Natsu-Matsuri

The day after we arrived home I stopped by our local French bakery. I always chat a bit with the woman behind the counter. (although with her limited English and my limited Japanese it's usually a short conversation) She told me about a festival that was happening that weekend. Based on our conversation I knew it was taking place between 2-3 on Sunday and it was located at our grocery store, Seiyu.

So, I showed up to the grocery store just before 2 and observed the celebration. According to our Japanese instructor, the Japanese have a lot of Natsu-matsuri (Summer Festivals) in August. Each community has their own festival. During the day, they carry the Mikoshi (a portable shrine) in the neighborhood and in the evening they have Bon-odori (Bon dancing) in the park. Mikoshi parades are held to pray for the good health of the people who live in the neighborhood.

This picture below shows people carrying a Mikoshi. They were dancing and chanting in place.



Here are a couple close ups of one of the Mikoshi:




This festival also had floats with drummers and flutes. Here are some boys drumming (I somehow managed to take the picture right as they were in the middle of the strokes, I guess, as it looks like they're not doing anything):


After the festival was over the floats were carried back to the neighborhoods. This man below helped to direct traffic:

A pose like this is definitely meant to stop traffic!

...and it only gets better...


I ran into Ryan's boss at the festival and he said he's seen this man at numerous celebrations. I think he relishes his role of jester for the day.

Here are a couple short videos of the day. Let me know if they don't work.

For the love of fruit

One of the reasons I love summer is the wide variety of produce that is available. I noticed this summer that the Japanese take very good care of their fruit.

Here is an example of a mango from the Philippines:



That's right. Each mango is presented in its own snugly Styrofoam wrapping. It's not just mangos that receive this much care, though. I've found extra wrapping/cushioning on peaches, apples, and cantaloupe.

Is really necessary? On the one hand, my fruit is always in really good shape. This demonstrates the way that the Japanese appreciate and take care of their food. On the other hand, this Styrofoam adds to the already excessive amount of plastic that I throw away each week. (which is even more noticeable since we have to separate the plastic out of our garbage)

Wisconsin Fun

We spent 5 days down in Wisconsin at Oma and Opa's house in early August.


Karen found these great kid-sized barn animals. Ian was a little nervous at first, but quickly realized how fun it is to pet animals that can't move!


Ian loved the pig - it was just the right size.

In fact, the pig received many kisses throughout the week.


We arrived a day earlier than Ian's aunts, uncle, and cousin, so we drove over to a nearby city. We first made a stop at a toy store and Ian got a ride on a moving horse. Yes, the week was filled with farm animals. (and cheese, although we all ate it fast enough that there wasn't time to take pictures)


After the toy store we went to the park. Ian loves the swings.




And Ryan and Bill loved the teeter-totter.


All in all it was a great week. We're thankful for the time together.

Cousins - Part 2

It's been a hard to capture a picture of Ian and his cousin Paul where they're both still. (much less looking at the camera!) Paul is 3 months younger than Ian, but they're both at an age now where they're on the go most of the time. Here they are meeting for the 2nd time. (the first time Ian was 4 months old and Paul was about 1 month old)


Although they didn't have a ton of interaction together, they did seem to like the same toys. Ian liked to put the salad spinner below on Paul's head. Notice that Dave and Britta's dog, Bleu, is in a bit of the picture. Paul has the best laugh when he sees Bleu do just about anything.


The boys had some good time in the pool at Dave and Britta's house. Paul seemed to admire the "hat" Ian had on, so...

He decided to try it out himself! (well, either that or Ian decided to put it on his head)


The boys also spent time together at their Oma and Opa's house. Here they spent some time admiring a big pig. (more on that to come in the next blog entry)

Golf carts, boats, and automobiles

In the week and a half Ian has been in Minnesota, he's already had a short ride in Grandpa's MG, a ride in a golf cart, and a pontoon ride down the Mississippi.

You can't beat riding in a convertible in sunny weather.

Or, for that matter, lounging on a pontoon.


Things got a little tricky with both a life vest and a hat on...

...especially when Ian started to have lunch. He couldn't reach his hands to his mouth, so he alternated between having me feed him and leaning over to eat out of my hand like a dog.


As the ride went on we decided to take off the life vest and Ian started to really enjoy the boat.

With the assistance of Alec, Ian even got to drive the boat for a while.


Ian has now had a pontoon ride where he only wore the life vest for half of the time and a MG ride without a car seat on my parents' cul-de-sac. He's also started to enjoy eating like a dog. Not only am I getting lax on safety, but also on manners! Shhhh...don't tell Ryan.

Cousins - part 1

Ian has been having a great time with Alec and Micah. They're pretty patient with him and he's at the age where he's not too demanding or whiny yet.

So far they've spent their time chilling,



reading books,


riding a merry-go-round at Como,


and watching birds and golfers from Grandma and Grandpa's window.


Micah has even tried carrying Ian (who is almost half his body weight).


What a treat to have so much time together! Ian has just reunited with his cousin Paul, so I'll post pictures at some point in the near future. It's a little harder to get a good picture with 2 toddlers who are non-stop moving.

Playing at the sculpture park

The weekend before Ian and I flew to MN we went to Hakone, which is an area near Mt. Fuji. It was great to get up into the mountain and lakes region. During our time there we stopped at a sculpture park that is definitely one of the top 3 museums we've ever seen. The sculptures and landscaping were wonderful...but on top of that they also had some fun places for kids to play. You have to be under 12 to play on the pieces, so we had to live vicariously through Ian.

This piece was done by a Canadian artist. It was essentially a huge, colorful hammock that kids could play in. They could hang and swing on the giant balls and also climb up high into the main hammock.


Ian wasn't quite sure what to think.


He did ok when we placed him in the ring...


...but was freaked out when we placed him in the hole. Tears erupted right after I took this photo.


We also went to one other museum in the area that is also in our top 3 museums. This museum displayed the work of Itchiku Kubota, an artist who designed and created kimonos as art. His artwork is incredible and they way they designed the museum was spectacular. Unfortunately, the pictures we took don't really capture the landscaping and you can't photograph the kimonos. These museums are reasons #145 and #146 why you need to come visit us.