Current Events!

Pacific siesmic and volcanic activities!

This volcano, Mt. Asama, is Japan's most active volcano. It spewed ash 2,000 metres into the air and rocks as far as 1 km away on February 2, 2009. Cars were white with ash even here in Yokosuka! Wow, our first three months and we have already experienced a volcano and an earthquake!




























On February 17th Scott and I were awakened at 5 am to the rattling of our door and then we realized the bed was shaking. Our first earthquake! The epicenter was about 30-40 miles from Tokyo (out in the ocean) but it was felt all over Honshu (the main island here in Japan). It measured a 5.0 on the richter scale. The star on the map shows where the epicenter of the earthquake was and we are located near the bottom of the map in Tokyo Bay.




Boys' Night!











Playing with Daddy is the best! Mom had book group so we had a boys' night and we built a super colossal awesome marble maze and filled our secret playhouse with balloons!
Daddy, we love you!

Happy Birthday Ethan!

#3

Ethan helped make his own birthday cake this year. He was so proud of himself...the baker in charge was dad and that made mom so proud! Yeah, Dad and Ethan. Wow! Three whole years
of smiles, snuggles, and messes! Fortunately, along with the big number 3 we are now potty trained and so pleased! No major bribes, no poopy pants - just a gradual shift into big boy underwear...of course there were a couple soggy moments at the store and once during visiting teaching but for the most part the trauma was minimal! Yeah, Ethan you're a big boy now!


Let Them Eat Cake!

YUMMY!

I LIKE TO RIDE MY BICYCLE!
I like to ride my bike...

Look mom! No training wheels! Scott took off Jared's training wheels and they went out for a spin. We are so excited for him. He loves riding his bike.






TOKYO
















My first trip to Tokyo! I went to the Tokyo temple with some friends from the branch: Lindi, Celeste, and Dayna. Dayna was our photographer. Unfortunately, I forgot the camera in the car after we left the temple - doh! We saw Tokyo Tower and went shopping in downtown then took a train to the fabric district. Several stores had multiple floors - the biggest had 5 floors of different kinds of fabric...there was even a whole store dedicated completely to buttons. (Of course those buttons were a minimum of 300 yen that's about $3.30 each!) After all day in Tokyo we had to stop at IKEA on the way home! We were gone from about 6:30 in the morning until about 10:30 at night! It was a loooong fun day! Thanks girls!

Kannonzaki Park

Kannonzaki

Park!

Here we are just before taking the ride of a lifetime! - If you've never ridden a "roller slide" you should because these things are fun and fun is good! A roller slide is made up of thousands of steel rollers on bearings so you "roll" down the slide instead of sliding - strange, I know but so much fun. I lost count of how many times we went down but the hike back to the top isn't for wimps. Of course, at the end of the day who still had energy to keep going? Yep, you guessed it! Jared, because he is just a bundle of energy and Ethan because he was carried back to the top every time we went down.

Jared loved this ride - he thought it was a real scream!

And at the bottom? Just look at that face! Pure happiness every time!

On one side of the slide you could climb up several flights of stairs on the other side was an obstacle course ending at a play ground structure that looked like an old wooden ship. Here's Ethan up in the crows' nest searching the horizon for "pirates" and "bad guys" (whom he prays for every other night - "thank you for bad guys that can be good.")



The training program for new recruits! Our little soldier, karate master, cowboy, pirate, doctor, dinosaur, superhero... was in top form in this event.














Which way is out? Scotty got stuck in this super web tunnel thingy that goes up and then down - so you can't land on your feet!

The boys, taking in the view and a snack - Dar(win) Butler, Ethan, and Jared.

What a day! The weather was beautiful for our little trip to the park. We are looking forward to going back - Anyone up for a ride on the "roller slide"?

Hi YA!

HiYA!!!

The Karate Kids

Jared and Scott have signed up for martial arts classes! Many thanks to Kung Fu Panda! Jared is learning Fushin Ryu Karate and Scott is learning Yoshinkan Aikido. Jared loves his class! He works very hard to do everything his Sensei tells him to do. You can see the wheels turning in his head as he tries to imitate the movements of his teacher. The first thing Jared does when entering the classroom is to bow to his Sensei and to say, "OSU!" (pronounced OS! - you don't say the 'U'). So far, most of Jared's class is warm ups and exercises including stretches and push-ups and leg lifts but they also practice punches and foot patterns.

Jared and Scott demonstrating the starting stance for their respective arts.

Karate is more of the offensive maneuvers - punching, kicking, chopping - you know - the works. And all this adds up to a great opportunity for Jared to learn self control?

I didn't know that when Scott and Jared signed up for these classes that in the fine print there was a clause about Mom becoming the practice dummy! Scott is really enjoying his class. It is more of a defensive art than offensive - there is mostly throwing and pinning while applying pressure to certain sensitive nerves. You also learn to disarm someone whether they are attacking with a gun or a knife or anything else for that matter.

MT. TAKATORIYAMA



On a Saturday afternoon we spontaneously decided to take a hike on Mt. Takatoriyama. We packed a quick lunch and made the 30 min. walk over to the JR Line to get on the train. Scott had to ask a Japanese woman which train we should take since we couldn't read any of the information. Scott pointed to our map and said, "Higashi-Zushi?" Then the lady pointed out the right train so we knew how much our train fare was.



We took the JR to Higashi station and walked a couple of blocks. Through a quiet neighborhood with narrow houses and even more narrow streets. We headed up the mountain out of Higashi on a paved road that led us past a small Buddhist cemetery and about 3/4ths of the way up the mountain.


The first place we came to was a small monastery (at least we think that's what it is).
We loved this hike! It was so beautiful. I can hardly wait to go in the spring when everything will be green. Hope you enjoy the views as much as we did!





We loved the bell tower. The timbers were Japanese cedar. The dragons were our favorite but the bell was beautiful too. It took all I had to keep Scott from ringing it. I could only imagine the horrified monks racing out and all of us being carted off to some dungeon and having to do penance for disturbing the peace!

The hike winds along the ridge of the mountain and in some places it was so steep that a chain was bolted into the rock to help hikers keep to the path. Jared loved the hike - he asked if we could go again before we even left - this from the boy who complains about walking more than one block on a city sidewalk!

Toward the end of the hike there is an old stone quarry where rock climbing is surprisingly popular.

This last picture is of Yokohama and Landmark tower - the tallest building in Japan. Yes, they actually call it "Landmark Tower" in Japanese - no translation required! There are so many English words in Japanese if you can just figure out their pronunciation - ie "eentenetu."

We are loving our new home. Japan is beautiful! We love all of you and miss you!

Home Sweet Home

At last, the post you all have been waiting for. Here is the grand tour of the Palais du Pierce! Jared, our maitre D was more than willing to be our guide for this little video. Enjoy!

The sliding glass doors in the great room give us a partial view of Mt. Fuji (on clear days) and beautiful sunsets almost every day. We are greeted each morning with the loud speaker version of Chim Chiminey Chim Chim Cheroo ( the school bell) and a chorus of screaming school children until 1:30 pm daily.

The view from the master bedroom - a good portion of the base and some of Yokosuka City. To the left of this view is the ocean, only we can't show you that view because we can't see it either...ha ha ha. However, the "backside" of the building does provide some shelter from the wind (which whistles through the windows and doors no matter which side of the building you are in.)

I am Jared hear me ROAR!!

This one's for you Grandpa Mustache. Jared's ROAR is now internationally famous! He is so good at it he makes the boy next door cry (no kidding). It is so loud it can be heard down the hallway out side our apartment. Imagine being sound asleep and around 0330 you wake to a noise from you kid's bedroom. Any normal person would have wet their pants, but Heather and I know the sound all to well. The sound of Jared ROARING in his sleep. He didn't believe us the next morning.

The Popcorn Song

The boys sing songs every night before bed. Among their favorites is the Popcorn Song. We knew everybody missed the boys sweet voices.

The boys were very popular with the school girls. We even had people ask us if they could take their picture. Blonde hair and blue eyes are a novelty here. The school girls would wave and say "haro" (hello) to the boys and Jared would grin back and say "konnichiwa!"

Ethan was a little busy after a long walk and all he wanted was some "PRIVACY, PLEASE!"

This bridge crossed a lake to an island with a smaller shrine and prayer flags. Mostly the boys just enjoyed hanging over the edge of the bridge trying to look at the koi fish and the ducks.