In Lieu of the Baby Book

I think I'll just give up on the baby book and fully document Wyatt's life here, 'kay? The baby book kind of makes me feel like a slacker (which, I probably am). But there are reasons! For example, we don't take a newspaper so I couldn't have clipped out a headline from the day he was born unless I sent Jeff to the store for the Stars & Stripes pseudo-paper the day after Wyatt was born (since everything here is kind of behind, somehow) and I didn't save our bracelets from the hospital because they were just another little piece of clutter in a very "must clear all unnecessary clutter" time of our lives. Besides, I hadn't exactly read through the entire book to anticipate all the items I was supposed to keep. Oops. (Before any of the grandmas start hyperventilating, I should confess that I am making an attempt at the book. There are just some....omissions.)

ANYWAY, all this is just to tell you (or the future me, for when Wyatt is asking) that yesterday was the first day Wyatt sat up on his own; he has finally mastered the belly to all fours to sitting calisthenics. Very exciting stuff. And look at his new trick!

That's right - Mr. Tambourine Man can prop himself right up on his super-cool leapfrog music table. And then he can turn to you with the look that says, "check me out, mama. I'm pretty cool stuff!" before falling over. Shades of things to come...

And it's now official: 8 months is my favorite age. This gig is getting good!

Really, I'm Just High on Life

One of the benefits of living 'over here' as opposed to 'over there' is that we are closer to the birthplace of approximately 99% of the world's goods (this is my own estimation carefully calculated by how many made in China stickers I encounter) and that makes some of these goods a great deal; specifically, I'm referring to furniture. For the first time in our lives, Jeff and I have made a major furniture purchase and our new table, chairs and hutch have taken up residence in our living room.

The downside to being so close to its birthplace? The stain was still wet (according to my super-observant husband) on a shelf in the hutch and it smells a little like we're living inside a permanent marker. Don't worry, though, I have all the windows open in hopes of preventing lasting effects for Wyatt. Oh, and I'm pretty sure whatever is used to create this beautiful finish probably goes against my eco-friendly post from a few days ago. What can I say? Two steps forward, one step back.

As a tangent to this purchase, I had the benefit of watching Japanese movers again in delivering this stuff and picking up all our loaner stuff. I swear to you, these people are 1/64th ant. That's the only logical explanation for the fact they can carry approximately 17 times their body weight as if it's no big deal. I came thisclose to asking the guy this morning if I could take his picture as he - I'm not exaggerating - wore our dining room table like a turtle shell and walked it out of our house. Or maybe it just looked that way to me since I'm high.

Google Video - You Are a Timesuck.

I finally got some crawling video uploaded but can't get it to post. Why is this? Blogger and Google are the same people; why does it keep telling me it's invalid login information? NO IT ISN'T!!! Aaargh. So now the laundry's not put away and Wyatt's going to wake up anytime. Nice.

Who am I kidding? Stuff like this distracts me all the time. In fact, I wrote this post yesterday and couldn't get the stinkin' link to even work so now, finally...FINALLY you can see Wyatt do his best rendition of crawling.

And don't get too excited because anything that takes this long to post can't really be that great. Without further ado, here you go.

All Done!

Well, I think Wyatt officially has his first "word". We've been doing the sign for all done from about day one and lately he's been using it while he's in his highchair but not necessarily at the right times. However, lunch today might have been our breakthrough! Every time I'd offer up a spoonful of bananas, he'd start waving his hands and - I swear - even said ah-dah (although he says ah-dah a lot, so this could definitely be a fluke). He continued to eat his puffs and peas and took some more sips of formula, so I think he really just didn't want bananas and figured out how to tell me. Cool!

*****
updated 24 hours later: Wyatt has also now informed us that he is all done with his diaper change (halfway through) and with his carseat (as we're loading into the car). Perhaps this wasn't the best choice for a new word?

Quick Turn on the Soapbox

I remember Lisa telling me that after Nathan was born, she started thinking more about the environment. At the time, I thought that was just her Colorado-ness coming through :) Now, however, I totally get it. I find myself wondering what we're leaving for our kids and our kids' kids. Seriously, what if we don't stop throwing everything in landfills? What if we don't stop eating weird additives in all our food? What if we keep driving smog-producing, gas-guzzling huge SUV's just because it's the "cool" thing to do and we think we need all that room? Don't get me wrong - I'm totally guilty of all of these things on some level. I mean, we have a lovely 4Runner waiting in storage for us that we will drive until it dies, I'm guilty of tossing some recyclables into the trash because it seems like a pain at the time to wash them out and let's not ignore the fact that we are happily using disposable diapers. But this stuff is important and I'm really trying, in my own little ways, to be more environmentally responsible.

That's the best part. All would take is a little bit from each of us and we could make a huge impact on the future of our planet. We need simple, small shifts in attitude. For example: Japan has recycling containers everywhere (like next to every vending machine, so you know that's a bazillion) and people here actually put the right stuff in each bin. But when I flew through O'Hare last time, I noticed people couldn't even manage to put their newspapers in the provided recycling bins. Instead, they dumped them right into the trash next to the recycling bin. See what I'm saying? It's just not that hard. And until we all do our tiny, little, easy part, it's not going to get any better.

That's why I liked this website that my friend Jackie told me about. Check it out: www.planetfesto.org. Make your piece. Make one small change in your everyday life and feel good about yourself. Wyatt thanks you.

Karma Rocks

I've had this issue since we've lived in Japan that I cannot find a hairdresser/stylist/lady/man/what-do-they-like-to-be-called-these-days that I like. And we've lived here for two years so it's not exactly a temporary problem.

But I think I've been scarred by these two years of missteps with my 'do, which has included but was not limited to: the Japanese lowlight fiasco that was deemed a "squadron hair emergency" (which, by the way, is when you know you really have good friends), many questionable cuts and trips to random stylists' homes that may have had one of the following: overfull litter boxes in the cutting area, dog feces on the floor, kitchen sinks as wash basin, etc. Get the picture? I'm not kidding when I say this has been one of the most difficult - if not the absolute hardest - things about living here. So I've gone to someone in the states every time I've been home but that person doesn't understand what I mean by "please not too many short layers because it's crazy humid year-round where I live and my hair turns into a big poof-ball". This misunderstanding was proven by the cut I received in December. Not good, people. Not good. And REALLY not good when that same cut has been growing unchecked since December.

But today! Well, today changed all that. Through friends, I finally found someone who not only understands my hair but actually works in a real salon. So Rumiko-san, on the off-chance you stumble across this blog, you should know I really wanted to hug you today. I mean, I've been in a funk lately and as you started cutting my hair (dry, mind you, which no one has done before but I had the utmost confidence in the way you studied the way it lay and stepped back as though you were sculpting to get a different perspective on my mane) I swear I felt weight lifting off my shoulders. I started feeling all giddy inside! It was so cool the way I'd be thinking "ahhh, that is so much better!" and you'd be excitedly whispering "so, so , so" to yourself (translation: yeah, yeah, yeah). And then when you washed it and gave me that awesome scalp massage? I wanted to see if you would be my new best friend. Then to top it all off, you dried it and sculpted some more. Heck, you even discovered why there's always that one section that ends up in a funny place; I never knew my natural part wanted to be so diagonal!

I have no idea if my hair really looks better to anyone else, but to me it's freaking fantastic. And that's really all that matters, right? So I wanted to let you know it was TOTALLY worth my hour and a half in the dentist's chair and being numb for 6 hours if this was my payback. And to this, I can only conclude that indeed, karma rocks.

Fifteen Steps to a Better Me

I had the unpleasant task of going to the dentist today, had to get a filling redone. This was actually my second attempt at this appointment because the first one, two weeks ago, was cancelled after I arrived at the clinic since the tech hadn't shown up for work. Annoying! So today, I was quite pleased when they called me back right on time and got down to business. This is how it went down:

Step 1: place a swab of local anesthetic into the deep recesses of my jaw (this filling's in a molar waaaaaayyy back there). Notice that a/c is blasting full force directly onto me. Am chilly.

Step 2: inject anesthetic and wait 5 minutes for it to take effect. Note that fingers are now turning blue - it's cold in here!

Step 3: check for loss of sensation. What's that? You can still feel your lips and tongue? Let's have another shot. Tech offers a blanket since I'm now shivering (in my jeans, long-sleeved shirt and close-toed shoes, no less). I take her up on the offer.

Step 4: wait 5 minutes, check again. What? It still feels the same? Ummmm, let's try another injection and this time we'll "work it around where it needs to go". Tech wraps blanket over me.

Step 5: Report to dentist that really, nothing feels different except my ear is getting numb. I think it's going the wrong way.

Step 6: Dentist is perplexed. Asks if I have a history of having trouble numbing. Not so much, I reply. Must be my lucky day. Despite blanket, am now shivering again. Having fun yet?

Step 7: Dentist offers to reschedule appointment for another day so we can "try again" or proceed with shot #4 and hope it works. I opt for shot #4 seeing as how this is my second attempt at this appointment already. Shot #4 is administered.

Step 8: Hallelujah! My lips are tingly! I might even be drooling. Let's get this show on the road before my lips turn blue.

Step 9: Dentist inserts some wacky rubber sheet in my mouth to keep things "nice and dry" while he works. This takes a few minutes and is, quite frankly, almost scary. If this thing slips, couldn't I suffocate? Never have had one of these before and am NOT a fan.

Step 10: Commence drilling. Commence turning up iPod really loud to try to drown out the whirrrrrr of the drill. Still hear dentist when he says, hey! my drill doesn't have as much power as it should. Ahhh, that makes me feel good about this.

Step 11: Jump approximately three inches out of chair when holy mother of God, I can feel you drilling!

Step 12: scary rubber thingy removed to inject ANOTHER SHOT. That's right, this is number 5 for those of you keeping track at home. At this point I remark that this isn't going well. The dentist replies that it's a little unusual.

Step 13: after the 5 minute wait, drilling begins again. And just so you know, the Eagles drown out a drill pretty well - something about the pitches matches close enough make it fade into the background.

Step 14: filling the gigantor hole in my molar begins. This, remarkably, goes very quickly. Am thanking God because my core temperature is now hovering around 94 degrees and I cannot stop shivering.

Step 15: bolt out of chair, sprint out of clinic, rejoice in the Crapina's hot interior all the way home. Immediately tell Jeff that Wyatt will have excellent dental hygeine if I have anything to say about it because this procedure SUCKS.

It has now been about 3 hours since the first shot was given and I am still slurring, drooling and numb. I will probably feel this way until about Tuesday, so if we have a chance to talk please remember this instead of assuming I'm drunk. Although that probably would have been a better option.

Now go brush your teeth!

Like Father, Like Son?

Jeff has always had a knack for "organizing" things. His method of straightening up often includes making stacks and then squaring those stacks. I can usually tell if Jeff has picked up because things are in orderly piles and at 90 degree angles to one another.

So I found it pretty funny that Wyatt, left with his box of plastic blocks, a stuffed animal and five minutes to himself while I cleaned up breakfast, created this on the living room floor:

These items were not anywhere close to being in a line when I put him down. What does this mean?

Let the Games Begin

Wyatt started crawling in earnest today. He's been working up to it and we thought he was there the other night (so took about 15 minutes of video just in case we could capture it) but it turns out TODAY was the day.

I took video but failed to realize (again) that I can't video vertically because there's no way to turn it for viewing. I will try to get it posted tomorrow.

It's really cute to see him realizing he can get where he wants to go. And like all new skills, this one is demanding as much practice as possible. Therefore, getting him ready for bed tonight was a wee bit tricky. Lots of rolling on the changing table and definitely attempts to roll over and get on all fours in the bathtub. Not good. Our vigilance has stepped up a notch and I think it's good we picked up another baby gate on Saturday. Looks like we're about ready for them! Now I just have to finish plugging all the outlets, removing sharp objects/breakables from lower shelves and let the good times roll!

Torn.

Do you ever have an experience that simultaneously makes you think, "I can't wait to tell the world about this!" and "I don't want to tell anyone lest it lose its charm"?

We had that experience today. Or perhaps I should say I did. Jeff is firmly in the "we must tell other people" camp. See, we found a new restuarant and that's kind of a big thing on our little island. And there's not actually a "we" to that. Jeff found this restaurant ages ago while he was riding, but it's pretty out of the way and the fact that it looked cute was really never quite enough reason for me to want to go. He's talked about it and talked about it so today, when he suggested it might be fun to try for lunch, I really had no reason to say no. AND I'M SO GLAD I DIDN'T!

This restaurant (which, for now, shall remain nameless) had the ideal blend of Japanese style - precise placement of all items on the table, perfectly garnished presentation, tasty set menus - and Americanisms - all you can drink teas, iced coffee or water, help yourself to the soup and salad - to make it perfect. It has lots of windows, no smoking (at least not today, since we were the only ones in there), cute decorations without being cutesy and the food. The FOOD! Was seriously good. Jeff had fried chicken and I had ahi with avocado and egg yolk. Don't scoff - it was tasty! Besides, didn't you see the orchid on the plate? That counts for something!

So that's my problem. I want to share this secret with all my friends, but if they didn't appreciate it then I would be disappointed. Because today, for us, it was perfect. What if we told someone about it and they didn't like it? And they told us why and that made us not like it? Or even worse, what if we tell someone and they tell someone and that person tells a couple someones? Then all of a sudden our cute, out of the way, secret, perfect, go-to lunch spot is too busy to enjoy and - horrors! - filled with Americans! It's not a risk I'm willing to take. Not yet anyway.

I hear you out there, saying I'm selfish. I know I am. But maybe you should go find an equally perfect new restaurant and then we can trade secrets. Better yet, just wait a few days. I'm not good at being a closed book so you'll know more than you care to in no time :)

Jack of All Trades...Master of None

Wyatt is thisclose to crawling. He pushes up on all fours, lifts up one hand, then the other, then pulls both legs forward and then collapses.

Or maybe Wyatt's actually thisclose to standing since about 75% of the above attempts also include an inverted v/bottom in the air pose.

Or MAYBE Wyatt's really thisclose to figuring out how to go from his stomach to sitting since many of the above maneuvers then turn into him leaning on one hip trying to figure out how to finish shifting his weight to sit up.

So here's my question: if he continues to multi-task in this manner, how long until we have to childproof the living room and stop keeping the cameras on the coffee table?

Have I Ever Told You?

My husband is awesome! And Happy Valentine's Day, everyone.

Okay, so Jeff is awesome because not only did he arrange for a friend to watch Wyatt so we could actually go out for dinner (or maybe she volunteered and he took her up on it - semantics, people!), but he also arranged for Wyatt to get me a cake with double icing for Valentine's Day! If you know me well, you know I love me some icing. And let me tell you, this icing is NOT disappointing. I'm so happy! And I'm sure it has nothing to do with all the Orion consumed at dinner.

Oh, and he's also awesome because he made some phonecalls a couple weeks ago regarding our super-loud reveille and now we don't hear it. I've been wanting to tell you about it but have refrained because I didn't want to jinx our peaceful slumber.

I mean, if that's not the makings of a great husband, I don't know what is.

P.S. I might have had one Orion too many tonight. Cheers!

The 'rents Came Through...Photos for Everyone!

Wyatt's second Japanese subway trip (unless you count all the ones he made in utero; he was almost equally cocooned either way.)

This is Wyatt modeling his cool Japanese high chair strap. Luckily we had some advance notice on this concept: they provide the chair but no strap. It's BYOS all over Japan. His says "Bebeis your smile makes everyone happy"

Bundled in his backpack, napping while we stroll. His ability to fall asleep was our clue he was staying warm :)

All of us ready to check out the ice sculptures. Doesn't Wyatt look like he's having fun?!

Wyatt had to borrow my scarf while we looked at the ice sculptures - his little cheeks were so cold!

It was a little snowy....and Wyatt wasn't so sure about us dragging him around in it. This picture looks a lot like the photo above, but doesn't really capture the fact that it was a heavy, wet snow blowing straight in our faces. This would be the day we opted out of sledding (good call!) and instead went into the underground mall to walk home (another good call).

Our backpack converts to a stroller, and Wyatt enjoyed it for a little bit (in the underground mall). Please note him flirting with the nice Japanese lady who was flirting with him, because that was a daily occurence. They love the little blue-eyed babies and he loves them right back!

Sweet Wyatt was having so much fun before our dinner at the Sapporo beer museum. However, approximately 7 seconds after this he COMPLETELY melted down and proceeded to wail through dinner. Sweet.

This one's for Wyatt's great-aunt and great-uncle. They gave him this super-cute snowflake sweater, which he wore to dinner and out to see the sights, but it was too cold to actually take a picture while we were out in it. SOOOOO....he had his photo shoot back in the room. Still cute, though, and in the spirit of the festival, don't you think?

He looks at home, doesn't he? This might be my favorite picture from the trip :) Wyatt.......Brewed in Hokkaido since 1876.

And finally, two non-Wyatt pics (whew!). The first one is for Andrew. Look at this cool digger! It stands to reason the Japanese, who put cartoon characters on their construction signs, would just go ahead and paint their equipment a little whimsically, too.

Last is this sign from in front of China's snow sculpture in the international part of the festival. Do you think maybe if you'd let people have more than one baby that you wouldn't have a declining birthrate?!!!! Just a thought.

Sapporo, Again

Well, I said I would write about the snow festival part - which was really interesting, so I will - but I also find myself wanting to write more about the other stuff, like the fact that people in Hokkaido look different than the people in Tokyo. Their faces are a different shape, almost, and many of them had more prominent upper lips. Their skin was also paler. I just found that interesting. This type of thing is definitely one of my greatest lessons from living here - despite the fact that all Japanese people have almond-shaped eyes and dark hair, there are vast differences in their other physical characteristics. That probably sounds naive, shallow or perhaps just ignorant that I failed to recognize it before, but it's still so different than the States, where you get used to seeing people from every spectrum of the rainbow. It's a slighter gradient of different here, versus the "oh you have dark brown hair, I have light brown, she's blonde and he's a redhead" thing we have in America. Do you get what I'm saying? Because in my brain it's totally clear and I'm feeling like it's one of those things that gets muddled in translation. Oh well, I'm leaving it in here because this is my blog and I can say whatever I want. Ooooh, that's fun!

Moving on.

The snow sculptures are huge. It looked like they packed snow into big forms, maybe 30 feet high? I've always been a poor judge of height, distance, etc., so add a 10 foot margin of error onto that. Anyway, most of them were still squared off and flat on the back and then just the front and sides were carved out. It was somehow funny to me that most of the sculptures have corporate sponsors. There was the AIG sculpture, the Nissin Noodle Cup sculpture, the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium sculpture, the Hokkaido Milk Land sculpture, etc. With exception of the aquarium and Milk Land, the sculpture had nothing to do with the sponsor. The aquarium was fun because it was a whale shark, manta ray and dolphin carved out of snow. Having seen the big tank here, it was funny to see it in snow. Very realistic, I must say! So you can get the idea, here are a couple of photos:

We also enjoyed the ice sculpture part of the festival. They suffered a little on the one day of warmer weather, so details had melted on many of the sculptures but we were still impressed. They looked especially cool our last night there - they were lit up, it was snowing, lots of people were milling about and hey, the ice bars were open. I highly recommend a hot milk and Bailey's on a snowy night. Yum! Lisa pointed out that it would've been even better with frothed milk, but we kind of think everything is better with frothed milk. Can't have it all now, can we?

This is the part of the post where I would also like to share pictures of Wyatt looking really cute in his snow gear (if I do say so myself; please reference paragraph one "this is my blog and I'll say what I want") but I'm having to withhold them. You see, my parents owe me pictures of their new digs and I'm having to bribe them. Sorry to all of you who are caught in the fray.

Lastly, a few more random thoughts I want to share.

1. Traveling with a 7 month old is different. Different than, say, traveling by yourself. And it's different to be based out of a hotel room than out of a home (like we were at Christmas). We made the best of it and learned a lot.

2. I think a big part of any culture is the food, and I'm really glad we sampled so much of the only-in-Hokkaido stuff. I'd like to compliment the people of Sapporo for making most of their local stuff sweet. Chocolate, cookies, corn chocolate, etc. Nice work. And I'm sorry I never tried your corn chocolate. It sounds very interesting.

3. I'm very thankful I don't have to bundle Wyatt like a little snowman every time we go out. Island life has its definite perks, like the fact that it's mid-February and in the 60s. Apparently we missed a week of really great weather while we were enjoying the snow. That's right, enjoying. While I love island life, I also really enjoyed the beauty of snow for a few days. I'd forgotten how quiet it gets when there's a foot of the white stuff on the ground.

4. For me, Sapporo is to Tokyo as Chicago is to New York City. Tokyo has seemed busy every time I've been there. Like the people are always in a hurry to get somewhere else and are quite serious. It's mildly frenetic. Sapporo is the 5th largest city in Japan (must Google to see what the other top 4 are) but seems more relaxed. Even at rush hour, there was no pushing or shoving through stations or on the train. There was more open space, the buildings were shorter, etc. And Odori-koen, the park where the snow sculptures live, reminds me of Grant Park. It apparently has activities in all seasons and just seemed like a natural gathering place, bordered by great shopping, good nightlife and a couple of historic buildings.

5. I am still amused that every city in Japan has its own ferris wheel (or two). Sapporo was no exception. I wonder if the locals really ride ferris wheels that much or if it's just a status thing.

6. I'm also still amused that apparently a city must also have a tower if it's to have any credibility. Sapporo's looks like the Eiffel Tower and has a handy-dandy clock on it. It anchors one end of Odori-koen so you always know what time it is while you're strolling.

7. We saw some cool snow. The heavy downfall, big white flakes were pretty, but the more interesting kind was the snow that looked like - I kid you not - dippin' dots falling from the sky. Only not flavored or colored. That kind of snow pelted us twice during our visit. I've never seen anything like it.

8. I'm embarrassed that I haven't learned more Japanese. C'mon, I've lived here for 2+ years and know about 5 phrases. Pitiful and a completely wasted opportunity. Will this be my one big regret from our time here?

9. Japanese signs continue to make me laugh. These two were my favorites from this trip:

Check out the Boogie Woogie right in the middle!

No, I wouldn't be calm if smoke were billowing from my home, either.

I have a few more pics to share, but all involve Wyatt. And his photos are being held ransom, you know. Hopefully that issue will resolve itself soon!

Sapporo...Oishii Desu!

It's good to be home, except for the ginormous piles of laundry, the hated task of unpacking, a commissary run on a Friday afternoon and a cranky, sleep-deprived baby. But I'm getting ahead of myself! You need to hear about our fun trip! I'd really like to refer all of you to Lisa's blog because she's done a fantastic job of documenting our experiences, but she's had to go password-protected because some random commenter creeped her out. Bummer. Now you'll have to hear my version.

So we left on Saturday afternoon and seriously, thank God we didn't leave any earlier because we would've missed our flight. It was a circus act around here trying to get us prepared to walk out the door (Millie had to go get a new cast, Jeff couldn't print his leave paperwork because every computer on base was locked up except for one guy's at the help desk so then he had to drive over there and pound on doors, Wyatt decided to have a stage 4 blowout while the car was being loaded....you get the picture). But we made it with a few minutes to spare. Whew!

We arrived in Sapporo on time but had to circle the airport while they "checked the runway for snow" so we didn't actually get our bags until almost 9 pm. Add on a 45 minute train ride, a 10 minute subway commute and my complete lack of ability to discern the very straightforward directions from the subway to the hotel and you have us getting into our room at about 10:30. Without having eaten dinner. That's a problem, so we traipsed back out into the cold and found the nearest curry shop, a convenience store for some drinks and headed back to put Wyatt to bed. Nothing like curry and a beer just a little before midnight!

The next day, we started at Starbucks (Lisa had already scoped it out, no surprise there!), let the boys nap in the morning and went to the chocolate factory in the afternoon. We had a map for the taxi driver and that was about it. Apparently there are two different chocolate factory facilities but we'll never really know because none of us speak Japanese and he didn't speak English.

Let me tell you, though, it didn't stop any of us from trying. Especially the driver. He just kept chattering even after we gave him the good ol' gomen nasai, wakari masen (sorry, I don't understand.) Lisa communicated via pointy talky that we wanted to eat chocolate so the driver took us to the one he thought was right. It matched the pictures we'd seen so we were all unloading (Lisa from the front seat and me, Jeff, Wyatt, PC & Nathan from the backseat. No, it wasn't a big car. Yes, we are a traveling circus) and the driver hopped out and (apparently) asked some women who were leaving if we could eat chocolate there. They kind of laughed and said yes. Nice. The carfull of Americans just wants to eat.

Anyway...the factory was in a beautiful building, full of chocolatey history and did NOT have an all-you-can-eat-for-90-minutes deal like we'd heard. I'm not gonna lie, that was pretty disappointing. But it did have some seriously yummy cookies (being made on the assembly line) and tasty desserts.

The rest of our activities were aimed at hitting the Sapporo highlights. Apparently it's famous for its miso ramen, so we asked our friendly hotel clerks (they probably got tired of seeing us coming, armed with questions, needing a map and directions) where to go. They circled two dots on the map that are "very famous ramen restaurants" so we asked the clerk which one he liked better.

And then we went to the other one because it was closer and we were walking.

But I'm so glad we did! It was seriously tasty. It didn't seem like it could be a famous ramen place because it was tucked into a corner of the 4th floor of a stationery store, but we confirmed we were in the right place. It was one long counter so other customers moved in order for us to have four seats together, and it was pretty much a short-order diner. I think Jeff is the only one who had the actual, famous miso ramen but my won ton soup was awesome and Lisa liked her soy ramen.

The three men working behind the counter seemed to enjoy watching us and were very friendly, although we still had that little thing I like to call a language barrier. Jeff and I took turns holding Wyatt through dinner and when the cook got a chance, he came around the counter to take him so we could finish. This happens a lot in Japan and while it freaked me out when Wyatt was five weeks old, now I think it's fantastic. Plus you get pictures like this.

We also ate ghengis khan at the Sapporo Beer Museum (it was really lean lamb cooked on our own Hokkaido-shaped grill at the table), soup curry and butter corn ramen - all of which are famous when-in-Sapporo kind of meals. All were tasty, though the butter corn ramen was a little disappointing. I actually enjoyed our corn soup from the vending machine more (yes, that's right, for only 120 yen you can get a nice little can of Kirin or Sapporo brand corn soup. We chose Kirin because it now has 50% more corn!) and we never did sample the famous Sapporo crab. Sounds appealing, doesn't it? I really wanted to go to a crab place, but it didn't really work out. Nor did I want to pay 1200 yen at the snow festival to get my side o' crab. Ahhh, something to go back for someday!

I have more to share - like, ummmmm, maybe the snow festival part? But it's getting late and I'm tired so I'll have to save it for tomorrow :)

Poor Baby

I know I said no more posts until we got back, but can I get a quick "awww, poor Millie"? We were playing frisbee yesterday and she started limping; I thought she had a sticker in her foot but couldn't find anything and she wouldn't really let me look at it. She wasn't yelping or anything, just not putting full weight on it. I figured it was just a temporary thing, but then she still wasn't really walking on it this morning so I took her to the vet since we're leaving tomorrow. It was great they worked her in because this is

how she looks now:

That's right, she has a broken toe. A TOE! Can you believe it? Me neither. And I guess the dr. who put on the cast has a sense of humor since they stuck a big St. Patrick's day clover on it (notice it's not the lucky 4-leaf variety) because she will be in a cast for 6 weeks. Lovely.

So now I have to run all this by our friend who was going to watch her. I mean, she already has a dog, a kid and a TDY husband so this favor of watching our Millie has become significantly more high maintenance. If I were her, I'd run for the hills. Just don't expect Millie to chase you because she's not moving too fast.

****

And a quick note to the tech at the vet's office: YOUR HAIR IS TOO LONG! When you can tie your hair in a loose knot and still have it grazing your calves, it's time to hack that stuff off and donate it to locks of love. 'Cause you could make about 4 wigs the way I see it.

I Can Hear You

Oh, I'm not that dumb. I know most of you don't really give two cents about me or my adventures. You're here for the kid. So quit whining...here are some more pictures for you. Take your time, there won't be another post for a while!

Gearing Up

Well, since Lisa's been packed for our Sapporo trip since...I don't know, last Tuesday? I figured the least I could do would be a little research (don't worry! I've made a packing list and that's almost as good as actually doing the packing, right?). Guess what I've learned?

There's a chocolate factory! And you can tour it! And then you can eat in the chocolate lounge afterward! My nirvana awaits. And, of course, there's the Sapporo Beer tour, too, followed by an all you can eat meal that we hear is worth the wait. So even though we're going to be little popsicles walking around all week in the cold, cold, cold, we'll be sated.

I also learned that some Japanese don't consider Hokkaido to be "real" Japan since it wasn't settled until the late 19th century (during the Meiji era, for you history buffs out there). Ummmm, that's a little like the Japanese not thinking Okinawa is "real" Japan. How do you think it would go over if we "mainland" Americans said we didn't think Hawaii and Alaska were "real" United States? It seems a little judgmental, no? But anyway, apparently we Americans helped the Japanese in developing Sapporo, so it's laid out on a grid and has many Western style buildings, including some dome that was modeled after the Massachusetts capitol building. Hmmmm, who knew? It should be a good trip and by the time we leave I'll be one step closer to being an expert on non-real Japan. Lucky me!