Japanese Crackers

Isehara Weekend

Published on September 12, 2011 in Family, Gallery Update, Japan, Parenting and weekend. 0 Comments Tags: baba, isehara, ito yokado, jiji, trampoline, yakitori.

Tamie’s Dad is checking into the hospital tomorrow to have surgery this week so I decided it’d be nice for the kids to spend some time with him before then. Tamie is still working Saturday and Sunday because of the power saving schedule so the three of us headed there early in the afternoon on Saturday… and Sunday. It turns out that we spent most of the weekend there, to the delight of the grandparents.

One of the things Layla likes to do in Isehara is visit one of the department stores because of the trampoline. What used to be a quick, 200 yen for 5 minutes of bouncy goodness once in a while is turning into 600 yen for 15 minutes every time we are in Isehara! After 15 minutes, she’s exhausted – I’m tempted to get a trampoline for home =)

On Saturday, after the trampolining, we went to the grandparents’ house and had a snack before Layla’s battery got recharged and she wanted to visit the local park. Jiji, always game to take Layla anywhere, agreed. Not even 35 degree heat could deter those two. Somehow I got roped into going too, so I grabbed my camera and we headed out.

The park was a blast right up until Layla was on a swing and fell out. She scraped her elbow, cried a bit and then we headed home. She stopped crying at the mention of buying cake on the way back home, so I guess it couldn’t have been that bad.

We went out for a good Yakitori (chicken on sticks) dinner that night before meeting Tamie at the station and coming home.

Sunday was similar to Saturday in that we headed to Isehara and had to stop at the trampoline store. Baba and Jiji met us there this time to see the kid in action. They weren’t disappointed – Layla gets more adventurous/confident every time she’s on the trampoline. We spent a long time in the store, checking out different games and things.

After the store, we headed back to the house where the two girls fell asleep in short order. Julia woke up after 30 minutes so I picked her up and held her and she quickly dozed off again. This time, I did too.

When everyone woke up, we headed out for dinner – Mama Grazia, the local Japanese Italian family restaurant chain. They have a special on for all-you-can-eat pizza and we did. After a decent meal, we headed back to the house to pick up a few things before meeting Tamie again and coming home.

All in all, it was a good weekend. Lots of trampoline pictures this time.

Saturday

Sunday

Finally Fixed

Published on September 4, 2011 in Development and Gallery Update. 0 Comments Tags: development, gallery, wpf.

After updating my gallery, I broke my mechanism for uploading pictures. I rewrote the app (this time trying to learn how to use WPF, for those keeping track) and think it’s working now so I can upload pics again. If there’s any weirdness in the gallery, let me know – I’m still working out the bugs.

So without further ado, check out the gallery for hopefully enough pics to satiate even Mom’s appetite for grandkid photos.

Weekend WITH Tamie!

Published on August 7, 2011 in Family, Gallery Update, Japan, Parenting and weekend. 0 Comments Tags: chigasaki, Zoorasia.

This weekend, thanks to Nissan shutting down operations for two weeks to save power, we finally had a weekend together as a whole family. On top of that, we had access to a car all weekend! So what else could we do? We went shopping to get a new stroller for Julia and some other knick-knacks at the local baby store.

Julia has been using the stroller that we’d gotten for Layla, but she’s quickly getting bigger and it was quickly getting wobblier… the combination of those two things don’t add up to a safe walk in the park. Speaking of stroller safety, one should always make sure one’s baby is strapped into their stroller – even if the baby is laying down and you only look away for a second, she could pull herself up and forward and fall face first onto the floor… believe me! Thankfully, Julia was okay, suffering nothing more than a bit of a bloody nose.

After shopping, we ended up heading to Chigasaki, aka the beach. Julia had never been there yet and Layla was excited to go, so we drove down before the sun set. Once we got there, Layla’s enthusiasm turned into something between fear and paralysis. It was only after a bit of cajoling that she was able to walk, and after a bit more able to play in the water. Luckily, she got over the initial fear and had a blast playing with the waves. Tamie also got into the act. Julia, however, wasn’t to enthralled with the waves or having her feet in the water… ah, well – you can’t win them all.

As the sun set and the night loomed, we headed back home stopping at a restaurant for a quick dinner before turning in for the night. We got home just in time as a lightning storm started just after we got in.

Sunday we went to Zoorasia, a large zoo in Yokohama that is always a fun time to visit. The 35 degree heat almost made us change our minds but being the adventurous (or is that foolish?) types we are, we continued on. The heat was intense, but the clouds came quickly to give us some cover from the sun, which was helpful. Thunderstorms all around us were ominous, but other than a few sprinklings here and there we were relatively ~~dry~~ unrained upon.

Layla had a blast seeing all the animals, as did Tamie and I. We got fortunate to see the penguins being fed, and a lot of animals came up to the windows/cages to meet us… when they weren’t too busy hiding in the shade or sleeping.

As we were heading out of the parking lot, the few sprinklings of rain that we so feared would turn into something more finally did. Rain finally started pouring and the thunder that we’d heard throughout the day finally showed up at the zoo itself. We were on our way out so, other than a nice lightning show on the way home, we weren’t affected. The people on the night tour of the zoo, however, were probably wishing they’d come another day… Timing, as they say, is everything.

All in all, everything worked out pretty well for us! It was a great day and a great weekend.

Check the pictures in the gallery.