Statue of Liberty Park - Part 2

The parks here are WONDERFUL! They're wonderfully dangerous, too! Zip lines, giant slides, metal and wood....and we've not seen anyone seriously hurt at any of them. We've been amazed at the tiny kids that can navigate the zip lines.

Most of the parks we've been at combine great playing areas with serene nature viewing areas. The Statue of Liberty Park (can't remember the Japanese name for it) does this well. When we drove up there were about 10 Sr. Citizens playing a sort of croquet game, we could see the statue across a big pond, fishermen, jogging paths, benches for reflection and lots of play things.

We plan to go back on a still day and get a photo with the reflection, sunlight etc....

We've still not made it to see Lady Liberty in NYC....but we visited her "sister" here in Japan.


It's hard to see in these pictures but this slide was LONG and TALL....and it was made of little rolling pipes rather than slide material. Zander discovered it is NOT good to get your hand or foot caught in these. It starts up on a hill, crosses a road and continues going.

Mike discovers it can be rather uncomfortable.


No Park is complete without a zip line.

This was the day that I saw a lady with her children and recognized her from the Weasel's Den. It turns out they will live about a block from our new home. She was full of helpful shortcuts....but I need to come up with a SYSTEM to remember things like "Pink bldg with the brown writing".... I need to go look up that Garmin map thing that I'd found to go with the GPS system that got stolen. I think we need to consider replacing it. It would make my adventures so much less scary.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Lady LIberty in Misawa

...taken in Misawa, Japan. This is Japan's largest statue of liberty. I didn't know Japan had any statue of libeties...bt we were impressed. I'm having trouble loading photos and it's time to go fold Protestant News' but I'll post more...."soon".

I realized, looking at this photo, that I began to feel down on our walk around this park. Yes, I suppose the statue did leave me considering all that she stands for, the state of our nation, 9 - 11....and so I guess I am homesick at that. LOL

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Dining Adventures

We read about strips of marinated meat, grilled outside on skewers and served at streetside vendors, in one of our books when we were working on our lapbooks in San Angelo. We thought they were called "yakitori". We've been looking for these everywhere since we arrived (that and Siapao).

I SAW some at the Vendors outside the museum. Mike doesn't like to pay fair prices for food. BUT he could see that I was drooling and begging and so gave me Y300 yen to try it. No one else wanted to try.

I declared them GOOD!

Stacia tried it and declared it GOOD.

Everyone tasted and wanted more. Mike went back and bought another one. This earned him big smiles and bows. We wanted more.

Jared went back and bought one. He threw in his growing Japanese language. He got laughs, smiles and bows. We wanted more.

The only one left to send was Arielle. She's usually shy about talking to "strangers." She zipped up there, bowed, ordered in JAPANESE...made all the right small talk...and they loved her. They gave her THREE sticks....one free.

I've researched to get the right name for our tasty dinner. Yakitori translated would mean "fried chicken" and this didn't taste like chicken. I could have sworn it was beef. Everyone I ask tells me they don't cook beef on these skewers...but hmmm....so I searched and found this. It may have been better not to KNOW about all these variations. It would seem we had yakiniku - grilled meat - beef/offal...and I'm surely hoping it was beef.

Ah well, it WAS good and I'm sure to buy it again.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Portrait of the Future?

You never really know with God in the picture, do you? I AM convinced that this young man is gifted with the spiritual gift of leadership and will one day change the world for the better...however that may play out.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Misawa Aviation Museum

Sunday we wanted a quick adventure - one without long drives on dark mountain roads. We decided to visit the Misawa Aviation and Science Museum.

The kids weren't 100% sold on the idea, but Mike promised a couple of hours and then on to a nearby park.

Wow! We were shocked. What a GREAT place to visit. Each and EVERY child has asked if we can go back. The entrance for children 12 and under is free! It was about Y300 for Jared and Y500 for Mike and I.


Doesn't this look like a scene from Star Wars?

We knew it would have Miss Veedol info...and it did. (Do a blog search for more info).

It also had some aviation displays...but really we never made it through the whole museum. This is what we DID discover....


Anti-gravity chairs...


Fun things to mash our faces into ::snort:: Yes - it's LONGHORN


Pulley's anyone?




Yep - a real cockpit. Mike had a blast explaining it all to the kids.


Yes, a real flight simulator which provided lots of fun.


This was a fun activity - the balloon went to the ceiling and back as you controlled the amount of hot air pumping into it.


This air tube was amazing. You got in and it shot you up and then down and up etc. The kids really liked this "ride".

There was also a room that tilted and spun around and you did various things with tossing balls while it did that.

Zander enjoyed the helicopter but was a bit disappointed it didn't take off....and the way this museum kept surprising us, it could have. ::snort::


Gyro (spelling?)


This went up, down, tilted, twirled....Zander is strapped on the other side.


We were AMAZED at how friendly the "ride" attendants were. They seemed PLEASED to wait on us. We were also amazed that each ride was wiped down after every use. I'm still surprised such a great resource is FREE for youth. It only cost our family of 7 about $10 to enter. The kids also learned a valuable lesson about doing what Dad wants to do, even if you think you'll die of boredom.....sometimes you'll be pleasantly surprised. ::snort::

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

School This Week

I'm amazed at how much we are able to learn regardless of where we are or where our supplies are. ::snort::

We've continued our study of Japanese Culture. We've been able to find a lot of books at the base library for this....and we're enjoying ourselves. We've built lit, history, math, language, and art around this topic. Arielle enjoyed The Master Puppeteer enough to suggest I read it aloud to Zander and Nolan. I'm doing this and she is listening again. Jared wrote an 8 page paper on Saigō Takamori, his life and exploits as the "last samurai". This wasn't assigned, but he wanted to do it and it makes him happy. He is currently working on a comparison between English and Japanese Feudalism. He felt his study of the time period with TOG was great background on England, and this has always fascinated us so he has a background....and he's now researching the Shogun era.... We're watching Shogun and enjoying it. Our favorite thing is trying to translate the Japanese language in the movie. ::snort::

Every outing is a field trip that ties into our oversall unit study. That's mighty convenient.

Jared is soaring with Pimsleur. We're still debating if we should hire a private language tutor (EXPENSIVE) or go to a language school in Hachinhohe. Both have their advantages.

Jared and Arielle continue to sift through the book Kim gave Jared on Kanji. I continue to say, "Anyone KNOW what that sign says?" as we encounter various traffic signs and posted signs on our adventures.

Jared and Arielle attended a meeting to help with the RE Carnival coming up this Sunday. We're excited for the kick off of RE.

Zander is on lesson 7 of "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons." He'll read eventually, I'm fairly sure. He nearly blew out my eardrum - seriously, my ears were popping hours afterwards - when I told him, "I'm not sure I heard the last sound in that word, say it fast again." He leaned up against my ear and YELLED the word. I had to explain that when I say I'm not sure I've heard a phonics sound it may not be volume that needs to be adjusted. ::snort::

We've hit on a great way to do spelling. I give random words. Nolan writes it down. Arielle writes it down WITH a sentence. All make up a silly sentence at the end of the day.

We had our second pottery class on Friday. I can't wait to see all that they are making.

Yep - School is in session!

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Not Blogging

I've been informed I've not really blogged since Sunday....wow, some sort of record. ::snort::

Seriously, this has been a rough week. I've found myself off kilter. I'm tired of living in TLF and am ready to be able to truly make a home in Misawa. I've missed not having a PWOC kick off or Bible study to attend. I'm tired of trying to guess at what buttons to click on the computer when it's all in Japanese...WHY is it doing this again???? I've been struggling a lot this week with - well not HOMEsickness because this IS home...but CHILDsickness. I'm not the only one. Others here have mentioned at strange times missing one or the other of our four who "didn't want to come with us to Japan." ::snort:: Several of the "large" families moved out this week...and so the TLF seems emptier.

In all this I HAVE chosen to find the silver lining...but it's taken most my effort this week to live and school with a Christ like attitude...there's been little effort left to blog about it. Too real?

Honestly, it IS nice to run out of TLF in the morning for an adventure and return to freshly made beds, clean towels, and empty garbage cans. It IS nice to be on base and able to quickly make it to meetings. It IS nice to have time to really focus on establishing a school/fall routine before diving into a PWOC routine. It will be WONDERFUL to have a new chapel for studies, children's minister et al. I AM thrilled that our four older children are all serving the Lord with whole hearts. I AM thrilled that they are following His leading - even if that means we are separated.

However, it's time to blog....because it's gotten so bad my FAMILY has loaded photos to the computer, categorized the ones to publish on the blog, suggested I go blog now....because THEY like having a record of what we are doing....so here I am.

Mike's at work - the downside of a "4 day weekend" is that the work load doesn't disappear just because the work week was shortened. LOL The kids are playing their new love "table top football" or "finger flicking football"....I'd better ask WHAT it is....and I'm to stay down here until I catch the blog up and get photos loaded to Photobucket. I have my orders.

I love my family.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...