Salmon Festival

A couple of weeks ago we went to the Salmon Festival with our friends, Katie and Joe. This has been something that Hyatt has looked forward to since we moved here and he heard that there was an opportunity to catch a salmon with your bare hands. We had perfect weather for it and thoroughly enjoyed our time, although the actual catching of the salmon ended up being a little more tricky than anticipated. Joe, however, somehow managed to catch two - the second one with just one hand while already holding his first one in his other hand! Hyatt says that next time he would use gloves rather than trying to do the barehanded thing, as they were more slippery than he bargained for. It's hard to capture the time in a blog entry, but let's just say that Joe had Hyatt hold his second fish for him, and the fish got away from him... and Hyatt ended up getting a fish at the very end.... one that looked kind of dead and was sort of floating in the corner. I think it was a real prize fish, though, because this was one that escaped ALL of the other people that had been in there, and maybe he was just floating a little because he was plain tuckered out after dodging the crowds.

Of course, this festival had its fun quirky things, too, as you'll see in the pictures below - our favourites being the man dressed in the salmon costume - without any pants on, and the men's outhouses that don't have full doors:)

5 Years

This weekend, Hyatt and I had the most glorious time celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary. The anniversary itself was actually Nov.1st, but it worked better for us to go away this weekend, so we just went out for dinner on our actual day. Anyways, our wonderful friends, the Driskell's, had Kaiya stay overnight with them while Hyatt and I went to the Oirase Gorge and stayed at the Oirase Keiryu Grand Hotel. We arrived there to check in at 3pm on Saturday and got to see our "Japanese style" room. It was perfect - we had a view of the gorge, along with the beautiful autumn leaves (those that were still left on the trees), and tatami mats on the floor (no bed in sight, but I had been given a heads up about that, so it wasn't a surprise). Once we dropped off our stuff, we went back down to the lobby area to sit near the fireplace with the amazing view and enjoyed a decadent 700Y hot cocoa (really was hot cocoa, not hot chocolate, so wasn't quite the sweet taste we were anticipating), and 500Y little piece of cheesecake. It was a moment in time to be savoured:) Once we were ready to get out, we opted for a drive rather than a walk, because it was freezing cold. We drove up the 103 and then veered off on a mountain road to explore and saw some breathtaking scenery as the sun was getting lower in the sky.

Once we returned (via a different route than we had come) to the hotel, we headed to dinner, which was a Japanese buffet. Hyatt loved it, as there were all kinds of new foods to try, and I loved just getting to experience something different. They did have some incredible ice cream, though, as well as an apple pastry that, in my opinion, made the whole trip worth while. It was interesting, too, to see all the people who came to dinner in their onsen outfits (not the outfits that they actually wear in the onsen - which would mean that they wouldn't be wearing a whole lot of anything, but, rather, the outfits that they wear to walk to and from the onsen). By the way, this was an onsen hotel. Who knew?

We had a nice relaxing evening, and fairies had come to visit our room while we were at dinner and made up our beds, which consisted of futon mats and duvets. Let's just say that we loved the beds so much that we were missing them last night when we had to sleep in a "normal" one last night. And we're going to get some tatami mats for our house because we were so loving the feel of them on our feet - maybe we'll put some in Kaiya's new room instead of putting a rug in there.

In the morning, we had our buffet breakfast, which was also very nice - a combination of Japanese and more "American" food (they had biscuits and eggs). We followed this by a walk to a bridge that they had in their brochure, then some onsen time (my very first experience, and I thoroughly enjoyed it), and then we checked out. (For those of you who don't know, an onsen is a Japanese public bath.)

All in all, we had a great 5th anniversary! Here are some pictures... (there are also a couple of pictures from the Harvest Festival last week)...

It's been a while...

(Note: I wrote this post on Oct.24, and it is only now actually getting posted... so I will have to update again soon. Also, the "belly shot" of me was from when I was 25.5 weeks pregnant, and I am now almost 31.5 weeks, so let's just say that I don't exactly look the same right now, just so we're up front and honest here.)

Once again, time just passes by so quickly. I thought I'd better go ahead and update the blog, since otherwise it would just get too far gone and I would never do it. In the last month and a half, Hyatt has turned 30 (on September 30th!), his parents came to visit, Kaiya learned to walk much faster (she probably thinks it is running), the last of our "gang" moved away, I have grown a lot bigger (the baby inside me probably has, too), we started the Daniel study (Beth Moore) in my bible study, and Hyatt has cracked down on his GRE studies (he writes the test on Nov.6).

That's pretty much life in a nutshell. We're sad that our friends are gone, but God has been so faithful. Much tears were shed when Brett and Tiffany flew out (and before, and after...), but as much as I had dreaded that time, God has really brought other friends to the forefront and is allowing us to develop new relationships that maybe we would not have otherwise. All that to say that once again, God is good, and that once again, when I couldn't imagine how He could make us feel surrounded by family while we're over here in Japan and ready to have another baby this far away from most of our support, He has surpassed what I could have imagined. My friend, Rachel, has gone through doula training and will be our doula - major answer to prayer, as our doula moved at the beginning of October. Our dear friend, Abi, has booked a plane ticket to come visit in January, right over the time of the due date, so chances are that she will be here for the birth (again!). And we have had so many new people join our church recently - and not only join, but jump right in and get involved in things. So, that has been another answer to prayer. So many more women for me to be friends with, too! I'm just feeling very thankful.

Now I will let pictures tell the story. Well, one more thing. For Hyatt's birthday, he had requested 2 things. He wanted to go surfing, and he wanted chocolate banana parfaits from the Cakehouse. Well, we drove all the way to the beach in Hachinohe (the military people aren't allowed to go in the ocean north of Hachinohe because of strong rip currents and some people who made them make the rule for everyone a couple of years ago) and there were NO waves. Not even little baby ones. That was a bummer, but we still had a fun time walking along the coast on a trail that we had wanted to explore for a long time but had never had the chance. We also went to the "aquarium" in Hachinohe, which we have wanted to check out since we first drove past it. Well, the highlight there was that we saw a fish die! I thought that Hyatt was just joking about it dying - we had seen it floating vertically instead of swimming horizontally... but he saw them come and scoop it out of the tank! It's just not everyday that you see that at an aquarium (probably because most aquariums would take care of that kind of stuff at night time, but still). We grilled sausages for dinner, and then headed to the Cakehouse for our parfaits... but they were closing! So, no surfing, and no Cakehouse chocolate banana parfaits. We ended up going to Coco's and having their version of the parfait instead. So, there was Hyatt's 30th. Not what we had planned, but a fun day with his parents and Brett and Tiffany, anyways.

Alright, now for a few pictures of life the last month and a half...

It's another girl!

Updating our blog has been on my list of things to do for the last couple of months. We've been busy, though - Lisa was here for a couple of weeks in July, and then we went straight to Thailand after her visit. The Pancoasts traveled with us there and we had an incredible trip. Kaiya was a champ and definitely had to be flexible along with us and our traveling hours and interesting bedding situations. We opted not to bring the pack n' play with us, as we were going to have to take the train on our way home, and it is enough work just navigating through the train station with a stroller and suitcases without adding a pack n' play into the mix. In Khao Lak, however, we discovered that they did not have a crib for us. Kaiya ended up sleeping in a make shift fort-type structure composed of two coffee tables turned on their sides piled on top of each other and pushed up against the wall. All that to say that we had a wonderful, memorable time. Feel free to check out the Pancoast's blog, too (there is a link on the side of our blog) for pictures and more details.

Hyatt finished the desk that he has been building. It all began with a brainstorming/design session with Brett one evening when nothing else was going on. Then it just grew and evolved from there. What you see in this video is the finished product! It was really quite amazing how Hyatt would just make these trips to Homac (our Home Depot type store here, although definitely not Home Depot) and come home with another trunk full of tools/stuff. The metal pipes that he worked with were interesting, in that he needed to cut them. With the language barrier, that was a little interesting at the store, as he had understood that, for a small fee, they would cut them there. However, later that afternoon I discovered that we were the proud new owners of a metal cutting power saw:) You're probably getting a bit of an idea of this process. Now just picture the fact that the desk was built in our bedroom. Let's just say that we were thankful when the plan all came together into this incredible work of art! So, there you have it. The story of the desk.

On top of all that news, Kaiya has finally decided to start walking! This video was taken on August 26, and she is actually walking much better now. In fact, she chooses to walk much more often than crawl these days. It's been such a fun process watch her slowly figure out how walking works and get more and more steady as she practices.

Finally, we had our ultrasound today, and received the exciting news that we're having another girl!!! So, Kaiya is going to have a sister... and we don't have to redecorate the nursery! Now we just have to come up with a name. It's so hard to believe that there is another one out there that we will like as much as the name "Kaiya", but we will just have to start looking:)

Together in Tokyo

It's been a month now since we were in Tokyo with my parents and my brother, Chris... and just now I'm getting around to posting some pictures from the trip:) We had a wonderful time, and it worked out perfectly meeting up at the New Sanno there (a military hotel), as it was a direct flight, then a 2 hour bus ride for my family, and a 3 hour train ride (that felt like many more when you're traveling with a one-year old) and half hour subway trip for us. Our mornings were mostly spent at the hotel, as I wasn't feeling all that well (I'm pregnant, for those of you who somehow have managed to escape that news thus far - due Jan.12th) and Kaiya was getting over an ear infection, so any nap time was much appreciated. We thoroughly enjoyed breakfast buffet time at the restaurant in the hotel, as well as the dinner buffet, for that matter:) It was fun for us to get to eat American food, and it was also nice and convenient.

One of the highlights of our trip was a visit to the Imperial Palace and gardens. After touring the extensive "green" area of the gardens, we decided to take one more side trail to see what was down that way before we left, and came upon the flower garden! It was quite spectacular, and we were thankful that we had checked out that one last place! We also went to the Science Museum. I think it was at Ueno? I should get out my info and give you the exact names, should you ever find yourself there. All this to say that the Science Museum was NOT somewhere worth going. Apparently the Science and TECHNOLOGY museum was the place that we were supposed to go... this was definitely not a technology museum. I was expecting it to be like Science World back home, but instead just saw a bunch of dead, stuffed animals and models of naked people... some evolution thing. It was an experience alright... just not quite the experience that we had been eagerly anticipating. One evening we went out to Roppongi with Chris with the intention of seeing a movie at the theater. After discovering that it would cost $30 per person (because it was in the special theater with extra leg room and a free drink... let's just say that it took a long time and a lot of miscommunication before finally figuring out that that was what the extra $ was for), we decided to pass, and just hung out at the Starbucks instead (where we live, the closest real Starbucks (not "proudly brewed" version) is a good hour and a half, maybe more, away... I've actually never even seen it, just heard stories).

Another one of the highlights was an electronics store that was several stories high. Hyatt showed me some headphones that were more than $1000. They were very comfortable, and the sound did not sound like it was coming out of headphones, if that makes sense. But $1000 for headphones? I just can't quite fathom that. I have to check with Hyatt what the exact price was. We saw a $50,000 flat screen high-def TV that Dad really liked... but then we got to see their projector TVs that had Blue-Ray playing, and we were able to save him a bit of money because they didn't cost quite as much as the TV:)

Lastly, we went to a crazy intersection where thousands of people (or maybe just a thousand?) cross every time. It has a name, but I'm pregnant and my brain just isn't remembering the exact name at the moment. It's pretty famous, though. And we walked a really long way in the rain to get to cross at that intersection just to say that we did it. Shibuya. That is what it was called.

After that wonderful time with everyone, Mom came along with us back up to Misawa, while Dad and Chris headed back home. Mom was amazing and helped clean and organize the whole house and took care of Kaiya. I had just been feeling overwhelmed with everything since I have been pretty sick with this pregnancy. Now I feel like life is a little more under control and I think I'm starting to feel a little bit better (I think I have a longer period of time in the afternoon when I'm not feeling nauseated). Lisa comes tomorrow, so I have to get the house ready for that. I'm so excited, as this is her first time to Japan!

Anyways, I will leave you with some pictures of Tokyo...

Tagged

Tiffany "tagged" me over a month ago on her blog... I am so behind...
Here it goes:

5 things on my To Do list:
1. Eat lunch (bagel bites?)
2. Update blog (check!)
3. Do bible study (The Patriarchs - Beth Moore)
4. Clean bathrooms (might wait for the To Do list for Mom when she gets here...)
5. See Lisa's new Dress (definitely a capital "D" from what I hear - way to go Jeremy!)

5 snacks I enjoy:
1. sour gummy worms (and a lot of other candy)
2. oranges
3. smoothies
4. all natural, salted by the sea, almonds (helps my daily calcium intake)
5. chocolate cherry Kashi granola bars

5 things I would do if I won the lottery
1. Share with church, family, and friends (I copied Tiff here, but I really would share - especially Camp Alandale and Watoto)
2. Take a trip around the world - maybe a year long ticket stopping everywhere
3. Buy a yacht
4. Buy an island
5. Build our dream house on a lake... and dream houses for our best friends and family for down the street from us

I suppose it would have to be a really big lottery...

5 bad habits:
1. Procrastinating
2. Interrupting when other people are talking
3. Eating maybe a little too much candy
4. Not folding the clean laundry until days later
5. Letting junk pile up in our entranceway

5 places I have lived:
1. Langley, BC
2. Charlotte, NC
3. Kapolei, HI
4. Monterey, CA
5. Misawa, Japan

5 jobs I have had:
1. Sales person at the Bay
2. Technical Writer at SFG/Cayenta
3. Admissions Student Assistant at Trinity Western University
4. Application Consultant at Cayenta
5. Sales Assistant at Hyatt Regency Monterey

5 friends who ghost read your blog and need to start their own:
1. My mom
2. Lisa
3. Friends/Family
4. ?
5. ?

5 favorite things to do on the weekends:
1. Veg at home with Hyatt and Kaiya
2. Watch movies
3. Explore
4. Hang out with friends
5. Go for walks

Ok, I will tag Katey, Ellie, & Debbie!!!

Kaiya is One!

Well, on May 22nd, Kaiya turned one! It's SO hard to believe that already a year has gone by! While she is not walking on her own yet, she is very busy these days and loves to "walk around" using whatever hand holds she can find... furniture, table cloths, people, etc. She is beginning to eat more table foods, says Mama and Dada, and I keep trying to hear another word in there, as they say 12 month olds are supposed to have at least one additional word besides mama and dada. I like to think she says "all done" and "bottle" (baba), but it may be a bit of a stretch. Kaiya has become an avid piano player and loves to read. She also loves a good game of peek-a-boo.

For Kaiya's birthday, we had a party at the beach on base here. While the weather didn't fully cooperate, the rain did hold off, and we had lots of fun with friends, hot dogs and cake:)