Happy Birthday Blair!

Happy Birthday Blair! Remember when you were so hung over from our rehearsal dinner that all you could eat were those Famous Amos cookies? Good times, good times. :)

Yearly Planners are a Bad Idea

When I start to look out a the upcoming 2010, I can't help but look at all the weeks with -----------------------------  drawn through them.

Glenn leaves for XXX -------------------- Glenn home from XXX

This morning I made the mistake of counting those weeks. Do you even want to know the grand total?

27.

As long as everything goes as planned. 27 weeks. Granted I will be seeing him for more than the remaining 48% of the year because I'll be flying all over this hemisphere to see him, but 27?! Really?!

I know many a spouses who are spending their 2010 the same way. I guess I'm feeling a little bitter though because of a few reasons. Excuse me while I have my own pity party-

1. I did this last year.
2. I'll do this again next year.
3. My family is coming to visit soon and Glenn is being sent to California smack in the middle of their trip. Awesome.
   

Now is when Glenn people say 'suck it up.' Alright, alright, I'm working on it.

The end.

ZED

Cirque du Soleil is amazing! Glenn and I went with Gizelle and her date. Chris was suppose to come, but Nicole filled in instead. I haven't been to the circus since I was a kid, but this was just like the circus for adults, although kids would love it just as much.

The stage was amazing with all of the different levels and trap doors - so fun. My favorite performers were the trampoline and poles. These men crawled up and down the polls like gravity didn't exist and the trampoline in the center made it even more incredible.

My other favorite were the "man to man" performers which were essentially professional cheerleaders. The main girl must have weighed about 85 pounds though because they could catch and throw her all of the place.

If you have the chance to go see Cirque du Soleil. I highly recommend it!

Keepin' up with the Jones

Well the Dragons are all gone (still sad...) but now we have the Eagles (the other 115). With the Eagles, came Kyle and Cassie Jones. We knew Kyle and Cassie in Kingsville and in Virginia. Cassie is the pregnant one in the picture taken a couple weeks before I left Virginia. Of course, no longer pregnant now, baby Haley is with them too. I'm excited for them to be in Japan! Yokoso Japan!

PS. In the picture, Cassie is pregnant, now the other two (not me) in the picture are pregnant! Congrats Christene and Shannon on babies #2!

What's for Dinner? Croque Monsieur Mac n'Cheese

 Glenn made this yummy recipe from Food Network magazine a few nights ago. We had a bunch of leftover ham from Christmas dinner and we were looking for recipes to use some of it. Glenn tore this recipe out months ago and we decided to make it this week. It was delicious!!!

My favorite part was the topping. Two eggs, 3 slices of white bread (cubed) and some milk and cheese. It made the best soft but crunchy on top topping. I'm going to put it on everything!

Vending Love

I know I've mentioned this before, but the Japanese have an obsession with vending machines. You honestly cannot walk more than 20 yards and you have another one! Most of the time you can only purchase drinks, but you do have the option to choose both hot and cold drinks which is nice. Iced coffee or hot coffee? When we stopped at a highway rest stop the other weekend, we saw a few new ones that I thought were fun.

Frozen to freshly fried in just a few minutes?

Or perhaps you'd like to see your coffee being freshly made on the video screen? There is a camera inside that shows the coffee being poured and the sugar/milk being added.

This one is my favorite- an ice cream machine!

Pachinko!

When Hillary was visiting in November and we went to Enoshima, we came across an old pachinko parlor. Most of the pachinko places in Japan are huge casino-like establishments, but this tiny little place was so cute. I had to stop and take a picture because this pachinko machine reminded me exactly of the one that my brothers and I used to play on in my grandparents basement. We used to pour a big tub of steel balls in the top and then play for hours. I don't even remember how the game works, we just used to hit the lever until we won more steel balls. I wonder what happened to that machine?

Update: I got an email from my Grandma and this is what she said:

We read your blog this morning and thought I would tell you about the Pachinko game.  When we were getting rid of things before we moved to NC, Jeff took it. It is in his basement in CO. 

 

When Cindy's boyfriend, Mark, was in the Navy in Japan, he bought one for us.  Grandpa says he took some of the pins out so that it was easier for you kids to win the balls.  He says that in Japan they buy the balls to play the game.  Then they try to win more balls.  It was a fun game for you all to play, but you didn't win any money.

Miyagase Lights!

I had signed Glenn and I up for a tour a few weekends before Christmas to check out the Christmas lights display in a town about an hour away. Well, it turns out Glenn got home that day and the last thing he wanted to do was go on a tour, understandably. He promised we would still go, so the day before Christmas Eve, we made the drive ourselves and since we drove, Stella got to come too!

There were beautiful lights in Miyagase, several large Christmas trees, food vendors, restaurants, dancing and musical performers. There was even an appearance of Santa! I was hoping he would be an Asian Santa, but no luck.

We got there right around 5 pm just after the sun sets. We walked around, had some yummy food and attempted to take several family photos with Stella. She's not very cooperative since there were so many people around. It was a Japanese holiday (the Emperor's birthday) so it was pretty crowded.

My favorite part of the lights was the long suspension bridge that was covered it lights to make a long tunnel. You can see a good picture of it in the first picture.

Stella on the other hand was not a fan. The swaying and moving of the bridge brought her to a stop and Glenn had to carry her the rest of the way. She clung on to him and shook most of the way across the bridge. Poor Stella B.

It was a wonderful way to get in to the Christmas spirit! If you go next year, it is an easy drive. Route 246 to 412. Turn left at the blue Miyagase sign and then turn right on 512 and follow the crowds from there! The last 20 minutes or so are a beautiful drive through the tunnels and next to the dam.

Baby B

Adam sent me this picture of my niece. Only about 4 more weeks til she's here!

Shizuoka Prefecture - Oranges & Hiking

Over the weekend, Glenn and I went on an MWR tour to Shizuoka Prefecture. Shizuoka is west of here and south of Mt. Fuji on the Izu peninsula. Because of the abundance of coastline, this is a popular tourist destination for the beaches and onsens. It took about 3 hours to drive there by bus and our first destination was orange picking!

They were technically more like tangerines or clementines. In Japanese they are called mikan and pikan. The mikans are smaller than pikans, but Glenn and I both liked the taste of the pikans better. We were allowed to pick and eat as many as we wanted and then we had a bag that we could collect some in and pay for later (by weight). Glenn and I left with about a dozen oranges which cost us about $7, but another group on the bus bought about $60 worth. What are you going to do with that many oranges?!

I don't think going on a tour was really what Glenn wanted to do all day Sunday, but he seemed to enjoy picking the oranges. It didn't hurt that it was a beautiful day and we sat in the sun for awhile enjoying the view of the ocean.

The next stop was Kawazu-nana daru. This area of Shizuoka is famous for it's waterfalls. We hiked for about an hour and a half and enjoyed the 7 waterfalls.

#5

 Next to #1

Making a wish. For $1, I tried to toss 3 rocks in to the "basket" on the top of the rocks. They say my wish will come true if I get one inside. I guess we won't be winning the lottery...

Our last stop on the tour was to Mt. Omuro. This mountain is actually a volcano with a giant crater on the top. What is the giant crater used for now? Archery practice of course. To get to the top we took a ski lift for about 5 minutes. About 10 yards from the top, a little camera talks to you and takes your picture (like on a roller coaster) and by the time you get to the top 30 seconds later, the picture is already printed and ready to purchase (for $10!)! These Japanese are crazy fast! Glenn and I laughed at times because we could touch the grass with our feet from the ski lift. At other times, they actually had to dig a trench so your chair wouldn't hit the ground, but I'm glad we weren't hiking up this steep hill!

After a hike around the top of the crater, we loaded up the bus and headed home. It was a great tour!