T-10, Act I

We've been back from Japan for a couple of weeks now, but I still find myself on a Tokyo high.  I just love this city!

The inspiration for this trip was a lone free day I spent criss crossing the city and its many unique neighborhoods at the end of a short work trip in the summer of 2008.  I found myself entirely charmed by its friendly citizens and often bizarrely unique culture.  I ached to explore on a grander scale and share in the experience with Steph, so we started planning a return visit shortly after I got back.

Of course, a city like Tokyo is best enjoyed with good company, so we naturally invited our friends Nate and Shelly, who jumped on the idea immediately, and added some brand identity with the moniker "T-10" (Tokyo 2010).

The trip broke down into 3 acts. the last of which was a truly epic finale!

Act I:  Akasaka Heat


We base camped at the Grand Prince Akasaka hotel, a modernist high rise hotel designed by renowned Japansese architect Kenzo Tange.  We hit the ground running fast and furious.  Within 48 hours of arrival (all in 90 degree heat, 90 percent humidity), we had explored Akasaka, Yoyogi Park, Harajuku, Ginza, the Tsukiji fish market, Asakusa, Akihabara, and Roppongi.  We drank Asahi at the Asahi Super Dry beer hall, ate roughly 5 pounds of pork, mostly at a bad Japanese restaurant named Yamato, which translates directly to "pig", drank Kamikazes at a Native American shot bar the size of an office cubical, played Pachinko and walked more miles than I care to ever even think about again.

Favorite images and memories from the opening act:

On our way to a yummy dinner on night one

Shelly charmingly asks for more soy sauce after pouring it all into the two ashtrays

Nate tries to extract his dropped chopsticks from the shabu shabu flames.  And we are rolling!!

Exploring Yoyogi Park.  We tried to find the dancing Elvises, but apparently they got shut down :(

Traditional Japanese wedding procession

Harajuku fashion scene...

Shelly joins the fray, bumpin' new camo rain heels!

Ginza - high end shopping district, and the most expensive commercial real estate on Earth!  A bit older crowd, yet still more cutting edge fashion.

Happy diners, before the longest dinner ever, with the least intelligent human being on earth as our waitress...

You can actually see the aura of ineptitude that surrounds her if you look closely...

Tsukiji fish market.  A hive of activity!

breakfast sushi... it comes no fresher!

Asakusa Kannon Temple, Tokyo's largest Buddhist temple

  

Akihabara... electronics town, and our first taste of Pachinko.  

Nate already in the zone, up two fifty an hour in.

And finally... Roppongi. On the suggestion of a co-worker, we ate at Robotaya Roppongi, basically Japanese dinner theater.   Crazy awesome food and entertainment.  A one of a kind experience.

Whew!  I'm exhausted again!  That wraps up Act I.  Act II soon to come... 

unplug

Last weekend marked our annual summer penance to our kids, a.k.a. "camping".  In brief, we are committed to regularly taking the kids camping.  We know how much they love it, it brings the whole family together, away from the distractions, giving us the opportunity to bond with each other... and with dirt.

Camping with a 4 and 6 year old is pretty much nothing like the camping that we are used to.  It requires a lot of work up front, during, and after.  We don't yet feel confident yet to drive long distances to get to the ideal camp areas, and as such are limited to whatever is within a 90 minute drive or less (in this case Lake Kachess).   Activities are also limited to what a 4 year old and 6 year old can handle.  They cannot yet handle activities such as mountain biking, long hikes, or extended fishing.  Fortunately, they are able to fill in the gaps with activities like "dust parties", "dust dances", and rock collecting!

While it is a bit rugged on the grown-ups at this age, we are thrilled to see the joy and elation from their first experiences in the outdoors, and we are laying the foundation for more in depth camping fun down the road.  For now, we are content just to watch them enjoy things like sleeping in a tent, roasting marshmellows (albeit on a propane grill due to the campfire ban we rudely discovered when we arrived), "fishing" for the first time, and "hiking" along the lake shore trail.

Smokey also enjoyed himself, swimming 4 times in 2 days, although he pretty obviously was sick of lying around in dirt by the end of the trip.  He slept for 2 straight days upon our return to Sammamish!

"Hiking" the shore trail with the kids

Enjoying Mom's special eggs and pancakes breakfast!

Taking Smokey swimming...

First time fishing.  Not the ideal location... the campground attendant said "I think some people caught some fish in the spring".  Nevertheless, it was still great fun.  Jackson was a master, successfully casting on his first try!

Fun with dirt...

Cozy camper

Roasting marshmellows over an open propane grill!

It's all worth it!!!

Images from our 5 day long summer

Decent weather was hard to spot this summer, I guess it's pay back for the awesome one we had last year.  At any rate, the kids and dog have managed to maximize the sunny days, with plenty of outdoor stuff.

I also successfully taught Jackson to ride his bike without training wheels in one session.  We are both feeling rather immortal at the moment.  We could slay dragons together.

Back in the Saddle!

Well, we are back from our trip to Tokyo, and despite my best efforts to nullify jet lag by staying up for 32 straight hours, to theoretically force my body to get a full night's sleep on Sammamish time, I find myself sitting here with nothing to do at 2AM.  So, since it's been a month since the last update, I thought I'd get back in the swing of things with a report on Mackenzie's birthday.

It's so hard to come to terms with my little bunny rabbit turning four years old.  While she is excited to be four, and I am happy for her and look forward to all that she will become this year, she is growing up too fast!!  I will always cherish my little 3 year old, with all of her spunk and sass, her big frowns when she is mad and her even bigger smiles when she is happy.  The way she hopped everywhere she went.   How she liked to walk around on the balls of her feet, and I will proudly remember how I vigilantly defended her right to do so, despite Steph's well meaning concerns that she would develop calf issues or arch issues or something (I don't know.  It seemed silly to me).  Most of all, her very big heart and adoring love for her family.  The best part is that this quality will only grow bigger, along with her!

Back to the birthday deets:

Mackenzie creatively chose to have a "Tinkerbell pony party" for her birthday, inviting a dozen or so of her closest friends to Farrel McWhirter park in Redmond for pony riding and Tinkerbell cake and snacks.  Jackson was very excited by this choice, as you will recall that at his version of a pony party he got some kind of heat stroke or something and had a miserable time.  So finally he got a chance to relive the scene with full zeal and gusto.  Mackenzie loved riding ponies, pretending to milk a cow, opening presents, and just being the special girl on a special day with friends.

Of course, in our grand tradition, she got a second birthday celebration with family.   She was very excited to see all of her grandparents, her uncle Matt, and her cousin Gracie.   She chose a special birthday dinner of home made macaroni and cheese, watermelon, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, and pineapple.  She of course enjoyed a second birthday cake, surprising us with her choice of spice cake.  And she took home a princessly haul of gifts, including, but not limited to: a Disney Sleeping Beauty Castle with all the characters, her own reclining Tinkerbell lawn chair, barbie stuff, Silver Mist doll, a pink soccer ball, and a Tinkerbell Polly Pockets collection from her thoughtful brother.

Kenzie likes to fully immerse herself in her gifts before opening!

Six and zero quarters

Jackson has finally rounded the turn and is no longer "Five and three quarters" years old.  To mark the occasion of his 6th birthday, he celebrated three times!

First, he had his "kid" birthday, bowling with a dozen or so of his closest pals.

Trademark intensity

Mackenzie displays her unique follow through

Cake #1...

Next, he had a little impromptu add on celebration at his buddy Eli's house, with a special number 6 candle on the kids' dessert, which happened to be cake.

Cake #2...

Finally, he had his traditional family birthday celebration on the 4th of July at our house.  While rain caused us to miss the big fireworks show for the first time in Jackson's young existence, we were lucky enough to watch a smaller version out our back window, as many of the lake shore residents invested their kids' college funds in their own private shows on their docks.

Overall, it was a nice extended kickoff to our very late arriving Seattle summer, and we are enjoying building our first memories in our new home!

Cake #3  Steph's traditional flag cake!

Jackson loves his new Ichiro road jersey from his sister

Patriotic Kenzie