New old car

Well, we finally found a Honda Fit. It took a while, because even the 2002 models like this one were expensive. So we shopped around for a few weeks and found one in our price range. It drives fine, has car navigation, and 2 years of JCI (Japanese Compulsory Insurance). Oh, and it doesn't squeal like the Nissan Cube.

Puzzle Crazy

While Marie was here we did 3.25 thousand piece puzzles.



Marie had the great idea of purchasing the tiny piece puzzle.

This is Marie's "flying applesaucer." Making pictures with the tiny puzzle pieces is far more fun than actually assembling it! She's been gone a couple weeks and it's still not even halfway complete. Please someone come help!

Tama Zoo

We went to the Tama Zoo for a good back rub. Just kidding, we went to enjoy Marie's last day with us before heading back to Florida.


As you can see, we had fun posing with all the statues around the park.

Judging purely by size, I think it's easy to predict the outcome of this confrontation.

Marie and Crystal loooooove giraffes.

Marie and Erik looking at the lions. No wait, looking at the camera.

The cherry blossoms at the zoo were very pretty. We had breads from a local bakery for lunch and then for dinner...

We had yummy Korean food! Bye Maweee!

And now we give you...monkeys!!

We took a base tour bus to Nagano to see the world famous snow monkeys. They are famous because they like to bathe in hot springs. Smart monkeys.



This was a perfect trip because Erik loves monkeys. We got to get up close and personal with the little guys.


Crystal got to say hi, too.




Monkeys even let little old ladies say hi and try to poke at them. Poke the monkey! Hmm, actually he doesn't look too happy.

The monkeys are actually really well behaved. At least they are with humans. There were a few high-pitched monkey fights when we were there. Mostly arguments over apples. Here are a few trying to figure out how to get an elusive apple that the mean zoo keeper put in a pipe just out of reach. The nerve of some people.

And final picture, a picture of a cute baby monkey.

Sumo Rock Star: Private concert

We got the guitars free in our cereal boxes. Marie brought home the action figure from burger king. The sumo wrestler was a gift from her a few Christmases ago. We thought this was hysterical. My English language adult students didn't find it so amusing. How can this not be funny???

Ume Blossoms

My Japanese teachers took me to see ume (plum) blossoms in Oume. This is a view of the park from Hanatawada train station. It looks far away, but only took us about 20 minutes to walk there.

We crossed the Tama river and saw many street vendors along the way.

Plum blossoms bloom a month or so earlier than cherry blossoms. Even though it was a Thursday, the place was very crowded.

Although it's embarrassing to say, I got lost. I was so busy taking pictures that I lost my teachers in the crowd. I felt like a small child at the mall. It took us 30 minutes to find each other. After all the excitement, we went out to eat. I had fish boiled in miso and rice cooked with lots of goodies.

Click here for the rest of my pictures Click on "slideshow" in the upper left corner.

I Love My Puppy

I heard Erik and Marie laughing from the other side of the store. When I went to investigate, I found them looking at an aisle chock full of "I Love My Puppy" cat food.

Ikebana

I'm always amazed at how easy my Ikebana teacher makes flower arrangement. She assured me that soon I'd be making my own designs, but she has more confidence in me than I do. The lilies were beautiful when they all opened. I've been trying to come up with a way to bring my creations home and came up with the idea of using my laundry basket. It looks a little silly, but works quite well. According to my little pink stamp book, I have only 32 more classes until I can become an instructor. I'm thinking of trying basket weaving next month.

Hawaii

I guess we can't stay away from Hawaii for too long. Erik landed a business trip to Hawaii, so I took the opportunity to meet him there! It only took 6.5 hours from Japan (somehow the return trip took 10 hours!).


We also can't resist hiking. Yet again, I found myself hiking in a skirt. Maybe I could publish a guide to hiking in style.

Lyons Arboretum was next to the Manoa Falls trail and so we got in two hikes. All of the hiking pictures are from the arboretum...I think.

For some reason, there were roosters all over the place. The flora in Hawaii is breathtakingly beautiful. I guess that is in contrast to the fauna (sorry rooster).

Hawaii does get chilly in the winter. Rachel and I were a little braver then Stephen and Erik and managed to do a little snorkeling. Hawaii was even more enjoyable having my wittle sissy around.

Both pictures are views from our hotel rooms. The first room we had overlooked the city and the second the beach. Both were spectacular!

Kawaguchiko

Wow! Fuji is cool from our balcony, but it's even more spectacular up close. We opted to take the train there and got an all day bus pass that circled lake Kawaguchiko. It was a cold weekday, so we didn't have to fight off many tourists.

We had the option of an entire fish grilled on a stick or a hot dog for lunch. We went for the hot dog and boy was it good. I guess either way we ended up eating some internal organs.

This is mochi pounding. Erik usually doesn't like mochi so he was pleasantly surprised by how good fresh steaming hot mochi is. We accidentally fell in with a tour group and played the foreigner card to get some homemade soup as well!