A visit from Aya

When we first moved to Japan (Sendai) I would frequently go on long walks around the neighborhoods where we lived. I would put Cailey and Bryant (then 2 1/2 and 9 months old) in our double stroller and go. On a day in October I was on one of these walks and on this day my quest was to find all the parks within walking distance of our home. I found a park that I didn't know about up a street that I had never walked on before. When we got there the kids wanted to get out and play. At this point we had only lived in Japan for about a month and I only knew about 10 words in Japanese. The only other people at the park were a little girl and her mom. The little girl (Shiho) and Cailey started playing together. Shiho's mom, Aya, started talking to me. I know that it was not a coincidence that we met there that day. Aya became one of my best friends while we lived in Sendai, we got together with them at least once a week. I just love Aya so much. Last April Aya's husband got transfered to Saitama which is also near Tokyo. Last weekend we were finally able to get together. Aya now has another little girl, Maho. We had such a good time with them.

This is Mitsuzawa park, 5 minutes from our house. Cailey and Shiho played so well together. It was really fun to see them playing together, both a bit older and Cailey now fluent in Japanese.

Eikaiwa/Cooking Class

I mentioned before that I started teaching English again to some of the moms in the yochien walking group. We decided it should involve cooking as well. We held our second class on October 15, and made 2 kinds of homemade pasta, spinach fettucine and ravioli. We always have a really good time together.
Of course we also had an English lesson. Oh, and it's ginger ale...I know you were wondering.

Kodomo no Kuni (Children's Land)

On October 13th (monday) Shane had work off because of some Japanese holiday and so we decided to make the most of the beautiful fall day. We took the kids to a place in Yokohama called Kodomo no Kuni (Children's land). It is a place that is, well...a land completely dedicated to children. It is run by the government and acres and acres of land was set aside for it years ago. It is not like Disneyland, more like the biggest park you've ever seen.

Right after you go through the park entrance a huge black top surface goes up a hill. Sidewalk chalk is in basins for the kids to draw on it, and so EVERY inch is covered in pictures drawn by the kids.

This big blow up bounce house is "Anpanman". He is a very popular cartoon character among the kids here. Bryant had a great time jumping in it.

Isaac and dad hanging out.

Cailey is in something that you go in on one side and climb through it until you come out on the other side.

We lost Bryant inside this next one for about a half an hour. It is kind of like a maze inside. You can climb around and go on different levels. He was having a great time, but we couldn't fit inside to go look for him. Definitely a kid's paradise.

This next picture I took mostly for the benefit of my friend Katie Shepard...just one of those things you will only find in Japan, a spinning onigiri (rice ball with seaweed on it. It's like the peanut butter sandwich of Japan, a staple).

A big roller slide that looked way funner than it actually was.

The cat's out of the bag...

"Where will we be a year from now?" That is a conversation that Shane and I have had many times in our marriage. This past year the topic has come up quite a bit. Will we still be in Japan? Will we be back in Tucson? Michigan? Mexico? Right now it is looking like our next home will be in Los Mochis, Mexico. (Don't ask why I took a picture of my computer screen instead of just embedding the image...I tried and gave up, so do a google map search yourself if you want to see it better!)

Shane just got back from a long business trip and the last week of it he was in Los Mochis. His boss had brought up the possibility of us going there next a few months ago. This was a great opportunity for Shane to "feel it out" since he had never been there before. While he was there someone from HR took him around and showed him Los Mochis. The picture below is of Walmart and Sam's club. After being without those stores for this long, Shane was already sold on the living there.
Here is a private preschool that Bryant could attend.

This is the school that Cailey would go to. It is a private Catholic school that is bilingual. Half the day in English and half in Spanish. Our poor kids are going to be so confused...another language! (sorry kids)

A nice house in one of the communities we could live in (not the house, the community).

So if this really does pan out, we will probably be here in Japan until sometime in March. That is when the school year ends here and when our rental contract on the house we live in ends. We may be in Tucson for a month or two and then down to Los Mochis. How do I feel about this? I really have mixed emotions. I have absolutely loved living in Japan. It has been a great experience. I will be sad to leave, yet happy to at least be on the same continent (and the same time zone, no more jet lag Yeah!!) as our families. I am excited to be able to use the spanish that I learned on my mission again. I am a bit nervous about the crime, drugs and kidnappings. But, we feel good about going there, so everything will work out.