Japan - Yokohama

Back to our story ...

So, Thursday morning (a little over a week ago), we got ready and took the train to Yokohama. This is the second largest city in Japan and just south of Tokyo. It is a port city. We had originally planned on going to the aquarium in Tokyo, but at $18 per person, it seemed too pricey. Katsu had always wanted to go to the Chinatown in Yokohama (which is the main draw) and it was about an hour and half train ride from Saitama (where Katsu's parents live) with no train changes.

After ditching our bags in lockers in the train station, we set off to Chinatown to find a good restaurant to eat. Chinatown looked similar to those in the US (I've only seen Boston and NYC ones), with two main differences: 1) it was clean and didn't smell and 2) the Chinese people working/living here are fluent in the local language (i.e. Japanese). So, a very nice Chinatown all around. Katsu took his time deciding on a place to eat, at which point, Andrew had fallen asleep in the stroller, so he was asleep through the whole lunch and didn't get any food. The food was good and nicely portioned. Afterwards, we bought some sweets at a store and wandered around towards the harbor.

Chinatown pics:




Next, we walked to the port. It was SO nice to be next to the ocean and to feel not so claustrophobic. Andrew loved looked at all the fountains and the cruise ships. And Seth just loved looking at everything. We enjoyed the walk, ate our snacks, and then went into a convenience store to get some noodles for Andrew. I guess because this is a stop for cruise ships, but this was the convenience store of all convenience store with a huge play area that Andrew did not want to leave and was too distracted with to eat. So, I walked around the port area more with Seth and just enjoyed the ambiance of the city.

Yokohama port:







We walked back to the train station and found the Chinatown temple on the way back. I think it is scarier than the Japanese ones - the gods look angrier to me anyways.



We then got back on the train (with our luggage), switched trains, and, being too lazy to switch to the subway system, decided to walk to the hotel. After consulting one of those Japanese offices whose sole function is to give directions because finding anywhere in Japan on one's own is impossible and carrying Andrew's stroller up through pedestrian bridges, we finally got to the New Sanyo hotel - an American military hotel. But we didn't have a guest pass and after some frantic searching for our friend Trevor's cell phone number, we got into the hotel and into America. It was definitely weird hearing English, having everything in $$, and having an American bathroom (well, mostly - I mean, why the heck was the phone in the bathroom ... still puzzled over that one).

The hotel had a nice view of the temple, being in the same general location. It also had a nice buffet for dinner and breakfast which we heartily enjoyed (American food!) and an American store with fresh cookies! And American TV. It was kind of weird, but nice to escape culture shock for a few hours at least. Although, really, the only thing I had missed was having people to talk to in English. So, it was fabulous to being our trip with Trevor and his wife and kids.

Japan: Train Museum & Kawagoe

Kawagoe: Candy lane and Beautiful Edo-style buildings







Kawagoe: Daruma Festival and Garden of Buddha-follower statues:








Kawagoe: Kirtain Buddhist Temple








Kawagoe: A beautiful Buddhist temple:








A Day at the Train Museum (as if the boys didn't spend enough time on trains this trip):

More Japan Pictures

Andrew finally finds a park!



Katsu's Parents' Condo Building (the view ... from the 22 floor - yikes!)








Blessing Boys:

Japan - in pictures, now

We are back. And jetlag round 2 is WAY worse, especially since we are all sick. I think I didn't sleep a single hour from 8 pm to 6 am last night. Thankfully, Andrew only threw up once on flying day and lucky for us, our flight was delayed, so it was in the terminal instead of on the plane. And he only spent 50% of the flight crying, whining, screaming, and chanting "I'm so sick". Lovely, lovely, lovely.

So, let's actually see some lovely pictures from japan and then when I get to it, I'll finish our stories from the trip.

"Christmas" with the family & "Katsu's birthday"






New Years at Home:




New Years in Tokyo with Katsu's aunt Ikuko (necessitating ER visit):




New Year's Visit with Katsu's grandma and Aunt Noriko in Tokyo:

Japan - A couple more adventures

On Monday, it was finally time to go on a day trip adventure on our own. After getting ready, we took the train and then this really cute New Shuttle train, which practically looked like a monorail, to the JR Train Museum. This is a brand new museum (only 2 years old, I think) and very popular, and luckily for us, just two train stops away. Andrew fell asleep on the way over there, so we checked out the layout of the place and the gift shop and then decided to wake him up.

First, the kids and Katsu took a tiny miniature shinkansen (bullet train) from one part of the museum to another. They waited like 10-15 minutes for a 5 minute ride, in which, I (with both the strollers) walked faster than their little train to the other side of the museum. But it was cute and Andrew really liked it. (the pictures are cute, but sadly, all my loyal readers must wait till we are back in the US for those, I think). We checked out the floor exhibits - big old trains, most of which you could climb on. Andrew was mostly disappointed that they didn't move; I guess real trains are more exciting than looking at old ones. After nursing Seth (did I mention that despite relatively low exclusive breastfeeding rates in Japan, they have excellent facilities), we went to a conveinence store across the street for some lunch.

After lunch, Andrew discovered the young childrens play area. The room was full of little kids (under 3 I think) with lots of little electronic train sets, plus a wooden play train to climb on, and best of all, a large viewing area for the huge model train exhibit. This was the best part because the regular viewing for the model train exhibit was very crowded, did not allow strollers, and was sometimes closed. Andrew, of course, did not want to leave, so Katsu and I took turns being in the room with him, while the other one checked out the museum with Seth in tow (since he was asleep in his stroller). After about an hour, and several total hours at the museum, we decided it was time to go home.

We relaxed a bit at home and then went out to eat at a completely and totally delicious Korean Barbeque. It was a pretty nice restaurant - you had to remove your shoes to come in and we had our own room, which was especially nice with Seth. Best of all, the food was completely delicious. Seth was pretty antsy and after nursing and carrying him around the restaurant, we finally got him to fall asleep. The meat, of course, was completely delicious, but the best surprise was Izumi's dessert of toasted bread, maple syrup, and ice cream. Yum! After dinner, we stopped off at a used vido game / book store and Katsu got some new DS games. And the best part of this evening's adventure: both dinner and the games were completely paid for by Katsu's dad's credit card points.

Tuesday we had an even better adventure. We started the day with Seth sleeping until 5 (which makes for an even happier me) and then, after the boys finally woke up at 8 (just a tad bit jealous), we got ready and were off about 10:30. We took the train about 30 minutes to Kawagoe. I could tell things were looking up once we started getting into the country and seeing rice paddies (of course, they were really just empty fields for the winter, but still). I have been feeling really claustrophobic this trip to Japan, because everything seems way more urban and crowded with two little kids around. Kawagoe is called Little Edo and looks like Tokyo used to, like in the late 1800s. It seems that the government moved away from the city and left the city behind, effectively creating a city that looks like it's still back in time. There are this gorgeous black-walled houses that look so Japanese. You'll have to wait for the pictures.

We decided to do the long walking around the city instead of a bus because of the pain of two strollers. We started off at a Buddhist temple which had gorgeous gardens. I love Japanese gardens, because even in the winter, with their beautifully manicured trees, the artfully growing moss, and the carefully arranged stones, they are still beautiful. Seth loved the garden and was so excited to see trees.

(side note - Seth loves Japan. He is a very observant baby and he just loves to look at everything - the building, the lights, the countryside as the train goes by. He gets so excited when we put him in his stroller to go out again, except when he's been in his stroller too long. He also loves to flirt with Japanese people, by catching their eye and smiling at them and trying to get them to smile back. Which always works, of course, because the Japanese think he is so kawai (cute). )

We then, stopped at a Shinto shrine, walked up the stairs and checked it out, and then ate a bowl of Udon together. All the temples and shrines was really reminding me of Kyoto, which I loved and hope we get to go back to on another trip.

So, we next headed off to another Buddhist temple - Kirtain. It was SUPER crowded and had all the snack booths, so it was another chocolate banana for me. I really wanted to see these stone Buddha follower statues, but we weren't sure where it was. Katsu thought it was down by the temple, so we went that way, but when we came into the temple, they were just starting this rite o-kyou, where they read some Buddhist stuff. It is usually pretty low-key, serene ceremony and a time for reflection.

This rite, on the other hand, was nothing of the sort. There were several Buddhist monks (2 or 3), one was chanting really really really loudly. Also, someone was hitting the drum very loudly and two monks were feeding two fires with more and more wood, so the flame was going higher and higher. There was a very very large daruma ( a kind of hollow doll that you buy and make a goal with. You color one of the eyes when you start the goal and the other eye in when you finish the goal). Usually daruma you buy are a few inches to maybe a foot or two tall. This one was around 12 feet tall and very ominous looking, especially with all the chanting, drumming, and firing going on. Andrew kept saying he couldn't see and Seth got more agitated as the ceremony seemed more and more violent and got louder and louder, so we left a little early.

It turns out it was a Daruma festival a few days previous which was still going on. There was a very long line to get into the ceremony, but somehow they let us go in. You were also supposed to have bought a ticket, which we also did not do. I have no idea why they let us go in. Needless to say, the stone Buddha followers were not there. We did find them and I paid for a ticket to go see them. Basically there are over 400 statues from the late 1700s to the early 1800s each of which are in different positions and doing different things and with different facial expressions. Again, you'll have to see the pictures. But I was pretty proud to find the one who was picking his nose.

We walked a lot more, past the castle, which was closed and completely enclosed in a building, so there was nothing to see. So, we walked to the Candy Lane, where there are lots of candy stores with traditional candy. Unfortunately, only one was open, but we still got lots of yummy candies. We decided to forego lunch and just snack on snack food and candies. Good choice. Kawagoe is especially known for its sweet potato snacks, so we had sweet potatoe fries (Yum!) and these cake-shaped sweet potatoe (even more yum!). We also bought other sweets to share while walking down the traditional edo-era building streets.

After buying some "famous", though I think Katsu and Japanese people in general think everything is "famous", Osaka gyoza, we took the train to Omiya station, a big shopping area one train stop from Katsu's family's condo. We met up with his sister and went to do karioke, since I have never done it. In Japan, you sing karioke with your friends in a room which you rent by the hour. We took the boys along and sang for 2 hours. Katsu and his sister loved it - me, not so much, but I was horrible and am not into music all that much. Andrew also loved it, so we put in Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer for one song to appease him. He just belted it into the mike. Seth was pretty interested, though it was quite loud. Not too loud for him to fall asleep halfway through, however.

After seeing so many Japanese girls the last couple of weeks, I have decided that the young ones all look like hookers. For many reasons. They love to dye their hair, which looks pretty tacky since they all have black hair. They like to wear tons of eye liner, mascara, and fake eye lashes until they look like child beauty queens or hookers. And the prevailing fashion is VERY short skirts or shorts (keep in mind, this is winter), with tall boots with heels, and fish-net like stockings.

Anyways, afterwards, we took pictures in those picture-booth things that Japanese people love. This one was pretty high tech and tried to make you look beautiful (i.e., like a hoooker). Someone it made Izumi "beautiful", Katsu and me like we were 5 years old, Andrew normal, and Seth like a child beauty queen. Very very suspicious. I would rather never share these pictures with you, but Izumi mentioned something about her facebook.

Anyways, we are leaving to Tokyo / Hiroshima on Thursday / Friday, so I might not get to post early-morning Japan diatribes for a bit. But, the trip is definitely looking up as the boys are pretty much over jet lag, I think, and we are getting out and about.

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.

Japan - The next few days

Friday - New Year's Day. (I finally found the apostrophe, which is shift-7 for some reason). Today was pretty low key for a New Year's Day because Katsu's mom is sick. Usually she throws big parties with all the missionaries and we eat all the traditional New Year food and play games and have to give our resolutions. Anyways, again, she had dialysis in the morning. Katsu's aunt was here, busy preparing all of the New Year food.

So, in the morning, Andrew watched lots of Japanese TV (which he has been doing most days here, since we have had a really hard time finding a park, there is no green space or places for kids to run around, and we obviously didn't bring him enough toys) and we also took the boys on a walk to the local shrine. We threw in a couple tiny coins and clapped in front of the (altar?). The shrine is very small, just right next to the train station, but they were playing some traditional music and there were some other families there. Other than that, we just walked around some.

Later that afternoon, after Katsu's mom got home from the hospital, we got everything together (meaning, Katsu's mom, aunt, and sister ... we are not particularly helpful while trying to corral the two kids), and had the dinner. Traditional New Year's foods are all symbolic, either in their color or their meaning. They don't really taste good, but you make tons of them every new year and then eat them for the next several days. There is a lot of weird vegetables and strange fish product - fish eggs, fish cakes, etc. This year, it seemed like there was more meat than usual and everything I had actually tasted pretty good - but later, Katsu told me that is just because he picked the good parts for me. Of course, Andrew was not really interested in eating any of it. Seth was eating some baby food, but was mostly just really fussy, so we took turns holding him and eating the food. I hate when Katsu is attending to the boys and I am with the family because I feel completely clueless. Not understanding the language makes me feel like a little kid watching a conversation going on that I have no idea what it is about.

Anyways, after the dinner, Katsu's mom was tired and had to rest, but the rest of us headed off to go to the big shrine that is about a 30ish minute walk away. The walk was nice, we walked on an elevated path around the Super Arena, and then the path from the first set of red tori to the shrine was most of the rest of the walk. The shrine is supposedly 2000 years old and from the tori to the shrine itself is a long walk - probably at least 20 minutes. Once you get close to the shrine, there are booths surrounding both sides of the walkway selling lots of Japanese-carnival type food, like takoyaki (octupus in a pancake like batter), apples dipped in a hard-candy solution, okinomiyaki (sort of like pancakes but with cabbage), and lots of fish and meat. I especially like choco-banana, or bananas dipped in chocolate (Okay, once again, it started typing all in japanese and took me like 10 minutes to figure out how to turn it back into Roman script ... argh), and crepes, both of which I had. I guess I misunderstood, because after we all got our fill of food, we headed home and didn't actually go to the shrine at all. I was pretty disappointed, but as the boys were cold and tired, it was better to go home anyways.

Well, Seth is yawning. Maybe he will go back to sleep. He refuses to adjust to the last couple hours of time here and wakes up around 3 am every morning. I am hating this trip.

Japan - The first few days

Well, Seth is napping and I don:t know if anyone else is awake, so here:s another post.

Wednesday - This day was pretty low-key as we were really out of it from jet lag. I took the boys for a walk over to the Saitama Super Arena and walked around the shops and the arcade, so that Katsu could nap. In Japan, everyone stares at me, and then comes over to the stroller to see what Seth looks like. I think it is pretty funny. Andrew was a wild child - they had sort of this play area - the ground slopes up and down all over the place and kids slide down it, etc. There is also a place with jumping water. Andrew was climbing all over it, including going under chains. I can:t read the signs, but I am pretty sure this is not allowed. Also, Andrew ran up a slope-like thing in front of Starbucks, so he was staring at people right at their eye level. I was pretty embarrassed, but I don:t think the people minded, because I am a foreigner and Japanese people love to look at foreign babies.

Katsu:s mom was on dialysis in the morning (she goes 3x a week for about 6 hours gone total), but when she got back, we celebrated Christmas with the family (Katsu:s dad, mom, sister, and aunt). Christmas, even for Christians, is a very minor holiday in Japan (i.e., they do almost nothing), so the years we visit, they usually wait to open presents until we arrive. We exchanged presents. Katsu went into some gratitude speech to his aunt, but I didn:t understand a word. Japanese present giving is more different than American. It:s hard to explain - but I would say, in America, the goal is getting a present that the receipient will really love, that one-of-a-kind item that is perfect for them. In Japan, the present is more of a symbol, and it isn:t actually important to get a gift that the person totally loves or fits them uniquely. A wish list would be considered rude, I think. If that makes sense. It doesn:t make total sense to me, which is why Katsu is in charge of buying presents for his family. Anyways, it was lots of fun. I especially like the new scarf I got and the jacket Seth got, which we both have been wearing almost non-stop. Of course, Seth missed all the festivities, as he went to sleep at 3 and we opened presents at 4.

We also celebrated Katsu:s birthday. It was on the 29th, the horrible traveling day (worst 30th birthday ever, in my opinion). We sang and he had a cheesecake, which I thought was very delicious. Later, we will have to go out to eat, to celebrate as well. Katsu:s tried to go out for ramen for lunch, but everything was closed. Also, Katsu:s dad gave him the cutest pretend money certificate for a graduation present for Katsu - I will have to post a picture of it later.

Thursday - We got up and got ready and went with Katsu:s sister on the train to Tokyo to see Katsu:s aunt, uncle, and cousin. It is about 45 min train ride, and then, we opted to skip the subway and take a cab instead. They have a beautiful penthouse condo from which you can see all of Tokyo. They also have a lot of breakable things and Andrew kept running around the room ... ah, well. We had sushi and pizza for lunch and it was delicious (they had already eaten lunch ?, so we ate it all). Ahh - and get this, Andrew, the boy who loves rice more than the world itself, refuses to eat Japanese rice. Too sticky or something ... Anyways, I am sure the conversation was great, too, but as I did not understand any of it, I can not vouch for that. As we were saying goodbyes, Andrew wasn:t being very cooperative ( he was so tired ), so they were hugging/tickling him and his arm got dislocated.

So, Andrew is very upset, crying, saying that they hurt him. He won:t move his arm and it is all limp. Definitely nursemaid:s elbow, which we have taken him to the ER for before. But the best option seemed to return back to Saitama and then go to the doctor. Thankfully, Andrew was so tired that he fell asleep in his stroller, and when we got home, Katsu and his dad took him to two hospitals before finding a doctor (well, actually the nurse did this), pop his arm back into place (the places were pretty low on staff because of the new years holidays). Luckily, as the boys are Japanese citizens, they are covered on the national health care, so we just had a $40 charge since it was off hours (holiday times).

Then, later that evening as we ate the traditional soba and tempura, Andrew got a horrible rash over half his face and head that we can only guess is from a food allergy. So he is either allergic to soba, nori, or shrimp, all of which he has had many times. I am leaning towards the shrimp because it is a common allergy. However, if that is the case, it is not good because Andrew didn:t actually eat any shrimp, but only got contact because Katsu had eaten it using his chopsticks and then used those chopsticks later to get food for Andrew. So, we:ll have to see about that.

We went to bed early even though it was New Years.

Well, i:ll update more later. It:s late morning now and we are about to go see family in Tokyo again.

Japan - Jet Lag

The joy of an international trip is usually followed by another, even greater joy. Unless, of course, you are lucky enough to be flying from the US to South America, or something like that. This joy is called, innocently enough, jet lag. And let:s just get this straight - it stinks, royally so, and is compounded 100x by having children. Maybe in heaven, I will actually get to know Katsu:s family without the barriers of jet lag and language. That would be nice.

First off, it always makes me laugh when people are like, (quote) Oh, my poor pumpkin. Ever since we went on that trip to Utah, she just doesn:t sleep well. It messed her schedule all up (unquote). I always want to say something really uncharitable, like, (quote) You want to really mess up your pumpkin. Try traveling for 24 hours to a place with a 14 hour time difference. (unquote). See, I truly am very uncharitable inside.

Anyways, jet lag is awful. And, get this, in all my experience, coming to Japan is actually WAY easier than going back to the U.S. I actually think that, all things considered, it hasn:t been that bad. But how bad is that really? Keep listening. And keep in mind, that we:ve taken kids (well, one kid, Andrew) to Europe, too, and jet lag to Japan is in a whole :nother league. Now, for way too many details, but seeing as i woke up before 5 am this morning, I have plenty of time.

So, night one ( this would be tuesday night, we lost a day in the travel plus international date line ), Seth and I went to sleep in one bedroom, probably between 7 and 8 (whoa, I just pressed some weird button on the keyboard and it started typing in Japanese, thankfully I figured out how to turn it back). Seth woke up at one, all bright eyed and bushytailed, with a dirty diaper to boot. Please note, we are staying in what I am estimating is a 900 sq. ft condo with 3 bedrooms, pretty decent for Japan, with Katsu:s parents and also his sister. So, the sleeping arrangements can be a little nutty. Note, the bedrooms are the size of a walk-in closet in a relatively big house in America. The boys were sleeping in the living room and when i went in to get a diaper, they were awake, as in, for the day!!! At 1 am. THey watched Seth for me, while I went back to sleep, and then put Seth back to sleep in my room around 2ish. We slept until 5 something, and I think Katsu took another 30 minute nap while Andrew watched TV in the 4 oclock hour. So, Seth and I actually slept pretty well, all thing considering.

Night two (Wed) - Seth, all our best efforts to the contrary, went to sleep for the night (as in, can not rouse the child despite any efforts) at 3 pm. Lovely. Andrew feel asleep, in his high chair during dinner at 6 pm. So, I went to sleep pretty early, maybe 7. This time, we all tried sleeping in one bedroom - Andrew and an adult on the twinish bed, an adult on the futon on the floor, but not enough space for it all stretched out, so it was only about 4 feet long and the rest of you was on the floor, and Seth in the Pack n Play. Seth was up at midnight, so the two of us, played for an hour in the bathroom floor (we had about 4 sq. ft to stretch out in). Then, he went back to sleep. The rest of the night is a blur. I think we were all up before 4, though Katsu watched the boys in the bathroom while I tried to rest some more, mostly in vain. Probably the worst night.

Night three (Thurs) - Despite our best efforts, Seth feel asleep, for the night, at 4 15 pm. And we tried so hard. So, despite it being New Years Eve, I went to sleep between 7 and 8. Seth did wake up for a feeding just before midnight, and I thought about going to do some countdown and decided it just wasn:t worth it. Welcome 2010. This night, just me and Seth were in a room, and Katsu and Andrew in the living room, to prevent the boys from waking each other up. So, at 2, when Seth woke up, I just laid him next to me and nursed him. And then nursed him again at 4. Katsu came in with Andrew, who was missing me, at 5. so, Katsu slept with Seth, I slept with Andrew. Seth woke up at 5 45 sleeping almost 14 hours!!! VICTORY !!! Andrew slept till like 7 30 - sleeping almost 12 hours!!! VICTORY!!!

Night four (Fri) - Seth asleep around 6, maybe a bit earlier. Awakes and nurses 3x at night and then awake for good around 5 am. We are now, I would say over jet lag. I tried to stay up later - we were watching this super ninja (we think that is what it is called in the US) program, but I feel asleep on the couch by 8. Oh, well.

So, all in all, jet lag wasn:t too terrible, except for when it was, and since I have recorded all the gory details, I can remember then for time imorium. Or at least, when I think about taking another trip to Japan (we want to do that again?) or having another child (we want to do jet lag with 3 children!).

Thanks for listening loyal readers (all one of you - hi, mom!)

We are in Japan - Getting there

We have a lot of downtime here, so I thought I would pen a post about our adventures so far. Please excuse the punctuation because although all the letters are in the same place, the punctuation is not, and I do not feel like searching for them - thus, no contractions.

We survived getting here. It was awful, but not because the boys were particularly bad, but just because getting to Japan is awful in and off itself and adding in two boys to the mix, just does not make it better. We got up at 4 am Monday to make sure we got to the airport early (not the 3 hours they recommend, but maybe closer to 2) and got to the airport about 5 30 for our 7 30ish flight to Chicago. And so it began ... 2 adults, 2 still sort of sick kids, 2 strollers, 1 car seat, 3 carry-ons, and 3 checked bags. The flight to Chicago was pretty uneventful and after some breakfast and Andrew playing with some of the other kids, our two hour layover was over and it was time to go to Japan.

We were flying a Japanese airline there, ANA, so of course, they were all very nice. We had great bulkhead seats - so we had more room, a bassinett for Seth, and most of the people around us also had kids because they had bulkhead seats, too. We unfortunately had to wait an extra hour on the runway because they were deicing and who knows what else. I HATE THIS. This is at least the second time this has happened. As if a 13.5 hour flight isn:t long enough - let:s add on more time to the runway. So, both boys were already antsy. I finally relented and fed Seth even though we had no idea when we would be taking off, oh, well. Andrew was a real pill for the first 3ish hours, and kept screaming, yanking on my shirt, and biting me!!! And since you have SO many discipline options on a plane (we did try to do time out in the bathroom, but that doesn:t work so well), we just did our best. Thankfully, there are a few ways to pass the time - watching the in-flight entertainment (which only had about 2 hours of appropriate childrens entertainmnt in English, which we watched all of it at least twice), looking at the other bored, misbehaving children, eating the food (they had special kids meals, and even brought us baby food for Seth), and walking up the aisles. Feeding a baby who JUST started solid food on a plane is interesting, by the way. As is Andrew:s new habit since he got sick of spitting out half the food he eats. The hardest thing about flying with kids is that you can:t sleep - there is always someone to deal with. All the boys slept a bit, Katsu included and Seth slept pretty well in his bassinett, but i did not sleep a wink - not like I can sleep on planes anyways. The worst part was because of all the terrorism stuff, you couldn:t watch the map showing you where the plane is and how much longer you had. I got to the point where I felt like I couldn:t stand another second of flying and we finally asked someone how much longer, and we were only halfway done!!!

But, we made it. After immigration, grabbing our luggage, changing diapers, going through customs, buying bus tickets, and exchanging our rail passes, we boarded a bus for another 2 hours before getting to Katsu:s parents house. THe bus terrifies me, because there is no loud drone like the airplane to drown out your children:s voices, plus, you have to stay seated. Luckily, Andrew slept almost the entire time. Seth, on the other hand, was way too fascinated with everything to look at, to sleep. but of course, he was hungry, so I got to breastfeed him and was terrified. It was harder to do discreetly, Seth was pulling off the blanket, Andrew was pulling off the blanket, and the glass was HIGHLY reflective, so basically everyone on the bus could see my breasts. Of course, all the people sitting near us on the plane probably could, too, as Seth LOVES nursing under a blanket. Let:s just say, welcome Amanda to Japan. ha ha ha. So, then, after a short walk with all the boys and luggage, and strollers, and going up the elevator to their 22nd floor condo, which absolutely terrifies me, because it is all open to the outside. Just, the metal railings keeping your toddler from plummeting 22 stories to the ground.

I was exhausted ... I hadn:t slept in over 24 hours, so after some very brief perfunctory greetings, putting together the Pac n Play that the we had ordered off of amazon.co.jp, feeding Seth and putting him to bed, I finally went to sleep.