We Love You Mr. Snowplow!

We had a bunch of wet, wet snow over the weekend. We have cleared the sidewalks and such, but our street was a big, icy, snowy, wet mess. Taking the kids to school this morning was tricky- our little cars did not want to climb the little mountains of snow and ice to back out and get out of our circle.

Mr. Snowplow had been everywhere on base in the last thirty six hours- everywhere but our little circle. Had someone offended Mr. Snowplow? A slight of some kind that made him laugh and gleefully pass us by? We started quizzing the neighbors, but no one recalled making him mad!

Finally, late this morning, after every other street and sidewalk in Misawa had been cleared, Mr. Snowplow was forced to come and help us!

Next time he makes a round I will stop him and offer hot Japanese coffee in a can and such. Maybe if we can woo him he will come to see us sooner in February!

I couldn't get a picture on his first pass,(I didn't want to scare him off by standing out on the porch with a camera!) but the road already looked almost 100% better with just one swoop down the street!






Love,

4Vs

Okunakayama Kogen Ski Resort

Last weekend Brock and I (Mary B), went skiing at Okunakayama Kogen Ski Resort. Okunakayama is about 90 minutes from the base. We went with a tour group from the base and had a great time. Brock is really improving!

Here is the main lodge at the resort. Still missing quite a bit of snow, but we had plenty on the slopes and it snowed off and on all day while we were there.





Brock and I covered all the green slopes at the resort. He even ventured out on a red. *Note to stateside skiiers- in Japan green slopes are green(beginner), blue is red (intermediate) and blacks are blue (advanced). Got that? Green is green, blue is red and black is blue! Brock also got a thrill out of riding the lift alone and getting me to take his picture.



Misawa Outdoor rec, the group we went with, reserved a private room for us to use while we were there. It was a medium size room with tatami mats, a Japanese table and futons. We stored our gear there and were able to hang out and rest as needed during the day. It was also a nice respite from the smoking areas in the lodge!



Overall it was a great weekend. We will try and get more ski weekends in during February!

Love,

4Vs

Who likes sweet Midgets?

No I'm not talking about the cute neighbor kids...I was thinking about the little pickles that taste so good. Next to Grace V is Grace S and her sister Anna. They all enjoyed the spaghetti dinner made by Chef MB.

Max Schramel is going through the little boy phase where he likes to talk sports. He predicts that the Patriots will win tomorrow against the Colts. To the right of Max is Anna Schooley.

Going to Tinker AFB OK

Howdy all,
We just found out that our new home this summer will be Tinker AFB OK! We are excited to be close to home and speaking the language. I dont see any golf courses on the map but maybe they need to water a little more on base. I will be the new 72nd Comptroller Sq Commander. We will let you know if we find out any more details.

MLK Day Sledding

We had some snow overnight and spent part of the morning sledding. There is a steep hill close to our house and the kids and I headed out for some fun. Mommy's job is to stand at the bottom and stop any kids on sleds from flying into the parking lot. Not always an easy job!

Here is Gracie at the bottom. I tried to teach her to bail out of the sled right at the bottom. The nice sleds that Granny Steed sent last winter were much faster than the cheap, plastic sleds that all the neighborhood kids have. Gracie let an older kid use her nice sled so she wouldn't go so fast!

No pictures of Brock because the camera batteries were low and the boy was fast!

Have a great week!

Love,

4Vs

The New Base Car wash

We tried out the new automatic car wash on base. There are many warnings and instructions to keep your vehicle safe. We did not opt for putting on duct tape on the antennas and bumpers and wipers. It actually took each vehicle about 8 minutes each so we had to wait a while for the other 3 cars in line.

The machine was very thorough and had a pre rinse and then soap with brushes and then a post rinse with brushes and then the dry stage. We did not choose the wax and coat but one person said it lasted at least a week after he did it and the water was still beading up on his car.

Here is an inside view of the brushes. At this point Grace hit the ground of the car as she said she was scared that water was going to come in and get her wet.

Hitting the Slopes

Brock & I had a father son ski day at Appi Ski Resort. It turned out to be a very nice day with plenty of snow. We were a little concerned that there would not be enough but soon found out that it was snowing by the inches every hour. I took this shot of us after we over loaded on Carbs after lunch.

Here is a shot of us going under the gondola or Gon-Dolla as Brock pronounces it. We hit every green slope on the main side of the mountain which is not an easy feat considering that you have to decipher a Japanese map and catch several different combinations of ski lifts up. At one point I was actually lost and I told Brock that we were about to go on a double black diamond. He was not amused but it gently ended up into a bunny slope at the bottom of the resort that dumped us in front of the cafe.

An afternoon of earthquakes and tsunamis....

Mike and Brock took off early this morning to ski the slopes at Appi. They left the base at 7am with hopes of fresh powder and a day of winter big fun!

Gracie and I had a quiet morning and a girls lunch at the base food court. We bought a new jigsaw puzzle and came home to watch it snow and put the puzzle together.

Around 1:30pm, we had an earthquake. It is noteworthy because we haven't had a good one in a long time and this one was especially long. The shaking lasted over three minutes. We just kept looking at each other and watching stuff jiggle and shake. (I often wonder if I should spring into action as soon as I feel the shaking start instead of sitting around watching things bounce...but this seldom occurs to me when it is actually happening and I am a little unclear as to what I would spring into action to do!)

At any rate, the quake ended and we talked about it with our neighbors for a few minutes. I went to the internet to get the info. It was an 8.3 quake in the islands North of Hokkaido. I also learned that the quake triggered a tsunami warning.

We had a tsunami warning earlier a few months ago and it wasn't a big deal. Today, the tsunami warning caused quite a bit of freaking out on the base. (Maybe because it was during the middle of the day and everyone is off work and such.... Last time was at 9:30p...) The "big voice" mentioned something about evacuating, but the voice is so garbled in the wind that you can't hear very well. TV finally came on and said that the beach areas were evacuating but the rest of us were fine. Yeah!

Another small follow up quake that you couldn't quite feel and a couple of hours later for the tsunami warning to expire and all is well.

I wonder if Mike and Brock felt or heard anything on the slopes....They will be home in a couple of hours. I'll let you know!

Everyday in Japan is an adventure!

Love,

4Vs

Vending Machine Eggs

We have lived here a year and a half and just discovered Japanese vending machine eggs. We were not sure what the words say on the machine but we thought we could hear some clucking nearby that might have been coming from inside the machine.

There are several choices of eggs depending on the size. There are 3 sizes: mini, extra large & Super Ginormous steroid fed with double yolk. You get 5 double yolk eggs for 100 yen which is like 2 American eggs. When we first saw the double yolk eggs we were not sure if they were chicken or duck eggs. For the mini eggs you get 15 eggs for 200 Yen. For the extra large eggs you get 6 for 100 Yen.

Here is a shot of when you put your coin in and open the door. I'm just amazed that the chicken can shoot the egg into the bag and then tie it together and load it into he bin without breaking the eggs. I soon found out later that the shells are pretty strong when you try to crack them. More to come on how these eggs are superior in quality.

Japanese Eggs Continued

Here is a comparison of a Japanese Extra Large Egg on the left with an American Extra Large Egg on the right. Another funny thing I discovered was when you go to the local produce market they show a picture of the hen that lays the eggs. I'm not big on developing a relationship with the critters that give me my food but she looked like a nice healthy chicken that could almost be a small turkey.


Now look at the difference in size and quality. The yolk seems to be the big difference with its bright orange color compared to the U.S. chicken eggs dull yellow. It tastes different but good. The size seems to be 1 and a half times bigger, too. Brock was a little nervous eating the Japanese egg due to the color of the yolk but there were no complaints.

This is a little hard to tell but MB wanted a birdie in a nest. She got two birdies in a nest out of one egg (Japanese Super Ginormous egg with 2 yolks). My secretary Ms Junko-san says double yolk eggs are lucky. I did not tell her that you could just go get them for 100 Yen out of the vending machine off base.