Detroit, MI

The second stop, but our first steps back on US soil, was Detroit! Oh how sweet it was! It was quite funny though, driving with Uncle Bob; I'm not used to driving on the right side of the road anymore and it was difficult to say the least. After a few days I drove and I had to keep verbally reminding myself "Stay on the right side, stay on the right side!" I have to say the thing that stood out most to us, besides the cars being on the correct side of the road, was that we could read all the signs! It is amazing the things we take for granted until put out of our comfort zone!
I told Aunt Linda we didn't want to do any running around or touristy things, just relax, and she took me for my word. They spoiled us rotten with food and swimming and gin rummy (that's a card game, not a drink!) and great company! Eric was able to take a week off and come with us so he got to golf a few rounds with Aunt Linda and Uncle Bob and that was quite a treat. Uncle Bob actually taught Taylor how to cast with a fishing pole, unfortunately, there weren't any fish in their lake to practice anything other than casting. But he had fun trying! We found the library and tried to get caught up on some novels we've missed out on. We had many beautiful afternoons spent on the lake in the canoe, watching the graceful herons flying into their lake everyday, there were eight, I think, that call this one particular tree home every night. One day we even saw a swan, an awesome sight. This was the perfect way to begin our summer vacation!

Pottery

In June, before we left for the summer, Erika and I had a great opportunity to go and make our own pottery, on a wheel from a lump of clay! My friend Mio came with us and we each got our own wheel. The potter was actually very impressed, he said Americans aren't usually very good at it at first, a backhanded compliment if I've ever heard one! It was an unusual experience. The clay was very rough feeling (my hands were exfoliated!) but very slippery because of the water you had to add to it so it would move smoothly in your hands. The worst part is the feeling as the clay was drying on your hands. (You must understand I hate the feeling of dirt on my hands too!) We each made a small plate, a rice bowl, a noodle bowl (yes, there are different sizes according to what you put in them!) and a cup. One thing we've noted since being in Japan, the typical American drink is usually, at least, 12 ounces, in Japan the typical cup at the table is about 4-6 ounces! When we finished our pieces, we left them to dry, and then they painted them for us, then fired them. We were able to get them back after we returned from summer vacation. This, I think, was one of our most memorable activities in all our time here. We fully intend to do it again!

Tokyo Disney

Tokyo was the first stop on our itinerary, unfortunately, it was pouring down rain! June is the rainy season in Japan, and as such was supposed to be less crowded. It was one of their most crowded days! We had to buy rain ponchos, only we couldn't find one to fit Eric! As he was trying on the XLg size a Japanese man was behind him trying to hide his laughter and awe of my husband's size. It was hilarious! We proceeded to get soaked and stood in lines for over an hour for every ride! The newest ride was "Ride & Go Seek" and the wait was over 3 hours! Then the letdown of the century was that the best rides were closed for maintenace (unscheduled)! I definitely prefer Disney World Florida!
After 2 days at Disney we threw in the towel (a very wet one) and tried some tourist spots. Just being on the Tokyo subway system was a trip in itself! There are 6 layers of subways underground! It is quite a feat in scheduling to make that work! We went to see Tokyo Tower. It is taller than the Eiffel Tower in Paris, but quite ugly in my opinion; it is painted a flourescent orange! We went to see the Guinness Book of World Records Museum! This was perfect as that is Taylor's all-time favorite book! We spent 3 hours walking through a very small museum; it was fascinating and all of us enjoyed it. The last place we saw was a bit on the strange side. It is a walk through room full of optical illusions. Eric and I copped some down time (Hee Hee) and the kids had a lot of fun!

Summer Vacation

The third stop on our itinerary was Orlando, FL with my mom and Russ. Relaxation was top on our list of priorities, so we spent 6 days enjoying the swimming pool, lots of sunshine, and eating good American food. Grandma made us her wonderful BBQ ribs and Smores! One of Taylor's highlights of the whole summer was getting to fish! He outfished his teachers! The kids kept Grandma busy playing billiards and ping pong, while I lounged outside in the pool! (Yeah me!) We celebrated the 4th of July there, oh it was good to be back in the good ole US of A!

Hawaii Vacation

Well, we survived our whirlwind tour in the U.S. and we finished it with a relaxing week in Oahu on Waikiki! It was a blast as we just played the whole time. We drove around the island to find some awesome (and sometimes pretty scary) waves and we just played in them. It was just what we needed to wind down a bit before heading back to Japan for school. The kids had 3 days to recover from jetlag and we sent them off to school. Erika will be homeschooling this year with me. Her seizures are almost rare these days, but we cannot be assured of their absence so we will stay at home. Taylor will be 13 next week! Two teenagers, OMG! I know many of you are wondering when we'll be coming back. No one knows the answer to that right now. Just pray for more jobs in Seattle, namely one for Eric, so that we can come home! Much love to you all!

Shannon's Haircut

As you can see from the picture, Shannon had her hair cut as soon as we arrived back in Seattle! She asked when we left Seattle last year that she wanted to donate her hair when we came home and that is what she did. She donated it to "Locks of Love" for patients who have gone through chemo and lost their hair. So there will be some very fortunate people with some beautiful hair!

Shannon's 8th Birthday Bonanza

Well, all I can say is that we survived! We had 30 kids and 6 adults here for the extravaganza. God came through with the weather. They were calling for rain and that would have meant trouble for our outside party. We prayed hard for days and God answered our prayers, we had sunshine. The ironic thing is that night after the party we had a torential downpour! For these things we are very thankful! Shannon has told me it was the best day of her life, so it was worth it. We invited both classes of the 2nd grade at NIS, as well as some neighborhood kids. We ordered a cake from Costco and had it shipped from Osaka. It is the only place that makes a cake that big. Japanese cakes seem to all be about 5-6" in diameter, definitely not enough to feed 36 people! Her theme was High School Musical. We had a friend bring some party supplies from Party City in Seattle. We created some games special for Shannon. My favorite was "Pin the Ponytail on Shannon!" Eric enlarged a picture of Shannon from Guam and we laminated it, then Eric found a blonde ponytail online, stretched it to make it "Shannon size," printed out 30 of them and voila! Everyone thought it was hilarious. We made our version of a cake walk into a "Candy Walk." Eric printed various pictures from High School Musical, put them in plastic sleeves so the kids could walk on them, turned on the H.S.M. soundtrack and they were all walkin'! Erika and her friend Dani were in charge of that and also the water balloon toss. That was a hit as well. The Japanese kids had never done anything like this. Taylor and his friend Luke were in charge of H.S.M. Bingo. We also played a few games that we remembered from Awana Sparks gametime. All in all, it was a hit, and no one wanted to leave (except for me and Eric)! We have sent Shannon into her 8th year of life with a huge bang!

Beauty Salon ~ Oh Boy!

You haven't had a haircut until you've had a haircut in Japan! It is an experience unto itself. I have a new "do" (yes, again) and so will share with you the experience. Taylor told me I was weird because every time I get a haircut I do something drastic. Oh well, we change what we can, and I like it! When I enter the salon they hand me a key to a locker in this back room. On the shelf of the locker is a note card welcoming me by name, expressing hopes of a relaxing visit. I put on the slippers that are waiting for me, put my own shoes, jacket, purse and whatever else in the locker, lock it and they put the key away for me. (You may think, "that isn't safe" they can steal everything," not a worry here, they are so honorable, people return everything they find, without taking what's inside!) After the stylist sits down with me and I tell him what I want he sends me off with an assistant who does the first wash, yes I said first, there are more to follow. She leads me to a massage chair, turns it on and puts a light blanket over my lap. They don't just spray your hair to get it wet. They start with a warm towel wrapped around your head and slowly start to wet it down. Once it is all wet and warm, they slide it off and start the scalp massage. They eventually work in shampoo and for 15 minutes, it is pure heaven! Then they rinse you, comb out your hair and send you back to the stylist. The haircut is relatively the same as in the U.S., but then they send me back to that massage chair! Once again, for 15 minutes, I get a little slice of heaven, while my hair gets another washing and a deep, steam conditioning, and of course the massage. The assistant then escorts me back to the stylist and offers some tea, water, or juice. Then she gives me a shoulder massage for about 10 minutes! The stylist then dries my hair, (when Erika goes he has his helper dry also, so that there are two people working it at once! Talk about spoiled! You may be thinking "I don't want to know how much this costs!" It is only $55 and more than worth it! It isn't just the salon I go to. I have heard from other friends, that other Japanese salons do the scalp massage thing, but I don't know if it is to the extreme that this place does, and I don't care enough to give it up to try anywhere else! What an experience!

Easter

We had a most unusual Easter, but an enjoyable one nonetheless. We spent our afternoon at a sports bar called Shooters. They actually allow any age persons here in Japan in bars, but it was actually just a family event for the day. They have American food and it is a great restaurant for families! They had a special lunch for Easter followed by an easter egg hunt in the park. Eric's friend Jeff, the one in pink chenille pants and bunny ears, is the manager. He put on quite a production for the kids. After this we went to church and had a wonderful Easter service followed by a potluck, where we met many new friends that share our love of Christ. We hope you all had a wonderful Easter and above all remember the sacrifice that Christ made for you!

Deer bowing to Taylor

The Temple

One Big Buddha

After feeding the deer we made our way to the temple, which houses the largest upright Buddha in the world! This is the largest wooden temple also. It was a breathtaking sight as we turned the corner. The craftsmanship is incredible. At the entrance to every temple there are always "Oni" (Japanese word for monster) to guard the temple. One is named "Ah" and the other "N". These stand for the first and last letters of the Japanese alphabet, sound familiar? I think I mentioned this in another blog also, the similarity with the Christian terminology for God, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last..." (Rev. 22:13) These statues are carved of wood and must be at least 20 feet tall! As you enter the temple the Buddha is very impressive. Looks like gold, but I was told it is bronze. Everything around it symbolizes something important to their faith, down to the tiniest lotus petal. At the end of the tour of the temple one of the upright support beams has a hole carved out of it at its base. Eiichi told us this hole is the same size of the hole of the Buddha's nostril, and that the belief is that as children crawl through, they will now be happy. I immediately ordered my kids to go through! Darn it, it didn't work!!! The hole was rather small, Shannon made it through, and Taylor made it after he took off his coat. I actually saw two full-grown Japanese women make it through! Oh, to be soooo tiny!

Deer of Nara

Feeding The Deer In Nara

What an experience we had! I never once in my wildest dreams would have expected to enjoy our trip there so much. We created memories there that will stick with us forever, and the best one is when Eric was running from the deer trying to bite his butt! I haven't laughed that hard in a long, long time and I will never get that picture out of my mind! We met up with Eiichi, the Japanese man who showed us around Kiyomizudera (a friend of the Stuart's) and his son Hokuto. The ironic thing was that the weather was sunny the entire week before and has been sunny since then, but on that day I think they must have set a record with the amount of rain that fell. We were hardy Washingtonians and continued on. There are little stands that sell these packets of crackers that are especially made for the deer to eat. The minute we bought some, the deer converged on us (or rather, Eric). While he was trying to feed the deer in front of him the one behind him took a bite out of his butt! We all couldn't stop laughing, meanwhile Eric is doing this dance to avoid another bite. He didn't, they must have gotten him about 8 times I think throughout the whole time we were there! I asked Eiichi how the deer could possibly stay so thin with so many people always feeding them these crackers. His response about killed me, "They are Japanese!" The other completely remarkable thing these deer do is they bow, yes, I said they actually bow to you before taking the cracker! Again I asked in wonder, "How did they learn this?" To which Eiichi answered once again, "They are Japanese deer." So true. I think I'll be bowing to everyone for a long time when we return to the U.S.! I have promised myself I am going to submit a video of this bowing to America's Funniest Home Videos and Animal Planet!

Scene from Hamlet

Taylor's 3rd Play

Taylor was in his third play, Hamlet. I am sad to say I didn't take any photos of the second one. I was hoping to get photos of him from a friend, but haven't. So, with great regret, I will tell you I also don't have any pictures of him in this play either! No, I am not a complete idiot, it's just that I was so focused on videoing it for Eric, that I forgot to take photos. So that is why I've included the video on the blog, and no photos. Taylor played the part of Hamlet's father's ghost. He loved it and really got into his part. There was a moment of hilarity when at the moment of his first appearance, he didn't come out at his cue, which was the word "midnight". So the character Hamlet said to someone else, "Are you sure it's midnight?", then when no Taylor appeared, Hamlet said, "I guess we'll just have to wait." We in the audience were smothering our giggles when Taylor finally appeared. I couldn't wait to ask him what happened because he new all his cues and lines perfectly. It turns out that the school photographer was behind the scenes taking his photograph. When I gave the photographer a hard time about distrupting the play and making Taylor miss his cue, his reply was, "It's okay, I got a great shot of Taylor." As the French would say, "C'est la vie!" (That's life!)

Spring Break

We began our Spring Break with a day out in Nagoya. The kids waited in line for over 2 hours to get their portraits drawn by these art students for free. It is in the typical Japanese anime characters, the kids loved it and will treasure them always! Although Erika was upset with the fact she looked younger than the other two in their pictures! They were very cute. Erika's friend Dani came with us for the day. We also saw the building called "Oasis 21". It is a weird artform, basically a clear enormous platform with a pool at the top, with about 5 inches of water in it. The fountain is located at Central Park and was beautiful also. We visited Nagoya Castle, which is the largest wooden castle in Japan. It even had huge rock walls surrounding the acreage, which was originally the moat, impressive!

Spring Break

Snorkeling in Tumon Bay, Guam

Archery @ the P.I.C.

Challenge Course @ the P.I.C.