This weekend we headed out to a small, desolate location up in the mountains… Kawaguchi Lake was our destination… not for a romantic getaway, although Tamie was exhausted by the end of the trip and sore in places she didn’t even know existed. Yep – you guessed it. She ran a marathon. Tamie and her sister/hamster ran early Sunday morning while I took care of the kid. I’m proud of both her and her sister for finishing the thing. I got winded exploring the lake with Layla for a couple of hours.
As an aside, I wanted to mention another reason I’ve discovered why Japan is so awesome. We went to Burger King for lunch on Saturday (a good pre-race lunch if ever there was one) and I found that they sold Heineken. At Burger King.
I also wanted to give a shout out, as it were, to my old man who severely kicked my… er… who quite handily beat me in the Sportsnet hockey pool we’re both in. He nearly doubled the number of points my team got and just about won the weekly prize. Nicely done!
Yesterday was another Japanese national holiday, apparently for labour day. Good thing too, as it was a good opportunity to go out with the in-laws to celebrate my Mom’s favourite labour… having me =) Funnily enough, yesterday was my little brother’s birthday (Happy Birthday, big guy!)
We went out for dinner at a restaurant specializing (meaning serving only) crab. Tamie’s dad had a hankering for some and it sounded like a nice alternative, and so it was decided. And boy was it delicious. It made me wish I’d taken the opportunity when we were in Masset to eat some of the crab there.
Layla, too, enjoyed the meal – forgoing the kid’s meal she had to visit everyone’s dish and steal at least a couple pieces of crab meat. Unfortunately, Layla was also the photographer of the evening, taking over the camera duties. Give her points for trying – she took a lot of pictures… it’s just too bad most of them were a bit …. off. I’ve posted all the pictures she took in the gallery.
This weekend we planned to head out to Ginza, the most expensive area in one of the most expensive cities in the world. This is where even the kids wear Prada and the primped chihuahuas are carried in Louis Vitton bags. Yep, it’s places like that that I most blend in here (I carried Layla in the my backpack wearing a good Canadian Roots jacket =) Why did we go there? There’s a big toy store I wanted to check out.
The day got off to a late start (as usual) and we ended up at Ginza around 4. Layla was a bit peckish and I was starving, so we decided to grab a bite to eat. Before that, though, we had to buy Layla a jacket because we forgot to grab hers before we left. I was grateful Tamie brought a credit card! Who knew Zara not only sold kids clothes? And at cheaper prices than the Gap! Talk about win-win! Other than the fact my kid is now sporting a Zara hoodie.
For our late afternoon snack, we went for tea at a posh cafe, where the orange juice cost more than the tea… and the tea cost more than the $9 beer. Ravenous as I was, we ended up getting finger sandwiches and a big plate of desserts, most of which Layla scarfed down. I don’t remember the exact cost of everything, mostly because I choose not to. My wallet, on the other hand, will never forget… it was like a slim-fast diet for him.
The toy store was not a disappointment. Layla’s first trip there was highlighted by 4 floors of sample toy mayhem. She seemed very comfortable in the strange place, running from toy to toy to try them all. Her enthusiasm was probably a result of a combination of true child-like wonder… and a whole lot of dessert-like sugar.
After exploring each of the four floors, we headed out to Tamie’s favourite jewelry store. There was a huge crowd gathering around outside to take pictures of a Christmas tree they had on display. Unfortunately for Tamie, and luckily for my already hurting wallet, the store was already closed. Shucks. Maybe next time.
On the way home, we stopped by Shinjuku for dinner. El Torito, one of the few Mexican restaurants to be found here, was our destination of choice. I think the spicy salsa turned Layla off of Mexican for good, though. It’s strange – I’ve been feeding her wasabi for months now and she stopped complaining a long while back, but a little salsa and she was nearly in tears. Different strokes, I guess.
After dinner, I wanted to check out the Christmas lights that are up right now in Shinjuku, but Tamie had other ideas. Krispy Kreme only had a ten minute line up and she had a hankering. Now normally I’m not one to turn down donuts, but I’m also not one to wait in line for them. Tonight, that changed as Layla too wanted to taste the savoury sweetness of the addictive Krispy Kreme. Her excitement only lasted a minute though, as she was bored after that. Tamie is convincing, and we ended up staying and getting a dozen. I thought Ginza was expensive, boy was I wrong. $20 for a dozen donuts. I guess they’ve been printing money in that donut shop for years now.
Today (Sunday), we didn’t have such grand plans — in fact, we didn’t have any. The chill from outside and the laziness that seems to creep into every Sunday left us at home for most of the day. We did some cleaning up and some cleaning out – reorganizing some of the closets and things. By 4, Layla was exhausted (it’s hard work for a 2yr old to clean an apartment). Tamie, rather than spend any time alone with me, went jogging while Layla crashed on the couch with me. She must have been beat because she was still asleep when Tamie came back over an hour later, only to be woken by Tamie ringing the doorbell to get in.
After Tamie was back and changed, we went for dinner at a local izekaya (Japanese pub-style restaurant) before doing a bit of shopping. While we were waiting to get a table, Layla was busy playing with my phone. She got frustrated with something and gave it back to me before starting to throw a hissy-fit. Instead of letting her make a scene, I cut her off with a well-timed banging of my head on the sign behind me. She wanted to stay upset but she couldn’t. She’s a sucker for phyical comedy, and she cracked up. This is the tail end of the whole laughing episode – I wasn’t fast enough to get the biggest laughs on video.
Layla wanted some Starbucks for dessert, and spoiled as she is, she got some. We walked around to look at the Christmas lights set up in Vina Walk for a bit before eventually coming home.
31 years is a long time to be together. Here’s to 31 more! Good luck at the casino!
Happy Anniversary, Nonni and Chinni!
Love Brian, Tamie and the Brat!
… and Happy Birthday to your favourite son.
I came home early(ish) tonight to have dinner with the girls. Tamie “made” a nice cake, that Layla wanted every part of when she saw it. She even blew out the candles before I could!
You might notice Layla crying in some of the pictures… While she was watching her mom in the kitchen, I took the cake off the plate and hid it behind me. When Layla looked back, the expression from shock to disappointment to sadness to anger to exploding in tears was priceless. She got over it pretty quickly after the cake reappeared. =)
I got a call at work today around 19:30. Layla was bawling, Tamie was mystified. The poor kid wanted her Dad and nothing Tamie could do would make her happy. Oh, I felt so bad hearing the poor girl crying on the other end. Well, at least part of me did. Some other, small part of me was beaming that the kid actually remembered me outside of a weekend.
With that in mind, I tried to wrap up my day as quickly as I could, leaving the office around 20:15 and getting home just after 21:30. Yah, so I’m not the first number on the daycare’s emergency contact information.
I walked in the door, listening for sobbing but not disappointed to hear Layla laughing with her Mom. She then proceeded to barely acknowledge me, going so far as to cry, call me scary and avoid me for what little was left of the night. This, even after I snuck her a piece of ice cream!
It may be a woman’s prerogative to change her mind… I just didn’t realize a 2.5yr old counted as a woman yet.
