Go Viking

One thing we have been looking forward to is finding one of our favorite types of restaurants in Misawa - a Viking restaurant. Well, we found one. The term "viking" refers to "all you can eat" here in Japan. They are typically buffet style but some with a little twist. For all we know, they are all like this now. Anyhow, we didn't know really what to expect except that on the windows, their pictures said "order and self." Well, both are true. Only problem we quickly discovered is that the ordering is all done on a touch pad screen at your table - and not in English. With a little help from one of the managers (we think) who explained the way the restaurant worked in English to us, we figured out enough to certainly get our fill. Especially of the dessert items. Oh, and the neat part is, which was slightly stressful with kids (and hot) is that you cook your meat and veggies on a little grill in the center of your table. This is what we thought the "self" part referred to, but it wasn't. I think the the "self" referred to the buffet and the "order" referred to the touch pad screen. This was the only disappointing part. I remember a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables. This restaurant lacked that, plus you had to order them from the kitchen. Which, if there more available we wouldn't know, due to the language barrier. We might go back or we might try another one elsewhere, but either way, Gabe said he had a fun time. Who wouldn't when mom and dad let you eat ice cream and a doughnut in one sitting!

Happy Easter

Well, we had quite a week leading up to Easter Sunday, and the big day itself took us on a driving adventure all its own. After a week of potty training, Friday a friend took us to a really cool park, named the Robinson Cruso Park. It is a kid sized obstacle course that goes up and down a big hill. It's a workout on its own, but equally a lot of fun. Especially the bamboo slide that even I went on. It was the smoothest slide I have ever been on. Gabe also started riding his big bike. This totally made Walter's day. He practiced all week long so he was ready for his debut bike ride around the flight line Saturday morning. It was a tough ride, as the head wind was blowing strong and relentless, but he did great. Walter strapped the kids' bikes to the back of the kid seat with a bungee cord, so once Gabe was tired he just hopped on the back of Walter's bike and enjoyed the ride home. Genna officially potty trained. Thanks to a friend we acquired a pretty pink princess toilet and she loves it. Thankfully she will go on a big toilet if we are away from home, but it if we are home, only her princess toilet will do. Regardless, the girl is good to go and we are so proud of her! So fun. Saturday turned out to be the big bike riding morning. We went to an "egg grab" - an Easter egg hunt, but you know how fast kids can be at grabbing "hidden" eggs - on the other side of base. Once home we found they base had opened the street next to us to the local community so people could see the cherry blossom trees in full bloom. The fire station had a fire truck out and bounce house, so Walter took the kids out there, and of course they loved it. Sunday proved to be the real adventure. We had a GPS mis-hap and ended up and hour and a half away from our desired location, literally facing an open field, in the middle of no where. We had absolutely no idea where we were. Thankfully a friend picked up her phone and gave us her coordinates, and we ended up making it to our location, and had a great afternoon. The kids favorite part I do believe were the little animals they got to hold. The drive home was a quick 45 minutes as opposed to the THREE HOUR drive that morning! HA! That's one notable difference! We definitely felt like in Misawa, up north, we could drive places and eventually we'd figure out where we were. Here, there are so many buildings and little streets, and it all looks the same - it is so confusing! You know how in the states when you go from city to city, no matter the size, there seems to be a less dense space between the two places? Here that is not the case. Because the houses and factories and apartments and businesses and restaurants . . . etc. . . . are so intermixed, it all looks the same and there are no "breaks" or less dense space. Plus, the Japanese written language is so different, reading is not an option, especially from the drivers seat! A perfect recipe for getting easily lost - and the perfect excuse for a "car picnic." We now call edemame "magic beans" - thank you Puss-n-Boots! That said, we really did have a fun weekend and the weather on Sunday couldn't have been more perfect.

Well, sayonara folks.

Hope everyone is enjoying their Easter!