The New Sanno

Mike had a dental conference this past week in Tokyo. It was at the navy hotel downtown called, The New Sanno. It's a pretty nice hotel that military members can stay at for a really reasonable price.   

Anyway, Mike went down on Monday and we came down on Wednesday. We hung out in the room a lot. But Thursday we went to the zoo. Here are some pics from the week.

 On Wednesday at the conference, they had a dinner for the attendees and their spouses. We didn't know what it would be like and didn't really have a babysitter so I didn't go. Maybe next year if Mike goes to this conference we'll plan a little better and I'll go. It looked fun.

 Japanese drummers

There was a ton of food. This was just a small bit.

They had some form of Japanese martial arts going on.

The next day I took the girls to the Ueno Zoo. Annabelle really likes elephants, but wasn't in the mood for posing.

Apparently she really likes birds as well.

This is the kids' petting farm. They have this mouse box where you can hold and play with mice!

She kept getting close, but never would hold one.

They had another area with chickens and goats that you could pet.

Eedie wasn't scared at all.

She kept going right up next to them... even tried to sit on this one.

Looking at the pigs.

This man gave Annabelle a brush and showed her how to use it on the goat.

You could even hold the chickens!

Annabelle was trying to chase this chicken.

The man tried to let her hold one, but she got scared and took off.

It was pretty cool getting to see the hippo.

This guy stayed like that the whole time... made me wonder if he was real or not.

I think this might have been the biggest turtle I have ever seen. It doesn't look as big in this picture but this guy was huge!

I had been craving some Mexican food, so we went to a place called "La Jolla" close to our hotel. It was pretty good... still looking for something like good ol' "Casa Fiesta" from the college years.

This was at a store near our hotel. The train toy on the foreground cost around $200!

We walked in the other night to find Annabelle and Eedie both reading.

We dyed some Easter eggs for Family Home Evening this week.

Eedie patiently waiting for the eggs.

Annabelle likes to beat on things. I'm afraid she's going to want to be a percussionist. But with Eedie, we might have a wind player on our hands. She kept going around blowing into this tube, making whistling sounds, having a good old time.

We got the sparkly kit this year. Don't know that they turned out that great. The crazy one in the back is Mike's "dino" egg. I think next year we might opt for the Monster ones... the ones with the hair. Those are fun!

And an update on the sweets fast... it's been 4 1/2 weeks... only 2 1/2 more to go! It still stinks. I still want treats, but I can tell that it's probably going to shock my system when I eat them again. I had some of Eedie's yogurt and actually couldn't eat much, it was too sweet.

Anyway... that's all for now!

Snow Day

They don't typically get much snow in this part of Japan especially this time of year, but this last week we got 6-8 inches in ONE day! It was pretty exciting. Mike got to come home a little early, so he took Annabelle outside to play. I stayed inside with Eedie since she had been running a high temp.

It just kept coming that morning.

Annabelle did not want to go outside at first.

She kind of liked it once she got out there and wasn't worried about being too cold.

I guess she decided playing in the snow is more fun without gloves.

Watching some of the other kiddies...

Building a snowman

Mike said she kept pushing the snowman over.

 

It's been two weeks since we started our sugar fast and I still want a cookie... really badly. I have opted for these Asian pears. I don't know how expensive they are in the states these days, but these bad boys are about $5 a pear here. Maybe because they come in this awesome packaging...

Only 35 more days....AHHH!!!!!

Presidents' Day - Showa Park

For past 3 weeks we have all been sick at one time or another. Mike got a cold first, passed it on to Eedie, then on to me, and lastly to Annabelle. So we stay inside a lot. Then, when I was going to post, things got a little busy and that is why this is a little late. 

Before she got sick, Annabelle was actually quite the help swiffering...

and feeding Eedie.

It had been a while since Mike and I had been on a real date, by ourselves, and not at home watching a movie. So we went to a little Mexican place we heard was good. It was Tex-Mex as we found out, and we aren't really Tex-Mex fans. It looked really good, it just had a different taste than we are used to.

In front of the cool sign.

 We have seen these before, but never had the camera with us. It's a hotdog (with mayo) and just sits out all the time at the gas station. We haven't tried one yet.

We thought the 7-11's here didn't have slurpees, but found out at least one actually does. This was the best part of the date for Mike.

I wanted to celebrate Mardi Gras this year in honor of my friend from Louisiana, Elizabeth. We had some friends over from church, my friend Austin, her husband and their two kids. We made some gumbo, red beans and rice, and this king cake. It all turned out pretty good.

We forgot to take a picture before we tore into the cake.

After we got done eating, we found Annabelle and Brentlee had piled some of Annabelle's toys and all of her furniture on the bed. We made them pose with it all.

Flowers... candy... cards... no thanks. I'll take this awesome blender my hubs got me this year for Valentine's. I'm not going to post what I got for him, but let's just say... he liked it.

So maybe it's the radiation here in Japan... I'm not sure. But for some reason I have to decided to go on a sugar fast until Easter. It's only been a week so far. Last Sunday I wanted to only eat sugar all day long. We had muffins for breakfast, pancakes for lunch, and cinnamon rolls and ham and cheese rolls for dinner. I would have gone without the ham and cheese but I was starting to not feel well, so I told Mike we better have something substantial. By the end of the day, I basically had to force myself to eat the chocolate chip cookie dough brownies I had made. The past week hasn't been as bad as I thought it might be. The sugariest thing that we eat is basically cranberries or raisins. Can't wait til Easter. Hopefully by then, I won't even care anymore!

Monday was Presidents' Day so we decided to go to Showa Park with some friends. We have wanted to go for a while. It's a pretty big park. Lots of things were closed because of it being winter, but we can't wait to go back this summer. Anyway here are some pics from the park.

These are some bouncy marshmallow things, we have seen before at a different park. Eedie really enjoyed it.

It took a little while for Annabelle to warm up to them, but after she did, she had a great time.

Eedie posing.

Yes, the signs say "Only for junior high school students and under" but we saw Japanese adults jumping on them so we figured it was okay. =)

Annabelle riding with her friends in a wagon.

A little dog was enjoying some ice cream.

Not sure what this stuff was, but Annabelle saw some Japanese people taking a picture in front of it. She went over to it and wanted me to take a picture of her.

This area is a giant water park. It has one of the biggest swimming pools in the prefecture. It looks really fun. We'll be sure and make a trip there this summer.

Til next time...