Japan, 2013: Thursday (Tokyo)

There were two typhoons swirling around Tokyo on Thursday, and while they never got close enough to cause any damage it did make for quite the drizzle. A perfect day for indoor activities.

The Tokyo temple is within walking distance of the hotel where Ryan always stays, which is crazy given how big Tokyo is. Luckily for me there was an English session on Thursday at 11:00. I was surprised how few English speakers there were. Many of the people were Japanese and had headsets translating for them. I was one of 3 non-Asians in the session.

All bundled up

From there I went to the Tokyo National Museum. Well, from there I tried to go to the Imperial Gardens and Palace, but it was raining, and I wasn't sure if I was going the right way, and I decided I didn't really care if I saw it. So National Museum it was.

I loved this. Thankfully, I'd left my heels at home. 

I like some images of Buddha more than others. The angry ones don't appeal to me, but I dig the peaceful ones.

Every item is graded--not important (no label), Important, or National Treasure. At first I loved it because it ensured I would know which swords were worth looking at and which ones to walk on by. But by the end it stressed me out because I was afraid I might miss a National Treasure if I didn't scan every item for the red box.

I think Steve Jobs stole the design for the iPod from a thousand year old Chinese box. 

Cool building

I was a little scared to try sushi from one of the many stores in the subway. Turns out it is better than anything I've had outside of Japan. For $3. 

I didn't stand out at all with my pink sweater, green skirt and pink shoes.

Japan, 2013: Wednesday (Hakone)

On Wednesday Ryan had to work, so I planned to go to a few museums. One was in Kawasaki, about 15 minutes outside of Tokyo. I am not great at directions, but with google maps and the uber organized Tokyo subway system I thought I'd be fine. I was...almost. I made my way to my train, checked that it was going in the right direction, and settled in. I did think it a little strange that you had to buy a separate ticket for this train, and that it sold food and drink, but I figured it must be a Japan thing. Google maps told me that my stop was the 5th stop and would come 20 minutes into the trip. 15 minutes later we hadn't stopped once, and I started to wonder. 20 minutes in, still going strong. I did a quick google search and realized that while I was headed in the right direction, my train was an express train and wasn't stopping until it reached the end of the line, 2 hours out of Tokyo. Luckily for me, I had my trusty guidebook and figured out that the end of the line was a sight worth seeing: Hakone.

Hakone is a little town within one of Japan's national parks. They make it easy on you and have your day pretty much outlined. First you take a little train up the mountain. Every time you come to a switchback the conductor gets out, manually does something with the tracks, and then the back of the train becomes the front of the train and you zig zag your way up the mountain.

not my picture--there were no Hydrangeas in October

Then you come to the cable car. Instead of zigging or zagging you just go straight up. 

Now the real fun begins. You take the Hakone Ropeway (a tram) over the mountains and onto the volcano. The leaves were starting to turn, and a few weeks from now it is going to be amazing. 

The volcano is active. There are little blowholes of sulfur smoke all over the place. It is really cool looking.  I almost missed the fact that you could hike up the volcano. But lucky for me the woman I sat next to on the train happened to be in my same gondola and let me in on the secret.

The thing to do once you've hiked the Hakone Volcano, is to buy hard-boiled eggs that have been boiled in water from a volcanic spring. The sulfur turns them black. But they tasted great--totally normal.

After hiking around the volcano, you take the Ropeway down the mountain to the lake. From there you take a large boat across the lake, and from there a bus back to where you started. 

If you had plan to go to Hakone buy the Hakone Free Pass--one pass for all the different things. If you fortuitously got on the wrong train, you didn't know about the pass and at every stop had to figure out where you were going and what ticket to buy. Thank heavens for my guidebook to help me keep it all straight. 

10 hours after I left I finally made it home. This time, my poor sense of direction was a blessing not a curse! 

Japan, 2013: Tuesday (Tokyo)

We got in late Monday night and had all day Tuesday to sightsee together before Ryan started working. We started with an overview of the city from one of the government buildings. Tokyo is not small. And it is dense. But so well organized that it never feels out of control.

We went shopping at my favorite store, Toku Hands. It is 10 stories of Home Depot + Hobby Lobby + Wal-Mart + a dozen other boutique shops. They've got everything, and while most of it is fairly familiar it all has a Japanese feel. Like the Hello Kitty Zip-Lock bags we brought home for Ella. Let me tell you, they were a hit.

We ate lunch at a great Tonkatsu place. Ryan loves tonkatsu, which is a panko crusted deep fried pork. I didn't really think I would be a fan, but I was. It is moist and light and delicious. And it's served with a cabbage salad that is really just super finely shreeded cabbage and dressing, but it's so good.

With food on the brain, we decided to try and find the hole in the wall sushi restaurant that has 3 Michelin stars. If you haven't seen Jiro Dreams of Sushi, you should. A good flick. Our search had a few wrong turns and included a maze through the Tokyo underground, but eventually we found it. Well, Ryan found it. I had very little to do with the navigation.

We were there around 4:00 and saw people working in the kitchen. We also saw someone taking a nap in the tiny restaurant. If you look at the picture closely, to the right of my shoulder are Jiro's legs propped up on a chair. At least we assumed it was him :)

  

Japan, 2013

Ryan had meetings in Tokyo this month, and I decided to take advantage of frequent flier miles and a free hotel and join him. A big shout out to Kimmy who made this possible by watching the girls for us. We were there for 1 week, from Sunday to Sunday. But because Japan is halfway around the world, and it takes a little while to get there, we only had 5 days in Japan. I spent 2.5 of them flying solo, and 2.5 with Ryan. It was really fun, despite having so so weather. Instead of doing one looong post, I think I'll break it down by days/events. 

Ella is 5!

It's true. Ella turned five during the first week of school. And we had so much fun at her birthday party that I hardly took a picture. There was a Groupon for a bounce house rental a few months ago and I bought it on a whim. Good move--made for some easy party planning. Ella and Grandma Sue picked out a birthday cake, and in true form, Grandma let her pick whatever she wanted. Let me tell you,  it was a good one. It was a princess party (of course) so we made princess pajama shirts. "Pajama" shirts so no one is obligated (allowed) to wear them in public. Kind of like this. 

The bounce house was actually WAY more fun when it wasn't hot hot outside, ie after the party was over. The delivery guys asked if they could leave it overnight instead of coming at 7 pm to pick it up. We happily obliged.

Ella really is at a fun stage right now. She is so helpful and amazingly good with Anna. Whenever they have a disagreement, Ella almost always figures out a compromise, often to her detriment. She's still loving school, but I am certain that I will worry for years to come as to whether sending her was the right decision, as she is the very youngest in her class. Academically she does great, but she is a year younger than most kids and it makes me worry about her socially. I shouldn't, though; she really has done great. And man, can that girl read. Watch this movie I took last month. This was the first or second time she'd ever read the book.

Ella, we love you so so much. Here's to my favorite five-year-old!

Fall Shots

 

The pictures aren't great, but the girls are cute. 

Alpine Loop

After 4 hours of General Conference, the girls were ready to get out of the house. So we took a quick trip up AF Canyon to see the colors of the Alpine Loop. While we were there, we ran into Adam and Julie (Ryan's cousin and his wife) and their kids. We love these guys but hardly ever see them. How fun to run into them on the side of the road on a Sunday afternoon. We talked them into stopping by, whipped up some chocolate chip cookies and made a night out of it. We love you, Johnstons!

San Antonio, 2013

My Dad has a golf tournament in San Antonio that he's been doing for the past few years, and usually Ella and my mom join him. But this year my mom was in NYC with Jamie, so Anna and I got to tag along.

Grandpa and Ella on the plane. I am including this picture to show off how my camera's autofocus. It didn't work for a few years and I have an awful lot of photos with Ella's face blurry but her top button sharp sharp.  I finally got it fixed, and it now magically knows what to focus on  (most of the time, at least)

We started off the trip visiting my college roommate and her cute little girl. It was really fun to catch up right where we left off...only now with husbands and kids. She showed us all the cool places. Like the Japanese Tea Gardens. Exactly what you picture when you think of Texas, right?

Then we rode a train to a cool kiddie park with old school rides. I promise Ella had more fun than it looks in this picture. But it's in focus, as opposed to this one:

I guess good camera can't make up for bad photographer.

We spent most of our time with these guys:

We love you, Lauren. Good job Greg. 

We spent most of our time at the Lazy River at our hotel. I've heard an awful lot about this lazy river, and let me tell you, it lived up to the hype. So much fun that we didn't take a single picture.  But the good folks at the Marriott did. Just imagine how much fun 5 Packer cousins had here.

There were also s'mores.

A little story about my powerful mind. I ordered the Granola for breakfast. Local yogurt, local honey.  

It was incredible. The yogurt was light and airy and tasted like a whipped, sweet Greek, vanilla mousse. When I asked the waitress what kind of yogurt it was she replied, "Dannon." What? No way. So I ordered it the next day, and asked the waitress (a different one) what kind of yogurt it was. "Yoplait." And even though I still think they were both wrong and it came from a small, organic dairy farm in San Antonio...it didn't taste nearly as good the second day. 

We rounded out the trip with Sea World. Sea World is always a good idea, but when you get a text like this a few hours before you are heading out it makes it extra special.

Even though she was a little hot and sweaty, Ella thought it was pretty darn great.

Kate and Ella third whale back, hands in the air. Brave, brave girls.

The young ones haven't yet realized that if you smile there is a chance you will get a treat. 

Thanks, Grandpa, for a great great trip! 

*Lauren reminded me of a funny story. There is a long standing debate between my parents whether my dad's ability to chat it up with anyone is creepy or friendly. He obviously thinks it's friendly...my mom's not sure sure. Near the end of the day at Sea World the kids wanted to go on a ride with a long wait, so Grandpa Paul told them that if they would go on a different ride he would get them a treat on the way out. When we got to the treat stand it was closing time, and with 5 indecisive kids we were not the ideal customers. As usual, my dad was making friends with the kid running the joint. When we went to pay our total dropped from $35 to $25. We wanted to make sure there wasn't a mistake and asked about it.  He quietly gave us his employee discount. Lauren summed it up nicely:

"Creepy doesn't get you the employee discount!" 

Score one for Dad.

Anna

I've been meaning to do a post on Anna for so long, that most of the things I intended to write are now out of date. But...for posterity's sake (in case my iPhone ever dies, because heaven forbid I back it up) here are some snippets of the past 6 months.

• She has imaginary friends. She doesn't talk about them much anymore, but their names are classic.  Sissy, Luna, Pay-uh and Pissa 

• She used to greet you with, "Is it bwea-fest time" when you came in and got her in the morning. This video isn't the cutest, but someday I am sure I will watch it and tear up as I listen to her sweet voice. 

• The binky. She loves it. Serious love. She can only have it when she is in her crib (or I want her to be quiet on an airplane, in church, etc) and it is not uncommon for her to sit in her crib for hours just so she can have it. When she is deciding whether to get out of her crib and give up the binky she will often take one last 'hit' on it before she drops it. We may never give it up.
• She cut her own hair. It could have been worse, but it's not awesome. We tried to salvage it with a cute bob.
• She has been talking in paragraphs since she was 2. Less interested in numbers and letters.                                          
• She can use the potty on demand, but every time I put her in underwear it doesn't end well. But watching her climb up on the toilet is the funniest thing ever. 
• She often calls me "Mama." Don't know where it came from. It's sweet.

• She occasionally will have this deep laugh that cracks us up. She also will say, "I am a German" in her best Arnold S. voice. 

                                                 

• She's always on the go. We were just visiting our 103-year old neighbor, who commented, "My you are a busy one!"
• Ella is really really great with her. If they fight over a toy, or who gets to do something Ella almost always figures out a compromise that they are both happy with, most of the time letting Anna have what she wants. 

Kindergarten

It's true. Ella is old enough to go to Kindergarten. Just barely. Her birthday is August 29th (thanks to her obsessive mother who moved her c-section up a week and a half so she could make the deadline) so she is the youngest one in her class. I'm sure I will second guess this decision a thousand times over the years, but for now I think she is ready. She had a great first day, and one week in she still loves it. Anna, however, is not convinced. She misses her bestie for those three hours. Mom is going to have to step up her game to fill in the gaps. Love you, Ella!