I Love Japan: department store basements. Even given that I am PCPing, I grabbed several awesome Japanese veggie dishes and some Korean umeboshi kimchi which sounds wrong but is SO. GOOD and we taxi'd home for dinner.
So glad that I could help P with the kids; gave her a bit of a break AND had a great day with the family.
shi-boo-yah!
Hopped on the bus and headed down to Shibuya. First stop, Loft, to get Ton a new bento box and Mighty Mo his first one. He got green caterpillar, she got pink Penelope.
Scary to think Mo will be heading off to school with his big sister in only a couple of months, but Ton was only 13 months old she started, and he is way more active than she was at that age. He will probably be running to the park on his own by then!
Met up with Amy and Maya and baby Alissa family at TGIFs and managed to eat a reasonably healthy salad: half cobb salad minus all the cheese (had to send it back once due to their inability to actually remove ALL the cheese at once) with the dressing on the side. And ate about half of it anyway.
Then we headed up to the excellent Jidokan in Shibuya. Too bad they will close it soon; old building but my tax money pays for a brilliant space where kids can do arts and crafts, exercise and play and explore in a safe and controlled environment.
After that we walked up to Donki to get some supplies, which they did not have, so we walked back down and ended up at what I thought was Jeans Mate but was in fact Jeans Off or something, with a cheap sporting goods store upstairs.
I quickly discovered that in Tokyo, Sporting Goods Store actually means Place To Buy Fashionable Clothes of Sports Brand Labels.
But I did manage to find some shorts at a reasonable price that I can use for my workouts. So I grabbed four pair, size XXL, which the spend-a-few-years-in-Canada-and-spoke-perfect-English saleswoman told me was equivalent to a US M.
Then we wandered over to Starbucks for a snack.
Ton was genki as always, Maya was asleep on dad's shoulders and baby Al was asleep on dad's chest in the ergo (P, Ton, mom, and Amy went home after the jidokan).
Finally everyone woke up and we (well Ton and Maya) split a scone, dads had tea, and baby Al looked around bored and fell back asleep.
Walked back to the station, toilet break in the Tokyu Dept. store, took the bus almost home and got off at the Wholesale Prospec Store (niku-no-hanamasa) which I had not been to in years and was reminded of its awesomeness when for about JPY 5,000 I picked up a couple kilos of frozen shrimp, a couple kilos of chicken (ground and small legs), a bunch of tortillas, and some walnuts/mini-fish that Ton loves.
Taxi'd home just in time for dinner, then I mixed up a batch of what started as mama's white chili but will end up as Prison Chili: lots of ground chicken and cumin, big chunks of carrot, two kindsa beans, corn, and onions.
Scary to think Mo will be heading off to school with his big sister in only a couple of months, but Ton was only 13 months old she started, and he is way more active than she was at that age. He will probably be running to the park on his own by then!
Met up with Amy and Maya and baby Alissa family at TGIFs and managed to eat a reasonably healthy salad: half cobb salad minus all the cheese (had to send it back once due to their inability to actually remove ALL the cheese at once) with the dressing on the side. And ate about half of it anyway.
Then we headed up to the excellent Jidokan in Shibuya. Too bad they will close it soon; old building but my tax money pays for a brilliant space where kids can do arts and crafts, exercise and play and explore in a safe and controlled environment.
After that we walked up to Donki to get some supplies, which they did not have, so we walked back down and ended up at what I thought was Jeans Mate but was in fact Jeans Off or something, with a cheap sporting goods store upstairs.
I quickly discovered that in Tokyo, Sporting Goods Store actually means Place To Buy Fashionable Clothes of Sports Brand Labels.
But I did manage to find some shorts at a reasonable price that I can use for my workouts. So I grabbed four pair, size XXL, which the spend-a-few-years-in-Canada-and-spoke-perfect-English saleswoman told me was equivalent to a US M.
Then we wandered over to Starbucks for a snack.
Ton was genki as always, Maya was asleep on dad's shoulders and baby Al was asleep on dad's chest in the ergo (P, Ton, mom, and Amy went home after the jidokan).
Finally everyone woke up and we (well Ton and Maya) split a scone, dads had tea, and baby Al looked around bored and fell back asleep.
Walked back to the station, toilet break in the Tokyu Dept. store, took the bus almost home and got off at the Wholesale Prospec Store (niku-no-hanamasa) which I had not been to in years and was reminded of its awesomeness when for about JPY 5,000 I picked up a couple kilos of frozen shrimp, a couple kilos of chicken (ground and small legs), a bunch of tortillas, and some walnuts/mini-fish that Ton loves.
Taxi'd home just in time for dinner, then I mixed up a batch of what started as mama's white chili but will end up as Prison Chili: lots of ground chicken and cumin, big chunks of carrot, two kindsa beans, corn, and onions.
grandma hisae
grandma hisae
Originally uploaded by renfield
One-year anniversary of Grandma Hisae's death, so we headed up to Tsukuba on the Tsukuba Express train. Tonchan started the morning well, helping to feed breakfast to her brother. Then she decided that she wanted to bring her entire library with her. When I explained that she could take one book in her bag, she had a proper 3-year old melt down, and I exploded at her. Ultimately I won: she got her princess book in her Kiki bag and was in the stroller.
P wasn't too happy at my handling of the situation, but I'm bigger than Ton and I don't like to be manipulated. Got onto the subway and the train with no issues, and finally I decided to be nice to Ton after she learned her lesson. Met Jiji and Baba at the station and headed up to the house without incident. Ate some sushi and cream cakes and other goodies, then the priest showed up and after being duly impressed by my Japanese and Tonchan's English, we did some quick namu namu for Grandma and headed to the graveyard. Did some more incense burning and namu namu and then headed back to the station and home with Masa.
shichi-go-san
Uploaded a bunch of photos from the Shichi-go-san weekend. Basically a morbid Japanese holiday celebrating the fact that your kid has lived to see his/her 3rd/5th/7th birthday.
Did formal photos at the local photo studio with everyone in kimono, then the next day went to the Suitengu shrine for some blessings and lunch down the street at the Royal Park hotel.
Did formal photos at the local photo studio with everyone in kimono, then the next day went to the Suitengu shrine for some blessings and lunch down the street at the Royal Park hotel.
happy 88th!
Toyo-baa turned 88 -- a celebration called beiju in Japanese.
We took the night bus up to Ibaraki after Kenkakubanrai and spent the night. It was surprisingly warm that evening and perfectly excellent weather the next day. We checked out the garden a bit and then went across the street to play with Hana-chan for a while before heading out for a celebratory lunch with everyone. Aunt Mari hooked up Tonchan and Mookun with some toys and stuff, and then we did some shopping at the Ami Outlet Mall before getting the train back to Tokyo. We finished the evening with some pizza from Salvatore before crashing.
We took the night bus up to Ibaraki after Kenkakubanrai and spent the night. It was surprisingly warm that evening and perfectly excellent weather the next day. We checked out the garden a bit and then went across the street to play with Hana-chan for a while before heading out for a celebratory lunch with everyone. Aunt Mari hooked up Tonchan and Mookun with some toys and stuff, and then we did some shopping at the Ami Outlet Mall before getting the train back to Tokyo. We finished the evening with some pizza from Salvatore before crashing.
trip from hell
Taken me a while to get caught up on the bloggage, so forgive the time lapse. (Or don't, I don't care much either way.)
Had the Trip From Hell a few weeks ago. Thought it would be a great idea to take the wife and kids to the USA with me; they see the family, I do some bid'ness. All in all, a great idea, poorly executed.
First, Ton got a fever the day before we left. Debated about what to do, and finally morning of she was not SO feverish, so we got on a plane for 12 hours of boredom and napping. Actually wasn't too bad; she was hot and grumpy and sleepy so I just held her for most of the flight and she mostly slept. Sort of.
Checked into the boutique MAV Hotel and got upgraded to the Penthouse Suite, which was the size of TWO shoeboxes (to be fair, by NYC standards, not bad.) Hotel was WAY to trendy for kids; the shower head was this art-deco contraption that looked cool but was useless for washing myself, let alone two small kids. Ton's fever was raging again and the kids tylenol cold medicine wasn't helping. So we bailed on the hotel after one night, cancelled dinner plans, etc. and just headed back to my mom's in CT.
Emy and Dolf and Cousin Dave came over for dinner, and that was actually fun.
Ton seemed to be getting better so on Monday we headed up to Boston. First class on Amtrak. Train left about an hour late, arrived in Boston two hours late. Food was almost edible. Arrived at Boston and my luggage is gone. In its place is some brown carry-on owned by some old dude with a cane, whom I watched get off two stations earlier and I remembered thinking "Wow everyone has that black Tumi just like I do -- popular bag!"
So I call the number on the bag several times and finally someone picks up. I explain that I flew in from Japan, leave for Chicago tomorrow, and really need my bag. So they graciously offer to allow me to come out and get it.
Get in a taxi and ride for an hour to THE richest neighborhood in all of Massachusetts.
Which of the three answers below correctly identifies what the rich old man offered me?
1) Some money for two hour round-trip, $125 cab ride
2) An apology
3) Nothing
The lovely Russian immigrant taxi driver offered to forcefully collect some money, but I declined his assistance, not wanting to get into a Russian mafia/murder entanglement.
The whole time, by-the-way, Tonchan's fever is back and she won't leave me, so I am holding her and carrying her the entire ride.
We make it back to the hotel, all plans for dinner with friends cancelled. Grab some food in the hotel restaurant and get to sleep.
The next morning I have to go to Harvard early and start work, so P and the kids get back on Amtrak and go back to mama's in CT.
The rest of the trip proceeded generally without incident.
I even managed to see Liz, whom I haven't seen since high school 20 years ago, and talk to her lovely new husband who is interested in coming to Wall Street after completing his MBA.
I get back to CT. in time for a proper Halloween. Ton is loving her Kiki costume that baba made, and Mookun has both a skeleton outfit from baba and a batman costume from Tai.
We hit the Westchester mall for shopping and trick-or-treating, then do more trick-or-treating at the CT. condo. Ton inhales for bars of chocolate. She is an unstoppable candy-eating machine.
At one AM, she retches it all over the pillow, the sheets, herself, me...we do an emergency shower amid tears and crying and noise and general unhappiness, strip off the sheets and manage to get back into bed.
The 14 hour flight home was uneventful by comparison; watched some cartoons, did some napping, ate some snacks.
In all, I reaffirmed my general unhappiness with being in the USA, though it's much more tenable when the kids are neither sick nor jet-lagged.
Had the Trip From Hell a few weeks ago. Thought it would be a great idea to take the wife and kids to the USA with me; they see the family, I do some bid'ness. All in all, a great idea, poorly executed.
First, Ton got a fever the day before we left. Debated about what to do, and finally morning of she was not SO feverish, so we got on a plane for 12 hours of boredom and napping. Actually wasn't too bad; she was hot and grumpy and sleepy so I just held her for most of the flight and she mostly slept. Sort of.
Checked into the boutique MAV Hotel and got upgraded to the Penthouse Suite, which was the size of TWO shoeboxes (to be fair, by NYC standards, not bad.) Hotel was WAY to trendy for kids; the shower head was this art-deco contraption that looked cool but was useless for washing myself, let alone two small kids. Ton's fever was raging again and the kids tylenol cold medicine wasn't helping. So we bailed on the hotel after one night, cancelled dinner plans, etc. and just headed back to my mom's in CT.
Emy and Dolf and Cousin Dave came over for dinner, and that was actually fun.
Ton seemed to be getting better so on Monday we headed up to Boston. First class on Amtrak. Train left about an hour late, arrived in Boston two hours late. Food was almost edible. Arrived at Boston and my luggage is gone. In its place is some brown carry-on owned by some old dude with a cane, whom I watched get off two stations earlier and I remembered thinking "Wow everyone has that black Tumi just like I do -- popular bag!"
So I call the number on the bag several times and finally someone picks up. I explain that I flew in from Japan, leave for Chicago tomorrow, and really need my bag. So they graciously offer to allow me to come out and get it.
Get in a taxi and ride for an hour to THE richest neighborhood in all of Massachusetts.
Which of the three answers below correctly identifies what the rich old man offered me?
1) Some money for two hour round-trip, $125 cab ride
2) An apology
3) Nothing
The lovely Russian immigrant taxi driver offered to forcefully collect some money, but I declined his assistance, not wanting to get into a Russian mafia/murder entanglement.
The whole time, by-the-way, Tonchan's fever is back and she won't leave me, so I am holding her and carrying her the entire ride.
We make it back to the hotel, all plans for dinner with friends cancelled. Grab some food in the hotel restaurant and get to sleep.
The next morning I have to go to Harvard early and start work, so P and the kids get back on Amtrak and go back to mama's in CT.
The rest of the trip proceeded generally without incident.
I even managed to see Liz, whom I haven't seen since high school 20 years ago, and talk to her lovely new husband who is interested in coming to Wall Street after completing his MBA.
I get back to CT. in time for a proper Halloween. Ton is loving her Kiki costume that baba made, and Mookun has both a skeleton outfit from baba and a batman costume from Tai.
We hit the Westchester mall for shopping and trick-or-treating, then do more trick-or-treating at the CT. condo. Ton inhales for bars of chocolate. She is an unstoppable candy-eating machine.
At one AM, she retches it all over the pillow, the sheets, herself, me...we do an emergency shower amid tears and crying and noise and general unhappiness, strip off the sheets and manage to get back into bed.
The 14 hour flight home was uneventful by comparison; watched some cartoons, did some napping, ate some snacks.
In all, I reaffirmed my general unhappiness with being in the USA, though it's much more tenable when the kids are neither sick nor jet-lagged.
silly break
silly break
Originally uploaded by renfield
On our way to Shinjuku in an attempt to buy some fall clothes for Ton. Before we got to the station Ton inhaled an onigiri and some apple juice, and Mookun enjoyed P making slurpy noises with her mango juice straw.
At Shinjuku we hit Uniqlo and discovered they only do baby and kids stuff, no toddler sizes. Couldn't find the big Gap so hit Isetan to take a break in their awesome baby rest area. Also checked out the ridiculous prices on kids stuff there -- Bape, Burberry's, Hysteric Glamour, etc.
I love you Ton, but not enough to spend 5900 yen on a dress you will outgrow in 6 months.
playing with jiji
playing with jiji
Originally uploaded by renfield
Jiji and Anna went home, so Jiji and Baba were on point with the grand kids.
senjuan weekend
Took the family to Senjuan in Gunma over the weekend. Got to Tokyo station Saturday morning before 10am so had to wander a bit until everything opened, then loaded up on bento and pre-train snacks.
Ton was all excited and hardly napped. She finally passed out on the bus and slept for all of ten minutes before we got to Minakami Station to get picked up by the onsen van. At the station some genius thought it would be a great idea to install a REALLY LOUD steam train whistle that anyone can ignite simply by pulling the rope. So EVERY goddamn tourist at the station let out a hugely annoyingly loud steam train whistle every five seconds. Needless to say, Ton and Mookun did not sleep much.
Got to the onsen, settled into our rooms, then changed into the stylish lounge wear before proceeding to the esthe room for well-deserved massage-ness.
Hit the baths before dinner but Riku was super grumpy, lacking sleep, and wasn't having much of it, so the three guys headed back to the room and got him to chill after about 30 minutes of crying. He mellowed out literally ten seconds before the ladies came back, and as soon as he saw P he screamed again, until she picked him up and he was immediately quiet, then fed.
Ton had some excellent Anpanman slippers and for running around outside in the yard they provided squeaky Hello Kitty sandals.
Have wanted to go to this place ever since I saw a picture of the glass-walled hallway the opens on the yard. As expected, it did not suck. Many photoage here.
Also it is super kid friendly -- they provided a kid's meal for Ton as well as baby and kiddie seats at dinner, plus a little baby futon in the room and another one in the dining room. We saw several other families with kids, including a 2-year old girl Ton followed around out in the yard a little bit (mainly because there was only one pair of squeaky Hello Kitty sandals and Ton wanted them.)
Ton was all excited and hardly napped. She finally passed out on the bus and slept for all of ten minutes before we got to Minakami Station to get picked up by the onsen van. At the station some genius thought it would be a great idea to install a REALLY LOUD steam train whistle that anyone can ignite simply by pulling the rope. So EVERY goddamn tourist at the station let out a hugely annoyingly loud steam train whistle every five seconds. Needless to say, Ton and Mookun did not sleep much.
Got to the onsen, settled into our rooms, then changed into the stylish lounge wear before proceeding to the esthe room for well-deserved massage-ness.
Hit the baths before dinner but Riku was super grumpy, lacking sleep, and wasn't having much of it, so the three guys headed back to the room and got him to chill after about 30 minutes of crying. He mellowed out literally ten seconds before the ladies came back, and as soon as he saw P he screamed again, until she picked him up and he was immediately quiet, then fed.
Ton had some excellent Anpanman slippers and for running around outside in the yard they provided squeaky Hello Kitty sandals.
Have wanted to go to this place ever since I saw a picture of the glass-walled hallway the opens on the yard. As expected, it did not suck. Many photoage here.
Also it is super kid friendly -- they provided a kid's meal for Ton as well as baby and kiddie seats at dinner, plus a little baby futon in the room and another one in the dining room. We saw several other families with kids, including a 2-year old girl Ton followed around out in the yard a little bit (mainly because there was only one pair of squeaky Hello Kitty sandals and Ton wanted them.)
virii update
Tonchan is Healthy. Went to school yesterday and again today. Apparently no issues. Slept alot -- 2 hour nap and crashed without even bedtime stories, so she's probably still recovering. But no more fever and no more rash, and she's eating.
Actually this morning P and Mo took her to school because I had to go to work early for an 8am conference call (and have a 9pm call tonight -- how crappy is that?)
Figured she would totally throw a fit if I left without her like I did on Sunday...and of course she's sitting on the couch with P fixing her hair and I say "OK, I'm going. Mama and Riku will take you to school and I'll see you later. Cool?" and she doesn't even take her eyes off the TV, just goes "OK. Bye."
Jeesh. My baby's love runs hot and cold man, seriously.
Actually this morning P and Mo took her to school because I had to go to work early for an 8am conference call (and have a 9pm call tonight -- how crappy is that?)
Figured she would totally throw a fit if I left without her like I did on Sunday...and of course she's sitting on the couch with P fixing her hair and I say "OK, I'm going. Mama and Riku will take you to school and I'll see you later. Cool?" and she doesn't even take her eyes off the TV, just goes "OK. Bye."
Jeesh. My baby's love runs hot and cold man, seriously.
lunch @ suzis
lunch @ suzis
Originally uploaded by renfield
After playing in the park we met up with P and Mookun for some brunch at Suzi's.
new year's
Spent a couple days back at the homestead in Ibaraki for New Year's.
It was of course freezing cold; colder inside the house than outside (outside there is sunlight.)
Spent most of the time buried under the kotatsu, eating and watching bad television.
And eating. And eating.
Went over to the Big House (honke) and the Third House (sanshitsu) and played with Hanachan, who is a year older than Tonchan.
Also played with Jiji a bunch, said hello to dead Jiisan a number of times (she liked putting out the incense candle and ringing the bell), and ate a bunch of cookies, sweets, crackers, and snacks.
It was of course freezing cold; colder inside the house than outside (outside there is sunlight.)
Spent most of the time buried under the kotatsu, eating and watching bad television.
And eating. And eating.
Went over to the Big House (honke) and the Third House (sanshitsu) and played with Hanachan, who is a year older than Tonchan.
Also played with Jiji a bunch, said hello to dead Jiisan a number of times (she liked putting out the incense candle and ringing the bell), and ate a bunch of cookies, sweets, crackers, and snacks.
hiroshima
R1011058
Originally uploaded by renfield
Did two nights at Sekitei in Hiroshima.
Flew down, took the bus to the station, train to Oonoura, and then the ryokan van. As expected, most excellent room. First floor had two rooms off of each side of the entrance, plus a little lounge and access to the main garden. Upstairs was another room with a big wooden bathtub in the middle. Totally. Awesome.
They also have a new private bath; a two story affair with a big bath in the middle of the downstairs and a shower in the ceiling, and then a lounge upstairs with a small bath on the balcony. This one is all modern and clean design, different from the one we used last time which was all old school and homey.
Perfect weather for two days too so we wandered around Miyajima in a sunny but breezy way.
Tonchan was a trooper; only broke two glasses and hated the band-aid on her hand more than the minor cut. She also inhaled momiji-manju (red bean paste sweets) and was generally eating the whole time. She ran around during the day so much she slept soundly all night the whole time.
jiji and baba
jiji and baba
Originally uploaded by renfield
Had lunch at Toyoda with the assorted grandparentals. P's parents were surprised as they weren't expecting the USA contingent. Masa had a wee too much drink and took a nice nap.
Afterwards we checked out the Mitsui Museum and had a 'bucks break before heading home and catching the start of the rain.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)