Japan Day One: Sendai

Japan was so much fun and I have so many pictures that there will have to be several posts about the trip. We were able to visit 4 cities, starting with Sendai. We landed in Tokyo and right after our 11+ hour flight, we hopped on a 3 hour train ride with my parents to Sendai. We went straight to bed when we arrived at our hotel around 10:30 pm.
First thing the next morning we headed to the mission home to get Mark! We waited around for about an hour until he showed his face.

It was great to see him again. Seemed like a long time had passed and like it was yesterday we said goodbye all at the same time.

We had to check and see if he had grown any on his mission...he is cheating in this pic and standing on his tippy toes.

After a nice meeting with Mark's Mission president and his wife and all the Zone Leaders (I think that is who they were. ;) We headed out for some lunch with our helpful chauffeur, Moma (I probably spelled that wrong.)

Monma took us to Kapasushi (no idea how to spell that either ha.) Mark gave my parents a quick lesson in chopstick use.

This place was pretty cool because the food just went past your table on a little conveyor belt and if you wanted something, you just took the plate off and ate it. If you wanted to special order something, you did it with that screen in the back and a little train zipped it out to you.

See how quickly my dad learned to use chopsticks? haha! This might be one of my favorite pictures.

It was fun trying some new things and enjoying some things we already had experienced before. A "waitress" would come by your table when you were finished and count the plates on your table. It was approximately $1 a plate and there were 2 pieces of sushi to a plate....too bad this wasn't all of the plates. :)

My parents weren't excited about trying the raw stuff, but they gave it a shot. Needless to say, this wasn't their favorite place to eat. :)

After lunch we went to the church and were able to witness a baptism. It was a unique opportunity for all of us.

Saying goodbye to Monma as he dropped us off at our hotel.

Our day wasn't over yet though...we still had a baseball game to go to! We headed out and got to the eki (again I don't know what this word is really supposed to be, but it means train station...I think.) Justin realized we would probably need the baseball tickets, so we all waited while he ran back to get them.

Here he comes!

Here is where we officially got to make Mark feel like a tourist. He had tried to avoid looking like a tourist his whole mission, and now he wasn't able to avoid it. :)

The game was very cool. It started off pretty entertaining when the Eagles coach (an American who doesn't speak Japanese) gave a demonstration on how the runner couldn't have been safe when his catcher was laying on home plate.

Whichever team was up to bat had their fans chanting and making noise non-stop. The Eagles were the home team and unfortunately lost by one after making a great run for the win in the 9th. The people around us, enjoyed listening to us talk (according to Mark. Luckily he could understand them and they weren't saying mean things about us.;) When Justin got excited and would cheer loudly, some drunk men behind us and some older women in front of us would give us high fives. They seemed to be getting quite the kick out of us.

The atmosphere at the game was very similar to a game in the states, but it was a little strange to see people enjoying plates of sushi instead of hot dogs and peanuts.

Another cool thing the fans did, was blow up this weird balloons, do a cheer, and then let the whistling balloons go. It was a pretty cool site to see. Plus, I think it woke my parents up a bit. ;)

We were definitely ready for bed when the game was over.

I just don't get it

Yesterday we enjoyed ourselves at Water World. If there was a downside to the day it would be the annoyment of teenage boys wearing their underwear under their swimsuits. I do not want to see a good 3 inches of your chonies above the line of your swimsuit. Is it just me or is this new trend one of the stupidest things ever??? It is bad enough that boys want to show off their underwear when they are supposed to be fully dressed and dry, but letting them hang out when you are soaking wet in water that I am supposed to emerge myself in is just gross. I get that swimming pools and such are just plain gross when you think about how you are practically taking a bath with thousands of strangers, but adding the visual of soggy skivvies just about makes me want to puke. I had to fight back the temptation of telling a group of boys how stupid they looked and ask what in the world they were thinking. How long has this trend been going on? Am I out of the loop to have just noticed it? Hmmm, does the fact that this annoys me so badly really date me?
This may sound strange but - Mothers....Make your boys take their underwear off...or pull up their swim trunks....please.

Halfway to 16

Sydnee wanted a white daisy as her cake this year. That made it pretty easy in the creativity department...but not so easy in the frosting department. All those nooks and crannies are hard to get into. She liked the result and I always tell myself that that is the important part.
Syd helped by putting some M&Ms on the cake.

Having a birthday on the 4th of July always makes for quite the party; especially when Sydnee gets to share her birthday with her cousin Azurdey.

We had a BBQ and then opened presents and had cake and ice cream. It was nice to have so much family there to celebrate with.

The girls' birthday's were made extra special because they got to have their uncle Mark there. (Justee didn't want her picture taken.)

After dessert the firework play started up. Trying to keep track of that many little ones while so many fire hazards surround them, about gave me a nervous breakdown. The kids had their fun with poppers and such and then once it was dark, the big kids (Justin, Mark, and Gerry) had fun with the bigger stuff.

Sydnee got lots of great presents (between Seattle, Japan and birthday pictures I ran out of room on my memory card; so I didn't get the usually pic of her with her presents.:( So I better make note of it.)

She got her first set of Scriptures along with a scripture bag and stickers, and a CTR ring from Justin and I. Char picked her out some Zhu Zhu pets and Justee gave her a dentist Barbie set. She got G-Force on DVD from Burtons and Jewelry from Gma/pa H. From Gma/pa D. and Sienna she got another Zhu Zhu. Uncle Rob and fam got her a journal. Of course she got her Love Dollar from Great Gma P. and a card from Thompsons. Hope I didn't forget anything...Thank you everyone for making Syd's bday so special.

Sydnee is such a sweet girl, she is happy and active and always up for fun. She shares well with her sisters and helps them when she can. I think she is a great big sister and I am sure Chuck and Justee would say the same. Sydnee was very excited about turning 8 because she could be baptized. She is a great example to her little sisters. I will have a follow-up post about her baptism soon.

Happy 4th

Ahhhh the 4th of July...a great day, but not as great on a Sunday. Who wants to get up for 8 am church on a holiday?

Besides being our nations birthday, it is Sydnee's birthday. She is 8...I have an 8 year old? Crazy I tell you.

Lots has happened in the past couple of weeks. Seattle, Japan, Mark being home from his mission and now Syd's bday....All have been great or about to be great (Syd's party is about ready to start and then it is firework time! Who doesn't like setting money on fire? It's awesome.) It is just too bad I have to wait until I get back home to post pictures and such.

God Bless America!