It's Your Birthday- Japanese Style!

It's a feel good weekend in Japan. Celebrating Brett's 35th Japanese style. How long has he been 35? Ha, well... that's just between us ladies.

(is that Grimace?)

You can blame an A's game on a wedding anniversary for inspiring the extravagant getaways. After that I officially put myself in charge of the Millburn Adventure and Romance Committee. We hold few meetings and spend too much money- but I'm... I mean, WE are efficient.

One of Brett's favorite places has been the Oirase Gorge, so the Oirase Keiryu Hotel seemed like a natural choice to enjoy the end of the season scenery. However, most of the trees where dead. But this is what it looks like in summer:

This is what it looks like when I take a picture:

Still awesome. It was great because hardly anyone was there. It made it easy for us to find a English speaker when I lost the hotel room key.

However, looks like someone stole the legs to our table and chairs...

Just kidding! That's how we do it in JAPAN!!!!!!!!!!!! We sit on the floor!! (exclamation points!)

The rooms really are separated by screens. And they gave us yukatas (robes), socks, & slippers to enjoy our stay in. About half Japanese wore them to dinner and half did not. We were among the traditional half.

After dinner you could enjoy a hot dip here:

They had 3 different areas to soak. One had a bunch of fresh bright red apples floating in it, and the other was outside. Very cool... or hot, actually.

We were able to choose from a Western style room (with a mattress) or the "tradish"- the futon.

"Futon" in English actually means "incredibly uncomfortable/confusing as to why you paid to do this." By the end of the night I had collected every slightly fluffy thing I could find and created a nest in the corner of the room. But still, a good "Japanese experience."

They had a dinner buffet that was off the charts for you mushroom & seafood lovers.
But a breakfast with seafood involved? Hmm. Pass.

I hope the plate doesn't gross you out. But I'm posting it anyways. This breakfast buffet had a lot of seafood, mushrooms, "rice gruel", and fruit. Now you know why Japanese people are so skinny.

Lastly, always remember to put on the special bathroom shoes when you use the toilet. (Brett is so embarrassed by my post...sorry... Happy Birthday Sweetie!)  

Thanks to Brett for being so adventurous. I love this guy. He puts up with my jokes, funny and not. He is an amazing father and the perfect husband. Not a day goes by when he doesn't tell me how much he loves me and how pretty he thinks I am. If I write too much people might get divorced so they could marry him, so I better stop.

Brett, you're the best. Period.

Cape Shiriya, Another Weekend in Paradise

Brett, lookout! There's a huge horse behind you!

Oh wait, there are wild horses everywhere.

It's another weekend adventure with the Millburns. Weekdays here can be pretty draining. The sun rises at 6 and it gets dark at 3:30. It has been COLD with constant gray skies. But life in Misawa also has so many benefits: no chain stores, no constant advertisements, you don't really need a cell phone (at least we choose not to get them), and there is always something different to notice in everyday life. However, the downside is: there are no chain stores, everything is in a foreign language, and sometimes you feel like if you leave the air base you are in no man's land (not to be confused with no man's canyon, we can leave here (but we would still need a plane or helicopter)).  So the weekends are a vital time to get out,  recharge, and remember to be grateful for this experience.

Here we are at Cape Shiriya where wild horses live.

 

We've been blessed with  good friends. Here are Susan and Jeff. He works with Brett. Susan keeps me sane. And their cat lets Marie chase it. It's a good set up.

I would like to note the little red mark on Marie's cheek. It's actually star-shaped and she's had it since birth. Didn't Rainbow Brite have one in the same place?

Marie is WAY into rocks. These shells count as rocks, right?

Japan is so ugly.

And this is a statue dressed like Mario... that is important to the Japanese.... oh man. Sorry, I wish I could tell you more about these statues, but I can't. I HEARD they are to honor deceased children, but I don't know for sure.

Well, I better get back to Marie. She's sick again today. But it's not so bad. Brett came home to watch her while I had a doctor's appointment. When I came back she was eating pumpkin pie. She eats one bite at her kitchen table and then runs back to the TV to watch cartoons with her puppies, gets up for another bite, and has been repeating that cycle for the past hour. There can't be that much pie in her bowl...

A small blog tribute to her puppies:
For the record Marie says Pink Puppy has been named Mommy. I didn't influence this, however I notice Pink Puppy is wearing an apron and never leaves the house. Yellow puppy is Daddy. He goes EVERYWHERE and makes a jingle sound. Not jealous, but this girl sure likes her dad. In consolation though, he has seen his share of nasty airport & grocery store floors. Sorry Brett. Brown puppy is Marie. Not sure why, but  seems like a natural fit. And blue puppy- I am trying to get her to say it's "baby sister"- but all i get is silence when I try to solicit that idea. Well, we're workin' on it.


That is all from the land of the rising sun.

Horse Park

Marie has a new phrase, "I want yakisoba."  A phrase I never uttered when I was two.  Maybe she picked it up from the Japanese preschool.  Either way, we inconsistently give in to her requests.

Rachel and Marie have been talking up this "Horse Park" for a while.  I was finally able to join them a few weekends ago.  It's a sweet park, and a place for us to party.   There are two roller slides.  One is huge, and the other is huger.  Here is Marie and I with our gear to cushion our tushes, ready to take on the slide.  And by "slide" I mean that yellow cage that you see winding up the mountainside. 

We made it to the top of the mountainside.  It was a victorious hike.  I didn't think I could make it, but since my 6-month pregnant wife wasn't complaining I had to keep chugging.  We made it to the top and celebrated with hugs.

And basked in the glory of the telestial world.

I was pretty scared to go down, but I tried not to say anything.  I was mostly thankful we had those wonderful mats to protect us from the wrath of the rollers.

This is how I look while anticipating a sweet run down the mountain.  This is how Marie looks when she poops.

We documented one of the runs down.  We let Marie go down by herself on the smaller slide.  Rachel did a grade A job at filming this backwards.

The next weekend we headed out to "Shipwreck Beach."  Marie raced us out there.

 

They never told us where the beach's name comes from.  But we did see these old boats that somebody put there.  We pretended we were Japanese pirates.  Rachel spent the whole time collecting "sea glass." She's going to make a mosiac of this picture out of her collection. 

The best thing we found in the ships was this apple.  Marie called "shotgun" and ate the apple on the way home.  She rubbed her snot on it so she wouldn't have to share.  Smart kid.

Oh yah, Halloween!

Pardon this late post.

My Mom bought Marie this Aristocats costume last year. How could she not?  However being too small we had to put it off for a year.

Little did we know they LOVE the Marie Cat in Japan. Mickey Mouse & Marie are never hard to find. Anywhere. It's like my mom is psychic! Maybe before our next transfer I'll ask if she thinks our girls should be something they love in Europe. A German hot dog perhaps?  

Gotta love the ward trick or treat. It was cool because we combined with the Japanese ward  and they gave out some fun/weird Japanese candy.

Marie and her Giraffe friend.

Vampire teeth!

Brett and I were in charge of musical chairs after trick or treating. I was being skimpy on the prizes (vampire teeth) until I realized too many kids left my room crying. To avoid the nickname "mean sister Millburn"  we decided EVERYONE IS A WINNER! Yay!

For a few weeks we watched my friends cat, Bootsu.

Marie really likes him, but when we came on Halloween, she wanted to get back to business.

"I got my purse! Lets go mom!"

How could I blame her?

Let's close with a Marie montage shall we? P.S. Don't mind my voice and some slight nudity.

Some Serious Awesomeness.

October is the best month.
Any month that ends up with people giving you candy is amazing.
But I have a lot to share from this month, so brace yourself.... or flip to another blog. Fine. I don't care. I will just put some really important news somewhere in the paragraphs of this insanely long post.

We went to Oriase Gorge- a huge Japanese tourist attraction in the fall. It's beautiful.

We tried taking Christmas photos. Needless to say the above didn't make the cut.

This almost did, Marie is a rockstar. But my "crazy eyes" just weren't happenin'. (Also I feel I look like Ellen Degeneres here).

My birthday was off the wall awesome. I threw myself a party where I told no one it was my birthday. I've always wanted to do that. I guess it's funny in a weird ironic way. But a couple of my friends spoiled me anyways... oh you guys!

But the gift that took center stage was my new cuisinart hand-stick-blender-thingy. I used it at the Iron Chef competition... WHICH WAS AWESOME BYTHEWAY! I didn't win. Or place. But MAN- I was  in my element. It was so fun. My souse chef ending up being one of Brett's paralegals. She's a southern girl with some pretty good taste buds. The secret ingredient? Fresh pumpkin. Predictable, but as long as it wasn't squid I was happy.
We ending up making a chicken breast encrusted with roasted pumpkin seeds, walnuts, an apple pumpkin dish glazed with brown sugar, a green bean casserole that instead of a mushroom sauce, my souse chef whipped up this awesome pureed pumpkin and cream to go with it. They were so good. I wrapped up the rest after the competition and ate almost all of it before brett came home. And for dessert I did a homemade hot chocolate with pumpkin puree to thicken it up and give it a pumpkin pie feel. I served pumpkin biscotti with it.
Wow. So much fun. I can't wait until next year.

Sorry I don't have pictures.... (haha I'm totally not). But I do have bad news for myself. The entire thing was not only being reported on in the local newspaper.... (no big deal... I'll just avoid looking at the paper for 3 months)- it was TELEVISED on Armed Forces Network! YUCK! Seriously people! I would hate that anyway, but I just gained literally 10 lbs in the last 8 weeks so I'm looking pretty plump and not so camera ready. But I wore makeup  and tried to never look mad. However, I really enjoyed myself so I hope I conveyed that to the camera. ...blah.

The month's highlight  was going to the Korea temple with our branch. There is a military space-available hop you can take on a Monday and come back on Tuesday. However the Korean temple is normally closed on a Monday. But my branch was offered the chance for it to be opened if we could get enough people to go. It's pretty awesome that Brett's boss is Mormon at this point, because he got to take time off to be with me. Marie stayed with our friends the Shoafs. They have a little boy her age. They are two peas in a pod. When we came to pick her up, she just said "Hi!" and then ran into his room and didn't want to leave.

Here I am whippin' out the "crazy eyes" again. Poor Brett has to stand next to me.
It was a whirl wind trip. Plane, train, temple, eat, train, hotel, slept for 3 seconds and back at the airport at 4:45 am. Whew! But it was one of the best temple experiences of my life. Mostly, because the Korean Temple workers were so kind. We were all late (b/c of our plane) and they were unfettered. I was so grateful they spoke enough English to help us.  Learning Japanese has been impossible for me. So their effort in bi-lingualism did not go unappreciated.

And lastly I finally got around to going to Hachinohe. The Japanese clinic will give you an ultrasound and 4-D video on VHS for a mere 2000 Yen. That's a steal, even if the dollar is at 79. They said girl. They seemed to say it with surety. There were english signs in every room, however, that said "Gender is not 100% Guaranteed." Ah, I want to believe them though. Especially after I came home today to see Marie's new coat hanging next to the coat she is growing out of. My two little girls.

Now to only think of a name...

Toilet Park

Yes, that is actually a "poo hat" and Brett is sitting in a giant toilet. A couple weeks ago we headed out to what the Americans were calling "The Toilet Park." We weren't sure what it was. I had the idea that it was an outdoor park with some sort of natural drainage that resembled a toilet bowl. Mmmm.... nope. It is a giant children's museum which in one area, has a large toilet that you can sit on, and wear a hat shaped like poop.

Marie thought this was a more flattering picture.

The facility is actually huge. Two large buildings, not to mention several outdoor parks next to them. And it's all free. Japanese love kids. They love my wallet. And I love them.

There really was a lot to see. Marie climbed a 4-story slide. You could pull yourself on a barge across a small pond. There were waterfalls. A million little discovery stations...

but for some reason we left with pictures like these.

(Yes, you stick your hands and pull out the various poops.)

Marie did not want to take part of it.

At all.  

Her favorite part was looking at all these rocks near the parking lot. Rocks are great.

So I can say shame on me for making fun of the Americans who call this the toilet park. I suppose their pictures looked a little like ours.