Fuji Safari Park

Day 2 (Monday) we visited Fuji Safari Park...Lions, Tigers and Bears oh MY! It was a lot of fun. We chose not to take our own car in, but rent a caged bus so we could actually feed the animals. We made the mistake if not getting in line a little earlier before the park opened only because the first bus ride we were able to get was 10:20 and the lions were already a little full. Other than that it was a lot of fun as you can see by the pictures below.

Kiss anyone????

We even took a picture of Aunt Julie's favorite animal all the way over here in Japan. Megan and Kyle were so excited when they saw them and said we have to take a picture for Aunt Julie.... The FLAMINGO!!!

After the bus ride we walked around the rest of the park and saw some other animals. Here is a picture of a white kanagaroo.

Look at this picture really close. There is a Joey in her pouch. We thought it was so cool.My two Joey's....

Good eye, Dad. He figured out this sign written in Kanji (Japanese) to get your picture taken with a baby cub. Kyle was a little scared and dropped the poor thing. We really couldn't get any without the zookeeper's hand in the way put still for 500 yen (about $5.00) worth the pictures and the experience.

Here's a picture of Megan feeding little monkey's they were cute and hungry. We tried and tried to get a baby to eat but only captured a picture.
Here's Swiss Family Kelsey's, our last venture for the day. We couldn't trust Megan and Kyle to go by themselves because we thought for sure one of them would knock the other one into the water. Even with Dad I wasn't sure they still weren't all going to end up in the water. It looked a little unstable out there, it wasn't a very big raft.

Odawara Castle

Day 1 (Sunday) of our first Japanese vacation started off with a scenic drive to Mt. Fuji via the long way (no tolls aka the cheap way). Along the way, we made a stop to visit the Odawara Castle recommended by one of my neighbors.

The Odawara castle is actually a restoration of the original castle. The original castle was constructed in 1590 by the lord Ujinao Hojo. It was later beseiged and taken over by the Okubo Clan. Fires, wars and earthquake all took their toll on the original building. The new construction was completed in 1960. The viewing area at the top of the castles offers some nice views of Odawara city and nearby Sagami bay. The inside of the castle houses an interesting collection of samurai armour and swords. On the grounds of the castle there is a somewhat out of place small zoo and an elephant.

Here's a picture of Megan as we are getting ready to enter the grounds of the castle. She is posing as usual.

The three of us posing on a bridge leading to one of the many stairways to the castle. It is quite a ways up to the actual castle.

We had a chance to actually dress up in traditional Japanese Geisha and Samurai wear. It was fun but very hot. I don't know how they did it, it was over 90 degrees that day and we were sweating.

After we left Odawara, on our drive to Fuji, we saw this neat little restaurant with a windmill on top. It advertised a garden so we thought we'd pullover. There was no garden, but very yummy ice cream.

Swimming Lesson Victory

Yeah, Kyle Did IT!!! He is now officially in Level 3. He has been working really hard all summer and his hard work finally paid off. He's moved on from Level 2 and will be moving up to Level 2 in two weeks when we come back from our trip to Mt. Fuji and surrounding area.

Kyle loves to swim and he is like a fish in the water, but they kept holding him back in Level 2. They weren't sure if he had the endurance required for Level 3. He kept at it though. We are very proud of him. Notice in the pictures he's no longer wearing ear plugs and his headband...his tubes are both out and are no longer required. Let's keep our fingers crossed we are done with them and he has a good winter!

These pictures were taken last week. I've been a little slow down loading my camera and updating the blog. Sorry!

My little studmuffin!

Family 5K

Well we did our first Family 5K Run/Walk last night. By family, I mean Don ran the entire thing, I stayed with Megan and Kyle who were supposed to walk with me but instead took off running at the gates so I ended up running part of it anyways. I'm just not a runner, it hurts my knees. I can speed walk just fine. Kyle was running and crying, "I want my Daddy", trying to catch up with Don who was long gone. So the kids and I ran/walked to the water station then turned around and on the way back mostly walked back, Kyle was so tired by then. I told Don he when he finished he had to walk back and get us. I wasn't sure if Kyle would make it or need help carrying back, and we all know I can't lift the little Kahuna.

Don only met us about the last 1/2 mile. The kids did really really great. The race started at 7pm so it was getting really dark, but there was no heat and hardly any humidity, it was only 80 out so it was perfect. On the way to the waterstation when Kyle was still running it was cool, he was one of it not the youngest actually running and everyone was giving him "high 5's" and going "good job buddy", so he was excited about that. After Don caught up with us him and Megan jogged back to the finish line. I walked with Kyle until the end and the last few hundred feet I made him run over the finish line, he was crying and saying "my feet are broken" but everyone was clapping and yelling "GO KYLE". He made it at 44 minutes and I think 12 seconds. Not bad for his first race. We just wish we had our camera or they took pictures. But I was already carrying my wallet, keys,2 t-shirts (for entering) and a water bottle. What did Don carry: Nothing. Now, if we still had a stroller no problem, but I was not about to add a camera and try and run and walk. I already had my hands full. So instead here are pictures of us from when we got home. Don had to carry Kyle for a while home.

Also, when Kyle woke up this morning I had to give him motrin, he was limping so bad his feet hurt. I should have remembered it last night. Enjoy the pictures.

Happy 15th Anniversary

WOW!!! I can't believe it's been that long already. Today, Don and I celebrate our 15th anniversary. We were married 15 years ago in Washington in my Uncle David and Aunt Carolyn's Backyard of their house overlooking the Olympic mountains.

We went to dinner this past Saturday night at the Wellington's Restaurant at the New Sanno Hotel in Tokyo. The kids stayed with Miss Emma. They had a blast. We dined in pure elegance. Don ordered off the main menu with a tomato and mozarella salad and prime rib. While I had their 6-coure Mediterranean course, which was awesome. My favoirte was the appetizer and dessert. The phillo dough stuffed with feta cheese and sundried tomatoes and the baklava served with coffee. Don't get me wrong the roasted chicken dish with green olives, garlic, potatoes and veggies and other items were good too. The salad was interesting it was artichokes, red onion, yellow peppers, kalamata olives, orange slices and a vinagrette. It was good. Then Don didn't order dessert and they brought out these homemade dark chocolate truffles rolled in cocoa powder...aah HEAVEN!

Megan Update...She is doing great. She's fully recovered and back to herself. She's eating, playing, running (we did a family 5K last night to be covered later). She's gone a couple nights in a row now where she hasn't woken up crying about her throat so I think we are good.

Recovery Update - Day 4

Megan's recovery from her tonscillectomy is going very slowly! Yesterday, I had to put in a call to the doctor as my last threat to get her to drink something. Three ice pops (the skinny tube ones that you buy in a box of 200, not anything big) were not going to cut it. I knew her throat hurt but she just was not taking in enough fluids. That did the trick! Between the time I made the phone call at 230pm and after Dad came home from work she around 530pm, she drank 1 cup of carnation instant breakfast drink. Then we got her to drink another cup, so she atleast finally had some fluids in her. She was looking extremely pale. We were afraid we were going to have to take her to the ER to put an IV in her. She definitely can be stubborn, like her mom.

I put her on the scale this morning she has lost 2 lbs. She has eaten a ice pop, 1/3 of a container of a jello cup and 1/3 cup of carnation drink this morning. So hopefully the day is off to a better start. I've tapered her pain meds down to only 3 times a day. She still complains her throat really hurts to swallow. The ice pops really freeze her throat. The child has a free for all pass on ice cream and refuses to eat it, sherbert or push pops. She says swallowing it hurts too much.

For those that have asked, she had her tonsils removed as well as her adnoids for a few reasons the main being her sleep apnea like breathing at night. She was a loud snorer since she's like 2 or 3. We've taken her to the ENT since 3 and they've treated her with nasal steroids. She has allergies so they've treated that, she sleepwalks, and she sleeps 10 1/2 hours a night and still wakes up tired. However, the biggest thing is she would sleep at night snore and then stop breathing for a second or two then really catch her breath and start snoring again. It was kind of scary. When the ENT doctor looked at her he said her adenoids were big but when he took out her tonsils they were much larger than he could see on the scope and glad he got them out, they were really blocked by her adenoids and he just couldn't see how large they were. Eventhough she's in pain now, despite the moans of pain at night, her breathing and sleeping is much quieter already. So it was a success!

Surgery Day for Megan

Well today, Tuesday, was surgery day for Megan. She had her Tonsils and Adenoids out. Megan and I arrived at the hospital at 6am while Dad stayed at home with Kyle until he could drop him off at daycare when they opened at 7am. Her surgery was set for 730am.

Megan was happy she could play with her DS to keep her occupied before surgery. Here she is after she changed into her hospital gown. She was not excited with the fact that she couldn't wear any undies.

Thank heavens for the DS, it kept her mind off the upcoming surgery. We were in our room where she will come after she has come out of recovery.

Here we have been wheeled down to the OR holding area. The anesthesiologist has just come in and explained to her, I and Popo what will take place once she goes into the OR. We are still waiting for Daddy. He showed up about 15 minutes later.

The surgery was about 30 mintues. Everything went well. We were only away from Megan for about 45 minutes before we were allowed back into recovery. We could hear here screaming waking up from the anesthesia. She was a wild women. She wasn't as hard to control as Kyle, but the girl has a set of LUNGS!

Now, we are back up in our original room. We spent about 30 minutes or so in recovery. Megan slept for a good hour as soon as I crawled into bed with her.

Her throat was really sore. We are pumping her full of Tylenol with codeine every 4 hours per docs orders to minimize the pain. She is eating popsicles and sherbert. Only cold things for the next 2-3 days. The popsicles are easier than swallowling juice. She was a trooper.

We finally got her home about 12 noon. She read some books, I took a 1 1/2 hour nap, and her and daddy did what they do best ........Star Wars!