Toddler Birthday Parties

For those of you with young children, you can relate to the craziness of the toddler birthday party. These parties just seem to get more creative; there has to be an activity to keep them occupied, then there is food, but with all the different allergies, you have to report them to the party mom or else have an Epipen ready. Then there is the goody bag and thank you cards that each child gets. I recently got a thank card with photos of us taken at the party.  The girls want princess theme parties (thankfully the boy don't get invited). The boys want ....actually I don't know what they want. For Conor's 2nd birthday, we did do a Madagascar theme because that was all he was watching then. Anyway, this gets back to the party that I dropped Conor off at on Friday for his classmate Aidan Lin. It was on the third floor rec room at his school. It was a Kung Fu Panda theme and conveniently, Aidan's uncle is a black belt in karate. Of course he is. So all the boys got dressed up in Chinese outfits and beat the crap out of each other. Conor, as most of you know, is a shy boy so kung fu is just perfect for him. He has a bestmate Leo, seen here literally holding his hand and dragging him to all the activities. Leo is already 4yo and is huge. I want Conor to eat what Leo's eating (minus the eggs, fish, and milk). I snuck away after 15minutes but actually saw Conor running up to the front to see what the big boxing gloves were all about. By the way, Aidan's uncle rocks, I wouldn't want to face him in a dark alley.  I  think I may have found a new activity to toughen our young lad up. 

Thanksgiving

Well, we certainly we have a lot to be grateful for this year...Paddy is still employed, we are in family expansion mode and we have our health and our family and friends are safe. The Mumbai attacks brought it home for me that the world is really unpredictable and becoming unsafer. At least in Tokyo, I feel that we are very safe from crime and terrorism.  

So, unlike other years when I have been on call for Thanksgiving and we eat at the bar at Gotham Bar and Grill, Paddy mentioned we were having guests over for Thursday, two of his work colleagues and their partners. They have been very welcoming to us since our arrival here.  Three of them are even American!  It doesn't feel like Thanksgiving here because there are no decorations up for it and the day doesn't start with the Macy's Tday Parade.  But we persevered. The mental process of cooking and planning is painful but actually doing it as long as you are organized is very relaxing, and there is nothing better than the smell of a turkey with four sticks of butter roasting in the oven. I went for the smallest one at the international store, which was 15lbs. I think we made a good dent in it, as evidenced by my before and after photos. Hope everybody had a wonderful day and didn't overstuff.

Bali

So it has been over a month since I last posted, wow, where has the time gone? We had a nice Halloween here and now it's straight into Christmas lights and blow up dwarves on the street corner. We thought we would sneak away from the cold and have a Thanksgiving trip somewhere warm, and that destination was Bali. Though there's a major credit crunch, we could be out of Asia next year and wouldn't we be so bummed if we hadn't done some travelling in this part of the world.  So, Bali, here we come...first of all, it's not as close as I thought. It's a seven hour flight from Tokyo, longer than to Hawaii from here. Close to Australia and Singapore. It's a strict kinda place. The sign at the airport as you are getting your VISA says, "DEATH to drug traffickers". And they are serious. I wanted to take a picture of that sign, but there was a no camera and cell phone sign. I interpret that as "DEATH to picture takers".  Security is tight on the island as the terrorists who orchestrated the bombing a few years ago that killed over 200 people, most Australians, at a night club were just executed.  On our entry into the gated Four Seasons Resort, the car (from the resort) had to turn off it's engine, pop the hood and trunk and two armed men along with a bomb sniffing dog circled the car.  I guess I was meant to feel safe after that. Also, note to self, try not to leave compound.

But actually we did leave one day on a guided tour of nearby villages that sell stone and wood sculptures, saw some traditional Barong dancing, and took the boys on a safari park ride.  But you can just literally do nothing but lounge around the beach and pool and feel quite contented. It's low season in November so the resort was quiet (and maybe credit crunch added to that as well). So it was honeymooners and us.  The boys absolutely loved the pools. We had a little plunge pool in our villa that they were very happy to pop into at 8am before breakfast.  Then it was off to the other pool near the Kids Club. Then as we got braver, we ventured to the adults pool at the top of the resort..the "quiet pool".  They looked very small paddling around this great big pool. Aidan fancied himself like Michael Phelps. He hadn't been in a deep pool before, but now armed with the floaties, he just jumped right in from the little ledge and kept wanting to do that over and over. He likes to stick his head under water oddly enough.  Conor became braver and was paddling around by himself, but doesn't have natural recklessness that Aidan has. All in all, it was a fantastic 4 days, we got a little sun burned and a few mosquitoes got through the netting, but we would definitely go back again.

Thank God for Sling Box

It took a while but I now have American TV via Sling Box...it's these little pleasures that make living abroad easier.  My laptop which is wired to some LA based location is then connected to the TV with some cables, and I have to manouver through 6 Japanese screens and voila, we have everything we did at home and more.  Most importantly, I have TEVO. And yes I am still watching Dancing with the Stars. I am rooting for Brooke "Fake Boobs" Burns...wasn't her ex husband Beverly Hills top plastic surgeon? More importantly (maybe), Paddy and I have been following the baseball. We spent the weekend mornings watching the Red Sox play the Rays.  There are many Red Sox fans here, walking around the hood of Hiroo.  I, like a dork, scream out "Go Red Sox" when I see a stranger is wearing a baseball cap of our beloved team.  It takes them a second to react since they think I am a meek Japanese housewife pushing the stroller around.  Good to surprise people once in awhile.

Shanghai (Not a) Surprise

For Paddy's 40th Birthday we went to Shanghai for a quick 36 hr trip without the kids. We flew out of the local airport here called Haneda which flies to Korea, HK and China. Upon arriving at Shanghai, we realized we had landed at their local airport as well, and not so bright and shiny. I had heard that from the international Shanghai airport, there is a train called the MagLev which magnetically levitates at its peak speed of 430km/hr, faster than the Shinkansen.  Cool, huh? Instead we got a shady taxi that literally drove up on the sidewalk, instead of the driveway, of the Fours Seasons. "Here" wasn't meant to be that literal. 

Paddy had been to Shanghai in 1996 before the construction boom and so the city was new to him as well in some ways. Back then there were two skyscrapers, now the tallest building in the world has just been finished (until Dubai finishes theirs).  We took a guided tour of the Old City, where even two Starbucks have managed to sneak in. In the Old City, there is a 3 acre walled garden that was very pretty, filled with koi fish. Shanghai is famous for its dumplings which we saw being assembly line produced with amazing speed. They had to with the line of people waiting to buy them.  

In the center of the city is a park called People's Park. In 8 months in 2001, the goverment relocated 5000 families from the center and built the park practically overnight. They say the quickest way to get rich is to wait for the government to move your home.  The sheer speed in which buildings go up shocked me. The tallest building (the one with the rectangle cut out at the top) was built in 1.5 years by Chinese that worked 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week.  There are no unions there I guess.

I was excited to have some authentic Chinese food and I have to say the soups are very good. Real wonton soup is quite delicious. The dim sum was also tasty but I have to say the Shanghai Noodles were a disappointment. They are thick and chewy and rather bland in their oily stir fry.  And still, the Chinese restaurants just don't seem to care about ambience. It's all about the food.

So all in all, it was an interesting experience. The city still feels like one that is under construction; they still have to deal with pollution. It has a good buzz, but calling it the Paris of the East may be a slight exaggeration.

Shoe Fettish

Slim Jim has been trying on a few new looks. Should we be worried?  Note a gigantic Pooh has arrived on the scene thanks to Uncle Jamie.

Happy Birthday Paddy!

I should have posted this yesterday but one day late isn't so bad...Happy 40th Birthday to Paddy. We are celebrating tonight with Jamie (Paddy's brother) who is in town for a few days. Here's to a fun and exciting year (and to not thinking about the markets)! Home made chocolate cake seen here not made by me...