Lost in Translation

Our Christmas tree is a little worse for wear!!

I am really not entirely sure...

I love that bread shop, still! I went there twice this week!!

So, I've seen the cat bus, and here's a dog bus! You have to zoom in to see it....

My dear friend brought me to this little French place... The outside looked like a house... The inside was like a cabin!

(Grilled ham and cheese!)

(Brown sugar cubes, too!!)

And it was decorated with cats... They were hiding in the rafters, on counters... It was kinda cute!

They had this beautiful wood stove!

The sky here is amazing!!!

So, my friend in ak taught me a little about mochi... I started with butter mochi! When we got here, doc introduced us to mochi ice cream. We've since branched out and tried the different varieties! The top set is a strawberry mochi.... In the 2nd pic, there's caramel, regular, and cookies 'n cream mochi! Lots of fun stuff to try!!

The trees are beautiful, even though the leaves are gone! Those red berries look fantastic with the snow!!

I found some treats to mail to family.... I hope they find it as funny as I do!

Look! I wear my kimono in everyday life!!

Nicole made me play monotony... I do not like that game... But I LOVE that girl!!

Tink is wise...

Look at that sunset!! And the glow!!

We went out to an Italian restaurant with friends last night...

It was fun. I would not try the 'you-wrong' tea, though!!

We changed our name, apparently...

And Nicole started using her cake pop machine! I'll let you know how they turn out!!

We spent our New Years at the bowling alley! They had a special party and a special price for 6 hours of bowling... 6 hours of bowling!!!

Happy new year!

I found a new 'candy' for Nicole to try!

It was weird!!

Running in the snow takes courage. And balance. And an ignorance... (For the cold!). But it is beautiful!!! I love it!

New Years here is like our Black Friday in the states. There are sales, but they come in packages, or sets, or goody bags. For instance, this coca cola bag had a 1.5 liter bottle of coke, orange fanta, grape fanta, green tea, an electrolyte drink mix, a holiday coca cola canister thing, all for 1000¥. Seems a little steep for 10 bucks, but Japan is expensive!

Then I grabbed this random orange bag for 500¥... It had a bunch if Japanese snacks in it. Sesame crackers, mushroom shaped cookies, squid crackers.... I haven't even gone through all of it! It was more of a Japanese novelty to us.... 500¥ well spent for the cute orange bag!!

Happy new year;)

Then we went for a walk with tink. Dave and nic had a silly walk. You can't really tell from this pic...

Maybe this one!! Sliding, twisting their feet... It was really slick!

And Nicole only smiled for me because Dave was threatening her!!!

We went to a friend's house for dinner.... We finished it with uno and sake!! Great combo, btw!!

FYI

Siri talks funny.. AND this was the first notification I've ever received from her like this! I'm not sure why...

Dear friends and family who may come to Japan... Save this for future reference...

And this one, too!

TMI....

I finally 'made' a headboard.... It's not even.... I need to spend some time perfecting it... Or maybe nana will have that job when she gets here!!

tink loves to look out the back window. She loves sitting out back even more! She would love it the most if we just let her run free in the back, but not til we get fences!! But there is a bird feeder in that tree right in front of her, the sparrows and the crows love the seed!! The little birds love to eat it. The crows love to tease tink by landing behind her and having her chase them!! It's a different kind of circle of life! The crows knock down the food, the little birds eat it, tink chases them all!!!!

Doc set up a computer on our downstairs TV.... That's how we use netflix, by opening the web and starting a movie that way!!!

Or checking e mail!

Or shopping on a giant amazon!

A dear friend and I went back to pink sushi! It was good!!!

It was sushi o'clock!

I am in a new 'club!'

Gentle reminder...

I bought a bike trainer! This way I won't fall off... Or slip on the ice like that poor boy on While You Were Sleeping! Um, my family knows exactly which part of the movie I'm talking about because I made 'em watch it a bajillion times growing up!!

Doc is territorial... He won't let the big snow plows impede on his plowing area!! Actually, just like motorcyclists acknowledge to each other on the road, these guys acknowledged each other, as well! It's the code of the snow removal team, I'm sure!!

Japan produce prices remind me of Alaska produce prices in the winter... Difference is, Japan's prices on fruit don't go down in the summer!!

I went to Hach with some friends... The gps took us on this crazy road! You can't really see the incline from any of the pictures, but it was a steep hill! One lane!! With switchbacks!!!

See?

This was the view from the top!

Glad we made it down! Later we had a girls' night at thunder ramen!

This is really a cigarette canister... I didn't know that's what they were called ;)

Saturday we drove 2 hours to Okunakiyama... That may or may not be the correct spelling. But we went to a ski resort and went snowboarding for the day!!