80s Night!!/８０年代パーティー!!

This Halloween our young adult class held an 80s night at our church building...can you guess what we went as? I'll give you a second...
今年のハローウィーンは教会の友達と８０年代と言うテーマのパーティーをする事に...杏奈達が誰に変装してるかわかるかな!?　




Anna was Olivia Newton John, I was Richard Simmons (complete with fake chest hair) and Madison was our aerobics baby...did you guess right?
杏奈はエアロビックスの有名な人、オリビア　ニュートン　ジョン、デイブは８０年代に流行った歌に合わせて変な体操する人、リチャード　シモンズ(大丈夫、胸毛も偽物だからね!)、そしてマディソンはエアロビックスの赤ちゃん：）


At the building we ate TV dinners, answered theme song trivia and played 80s Scene It...around the room the Cosby Show, G.I. Joe the cartoon and Thundercats all played on various TVs. Encircling the room were Cabbage Patch Dolls, Garbage Pail Kids, Smurfs and other 80s paraphernalia.
パーティーでは８０年代に流行ったテレビを観ながらクイズに答えたり、いろいろ有名だったおもちゃやお人形の展示をみたり...

One of the members teaches set design at a local high school and he created a graffiti wall for us to take pictures at...here we are with our lunchbox we won for having the highest score on the 80s trivia worksheet...it was funny...I answered all the ones I knew for sure were right for Anna and then she had to guess on the other ones, which was about half...well we ended up tying with our classmate Chris and so we had a tiebreaker which was to name as many of the things that were posted on this 80s poster that had been made...well earlier in the night Anna had pointed out the Little Mermaid and Larry Bird on the poster as she looked at it and then I think Madison did something and distracted her and we went on our way...as luck would have it the tiebreaker was to name all the things on that poster...there were the Mets celebrating their '86 World Series win and a poster of the movie Rain Man and a bunch of other 80s stuff...42 things in all...well the only two both Anna and I knew were the Little Mermaid and Larry Bird and would you believe our competitor Chris didn't remember anything on the board even though she had taken a picture of it! So Anna and I tied again and took home the Twinkies lunch box for Madison...or maybe me!!
杏奈達の友達に一人が美術学校でステージ作りを教えているんだけど、その人がこの大きな看板にグラフィティって言う落書きをしてくれたからその前で記念写真：）デイブが持っているお弁当箱は８０年代クイズの１等賞の景品！昔のお菓子がいろいろ入ってました...もう少しマディソンが大きくなったらおやつを入れたりして使おうかなー！？


Having Halloween fall on a Saturday actually worked out really well because Anna and I really enjoy handing out candy to all the kids that come through our neighborhood and since it was Saturday they started coming around 4:00pm so we actually ran out of candy at 6:00pm just when we had to leave for the party...that was some nice timing!!
今年はハロウィーンが土曜日だったから、６時頃にパーティーに出発しなきゃ行けない前に近所の子供達に雨とかお菓子を配れました。前にアパートに住んだ時は子供一人も来なかったんだけど今住んでいる所は道がすぐそこだからお菓子を貰いに来る子供がたーくさん！！たった２時間で買っておいたお菓子全部無くなっちゃいました：）

The guys showing their 80s style...
男組だけでパチリ！

And the girls...
そして、女組...

And the entire young adults class reliving the 80s...
そして、パーティーに来た友達みんなで...これが全員じゃないけどね...

Madison hopes you had a Happy Halloween as well!!
ハッピーハロウィーン！！

かぼちゃのおばけ/Spooky Pumkinsかぼちゃのおばけ

昨日の夜、土曜日に買って来たかぼちゃをくり抜いてハロウィーン用に飾り付けをしました。まず中の種を出せるように上に丸く切り口を入れて...切り取ったヘタの部分はふたとして使います。こっちの人達ってかぼちゃは飾り用にしか使わないんだよ：）
Last night we curved the pumpkins we bought at Stew Leonard's this past weekend:-) We set up our curving station in the basement and printed out our designs and we got busy:-)


ママとパパがかぼちゃの世話をしてる間良い子でバウンサーに乗っててくれた＜マディソン、真ん中にある音楽の鳴るおもちゃを自分で引っ張れるようになりました。
While we were attending our pumpkins Madison was occupying herself in her bouncer! We haven't been using the bouncer much ever since we swapped it with the swing upstairs but Madison knew what to do with the toys that are dangling and even better, now she can pull the cord on her own to play a music(Yes, it came with only one music... Just imagine one song playing over and over...all day...)

パパのかぼちゃの完成！こわ〜いおばけ！！
Daddy's Pumpkin!


ママのかぼちゃの完成！こわ〜い骸骨！！
Mommy's pumpkin!


最後に、外から見えるクライン家の怖い窓...
Lastly, our spooky Halloween window display...

人参に挑戦/Moving on to Carrots and more!

日曜日に離乳食の３品目の人参(初めての野菜)に挑戦しました。マディソンの口に入れた途端今まで見た事が無い変な顔！この変な味なーにって言いたそうな表情が...でもそのうちモグモグってしてちゃんと飲み込んで次の一口の用意：）不味い顔しながら結局ちゃんと食べてたから嫌いではないんじゃないかな？とりあえず今の所３品とも“好き組”に入れときまーす！お母さん、また今度杏奈の好きだった離乳食とか教えてね。あっ、モグモグと言えば、先週の金曜日にデイブがマディソンの歯茎を触ったら何か尖った物が出て来たって！やったー！とうとう乳歯の登場です。しかも前歯２本一緒に出て来てるみたい...ちゃんと前歯２本でモグモグ出来る日が近いようです。最近夜１回起きるようになっちゃってたんだけど多分乳歯のせいかな？でもそれ以外に特別に機嫌が悪くなったとかじゃないから本当に良い子で助かります：）また乳歯の写真が撮れるなりブログに載せるからお見逃し無く！
On Sunday we moved down on our solid food list and introduced Madison with her very first taste of Carrot! But as soon as she tasted the carrot she gave us the weirdest look like she cannot believe that we put this thing in her mouth but then she would start to make the chewing motion...then swallow and open her mouth for another bite of strange orange goo! Not sure if she likes Carrots but at least she is not spitting it out or throwing it up so we shall put Carrots in our "Like it!" category... So far 3 "Like it!" 0 "Never again!"... She is doing good:-) Oh speaking of chewing, Daddy found on Friday night that Madison has two teeth peeking their heads out! Yay!! She will be able to actually chew soon enough! And that's probably why she has been waking up once at night the last a few weeks... but other than that no extra hard crying or unusual fussiness it may be a little early, but once again she is proving she is one tough cookie:-) I will post a picture of peeking little teeth as soon as I can!

昨日、新しく見つけたパイレシピを使って１１月８日に教会であるパイコンテスト用に練習をする事に。去年のコンテストでは入賞も出来なくてとても残念(と言うかズッキーニを使ったデザートを作ったんだけどみんなリンゴだと思い込んでてクリエイティブ得点が貰えなかったの)だから今回はアップルキャラメルパイを作る計画...でもデイブに初めて使うレシピだから一回練習した方が良いんじゃないかなって。結構真剣です！パイ生地から全部自分で作ったから結構時間がかかってしまって、しかもキャラメル作りで手こずり放題：(　黄金色になってキャラメルが完成する前に完全に固まってまた溶けるって言う行程を知らなかったから、最初の２回は砂糖が完全に固まったところで失敗と思ってゴミ箱行き。やっとその行程の事に気づいて３回目で挑戦しようと思っていたらマディソンがお昼寝から起きてしまいました...一休みしよっかーとマディソンと遊んで少し落ち着いた後ソファの上に座らせてまたキャラメルに再挑戦！時々マディソンの様子を見ながら砂糖をかき混ぜていたら最初のうちはおもちゃに話しかけたり、噛み付いたりしていたマディソンがいきなり凄い静かに...ちょっと顔を出すと後ろ姿しか見えなかったけどさっき座らせたままだったからきっとテレビを観てるのかな？っと...やっとキャラメルが出来てマディソンの前まで出て来たらびーっくり！！なんと静かだったのは実は座っているまま寝ちゃってたから、何てカワイイのーって急いでカメラを持って来て記念に写真をパチリ！そして、家に向かっていたパパにエリー達が吠えて起こしたくないから家に着いたらケータイにメールか電話してと連絡して、パパに座ったまま寝ているマディソンを見せる事に成功：）その後すぐに起きちゃったけどママとパパのベッドの上に移動したらまた眠っちゃいました！夜の９時半にやっとアップルパイが終了、それから１時間ちょっと休ませて１０時４０分頃にやっと味見をしたら...おいしくな〜い！！！！っと言うか味が全然な〜い！！あんなに苦労してこんな結果になる何てとても残念：(なのでコンテストには違うレシピを使うつもりなのでお楽しみに！
Yesterday I was testing out a pie recipe that I found on Food Network(Tyler Florence's Recipe) because on Nov. 8th we are having an annual Church Picnic after worship service and there will be a Pie Contest and of course I'm entering into it. But since I've never used this recipe before Dave suggested that I practice once and see how it comes out. Yes, we take competitions seriously:-) Last year we had a Cobbler contest and I made a Zucchini Cobbler that tasted like an Apple Cobbler and didn't do so well...(I think it tasted fine but since I didn't get to tell the judges that they are actually a Zucchini Cobbler I didn't get the "Creative Points" to win it all!) Anyways so we are hoping we can take the win this year... I can't reveal the name of the recipe to you because my competitors may be keeping up with Madison's life... Obviously not serious enough though since they are not her fans yet... Too bad I can't use another begging card until next year! Anyhow it was a long process because I made everything from scratch including the pie crust and I worked on it on and off all afternoon... I finished it about 9:30pm then it had to rest for at least an hour so we were really tired at about 10:40pm but tasted the pie and oh it was so DISAPPOINTING!! It looked so GORGEOUS! It's a shame we didn't snap a picture of it but very UN-FLAVORFUL!! The reviews for this recipe was that either you loved it or hated it so I was hoping we would love it of course but wow after all that work this is it!? Even the crust was very bland! Paula, here we come! We should have stuck with your pie recipe:-)
Wow I really went off with what I really wanted to tell you here... I guess I was really frustrated:-) so while making this disaster pie I had to make Caramel Sauce and if you have made Caramel Sauce before you know that you have to stand by the pot to constantly stir and make sure that the sauce doesn't turn too brown and burn... Unfortunately Madison woke up from her nap right before I was about to make a 3rd* (This was my first time making the Caramel Sauce so I didn't know that the sugar/water mixture needs to harden before it melts again before it starts to turn brown... So for the second try I mixed less and less heat applied but ended up with the same result... then I went online to read more reviews and noticed that one person wrote that the sugar mixture will crystallize before caramelizing... I was so relieved then got upset that I had to throw away perfectly fine pre-caramel mixture... But now I know how to make a Caramel Sauce:-) and final attempt to make the Caramel and was wanting to be held and not be plopped up on the couch so we played for a while then when she seemed happy I plopped her up on the couch with her toys and I could hear that she was talking to them as she chewed on them... I kept checking on her to make sure she was happy there but at one point I noticed that she got so quiet and no sound was coming out of the living room... I peeked and saw back of her head and she was where I left her so I thought she was watching TV(Turning the TV on is usually my last resort when I need to go do something and need something to occupy her...) Finally I got to reduce my Caramel Sauce to a good consistency and came back into the living room to find her sleeping while sitting up with her toys!!!!!! It was another new level of cuteness!!!!! I quickly grabbed my camera and snapped a few pictures then texted Dave who was heading home to either text me or call me when he is at the door... Let me tell you why I do that... It's because the Beans bark when someone is at the door and that's the only time they bark and I really wanted Dave to see Madison sitting up sleeping... and it worked! He texted me that he was at the door and I picked the Beans up(this helps calm them down) to get the door. Madison woke up soon after he got home but I quickly moved her to our bed and fell back asleep for another half hour or so:-)

大失敗だから写真は撮るつもりじゃなかったんだけど見た目は良いでしょ：）

After finishing typing up the blog I decided to take a picture of my Disaster Apple Pie:-)

ちょっと傾いてるけど、座ったまま寝てます：）
She is tilting a bit but still sitting up and sleeping:)

Fall Fun!!/秋行楽

Weekend blogger extraordinaire Daddy Klein back at your service...Today our church group trip to the Catskills was canceled due to the rain, but our branch of the phone tree must have fallen off because we didn't get the message so at 8am this morning we hit the road for the incredibly scenic drive up the Taconic Parkway to Fishkill Farms!! Funnily enough, last night we were kind of not looking forward to going due to the weather and how tired we were, but we woke up this morning feeling good and saw that the rain hadn't started so off we went.
週末編集者のデイブから報告...今日は教会の人達とフィッシュキルと言う所にある農場に行く予定だったんだけど天気が悪いせいで中止になってしまいました。でもその連絡がクライン家に届かなかったため朝８時に予定通り出発。色が変わり始めた紅葉を見ながら１時間半ぐらいドライブした後到着。

The best part of the day was truly the drive and that isn't because the rest of the day was so bad, it was just that the drive was that nice with the peak of fall foliage season hitting the area...at the farm we found out that all the pumpkins had been picked weeks ago and our favorite kinds of apples were already done picking as well, so I got a very delicious chocolate milk, a few Golden Delicious apples from the bin and we snapped a couple of pictures so we could prove to our church friends that we had actually made the trip :-)...
朝のうちはまだ雨もあんまり降ってなかったから風景を楽しみながらドライブ。農場では買うつもりだったハロウィーン用のかぼちゃが全部なくなっていたから林檎を５、６個買いました。教会の人達に見せる証拠の写真もちゃんと撮っておいたよ：）

After the brief stop at Fishkill Farms we headed back down the Taconic Parkway to Stew Leonards in Yonkers where all three of us thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Here there was no shortage of pumpkins as each family member got to choose one.
農場に立ち寄った後家に帰る途中にストゥレナードって言うお店に寄って楽しむ事に...ここではたくさんのかぼちゃが山盛り！一人１っ個ずつ買う事に。

On the way out Anna was going to take a picture of just Madison and I, but a nice lady swooped by and took the picture for us so we could all be in the picture just as it started to rain again. Madison and I boogied for the car as she began to get pelted with her first real raindrops and had the biggest grin on her face once we got her into the car...looks like we may have to play in the rain more often.
お店から出て駐車場に向かっている時に凄い大きなかぼちゃの前で写真をとる事に、アンナがマディソンと僕だけを撮ろうとしていたら通りかかったおばあさんが家族写真を撮ってくれるって言ったのでお願いする事に...もう少しで車に着く時にいきなり雨が降って来たから慌ててダッシュ！マディソンは嫌がるかと思ったら全然反対で大喜び：）変な子...今度から雨の降っている時に外に行かなきゃいけないのかな〜？

In the end, we were so happy we had gotten up and going on this rainy fall day instead of sleeping the whole thing away, which I am also very good at...crazily enough (I like making adjectives adverbs) the rain would stop while we visited each place today and then start pouring as we got in the car to leave...it was very nice of it to cooperate in that manner...thank you rain, we had a lovely time!!
結果的に天気は少し悪かったけど家で一日中ゴロゴロしてる(僕得意です!)より出かける事にして良かったです。しかも外に出ている時は雨が止んで車に乗る途端にいつも雨が降り始めるとクライン家の予定に合わせてくれた雨さん、どうもありがとう！！

マディソン、パパの学校へ行く/Going to school...

今日は、午前中にモールへ買い物に行ってその帰りに公園に寄りながらパパの学校までバスケの練習が始まる前にちょっと顔を出しに行く事にしました。３時に学校が終わる頃に到着。最近どんどんと表情が豊かになっているマディソンってどこに連れて行っても人気者！あの歯の無い大きな笑顔にみんなクラッて来ちゃうんだよね：）バスケの練習も見ていこうか迷ったんだけど結局一日中出回っていたから家に帰る事に...やっぱりちょっと疲れちゃったのかな今ぐっすりとお昼寝中：）じゃあ、夕ご飯の用意をしてきまーす！

We wanted to go see Daddy before his basketball practice started so we hung out at a nearby park until Daddy's school got out at 3:00pm. It's so fun to bring her to places because now she has her killer smile to give to people and as usual she did not disappoint us:-) She grabbed everyone's hearts with her famous toothless smiles:-) We almost stayed for the practice, but since we were out and about pretty much all day I thought it would be better to go home instead... Well, I'm glad we did because Madison is taking her much needed nap right now and I'm getting to write my blog and work on tonight's dinner!




いつもの必殺笑顔じゃないけど十分に可愛いマディソン...親バカです！
I didn't get to capture her killer smile, but it's pretty nonetheless...:-)

離乳食パート２/Solid Food Part2

今日は天気が良かったから外に出て買い物に行ってきました。まず、タ−ゲットに行ってぶらぶらとお店を一周。マディソンは着いた時からずっと起きてたんだけど、買い物してる間ちゃんといい子にしててくれたからとてもリラックスして歩き回る事ができました!!その後アメリカンアパレルって言うお店にハロウィーン用に８０年代の服を買いに行きました。蛍光のヘッドバンドとかいろいろ見つかって良かったー：）今は細かく言えないけどハロウィーンの後に載せる写真をお楽しみに！ちゃんとマディソンにも衣装を着せるからね：）家に着いた後マディソンはミルクを飲んだ後午後ずっとお昼寝してくれたから、ママはマディソンのアルバムを飾り付けたり食器を洗ったりといろいろはかどった午後でした。
このビデオは昨日のマディソンの離乳食を食べてる様子。今度はちゃんと電気をつけたからハッキリ見えてまーす！毎日食べる量が増えてるよ。いいのか分からないけど...

This morning I got to fit in a quick run on the treadmill while Madison was taking a nap upstairs so I hope we can make it into our routine:-) After Madison woke up we headed off to Target to just walk around the store and pick up a few things including the Transformers 2 DVD that just came out today. (We've missed so many good movies this summer because of our bundle of joy...:-) Madison fell asleep on the way up to the store, but woke up and stayed awake and happy the whole time we were there so it was actually very relaxing to go around the store! After Target we drove to American Apparel in search of our Halloween costume(something 80's) and found pretty much everything that we were looking for... We may have to go back to get another headband for Madison, but we are all set for Halloween:-) I can't go into detail about our costumes yet so you are just gonna have to wait for our post-Halloween blog! After we got home Madison got her milk and took a back to back nap in the afternoon so I got to do some dishes and work on Madison's scrap book, Yay! A truth about scrap booking... I do not like it! Being a Graphic Designer I'm used to using the "Ctrl + Z" button (undo) and playing with different colors, or patterns before I actually have to make final decisions so the idea of using glue, or tape to stick something on a piece of paper semi-permanently makes me kind of nervous, like I can not make any mistakes... And there are lots of spots where I wish I could redo, but it's actually turning out pretty good for my first attempt:-) I still won't call it my hobby or anything though... I'd much rather make my scrap book on the computer... All in all, a very productive day it was!

So we recorded another video of Madison eating solid food since the last ones came out a bit too dark... this time we remembered to turn the light on above her for a better lighting... Smart huh!? Anyways, she is really enjoying her food and will be trying some Oatmeal Cereal next...

Can you imagine it?/想像出来るかな？

一緒に載せる写真は無いんだけどマディソンが可愛い事をしてくれたので報告...　みんなも知ってる通りマディソンの離乳食が始まって今日で３日目。今日は終わった後もまだ欲しそうにしていたマディソン(明日からもう少し量を増やすつもり)。暖めて食べるつもりだったスープが一日外に置いといたら駄目になっちゃってたから、夕ご飯が少なかったパパとママはお腹が減っちゃってイングリッシュマフィンを焼いて食べてたんです。最初マディソンはじーっと見てたんだけど、なんだろ自分でも食べれると思ったのかな？いきなり手が伸びて一切れ掴もうと一生懸命！それがスゴーイ可愛かったんです：）写真もビデオも撮れなくてとても残念でした。想像だけで...：）

So today we don't have any pictures to show you but thought we would share something that we thought was really cute this evening... As you read Madison started her solid foods and today was her 3rd day to have some milky rice cereal which she did spectacular she could have eaten more of! Cool right!? A couple of hours after we had our dinner we got hungry since we had a tiny dinner(we weren't hungry... oh wait, no! the hearty-yummy soup that I was planning on heating up had gone bad since I left it on the stove all day:-( so Dave decided to make some toasted English Muffins with peanut butter and strawberry jam and we were eating them right in front of Madison. After watching us munch on them for about 5 minutes she must have thought she was ready for that kind of solid food and started to reach for one of the slices!! she was sitting up and stretching her arms so hard!! It was super cute and she came really close to grabbing one of them:-) We were sad that we didn't get to take a picture or to record a video of it! So...could you imagine it!?

離乳食の始まり!/Here comes the solid food!

今日の朝マディソンのお医者さんへ予防注射をしてもらいに行ったら先生から離乳食を始めて良いよって言われました！やったー！待ってました離乳食！この頃、夜ご飯パパとママが食べる時に一緒にテーブルに座っていい子にしていてくれるマディソン。何か食べれれば良いのにねーっとちょっとかわいそうだと思ってたんだよねー。今夜から一日一回離乳食始めまーす！日本で赤ちゃんに食べさせてる離乳食とこっちの離乳食って少し違うからどうしよう...今日はこっち流のお米のシリアル(粉)をママのミルクでとろとろに混ぜたもの：）最低４日間は同じ物を食べさせないといけないって言われたから１週間ごとに種類を変えていくつもり：）お医者さんからの帰り道にお米のシリアルとマディソン用の食べ物が熱すぎると色が変わるスプーンを買って準備完了！思った通り吐き出さずにちゃんと食べてくれました。ちょっと作りすぎちゃったからどのくらい食べたのは分からないけど一番最初の離乳食にしては上出来！

Today Madison had a doctor's appointment to get a PCV shot that she was behind on since they were out of it when she originally started a series of shots. So as of today she is officially caught up on all her shots! What a responsible girl we have:-) What is more exciting than catching up with all the shots? Well, Dr. Madi gave me an OK for starting solid food, YAY!! I've been buying Japanese baby magazines and collecting different solid food recipes so I was ready:-) Dr. Madi told me to start with Rice Cereal(American solid food butI am okay to start with this) so on our way back home we stopped at a grocery store and picked up an Organic Rice Cereal and J-walked over to Rite Aid and bought some spoons that change colors if the food is too hot!(Yeah so much for the being ready! I didn't even have spoons...)
Well, she did great!! I made way more than she needed so it was really hard to keep track of how much she was eating but she didn't spit up much and seems to be swallowing good:-)

離乳食パート１：
Solid Food Part 1:

離乳食パート２：
Solid Food Part 2:

ちゃんと食べれて誇らしげなマディソン：）
She is so proud to be eating solid food:)

雨のち曇りで寒ーいー!!/Cloud & Rain & VERY COLD!!

今日(木曜日)から４日間ぐらい天気がすごい悪い予定なのであんまり出かけられないと思うけど何かブログに書ける事を見つけられれば良いんだけど...　今、マディソンはお昼寝中でママはマディソンの横に座ってブログ中...　つまらない！下に行って運動したいけど今大家さんがヒーターを直しているから行けないし、やだなー...だから南の方に引っ越したくなっちゃうんだよね。こっちの秋と冬は大嫌いです。
Starting today(Thursday) we are supposed to get hit with very cold/rain kind of depressing weather so we won't be going outside much but I will try my best to report you with anything interesting Madison did... but until then you are going to have to enjoy my whining about this weather as I sit by napping Madison and blog... So boring! I could go downstairs and do some exercise but our land lord is down there fixing our heater so I have to wait until he is gone... You see! this is why we HATE fall & winter here! We are so moving to South!

もし同じような変な天気のある人へ...これで元気が出るかな？
Maybe this will brighten your day if you are having similar sad weather...

Story Time with Daddy／パパと本を読むの巻

夜パパに本を読んでもらうのが大好きなマディソン、特に床にゴロンとしてる時にパパが横に並んで読んでくれるのがお気に入りみたい...こういう瞬間が大好き！あとパパが家に帰って来ると大きな笑顔で迎えてあげるマディソンがとーっても可愛い！どんどん表情が豊かになって来てるこのごろです。
So Daddy has been reading Madison books in the evenings and she has been loving it especially when Daddy lays beside her on our living room floor and reads a book to her... I love, love, love this kind of Daddy-Daughter moment! Another thing that is so cute is that every day when Daddy gets home Madison gives him a huge smile and it is just amazing how she is becoming more and more expressive!

ちょっと待ってパパ！
Just a moment please Daddy!

Columbus Day Weekend/コロンバス連休

Originally we had planned to go to Virginia Beach for our three day weekend, but weather reports earlier in the week did not look kind, so we canceled and decided to utilize the activities of this little town we live in this weekend instead.
月曜日がコロンバスの休日だったから３連休を使ってヴァージニアビーチへ行く予定でいたんだけど天気予報を見たら雨のち曇りの変な天気...なので計画変更して家にいることに...

Saturday we decided on another daring drive into the city and were very pleased to find a parking spot down by Union Square. We first headed to Shake Shack where we enjoyed our usual (if you can have a usual after two times) and the sound test of the musical group that would be performing right after we left. Madison enjoyed sleeping through it.
土曜日に車に乗ってユニオンスクエアまで行ってきました。まず最初に行った先はシェイクシャックというハンバーガー屋さん。いつものシャックバーガーとポテトとイチゴのシェイクを食べながらバンドの練習を見たりと寝ていたマディソンに感謝！


After the Shake Shack we headed to Union Square where we enjoyed fighting the crowd at the Farmers Market to visit the fish guy, Anna bought some Pollack for dinner time and then upon arrival home typed Pollack into the Japanese translator, said something in Japanese and declared...ohhh...I don't like Pollack...it was funny...but she made a wonderful glaze and the fish was very delicious.
お昼の後はファーマーズマーケットのあるユニオンスクエアまで夕ご飯用の魚を買いに...せっかくポラックって言う魚を買ったのに家に帰って辞書で調べるとスケトウダラって出て来てがーっかり！杏奈タラ系の魚好きじゃないんだよね...でもクックパッドに載ってたソースをムニエルにしたタラにかけたら結構おいしくできてちょっとびっくり：）無駄にならなくてよかったー！

We were also happy to stay around this weekend because Sunday we had one of our favorite guest speakers at Church, Chuck Monan from Arkansas by way of Oklahoma Christian. After worship we headed to Jones Beach to enjoy lunch on the beach. We thought it was warm enough, but upon arrival we realized how windy it was and did not stay long. Thus the lack of photographic evidence.
旅行に行くのが中止になったおかげで日曜日に教会で特別に説教をしに来てくれた大学の時の知り合いを聞ける事ができました。教会の後はお昼を買ってジョーンズビーチへ。思ったより風が強くて寒かったから長くは居なかったんだけど良かったよ。

Today we put our Wildlife membership to use and visited the Bronx Zoo for the first time in a while. Having the membership also allowed us to visit all the exhibits that require a separate admission so we got to see a lot of new things such as the Butterfly Garden and the Congo.
今日はせっかく買ったメンバーシップを使ってブロンクス動物園に行ってみました。普通なら別にお金を払わないと入れない特別な動物も見れてよかったよー：）

It was also a fun time to visit because they had the place decked out for Halloween...we took this opportunity to pose by some hay. Madison is getting really good at smiling which is a lot of fun.
ハローウィーンが近いからかな？この日は衣装を着た子達が多くて聞いたら衣装を着て来ると無料で入れる日だったみたい：）秋の飾りの所で写真を何枚か撮りました。だんだんちゃんと笑えるようになって来たマディソン...：）

The Monkey House is always one of my favorite stops...
デイブのお気に入りのマンキーハウス...

Anna and I had to take turns walking through the Congo because strollers weren't allowed and Madison was sleeping so we didn't want to take her out...we actually both ended up taking pictures of the same gorilla...
マディソンが寝ちゃっていたからストローラーが入れない所はデイヴと交代で...いっぱい居たゴリラの中でまったく同じゴリラの写真を撮っちゃったママとパパ。

The African trail led us by some giraffes...we stopped and ate our lunch by some Zebras, but didn't take any pics of that.
アフリカの道を辿って行くとキリンが...その後まだマディソンが寝ててくれたからお昼を兼ねてベンチでシマウマを見ながら休憩：）

The butterfly garden was nice as well...especially since it was indoors and about 20 degrees warmer than outside.
チョウチョ園は外よりもすごい暖かかったからとても居心地がよかったー。

We will leave you with a few pics of the cutest mammal we saw all day...
今日見たかわいい哺乳類(マディソン)の写真を紹介...

First with her new pet snow leopard, Mei Mei...
まず最初にマディソンの新しい友達雪ヒョウのメイメイ...


Then smiling away...
笑顔...


And lastly being carried by daddy...
最後に、パパに抱えられてる...