Tag Archive for 'Ebina'

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Parks Weekend

Published on November 14, 2010 in Family, Japan and weekend. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

Park Pic

Saturday we had to visit Layla’s doctor to ensure she is going to survive her latest onset of coughing/barking like a seal. She is. We got the latest round of medicines, in powder AND liquid form.

After the hospital, we found ourselves with nothing to do and thought of lunch. On the way to check out a couple new restaurants that were opening soon, we walked by a small park with one slide and one set of see-saws. Layla, of course, wanted to check it out and we, of course, obliged. Some playing ensued, much to everyone’s enjoyment, until Layla finally declared she was done.

We found that the soon-to-be-opened restaurants weren’t yet opened, so we walked around and ended up at a new, small restaurant to have lunch. We ate a quick lunch before heading off to Starbucks to meet Yurina, a friend we hadn’t seen in a long time. Layla didn’t remember her but wasn’t as shy as normal, which was a pleasant surprise. I think it had to do with the familiar setting of Starbucks, plus the fact we picked up some stickers to distract her. It worked.

That night, Tamie made pizza for supper and we (I) feasted. A good way to end a good day.

Sunday, I woke to an email request to get some pictures of Layla on a particular bench at the Ebina park. So I dragged the kid, kicking and screaming, to the park just to appease her grandparents. Kidding, of course. The mere mention of the word park brings visions of biking, sliding and running to Layla’s mind… it brings visions of gasping, wheezing and sweating while trying to keep pace with Layla to mine.

When we got to the park, Layla posed happily on the bench, even smiling for a picture or two. The weather wasn’t the greatest, but the upside of that is there weren’t as many kids around when we were actually playing on the slides and things. At one point, she said she needed ice cream. We made a deal, one she happily accepted – more pictures for an ice cream.

Park Pic

After posing, sliding, running and falling repeatedly, Layla was satiated. She saw the steam come on and kids crowding in it so had to join them. It wasn’t until today that she realized standing in steam, you get a bit wet. It also wasn’t until today that she realized that wet shoes leave footprints on dry cement… after the steam turned off, Layla finished by saying she wanted to go home to change her clothes. Smart kid.

The rest of our day was spent in Hon-Atsugi, where Tamie had a dentist appointment. We met up after the appointment and had an early dinner before coming home and chilling for the rest of the night at home.


Gallery
Pictures from Saturday
Gallery
Pictures from Sunday

A Beatiful Day In The Neighbourhood

Published on November 3, 2010 in Family and Japan. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , .

One of the nice things about living in Japan is not knowing when the national holidays are. Today was one and I only found out about it yesterday! Suh-weet!

The weather today was perfect so we headed down to the local park. Layla hadn’t ridden her bike in a while so was anxious to get on her hog and be free of the social shackles of the three-year old’s life. She strapped on her helmet, adjusted her bell, and headed for the road.

Little Biker

I chased after Layla as she sped towards the park. Tamie was left in the dust but caught up surprisingly quick at every red light. By the time we got to the park, I was pooped and wanted to go back home and have a beer. I couldn’t say that though, so I smiled and played with Layla. And play we did.

Layla accomplished something great today – she’s been trying to master the tires, a set of platforms that kids hop from one to the next on, mario style. There is one particular pair of tires that are so far apart that she usually chickens out and hops on the ground and then climbs up. Not today. Take a look at the video.

The park was packed, full of kids and parents alike. It’s actually a wonder how chaotic such a place can be – kids hanging upside down on monkey bars, climbing up slides, jumping on each other and chasing one another. All of it, though, is a controlled kind of chaos, as the kids generally watch out and avoid each other… most of the time…

Layla went down a covered spiral slide just as some bright kid decided to climb up and in it. All I heard from the top was the sound of my daughter wailing. I saw Tamie pop up off the bench she’d be sitting on faster than any pregnant lady should move. Apparently the kid climbing up had his head down and got Layla smack in the mouth. Blood gushed, tears flowed. But within three minutes, she was fine again. Tough kid, that one.

As the day wound down, Layla started getting tired so we headed back to the bike for the ride home. We decided the day at the park wouldn’t be complete without the ritual Starbucks, so split up – I took Layla home to drop off the bike, Tamie took a shortcut to the coffee shop. Layla was so fast on her bike, we ended up arriving at the same time!

Pictures here:
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Sunday pictures

Sexless Again

Published on October 12, 2010 in Family and weekend. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

On Saturday we were supposed to find the sex of our baby but, unfortunately, the doctor had no luck in finding my son’s penis. Everything else is going quite well – Tamie is healthy, the baby is healthy, I’m healthy. We just don’t know the gender of number 2 yet, that’s all. Next appointment is the end of the month, meaning another couple weeks of mystery.

Sunday was a day of shopping and high tea in Yokohama. Tamie likes the little sandwiches and Layla likes the little desserts. I just like seeing two happy girls. After shopping and lunching, I ended up taking Layla on the kiddy rollercoaster again. She almost freaked out again when I told her to put her arms up in the air but quickly calmed down when I held onto her again. The best part though was after we got off and she told Tamie that she had fun, wasn’t scared and that I was the one who was nearly in tears. What an imagination!

Monday was actually a holiday here, so we had the day off to…. well, do nothing spectacular. In Ebina there was a dance festival held, meaning we got to watch a bunch of kids ranging from 4-16 dance to obnoxious English hip-hop. The dancing was actually really good for some of the small kids – had I been more on the ball I’d have filmed it. There’s nothing better than watching 4-year-olds getting down to lyrics referring to all the f**king b*tches. The fact that no one else in the crowd batted an eye was pretty funny.

The scariest thing about the whole event, and even the whole weekend, was Layla bopping her head and getting into the bass-y “music” blasting out of the stage speakers.

Little Biker

Published on August 3, 2010 in Family and weekend. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Layla has been really getting into the biking scene, enjoying the red bike her grandparents have at their home. Her Chinni gave her the idea that she’d also have a bike in Ottawa, so for the last little while all we ever hear about is how she’s going shopping with Chinni to buy a green bike in Canada. With all the love bikes have been getting recently, I asked her if she wanted a bike fro Ebina too. The answer, unsurprisingly enough, was an emphatic yes.

On Saturday, after a long day of shopping, we headed to one shop on our way home to check out the bikes they had. Layla picked out the first bike she saw. It was blue. That was enough. She didn’t even need to try it out for size. I told her that we’d come back the next day after checking out a few other shops in the neighbourhood and she was, thankfully, satisfied with that.

Sunday came and we eventually headed out to a second shop. Layla immediately grabbed a bike and said it was the one she wanted. I asked her if she was sure she could ride it and she nodded. I chuckled as I took the bike off the shelf and put it on the floor, asking her to ride it around the small area we were in. She sat on the 14″ bike and finally realized there was no pedals. We got a sales guy to get some and she rode it around the store for a bit only to find it was a bit small for her.

She tried the 16″ bike and it was too heavy – try as she might she couldn’t move it. It wasn’t that big of a deal, though, because I don’t think the baby blue colour was her first (or second) choice. The 18″ bike the guy recommended was orange with Winnie The Pooh all over it. Surprisingly, she not only could move it but got around pretty good. I asked if she liked it and she said yes. I then asked if she wanted it and she said no. So off to a third store we went.

This time, we found a couple bikes of acceptable colours and sizes, but before our hero even tried the first one she saw something more interesting. Bike helmets! Who needs a bike when you can buy a spiffy blue bike helmet? Layla wanted to try on every helmet there, and I think she did, before finally settling on a sporty blue helmet that anyone would be proud to wear. Luckily, we also found a bike – an 18″ black one with a basket and a hand-brakes! What more could a kid ask for?

The store is about a 20 minute walk from our home and I wasn’t sure how well Layla could ride, especially after seeing her shakily get around the store. As we paid for the bike and helmet, I couldn’t help but imagine a tired, hungry Layla asking to be carried while I had to push this bike all the way home… luckily, my imagination runs wild sometimes. Once we were outside, Layla was off like a rocket. She handled that bike like a pro, flying around corners and down sidewalks – I had to run to keep up. We made it home in record time! I was impressed!

This morning she was so eager, I let her ride the bike to daycare. Even after getting off the bike she refused to take the helmet off, wanting to show everyone her cool new hat. I’m sure if I didn’t take it back home with me, she’d have worn it home when Tamie picked her up (even without the bike!).

What a kid, eh?

Hakone Day Trip

Published on May 17, 2010 in Family, Japan and weekend. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , .

Friday night Tamie told me she wanted to do something spontaneous so we decided to head up to Hakone for the weekend. Hakone is a mountain area not too far from where we live. It’s a great place to visit what with all the trees and nature – a nice contrast to the concrete jungle/rice paddies we see daily. I really dug the idea but was somewhat surprised — the plan was to head up there and find a hotel for the night. I was surprised Tamie was being so adventurous, as usually everything is meticulously planned and roughing it means only a 4 star hotel.

We got up early-ish and headed out to catch the first of several trains. We booked a romance car (an odd name for the reserved seat train) that took us up to the Hakone-Yumoto. From there we took another, smaller train that criss-crossed up the mountain to a place called Gora. After getting off this train, we took a cable car up to Sounzan, another station on the mountain, where we got on the Hakone Ropeway, a gondola that took us to Owakudani — a place famous for hot springs and black eggs.

At Owakudani, we walked up a small path (with a thousand other people) to take a closer look at some of the hot springs and to get our fill of black eggs. The eggs are boiled in the hot springs, which turns them black. Legend says that if you eat one it’ll add seven years to your life.

When we finished with the eggs and photo opportunities, we took another gondola to Togendai, a station on the edge of Lake Ashi. Lake Ashi is something I’d been wanting to check out since I arrived in Japan. We’d been in and around Hakone several times and even driven and walked around parts of the lake. However, there’s a pirate ship that takes tourists from one side of the lake to the other. Yep, tourist trap. I think Tamie was in the minority as we rode that boat across the lake.

At the other side of the lake, we got off the boat and started to think about what we were going to do for the night. Tamie was expecting to find an information center where we could ask about hotels in the area… unfortunately there was no such information center. There was a hotel, however, and I went and asked about availability. As expected, they were booked solid. I asked about other hotels in the area and the guy kindly pointed out a ryokan (old-style Japanese hotel) across the street.

We went to check the ryokan out and it too was full up. When I explained our situation the guy said that on weekends, Hakone is pretty much booked up… he did offer us a room without dinner or breakfast, which was great except for the fact we didn’t see any restaurants around, Tamie wasn’t feeling well, and Layla was getting sleepy and hungry. In the end, we headed back to the dock to catch a bus back home, grabbing dinner at a restaurant near the train station before coming back. Not exactly the perfect ending we had in mind, but looking back on the day we had, the good times certainly outweigh any disappointment.

Today, we were a bit less adventurous. We headed to the local park to play with Layla and play she did. She crossed a rope bridge that she’d been afraid to cross since losing a shoe on it the last time. At one point she wanted to play with her ball but didn’t want either me or Tamie to touch it… until she realized it’s not a whole lot of fun to throw a ball and have to go get it yourself while your parents sat together watching. We ended up playing together again in no time. Eventually, the bubbles we brought came out — watching the joy Tamie gets out of blowing bubbles is more fun for me than actually blowing them. I think Tamie enjoys them even more than Layla does.

At the end of the day, we headed to off to do some grocery shopping, but not before stopping at Starbucks to get some pictures of Layla. At this point, we don’t even go because we like the coffee/frappucinnos – I think we just go to get another picture of Layla there. We certainly have enough of them.

Pictures, as usual, can be found at the gallery.

Hakone Gallery
Saturday in Hakone 		Ebina Gallery
Sunday in Ebina