Midst Fireflies and Runway Lights

(DISCLAIMER: This is the most convenient way for me to keep all my family updated and its way easier posting pics on here than emailing them! So for those of you who don’t want details on our every experience feel free to skim or disregard…Whatever floats your boat, clogs your toilet, plugs your sink, etc..)

We got to do so many fun things in the past week! It started on Saturday when we went to a pro soccer game with some of Kiel’s work friends. Japanese are really into their soccer and they have a ton of team spirit! It was really fun to watch (and it was funny to see the other team wearing bright neon pink for their jersey color…only in Japan…). After the game we had a bbq and it was really fun!
On Sunday we went to a firefly festival dedicated to fireflies. The festivals are really big here in Japan…everyone brought their food and goods to sell along the streets leading to the mountains where the fireflies are. Everything was so colorful and lots of the girls were wearing traditional kimonos that were so gorgeous. There were Japanese lanterns strung all the way up to where the fireflies were and they looked so cool! Very Japanese-ish! The fireflies were AMAZING!! There were thousands and thousands everywhere! We walked about a mile through the mountains with fireflies completely surrounding us…it felt like we were in the middle of the stars. It was fun to watch Kiel chase them and jump around trying to catch them for Caleb to see…Caleb loved them! He kept trying to squish them with his fingers but we saved them all. Kiel had never seen them either and he thought they were super cool. It really looked like Christmas lights covering a city. They were so bright. That was a really fun experience.
On Tuesday we FINALLY got to tour inside the Mats Castle. It was so beautiful!


On Wednesday Kaichan (that’s what they call Caleb here) and I went to play with our friends, Kanako and Kochan. We went on a super long, hot walk to a really fun park. We watched helicopters take off and then we played in a little kid water park with a bunch of naked Japanese kids. It was too much fun. Then we went to Toys-R-Us and played with all there toys! They love Toys-R-Us here.


Yesterday Yukarisan took Caleb and I to an art museum where we almost got thrown out a dozen times…Once because our stroller was too squeaky, then apparently your not supposed to take pictures in this one room (like I’m supposed to know how to read signs?!?) and then Caleb kept screaming. He was such a naughty boy.
Then Kiel and I went on a date to an Italian restaurant. We wanted to save money so we ordered a $14 pizza to share and it was ridiculously tiny! I could have eaten the whole thing by myself and still been hungry! So then we ordered a $12 lasagna which was tiny too! Don’t get me wrong, they tasted soooooooooooo good! Unlike America, Japanese care more about quality than quantity so it tasted really good we just a tiny bit of it! We finally gave up on filling ourselves up there and ran across the street to a cheap market and got some more food. Ha. It was quite the fun experience.
We were asked to be models so today we are going to don kimonos and strut the runway! I’m not sure what its for and its probably just for something small but I’m excited to wear a kimono! They are so beautiful and elaborate. Hopefully I’ll get some good pics of that too. I’m sure Kiel will look smokin’ in a kimono!...a day later....here are the pics!
Thanks for emails from some of you and to the tide of you who just quit the blog-o-sphere—I’m very sad and you have to keep me updated somehow! You have to keep me updated on everything Katie M.!
Love you guys!
(PS. Caleb sprouted 2 molars! Yay!)

Happy Daddy Day!

Happy Father's Day to the wonderful man I married! He is a perfect daddy and Caleb is so lucky that he has a dad who looks forward everyday to coming home to play with him. Kiel has come a long way since we were expecting and he was scared out of his wits of babies! But the minute Caleb was born Kiel fell into his roll as father perfectly. He is so patient and loving and absolutely adoring of Caleb! It is so fun to watch them enjoy each other all the time.
A special thanks as well to Daddy Petramalo and Dad Willmore! You both have done so much for us throughout our lives. We are grateful for the examples you have set--Dad P. so I knew what kind of man I wanted to marry and the traits he would need to lead our family in love and righteousness and Dad W. so Kiel could see those traits and know how to be that kind of father. We love you!
And congrats to all the other daddys and soon-to-be-daddys!!! (Especially you Joseph!! You'll be the best daddy ever!!). We mommys couldn't do it without you!









"wuv you daddy" -Caleb

Old McDonald Had A Farm

Today we went on an adventure to a ginormous wasabi farm. To describe the experience in three words it was beautiful, yucky, and super-fun (words combound with a dash count as one word...yes Mr. Webster, combound). The wasabi was planted for miles in a windy fashion that gave the illusion of a river of plants. And although it was fun and admirable to see all the thousands of wasabi plants, the beauty was in the surrouding area. It was such a green lush area with colorful flower and ponds with giant yellow fish and little shrines and statues scattered about. For those of you who frequent sushi shops and wondered how your wasabi got to be on your plate, they plant it in long rows and water it with only the purest natural water. The water used to water the wasabi was the clearest water I've ever seen. The wasabi can't get too much sun so for most of it's life it is covered with shades.
Then they harvest it and use every part of it: the roots (what people generally eat), the stalks, and the leaves. There were taste testers and most of the samples burned a hole threw my mouth, esophagous, and stomach. We also shared one of their famous wasabi ice cream cones...Caleb LOVED it. I gave him my portion.
There were trails and caves winding around the area and I wish I hadn't done lunges for the first time in forever yesterday. Japan is beautiful. Wasabi is nasty. I suggest the first and suggest avoiding the latter. That being said, if anyone wants me to bring them back some wasabi gum drops, wasabi juice, wasabi rolls, wasabi suckers, etc., place an order in the next two months.

Caleb with monsters from Where the Wild Things Are

Summoning the courage to enter the deep dark caves of 5'X5'...

The lone gnome...also known as Happy from Snow White
The raining rock

AnD tHe AdVenTuRE cOnTinUeS!

It has been a rollercoaster the past week and a half! Our weekend started out fun...Kiel and I went to a dinner party held by his work for all the employees at Shimin Times and it was held at a super nice hotel. The dinner was an 8 course dinner with all these crazy things to eat! I wish with all my heart that you didn't have to eat everything you are offered here!!! I HATE seafood with a passion (have I ever mentioned that??) and pretty much everything they gave us was seafood. In fact the first course was a shrimp that was pooping its body out of its head. It was HUGE too! I swallowed it whole. They had Kiel introduce us and then Kiel got to give a little speech that I guess was really funny. Someone asked him how he proposed to me so he told that story. It was really fun! HOWEVER, no one (Kiel) didn't tell me it was very nice dress so I went in jeans and everyone else was dressed up. That was pretty embarressing! I got over it pretty fast.
The next morning we were surprised by Caleb sleeping in an hour later than usual and we were pretty happy about it until I picked him up out of his crib and about dropped him b/c he burned my hands! He had a raging 104-106 temp with a throat infection all weekend long. The temp finally subsided Tuesday and then yesterday he broke out in a rash all over his body. So we took him back to the dr! Turns out he has roleola infantum...also known as the 3 day measles. It is very common here and both Yukarisan's kids had it when they were Calebs age. Now we have to stay home for a week and think of ways to amuse ourselves... :( It was a very untimely sickness too because the Igarashi's didn't have work on Sat so we were going to go to this really beautiful place in the mountains and they don't have work tomorrow so we were going to do something fun tomorrow as well...sad sad. Which reminds me, anyone have any good book suggestions (keep in mind it has to be somewhat general...they don't carry alot of english books here)?? I have finished four in the past 2 weeks so I need something else to read while caleb naps.
On the upside, Kiel and I have been looking at hotels in Tokyo to reserve for the 3 days we'll be there next month! They have some really fun places...too bad they're all budget-breakers! We are going to go to the Temple while we're there too...it'll be so fun! No, we don't have a babysitter yet...maybe we'll run into someone in Tokyo.
ANYWHO, here are some picks to make up for this long post. (I'll try to make them shorter in the future!)