To get the gallery link to work as I wanted, I had to install the “Page Links To” plug-in. This actually worked really well and got things going in the right direction.

So give it a test and see how you like the gallery. It’s in early beta yet, so it might change on you if I’m editing it as you’re viewing it. (Yah, I know I shouldn’t be mucking around with a live site, but luckily I know the admin and he says it’s okay).

Lunch was good and beefy with a bit of wine and a bit more beer. Even the birthday girl went with a glass of wine after debating which kind of juice to drink.

For whatever reason, Layla decided she wanted to sit on my lap for most of the lunch, helping to eat the good parts of my meal. She’s really learning the word ’share’ these days… she uses it a lot, although the definition is a bit off in her mind. To her, sharing means “you have something I want”. To be honest, it was initially a one-way street, but these days she is getting better at actual sharing too, not just asking to share.

After lunch, Jiji wanted to buy Layla a piano. At least, that was my uneducated interpretation of what I heard is. We headed to Toys R Us of all places, where Layla ran up and down the aisles taking it all in. In the end, she picked out some books and a kid karaoke machine with a bunch of Japanese kids’ songs. There was a 7.1 megapixel camera there for 2500 yen that I almost bought for her, but thought better of it… she plays with my camera enough – if she breaks it, I’ll just have to buy a new one… something I wouldn’t be loathe to do.

We headed back to the grandparents’ house for some karaoke fun. Multiple renditions of several of the 32 songs were sung by at least Tamie and Layla, with the occasional vocal backings of the aunt and/or grandparents. Seems like that little machine is a good investment so far! We’ll see how much they like those 32 songs in a year.

We came back home after doing a bit of grocery shopping, Tamie prepared supper while I played with Layla. We ended up watching the princess and the frog… Tamie nearly burst into tears at the end because of the … well, I won’t ruin the ending for anyone.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get any pictures from the lunch, the shopping, the karaoke, or the movie… but I did snap a few of running in the rain.

I didn’t understand a word of the lecture, but from what I gathered it was a brief 2+ hour presentation of the prof’s works and achievements over his career. The occasional laughter from the crowd hinted that he was dropping humour into his lecture, making me wish I understood the language a little bit better. Instead, I was busy holding Layla as she snored loud enough to embarrass Tamie, but not loud enough for anyone else to hear (thankfully).

The day was not without it’s humourous moments. As the speech was getting started, Layla was getting fidgety so I said I’d go get a drink from a vending machine… Layla wanted to come so we snuck out the back door to find a couple guys sitting in suits holding flowers waiting outside. The politely held the door and closed it quietly as we ventured forth on our quest for juice.

It was raining outside but we didn’t have any umbrella, so we dashed into and around buildings looking for a vending machine. In this country, you can pretty much hit a vending machine with a rock in any direction you decide to throw it. In this school campus, with the intention of finding one, it was next to impossible. I exaggerate, but it did take more time than I thought and by the time we actually found one I realized I didn’t have any change or bills small enough to actually use them! The card reader wouldn’t read my card or phone either (not that I was actually expecting it to).

With no way to work the vending machines, what could we do? Instead of going back to get change from Tamie, we headed over to the cafeteria that Tamie pointed out on our way in. The place was abandoned. There was one lady mopping the floor but no one available to break a large bill… so we ended up going to get change. And umbrellas. Our wet, squeaky shoes sure impressed the flower boys who held the door for us and the silent lecture hall that we tried to sneak through. Layla yelling ‘Mom!’ when she entered was fun too.

After we got some drinks and settled into a spot beside Tamie, things seemed to settle down. Layla tried to get comfortable on me and seemed ready to fall asleep… but not before she wanted to play a game on my phone. So I discretely pulled out my phone, ensured that the volume was turned down all the way and fired up her favourite Poke-A-Mole game. They say you learn something new every day, and that day I learned that my phone has two volumes — one volume for the ringer, which I had shut off, and one for media, which was at full blast. It only took a second to turn it down, but a second of poke-a-mole music in a silent lecture hall is definitely a second too much. The best part – Layla only played one game before she curled up and fell asleep.

As I watched the lecture, I couldn’t help but think about where I’m going to be after 44 years of working for the man. Dead, most likely, but if I’m still around I hope I’m sitting on the deck of my boat with a beer in one hand and a fishing rod in the other. I certainly don’t see myself working at the same place for 44 years… Heck – in the 7 years since I graduated I’ve worked at 3 different companies in 3 different cities across 2 countries. Including co-ops, it’s 6 companies in 10 years! At that rate, I’ll be on to company 32 or 33 in another 44 years!

When the lecture was complete, a few other people stood up and gave speeches to or about the professor. One guy even made another presentation with slides and everything. When it was almost over, the back doors opened and I expected to see the two guys who’d been waiting with the bouquets… The bouquets came, but carried by two girls who brought them up and presented them to the prof and his wife. I’m not sure who they were, but in a country of booth babes, hostesses, etc, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were hired just to present the flowers. Before wrapping up completely, there was a group photo taken — the big group required a big camera!

There was a small lunch buffet served where the prof got to mingle with everyone and enjoy the photo opportunities, shaking hands and kissing babies. As Layla was the only kid there, and one not totally happy being picked up by most people, not a lot of baby-kissing took place that day. But there were photos and handshakes aplenty.

We ended up going to Machida after we left the lunch to get Layla a much-deserved ice cream parfait. Green tea ice cream at least sounds healthy, doesn’t it? =)

Click here for the gallery

Saturday was Tamie’s birthday and we celebrated in class… at least that was the plan…

The girls stayed in Isehara on Friday, as Tamie had to work late and the grandparents were picking up Layla. Tamie also booked a haircut on Saturday morning so it was more convenient to just stay there. It gave me the opportunity to clean up the apartment for her birthday. How’s that for a good present, eh? The place was spotless… at least until Layla was back for more than five minutes.

For her birthday dinner, I booked a cruise on the Royal Wing in Yokohama. We headed out early to visit Motomachi for the tail end of their “Charming Sale” to let Tamie do what she does best… spend money!

After visiting a number of jewerly and clothing stores, we stopped at a cafe for fries before heading out to the docks to catch our ship. That’s when the rain started – not a huge downpour, but enough to get cold and wet.

At the dock, we noticed there were two weddings going on that night – at least, there were two girls in big, poofy white dresses at big parties… in this country, you never know if it’s a wedding dress or a fashion statement.

I picked up the tickets I reserved from the counter and the lady gave me the tickets and charged me for the meal. I was a bit surprised, as it was a lot cheaper than I was expecting, until I found out that we were booked for the buffet instead of the course dinner. No one asked when I called to make the reservation, and it was too late when I picked up the tickets – I don’t know if they just assumed I wanted the buffet because I had a kid or what, but it wasn’t exactly what I (or Tamie) had in mind. It did make things easier with Layla, though.

On board, we were shown to our table along with everyone else waiting in line. The usually polite, orderly people of Japan who line up for everything from trains to bread shops raced for the buffet. We went to grab some food, fighting young and old people alike. The chaos that ensued was ridiculous – there wasn’t even an attempt at order as people circled the buffet table in both directions, cutting into lines and reaching over each other to get egg rolls and meat buns.

During dinner, a lady entertainer came to the table and made a balloon animal for Layla. Layla watched in abject wonder and amazement mixed with a bit of fear and nervousness. She finally regained the ability to move once the show was over and the animal was Layla’s. She’s too funny sometimes.

After the meal was over (or the food was done), we headed to the “Sun Deck” to take a look around. The wind was blowing, the deck was wet and slippery, but luckily the rain didn’t pour too heavily… so it was fun, if cold. I played around with my camera while Tamie and Layla eventually went inside. I would say I took pictures, but none of them really turned out… so I “played with my camera” instead.

When all was said and done, we went and grabbed a late train home. The girls fell asleep on the train while I stood stoically after giving up my seat for an old lady. The ungrateful old bat didn’t even say thank you, as if she was expecting someone to just jump up and give her a seat… you’d think she’d have been around this country long enough to know better. No, I’m not bitter – not even after a once pregnant Tamie would complain daily about how people here would ignore her while she stood in front of the “priority” seats.

Today, we woke up late after everyone slept in… I love Sundays. We stuck around home for most of the afternoon, watching Sesame Street and playing with Layla. We headed out to the grandparents’ house for birthday celebrations with the whole family.

On the way to the house, we stopped by the local cake shop to pick up some cakes for everyone. As everyone picked out which cake they wanted, Layla pointed to the biggest one in the display. Her grandma, always anxious to spoil the kid, bought it without hesitation. Who’s birthday was it, anyways? Cake in hand, we headed back to the house where Tamie helped her mom prepare an always delicious sukiyaki meal. Beef and cake! It should be Tamie’s birthday every weekend!

So here’s hoping Tamie had as good a weekend as I did. The buffet was a tad less classy than expected and the weather could have co-operated better than it did, but overall I’d say it was a successful birthday weekend.

Photos here:

Saturday

Sunday

Saturday we called my folks, who just returned from a trip to Calgary, and they seemed quite happy. It was a rare Friday night that they were home and not out gambling (or something). Auntie Gina was there so we got a chance to talk with her as well. Layla impressed all by folding laundry for the webcam — you got to start them young!

Tamie had a dentist appointment so I chilled with Layla while she headed off to get her teeth checked. We met up afterward at the train station and headed off to the park for a day of letting Layla play, and play she did. Hours passed before we finally headed off for “lunch”, which ended up being an early dinner at the Outback — hamburgers all around! Even Layla had a Joey burger and ate almost most of it, earning a balloon out of the deal.

Sunday, we Tamie’s sister came to pick us up and head in to Tokyo to see an aquarium. The plan was to leave at 8:30~9:00, but as is often the case, we didn’t get away until 10ish. After a long drive but a quick nap in the car later were arrived at Tokyo Sea Life Park! The nearly full parking lot was a bit intimidating, but thankfully, it wasn’t so bad inside the aquarium.

Overall, I’d say the aquarium did provide some entertainment but it was a bit lacking compared to the Enoshima aquarium we frequent. After being impressed with the shark tank that greets you, the main tank (judging by size) was nearly void of fish. There were a lot of smaller tanks with interesting creatures to see, but none of them really interested Layla — she got it in her head she wanted to see penguins… so off we went to see the penguins! The poor penguins… as we approached the penguin pen, the smell was a bit off. We quickly realized it was because they were doing some kind of maintenance on their pool so they didn’t have anywhere to swim! 10 days without a pool! They should have dumped them into the main pool.

We spent a lot of time around the touching pools where Layla tried hard to be brave. She did make progress though – she touched the water on more than one occasion. Her penultimate achievement for the day was after a presentation about star fish, they offered to let kids touch them and she actually got in line, went right up to the front and poked one! Once! It was a crowning achievement and one she looked so proud of.

Right before we left, I saw the fish in the shark tank were swimming about, all over the place. When we first arrived all the fish were at the top of the tank while the sharks were at the bottom… I was hoping to see some feeding but the sharks seemed to be on a diet or something. As I was busy taking bad pictures, Layla got mad because I wouldn’t let her play with my camera… I told her to wait a minute – her response? “Time to go!” before grabbing her Mom’s hand and heading for the exit. She’s soooo cute, eh?

On the way back to the car, we stopped to catch a show by a street juggler, Sobuki. He put on a good show for the large crowd and had my camera batteries not died I’d have a picture of him juggling knived while balancing on multiple boards/blocks on top of a cylinder on a trunk. Hard to explain, but there are pictures from right before the batteries died so take a look. =)

Back in the car, it was another long drive/short nap before we were home putting together the 108 piece puzzle Layla insisted she wanted from the gift shop.

Playground Fun

Tokyo Sea Life Park

Yesterday was Valentine’s Day and the custom here is for women to give chocolates to the men. So I had to meet as many girls’ as I could — we actually spent the day at Tamie’s folks’ place, heading over there in the afternoon to have a nice sushi dinner. We’d been planning on buying them sushi to thank them for the time they spent with Layla while she was in the hospital and the schedules all finally worked out. Nothing better than sushi, beer and chocolate! The perfect Valentine’s Day, I’d say.

Pictures of the weekend here:

Saturday
Sunday… TBD.

We ended up going back to Yokohama to hit up Takashimaya, the department store that we were too late to visit on the weekend. Of course it being a few days from Valentine’s Day, the chocolate fairs were in full force and the battling ladies were vicious. I had to carry Layla just so she wouldn’t be trampled! After checking out a few of the stands, sampling a few wares and seeing a lot of the same things we saw a few days ago, Layla said in no uncertain terms she was hungry.

Luckily, in Japan food is never far away. The department store has a floor dedicated to restaurants and, fortuitously, we were on it. We headed over to see what there was and find something to eat. There was plenty of choice, from Italian to Chinese to Japanese. We passed by a sukiyaki shop as we looked around and for whatever reason, Layla got it in her head that that’s what she wanted. Who am I to argue with her? We looked at everything else, even the steak place offering up Kobe beef, but in the end Layla won out… to the victor goes the spoils, and sukiyaki was the prize.

Once we were at our seats we were given menus and some time to make up our minds… tough choice – did we want meat, cheap meat, or expensive meat? We went with meat. And a beer.

The waitress quickly brought us our food and drinks and surprisingly, prepared our meal for us. She beat our egg, cooked our meat and vegetables, served us and even cleaned up our mess afterwards. One thing this country does right is service — she even offered to blow on it when it was too hot for Layla! Okay, she didn’t do that, but the rest of it she happily did. Can you believe we don’t even tip after that great service?

After eating, we did a bit of shopping before heading back home. A quick stop at the grocery store to buy dinner for the 1 day work-week and then we were home and putting the kid to bed.

All in all, a great way to spend a rainy day.

Gallery found here:

Click Here.

We headed to Yokohama to have dinner at a hotel offering a buffet that included a chocolate waterfall for Layla to experience. Before heading up to the restaurant though, we stopped off at the chocolate paradise to check out what chocolates were out this year. Luckily we’re a bit early in the season that the elbows weren’t so pointy and the shoppers not so vicious. Even still, at first, Layla was a bit nervous with all the people dashing about… but after getting a sample or two and realizing there was free chocolate on toothpicks to be had, Layla quickly ignored the crowd, instead focusing her attention on the ladies behind the counters. I can safely say her eyesight is 20/20 or better — she can spot a sample tray from 100 meters!

There were all kinds of chocolate to be had in all different shapes and colours. Chocolate carved as animals and flowers was quite popular, as was chocolate in various spacy colours. The most interesting things we saw and tried was chocolate-covered caviar. Luckily, it tasted like chocolate to me. Layla was getting right into it though – she tried some with rum, some with champagne, and even one piece with ginger in it. Regardless of what it was, she seemed to enjoy it, always wanting more.

After getting our fill of chocolate samplers, we headed up to the restaurant for dinner. Who says dessert always comes after the meal? The buffet was pretty standard fair, but it was the first time Layla really understood what a buffet meant. It wasn’t until we were eating dessert and she stole my ice cream that she figured it out… I kept taking little bits of ice cream until she finally got mad at me, so I said fine and went and got another one. The wheels were just turning when I came back to the table with a fresh cup of ice cream… it didn’t take long before she got up to get her own fresh one. Smart kid, that one.

When dinner was finished, Layla got it in her head that she wanted new shoes. We’d promised her some in the hospital and for whatever reason she remembered… so we went down to where there were kid’s shoes for sale — unfortunately, it was right beside the Disney store. Shoes were quickly forgotten as the kid found something more interesting to shop for. Right beside the Disney store was the toy department, so needless to say, shoes were not bought… at least, not Layla’s shoes.

Tamie, inspired and anxious to buy shoes, figured that if Layla wasn’t getting a pair someone ought to… and that someone was her. We went to the ladies’ shoes floor (yes, it’s an entire floor devoted to shoes) and spent a lot of time looking at rows upon rows of shoes. I kept Layla entertained (or more precisely, my camera did) while Tamie kept herself entertained. Check out the pics she took in the gallery.

Two pairs of shoes bought, and we were done. The stores closing was a good sign that we should head home, so we headed to the train and came back home.

Next week is Valentine’s Day and we’ll be out again at another chocolate fair, I’m sure. I need to make sure Tamie gets some good chocolate for the favourite men in her life.

Click here for pictures.

We started out this early Saturday morning with a daycare thing for Tamie to go to, a hospital visit for Layla, a remembrance ceremony at a temple for Tamie, a lunch with the grandparents, and then dinner. It started out well enough – Tamie made it to the daycare and I got Layla to the hospital on time. We even bumped into one of Layla’s former inmates as they were leaving. That was about the only smile I saw on Layla’s face the whole time we were in the hospital.

Layla clung to me, telling me that she didn’t want to see any nurses. She freaked out when one nurse came over with a scale to weigh her… I’m not sure why it’s at all important to her lung condition (and they have never weighed her before, plus I could have told her if she’d just asked), but instead we had to not only put the screaming kid on the scale, we first had to fight to take off her shoes.

We waited in the waiting area with all the other sick kids, some wearing masks, one screaming at the top of his lungs. Layla quietly sat on my lap sucking her thumb, watching closely every time a hospital staff walked by. When we were eventually called, we met the doctor (who speaks no English to go along with my not speaking any Japanese). She asked “Genki?” (meaning, “Healthy?”). I said “Yep.” So she listened to Layla’s breathing and checked her throat and told me she was okay but to come back again next week. Easiest check-up ever.

Just as we were wrapping up, Tamie knocked on the door and the proceeded to talk for a while… turns out the doctor wanted to see Layla again next week because she’s pregnant and not going to be there at what would be the regular scheduled time. Come March, the doctor we’ve finally started feeling comfortable with is going to be gone for a year. Something to consider when you get a female doctor, I guess…

After the appointment, I took Layla home and Tamie headed off for her temple ceremony. We were to meet at noon in Isehara when everything was done to all go out for lunch. I took Layla to the pet store so she could look at sleeping dogs through glass cages before heading off to meet. We waited for over 30 minutes before bailing. Turns out things were backed up at the temple, but Tamie wasn’t able to send or receive calls. So, unfortunately, we missed the planned lunch.

Instead of going to lunch, I took Layla back home for a while so she could take a nap – she was starting to fall asleep in my arms on the train. We played for a bit before I decided a trip to the park might be fun. The sky was blue, the wind was cold, but the day was still young.

When we first got to the park, brave Layla looked at it and blanched. She saw the big playground and instead of feeling happy or excited, she was scared and wanted to be held. I was a bit surprised as she used to love this place, pre-hospital stay. So I picked her up and carried her over to the playground and she slowly started warming up to the idea of actually playing… so long as I held her hand.

She eventually dragged me all over the place, getting her ‘playground-legs’ back under her. She was very timid to climb the steps and ladders and things at first, but by the end she was telling me she wanted to go by herself and to only wait and watch. That’s the independent Layla I remember, and I was quite happy to see her getting back to her old self. I’m not sure, though, if she didn’t want me around because she wanted to be independent, or because she was enamored with all the boys running around and didn’t want me to embarrass her…

As the sun set, the wind was getting cold and we came back home to meet Tamie. Apologies were said and accepted before she showed us the bags of loot that she brought home. Leftovers from the big lunch became our dinner and a bunch of souveniers from her parent’s latest adventures (thanks for that, ba-ba and ji-ji!) became our dessert before the two girls went to play in Layla’s playroom.

I posted some pictures today (as requested). Check them out here:

Full set of Layla in the hospital

First day out of the hospital (it rained… then snowed!)

Results of snowfall

Park Today.