+Thinking Of You Always+

7.03.2005

Posted by VN at 18:41

So our camping trip went all right. We spent only one night at Yagen though. It rained most of the time we were there and the mosquitoes couldn't get enough of me. Yagen was beautiful though and we decided to go up there again after the rainy season is over or perhaps next year if need be. (We might be gone during the hot season....YAY!) I'll get pictures up soon of Matsushima and Yagen.

0 comments already!

Post a Comment

6.30.2005

Posted by VN at 13:39

Okay so it looks like we shall be visiting Dallas in couple months (dates to come). I hope everyone comes to see me!

I am been cooking up a storm lately. Last night we experimented and it was a bust, but some of the other dishes have turned out great! Adam is eating more vegan meals, but I am still cooking meat for him. As long as I don't have to cook a whole bird, I am sure that it will be fine. Tonight I was thinking about making risotto with roasted veggies. We'll see.

Supposedly (I say that because information is hard to come by for some reason) we are going camping this weekend. Where? Still don't know. How long? Ummm....no one has told me that either. So perhaps we will just stay home. I hate last minute trips. It's so hard with Allison.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Fourth of July. Fireworks season has just started here, so not only is there some this weekend but every weekend for over a month! We are going to the Towada fireworks sometime in two weekends from now.

I have been debating pushing back my wisdom tooth extraction. It's on the 5th of August. Unfortunately, the Nebuta Festival is that weekend too! We had decided to go to that in February. Hmmm...we'll see what my oral surgeon says.

Allison is more active than ever! I can't wait until you all RE-meet her.

1 comments already!

*gasp* You really might be going to Dallas?! Let me know when you get the dates and we'll try to come down from Abilene. I want to see that little doll of yours!
*By Anonymous, on 4.7.05

Post a Comment

6.05.2005

Posted by VN at 09:15

Wow, I can't believe it has been so long since I have posted. Between not being able to log on and just forgetting (oops!), it has been over a month! Well, instead of trying to catch up all of May, I will start with last weekend and move on. We headed up to Cape Tappizaki for a weekend scuba trip but all didn't go according to plan. We arrived and Adam did a dive. Then we set up the tent and then Adam dove again. It turns for the worst here. Allison dislocates a bone in her elbow. We weren't sure if she had broken it or what, so we took down and packed up everything, jumped in the car for the 3 hour drive back to the hospital and arrived there around 9:30p. This whole time we had no idea what was wrong with her. When we got to the hospital the doctor popped the bone back into place and within a couple minutes, Alli acted as if nothing had happened! Dr. Stevens said it is a common childhood injury and it has a higher likelihood of happening again. So she can't swing from her arms for 4 weeks in gymnastics (which she loves to do) but it was quite a scare. It hasn't hurt since the hospital. Our weekend was a bust, but we were glad Allison was all right.
Today is American Day. Adam is in charge of the Haunted House, so last night we were up there until 10p setting up. (My job was to go get food for everyone and drive Adam around...there was enough help) I hope everything goes well. I am going to head out to the festival after Alli's nap with Sgt. Pierson's wife. I keep forgetting her name! She is really sweet and they are moving on the 1st of July. I will take pictures! I am uploading pictures from the Nanohana Festival right now. You can cheack out the information about the Nanohana Festival at http://www.geocities.com/afmama410 . I'll write soon! This time I mean it!!!!

Last note: Congrats Mea on your graduation! My baby sister is now college bound to UTA!!! Everyone congratulate her in the comments!!!!

2 comments already!

Hi all,
Sounds like a terrible ordeal. How did it happen? I'm happy that Allison is ok now.
Love,
Susan
*By Anonymous, on 5.6.05

Congrats Meagan!! i'm sure you don't remember me now but i sure do. hehehe.. Hi nessa...miss you!! ali is so incredibly cute. glad she's ok. :)
wo ai ni,
resa
*By Anonymous, on 6.6.05

Post a Comment

5.01.2005

Posted by VN at 07:16

Friday we took a trip to Hachinohe and went "culture hopping" :). First it was off to Kabushima to take pictures of the place we were at two weeks ago. We forgot our camera but I told you we'd get the pictures. If you have no idea, what I am talking about head to our blog and check out the information under the "Tag" area. It's all about bird island. But now there are pictures posted on the photo site to help you visualize.
Then we headed over to Lapia mall for lunch at the Dragon Gate and we walked around a bit. After that, we headed downtown to catch the end of the Cherry Blossom Matsuri (Festival) Parade. We got to see the last two group performing the "kids in red" who were dancing like Samauri and the Hachinohe Ground Self Defense Force Drum Group. They do traditional drumming. I caught a bit of it on tape, but it is a bit fuzzy because of the parade. I will put it up on my website sometime by the end of today.
After the parade ended, we headed to the Downtown Shrine down the street. While there some nice Japanese high schoolers came up to talk with Adam and say "Kawaii!!!!!" about Allison (Kawaii means cute...Japanese girls only know that words when Allison is around). One was studying English only since this year and she spoke okay. She was trying so hard, so he talked for a bit with her. She asked where we were from and he told her Texas. "Ahhh.. America!" she said. "Kelly Clarkson". HAHAHA. So there are pictures of the shrine as well. When we headed back to the car, we decided to take a quick walk through Hachinohe Koen (Park) and take pictures of the Cherry Blossom trees.
Yesterday, we headed all the way to Hirosaki. It is on the other side of the island about 85 km away and takes about 2 hours to get there. We walked around Hirosaki Koen Cherry Blossom Matsuri and took pictures of all the cherry blossoms in bloom. There were a LOT of people there. We also took a walk around the Castle Tower. Inside is a really cool time-period museum. The pictures from that festval should be up by the end of the day. We took some pretty good pictures of Mt. Iwakawi from the top of the Castle Tower. I am not sure if we are going to the Motocross race today or not, but if we do we will take pictures. We are also debating heading to the Shimoda Cherry Blossom Matsuri and the Sukura Misawa Matsuri later tonight. At the Misawa Matsuri, (it's at night) all the blossoms will be lit up by paper latern lights :). We drove by it last night and it looks gorgeous.
Well time for me to start the day.

2 comments already!

Oh Vanessa. YOu make me jealous being in such a beautiful country. :P And wow. America is associated with Kelly Clarkson. Tis a bit scary. Anyway, I really like your blog!
*By Anonymous, on 4.5.05

Vanessa, you've taken some wonderful photos; of course, my favorites are the ones of Allison! Obviously, you'll have a great time during all these festivals that are coming up. We need more photos of Allison -- she's growing SO fast...we miss you all...xxxooo
Aunt Chris
*By Anonymous, on 12.5.05

Post a Comment

4.26.2005

Posted by VN at 09:30

I know that by now you all have probably heard about the train crash in Osaka. I was watching Aomori Morning News and they were filming live from the scene. The count right now is 69 dead and 441 injured. The number should be climbing though because they are still pulling bodies out of the first and second cars. I got to see a computer representation of what happened. That was weird. From what I could get from the news (it's all in Japanese) the driver was a 23 years old and had been on the job for only 11 months. Last month he overshot a train station by 8 meters. It looks as though he had been reprimanded for it but I couldn't tell. The still haven't found him. Luckly the building codes here are some of the strongest, because they were showing shake graph of the apartments it crashed into and it is supposed to withstand a pretty large earthquake.
Seriously, that's all I could get because, well, I don't speak Japanese. Haha.
There are new pictures up on the photo site. More pictures added to "Random April Photos" and a new album "Kihi Shrine". We took a trip down the road Sunday for picture taking :). Friday we are going to the Hachinohe Cherry Blossom Festival, Saturday to the Hirosaki Cherry Blossom Festival and hopefully the castle, and Sunday to the Misawa Miss Veedol Motocross Race (if we aren't to exhausted). FESTIVAL SEASON HAS BEGUN! :) Our weekends won't be boring for a while and expect PLENTY of pictures.
Vanessa

1 comments already!

Vanessa, I saw in one of your earlier posts that you are trying to figure out a way to automatically send e-mails to us when you've posted new comments or photos....that would be WONDERFUL! I've checked and I seem to be the only family member that has figured out how to post on this blog thing (e-mail is so easy). Anyway, go for it -- it would be nice to have a message that there is new stuff to read and/or see.
Love you much....miss you much!!!
Aunt Chris
*By Anonymous, on 12.5.05

Post a Comment