Sakura's Tokyo trip (Already halfway?)

先日、銀座にお買い物に行ったついでに、前々から気になってたラーメン屋「五行」に行ってきました。素敵なお店でした。
翌日はジョシュの同僚だった岸川しゅうきちゃんと福生でお昼ご飯を。その後、ジョシュはしゅうきちゃんと一緒にベースに。日本で買った荷物をオマハに送ったり、両替したり、職場に行ったりと。。私とさくらはベースには行かず滞在する立川グランドホテルに向かいました。
しゅうきちゃん、車を出してくれてありがとう。本当に助かりました。
夜はジョシュが以前教えていた英語教室に顔を出しに行ってきました。その後はホテルに戻り一泊して、翌日は実家に戻りまた夜は家で焼き肉。。。（どんだけ焼き肉、、好きなんだって感じだけど）

This past Monday, we went shopping in Ginza & ate delicious ramen at Gogyo. For Tuesday, we headed for Fussa (near Yokota) to eat some hamburg steak at a place named Bikkuri Donkey. It brought back memories of being stationed in Tokyo. We met a former co-worker, Shuki, for lunch then drove Takako & Sakura back to the train station as they headed for the Tachikawa Grand Hotel. Shuki & I went on base, as I needed to get some packages shipped back to the US, exchange some $ for ¥, and say hello to former co-workers and the rest of the telephone shop. He then was generous enough to drive me back to Tachikawa to meet up with Takako & Sakura. Thank you so much Shuki. Later that night, we met with my former English class and introduced Sakura to them. The next morning we headed back to Hideko's place to relax. Later that night we ate Yakiniku again.

Sakura's Tokyo trip (Next couple of days)

先週の木曜日の昼間、焼き肉を食べに行こうと思ったんだけどお店が夕方からしかやってなくて、急遽、お家で焼き肉。久々の焼き肉、ジョシュは凄い嬉しそうでした。夜はジョシュは渋谷へお出かけ。横田時代の友人に会いに行ってました。私とさくらも一緒に行きたかったけど、平日の夜って事で、お家でお留守番。翌日は久々の美容院に。今度はジョシュとさくらがお家でお留守番。
土曜日はお墓参り、今日も皆でお出かけ、、、と殆ど毎日１万歩近く歩いているけど、やっぱり東京は楽しい。

Thursday night, the 24th of September, Josh met with Justin Luke in Shibuya. They worked together as Wiredawgs back at Yokota 4-5 years ago. It has been a while but it was great to catch up. Friday, Takako went to Shibuya to get her haircut as Josh & Sakura stayed back in Higashi-Oojima. Hideko was working a lot during the day and into the night. When Takako returned in the afternoon, they headed for Daiei grocery store to get some beef & pork for Yakiniku later that night. Saturday started with all of us waking up, getting ready for the train bound for Fukiage. It is where Takako's Grandmother/Grandfather are laid to rest. We also visited with some of her relatives that live near the train station then headed for home. On the way home, we stopped at Sugamo as Takako & Hideko wanted to do some shopping. Today, Sunday the 27th, we went to Shinjuku for some more shopping at Uniqlo and a couple more stores. For a late lunch we headed to Saint Marc (a restaurant with all you can eat bread) in Nerima-Kasuga, just north of Shinjuku. Now, back home, relaxing and updating the blog.

Sakura's Tokyo trip (1st couple of days)

１９日はオマハからミネソタまで国内線にのり、ミネソタから成田空港まで国際線。乗り継ぎのミネソタ空港では、ジョシュのご両親が会いにきてくれました。さくらにとって初めての飛行機でしたが、問題ありませんでした。
２１日は早速、親と一緒に新宿にお買い物。乳母車を持って行ったんだけど、完全に失敗でした。東京は乳母車は駄目だね。階段多いし、とにかく大変でした。２２日は、またお出かけして、友人にあって、昨日もまた出かけてと。
足の指、骨折してるにも関わらずかなり出歩いているけど。
でも改めて東京はいいね。お買い物も楽しいし、やっはり便利、でも子連れにはあまり便利じゃないけど。

Sakura did great on the 1+ hour flight from Omaha to Minneapolis where we saw Grandpa Wes & Grandma Vicky. From there, she also did great on the 12 hour flight to Tokyo. We are finally over the jet-lag and ready to snap pictures from Sakura's first time in Japan. On Monday, 21 September, we went to Shinjuku for some quick shopping with Hideko. Pushing the baby stroller around in Shinjuku was a challenge, a mistake that we won't make again. Tuesday the 22nd, we headed out again, only this time with the baby carrier. Later in the afternoon we met Sachi & Taku at Shinjuku station, headed for Takashimaya department store to visit & have some dessert. Yesterday we headed for Suitengu & Honganji temples near Tsukiji station. Suitengu is a temple where people come to wish for a child and return to after trouble-free delivery. Honganji was a temple that was visited by a family friend back in 1954-1955 and I wanted to get a comparison photo. Later that afternoon, we visited with some of Hideko's friends about 10 minutes away. Then hopped in a cab that brought us to Ginza where we ate Kamameshi. We then headed for home.

Off to Japan!!!

明日から３週間程、家族で日本に里帰りします。
デービスとクロはお友達家族にお願いしました。お友達家族、ご迷惑かけると思いますがデービスとクロ、宜しくお願い致します。

Tomorrow, we leave for a 3 week vacation to Japan. It will be Sakura's first time to meet her Japanese grandmother.
Day-bis and Kuro are being taking care of by Dan, Yuki, Zoe, Amelia & Teada our Plattsmouth friends. We can't wait to share new experiences in Japan, with Sakura.

Takako broke her toe

火曜日の朝、足を椅子にぶつけてしまい、あまりの激痛そしてお昼近くになっても腫れが引かない状態だったので、近くの病院に行った所、骨折してるという事でした。固定してもらい、そのままお家へ。夕方、また病院に行って、局部麻酔をしてもらい少し曲がって折れてる骨を伸ばす処置をしました。全治一ヶ月いったところかな。まだ痛みも強く、歩くのも不便だけど。

Just yesterday morning, Takako hit her fourth toe on the dining room chair. She thought she could walk it off as she has 'jammed' her toe before but as Josh came back for lunch, it was still hurting as bad as the initial jam. We ended up heading to an Acute Care Clinic where they took x-ray's of her foot that confirmed, it was broken. We gave them some contact information for when the orthopedic surgeon looks at the x-ray to see how bad it really was. They called later in the afternoon where they stated it was a 'minimally displaced fracture' and that they may be able to pull, then re-set it in but this is 'iffy' for small toes. As I returned home from work, I talked to Takako about the procedure although she agreed it would be for the better. We headed back to the clinic that evening as they injected some numbing medicine into her toe to pull & re-set. They retook an x-ray as it had moved slightly but they said that it may slide out of place. She now has a 'post-op shoe' that she will be wearing during our trip to Japan. It may take up to 3 months to fully heal. Funny how life happens.

The many faces of Sakura

さくらももう４ヶ月半、この間に沢山の写真を撮りました。毎日違う表情をしてます。
これからも撮り続けていこうと思います。

Takako loves taking pictures of Sakura. Funny faces, contemplative faces, really cute faces. Just thought we would post a couple of the faces of Sakura. Our beautiful baby girl. We really want to capture her in all stages of her life.

Happy Birthday Josh!

今日も朝からいいお天気。今日はジョシュの３５歳のお誕生日。昨日、一昨日と出かけたので今日はお家でリラックス。ジョシュの好きなチョコチップメロンパンを初めて作りました。杏仁豆腐も作る予定だったけど、作らず。
お誕生日おめでとう、ジョシュ。

What beautiful weather, all day for Josh's 35th Birthday. As we've been traveling around the past 2 days, we thought it would be good to just relax at home today. Takako made some Melonpan although we couldn't find any melon essence in the grocery store. Either way, very good! She also wanted to make annindofu (almond pudding) for him however, she will do that another day. Sakura has also been showing us how high she can push herself up, off of the ground after flipping over. She is growing fast.

Labor Day Weekend continued...

今日は、昨日のお祭りの後に行く予定だった公園に皆で行ってきました。お家から車で３０分の所にある公園でとにかく広かった。その後は、公園の近くにあるサファリパークに行ってきました。あまり動物がいなかったけど。今日も沢山歩いた日でした。

Today, we woke up early once again, then headed for Mahoney State Park to do some hiking/dog walking. The temperature topped out in the low- to mid-80's (~26-29°C). We climbed the 70' (21.3M) metal-frame, Walter Scott Jr. observation tower (Day-bis & Kuro too). As we reached the top, you could feel it sway in the breeze. We went on a 30+ minute walk around some of the campgrounds then headed for the Simmons' Wildlife Safari Park. It was a nice, leisurely drive in our Highlander through different animal exhibits/open plains. By this time, we were exhausted and headed back toward home. Only two more days left to the weekend.

2009 Nebraska State Fair

８月２８日から９月７日までリンカーンで行われているお祭りに今日行ってきました。２年近くネブラスカに住んでてリンカーンに行くのは初めて。ヤギや豚、牛やキリンの赤ちゃん、ラマやカンガールー、そしてダチョウなど見ました。そしてバドワイザーのコマーシャルに使われてるクライズデールっていう馬も見ました。豚レースでは私は応援団として参加しました。
お天気もよくてとてもよい１日を過ごしました。

Today was Veteran's Day at the Nebraska State Fair. I showed my ID & the whole family got in for free. (It was our first time going to Lincoln as we have been here just over 1 year & 9 months.) It was something that we just needed to experience. We saw everything from goats, sheep, pigs, cows to baby giraffes, llamas, alpacas, kangaroos, emus. The Budweiser Clydesdales even made a showing! We also saw pig races from Hedrick's Pig Racing. Takako was a cheerleader for the blue, number 3! We ended our day by watching the high diving show. One of the guys even dove from the 80' (24.3M) platform! We enjoyed our time at the Nebraska State Fair.