7 & i sandwich

I recently read that Japan has more 7-11 convenience stores than any other country in the world, almost twice as many as the U.S.! Can you believe that? Nearly double the number of stores in a country barely 1/20 the size! Most of them are called 7 & i, which is actually the name of 7-11's parent company; it comes from the combination of 7-11 and Ito Yokado, which is the Japanese company that bought out 7-11. Anyway, there are tons of them in Japan, but I'm sad to report, they don't sell Slurpees or Big Gulps. I miss my Big Gulps so much! When we were on our way to the hospital, in labor with Ethan, I made Otis stop and buy me a Big Gulp!

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7 & i does, however, sell strawberry sandwiches!! And I'm totall addicted to them. It's strawberries, whipped cream and a sweet, creamy, custardy type spread, on plain, white bread. Oishiiii! I love them, I don't know why, maybe because it's something new and is so Japanese? They're so yummy! I've tried making them at home, but it's just not the same.

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Hello from Atsugi

We made plans for the weekend to visit Enoshima/Kamakura and Yokohama. Last night we came half-way to Enoshima, stopping at the Naval Air Facility in Atsugi for the night.
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This morning we're heading on to E & K to visit Daibutsu, or Big Buddah, then heading up to Yokohama for the night.
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We brought Meg's BFF Brooke with us as well.
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Stay tuned for pix of the trip!
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Kourakuen

Last Thursday (the 15th) my big culture group had its New Year's party. I blogged about the Xmas party, which the Americans hosted, the Japanese side hosted the NY's party.
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We had lunch at a restaurant called Kouraken, as always, check out the website to get the full effect. We always have such a great time in this group. For one thing, it's huge, with nearly 100 members. Because we have so many members, we have a lot of money for entertaining, so that really helps to elevate the fun factor.
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Lunch was great and we were treated to a performance by a dance troupe from Fussa (sorry, I forgot their name). At one point we had a big Japanese conga line going, but since I was in it, I didn't get any pictures. >
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I have a couple of video clips, but I'm having some issues with editing, so they'll have to wait.
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This week, one of my small groups from this big group (there are 6 small groups, A - F, that make up the Yokota-Fussa Friendship Circle, I lead groups B and D. The small groups meet seperately once a month for a cultural activity) is taking a tour of a local sake factory. Woo hoo! Any activity that involves alcohol intake rates very high on my list of fun things to do!

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Shinky

Monday was a holiday for us, MLK's b-day, no school for the girls and O was off work, so I made plans for us to go check out the shinkansen(s) in Tokyo.>
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In the end, O was on call, so he couldn't go, and the girls were less than enthusiastic about spending an hour on the train....to go look at trains. So, it was just me and my sweetie-pie.

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The weather was beautiful, warm and sunny. We set off a little before 12:00 and arrived at Yurakucho station, one stop past Tokyo station. There's a building there that's directly across the street from the station, the Kotsu Kaikan bldg, that has an outdoor deck/patio on the 3rd floor, which is exactly level with the bullet train tracks. We got some Wendy's to-go and headed up to the deck for a picnic. E was beyone excited, when the first "shinky", as he calls them, came past, he fell of the bench in his excitement! It was so cute! But all that excitement made it impossible to get any good pictures. A train came past about every 10 - 15 min, and because they were coming and going from Tokyo station right up the street, they were going slowly so there was plenty of time to take in everything. We had a great time, Ethan was so sad when it was time to go.

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Since we were so close to Tokyo station, I decided we'd walk there to catch the train home, I've been wanting to check out the station for quite awhile, it's massive and is almost 100 years old! It has a beautiful brick exterior, which is very rare here in Japan. When we got to the station, we discovered that there's a major renovation going on, which meant tons of construction, which meant tons of heavy machinery and equipment, which meant one very happy, little boy!

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We hung around outside the station for awhile, watching the construction and a beautiful sunset over Tokyo. Then headed inside to explore the station.
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I had no idea what was in the station and I'm not sure what I was expecting, maybe some historical stuff since it's so old, or maybe just the excitement of a huge, big-city train station. But I sure wasn't expecting what we found!
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First, in the basement we found Tokyo First Street, a shopping mall! Tons of awesome stores, but the most incredible was the Tomica store! Tomy is the Japanese version of Hot Wheels. This was an entire store full of nothing but Tomy stuff. By this point I don't think Ethan could have handled anymore excitement! As with every Japanese toy store, there were tons of products on display, ready to be played with! I snuck a birthday present to the register while E was distracted, then we picked him out a pair of really cool shoes (I haven't gotten a pic yet, but you can kind see them in this one). Amazingly, he was perfectly content picking out just one little car, and left happily when I said it was time to go. I was expecting tears and protests, but I think he was probably a little overwhelmed from all the excitement of the day and was looking forward to getting back home to calm, familiar surroundings; he's very much a homebody, like his papi, and prefers his own house over any other place.

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Ethan in car heaven

Even though the rest of the family bailed on us, we had a really great day. It was nice to do something fun, just the two of us, I don't get to spend much one-on-one time with my little sweetie pie. But I'm definitely heading back one day soon, by myself, to do some more retail exploration! Next on my list: Shinagawa Station.

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Grill daddy

Otis is a diehard grill cooker, he loves to cook outside on the grill. We use the grill all year long, regardless of the weather. We've grilled in the rain more times than I can count, last year we even grilled in the snow! During the summer we cook out 3 - 4 meals a week. We grill steaks, pork, chicken, fish, burgers and hotdogs, I've done kebobs a few times, we even grill veggies!

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Last night we did burgers with all the fixins: I had a blue cheese, bacon burger and O had a double, cracked-peppercorn burger with bacon and pepperjack cheese. The kids just had plain old cheese burgers. Oishiiiii!

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This grill, along with the 3 propane tanks we have, was one of the freebies we got from a neighbor who was moving back to the States, they had put it on the curb to be hauled away by the recycle truck! We weren't able to bring our grill when we moved to Japan, so we were ecstactic to get this one, for free no less!

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I just want to pee in peace!

Is that too much to ask? I know this is the plea of every mother with young children, but seriously? My kid will be 15 in May and she still follows me into the bathroom, chattering a mile a minute as I drop trou and ascend the throne. I still have to say "Gabrielle, I'm peeing! Could it wait 20 seconds?" I've tried EVERYTHING over the last 14.75 years to break her of this habit, including making her use the bathroom with the door open, so she can see how it feels not to have any privacy at your most private moments. It didn't help. She has no qualms about other people "sharing" the moment with her. She'll even join me for number 2! It makes no difference to her. (Was that TMI?) And while I'm glad that as she progresses through her teen years she's not embarrassed about bodily...stuff around me and we still have a very open relationship, enough already! Don't join me in the john! I don't need help in the hopper! I don't need YOU in the LOO!
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Gag me with a yuri!

Back at the begining of November, Otis, Ethan and I spent the night at the New Sanno (yes, I go every chance I get). We had dinner at the hotel in the Emporium restaurant. When we sat down at our table, I was assaulted by the most horrific smell! All through dinner I was complaining "What in the hell is that smell?!?!" "OMG, do you smell that?". Otis claimed he didn't smell anything. Eventually I figured out that it was the huge bouquet of flowers right next to our table. More specifically.....the lilies. Seriously, it was hideous. I guess I've never really smelled a lily, they're beautiful flowers and really nice to look at.....but they reek! It honestly ruined my meal.> >
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Six weeks later was my getaway weekend back to the Sanno, I walked into the lobby and the stink hit me like a brick wall! There they were, right at the entrance to the hotel, a huge bouquet of lilies! They funked up the entire lobby. Damn it!
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Later that night, as I exited the elevator at Tokyo City View, I was nearly knocked unconsious by stench that greeted me. This time, I knew exactly what it was, but I was totally unprepared for what I found as I rounded the corner .....
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........a 12 foot tall Xmas tree.....made entirely of lilies!!!!!!

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i heart faces - Week 2

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OMG! Look at that hair!

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For this week's entry in i ♥ faces I dug back a little to this pic of Ethan, taken about 2 weeks before his 1st b-day. In this pic he's exactly one year younger than the pic from last week, almost to the day. Can you believe how much he changed in just one year?!?! How I miss the days when he'd smile so sweetly for the camera! Now, he either refuses to smile at all, or gives me that cheesy, fake grin that makes him look constipated!

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Tons of adorable mugs this week!

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Sisters

Most of the time, Gabrielle, in all her high-school glory, is much too cool to be seen with her totally uncool, junior-high-schooler little sister. They have less than nothing in common any more. Meg still loves playing outside, playing with her Bratz dolls, watching cartoons, while Gabi spends nearly every spare minute on the internet or on the phone with her friends.
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But every once in a while Megan can convince her to play a game on the Wii, or jump on the trampoline (usually when Gabi's friends are busy and she has nothing better to do). Meg doesn't care what the reason is, she'll take any scrap of attention she can get from her Sissy.

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Yes, they put the dog on the trampoline. He loves it.

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Stamp card dinner

We usually get take-out for dinner two Fridays a month, just a little treat for making in through the previous two weeks, and a break from the kitchen for me. If the kids have been especially good, I let them choose whatever they want for dinner.

Every food establishment on the base has some sort of point/stamp card program to earn free food and I built up quite a collection. The girls also earn coupon booklets from school if they make the A/B honor roll, it has lots of coupons for free things, like a free kid's meal from BK, free movie admission, etc. We decided to redeem everything this past Friday.
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The bottom card is the best, it's good at all the Services dining facilities (listed on the bottom of the card) and once it's filled is worth $10.95 toward any food purchase.

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We fed the whole family for FREE!

The girls all-time favorite food is fried mozerella sticks from the bowling alley, that's what they chose for their dinner. I got a 6" spicey Italian sub combo from Subway, E got the free kid's meal from BK and Otis' had a double Whopper value meal.
Yes, I know, pure garbage, but it's a treat, and it's only twice a month, and it's so yummy.

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