28 Always Dependable Friends

 A few of these were handed down from BreAnne and Krista....gotta be good if it lasted THAT long. 28 days.....tick tock tick tock

Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Lazy Sunday

Our heart simply wasn't in the Air Show without Michael. I debated and thought of forcing it...but why? We stayed home. We Skyped with Mom and Dad and the girls. It was good to catch up.

We did some cleaning and had a nice Sunday dinner. I worked on how to present this week's Bible Study material and the kids played with lots of  kids in the neighborhood.

We went to chapel tonight. I do believe we are down to only 4 more Solo Sundays. ::grin::


Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Directions to Komakko Land - Towada Horse Park

Geo Coordinates will get you to the general area N 40*36.893    E 141* 07.877 Also known as Komakko Land



To see photos and video clip of a recent trip, click here. 

SHORTCUT - via Simon of Out the Gate - cuts at least 10 min  off the trip for us. 

• Take Route 10 into Towada (go out POL gate, stay on it until you reach Towada; or go through town, I'm not sure of that way as I live by the toll road). 
• This parallels the rail road tracks, turn RIGHT at the Y. 
• Go through 4 lights (this takes a while).
• Turn right at the first street after the 4th light. 
• Go 1.4 km (7 streets) and turn left (you'll see a brown sign like the one above).
• Go  past a house with lots of apple trees to a funky intersection. 
• Continue straight up the hill until you see the sign for the Towada Horse Museum on your left. 

Here are the directions we were first given; either set will work.   

•  Take Route 10 into Towada (go out POL gate, stay on it until you reach Towada; or go through town, I'm not sure of that way as I live by the toll road). 
• Stay along the river & rail road tracks, stay left at the Y,  past Homac, until the light. 
• Take a LEFT over the canal. 
• Pass the shrine, follow the blue traffic signs to Route 102....turn RIGHT. 
• This will take you out of Towada....around 4 km you'll see a rest area (pull out with vending machines) on your left.
• You'll turn RIGHT just after this turn out where you see a tall, skinny blue sign with cartoon horses on it.

It will look similar to this one (these are the dancing pony signs you'll follow)

And this is over the highway as you turn RIGHT

• Drive about 2 km, through fields....around 2 km you'll see a dancing pony sign and  turn LEFT  toward the hills (there is a sign like the one  above - that looks like it may be directing you left.....but you want to stay straight until you've gone the 2 km  or you end up at a golf course). 
• Drive 2.8 km - you'll go through a 4 way stop sign. Go up a hill. The Park is on your LEFT.

Hours:

• 0830 - 1800 (April 1 - Oct 31)
• 0830 - 1700 (Nov 1 - Mar 31)
• Closed: Mondays (Tuesday if Monday is a national holiday) and New Year
• Note slides will be closed if it has rained. 

Visit the Komakko Land website!

Choosing Joy!
©2011 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

WE DID IT - An Adventure

We weren't able to go to Towada Horse Park yesterday. We had nothing planned today and the kids wanted to give it a shot. I wanted to get a bit more concrete details on the directions to share with those who've never found this treasure. We sat off. 


FIRST we found Risoukyo Flower Farm and Outdoor Museum. There weren't many flowers blooming...but we can see this is a place to revisit in the right season. We enjoyed the grounds....we marked it in the gps so we can find it again. 

We left the flower gardens and headed for "Shotokukan" - Towada Horse Park. This place is fun! 

Horse Barns...

There was a horse determined to reach Stacia...kept butting it's head against the bars....this was taken right after he turned around and began pushing his rump against the bars. 

playgrounds

Fun slides - Trojan Horse

Main ROLLER slide....this is the bottom half....

The top half winds through the trees, up the hill. 

Instead of horse rides, we took a pony cart ride. What a deal - it would have cost Y2,400; but they gave us a Y1,000 per family rate.  We'll do the horses when Jared can join us. 

Then it RAINED....lovely....and I was so proud of how the children take each of these things as a part of the adventure. It would have been miserable if they were the complaining type....but we sat down for a snack, then made a run for it. 

This spot is only 30 - 40 minutes (depending on traffic) from our home. We'll visit again. We've still not visited the horse museum, eaten ramen at the shop or rode the horses.

We stopped at Hard Off Recycle shop and bought 29 pieces of pottery. LOL 

We ended the adventure with homemade chicken noodle soup...and an episode or two of The Lucy Show (thanks, Mom).

Arielle went down the slide with the video camera to give you a taste of the fun.

Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

29 pieces of Japanese Pottery

Yes, I planned on collecting polish pottery - but that seems a bit silly as I live in Japan. Here are 29 pieces of pottery (28 plus the Wallace and Grommet set we couldn't abandon) from the recycle shop. They match the same color pattern as the plates the kids got me for Mother's Day. 


Today, I need to report that Zander and Stacia have figured out the countdown. They're a bit more cognizant than I thought. They were talking about "Only 29 days until dad gets back"....so they won't be surprised if he actually arrives on the 29th day. LOL 


Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Anastacia's Adventure

We planned a trip to Towada Horse Park with a couple of friends and their kids...but we woke to lots of rain. 


After the gym, I started emailing and calling to see if we had a plan B. Plan B turned out to be our family going over to Mary's home. We enjoyed lunch. The kids played games. Mary and I had time to catch up after the summer travel season. 


We headed to the commissary....where I took a series of stunning photos. 

We headed for the farmer's market and bought veggies and bananas fresh from the tree. I also got some gourd/squash looking thing because the sweet farmer was there in person and I couldn't say no. I picked out the smallest, but she was sure I needed the biggest. I'm not quite sure how to cook it - maybe it will make a nice fall decoration. ::snort:: 


We ended the week with pizzas and  Sense and Sensibility (everyone liked Pride and Prejudice better). 


During the movie, I used the series of above photos to create an aisle by aisle grocery list. I had one of these for years and lost it in a computer crash. I've been meaning to create a new one....next to get some extras in the freezer. LOL 


Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Apple Bread (Can be Vegan)

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/2 C honey (or 1 C sugar - that's what it says - I used honey)

1/2 stick butter, melted

1 egg

3 apples, peeled and finely shredded

Pre-heat oven to *350. Combine all the dry ingredients. Mix in melted butter, egg and shredded apples. Stir until just combined. Pour into greased loaf pan. Bake for one hour or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 min, remove and cool on a wire rack. 

Note: To make Vegan  sub maple syrup or rapadura (adjust liquids) for honey, coconut oil for butter and 1 T flax seed/3 T water or Ener G for the egg.  Ours was yummy with the substitutions. If you don't like coconut oil (though I really don't notice any taste) try applesauce in place of oil - will make it denser.

More yummy eats here. 

Choosing Joy!
©2010 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...