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.

Holiday Bottle Monument

Locals may have noticed holiday trees near the Main gate on White pole road and if you look closely they are made of plastic bottles. 15K bottles were recycled to form this tree 10 meters.

Holiday Bottles

These bottle monuments were made by city employees to wish for a successful renovation of the site into an American-style shopping area in 2008, and for continued friendship between the U.S. and Japan. We stopped on New Year's Eve to take a look at the site. MB and the kids are about to walk into a tunnel that leads to the 10 meter tree below with a star on top.

Have a Happy New Year 2007!

Bottle Tunnel

Here is a good shot of the tunnel with the 10 meter tree in the back.

Swiss Miss

I just liked this becasue Grace has pig tails and MB called her Swiss Miss.

She seems dainty but can down a juice in about 12 seconds.

The Cheer Sensation and Snowballer

Grace V models her Cheer Sensation Tee from Uncle Matt. I messed with the picture size so Grace looks a little distorted.

Brock shows his perfect "Snowballer" form as he prepares to throw a snowball down the lane with his blue fire stocking hat with Ms G in the back cheering him on.

Japanese Donuts

We went looking for the New Years Japanese Apples (ringos) but we did not see any at the Jusco market. We decided to peruse the pastries and other miscellaneous produce instead. The Japanese donuts are very fancy and mostly in different shapes and characters. We enjoyed this one the most due to its pig like shape with a raisin eyeball. Not sure of the reason for the pig unless it is the year of the pork like creature in the Asian new year calendar. That's all folks.

Fashion Show

Grace shows off her new non boy belt with sparkly pants

Here is her lacy top that makes her look like a teenager.

I'm a Very Important Princess in Pink.

STRAWBERRIES & Ariel Barbie

Santa flew in and picked up some Japanese strawberries at the Universe Market. It was just want Grace wanted for her "Bresbest" (breakfast!).

The see through Aerial Barbie that sings in the tub made Ms G very happy. If you push her back then she talks and sings to you and her tail lights up. Its a pretty neat trick if you are a bath tub mermaid.

I got a TWENTY!

Grace got some money from her Aunt Susan along with some American Girl books and some bubble gum lip gloss. The money burnt a hole in her pocket until she bought a Pixel Chix hand held video game at the BX yesterday. I tried to convince her to save it for a rainy day but there was no way that was ever going to happen with Ms Body Butter Bubble Gum Pants in charge.

BV's Best Christmas Yet

Brock was in his happy place with his gifts. His Grandma Cone got him a "Jacques Vaughn" Spurs Jersey which is hard to come by since he is not a starter but the boy was pleased and quickly threw it on. Santa brought him a camouflage Swiss Army pocket knife and a Timex Sports watch. He also added some Lego sets to his collection with his favorite Star Wars and city vehicles to be blogged later as he builds them. Also, pictured in his lap is Kia Mansberger who got to open some gifts too from her family.

Grace V fashion show

Grace V opened her gifts like a rabid model going to runway show. On Christmas Eve she declared that she was no longer wearing any more pink clothes but then that was thrown out once she opened her Very Important Princess sweater jacket. Another funny thing she said was when she opened the box with her jeans and gold belt was "Oh its a belt that is not from the boys department" MB has been buying her boy belts from the BX because that is all they have in the store. She is now happy to so fashionable and thinks she looks like a teenager with her lacy shirt.

Favorite blowup Xmas ornament

Here is our favorite Xmas blow up lawn ornament. Santa on a motorcycle is a new one we have not seen yet since the whole giant snow globe craze. We just attended the 7PM Christmas eve service and Biscuit and Gravy have visions of sugar plums already dancing in their heads.

End of new Year Greetings

Kotoshi mo osewa ni nari mshita! This is the end of year greeting in Japan. It means Happy holidays and Happy New Year! My secretary Junko-san gave MB & I (Maj & Mary-Beth Vaughn-san) some Japanese New Year celebration ornaments to hang in our car window. Celebrating the New Year is big in Japan. They make various sizes of these that you can put on your doorway to your house or in a pot. We wish you much happiness and wealth in the new year.