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...