Tag Archive for 'rollerblading'

Long Long Weekend

Published on July 18, 2011 in Family, Japan, rollerblading and weekend. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

This weekend was a long weekend with us having Monday off. When I say us, I mean Layla and I – Tamie had to work and she took Julia to the daycare provided by her office. It made the long weekend especially long, but we made the best of it.

Saturday I got to take care of Layla while Julia went to her regular daycare for the day. We played a few games at home (she beat me a number of times at Candyland) before we ended up going to a local department store where she could ride her Thomas the Tank Engine for a mere 200 yens. While there, we picked her up a pair of rollerblades – a boxed set that included a helmet as well knee, wrist and elbow pads – all for the low price of 3500 yen. Sweet deal!

After grabbing some juice, we took the blades home and she got to try them out. She wasn’t too happy when I put the knee pads on as they were too tight. It was only after I found the real knee pads that I realized she had elbow pads strapped to her legs. Whoops. Once she was all padded up, she made her way slowly down the hall while holding onto me. Her stability on rollerblades was anything but stable but she seemed to be having fun.

Layla on Blades

She did fall a few times the first time, but give the girl credit – she popped back up and continued to try. She’s made significant progress in just two days since we bought them. She’s now able to walk around the room with blades on, even starting to push a bit with her feet. It’s amazing – it took me a month to do what she’s done in less than an hour. Oh, to be a kid again.

After she got her fill of rollerblading up and down our small hallway, I took Layla for a bike ride. As she was unlocking her bike, she asked, “Can we go for a long bike ride this time?” I nodded and said she could go as far and for as long as she wanted. 15 minutes later, she was ready to go home. Instead we went to a coffee shop and had some juice and milkshakes.

We picked Julia up around 16:00 from her daycare – on the way we noticed there was a huge crowd waiting for whichever act was performing onstage in Vina Walk. Judging by the size of the crowd, it must have been someone famous. After getting the little one, we joined the crowd to see who it was. 10 minutes passed before a single girl came onstage and started belting out tunes on her piano. Julia got impatient though and I thought it best we leave.

Before heading home, I wanted to get some Corona – I knew Tamie wanted to make nachos for dinner and what goes better with nachos than some Mexican cervezas? I picked up 4, hung them on the stroller and asked Layla if she wanted to find a good dessert, which she immediately said yes to. She lead me to the sweets section of the department store and she looked over various kinds of cakes and things. She decided on some flavoured cheesecakes, so we got a box of 6. As the lady was wrapping them up, Julia started making a fuss. I tried calming her down which only made her fuss more… so I picked her up… and CRASH! So much for the beer hanging on the back of the stroller…

Luckily, three of the four beer survived. Before I had time to even check the status, there were more Japanese staff there cleaning things up and ensuring Layla didn’t go near the broken bottle. I’m sure I’ve said it before, but the level of service here is second-to-none and this was another shining example. Sure, our stroller smells like beer now, but that might actually be a step up from what it used to smell like… yah, we need a new stroller.

That night, Tamie came home to a dark room with two sleeping kids and one sleepy father. After we’d gotten home, Layla watched a bit of her new favourite show before going to take a nap. Julia made a bit of a fuss before crashing on me. They both slept for hours before Tamie got back.

Sunday, I got to take care of both girls while Tamie worked. This time, we went to the park for a couple of hours. The sun was unbearably hot again, but that didn’t stop Layla. She’s always ready to have fun at the park and she did, as always, but unlike most times this was a day of accomplishment.


Julia With hat Layla With hat
Hats, as per Nanni’s instructions

Layla has conquered most of the playground equipment at the park, save for the monkey bars which she’s too small for, the rock-climbing wall which she hasn’t really tried, and the rope-block bridge. Today, she was determined to beat the bridge and much to her own surprise, she did! Once she figured out the technique (with a little help from coach Dad and Julia), she was able to do it consistently. She was so proud, almost as proud as I was.

After a full day at the park, we went home where I suggested Layla take a short nap because we were planning on meeting her Mom after Tamie got off work. Layla stubbornly refused and watched her TV show quietly. I played with Julia for a while as Layla fought to stay awake. An hour later, luckily both girls were still ok and we were off to Hon-Atsugi to meet Tamie for dinner. We had okonomiyaki at a local restaurant while Julia slept on a pillow on the floor beside us. All in all, a decent day.

Today was the last day of the three day weekend. Tamie took Julia to her office where daycare is being provided on these weekend working days so it was just Layla and I. Layla didn’t really want to do anything I suggested until I mentioned the Kids Fantasy Land on top of Daiei. Then her eyes lit up and her heart skipped a beat. I knew I’d found the right idea for the day.

After a semi-quick lunch at McDonalds, we ventured over to the kids park. The fantasy land is a giant indoor area with many blow-up bouncy slides and things, plus other goodies that Layla digs. She drive cars, plays in sandboxes and ball pits, and generally runs around having fun. Today was no exception – two hours of mayhem tuckered the poor girl out.

We left the fantasy land at 15:45, exactly one hour before Layla’s dance class was to begin. As soon as we stepped outside, Layla’s energy level dropped to nearly zero. The adrenaline she must have been running on finally ran out and she looked zonked. I took her to the grocery store to get her something to drink and an ice cream to give her a bit of a boost, and that did the trick. We headed home to eat it while we waited for the dance class.

At 16:30, we headed to the dance studio. I was worried Layla was going to fall asleep but she soldiered through it. On the way, she was walking so slowly and when I asked her what was up, she answered, “I can’t walk fast because I’m sooo tired.” Thank goodness she perked up when we got to the dance class. She was one of three students, and she was the only one to make it all the way through the 45 minute lesson without needing a rest. She was definitely having a good time with the dance teacher and I know now we made the right choice in letting her sign up for the class.

Once the class was over, I took the kid to her favourite restaurant for dinner before we came back home to meet Tamie and Julia. Layla, as tired as she was, wanted to practice rollerblading and did so. She only stopped to watch her TV show before taking a bath and going to bed.

I didn’t have a camera this fine day because I didn’t need to bring the backpack that’s been stuck to my back every weekend since Layla was born. Without a baby (or young kid) I had no need to take diapers, clothes, snacks or anything other than my wallet, keys and phone. What a great weight off my shoulders, both literally and figuratively, that is. Next week, I’ll try to bring a camera along, even without the backpack.

And so, that’s the end of this week’s tale. It was a long weekend and it was definitely a good one. Here’s hoping the next one is just as good.

Gallery Links below:

Rollerblades
Saturday
Julia's Hat
Sunday

Back In Japan

Published on May 2, 2011 in Family, Japan, rollerblading and weekend. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

We’re back home and trying to get life back to some semblance of normalcy- not an easy task when you have a jet-lagged three year old who wakes up at 3am. Luckily we came back just in time for Golden Week, the wonderful time of year where companies shut down. Timing, as they say, is everything.

I’m working on uploading the pictures from the trip… there’s a lot of them. Stay tuned.

Story of the day:

When I woke Layla up this morning, instead of grumbling and groaning, she asked “Where did Chinni go?” I asked her what she was dreaming about and she said she was showing him her new dance move. She ended her story with “I guess I miss Chinni, eh?” I guess she dreams in English, at least sometimes.

Story of the week:

After returning from Japan a few cookies heavier than when I left, I decided on Saturday to go rollerblading… ended up wiping out, scratching up my knees, elbow and knuckles. Layla told me I needed to be more careful. Sunday, I decided to try my luck again and… ended up wiping out again – more blood poured from my elbow and this time my knuckle swelled up like a balloon. Layla told me I needed to buy some knee pads and elbow pads and to be more careful. Turns out my finger is fractured. Morale of the story: Don’t exercise, it’s hazardous to your health.

That’s all for now. Will try for more regular updates from here on out, although typing is a bit of a pain with this splint on my finger.

Lions and Tigers and Mice, Oh My!

Published on October 13, 2009 in Family, Japan and weekend. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , .

This weekend, despite being a long weekend, was kind of a quiet one. We did, however, manage to make it out to the zoo we’d been intending to visit for the last couple weeks/months.

We were planning on going on Saturday but the weather didn’t really co-operate so we went on Sunday instead. So instead of zooing, we got our haircut, which can be a full-day activity. Tamie took Layla to visit the grandparents while I stuck around here. We have differing opinions on what a haircut entails and so go to different places to get our hair cut. I’ve gone to her place a couple times and the people there are quite nice, but I can find much better things to do with three hours of my time. My haircut this time – 22 minutes, and no army-style buzz cuts. Tamie’s? Her appointment was at 1pm, and when I called her at 4:30 she said she’d just finished. Different strokes…

The zoo we went to on Sunday was a smaller, freer zoo that we’d visited once before in Yokohama. Luckily the weather (and the time of our awakening) co-operated and we were able to attend.

We got there just after lunch and saw all sorts of creatures — Layla, as usual, was curious up until the point where the animals might actually touch her at which point she freaked and wanted to be carried. There were several peacocks walking freely (when not being harassed by kids) in the zoo, all of which scared the heck out of our brave little girl.

One section of the zoo was a kind of petting zoo, with chickens, chicks and mice for kids to manhandle. Even the smallest mouse was too much for our little princess, as she panicked and climbed up on me. I was a bit surprised when Tamie put the mouse on my shoulder as I thought Layla would have a heart attack, or worse, but she actually seemed okay with it. I guess so long as it wasn’t actually on her (or her mom wasn’t evilly trying to put it on her, she was okay).

The lion roared at us, causing all sorts of people to rush over and crowd around to see what the lion was doing, almost blocking our view. Gotta love the fact that the not-so-polite, little photographers who are a head shorter than me =).

The penguins were swimming in their little pool, all except one. Tamie’s theory was that it was still a bit young and losing its baby feathers… meanwhile, the lady beside us was telling her kid it was too old and couldn’t swim at such an advanced age. I’ll side with my wife, and not just because she’d be mad if I didn’t.

After the zoo, we headed down to a sketchy part of town to get some good meat in us. Sukiyaki, a beef hotpot that is oh-so-delicious, was the meal of the evening. It seems to be only a fall/winter dish here, despite the deliciousness. As such, this was the first time in months that we had the opportunity to have some. The fact that we had to walk past kinky massage parlours to get to it was all the better.

The actual restaurant was pretty nice and we got our own room all to ourselves. The kimono-clad waitresses were more than happy to serve us, especially with Layla being cute and charming as she is starting to learn to be. As it was a meal for two, Layla was taking only the parts of our food that she wanted… or that we didn’t want. As part of our appetizer we got a chestnut, which Layla devoured in seconds. Seeing as she seemed to like it, I asked the waitress for another beer and another chestnut… she asked if she should bring two at which point Layla jumped up holding three fingers up saying “pleeeeease”. She got her three chestnuts and I got another anecdote to write in a blog. Win-win, I’d say.

After several plates of meat, we were stuffed. Layla, not so much. She still wanted dessert and she was determined to get it. Here in Japan, it’s primarily the customer’s responsibility to yell at a waiter or waitress when they want something — ie. they don’t come and check on you. Yelling “Sumimasen” (“Excuse Me”) is something I’ve been trying to teach Layla to do but she’s usually either too shy or too quiet when she does. But not tonight — the paper walls shook with her sumimasen-ing. The waitress did come and when Layla said “dessert, please” it was with apparent joy that the waitress served it. Both plates to the baby.

Today (Monday) was another lazy day thanks to the Japanese national holiday, which I’ve just learned is called “Athletic Day”. We talked to my folks back in Canada for a while – they were shocked to see how tall Layla is. I went rollerblading on my new wheels (very fitting, considering the day). I realized two things — 1. It’s much better, in every way, to rollerblade on a full set of wheels. You get a smoother ride, a better stride, better acceleration and top speed, and 2. I’m even more out of shape now than when I tried to start rollerblading a couple weeks ago — guess I should do it more than once a month. Tamie went jogging, still training for her future marathon(s). Layla went to sleep, napping for over an hour. Then we went out for coffee. So yah, pretty typical lazy day.

I’m uploading pictures as I type and hopefully by tomorrow they’ll be ready. I’ll post a link to them when they are.

For now, here’s a sampler.

A Zooless, Fever-filled Sunday. And Some Magic To Boot.

Published on September 6, 2009 in Family, Hospital and weekend. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , .

So we were all ready to go to the zoo this morning, waking up early and everything. We’ve been thinking of going check out another zoo in Yokohama since visiting the last one because we all had a great time despite the heat. With the cooler (or at least less humid) days of September upon us, it seemed like a good idea. But alas, the best laid plans…

Getting up early wasn’t exactly my idea, and judging by Tamie’s reluctance to wake up it wasn’t her’s either. The quiet cries of the baby in the next room was enough to wake me from my slumber and, after I got her and brought her into bed, wake Tamie up too. Unfortunately, the crying wasn’t because of a neglectful parent or a bad dream – Layla had a fever. So we had a decision to make – take our ailing child to see monkeys and elephants, or don’t. The voice of reason eventually spoke up and told me we should probably stick around home and nurture our baby back to health. Then the voice of reason told me she was still tired and I should take our daughter into the other room.

When Tamie finally crawled out of bed, not too long after we did, she found that one of the wires in her braces had broken. She called her dentist and made an appointment for 11:30, giving us enough time to have a good pancake breakfast before she had to bolt. So even if Layla was in perfect health, our zoo plans were probably not going to happen anyways. The best laid plans…

While Tamie was out, Layla and I played with most of her thousand stuffed animals before enjoying some fine Sesame Street DVD’s. She ended up falling asleep just before Tamie came back. Had Tamie not come back, I might have joined her in her little siesta. As it was, it gave me ample opportunity to head out and rollerblade on my newly rotated wheels in broad daylight. Things were finally starting to look up…

I won’t go into another long diatribe about my rollerblading experience, save to say two things. Despite the cooler September weather, it’s still bloody hot in this country, even without the 100% humidity. Secondly, I’m not sure whether my newly rotated wheels are just too old, the sidewalks here are just too rollerblade-unfriendly, or my technique is just too bad, but half way through this excursion and I lost a wheel. By the time I made it home, my left foot was constantly grinding on the cement. Fun times, indeed.


View 2009-09-06 – Popped a wheelie. in a larger map

After getting cleaned up, I asked the girls what they wanted to do. Layla’s fever seeming to subside and Tamie’s braces back in one piece, we were ready to take on the world. Or at least, Ebina. We headed back to our standard shopping centre for lack of any better ideas. After getting there we stood around wondering what to do – Tamie didn’t even want to shop… I was wondering if she was coming down with something too! There was apparently a magic show starting at 4, which seemed interesting… at least to me. It wasn’t quite 4 yet so we had to find something to do until then.

We ended up sitting on a patio drinking overpriced, oversweetened iced tea. If I thought 800 yen for a Corona was bad, 700 yen for peach flavoured sugary tea was ridiculous (Tamie got the strawberry soda, which was even sweeter). We sipped slowly, waiting for the ice to melt and water down the syrupy concoction. Unfortunately, our patience was not matched by Layla’s and after sitting in the heat for more than ten minutes, she wanted to go do something.

We wandered over to the pet shop to see the sleeping dogs, one of which wasn’t asleep. I wish I could say I’ve never seen Layla so scared, but she’s scared of everything. It’s still awesome, though, when she does get scared and run and hide behind me. The little puppy in the cage was wound up, for some reason, and just the fact he was jumping around (inside a cage, no less) was enough to set her off. Eventually she realized he couldn’t get out and was brave enough to check out the other animals, so long as I was holding her hand.

Not long after leaving the pet shop, we found that it was nearing the start of the magic show. We ventured over to the stage area to get a good spot. There were a lot of kids sitting close to the stage, and a surprising (or maybe not) number of older gentlemen too. Check out this video of a part of the show to get a better idea of why Japanese magicians are much cooler than their Canadian brethren. Notice the drunk guy in the black shirt. There were a number of his kind there.

After the colourful show ended we headed back home. Tamie wanted to get out jogging and I just wanted to get out of the heat. After she came back, we had a nice salmon pasta dinner before eventually putting Layla to bed.

It wasn’t more than an hour or so before Layla started crying. Not the typical crying in her sleep, but the ‘I’m going to throw up all over Dad’ kind of crying. Despite Tamie getting up to go tend to the kid, I knew she wouldn’t stop crying until she was in my arms. I held her, patted her on the back, comforted her, and finally, predictably, relieved her of her stomach contents. Her fever was through the roof so we gave her more medication before changing her pajamas and putting her back to bed.

Eventually Tamie wanted to head to bed, right around the same time Layla was awake again. I figured she’ll be crying through the night and suggested Layla sleep with us tonight. Since I wanted to finish writing this blog entry, I left Layla with Tamie in our bed and came back out to the living room. While I’m typing now, I heard the two of them giggling like school girls and chatting away. Layla even came out to visit me, telling me she wasn’t allowed to watch her favourite Sesame Street DVDs and asking me to take her picture. Laziness got the better of me, despite the numerous (and hilarious) poses. I didn’t want to encourage such behaviour at 11:00 at night!

I ended up giving the poor kid some warm milk and some water before she wandered off back into the bedroom… at least I think that’s where she went. Every once in a while I can still hear the pitter patter of little feet wandering the halls. I guess I should sign off now and go make sure she’s not sleepwalking.

Hospitals, Rabid Babies, and Rollerblading. Just Another Typical Saturday.

Published on September 6, 2009 in Family, rollerblading and weekend. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

After a night of barbecuing, Canadian style, with coworkers on the company balcony (Canadian style meaning with a propane barbecue big enough to cook more than one hamburger at a time =), I was a little worried about getting up the next morning. Tamie was more concerned with my coming home on Friday night. Luckily (or not?) it was a fairly early night, so I got home with little trouble and fairly sober.

Today started out early, but not as early as we planned. A 10:30am appointment at the hospital (Layla’s bi-weekly checkup) meant we needed to get up around 9 to give us plenty of time to get ready and go. Setting our alarm for 8:30 should have been enough of a head start but, as always happens, a few presses of the snooze button and we were already behind the eight ball. Scrambling to get ready, we were out the door with seconds to spare. Making it to the hospital by 10:40 could be considered on time for a Saturday morning.

With Layla semi-feverish, coughing and sniffling, I was a little concerned she might get the lung and nostril treatment again. Luckily for her the doctor gave her the green light, only prescribing another bag full of medicine and forgoing the nose torture. After ten minutes of sucking vapour and twenty minutes of waiting for our prescription(s) to be filled, we were out of the hospital. The whole day ahead of us, we were ready to do… something. Planning is for the unspontaneous!

Back at home, Tamie fried up some of her world-famous potato chips while I readied my rollerblades for the next time I went – apparently not rotating the wheels is not a good thing, and I discovered my front wheels were worn down to the metal. I figured now was probably a good time to switch them up. Layla ended up lying down on the floor and falling asleep before we sat down to have a light lunch of beer and chips (on an unrelated note, I’m still not sure why I’m putting on weight). No amount of poking, prodding or holding chips under Layla’s nose would wake her up.

Eventually Layla woke up and we dropped by a bookstore to get a guide book about Naruto, our upcoming island excursion to see giant whirlpools. While Tamie checked up books on Naruto, I looked at the guide books for Canada – it’s interesting to see what is interesting to others about Ottawa. Funny thing, they listed four or five restaurants in the market… one of which was a Japanese restaurant and one being Colonnade Pizza. Yep, that’s Ottawa cuisine in a nutshell.

After our adventures researching and planning our next adventures (spontaneity be damned), we headed over to get some coffee at Starbucks. Frappuccinos all around! Again, no idea about that whole weight thing… I had my camera with me, as always, so snapped a couple pics of the girls as Tamie read about Naruto and Layla chugged her green tea concoction.

Eventually bored of the whole coffee thing, Layla lead us downstairs to play. I know she likes to play on stairs so it was win-win for her. Downstairs we did, in fact, play. Running in circles is a great game to a two-year old. At one point, I picked her up, threw her in the air and caught her. Tamie’s always asking me to do that while she was the camera so I did. Layla laughed, Tamie snapped a picture, and I caught the baby. Lather, rinse, repeat. The fourth or fifth time I did it, Layla ended up banging her tooth on my chin, or more precisely biting a big chunk of flesh out of my face. Reeling from the pain, but too manly to admit it, I inspected her mouth to see if she was hurt. The toothy grin told me enough. She was fine. Blood pouring out of my chin, I took a kleenex from Tamie to try to stem the bleeding. Light headed, I sat down while trying not to cry.

As we sat there holding kleenex on my chin, a group of high school kids appeared in front of us out of nowhere. They had a small speaker that they hooked up to their cell phones and blasted (by blasted I mean barely audibly played) tinny dance music for all to enjoy. They took turns dancing – each having his own shtick. One guy did backflips, one did the robot. One seemed to only be able to bounce on one hand – he bounced well, but after seeing it for the third time it got old. Before we left, one guy put on a helmet and spun on his head, break-dance style. The future of boybands was there in front of us and we had to leave to go grocery shopping!

By the time we made it back home, it was getting dark but I was eager to get out and try my newly rotated wheels. Tamie, too, was eager to go jogging. Since I was on wheels, she figured I’d be quicker so I left while she stayed back to watch the kid and prepare dinner. Boy was she wrong. I should have been faster but it was dark. There are no street lights in rice fields. Seeing is definitely not overrated.

I wanted to find a good route so went exploring, letting the colour of the traffic lights dictate my direction. When there were no traffic lights I’d just pick whichever street had the biggest sidewalk. Luckily I had a GPS enabled phone with me — but even after I got lost I was too stubborn to look at it. It’s not a big neighbourhood so I figured I could make my way back. I’m here typing now, so obviously I did, but not without doubling back a few times. Check this out for an idea of how lost I was. =)

By the time I made it back, nearly an hour had passed. Tamie tried to use the dark as an excuse not to go jogging but I would have none of it. Actually, it took very little to convince my little marathon runner to get out there and sweat. So while she didn’t get lost, I watched Sesame Street with Layla. She fell asleep, and I almost did. Luckily Tamie came back just in time. We had a nice steak dinner before putting Layla down to bed. Looking at the time now, it’s about time we head off ourselves.