Dolphin Jump

The dolphin show was very cool even though it was all in Japanese. Lots of talking and a little bit of action.

I did not get a picture of it but the most impressive trick I thought was when they had the dolphin swim up so that it held itself above the water with his tail and he caught a frisbee in his mouth. It was just like throwing a frisbee for a dog! Fetch dolphin!

The dolphin ends back into the water after performing his trick-o

Make your plans now...

One bonus of living in rural northern Japan is that they have events like the World Women's Curling Championships. Who would have ever picked that? I'm guessing all the more popular cities were all booked up for March. We saw some of the member of the Czech Republic Women's curling team and I was surprised as they did not have mustaches or bigger muscles than me.

This was a clever display in the aquarium to promote the curling championships. You can see the curling target on the end of the tank with little clams for the curling stones. I don't know if the fish or the crabs won the contest.

Dolphin Show

There are two dolphins at the aquarium. I'm not sure if they speak Japanese or English but they would not do the standard sea world commands that I was giving them.

I think they understood me but knew I did not have any sardines to feed them.

I gave them the race around the tank command, the wave your flipper command, and the ever popular jump out of the water and splash command. As you can see in the pictures they just sat there and stared me down as to say, "your mine Buddy if you ever jump into the ocean" There is a warning sign next to the tank that has a Japanese translation that says "Warning: there is inherent danger of dolphin be careful of growing a hand through the fence." I think they meant to say not to stick your finger in his blow hole or you might get it bitten off.

Asamushi Aquarium Critters

We saw many sea creatures at the Aquarium. There was a tank of sea turtles that looked pretty big. Probably big enough to give Grace a ride if she held on.

There was a tank of rock lobsters. Not sure if they would be any good with butter sauce.

There was a big octopus checking me out in his home. He was all curled up at the top of his tank.

Funky McDonald's Mystery Meat Sandwhich

We ate at a Japanese McDonald's which is actually very good compared its counterparts in the states. The quality of the food is good and they actually prepare it like it looks in the commercials...not smashed and cold. The only difference is that there are several mystery meat sandwiches like this one that has a hole in the middle with chicken like meat. They also make a shrimp McEbi Sandwich.
Mushi Mushi

Aomori City Manhole Cover

This is for Mom Cone who likes to see the different manhole covers for Japanese cities. We saw this outside of Aomori City Japan near the Ausamushi Aquiarium. It looks like it has the Nabuta festival parade guys on it dressed up in their costumes.

CoCo's

After the weeklong ORI (Operational Readiness Inspection) Mike was ready to get off base and have some warm Japanese cooking. Biscuit and Gravy wanted to go to CoCo's which is sort of like a Japanese Dennys.

Grace ordered pancakes but really just wanted french fries. Her pancakes came with a plastic dispenser that allowed you to decorate her pancakes in chocolate sauce. She was very happy. She also tasted a bit of everyone's food to include French onion soup, beef fried rice and some noodles.

When you are ready to order you have to summon the waitress with the "ping pong" button. It makes a ding dong noise but the waitress says ping pong.





The best part of the place is that they have Fancy desserts. We could not decide whether or not to get the banana split mudslide so we just went for the Carmel crepe with bananas.

Hobbes!

Hobbes is a 5 1/2 year old golden retriever who lives in the building next door. His family took off to Okinawa for a couple of days this week. We were happy to keep Hobbes for them while they were gone.

Hobbes has nice manners and a few tricks- he sits, speaks, fetches and makes little whiny happy noises when he is excited. We had a great time walking him and loving on him.

One interesting thing about Hobbes- he is not all that interested in visitors at the front door. He is the first dog we have ever been around that does not respond at all when the door bell rings. He just laid in the living room while we answered the door. If he heard children or someone he knew, he would come to the door and visit. Otherwise, unless invited, he had no interest! It was a little strange (but nice) to walk past him and not have to hold him back to let a visitor inside.

Winter is not over yet....

Although it is Spring Break time in the states, winter is not over in Misawa yet.... We woke up to about nine inches of snow on the ground this morning. We are forcasted to pick up another four inches during the day today. So much for Spring!




This little truck is one of my favorite snow vehicles. It is just wide enough to travel down the sidewalk and clears the snow away quickly. I didn't want to scare him away, so this is the best picture I got!




Mike and the neighbor both had to be in the office by 6am so we had a little building snow clearing get together at 5am...not that I am complaining! This winter has been incredibly mild in comparison to last year!

Love,

4Vs

Lady Belle

This beautiful old lady is Miss Belle. Brock has been watching Belle after school for the past three weeks. Belle's mom went to the states and Belle's dad works long hours- so Brock helps out by walking Belle in the afternoons.

Belle is a golden retriever even though she looks more like an Irish Setter. I have never seen such a dark colored golden retriever!




Keeping Lady Belle is a different experience than most of our dog sitting jobs. Lady Belle knows what she wants and if she doesn't get it, she just lays down and refuses to move. She walks very, very slowly. If the kids try and take her somewhere she doesn't want to go, she just stops. In addition to walks, she likes to warm her old bones in the sun and lay in the yard when it is nice. Can't argue with that!



In the next month, we have booked Belle, Hobbes and Kia at the Vaughn family kennel! The "borrowed" dog might be the answer to our longings for a dog!

Love,

4Vs

Snowshoeing in the Hakkoda Mountains

On Sunday, Mary Beth went snowshoeing with some friends in the Hakkoda Mountains. These mountains are near the Oriase Gorge where we visited this summer- about 60 to 90 minutes from the base.

Lots of snow in the area, but not as much as last year. Here is the area where we parked.

At the start of the trail there was a cool snow tunnel that led to the onsen/hotel in the area. Here is what we could see of the hotel from the start.

This is the start of the trail. Doesn't look so bad at the beginning. I kept tripping over my snowshoes at the start, but then I got in a good rhythm. We are walking on about 15 feet of snow.

More Snowshoeing

We headed up the mountain behind a large group of Japanese hikers. Many of them planned on snowshoeing up the mountain and then ski or snowboard down. So they carried their ski/snowboard gear on the backs on the way up. This group of folks also had a dog friend who frolicked thru the snow chasing his frisbee all the way up. (We also caught site of him gleefully running next to the skiers on the way down!)

The mountains are covered with trees and the snow gets deeper as you go up. So the trees start to look more and more flocked as you go up.

At the top of the mountain is a community cabin. Here is my first sighting of the cabin. The snow is deep at this point and we actually entered the cabin thru a window at the top. The door was under the snow.

At the top

This is the inside of the cabin. It is one room with three giant bunk beds on each side. Each bunk would sleep several people. There is a very primitive potty, but I was not even brave enough to check it out. No electricity, but there were a couple of kerosene heaters. Most of the hikers stop in for a few minutes to get warm and rest a little before heading back down.

Outside the cabin, you can see the tops of the trees. They are covered with snow and bent by the wind. Folks call them "snow monsters".

Snow Monsters!

Lots of snow covered tree tops at the top of the mountain. I thought these looked like dinosaurs!

The weather started to change at the top so we had to head down. The tall wooden bamboo poles on the right mark the trail up and down the mountain.

Going home

Here is a look down the start of the trail home. Visibility was not bad, but not as great as on the way up. We made is down with no problems.

On the way home, we passed some of the roads that had been closed over the winter. They use these machines to cut thru the snow and clear the road. Next week, they will re-open some of the roads. The first day the road is cleared and open they have a "walking" tour where you can park and walk along the high snow walls along the street. I had never seen the snow cutting rigs before!

Overall, it was an exhausting but great day!

Love,

Mary B

Sat Night Birthday Party

Ms Grace gets ready to decorate for her super pink princess party with some balloons.

She liked her pink polka dotted cake. It almost looked to good to eat.