Random reading post

We love to read...When our kids were babies they loved Ukrainian books. As they got older and they couldn't understand all the words, they started to read more and more English books. Very sad.....But, Katya and Alex both know the Ukrainian alphabet. And Katya can read it too (not knowing what she is reading, unfortunately).

So I just wanted to post some pictures.

Katya-3.5 months old in Orem, UT

Alex-6 months old in Minneapolis, MN (look how big he was! Around 27 lbs and bursting out of that rocking chair:)

Finally, Mark-13 months old in Misawa, Japan.

And all three of our kids absolutely love "Chugga Chugga Choo Choo" book.

Eating fruits and veggies

How do you like to eat your melon and watermelon? Cut up in chunks (I think of you, Mandy, every time I cut my melon:)? Or cut up in moon shape pieces? Mark LOVES honeydew, but we call it "DINYA" in our house, so I am not even sure my kids know what they are eating in English.

When we go to our "apple lady" store off base, we always get these gigantic carrots. They come in a package of 3 for a 100 yen (a little bit over $1). Kids love to eat it just like that.

I remember my mom always chopping her veggies for soups and me pretending to be a bunny crunching on all those carrots. As a side note, growing up in Ukraine, I had soup every day of my life for my midday meal. Now I am finally learning how to make my own soups.

Happy Mark. A few of you might think that he is always happy....not lately. I think separation anxiety has hit us pretty hard, but only when I am around. He wants to be next to me all the time. Since this is my third baby, all I can think of is, "This is all temporary".

Trying to get a picture of all three of the kiddos.

Oh, look! They are eating again:) At least it's grapes.

The end of my picture marathon.

Mark, Alex and their car

This is Mark. Mark acts like a baby because...well, because he is our baby. He loves this ride-on car.

Someone else loves that car too. Except that someone else didn't know that he even liked that car until it came out of our baby storage.

Everyone is having fun.

Ummm, wait a minute, Mark is being squeezed a bit too much.

Mark: "Alex, get off my car! You had it all to yourself for a whole year when you were a toddler!" (well, Katya tried to ride it too, sometime)

Alex: "But you are just so squishy and soft...and you really don't know how to drive this car. I'll show you. We can both fit. Even though I am well over 50 lbs now..."

Okay, I guess someday they will just have to learn to play together.

Lake Towada 十和田湖 Snow Festival

On Monday we ventured out to Lake Towada (Towadako) for the Snow Festival.  It takes an hour and a half to drive there from Misawa at about 50-60 km per hour (30-35mph).  Most of the drive was in the mountains, and it was fascinating to notice the snow getting deeper and deeper on the side of the road as we got higher and higher in elevation.  Eventually we arrived in Yasumiya (the town with the festival).  With several feet of snow pack, it was no surprise that this place has its own snow festival.  Oh, this map shows the relative distance from our house at Misawa AB (green arrow) to Yasumiya (red arrow).  

Incredible!!  Such perfect detail, even in the facial features.  Absolutely beautiful!  As for the snow sculpture behind her, that's pretty cool too.

This seemed to be a popular spot for photo-takers.  I'm inspired to make something like this in my backyard sometime. 

This is the snow sculpture currently in my backyard.  It's actually a very crude-looking, yet semi-functional, igloo (with lots of tiny windows and a skylight).

One unicorn and two cheesy grins.

Japanese igloo number one.  That's Katya inside against the back wall.  Alex is somewhere in there too.  They were chasing each other around inside, and neither of them would hold still long enough to get a shot.

Japanese igloo number 2.  This was my favorite.  There were a couple other igloos besides.  I can't explain it, but there's just something fun about walking inside a mound of snow.

Sled hill built entirely from snow.  I was here in the summer, and this was just a plain grassy field.  Katya surprised us all when she borrowed a friend's snowboard and made it to the bottom without falling off.  I think it's time to take her to the big slopes.

I liked this little church/shrine.  You couldn't actually go inside anywhere here, although attached to back was an igloo with a full sake (rice wine) bar.

Entering (and exiting) the snow festival.  Sign says Lake Towada Snow Festival (I think).

Gotta leave you with the sign.  These were posted all over the grounds, and you can bet we all whatched our footing.

Valentine's Day in the Watson family

My Valentine's Day celebration started on Saturday, actually. In the middle of the day, someone knocked on the door. It was a Japanese guy with....flowers! All he said was, "For you". I thought that those tulips were gorgeous. I love "no-roses" kind of bouquets. They remind me of spring.

Thanks, sweetie.

Then on Sunday, we had a special dinner with crepes, strawberries, all sorts red jams and Nutella (my weakness). For dessert, Katya and I made a pink jello/strawberry cake with cream cheese frosting. She decorated it with cherries and attempted to write on top.

After dinner Katya, Alex and Gabe (our friend's little boy that was staying with us for several days) ran around the "circle" like crazy. Basically, the layout of our house is that if you start in the kitchen, then go through the living room, down the hallway pass the bathroom, laundry room and entrance area, you end up right where you started near the fridge... All accompanied by lots of squealing noises....

And finally eating the cake....YUM!

School stuff and more

--Katya leaves for school every morning at 7:40 am. If she arrives before 7:55 am, she has to stand and wait outside till the class door opens. And I mean OUTSIDE. Her teacher's name is Ms. Smith, an older African American woman (who looks like she is still 35), who has been in Misawa for over ten years and has intentions on retiring here.

--Alex goes to preschool three times a week now, from 8:30 till 11:30. In the beginning of this year, the original teacher, Ms. Thelma got promoted and a new teacher started teaching the kids, Ms. Amy. This week, the school added another teacher to the class (of thirteen kids!). Her name is Ms. Yuli, a Japanese native, who speaks pretty good English.

--I am still wondering if I should have signed up Alex for Japanese preschool. But every time I think that I wouldn't have him from 9 am till 2 pm and how much money it would cost me, I think that I made the right choice. Plus dealing with picking him up and Mark's nap would be very incovenient. If we lived off base...now that's a different story.

--When Mark turns 18 months this summer, I am planning to sign him up for Japanese "daycare" for once a week for just 3-4 hours. I am definitely looking forward to that as well.

--By the way, Mark is finally walking--at 13 months:) Cutest thing ever. Makes me remember what the other kids look like when they were making their first wobbly steps.

Skiing

I feel like during winter months, life here in Misawa comes to a stand still....unless you ski or snowboard.

There are a number of excellent ski resorts around the area, some just over an hour drive away. A lot of people go skiing every weekend. Renting skis is cheap--only $12 per day and some resorts let you even buy half-day ski lift tickets. Every Saturday, there also ski bus trips available to several closest ski resorts.

So why in the world we still have not gone skiing?? It's middle of February! No good excuse, really. I guess one of the reasons is not being prepared. Last time I went skiing was in high school. So I had to buy some ski masks, ski goggles, and good waterproof gloves. Because I am cheap (ish), I ordered them online, rather than just going to Outdoor Recreation center and getting some (that was the case with goggles). And things like gloves sell out super fast at the BX (our military store here). Anyway, lesson learned--be prepared for the skiing season.

Oh, and of course, finding someone to watch our kids on a weekend is a tough job. I always feel bad asking people to watch my kids on weekends since I feel like it's a day of family fun and not babysitting. I know we could take our kids with us, but then it's not nearly as much fun and we don't get to ski together.

Okay, I am done complaining.
We are going skiing next Friday. Without kids. Even if it's a blizzard.

Robert.

I need your feedback 私はあなたのフィードバックを必要とする

Good morning, afternoon, evening everyone. I never really know what time of day you are going to read this post. For all I know, you might be reading this post yesterday.

I'd like to try something a little different. I want to enlist your help in bringing the most interesting posts to the WatsonSushi blog. The thing is, readership is at an all time low, and I don't know if it's because the stories aren't interesting enough or perhaps it's because we lack celebrity endorsement. Either way, I'd like posts to appeal to your interests or curiosities. What is it about Japan, the military, dentistry (I like that), or the Watson family (I like that too), that you would like to see more of.

Would you like to see more about what it's like to drive in Japan?

With toll booths everywhere . . .

Or more nature pics . . .

And moustached goldfish . . .

How about interesting foods in Japan, in the stores . . .

And the restaurants . . .

Or half-eaten chocolate-swirl bread, Mmmmmm! (think Homer) . . .

Festivals (there's almost always a festival somewhere) . . .

What it's like on an overseas base . . .

Shopping in Japanese grocery stores . . .

Local weather . . .

Japanese culture . . .

Cemetaries . . .

Agriculture . . .

You name it, and I'll deliver. You can count on me. All you have to do is share your feedback by using the convenient comment box below this post.

Disclaimer: when the writer of this post says he will deliver, he really means he'll think about it and might possibly, if he's in a good mood, decide to consider your idea on the basis that he likes you on any given day, except Thursdays 

One more flashback of Tokyo

There's just something about a Japanese fire truck and a guy riding a bike that says "take a picture."

Random restaurant.  Don't know the name of it.  We were really hungry, and tired from walking all over so we followed our noses to this place.  I bet Guy Fieri would add this place to his list of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives (mostly the latter).

You wouldn't know it, but shortly after this photo they found the chopsticks (in a little black box on the table) and it was sword-fighting and drum-playing thereafter.

Odaiba island.  Big Ferris Wheel.  Too scared.  

View from elevated train.  In distance is Rainbow Bridge over Tokyo Bay.  Can you spot the Statue of Liberty?  A few minutes later we were on this bridge.

I like Japanese signs.  Even if you don't know Japanese, somehow the message is always so clear.

I always wondered what would happen if you dropped your hat off the train platform . . . until I spotted this sign

One of my favorites:  wicked witch meets general dentist.

And now I have the hiccups.