Seven -

We were out driving on Saturday, always on the look out for countdown photos when we happened upon this family cemetery WAY in the middle of no where......7 Buddhist graves.

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

Splendid Saturdays

Saturdays have developed a nice pattern. All sleep in - but I can't. I make use of the mornings and head to the gym for the 6th workout of the week. I reward myself for my diligence by going to the ONSEN....it's quiet early in the a.m.......relaxing...soothing....such a nice start to the day. 

My hip has been bothering me as the weather changes. I spent quite a bit of time in the "pulse bath" today - electrical jolts....yikes - but I've been pain free all afternoon. 

I usually stop off by our favorite bakery on my way home from the onsen and buy some of the "unhealthy" bread. A nice treat....the small loaves with a big family means about 1 slice each....not too bad of a vice. 

We cleaned. 

Then we headed off for an adventure. Jared hadn't seen Misawa Citizen's Forestry park. We went there....then checked out the camping areas and drove off in the direction opposite from home.  Nice day.  I'll save the photo of Jared entertaining himself until Day one of the countdown. LOL 

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

8 Days

EIGHT year old Zander helps me with the fly away laundry. Stiff wind around here......

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

Italian Pizza

We tried a brand new Pizza joint tonight after Sarah told me the kids would love it. This "chef" trained in Naples and the pizzeria is billed as having "Italian style pizza". I don't know what was Italian and what was Japanese - but all in all - it was yummo! 

We loved the brick oven. 

See Stacia's head popping up to watch? 

THIN crusts (so thin you can see through them in spots), VERY fast cooking....we ordered a margarita (very popular here - basically tomato based sauce, mozzarella and basil leaves) and I order Pollo Fungai (assuming it would be chicken and mushrooms - good guess)...one size of pizza (and you don't typically take leftover home in Japan - at least not up here). 

The kids played it safe and ordered the "Americana style" pizza.....I wish I had a photo of their eyes when this showed up.....french fries and hot dog pizza....

Another thing to get used to is the drinks are 8 oz and no refills ($2 a drink)

The portions are smaller....and the pizza is NOT greasy...NOT AT ALL...I loved it. I'm sure we'll go back. They were quite taken with Zander and Stacia and the feeling was mutual. 

Something in the Air?

Busy week. We ended it at the Homecoming game....good fun.....but my children were whacko. One got into a FIST FIGHT.....one was crawling under blankets with an older man.....one was....well you get the idea.....what in the WORLD???????  Tell me that Daddy will be home soon. 


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

9 Glass Floats

It's still fairly common to find glass floats along the beaches in Japan. I've not  PERSONALLY found any, but Twyla has given me one and the kids bought me a bunch for Mother's Day. You can find HUGE ones and I plan to go looking for some in the very near future.

The kids bought me this little basket and it holds 9 Japanese glass floats illuminated with battery-powered tea lights as we're not allowed to burn candles in our home.

NINE DAYS? SINGLE DIGIT! This is our guess.....even if it turns out this is day 11 or 13 or 18.....we'll be happy that for today we think it is NINE. LOL

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

Tasty Treat

Akikosan has gotten into the habit of bringing a treat each week during our Japanese lessons.  This is Arielle's favorite. 

Evidently, this company, whose name I can't remember, makes little squares of chocolate. All VERY seasonal....so for a few days or a week we should be able to find these.  Yep - pancake chocolates. LOL She willingly ate the last one so I could get a photo of the inside for you. LOL 

Chocolate on the bottom, graham cracker like middle, with MAPLE syrup oozing out and covered in white- butter-flavored chocolate. I simply don't ASK what the ingredients are....I figure if we eat clean most the time we'll survive our eating adventures in Japan. 


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