Uncle Nate and Grandma "Bee" Visit Japan

Mom and Nate took the long trip half way around the globe to visit us in early December, and we all enjoyed every minute of it.   

Here we are enjoying some Japanese "Sizzlers" at the mall.  We tried to give them as may new culinary experiences as they were willing to try.  They were good sports and let us introduce them to sizzlers (meat/veg/rice sizzling on cast iron plates), our favorite Indian curry/lentils/naan, and conveyor-belt sushi.

We visited one of Misawa's many Shinto shrines overlooking the pacific ocean.  The Buddhist temple was closed, but we still appreciated that statues and monuments outside.

On a snowy afternoon we visited a replica of a historic Samouri house, complete with rock garden and stone lantern (below) and wax statues in period clothing. 

The best part by far of having Nate and Mom here though was all the time they spent hugging, tickling, reading to, chasing, and playing with the girls and teaching Carl how to laugh.  After four solid days of hearing little girl voices call out "Uncle Nate & Grandma Bee!", our house seemed awfully quiet when they had to fly back home.

  

Late Fall Fun

This year we got to pick persimmons again and the girls got in on the action. It takes all their muscles to pull the fruit off the tree. I have to confess that I got a little nervous about fruit ricocheting off our neighbors windows. 

 For Thanksgiving we made our turkeys, but they didn't have any candy corn left at the store so I bought some blueberry almonds. There were some disparaging remarks about them looking more like Blue Footed Boobys than turkeys, but that didn't stop us. Either way, they go down really nicely with a glass of milk.

 

Carl is doing great - growing like a champ. He shows an unusually high amount of social acumen (the ability to make good judgments and quick decisions, typically in a particular domain) and has already begun to smile and laugh. 

Here we are making gingerbread houses. Something about 5 kids 5 and under with candy and frosting just warms my heart. It's the activity that keeps on giving as I sweep up 100's of nerds and catch girls snitching candy. 

At Helen's school the best classes in the lunchroom win the "Golden Dragon" Award which the kids then get to take home for the night. Wasn't I surprised to see that the dragon looked more like a rubber chicken than any dragon I've seen. I was assured by Helen that it was actually a baby dragon.   

Alice turned two! Hopefully her second year won't be a dangerous as the first, based on the bonk on her forehead.

Grandma and Grandpa Johnson's Visit

During this trip we traveled out to Hirosaki Castle for the Chrysanthemum Festival. The leaves in northern Japan are lovely this time of year, and the drive was beautiful, if not a little twisty. 

 We tried to take a family picture here for our Christmas card, but it turns out that our kids are more photogenic with their grandparents then they are with us.

 The Aomori prefecture where Hirosake is located is famous for apples, and here are our ice cream connoisseurs sampling the apple ice cream.

 While we were there we saw a couple of people getting the warriors all dressed up in their mum outfits.

 Just a little sampling of the street food for you. No we aren't brave enough to try them.

 Alice is so happy to have a little brother! On the right is our attempt at a passport picture, which was later rejected.

Here are the girls all dressed up for the Halloween party in their fairy costumes that Grandma made them. This picture doesn't even capture a portion of their excitement to be fairies. 

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.