Tateyama Kokusai Hotel Toyama

It has been some time since the last blog entry given that we have basically been relaxing and visiting with family and friends in Toyama. We haven't been visiting anything exotic during this portion of the trip; simply living life like everyday Japanese do in this smaller city.

Over the past nine years of coming here, this place has really come to be a second home to me. It is very familiar -- almost as ...

... off. He's intelligent, a EE (Electrical Engineering grad, like me), teaches English to elementary school kids (like I would like to do), has a passion for, and speaks Japanese fluently (thanks, Eric, for teaching me some kanji, and more), and we share a common view on life and belief systems.

Others included Colleen (Canada), cousins Nik & Graeme (Canada), Chiaki (Korea), Mone (Thailand), Tomomi, Baki, Lisa and another ...

... all some form of Japanese pickled plum (which I love btw). They had pickled plum in pretty much any form you can imagine: candies, sauces, onigiri seasoning, etc. and so forth...

Although I never went down to the beach (I was like 2 blocks away), Kamakura is right on the ocean and there are several beaches to enjoy. This is another town (like most of the others I already visited) that I wouldn't mind spending some more time exploring.

The highlight of ...

Alex sailed today, so it is probably a good time to do another blog. Photos might not be as plentiful from now on with only one person able to take the photos - I'll try and snap pictures when I can though.

In the last couple of days she has started to smile - very rare occassions though. Hopefully smiles will come more frequently from now on.....

... so we definately know she is growing.

For the first few weeks all she seemed to do was sleep, which was a nice 'ease in' for her parents! Now she is a lot more active and has quite a bit of awake time, particularly in the mornings. It is amazing to watch her develop into a real little person.

... downgraded to Transient Tachypnea of the newborn - essentially fluid on the lungs. She just needed additional oxygen for a while until her lungs were strong enough. On Day 10 she was finally able to come home, which was such a wonderful day. A rough start, which was probably ********* us than on her, but now she is completely healthy and loved all the more!

Olivia decided that she couldn't wait to enter the world, and decided to come along 3 weeks early - and she decided to do it in a rush too! After only 2 hours of labour, and after only being at the hospital for 35mins, Olivia arrived!

She was born at 2:05am on Friday 3 July 2009. She weighed 2.8kg (6 pounds 2 ounces).

We were caught short with a number of ...

... are against the natural rhythm now and forgetting the harmonizing with every existence, maybe that's why people are so stressed out these days."

He went to do a welcoming perform when Hokulea came to Yokohama last year. He said he'd like to come to Hawai'i sometime to meet his old friends. Kyoko and I spent 5 hours at his place! I thought time just flew. He's a great storyteller. I was really glad to visit him!

After the breakfast at home (thanks to my mother), we took the "yokohama line" to "Ofuna" station, then took a monorail to "Enoshima"station, then took the "Enoden line" to KAMAKURA.

First, we got off at "hase" station and visited "Kotokuin" temple to view the Great Budda.

Next, we got off at "kamakura" station ...

This weekend we had the priviledge of joining Goku Family Team to compete in the Toyama Team Marathon. The race consisted of each team having to run a total of 20 laps of a 2.2km loop in the heart of Toyama City. Lazer Lainchy ran 3 laps (6:58, 6:59, and 7:01) and Hammertime Hel-Dog ripped it up with 2 laps (8:22 and 8:27). Our team posted a solid ...