Republican Hair Cut

I have noticed my “80s hair” has been referenced in previous posts on this blog and I’m pretty sure Ian’s not the author…Kari. I can’t help that my hair naturally feathers and no, Miami Vice hasn’t called to ask for their hair stylist back. In my defense my clippers don’t work well on 50hz power and I’m opposed to paying more than $5 for a hair cut when I can cut it myself in 20 minutes. This week I decided my hair was bad enough that I would have to endure the horrible vibration and noise from my clippers operating on 50hz power. I went from this.

To This.

On Friday I went to lunch with my boss. His comment was, “that’s a good republican hair cut.” Huh, I’m never cutting my own hair again.

Skillz, part 2

Ian has moved on quickly from rolling to creeping. In the past week he's been traversing the floors to get to his destination. (usually a toy, an outlet, or cords) His current mode of transportation looks like a combination of an inchworm and the breaststroke. It cracks me up, so I figured I should post a short video.

Go, Ian, Go!

Skillz

In the past few days Ian has finally learned how to roll over. He's done it a few times in the past, but never consistently. For the past four days he has also skipped his afternoon naps. He's in his crib talking to his hippo, and when I finally check on him this is what I see:

I'm hoping this 'no nap' thing is just due to rolling. I'd prefer that to having Ian drop his 2nd nap of the day earlier than average. (most infants do it between 12-18 months) It's not looking good, though. I can't imagine what will happen when he starts crawling...

Kappabashi Dori

On Sat. we took the train up to Tokyo with our friends Todd and Mary. (Todd is one of Ryan's coworkers from Bremerton. He is here for 2.5 months for work) We went to Kappabashi Dori, which is a street in Japan that's dedicated entirely to restaurant supplies. Anything you need for opening a restaurant...they have it. (i.e. stores with display cases, chairs, cashier registers, you name it)

They have some great pottery stores with super reasonable prices. (note Ryan is currently rocking some stylish 80's hair)

Here, you'll find signs for your restaurant...and a big, fat Italian man to lure in the crowds.

There are a 'couple' choices here for knives.

Ryan decided it would be fun to pose Ian next to knives that are almost as big as he is.

After we had our fill of shopping, we found a small restaurant that serves okonomiyaki. This is a Japanese version of a savory pancake. They bring out the batter, you stir it to get the egg mixed in, and then you pour it on the griddle on your table. I was hoping they would run the batter out yelling 'okonomiyaki' (just like they do at pannekuchen), but no such luck. The okonomiyaki was excellent. Here are Todd and Mary mixing the batter:

Although Ian's bib is on and he would probably be more than happy to try some, we brought with some pureed food for him. Soon, his okonomiyaki days will come.

Another great day in Tokyo.

Nameplate

Our address is 3-21-13 Mabori Cho. As you may have guessed, this isn't the easiest address to find. People here typically have nameplates so you know you're at the right house. Since we moved in we've had a flower and pizza delivery guy come to our house. It's pretty sad to open the door and realize that the beautiful bouquet of flowers is, in fact, not for you. It's even worse when the doorbell wakes up your sleeping son...and you come to find that the pizza is also not for you. So, we finally got our act together and got a nameplate. The guy at the store did his best to translate our name into Japanese characters. The first character is the character they use for vans. The rest...I have no idea.

Sushi

This past weekend was rainy and windy. We were planning to check out the plum blossoms at a local park, but the weather just wouldn't cooperate. So, we took the train to Yokohama and Ryan finally got to return to his favorite sushi restaurant. When he was in Japan last Feb. he ate there ~3 times per week. We've eaten at other sushi places in our area, but this place is the best Ryan has found so far. I can't believe it took us 3.5 months to head up there!

Here was Ryan's sushi plate:

I chose a bowl with just tuna. (and the yellow square is a sweet omelet) The wasabi here is actually real wasabi and is the strongest stuff I've tried. Good for clearing out your sinus...