Death of the Pink Pacifier

So one day, Casey comes home from the store with a pacifier for Bridger.

"Um, sweetie, that's pink," I say.

"I'm fighting against social structures," comes his reply.

"Errrr....not like that, you're not!"

"Just teasin', the store only had pink, and we need one...so..."

I was pretty set against using this pink pacifier, but as it turns out, when ya need a pacifier, ya just need a pacifier. So the pink stuck around because I was too lazy to ever get another one. But I must say, that little guy can pull off just about any look!

Bridger...ina.

Anywho, so we've lived with this pink little lovely for a good six months or so. But it finally met its death a week ago, when we went to Udo Shrine with our friends (more details on that later.)

Bridger was exhausted when we finally made it to the shrine, as it was nap time, and I decided to let him keep his pacifier during our hike to the shrine. When we got there, he woke up. I went to pull the pacifier out of his mouth, but it was nowhere to be found. I immediately congratulated myself, wondering if my subconscious had actually had some evil plan to finally rid our family of this particular pacifier. Another part of me was a little concerned about the large possibility of a rough ride home without this li'l comfort. And let's just say, my fears were not unfounded. This little guy gave us a run for our money, but we survived.

Sorry, Pinkie. Hope you enjoy your new permanent home at Udo! Mwa ha ha ha!!

Family Pictures

I have been a horrible slacker (or an amazing one, depending on how you look at it...) with the whole family pictures thing. I decided it was time to get some, and luckily, our friend Julie is a photographer and helped us out! 

We went down to the Oyodo on a chilly morning. And I mean chilly! Although I really can't complain, as Utah is currently getting dumped on. I guess I can handle "chilly." 

Thank you, Julie! These are the best!!

A Japanese New Year's Eve

So around 4:00 on December 31, I say to Casey "Huh. I think tonight is New Year's Eve." He replies "Is it seriously? Wow, we're on top of it." Being in Japan has totally thrown off our holiday groove (if you will remember, we couldn't remember when Thanksgiving was coming around either. Oh, the shame.)

We decided we would just be lame and sleep through it...for the second year in a row (Bridger's one-month-old status last year kinda forced us into that one.)

But then we decided we'd officially be old fogies if we did that, and even more, that we'd miss a great chance to experience New Year's in Japan if we just went to bed, so we changed our minds.

We started off the evening with an awesome game of basketball. As in, we threw one of Bridger's toy balls into a laundry basket. Who knew something like that could be so fun? I am shamed to say that Casey won the battle. We played three games: I won the first, but he got the second two. I feel a rematch coming on. 

This is Casey dominating. I'm not putting a pic of me on here, as I looked like a hobo at this point.

Joining in on the fun.

And now for the real New Year's celebrations. New Year's is a huge holiday in Japan. Christmas is not all that big around here, which is understandable since Christianity is so rare here. It is celebrated, but it is simply a time to give a couple of presents and eat a Christmas cake. At least, this is what I've heard. 

But New Year's is a party. For New Year's Eve, droves of people are found at one of the hundreds of shrines that dot Japan. We decided to join in on the fun and headed to Miyazaki Jingu (Shrine) with our friends, the Petersons. We got there around 11:30 and waited in an ever-growing line (I'm talking thousands of people here, folks. Thankfully, most of them were behind us). At midnight, we headed into the shrine. 

In line with Julie and Heidi

The line in front of us...

And behind...

Casey performing the ritual of washing his hands before entering the shrine.

We first threw coins into a long basin and made wishes for the new year. I believe they might be considered prayers by the Japanese. I'm not really sure. There were a lot of booths set up, so we headed over to one to get some fortune papers, much like fortune cookies without the cookie, for the coming year. Pretty sure Casey's and mine were almost identical, and they both said something about not being afraid to travel (done and done!), studying a lot, and having a blessing on our family. 

Throwing in our coins and making wishes/prayers.

Fortunes!

We then bought a souvenir, which is a bow and arrow that will protect our home. And of course, we got some food at the booths outside of the shrine. Casey got a chicken kabob (kabob is seriously the best word ever) and I got a candied-apple. 

We were planning to watch the first sunrise of the year with our friends as well as this is also a huge thing to do in Japan.  However, we felt that we would be horrible parents if we woke Bridger up again for more festivities so soon. So we let him sleep and got a little shut-eye ourselves. 

Casey tying his fortune to this twine, which is the traditional thing to do when leaving the shrine.

All in all, the most unique New Year's we've experienced so far. It was awesome.

Mochi Making

A couple of weeks ago, the American Kindergarten made mochi, so Bridger and I decided to join in on the fun! What is mochi, you ask? It is rice that has been smashed (by those awesome mallet things you can see below) until your arms threaten to fall right off your shoulders. After a lot (and I mean a lot) of mashing, the rice becomes incredibly sticky, which is then rolled with cornstarch to become traditional Japanese rice cakes. 

Each of the kids in the oldest class got a turn to show that rice who was boss. Casey did a good amount of hitting as well. Yours truly took a couple of swings, during which I found that I'm a serious pansy. Bridger didn't want to show us up, so he opted out of this one. 

Before you start pounding, you use the mallets and squish the rice together to make sure when you do start pounding the rice, it doesn't go everywhere.

There were three people in the circle smashing the rice.  We had to shout out our number when we pounded the mallet.  1..2..3..1..2..3..

                     

Sticky!!!

Christmas 2013

Ya know what the best kind of Christmas is? A simple Christmas. I learned that this year being in Japan, away from most of the crazy shopping and that insane American custom of Black Friday. Casey loves to go, but I seriously want to cry when it comes near. Shopping in general is often painful, let alone shopping at midnight (or 5:00 on Thanksgiving Day!) But anywho, I'm getting a little off track...

A simple Christmas is the best Christmas, as I said. Casey and I decided to just do small gifts this year (like planners, journals, ties, and socks!) We got our Christmas shopping done within a couple of hours. It was incredible. We also learned that getting presents for Bridger is way more fun than for ourselves. We learned from his birthday that he doesn't really unwrap presents. He just stares at them. So we stuck his gifts in two large paper bags and let him just pull stuff out. He loved it. He got an instrument set (with a toy drum, trumpet, etc.) He also got a walking/barking dog that scares the pants off of him. He likes to try and beat it up (aka knock it over) before it can attack him. Not sure we're teaching him the best way to be animal-friendly, but we get a kick out of it all the same. He also got two super cute stuffed Mickey Mouses. One for 100 yen and the other for 200. As in $1.00 and $2.00. Thank you, Recycle Shop. There are tons of recycle shops in Japan, or at least here in Miyazaki, which are second-hand stores. They are nice and cheap. A total upgrade from D.I.

We also ended up getting an inexpensive keyboard (piano) from the recycle shop, which we will just sell back when we go home. I'm so happy to play the piano again! And bonus: it has a feature where you can make the keys light up as you play, so Bridger loves it too. Great way to introduce him to my favorite instrument!

Sadly, Casey had to work on Christmas, since it's not a huge holiday like in America. But luckily, the emperor's birthday was on Monday (the 23rd) so we celebrated then. We opened gifts and dressed Bridger up in a Santa outfit for a picture. We're nerdy like that. But he was the cutest Santa ever.

Later that day, we went to our church Christmas party. There was a program, where we performed in the Nativity Scene as Mary and Joseph. I think we did all right. Casey's ASL background makes him an animated, awesome actor. I'm...well...a little less awesome, but it went great! Funny things from the play: First, Mary had two lines. I can barely say "Thank you" or "Hello" correctly, so they didn't make me say the lines, thank heavens. So I just faced backwards during my lines, and another person spoke my lines. Second, the baby they gave us for the Nativity Scene started fussing the moment he was put into my arms. Pretty sure he was like "Wait a minute, what's wrong with this human? It's all white and stuff!" So at the last minute, the missionary who was directing the play took off her sweater, bundled it up, and said "Here you go!" It was a bright red sweater, and Casey kept trying to make me laugh while we were onstage by saying "Do you think something is wrong with our baby? Maybe he has a fever.  He looks a bit red to me." I had quite the difficult time not laughing, but I succeeded!

And after that, we ate lots of food. It was fantastic.

Our foot-high Christmas tree and our adorable (I'm bringing these back home!) boots.

Told ya we're nerds. Look how grown up our baby boy is getting!

Casey looking...fabulous.

The Party Continues: Tokyo (Days 2-3)

All righty, now for days 2-3. We took the metro to Tokyo Station, which is the largest and most well-known metro station in the city. It's got a lot of shops and a ton of traffic. We walked across the street to a big shopping center, where I discovered a secret love I have for Indian food. Holy cow, if you haven't had it, you should try it. Today. Casey had tried to convince me to eat Indian food for dinner on Day 1, which I strongly refused. When we saw this restaurant in the shopping center, which was called Raj, he's like "Pretty please???" So of course I gave in. He's pretty cute, ya know.

We got different kinds of curry (lamb, spicy chicken, and lintel) and dipped traditional bread called Naan in it. Seriously delicious. We also had rice and a couple of potatoes and salad. Oh, and don't miss our orange juice in wine glasses. Ha! 

My boys in front of our stop.

Tokyo Station

Outside a Japanese restaurant. Yikes!

Delicious!

Casey and I get a good kick out of Japanese translations and shop names.

Pretty tree in the shopping center.

Giving Bridger a chance to stretch his legs.

We then walked down the road to the Imperial Palace grounds. This is a building on the outskirts of the grounds. While it sounds cool to visit, it's a bummer because you can't see a whole lot other than some of the outer grounds. We got there about a half an hour before they closed at 4, so we just looked around for a minute. Wish you could see the palace itself. That would be suh-weet. 

All this travel made for one tired baby. And I don't just mean me.

And now for the best sight of the trip: Rainbow Bridge. We came to this part of town and got to ride over the bridge on the metro. So beautiful. What a romantic spot, right? 

We went to a nearby shopping center (it seems a lot of Tokyo is comprised of shopping areas) and I bought some sassy boots/heals. They are black with some black and white designs on the back. My hubby's such a sweetie.

Outside the shopping center, there was an entertaining monkey. It was crazy! Look at that air.

That night, we went to Roppongi Hills. It's a more American part of the city. And kinda reminded us of Vegas with a party atmosphere. So many English speakers! Actually, Tokyo in general was a nice break for us because many people knew English. Anyway, perhaps the very best thing about this area was the fact that there were American restaurants. We saw TGIFridays, Wendy's, and Outback Steakhouse. We decided on Outback. And let's just say we were in heaven. Even if Bridger's face doesn't look like it in the pic below...I can't tell you how much I've missed American-style pasta! No fishy flavored pastas!

This is a random pic from my exploring with Bridger while Casey was testing the next day. It's in Tokyo Station. I've seen these type of masks in a lot of stores. Aren't they freaky?

So that's a whirlwind version of our Bond Tokyo adventure!