More trip pics

Heading home after a long week

Hiroshima peace arch

ashes of 1,000 nameless victims

A-Bomb dome

Hiroshima castle

Nara

Giggle to bed

Liam has his first nightly ritual. A couple of nights ago he stayed up later than normal. Louis and I were wondering when he was going to go to bed as he seemed content to just watch tv with us. Louis was sure he wanted to nurse, but after I was rejected on several attempts, I started talking to him. That was all it took. He started laughing, it was so cute he had both of us laughing with him, so I started tickling him and man, did he go to town. He was laughing for 15 minutes straight. The good news is that he wore himself out, and promptly fell asleep. :) I was wondering if this would become routine. Sure enough he did it again the next night, but at his normal bedtime. What a happy child he is! Such a joy.

Wake Up Call

Liam is an angel, he rarely cries. Normally, when he is hungry he starts sucking on his fingers...very loudly, and starts grunting trying, unsuccessfully, to get something out of them. So when he does cry, it's more dramatic. Every mother knows that when your baby cries the need to immediately jump up and calm them down is pure instinct. During the day we have a tendency to restrain that instinct, during the night, the more exhausted you are, the harder to grasp before it gets away from you. Last Friday was just such a night, I was out cold because of the overkill week that had just passed. Liam was already having a rough night for some reason or another, gas, hungry from his growth spurt...I don't remember now. All I know was from midnight until 5 am he had woken up 4 times. I had gone to bed at 11:30. I was not all there, to say the least, delirious at best. So when he started crying in ernest at 6am, shocked by his intensity, I jumped out of bed and started hastily into his bedroom. Unfortunately, our bedroom door had other plans. In my haste, I had not opened my eyes yet, as they were mostly gummed closed. I was firmly grasped by the need to get to my baby and find out what was wrong when I plowed into our door, with quite a bit of force. It slammed shut with a pretty loud gunshot sort of sound, and I rebounded off of it and rested my back against the wall that was supposed to be behind the door. Liam momentarily paused in his pleas and then renewed his vigor, while Louis rolled over and asked if I was ok, (Dar much to my surprise didn't wake up to all this racket). The most I could respond, still being rather unsure whether I was awake or asleep was a grunt...or a groan, I'm not sure which really. I somehow proceeded to calm Liam, who didn't want to nurse but wanted to be held and patted, must have been gas then, while I paid more attention to the places that throbbed. My bruised cheek bone, and swelling lip were just side shows to the immediate blue goose egg that had replaced my right knee cap (apparently the first to make contact with my unexpected barrier). Liam calmed down mercifully fast, and went back into his crib. I climbed into bed surprised at how bad my knee hurt and after answering a few question, tried to fall asleep...unsuccessfully. Talk about starting your day off on the wrong foot...

Drawbacks to limited supply and major demand

One of the things I really get annoyed with about living in a foreign country is that our link to american products is from one place only. The commissary or navy exchange. Both of the ones here on this base are fairly small in my opinion. Or at least small compared to the number of people who shop them. There are something like 35,000 people on this base and I think that is just personel, not dependants. I could be totally wrong but I know that number is thrown around here somewhere. ;) Anyway, with only one outlet for shopping and getting what we all are used to getting, the small building, number of people...we'll just say slim pickings are a weekly function here.

My point in this ramble is that they have never carried my favorite granola. Kellogg's lowfat granola without raisins. (I raisins.) Which surprised me as the commissaries back home usually did. Unable to get it I was bummed, especially when the craving hit. I've always been against homemade granolas. Maybe because I never liked my Moms. That, I know now, had very little to do with the recipe and everything to do with what my Mom put in it as extras. She, being a healthy/natural food nut would put in everything under the sun. Raisins, sun flower seeds, nuts, dried fruit of all varieties, etc... In my opinion the wonderful basic flavor of the granola was choked out by all the extras.

That being said, when I saw a recipe in the Family Fun magazine for a granola last week I decided to give it a try. The article/recipe was about a hawaiian sunrise granola, complete with macadamia nuts, coconut, (another thing I dislike), dried mango and dried pineapple. However, as I turned to the next page to disregard, they had two alternate recipes posted. One a fruit variations with dried blueberries, and dried cherries. And one Vanilla Almond variety. I perked up. The picture looked exactly like my cereal box. So I read the recipe. I thought, hey this might be it! So I went and bought another bun pan/deep cookie sheet so I could give it a shot. As I mixed it up this morning it started to look and smell very familiar. When the first batch was in the oven and about to come out I knew I had found the perfect substitute for my Kellogg's brand at a much reduced cost. So I made another batch and popped it in as the first one came out. Still warm I ate a bowl and MAN, it was HEAVEN!

Ironically enough, I went to family fun's website to try and link it in this blog. Unfortunately they don't have it on their website. So I guess I have to type it up! Here it is if you would like to try it:

Vanilla Almond Granola

1/3 C honey
1/3 C light brown sugar
6 T unsalted butter, melted
1 T vanilla extract
1/2 t salt
4 C old-fashioned rolled oats
1/3 C wheat germ
1 C sliced almonds

1. Heat oven to 300 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with aluminum foil. (I only used one for one batch.)
2. In a large mixer bowl, combine the honey, brown sugar, butter, vanilla extract, and salt. Add the oats and wheat germ, then stir the mixture until it's evenly blended.
3. Spread the granola onto the prepared cookie sheets and bake for 20 minutes, stirring once halfway through to keep it from burning and encourage even baking.
4. Remove the pans from the oven and stir the granola again. Add the sliced almonds, then return the pans to the oven to bake 10 more minutes.
5. Remove granola from the oven and stir it one last time. Allow to cool completely on the pans. About 15 minutes. When it has cooled transfer the granola to an airtight container. Makes 6 cups that can be stored for up to four weeks.

A week of firsts!

This has been a fabulous week of firsts for both boys. Two rejoicing changes, one which was a lesser of two evils and one that is a milestone.

1. DAR IS GIVING UP HIS SILKY!!!!! He has now slept 3 nights in a row without his silk. He gets it up to twice a day for about 20 minutes each. First thing in the morning, and if he has quiet time in the afternoon/evening. This is a huge step that Louis has been looking forward to for the last 3 years. (pretty much since he started using them!) They are pretty as he sucks on them constantly. Anyway, we are celebrating with fun rewards every morning he wakes up without one. So far so good.

2. Liam is falling asleep at nights on his own now. Last night I put him in the crib because he just wasn't fallig asleep like he normally does with us on the couch as we relaxed. So I put him in his bed, put on the bubble/light/song machine and 10 minutes later he was sacked out!! Score 100 for all the differences between him and Dar and their infant sleeping habits. It took Dar a year to do that! He is SUCH a GREAT baby. He did that again today during church. I put him in his carseat, which he normally does not like doing, and he fell asleep on his own. :D

3. Liam finally decided on sucking his forefinger and middle finger together, on his right hand and his left hand holding the wrist. Which I think makes it look like he's afraid it will get away from him. So we decided a binky was better than fingers. We've been encouraging the sucker all week and he actually keeps it really well. AND it's evened out his night wakings too. Occassionally he was waking up every hour or two for the first portion of the night. Now, since I know he's not hungry, I put in the binky and he sleeps until he is actually hungry. It means more sleep for me, less snacking for him, better eating schedule, more milk, better for his teeth (once they come in), and it is easier to ween off of as the binky can be hidden, and the fingers cannot. I think I am totally ok with this.

4. Liam sees things that are interesting and he grabs for them. This, again, just happened last night and today. We realized it with a plaid pattern on a blanket. He saw it, bright green and bright blue, and grabbed it, and pulled it to his mouth. We tried it with a toy, and voila! success! I am incredibly impressed. He seems so advanced to me for being 3 months. Maybe it's just been too long since Dar was at this phase so I've forgotten what happens when. Not to mention that I just switched his cloths to 6-9 months...yeah, they are a little snug with the diaper snaps... ALREADY!! Guess he won't be in these cloths long!

Oh well...

And don't worry I haven't forgotten about the rest of the trip pics. They will be posted soon. :D

pics

There will be more to follow, but this is the starting point...

Nara, the dear run free and you can feed them. Conversely they get rather aggressive and nibble at anything. One even rammed me in the butt. I kicked it back.

Louis' friend from his mission, Toshi, and his wife Masayo took us out to lunch in Osaka.

Osaka castle wall

Osaka castle

Dragon water spout in Kyoto shrine. Used to cleanse hands before entering.

Kyoto Shrine, can't remember the name, but the pillars are the largest single piece wooden pillars in the world. Notice how small those people are in front of it?

Nijo Castle, Ninomaru Garden.

The Jomeimon gate of the Kyoto Imperial Palace. The vermilion color is to scare/keep the evil spirits from entering.

Kyoto Imperial Palace. Okurumayose. This is the entrance used for official visits by coutiers.

Golden Pavilion, Rokuon-ji Temple. Yes that is two stories of Gold leaf. The first floor is in the palace style, the second the style of the samurai, and the third is a Zen temple style.

Shinkansen, or bullet train. gotta love the 430 am wake up call. Ugh.

Liam's blessing day.

Ice cream place in Hakone, the most flavors anywhere we have found, 32. Anything from banana, green tea, sweet potato, black sesame, coffee, pineapple, pecan, melon, hazelnut and cream, peach, strawberry, and a few others in between. Some bazaar, some normal, most of them pretty yummy.

Lake Ashi, and yes we rode the cool pirate ship!

Sulfur hot springs and thermal venting.

Dar rode a fun train ride once we were on the top of the mountai while I was changin Liam's bum. As you can tell, he loved it.

Hakone Gondola ride over the mountain

Kimono robes after soaking in the hot tub.

Hakone hot spring on the back porch of the Tatami room.

Just to make Louis Cringe

The other day I was helping Dar get dressed, the underwear had fire engines on it.

He said "Mommy I don't like firetrucks anymore."
"Oh, why not?" I replied
"No, because I like vans...like our van outside in our parking lot."

Priceless! Just what Louis wanted to hear from his son.

te he he he ;)