Baby Pictures

Finally, a few photos of our newest edition.  Carl looks about the same in each of the following 5 pictures, but I still can't help wanting to show how happy each of us is to have him in our family.

 

Happy Columbus Day!

This year Ryan tried a new design for our Columbus Day ship, inspired by "Seymour and the Juice Box Boat." 

Our design was a lot more sophisticated than the usual newspaper boats that leave stains on the side of our bathtub.

 Here are our little midshipmen with their "Seymours" all ready to set sail.

The paddle on the back was a fun addition.

 Lest we think that the seas are always calm...

Now the live action:

News from Japan

Ryan says that if I post today everyone will think that we're announcing the arrival of our new baby. This is not the case. No new baby yet, but we do have some fun pictures to share before the baby takes center stage.

Here are all of my favorite woodworkers with their protective eye wear on. I wonder if Ryan feels left out because his don't come in pink or purple tone.

Here is a picture from last month when it was warm at the park.

Is there anything as great as being a kindergartner? I ask again. You get to make crowns and your teacher lets you pick a prize from the treasure box if you are good all week. And I think that we can all agree that those sunglasses are treasures.

 Sometimes it's tough to be one, just ask Alice.

And sometimes it's the greatest thing ever to be one since you are old enough to put cherries in our favorite chocolate covered cherry cookies all by yourself.

Ryan is our Scout troop's Committee Chairman, and yesterday was the big International Scout Day on base when 600 scouts and leaders come from all over northern Japan to have a great time. Ryan was in charge of food, and he took his job seriously. Two weeks ago he made us practice cooking 60 hot dogs in our crock pot to see if it would work. It did, and we now have 55 hot dogs in our freezer that we can pull out at a moments notice.

This picture shows what cooking 600 hot dogs look like. Awesome! (Don't worry Emily, I sent him with our meat thermometer and he checked temps every 30 minutes. No danger zone infractions.).

First Day of School

Helen had her first day of school last week and I have to ask myself if there is anything as wonderful as Kindergarten. New friends, new schedule, new crayons and pencils, new backpack, new teacher... Life could not be better. Ryan has been humming "Sunrise, Sunset" for a month now in anticipation.

 Amber sent us fabric in a package last week that not only crossed continents and oceans, but also decades in order to reach us. The girls love dressing themselves up in what I'm sure will be the next big fad: Turkish-Hawaiian Fusion.

Northern Japan Camping Trip

This week we left the safety of our home to brave the wilds of northern Japan. Our first stop was the Iwate Children's Park where our kids enjoyed all sorts of fun from a pretend Onsen filled with all sorts of toys to these great bicycles built for two.

Our next stop was Akita, a city on the west coast. We got lost looking for a campground and stopped at a McDonald's to use the restroom and ask for directions. The young Japanese man who gave us directions also lead us all the way to the campground some 22 kilometers away. The Japanese are so kind and this is only one example of many acts of kindness that we receive when traveling around Japan.

After dinner we drove back down the mountain into the city for the famous Akita Kanto Festival. For the past 250 years Akita has had this festival in the summer to bring a good harvest.  The highlight of this festival is the "Kanto", bamboo poles with 46 lanterns, and the performers who balance them.  We took this picture by this display of a Kanto in the train station where we parked.

From here we walked over a kilometer thorough the city and then shouldered our way into the crowd for a spot to see the talented Kanto performers. We got there just in time for the raising of the lanterns. The men take turns holding up the Kanto and balancing all 120+ pounds and 40+ feet of it the on their heads, shoulders, hands or hips. Each time they pass the Kanto to another team member they add on another meter of bamboo so that by the end the poles were bending over the electrical wires and spectators alike. Thrilling! This was Jane's favorite part of our trip and has been trying to balance any number of things on her head - wooden spoons, empty toilet paper rolls, our small broom, etc. The man next to us said that one of the groups of men performing right in front of us were this year's Kanto champions.

Here you can see that even the pro's sometimes lose their balance, which give the Hackett's great hope for their attempts at balancing everything from the kitchen on their heads.

Here's a little video of the Kanto balancing in the parade.  It's dark, but if you look closely you can see the amazing balancing acts.

Here we are on our Botanical Garden hike outside of Akita.

Ryan and Helen were great dishwashers and this was one of our favorite campsites.

Our next stop was Juniko Lakes, which are famous for their brilliant colors. But we will always remember it for the giant beetle in the bathroom. Here you see that Ryan enlisted Jane's help to give an accurate perspective of size.

Hiking is one of our favorite things to do, and we had a great time stomping from lake to lake.  Our local dollar store sells water bottle carriers which I purchased for the girls so that I no longer have to cart a gallon of water around on my back. 

Here we are waving by the waves of the Sea of Japan, where we stopped to stretch our legs a little as we drove further north.

At our last campsite, on a island in Lake Jusanko, we got to test our tent against an awesome thunderstorm. Our tent won the contest, but not without a little rain on the inside. Luckily, most campsites are equipped with kitchens like the one you see below, so we could stay dry and eat breakfast after the worst of the storm was over.

Tanabata Festival

Alice has embraced helping in the kitchen. Especially when she gets to lick the bowl clean while Mom is busy putting the cake in the oven.

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Helen has been reminding me to make her a new pink dress since last summer. Here is this year's model. Is there anything better than pink and flamingos?

I've been trying to get a lot of baking done and cookies into the freezer in anticipation of summer. The girls are always willing to help.

The girls love when Ryan comes home and they get to try on various and sundry pieces of his uniform. 

Last weekend was the Tanabata Festival, which our kids love. They get to walk/run all the way up and down main street swimming through streamers. On the right you can see the squid drying out on a squid spinner.

In the picture below is a new food for us - a Japanese waffle in the shape of a fish filled with custard filling and topped with whipped cream and strawberries. It makes me think I need a new waffle maker.  

Here is a short video of a man making my favorite Japanese noodle dish - yakisoba.  It would have been longer, but the batteries ran out.

Happy 4th of July

Life is so good when you get to have snack time outside.

 A couple weeks ago we did some serious yard work. Family working time is our favorite - sticks, bugs, worms, mud, flowers -- could life get better?

It takes some really big muscles to drag huge bags of leaves across the yard.

 A couple of weeks ago I went to the 8th Asia Pacific Conference on Clinical Nutrition, in Tokyo. Here I am with my friend from Reunion Island and another woman from Japan. Below is my complimentary lunch from the first day. I think that was my first bento box - and it happened to be vegetarian with all the complementary nutrients that are currently the rage. A woman from Africa summed up my feelings nicely when she said, "I think I am going to be hungry this week."

Last year I ordered this fabric, it came around Thanksgiving time and I finally started working on the dresses in May. One of the challenges is that it doesn't really feel like July here until August. The girls love the spinning potential of the dresses best. Don't worry, Alice is not in the choke hold, as it may appear.

We have a great new foil dessert that got 5 stars in our home. Take a sugar cone and spread peanut butter inside. Mix together marshmallows, chocolate chips, and pieces of banana. Put tasty morsels inside cone and wrap with aluminum foil. Cook for 3-5 minutes on coals (or in oven when it is typhoon season).

Wedding, beach and a birthday

Ryan got to go out to California this month to join in Regan and Erin's wedding. While there, he also got to see all his family, eat Mexican food, listen to Spanish Pop radio, drive on the right side of the road, use his windshield wipers as turn signals,  and gaze longingly across the Pacific Ocean missing us.

Last week we enjoyed unusually warm weather so we went out to see if we could find any sea glass on one of our favorite beaches. Luckily it hadn't all disappeared over the winter. 

 Alice is officially at the age where she thinks she is a grown up and wants to walk alone.

Helen turned 5! You might not recognize her any more because she is smarter, faster and taller than she has ever been before. My attention was drawn to these very details by her all day long. Five-year-old kids are a lot of fun!

 Everyone loves birthdays at our house. Especially since the birthday girl shares her treasures.