Exercise, Exercise, Exercise!

"Exercise! -- Exercise! -- Exercise!" That's what the loud public announcement system shouts 10x a day all over base during our frequent training exercises. The announcement follows with directions like "Code Black!" or "MOPP 4!", but our girls interpret it as a call to do jumping jacks. Michelle captured one of our most intense exercise sessions on tape, for your enjoyment below.

Happy Halloween

This year Ryan and Helen worked together to make her Halloween costume. I am not sure who had more fun of the two. It must be noted that they were not painting in the rain, as Helen's poncho would suggest, rather Ryan is trying to keep her from becoming red from head to foot.

Here Helen is showing you the neat trick of how she can disappear into a Lego. My favorite thing that Helen said while in costume was, "It is hard for Legos to walk down stairs."

Helen was the only Lego that we saw during our two trick-or-treating events. In fact, Ryan commented on the "surprising lack of box costumes." To which I concurred, but didn't understand. I confessed that I had been a box for most Halloweens except for the time I was a stick of gum. Ryan said that hardly counted as not being a box, since I was two boxes put together.

Jane got to be a crocodile for Halloween. She was so excited. Jane has watched Helen dress up in this outfit for most of her life. I have to admit this is the first time the costume has been used for what it was intended, by the correct sized child.

Curtain Project

I have to admit that I have been known to start big projects, but I think this was the first time that the scripture Luke 14:28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and ^acounteth the ^bcost, whether he have sufficient to ^cfinish it? would apply. In this particular interpretation of the scripture my "sufficient" would include all of the following, a. expertise, b. fabric, c. time to finish in less than a month.

In my defense, we needed curtains badly and they had to be lined. There is no daylight savings here, and the sun in the summer rose around 3:30am. Hence the aluminum foil you see in the window. Mothers are desperate when it comes to their children's sleep. The sun now is up before Ryan comes home from work at 5:30am, but I'm not sure the exact time.

How to make curtains in Japan. 1. Check out all the books (two) at the library on curtain making and hope no one else decides to make curtains over the next year. 2. Measure and remeasure the windows and then convert everything to centimeters. 3. Go to fabric store and practice the Japanese words you have practiced for the event. 4. Buy the fabric and make sure you have extra. 5. Whoops, they don't have black-out fabric in Japan. You should have ordered it a month ago from the States. 6. Combine panels of fabric and then lining. 7. Sew pennies in as weights. 8. Attach fabric and lining together by hand. 8. Add heading tape. 9. Gather curtains using sweet trick with thread and twine. 10. Insert hooks. 11. Hang curtains. 12. Threaten children with adverse consequences if they touch the curtains. Note: Any and all of these steps will likely be repeated until you become proficient, which is just as well because the master bedroom needs curtains next.

The girls love their new curtains. They are hot pink with Japanese fans on them. What is not to love?

Camping at Lake Towada

Last month we drove half way across the island and up the mountains to Lake Towada (largest crater lake on Japan's main island) for a camping trip.

The road snaked through the Orise Gorge, and you can pull off and hike up to different waterfalls as long as there was a) room enough and b) warning sufficient to pull over. We didn't actually find this map until we left the park which, would have been helpful in finding said waterfalls.

Here is Ryan's favorite sign. I don't know about you, but I think this particular bear looks more menacing than a grizzly bear and it seems more than likely that he knows karate.

We found a great nature center by Lake Towada where you could push buttons next to the names of birds (written in Japanese characters) and the birds in the display sang. The girls could have spent hours there.
Here is the view from our campsite. We were the only ones camping that night, so we choose the flattest spot with the most picturesque view.
This is what it looks like to wake up after freezing all night. We took a page from the book of Lucinda Johnson's Guide to Camping and wore all the cloths we had packed to stay warm.

Here we are at our Japanese picnic table. It was a little tricky with no seats for the girls, but they had fun 'bellying up to the bar.'

This picture affirms that these are Ryan's girls. Before we were married Ryan always thought it was fun to close his eyes for pictures. Somehow this trait has been passed on genetically regardless of all the fine nurturing I give these girls.
Here we are along the Orise Gorge trail. I asked Helen if she liked camping and she said camping was okay but she liked hiking better.
Helen and Michelle at a waterfall.
Ryan and happy Jane. We don't really know what this sign says, probably please stay on the trail and don't litter.
Happy, happy hikers.

Happy Columbus Day!

In honor of Columbus Day we made boats based on the pattern we learned from reading Curious George. We didn't have any frogs, ducks or bugs to put in the boats, so Helen grabbed some elephants.

Sadly it was raining outside so we had to launch the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria in the bathtub.

Pear Picking in Nanbu Village

In September we went on a "field trip" to Nanbu, a little village up in the mountains. In order to pick fruit first you report to this little visitor center. Then you tell them which fruit, of those in season, that you would like to pick. Then they give you a map and show you the Japanese characters of the farmer's name so you can recognize their names on the signs outside their farms.

Here are some of the varieties of pears we could choose between. Although some of them look identical they all taste vastly different. It took the farmer to let us know which ones were which.
Ryan and the girls at the farm with Mt Nakuidake in the distance.
So I thought pear picking would be like fruit picking in the US where you go and pick all the fruit you want and then pay for it and go. Here you pay to eat all the fruit you can in an hour and they give you a bucket and knife and let you go to town.
Helen shows off the Japanese pears.
It started raining while we were there and we had to move inside. Don't worry, that didn't slow Jane down at all.
Jane got all juiced up on this adventure.
Here is a view of one of the farms we drove past.

Outside the city limits

Back in September we took the girls on a picnic to Swan Park which is about a 20 minute drive from our house. Have I mentioned that driving in Japan is terrifying? Not because the roads are filthy and unorganized, but because we drive on the left side of very small streets. Ryan and I have discovered new things about ourselves from taking turns in the front passenger's seat. I am sure this counts as some sort of marriage therapy to go through near death experiences together.

The girls love bridges as a general rule and are always looking for trolls underneath, but Jane was terrified on this one. Probably because her legs fit between the wood.

We finally drove to the east two miles and found the ocean. We don't know if the beach was like this before the tsunami or not.

In Japan it appears that there are vending machines everywhere filled with all sorts of beverages and addictive substances at the push of a button. I had heard about an egg vending machine and was dying to see how the little eggs rolled out the bottom without breaking. To be honest, my expectations were dashed because all Ryan did was open a little door and pull the bag of fresh eggs out. I would have probably paid double the 200 yen just to watch them tumble down a ramp. Oh well, it's probably cleaner this way.