Japanese History Lessons

Dad and I at the Yamato Museum - check out the 1/10th scale model of the WWII Battleship Yamato!


The whole family at Miyajima.

National Lampoon's Japanese Vacation!!!!

Ever since we moved to Japan, many friends and family have expressed interest in coming to visit, and fortunately, a few have actually made the long journey East. My parents and little sister bought tickets to come out here back in March, and now the time has finally come! I have a whole itinerary planned out - even down to the meal, in some cases. They landed on Saturday, and here are some highlights of what we've done thus far...most things have gone according to plan, but I may have underestimated the amount of stuff I have crammed into each day - on more then one occasion, the girls have gotten a bit tired from all the walking and we've had to adjust schedules a bit.

Here we are having dinner at our favorite Ramen shop right after arriving from the airport - it was their first experience eating Japanese style on a Tatami matt - and judging from the back pains Mom and Dad suffered, probably their last!





Of course they would come during the start of the rainy season - does that stop Megan from heading to the uber-exclusive Ginza (similar to NY's 5th Ave) shopping district in Tokyo to see her beloved Tiffany's? Hardly.








Here's Dad and I spending some quality father/son time at a baseball game. I actually bought tickets for the girls too, but they were too tired and stayed at the hotel instead. While at the game, Dad imparted some of his wisdom on how to be such a great Father - the key? Having a perfect Son to begin with!


Here's the whole Augustine clan in front of the Imperial Palace - which is as close as we could get, because not until we got there did we find out that they're closed on Mondays! I guess I need to brush up on my travel agenting skills.





Since the Imperial Palace visit was a lot shorter then expected, I improvised and took us all to the Meiji Shrine...when we got there, the main Tori Gate was completely covered in scaffolding and canvas for preservation work! Fortunately, this one was ready for pictures - it's smaller then the main one, but still pretty cool.




We finished off the day with a night cap in the hotel lounge - at least until my little sister got told to leave since she was underage...so she and Cicely took their Virgin Pina Colada's to their room for some girlie time - while I bought Dad a well deserved beer.



Finally, on Tuesday, the weather cleared up, so we headed to Tokyo Disney - Cicely's been wanting to go for the longest time, so I figured Megan would enjoy it too. Here we are on the monorail heading into the park (which of course here in Japan, you have to pay for, unlike in Orlando).






That's pretty much it for now; we've returned home from Tokyo, and will be recuperating for a few days. On Friday we jump on the bullet train to spend the weekend in Hiroshima - we'll update again after that!

Note: Cicely was able to enjoy the last few days thanks to a gift from her friend Michelle; these things called Sea Bands - they're wrist bands that do some sorta pressure-point trick to reduce nausea - they work like a champ! Thanks Michelle!

Raisin Nut Bran at Midnight...and other weird cravings

One of the things I've noticed about being pregnant is that when I get hungry, I am HUUUNGRY. And it isn't a gradual feeling either. Not one of those, hmmm, I think I can eat, but I NEED TO EAT RIGHT THIS SECOND. Sometimes it even happens when I'm feeling extremely nauseous, so during those times, I eat with dread because I know it's only a matter of minutes before I see the food again. I've become extremely skilled at figuring out which foods aren't so bad coming back up.

Last night, I was in bed when a hunger pain struck. It was nearly midnight, but I kicked Mike out of bed anyway and sent him to the kitchen to fetch me a bowl of Raisin Nut Bran. It was delicious and hit the spot. And, miraculously, it stayed in my stomach!

Here is a list of some of the things I currently "crave": Raisin Nut Bran, chocolate milk (only at night), Subway's meatball sub on wheat, Chick-fil-A sandwich (out of luck on this one since there are no Chick-fil-A's in Japan), lime jello, apples (although I've sworn this off until the morning sickness goes away....apples- not so nice coming back up), cherries, canteloupe, and pineapple.

Baby Bump???

At 8 weeks now, but still no obvious bump yet...





















...maybe I can help!

A Pleasant Surprise!

Mike and I had a nice surprise visit from the Bach family today. They were in the area visiting the beach and brought by a lovely flower arrangement for me. Kazumi had read my last blog entry and thought I needed a pick-me-up. She's such a sweetheart. But her kids, Mimi and EJ, are just absolutely adorable that seeing them was enough to make my day.

My New Daily Routine.....

Ok, so this blog entry won't have any pictures, because, well, it probably wouldn't be appropriate. I haven't been feeling all that great thus far in this pregnancy, which was to be expected...I just didn't realize just how BAD it was going to get. I know, in the end, it will be worth it, but it's going to be a long ride! Here's a log of my day today:

AM
5:45 Mike goes to work
9:15 Woke up feeling queasy, peed, ate cheerios and a few sips of stale Sprite
9:45 Ate 1/2 of a banana
10:05 Threw up
10:25 Threw up
10:45 Threw up
11:25 Dry heaved
11:40 Drank a small glass of water
PM
12:10 Dry heaved
12:13 Mike called to see how I was doing
12:15 Threw up
12:28 Ate the other 1/2 of a banana
12:50 Threw up
2:00 Ate 1/2 a PBJ sandwich, and a fruit cup
2:15 Threw up
2:55 Threw up
3:00 Drank 1/3 cup of small water
3:20 felt a strong bout of nausea
3:25 Threw up, had 5 sips of water
3:46 Mike called to check on me again
4:00 Peed, ate half a cup of applesauce
4:36 Ate 2/3 of a granola bar
4:46 Threw up, took a nap
6:40 Mike called to let me know he was on his way home (I missed the call though)
7:15 Mike comes home from work (that's a normal time)
7:20 woke up feeling queasy, Mike prepared dinner (soup)
7:28 Nausea, dry heaving
7:41 ate the soup
8:20 craving for grilled cheese; send Mike to the store to get ingredients
8:40 Mike returns, makes me a grilled cheese sandwich
9:40 write this blog entry


As you can see, I do best in the evening. Hopefully, this won't go on too much beyond the first trimester. Considering how much of a pain this is, it MUST be a boy ;o) Or at least Mike wishes....

Telling the Parents...a World Away!

Being in the Eastern Hemisphere poses a number of challenges; the latest being the fact that we couldn't see our parents' reactions to our news if we told them on the phone. So, we enlisted the help of Cicely's brother Carl, who brought his Laptop/webcam to my in-law's restaraunt while both families were having lunch there. So for the first time in a while, we all got to see each other, and of course, broke the news 'in person'!!!

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words....

Our China Trip (Part III)...Odds & Ends...

This will be the final installment of our China Trip blog entries...these pics weren't from one particular day, but rather a mix.



Here we are in front of the Temple of Heaven - it's pretty cool because it's entirely made of wood, and with no nails at all; that kind of engineering always marvels me.













For those of you that have been watching your Discovery Channel lately, you may have seen the 'Bird's Nest' design of this year's Olympic Stadium - pretty neat, huh?








Also purpose built for the Olympics, is the Aquatics building (far left). If it weren't for that awesome Beijing smog, you might be able to see it better.





Cicely and I definitely got used to being chauffered around town - but being in the Navy, I'll never make enough money to have that happen again!







Here's Cicely with our driver - we couldn't pronounce his name, but apparently it was Chinese for 'Gold', so we just called him Mr. Gold!




Adding to the previously mentioned theme of Discovery Channel worthy construction projects, is the new CCTV building.










CCTV stands for China Central Television - it's a state run TV Channel (like the Arabic Al Jazeera that is often referred to during Middle East stories) that is about the best example of propaganda you'll ever see. Now, for those of you that know me, I'm not the biggest fan of the whole 1st Ammendment/Freedom of the Press concept (I'm more of a 2nd Ammendment fan), but CCTV is absolutely ridiculous. First, I thought CCTV was only one channel - it's actually ALL the channels in China. They even have an English channel to inundate international travelers with Communist propaganda - it was almost to the point of entertaining. It really gave me an appreciation for the basic freedoms that we sometimes take for granted in the U.S. It also made me really miss BBC/Sky News from Britain - those guys say WHATEVER is on their mind!



Ok, so back to the building itself - notice it's unique look/design; it kinda looks like one of those optical illusions your teacher in grade school used to show you! Hard to believe it actually stands on its own!











Here's a cool thing we found at one of the Temples. It's a huge porridge bowl that actually gets used once every year - on the Chinese new year, they fill these with soup and feed everyone who's visiting the Temple that day. What day is it? December 8th - coincidentally, Cicely's birthday!





Here's another interesting concept we kept seeing in their children (in addition to the 'one child only' rule in effect from 1978 and on) - notice this kid has a hole in his pants and has no diaper/underwear....well, that's how they teach them to use the bathroom. If they need to go, they just stop, squat, and go! This applied to boys and girls both.






Finally, we saw an acrobat show that was amazing - these guys used absolutely every toned muscle in their bodies to do some crazy stuff - sorry the only pic is at the end of the show; Cicely got in trouble by one of the guards for trying to take pics during the show!





One more thing Cicely told me to add - can you see the mispelling of 'prone'?