Japan, cont.

It is Tuesday morning and Seth slept until 5 am and then I convinced him to lay next to me in the bed till 6, so today is looking much more optimistic. Continuing the long drawn out blog posts on our trip for my own personal enjoyment ...

Saturday - This day, the major plan was going to Tokyo to visit Katsu's grandmother, aunt #3 (the only one we hadn't seen so far) and his other two cousins. Katsu's dad had rented a car to take our family plus Katsu's dad and sister to Japan. We hadn't brought Andrew's car seat to Japan since Katsu's dad as well as our friend we are visiting next week both had one we could borrow. We learned that Katsu's dad had acquired one from the trash (hmmm ...), but it looked sturdy, and what could we do about it at this point. Oh, well. There was definitely a lack of communication, because we thought we are eating breakfast at a restaurant with the family, while the plan instead was to go to Katsu's grandma's for lunch and eat more of that traditional Japanese food (that for the most part no one really likes). I usually have 0 idea what is going on because most of the planning conversation goes on in Japanese, and unfortunately, it seems like Katsu usually doesn:t know the whole story of what is going on either. It is harder when there are kids because it is difficult to coordinate naps, eating, etc. Oh, well.

So, the visit was nice, very formal as it is in Katsu's mother family. Also, it takes longer just to get there than we actually spend time with them. And another lunch where only the guests are eating and they just watch us. Luckily, they gave Andrew these sweet balls that kind of melt in your mouth and he ate that and a couple edamame and refused to touch anything else, even the ham. Katsu's grandmother loved to ask questions about my breastfeeding, just like last time. Very cute.

Everyone here seems very interested in trying to feed Seth food. I don:t know what it is about people and watching a baby eat. It annoys me a little bit, but I guess it is not a problem. And at least Seth is pretty game - Andrew on the other hand, with all his eating issues, would not eat a thing at this age.

On the way home, we stopped at a very very crowded department store, and Katsu's dad was kind of enough to spend quite a lot of time trying to find a parking space. Our mission was to find an appropriate outfit for Seth's blessing (the best we could find was a little mini tuxedo one-piece outfit), to get Andrew some new toys since he is acting like a crazy man here without enough to do, and to check the futons, since we are planning on replacing our bed with futon when we move to St. Louis.

Saturday evening, we went out to eat with all the family (sans Katsu's mother and aunt) and the three missionary elders from the ward. Oddly, one of them was Katsu's sister's ex-boyfriend from when she went to BYU-H. Weird. It was a delicious buffet of Japanese food and it was nice to be able to talk in English as all the missionaries spoke English. I can't believe how much younger they are than me and Katsu. Time really flies. Luckily, Seth slept through the whole dinner.

Unluckily, Seth woke up at 3 30 am (or something like that) the next morning.

Sunday

Church started at 10 and there was some confusion about what time everyone was leaving, but we all managed to get there quite early in fact (Katsu and Andrew and Katsu's sisters had to take the train b/c there was no room in the car). Seth was asleep and we didn't want to disturb him so we ended up not changing him into his mini tuxedo for his blessing, though we did take pictures in it afterwards. Katsu's aunt stayed for the blessing and then took the train back to Osaka.

I think the blessing was probably nice, but once again I can not vouch for it as it was in Japanese. I kept asking people what he said, but no one listens to me. The best response I got was from Katsu that it was like Andrew's. Katsu's mother took notes and then Katsu revised it later (of course, all in Japanese), so I am sure I (and the blog-reading world) will all eventually know what was said in there.

Andrew, of course, was a holy terror during sacrament meeting and we were sitting in the front row and about as far as possible from the door. He, in fact, bit me during the sacrament hymn and spent the majority of the meeting in the hall. I know he is being such a pill because this past week has been difficult and he hasn't been able to run. But it was still a frustrating Sunday.

We left after sacrament meeting and after Katsu's mom got a massage from a ward member, because Katsu's mom is so ill. Andrew spent some time in nursery while she was getting a massage, which he loved, and he didn't want to leave. After some lunch, we took the kids on a walk and had the best news of the week - WE FOUND A PARK. Sunday or not, this news was so joyous that we immediately got Andrew out of his stroller and he ran around for the next hour. There wasn't a lot of equipment - 1 slide, 1 tetter-totter, and some swings (which Andrew fell off of in the dirt three times before we decided not to try that again), but oh for space to run around! He has been much happier, played much better, and been better behaved since then.

Otherwise, it was a pretty low-key day. As it always seems to be when we are at home. Katsu's mom is very ill and has to stay in bed pretty much all day - sometimes, she comes out for dinner, but sitting is difficult for her. Katsu's dad and sister, for various reasons, are asleep probably 50% of the time we are awake. So, we have to spend lots of time being quiet. This week will be full of lots more adventures outside now that the New Year holidays are done and Katsu's aunt is gone, Katsu's dad is back to work, and all the requisite family visits are done.