A Week of Firsts

When you're a baby, everything is new. Including finding your hair. Kai managed to find his this week, so when he gets sleepy or just wakes up, his left hand starts fiddling with the soft curly locks on the top of his head. Super sweet.

At 6 months, there is still a lot of the world to discover. Kai experienced fireworks for the first time on Friday night. Awe and amazement cut through his crabby, over-tired whining. Pretty fun to be the parents showing him all these amazing things.

But perhaps the best part of being a parent? Having an inarguable excuse to go do "kid stuff"! We took Kai to Yakiyama Zoo in Sendai on Saturday. It was a very fun (although hot) day! Dan threw together a video to let you all in on the experience.



I had gotten the heads up from our friend Casey that the monkeys receive inequal treatment... the Japanese Snow Monkeys (the ones in the video) had a WAY better facility than the other monkeys (i.e. the sleeping ones)... Hmmmm....

Oh, and Juli, this lemur didn't "like to move, it move it." Maybe because his cage wasn't so cool...


One thing I look forward to in the States: Going to the zoo and not feeling like an exhibit :o) No kidding, Kai got as many looks as the polar bear! People we didn't even TALK to knew his name! Ridiculous! Oh well... this too shall pass.

And, here's one last look at that AWESOME ice cream truck door. Cracks me up every time!

We live in JAPAN!!!

It isn't every day that I say that with such excitement. Living overseas is usually a highly romanticized idea that everyday is awesome. But (sorry to say) it is still life. We still pay bills, do laundry, wash mountains of dishes, stand in line at the post office, change dirty diapers... we just do it in another language (which can make it way harder!)

But then there are days like today. Sometimes I cannot believe we get to do stuff like this. So, remember how I (Andi) told you how I am the tour manager for the taiko group? Well, today we shot some promo video footage. Peering up at bamboo and cedar trees, we listened to the booming of the drums echo off the hillside while dragonflies zoomed around us. It was something I will never forget. It was amazing. It was one of those instances that I said to myself, "We live in JAPAN!"

So, here's a snippet of today... doesn't do it justice, but it's a taste, anyway... (and I couldn't have asked for better lighting for some of my shots either!)

Cuteness Quota for the Day

Alright, not much chatting today, just a bunch of photos to share. (Oh, and as you can see-- if you are at the bolg, not just the email, anyway-- we got a new look to theplace. Just something different for now...) Anyway, on with the cuteness:

(Cheering for the Good Guys!)

(Go, Pack, Go!)

(Mommy, you like the best team EVER! And you have such great fashion sense.)

(Mommy's handsome boys)

(Mommy's got her camera out again...)

(What yogurt?)

(Hey, I can't see!)

(Like father, like son)

(This is AWESOME! What is this thing called again? A laundry basket? Sweet!)

Kai's New Talent

As Kai nears the 6 month landmark he's been showing signs of becoming a "big boy" and not as much of a baby any more. His eyesight is clearly very good-- he followed a butterfly yesterday, a bat tonight, and finally spotted the train I point out to him every day between the houses this afternoon. He is very alert and knows his name (at least "Kai"... I don't know if he realizes his name is actually Malakai).

But his new skill that developed spontaneously this afternoon: Spitting. Awesome. He can launch bubbly balls of saliva about 8 inches from his face. Thankfully most of it was aimed at Daddy.

It's not easy living in a house full of boys...

Proof's in the Pudding

Hey guys! Here's an article about the quake if you want to read more about it. Like we said yesterday, it was a big one! Write more soon...

DAndiKai

Still shaking in our boots...

Hey everyone... just in case this makes the news, we are ok. We had a very violent earthquake tonight. The preliminary magnitude was a 6.8 Here's the link if you want more info (it will be more updated by the time you see it). http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Maps/10/140_40.php
Anyway, definitely the most violent quake we've felt. Thank God for his angels. We are all ok and Dan had Kai out of his crib before the biggest shake. Whew. Nothing broke, although stinky flower water spilled all over and got Dan's passport a little wet... but it was out because we are getting a new one anyway!

Ugh, so tired...
DAndiKai

I've come to the conclusion that life gets more and more complicated. Not necessarily in bad ways, per say, but in getting busier ways, for sure! Dan starts his new job on Friday (and I think there's a path worn into the floor from his pacing...) We bought plane tickets to come home at the end of November! And I sold another photo!

This photograph, "Lantern Parade" was displayed in my art show back in May. There had been
some interest expressed in purchasing the photo by the producer of the taiko group (I mentioned the ultra-cool drummers in the entry about my show, I think.) Anyway, Shu Chiba was excited to hear that no one had bought the picture when I had Dan drop a not-so-subtle hint to see if he was still interested. :o) It turned out, he was still interested, but for a totally different reason than I had imagined... (apparently it's not just my amazing picture taking skills...)

In the picture, there is one lantern that is brighter than the others. The writing on it just happens to translate to "Shu's House" (using the same character that he uses for his name)! He bought the photo to hang in the entranceway of his house. Talk about LUCKY! We delivered the framed photo yesterday at taiko practice and the group all got a good laugh at Shu's expense. I was just stoked to sell another picture.

So speaking of taiko, another life change for us: the taiko guys are hoping to organize a tour in the Upper-Midwest. (Mainly/only Minnesota at this point.) Anyway, seeing as they have two native-English speakers who lived in the area for awhile with plenty of theatre background, etc., we have been asked to help. This is probably going to become my pet project (in tandem with Dan's amazing Japanese skills, of course). If everything works out the way we hope it does, four of the drummers, the two producers and I (and Kai) will come to Minnesota and do a concert tour at the end of April. Dan probably won't be able to come because won't have enough vacation time to spend, so that means that I would be doing the M.C.ing for the concerts, be the go-between for the band and the venues, etc. Here's a link to a video of some of Senrai's stuff. And here's on of my favorite songs. They did this with a DJ... super cool! The shamisen (three-stringed banjo) player probably wouldn't be coming because he is the best shamisen player in all of Japan (no joke) and has oodles of gigs on his own, so they are working on a modified group.

Anyway, I'm trying to sort out how to be a publicist for an international "rock band" :o) And Kai can be the trip's mascot. Anyone want to volunteer to come along and babysit if we can make this work? :o)

Anyway, signing off for now...
DAndiKai