Saturday, April 26, 2008

Part 4

Japanese people get married... a lot!  :)
Isn't he soooooo cute?  Just like a teddy bear.  If your teddy bear wanted to tear the nose off your face and beat you over the head with that wooden bat thingy.  He "works" at the Meji Shrine.  I guess he's some sort of Shinto monk... or the bouncer. 

A pic of Paul and me!!!  We are sooooo hot. :)

And yet again, more pics!

Here are Paul and the girls at the Meji Shrine.
This path goes from the main courtyard of the Shrine into the gardens.  I just thought it looked really pretty.

These are prayer requests.  You write your wish down, put your offering into a box, pray to the Gods for whatever it is you wish and hang up your prayer request.

More Tokyo pics

This is part of a cleansing ritual you do to cleanse yourself before entering a shrine and going before the Gods.  You dip the dipper into the water, pour it over your hands (first the left then the right), and then you rinse your mouth but DO NOT LET YOUR LIPS TOUCH THE DIPPER.  That's a big no-no!

The water was cold and I had a hard time spitting it out gracefully.

Another view of the fount.


Tokyo Trip Part 1

The girls before our trip...  Aren't they so sweet?!
SAKE!!!!!
This is a huge a#% Torri gate made from Japanese cypress at the Meji Shrine.
Ok, here we go.  We went to Tokyo today:  the Meiji Shrine, Tokyo Tower, another shrine and then a really long boat ride... all in all it was a pretty good trip.  Enjoy!


Megans new haircut


We got Megans hair cut; about 4 inches in all.  I really like it.  What do you think?

Friday, April 25, 2008

Pudding time



No time to make it to the table, they had to sit down right there on the floor and eat the chocolate pudding...nice!

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

These boots are made for walking



Cricket loves her new rain boots, she's got this whole shoe fetish thing going on....she loves shoes, weirdo.

Friday, April 18, 2008

Cheese!!!!

She's working her way up to MT. Everest


Every time I pull her down from someplace she has been climbing, I feel a little bad... like I'm repressing her climbing spirit and holding her back from her destiny.

Kurihama Flower World





...only, it's too early in the year for a lot of flowers.  So it was more like Kurihama one flower world - on a bunch of freaking hills.  OH, there was a HUGE Godzilla slide, so I guess that part was ok.


I am so not kidding.

This is not the boys bathroom.  Do you see now why Megan freaked out?  Oh, and old Japanese ladies get upset when you bring a camera into the bathroom :)~

Thursday, April 10, 2008

I'm not that kind of mom.

Ok, so most of the time, I don't mind having the girls around. They are cute, and they amuse me. And while there are moments when I wish them on my worst enemy (tee-hee), for the most part, they are pretty cool little dudettes. However, I am not one of those mommy moms. I took Maddie to this "PT Tots" class, there were a bunch of soft gym things for little ones to climb and play on. I thought, great, she'll have a blast. Only, we had to do "circle time". I know that the concept of connecting with your community through a circle has roots in the ancient world. I just don't buy it with a bunch of 18 month olds though. She wanted no part of it, she just wanted to play. So I let her play, while all the other parents and kids were singing "The Wheels on the Bus" I was NOT singing and Maddie was playing happily. I don't WANT to sing stupid kid songs. I don't WANT to run around a gym clapping my hands trying to get Maddie to do the same thing. So I don't quite understand the looks I was getting from the other moms.....:) We did our own thing, and we were happy.

Sunday, April 06, 2008






We went to Yokohama on Saturday and rode on the world's tallest ferris wheel. It was really, really tall. After that Megan and I rode on the log ride. We had a great time!

Saturday, April 05, 2008

The good news....there was toilet paper.

In the train station at Yokohama, the second biggest city in Japan, the toilets are holes in the floor. Seriously. I wish I had taken the camera in to show you, next time I will. Walking into the bathroom, it looks all high tech, a grid on the wall tells you when and which stall is empty. So we go into one, and Megan freaks. "THIS IS A BOYS BATHROOM!", she yelled loudly. Luckily, there is a good chance no one there understood her but me. There is a bar to hold onto as you squat and try to keep your pants and undies from getting wet. And, when you squat down, there is a sound of a waterfall, I guess to keep others from hearing your bodily functions. It was interesting to say the least.