pictures from the holidays

hope everyone enjoyed their new year's and Christmas! can't believe it's already the middle of January! two more months and we'll be back to michigan...where is the time going?!

if you didn't get to see the hallmark smilebox, here are some random pics from it.

gotta include the Christmas day family picture...

like ken's cookies?! glad i asked him to decorate--mine is the red heart on the bottom right. haha.

my Christmas present to ken: the two little guys in the middle! sculpey and paint--so much fun! can't wait to do more cake toppers! ;)

disney sea with a bunch of friends on Christmas day.

tokyo tower with my sister who visited for new year's!

Merry Christmas!

Here are a few pictures from the past two months. We have much to be thankful for this year... Can't believe we only have 3-4 months left before moving back to the States! We'll be in Japan for the holidays, but look forward to my sister and Tony visiting for New Year's.

Hope you have a wonderful holiday!

 

 

Make a slideshow - it's easy!

10th place....

So I want to blog about my experience buying airline tickets in Japan because it is something to remember!

For the past few months, I've been looking into tickets to the annual Sapporo Snow Festival in Hokkaido (one week in early February). I talked to multiple Japanese friends who tried to help me buy tickets, and visited various travel agencies, and called a number of tourist help centers. I finally gathered that in Japan, you can only book domestic flights two months before your departure date (unless you want to pay 2-3x the typical price).

So today, at exactly 9:30am, I was in front of my laptop ready for a race--along with the thousand other Japanese wanting to go to Sapporo on a short weekend trip. The race lasted 14 minutes, and my original goal of 1st place ended with a bitter sweet 10th. Instead of the desired ticket price of 10000yen ($100 one-way), I had to deviate from my plans because within 15 seconds of entering my information, those tickets were sold out. Then I tried for the 3rd cheapest, and those also became sold out by the time I plugged in the 4 passengers' information. In the end, I got a decent 1-way ticket for 16000yen ($150?) per person, at the time I wanted. My reservation number: 0010.

Crazy. Slightly disappointed I didn't do better, but I'll be ready for the next race in two more days when I have to book the return flight...

i got flowers!

 my penguinjello took a half day off work for my bday (even with a busy busy work week)! half day means the florists are still open soooo.... yay! flowers!!! thanks hon!

for dinner we went to a yuba/kaiseki-type restaurant! yummy yummy! i love tofu!  

k wanted to get the special that came in a drawer! haha.

great meal! very japanese style restaurant--with cozy private tatami rooms if reserved in advanced. we'll be bringing future guests here for sure!  

on the way home, k rethinks giving me a more shiny bling bling gift! but k said tsk tsk, the model is such poor quality- only the best for his bday girl!

a birthday would not be complete without a cake! and it was yummy--japanese style frosting and strawberries! yum! thanks SG!

no pictures this year of my packages. but thanks sistahs, and everyone on facebook, for your bday gifts and wishes!

on a side note, i'm realizing that we may only have five more months left in japan! makes me sad to think time flies by so quickly....but now that i've realized this, i am preparing myself for the possible move back! that's exciting!

august/september 2007

WaCha! she's the cutie who came to our thanksgiving dinner last year. such an agreeable dog with a sweet personality. very carefree... very loved little gal! we had a last minute invitation to visit hakone with wacha's family. what a blessing to get out of the city for a day. and what a beautiful place! hakone is known for their mountains, lake ashi, and their hot springs! we have yet to try an onsen... but we went to a beautiful dog run! look at the view! i think the humans were more impressed of creation than the dogs. haha.  

above left: yuka's baptism (member of our sg who became a Christian a few months ago) with the choir/fall concert on stage. i think yuka enjoyed having the baptistry blocked off so you couldnt see her (except on the screen). haha.
above right: celebrating down the street--denny's.

below left: my girls! miss them! this was their first time using a dishwasher -- 1st night after we made pizza! fun!
below right: my class-- the teachers and helpers are in yellow--we had 7 middle school girls in the class

above left: my girls had a kick out of ken making a quick photoshop of them! i think they had fun w/ken. hehe.
above right: my 2nd burmese restaurant. not as good as mandalay bay in college park, md. we'll have to try another one...