Road Trip to Yokohama and Nagoya

We went on the last road trip with Micah. We flew to Yokohama first. It rained pretty much the whole time we were there, so Addyson and I stayed in the hotel. Luckily we had a bedroom and a living room, which were separated with a door, so we could spread out! We were suppose to have a king bed...the king bed consisted of two twins pushed together. It was hilarious. We ate at TGI Friday's twice so we were happy!The next stop was Nagoya. We actually got to ride the bullet train called The Shinkansen. It goes over 300 mph. What a neat way to travel. You get to have your cell phone on, there are no seatbelts, and you can get up and down as you wish. It was wonderful. Addyson was so excited because her daddy told her it went really, really fast. Nagoya has an Outback Steakhouse but it isn't open for lunch. As soon as the game was over the first night we jumped in a cab with Hide and walked into Outback at 10 p.m. We laughed that we use to talk about people who took their kids to dinner late at night and here we were. Oh well! Anything to have something that reminds us of home. We all ate until we were stuffed and Addyson was really good even though it was way past her bedtime! This baseball life makes us do CRAZY things...just look at where it brought us!

Kanikosen

We went to a crab place last night called "Kanikosen." It means the crab ship. Sapporo is famous for their crab. It was delicious. Inside there is a huge boat sitting in the center of the place with live crabs in it. They are huge. The owner picked one up with his hand and showed Addyson. It was the biggest crab I have ever seen. I don't know if you can tell or not, but here's a pic of a big one.We got to try all kinds of crab. It was so good. I won't want crab for a while, since that's all you eat, but it was wonderful. Here is a pic of one we actually ate. Just the legs, not the stuff in the middle of the crab. We weren't brave enough to try it!

The waitresses wore kimonos, so I had to take a pic of Addyson with our waitress. She tried so hard to tell us in English what each thing was that she brought us. Addyson is trying to make the peace sign like the waitress is doing. Everyone in Japan throws up the peace sign when taking a picture!

The Zoo...AGAIN!

It was a beautiful day a few days ago so we got up and went to the zoo before Micah had to go to the field. We have had a lot of rain and it's been chilly, so beautiful days are few and far between lately. Micah and I even wore short sleeves which was a first. YAY! Hopefully the weather is warming up for good. The zoo was packed with school kids of all ages. The smaller ones all had on hats and uniforms. Each child had a bag draped over one shoulder. Addyson said, "Hang on Friends!" and ran after them. We took a picnic lunch so she had to get the bag with our food in it and put it on her shoulder like her "friends." HA! She said "Konichiwa" to them and they of course said it back. So cute. I wish I had taken a picture of them. Oh well. Here are a few pics from the zoo and our picnic.

Off day, but travel day

Today Micah had an off day, but also had to fly out for a week long road trip. We at least got to spend part of the day with him. We got up, Micah cooked breakfast, and got ready to go to the park and the Buddhist temple behind our house. I found out it's the largest here in Hokkaido, which is the prefecture, or state, we live in. It's beautiful. We went by ourselves, so we didn't really have a clue about what anything meant, but it was neat to walk around. Next time we will take Hide, our interpreter, so he can give us all the details. As we were leaving a guard realized who we were and gave us a bag and said "gift." It's a bottle of something and a wooden piece with rabbits and fish on it. Can't wait to find out what each one means. We have no idea what's in the bottle since the label is in Japanese. It's on the counter waiting on Hide to interpret it for us.


There was this huge water thing that everyone was crowding around before entering the main temple. We watched and they were washing their hands and then sipping the water out of these wooden cups and rinsing their mouths out. Not very sanitary if you ask me! :) Not sure what the reasoning is behind it, but I will find out next time we go. We opted just to rinse our hands.


Micah will be gone until late Sunday night, so it's just the two of us. We will fill our time with the park, the zoo, and the indoor playground when it's raining. It seems like it's always raining! The other American's family stayed back for this road trip, so their girls and Addyson will have some play time too. Addyson's understanding about Daddy going on road trips. When he laid her down for her nap he told her he was leaving for a week and to be a good girl for Mommy. As he was shutting her door she said "Daddy, don't go. Stay here with us." Talk about break your heart! So, needless to say, we are counting down the days til he's back home!

Cheering on Daddy

Addyson asks everyday if we are going to the ball game. She absolutely loves going to the ball park. I don't know if it's because we get to see Daddy or because there is a playground in center field. Every time the crowd gets excited, which is pretty much the whole time, she yells "Yeah. Daddy hit a homerun." I wish! HA! Just had to post a few pics of her dressed and ready to go. She knows that her daddy plays baseball and knows to point at first base. Today we were at the park behind our house and she told some kids, who have no idea what's she saying, "My daddy not here. He plays baseball." Poor thing. She already knows if Daddy's not with us, he's at the ball park. That's our life.

Easter in Japan

We FINALLY got to spend Easter Sunday together in church. In the 8 years we've been married we've never gotten to do this because of baseball. I don't know how many Easter's we have even actually spent together since we've been married. Baseball doesn't honor holidays! We asked The Murton's if there was an English speaking Christian church in Kobe. There was! Micah luckily had a night game so we got dressed, got in a cab and got to church by 9:30. Addyson went into the nursery without whimpering. I haven't been away from her for any length of time since we've been in Japan so I was a little worried. I think she was so happy to be able to play it didn't matter. We took pictures but had to take two different ones since it was just the three of us!
Since we were on a road trip for Easter, we celebrated when we got back to Sapporo. We dyed eggs, hunted them, and the Easter Bunny made his delivery. Easter is not really celebrated in Japan, since only 1% of the population are Christians, so the Easter Bunny had some slim pickings to choose from, especially since everything is in Japanese. He did manage to get some gymboree bubbles! :)

Road Trip to Kobe!

We went with Micah on another road trip to Kobe, Japan. It's a beautiful city. The weather didn't cooperate very well, but we did have one beautiful day that we got to go to the zoo. We also had a visitor. Mr. James Speer, from Carthage, came to visit on his way home from doing a Christian camp in the Philippines. We were SOOOO glad to see a familiar face from back home. He got to see Micah play two games and we all got to ride a gondola above an herb garden. It was beautiful.
On Good Friday, we got to see our friends, Matt and Stefani Murton and their two kids Micah and Macie. It's been almost 2 years since we last saw each other. Micah and Matt played together in the Cubs organization. They are so special to us. Like Stefani said on her blog "In baseball you meet some families that you will keep in touch with forever and they are one of those families!!" we feel the same way. When we were throwing the idea around about coming to Japan, Stefani is the first person I talked to. They played here last year so I knew I could trust her with all my questions and concerns. Of course, the team we are on is as far north in Japan as you can get and they are in southern Japan! What luck! :) HA! That's baseball for you! The kids had fun playing together at lunch and we hope to see them again soon!