How life is getting back to normal

I promised myself this is not going to be another depressing post from Lyana. Simply because I am not depressed:) No, Misawa doesn’t feel the same with so many friends and little kids gone. Even Weasel’s Den (on base indoor playground) was empty this Saturday morning. No, we still cannot go travel anywhere south of Hachinohe (basically only 40 minutes away). Nevertheless, life IS getting back to normal.

Katya and Alex have school as normal. I am very happy that Katya could continue with her piano lessons, because her teacher didn’t leave. Most kids in the neighborhood have left. So kids have to be very creative about what they can do while playing outside.

It snowed last Saturday. As usual, Misawa is full of surprises. Robert used this last chance to go sledding with the kids at the Ski Lodge.

The snow was perfect for building this huge snowman.

On Monday, for Family Home Evening, we decided to take the kids to the BX (our military store) and have them pick out toys/snacks/whatever for their “backpack buddies”. Misawa Girl Scouts are doing the same project, so we thought it would be a great opportunity for kids to pick out new things from the store to give to the kids in Sendai to cheer them up. Katya and Alex loved it! My mom and sister also decided to contribute by having me pick out some items to fill a backpack “From Ukraine with love”:)

Yesterday (Friday), Robert had a day off. When we woke up, saw that it was going to be a sunny day, we decided that we had to get out and go for a drive somewhere. After playing a few tricks on kids for April Fools’ Day, we sent Katya and Alex to school, hopped in the car and went down to Hachinohe. First, we stopped by the salvage yard.

A very strange place which is not really a salvage yard, but more of a “second hand store of random items from Japan—antique and new”. On the picture above, you cannot see several more garages/buildings full of stuff. Robert found a wooden xylophone (without a hammer) and a wooden Kokeshi-like doll with a wooden neck ring of unknown origin. I have been searching online about what it could be, but still have no idea. I’ll have to post a picture later.  

Then we drove to Kabushima Island. In the beginning of April last year, we visited that place as a family.

A lot has changed around there as we can see.

After Katya and Alex came back from school, Robert took all the kids to our Misawa beach. He’ll tell you all about it later, I hope.

In the evening, we even squeezed in a date!! Yes! A dinner alone! We went to our favorite Indian restaurant “New Delhi”. Garlic Naan=yum! Lyena, it wasn’t spicy.

See? Things are pretty normal around here….except who is this kid sitting in his high chair, lounging around? Do you want to know what he is eating?  Green beans and elbow macaroni with a ton of squash in it (Mark’s version of Mac’n’cheese)-his favorite.

 

And what is this?? Several days ago, Mark was determined to go swimming….And he wanted to put his swim diaper ON TOP of his pants….He was wearing it like that all day. His sun glasses are a new addition to his everyday accessories. He calls them “eyes”.      

It’s Saturday night and it’s almost midnight. Have a good night!