Sea Paradise: The Yokohama Aquarium

Last weekend we headed down to Yokohama to go visit Sea Paradise with a friend of mine from work and his family. The little digital camera I packed was woefully inadequate for taking pictures of the jumping dolphins, porpoises, and beluga whales during the Marine Mammal show, however I did catch a good picture of a Walrus doing its Macauly Culkin impression:



Sarah and Robert preparing to enjoy the show:



A 3-story tank:



And what aquarium would be complete without a snack stand in the form of a San Francisco cable-car? Interestingly, the poster you can see in the window at the end of the car informed me that the F-line train running from Fisherman's Wharf, up Market Street to Castro has only been in service since 1995. Who knew?



Anyhow, I know this is kind of a short post, but we're heading to Waikiki tomorrow for a week's vacation so there are a few last-minute details to finish up. The itinerary we've got planned looks something like this:

Sunday: lay on the beach & play in the water.
Monday: lay on the beach & play in the water.
Tuesday: lay on the beach & play in the water.
Wednesday: lay on the beach & play in the water.
Thursday: lay on the beach, play in the water, and eat Turkey.
Friday: lay on the beach & play in the water.
Saturday: lay on the beach, play in the water, and watch the Cougs lose.
Sunday: lay on the beach, play in the water, and head back home.

My folks are flying in on Wednesday and staying at the hotel next-door. We're staying at the Sheraton Princess Kaiulani across the street from the beach -- much more economical than staying on the beach.

I'll post again once we've arrived and gotten ourselves situated.

More Language Fun!

Ok, so I know I just posted, but this really couldn't wait. The Japanese language is rife with onomatopoeic phrases, one of which is 'Shyua', 'Shyua', for the sound you make while brushing your teeth. Robert is very familiar with this phrase; one of his morning cartoons features the "Shyua Shyua" song.

Robert also attends pre-school several days each week. One of his closest friends at the school is another boy named Kenzo. Kenzo is Belgian by heritage, his folks are from the French speaking part of Belgium (not to be confused with the Flemish speaking part of Belgium -- they aren't really on speaking terms), so Kenzo gets mostly French at home. Kenzo is also just learning to talk, and the reports we get from Robert's teachers basically say that Kenzo and Robert spend all day talking in a language that only they can understand.

While "Shyua Shyua" is the Japanese sound for toothbrushing, "Amagake" is the official term for brushing your teeth (or so I've gathered from Robert's show). So the other night I gave Robert his bath, got him dressed for bed, turned to him and said "Amagake?", and he looked at me and responded "Le Shyua!" before running into the bathroom for his toothbrush.

Robert's First Sentance

First things first; it's been rainy here, so we did not get up to much mischief this weekend. Sarah and Robbie slept in 'till well past 9:00 this (Sunday) morning, so I decided to make a good old-fashioned brunch of fruit, waffles, & bacon. Robert came upstairs while I was cooking the bacon and as soon as he smelled it began excitedly jumping up and down in the kitchen next to me shouting "Bacon! Bacon!" and as he ran into the living room to make sure mama knew what we were getting for breakfast, he exclaimed "I Love Bacon!" -- his first complete sentence. I have never been so sure he was my son, nor so proud. :-D

Although we stuck pretty close to home, we did make it to Shibuya to purchase a fake(!) Christmas tree. I never thought I'd see the day when we didn't have a real tree, but as we have yet to see a true Christmas tree, we figured a false tree is better than no tree at all.

While shopping, I came across a couple of things that I thought were worth sharing. It's taken me 3 days to get these pictures off of my mobile phone, but at long last, I have finally managed it. Here they are. Enjoy:

First, spray-bottle covers:



If you get one of these babies for Christmas, well, you saw it here first.

Next up, if you've ever been out to the coast to dig razor clams, then you know what a fashion parade it can be. While cold weather gear is nice to have, and waterproofing is de rigueur, the perfect pair of high-heeled galoshes can really take your outfit to the next level:



Last but not least, here is a picture from this summer that's been living on my camera for far too long. This gigantic octopus is located between Ebisu station and my office at Prime Square Tower. There are some other playgrounds closer to home, but none of them attempt to tackle the oversized sea creature meme quite like this one: