Madison met us with her usual 6am wake-up call, but this time we sprung into action as she went back to sleep after her feeding so at 7:30am we were on the road to the Woodbury Common Outlets, upstate about an hour away. Some of the stores had been open since 9pm Thanksgiving night so we weren't sure what kind of crowds we would be met with, but there were plenty of people who had slept in like us and were just beginning...some of the stores like Burberry and Coach had Disney World style lines wrapping around outside them with people just waiting to get in to spend money...other stores were quite empty...we hit all those stores first...then Anna decided she just had to wait in one of the Disney lines to have the Black Friday experience so she chose Coach while Madison and I did some shopping for Mommy since we seldom have alone time so it worked out quite well...all in all I think it took about an hour for Mommy to go from end of line through check-out register...she felt like it was well worth it and Madison actually slept the whole time so it was nice for me too.
マディソンがいつも通り朝の６時に起きた後、そのまま頑張って起きて７時半頃に１時間ぐらいは慣れた所にある一番大きいアウトレットのお店にお買い得なセールを求めて行って来ました。昨日の夜９時から開いてるせいもあって駐車場はほとんど満車で朝の８時半なのにアウトレットは人でいっぱい！やっぱりコーチとかバーバリーには結構長い列があったんだけどまず最初は混んでないお店を適当にぶらぶらと一周そしてその後は、やっぱりせっかく来たんだからとコーチの列に並ぶ事に...もちろん一人でだけどね...デイブと寝ていたマディソンはアンナ用のクリスマスプレゼントを求めて何処かに行っていたみたい：）可愛いバッグと折り畳み傘が見つかったから寒い中並んでよかったです。
On the way home from the outlets we swung by Stew Leonards because we really like that place and then arrived home around 2:30 when Madison and I took much needed naps and somehow Mommy stayed awake...after nap time we got to playing and while Madison's play mat was playing its jingle I just started to make a shooshing noise to it and Madison started to giggle, so we got a little bit on tape for your enjoyment.
アウトレットからの帰り道にステュウレナードのお店に寄って食料品の買い物をして家に着いたのは２時半頃...デイブとマディソンが一緒にお昼寝をしてくれている間に私はのんびりとできました。昼間お昼寝しちゃうと夜なかなか寝れなくなっちゃうんだよね...そしてお昼寝の後におもちゃの音楽に合わせてデイブが音を出していたらマディソンには面白かったらしく、いきなりキャハキャハって！だからビデオに撮ってみました：）
Family Picture
11.26.2009
Thanksgiving Spectacular! Spectacular!/凄い！凄い！サンクスギビング！
So nice, we named it twice! My break became an extra day when the Immigration Services decided that the day before Thanksgiving would be a nice time for people to take their citizenship test, so around 1:20pm Anna officially passed her citizenship test!! What we did not come close to passing was the paperwork test...that we have to try again on Jan. 27th...we have to provide bank statements and other documents from the past five years that prove we have been together...Anna also has to prove that she has paid off the two speeding tickets she got in Oklahoma from her hot rod days...that should be fun trying to track down. But the good news was she passed the test which she had studied pretty hard for the last month so I was quite proud of her... She had to get 6 out of 10 questions correct besides her writing and reading tests and fortunately she only had to answer 6 questions as below...
サンクスギビングの前の日にアンナのアメリカ国籍を取るテストがあったので仕事を休んで３人で行って来ました。午後１時２０分頃にテストに受かりました！でも、結婚している事を証明する書類が足りなかったため又約２ヶ月後にここに戻ってこなければいけなくなりました。とても面倒くさ〜い！しかも問題なのは大学にいた時にスピード違反で切符を払った証拠も提出しなきゃいけないって言われてしまいました。困った！オクラホマ州のどこの誰に聞けば良いんだろー！まあ一様一生懸命勉強したテストは受かったから良いんだけどね。筆記と読みのテストの他にアメリカの歴史のテストがあったんだけど、１０質問中６問答えれれば良くって、ラッキーな事に６問だけで終わりました...聞かれた質問はこの６っつ...
1. Who wrote the declaration of independence?
1.独立宣言を書いたのは誰ですか？
2. Name a state that borders Mexico.
2.メキシコに接する州の１つは何ですか？
3. Who is the chief of military?
3.軍の最高者は誰ですか？
4. What is the current president's political party?
4.今の大統領の政党は何ですか？
5. Name three of the 13 original colonies.
5.最初の１３植民地だった州の３っつは何ですか？
6. What are the two main political parties?
6.アメリカの主な政党の２つは何ですか？
She said the interviewer was really nice and wanted to her to pass because he could tell she studied hard so when she got too nervous and answered the first question George Washington, he gave her a second chance to remember that it's Thomas Jefferson:-)
面接をしてくれた人は凄い良い人で、緊張して一番最初の答えを間違えてジョージワシントンって言っちゃったのにも関わらず、ちゃんと勉強しただろうに緊張しているだけだから落ち着いてってもう一回答えさせてくれました。だからトーマスジェファーソンで正解：）
After coming out of the test we raced home from Long Island to greet our company of Robert, Holly, Carter and Grant who had just arrived from Connecticut. Once we got Madison fed we headed out to Manhattan for dinner at a restaurant that Anna and I looked up on Zagat and had received high ratings for its pizza...it turned out to be a super fancy restaurant where they re-fold your napkin when you get up to use the bathroom, so we were a little surprised by that, but it also had super yummy pizza. After dinner we headed up Columbus Ave the 20 blocks to where the Macy's balloon blow-up celebration was happening...we ended up taking the scenic route through Central Park and bypassed our intended target by ten blocks...there was no one in the park and we thought for a moment the rain had scared away the crowds, but when we actually got to the road where the balloons were there the crowds were also...so after about an hour of being herded down the streets of the Upper West Side we got to the balloons and were a little disappointed to see they were wrapped in mesh and laying on their side making them a bit depressing as they looked like caged balloons longing to be free...we passed Spongebob and Shrek, Kermit, Ronald and Spiderman and opted not to be herded down the other street to see the other half of balloons, but as it was pushing 9:30pm we decided to begin the long journey home as getting back to the East side was no small feat when the park was in the way...but with the help of a few trains we made it home with little fanfare.
面接が終わった後車に乗って急いで家に返るとちょうどロバートの家族もコネチカットから到着したみたい。マディソンにご飯をあげてマンハッタンに向けて出発。まず６時に予約を入れておいたイタリア料理のレストラントでおいしいピザのご飯を食べてから、明日の朝のパレードの準備をしている所に風船を見に行きました。こっちではこのパレードが毎年有名なんです。いろんなキャラの形の大きな風船とか音楽隊とかが７７丁目から３４丁目まで歩きながら３時間かけて降りて来るんだけど、それをテレビでみるのが伝統みたい。日本の新年の赤白歌合戦みたいなのかな〜？みんな観るもんね！セントラル公園で少し迷った後やっと到着、でも待っていたのは凄い混雑！１時間ほど揉み合いながらゆっくりと並んでいる風船の横を歩いて半分見た所でもう９時半近くになっちゃってたので家に帰る事に...マンハッタンの西側にいたから家に帰るまで時間がかかっちゃったけどようやく家に着いて速攻おやすみ！
The Wednesday excitement or should I say exhaustion, was enough to keep us from venturing into the city Thursday morning for the parade itself so we gladly watched it on TV with the 50 million other viewers...we were proud to convert Carter and Grant into parade watchers for the first time and it was fun to know the order of the balloons (at least the first half). Anna got busy in the kitchen as she attempted to follow her meticulously planned out schedule. She broke down the meal into its different components (salad, potatoes, rolls, turkey, etc) and knew exactly when each one was supposed to be started so that everything ended at exactly at the same time... It was pretty impressive and went decently close to schedule (although the turkey took a little longer to cook then planned). We enjoyed our relaxing Thanksgiving meal together and were overjoyed to hear Carter exclaim, as he downed his second helping of turkey, "This is the best Thanksgiving Meal ever!!" The fact that he is becoming less picky of course didn't hurt, but we will still take it...in your face Grandma and Grandpa :-)
昨日の混雑で懲りた為パレードには行かずに家で他の５０万人の人達と同じようにテレビで見る事に。そして今年は初めてカーターとグラントも興味を示して一緒にパレードを見ました...半分だったけど次に何が来るか分かったのが面白かったです。アンナは朝からご飯作りで大忙し...でもあらかじめ作っておいた品別予定表にしたがって、全部最後に一緒に作り終わるようにする事が出来ました。ちょっと七面鳥に時間がかかったけど何とか終了！味は自分で言うのもなんだけど上出来！しかもカーターがお代わりをしながらこれが今まで食べたサンクスギビングのご飯の中で一番!!って：）やった〜！前より全然好き嫌いがなくなったおかげかもしれないけどそれでもうれし！リンダお婆ちゃんとスティーブお爺ちゃん、羨ましいでしょ：）
Unfortunately, Robert has to work tomorrow so our company hit the road around 4pm and we hit the hay! We had dreams of going to midnight madness at one of the outlet malls like we did two years ago, but better judgment won out when we thought about how much it would throw off Madison's sleeping schedule, so we will be heading out at the boring regular time of 8am or so tomorrow...unless we change our mind...I guess you will have to read tomorrow and find out :-) Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving yourself wherever you might be and took time out to remember who is responsible for all the blessings in your life...the answer is God in case you were wondering :-)
残念ながらロバートが明日仕事に行かなきゃ行けない為、ご飯を食べた後コネチカットに帰る用意をすることに...こっちではサンクスギビングの次の日に特別にある安売りの買い物に行くのが有名なんだけど、やっぱりマディソンの事を考えると朝の１時に買い物に行って、マディソンの睡眠予定を崩さない方がいいからとしょうがなく明日の朝普通に買い物に行く事に決定...アンナもデイブも大人になったもんだ！
Here Madison is playing with her toy... We totally forgot about this toy sitting in the basement until Grant confessed to me right before he left that he was playing with Madison's toy... Thanks Grant!
これは、寝る前に座っておもちゃで遊んでいるマディソン...このおもちゃが下にあった事をすっかり忘れていました。グラントが思い出させてくれました。
サンクスギビングの前の日にアンナのアメリカ国籍を取るテストがあったので仕事を休んで３人で行って来ました。午後１時２０分頃にテストに受かりました！でも、結婚している事を証明する書類が足りなかったため又約２ヶ月後にここに戻ってこなければいけなくなりました。とても面倒くさ〜い！しかも問題なのは大学にいた時にスピード違反で切符を払った証拠も提出しなきゃいけないって言われてしまいました。困った！オクラホマ州のどこの誰に聞けば良いんだろー！まあ一様一生懸命勉強したテストは受かったから良いんだけどね。筆記と読みのテストの他にアメリカの歴史のテストがあったんだけど、１０質問中６問答えれれば良くって、ラッキーな事に６問だけで終わりました...聞かれた質問はこの６っつ...
1. Who wrote the declaration of independence?
1.独立宣言を書いたのは誰ですか？
2. Name a state that borders Mexico.
2.メキシコに接する州の１つは何ですか？
3. Who is the chief of military?
3.軍の最高者は誰ですか？
4. What is the current president's political party?
4.今の大統領の政党は何ですか？
5. Name three of the 13 original colonies.
5.最初の１３植民地だった州の３っつは何ですか？
6. What are the two main political parties?
6.アメリカの主な政党の２つは何ですか？
She said the interviewer was really nice and wanted to her to pass because he could tell she studied hard so when she got too nervous and answered the first question George Washington, he gave her a second chance to remember that it's Thomas Jefferson:-)
面接をしてくれた人は凄い良い人で、緊張して一番最初の答えを間違えてジョージワシントンって言っちゃったのにも関わらず、ちゃんと勉強しただろうに緊張しているだけだから落ち着いてってもう一回答えさせてくれました。だからトーマスジェファーソンで正解：）
After coming out of the test we raced home from Long Island to greet our company of Robert, Holly, Carter and Grant who had just arrived from Connecticut. Once we got Madison fed we headed out to Manhattan for dinner at a restaurant that Anna and I looked up on Zagat and had received high ratings for its pizza...it turned out to be a super fancy restaurant where they re-fold your napkin when you get up to use the bathroom, so we were a little surprised by that, but it also had super yummy pizza. After dinner we headed up Columbus Ave the 20 blocks to where the Macy's balloon blow-up celebration was happening...we ended up taking the scenic route through Central Park and bypassed our intended target by ten blocks...there was no one in the park and we thought for a moment the rain had scared away the crowds, but when we actually got to the road where the balloons were there the crowds were also...so after about an hour of being herded down the streets of the Upper West Side we got to the balloons and were a little disappointed to see they were wrapped in mesh and laying on their side making them a bit depressing as they looked like caged balloons longing to be free...we passed Spongebob and Shrek, Kermit, Ronald and Spiderman and opted not to be herded down the other street to see the other half of balloons, but as it was pushing 9:30pm we decided to begin the long journey home as getting back to the East side was no small feat when the park was in the way...but with the help of a few trains we made it home with little fanfare.
面接が終わった後車に乗って急いで家に返るとちょうどロバートの家族もコネチカットから到着したみたい。マディソンにご飯をあげてマンハッタンに向けて出発。まず６時に予約を入れておいたイタリア料理のレストラントでおいしいピザのご飯を食べてから、明日の朝のパレードの準備をしている所に風船を見に行きました。こっちではこのパレードが毎年有名なんです。いろんなキャラの形の大きな風船とか音楽隊とかが７７丁目から３４丁目まで歩きながら３時間かけて降りて来るんだけど、それをテレビでみるのが伝統みたい。日本の新年の赤白歌合戦みたいなのかな〜？みんな観るもんね！セントラル公園で少し迷った後やっと到着、でも待っていたのは凄い混雑！１時間ほど揉み合いながらゆっくりと並んでいる風船の横を歩いて半分見た所でもう９時半近くになっちゃってたので家に帰る事に...マンハッタンの西側にいたから家に帰るまで時間がかかっちゃったけどようやく家に着いて速攻おやすみ！
The Wednesday excitement or should I say exhaustion, was enough to keep us from venturing into the city Thursday morning for the parade itself so we gladly watched it on TV with the 50 million other viewers...we were proud to convert Carter and Grant into parade watchers for the first time and it was fun to know the order of the balloons (at least the first half). Anna got busy in the kitchen as she attempted to follow her meticulously planned out schedule. She broke down the meal into its different components (salad, potatoes, rolls, turkey, etc) and knew exactly when each one was supposed to be started so that everything ended at exactly at the same time... It was pretty impressive and went decently close to schedule (although the turkey took a little longer to cook then planned). We enjoyed our relaxing Thanksgiving meal together and were overjoyed to hear Carter exclaim, as he downed his second helping of turkey, "This is the best Thanksgiving Meal ever!!" The fact that he is becoming less picky of course didn't hurt, but we will still take it...in your face Grandma and Grandpa :-)昨日の混雑で懲りた為パレードには行かずに家で他の５０万人の人達と同じようにテレビで見る事に。そして今年は初めてカーターとグラントも興味を示して一緒にパレードを見ました...半分だったけど次に何が来るか分かったのが面白かったです。アンナは朝からご飯作りで大忙し...でもあらかじめ作っておいた品別予定表にしたがって、全部最後に一緒に作り終わるようにする事が出来ました。ちょっと七面鳥に時間がかかったけど何とか終了！味は自分で言うのもなんだけど上出来！しかもカーターがお代わりをしながらこれが今まで食べたサンクスギビングのご飯の中で一番!!って：）やった〜！前より全然好き嫌いがなくなったおかげかもしれないけどそれでもうれし！リンダお婆ちゃんとスティーブお爺ちゃん、羨ましいでしょ：）
Unfortunately, Robert has to work tomorrow so our company hit the road around 4pm and we hit the hay! We had dreams of going to midnight madness at one of the outlet malls like we did two years ago, but better judgment won out when we thought about how much it would throw off Madison's sleeping schedule, so we will be heading out at the boring regular time of 8am or so tomorrow...unless we change our mind...I guess you will have to read tomorrow and find out :-) Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving yourself wherever you might be and took time out to remember who is responsible for all the blessings in your life...the answer is God in case you were wondering :-)残念ながらロバートが明日仕事に行かなきゃ行けない為、ご飯を食べた後コネチカットに帰る用意をすることに...こっちではサンクスギビングの次の日に特別にある安売りの買い物に行くのが有名なんだけど、やっぱりマディソンの事を考えると朝の１時に買い物に行って、マディソンの睡眠予定を崩さない方がいいからとしょうがなく明日の朝普通に買い物に行く事に決定...アンナもデイブも大人になったもんだ！
Here Madison is playing with her toy... We totally forgot about this toy sitting in the basement until Grant confessed to me right before he left that he was playing with Madison's toy... Thanks Grant!
これは、寝る前に座っておもちゃで遊んでいるマディソン...このおもちゃが下にあった事をすっかり忘れていました。グラントが思い出させてくれました。
11.21.2009
アウトレットでクリスマスのお買い物.../Xmas Shopping at the outlet...
土曜日の朝週末にしては早起きしてリバーヘッドアウトレットにクリスマスのお買い物をしに行って来ました。週末だしクリスマス近いしとても混んでるだろーなーと思っていたら全然ガラガラでびっくり！結果的に家族の何人かの買い物を終える事が出来ました。一つ勘違いしていた事はここにクレイト＆ベレルって言う台所用の雑貨屋みたいのがあると思っていたから、今日結婚する予定のデイブのいとこへギフトカードを買って行こうと思っていたら違うお店だった事...ケータイで近くにお店があるか調べたけどな〜い！！結局、写真立てを買ってその中にお札を折り紙みたいに折って挟みました。本当はハートの形に折りたかったんだけど思い出せなかったから変な三角形とロケットみたいな形... 2人の想像力に任せます：）
Saturday morning we got up early(for our regular weekend wake up time...) and headed to Riverhead Outlet for some Xmas shopping. We were expecting a crowded parking lot but were very surprised to not have to fight with crowds so bad for the outlet, but good for us:-) We did good, we can't give you the details but we got to finish getting gifts for some of the family members. One mistake was that I thought this outlet was the one with Crate & Barrel so we were planning on buying a gift card for Michael(Dave's cousin who got married today), but it turned out to be William Sonoma and we couldn't find a store near by enough on my Iphone, not cool! We ended up buying a picture frame and writing a message on the back of the fake picture that always comes with a frame and I tried to make Origami hearts to include as a gift, but I couldn't remember how to make them so in the end one looked like some kind of a triangle and the other was a rocket like object... well we will let the bride and the groom figure them out.
アウトレットの後にデイブの親戚の人達のいるホテルへ顔を出しがてら行って披露宴の時間までのんびりしている伯父さん、伯母さん達に会ってきました。６時半頃に家に向かってホテルから出発したんだけど、本当は３０分で着くはずが事故でもあった訳じゃないのに超渋滞で１時間半かかってしまい大変でした。
After the outlets (yes plural...two different parts of Long Island) we met up with Dave's extended family at the hotel before they went to the reception part of the wedding so we could drop off our gift and they could play with Madison a bit...we left the hotel at about 6:30pm and were looking forward to our 30 minute drive home, but the Long Island Expressway (expressway...don't make me laugh) had some other ideas...we actually hit the worst non-accident traffic we have ever hit in our six years of city living...it took us an hour and a half to get home and for the life of us we couldn't figure out why everyone was going towards the city at that hour on a Saturday.
今日、デイブの両親と教会で待ち合わせをしてブルックリンにあるファダっていうフランス料理のレストラントでお昼を一緒に食べました。リンダお婆ちゃんの鞄で遊んでいるマディソンとスティーブお爺ちゃん。
Today Dave's parents came to worship with us and then we went into Williamsburg, Brooklyn for a late lunch at Fada, a French Restaurant with a very yummy menu. Here grandpa is holding Madison while she plays with Grandma's purse.
Saturday morning we got up early(for our regular weekend wake up time...) and headed to Riverhead Outlet for some Xmas shopping. We were expecting a crowded parking lot but were very surprised to not have to fight with crowds so bad for the outlet, but good for us:-) We did good, we can't give you the details but we got to finish getting gifts for some of the family members. One mistake was that I thought this outlet was the one with Crate & Barrel so we were planning on buying a gift card for Michael(Dave's cousin who got married today), but it turned out to be William Sonoma and we couldn't find a store near by enough on my Iphone, not cool! We ended up buying a picture frame and writing a message on the back of the fake picture that always comes with a frame and I tried to make Origami hearts to include as a gift, but I couldn't remember how to make them so in the end one looked like some kind of a triangle and the other was a rocket like object... well we will let the bride and the groom figure them out.
アウトレットの後にデイブの親戚の人達のいるホテルへ顔を出しがてら行って披露宴の時間までのんびりしている伯父さん、伯母さん達に会ってきました。６時半頃に家に向かってホテルから出発したんだけど、本当は３０分で着くはずが事故でもあった訳じゃないのに超渋滞で１時間半かかってしまい大変でした。
After the outlets (yes plural...two different parts of Long Island) we met up with Dave's extended family at the hotel before they went to the reception part of the wedding so we could drop off our gift and they could play with Madison a bit...we left the hotel at about 6:30pm and were looking forward to our 30 minute drive home, but the Long Island Expressway (expressway...don't make me laugh) had some other ideas...we actually hit the worst non-accident traffic we have ever hit in our six years of city living...it took us an hour and a half to get home and for the life of us we couldn't figure out why everyone was going towards the city at that hour on a Saturday.
今日、デイブの両親と教会で待ち合わせをしてブルックリンにあるファダっていうフランス料理のレストラントでお昼を一緒に食べました。リンダお婆ちゃんの鞄で遊んでいるマディソンとスティーブお爺ちゃん。
Today Dave's parents came to worship with us and then we went into Williamsburg, Brooklyn for a late lunch at Fada, a French Restaurant with a very yummy menu. Here grandpa is holding Madison while she plays with Grandma's purse.
11.20.2009
大変な金曜日!!/Crazy Friday!!
どこから話したら良いかなー？今朝、来週のサンクスギビング用の材料を買い物に行こうと車に向かって出発して昨日デイブが車を止めた所に行ったら、何と前 にあるはずのバンパープレートが無くなっちゃってるー！！うっそーっ！と思いながら後ろを見たら後ろのはちゃんと残っていたからちょっと一安心したんだけ どどうすれば分からなくてちょっとパニック：( そのまま買い物に行って後でデイブに何とかして貰った方が良いのか、１１０番するべきか、でも事故に遭っ た訳じゃないし...は〜っ、デイブが居てくれたら良かったのに...：( 何が起こっているのか分かってないマディソンの笑顔のおかげで何とか落ち着い て次の何をするべきか考えました。まずちょっと前に家の前にたまたま通りがかっていた警察官の人に聞いてみようと行ったら、当然もう居なくなっちゃってい たから丁度角を曲がってこっちに向かっていたパトカーに止まってもらって事情を説明して質問する事に成功。１１０番は市内で警察署に盗難届けを出しに行っ てその後新しいバンパープレートを取りに行かなきゃいけないんだって。当然運転して行かなきゃいけないから、バンパープレートに気づいた警察官に止められ るかもって少し心配しながら１０分ぐらい離れてる１０８警察署に行って届け出を出すことに。やっぱり何でもデイブを頼りにしてちゃいけないもんね。もちろ んニューヨークは駐車場が無いからミーターの所で駐車して４０分以内に全部終わる事を願いながら到着。盗難係のおばさん達はいい人達で良かったけどやっぱ り警察署っ緊張しちゃいました。何も悪い事した訳じゃないんだけど何でだろ！？あと何でか知らないけど踊る大捜査線みたいな警察署を想像していたから全然 違ってちょっと残念！結構汚かったよ：）レシートみたいな紙を違う所にある免許取る所に持って行って新しいバンパープレートを貰わなきゃ行けないんだけ ど、何と午後にデイブのバスケの校外戦のある学校の近くという事が判明。よかったー！
Okay, so where do I start!? This morning I felt like being productive so I made a list of things I need from Stop & Shop for our Thanksgiving feast and headed to the car with Madison in on my hip... Dave took our car yesterday to school so he told me where the car was parked which was around the corner from our place. I'm glad we walked up to our car from the other side of the street because as we were crossing the street I spotted an empty front end of our car and realized that our license plate was missing!! Gone!!
I got a little queasy in my stomach as I always do when I hear bad news, or when I know something bad happened... And this morning I was glad that our car windows are intact that nobody broke in and as we walked to the back our back license plate was still there... I felt a bit relieved but then I started to get panicky about what to do next... Do I still go to Stop & Shop and worry about this later? but what about driving with a missing license plate? Don't I get a ticket for that? Do I call a police and file a report? I've never called 911 before on purpose!! Grrr!!! I'm nervous!! What do I do!!! Dave, help me!!! I wish he were here, he knows exactly what to do with these situations!! I should mention that Dave is the most calm person that I know... Why do I know this? That's because we've been in two really serious car accidents in the past together and although we were never injured from either accidents our cars had been totally smashed and totaled and while I ran around in super-panicky mode Dave would be taking care of everything without sweating a bit and you know he usually sweats by just breathing right!? So my panicking lasted about 5 minutes as I sat next to Madison who had no idea of the situation and was smiling at me... I think she calmed me down so I told myself, Okay I should not drive to the store, but not sure if I should just call 911 because no body died... Oh I should ask an officer who was writing tickets to cars that were parked on Friday side and didn't get moved... So we did, after calling Dave and leaving a message that everything is okay except our license plate, we walked back to basically our place and looked around for an officer but he was already gone so we stood on the corner and thought about our next move then I spotted flashing lights of a police car so I flagged her like I was flagging a taxi and thankfully she pulled over for me. I explained to her that seems like one of my license plate got stolen and didn't how to go about it. She told me that I need to go to 108 Precinct to file a report then take some kind of a paper to DMV... Yes, I will get a ticket by driving a car with only one license plate but how else would I get there!? and No, don't call 911 because no body was killed or injured. Thinking back she could have shown a little more sympathy but at that time I was too desperate for some kind of guidance I didn't care. So we drove about 10 minutes to 108 Precinct and parked at a meter(hoping this whole thing will be done in 40 minutes) and got a little lost but finally arrived at their door step. I know Madison or I did nothing wrong but very much nervous going in... We waited for our turn and sat down to file a theft report. I forgot to bring the registration card along so had to go back to the car to get it but everything got done in about 35 minutes or so and turned out that the DMV place that they told me to go to sounded really close to where we need to be this afternoon to go see Dave's away basketball game so we will just have to make one extra stop, Yay:-)
１０時間後...
10 hours later...
違う建物の所に着いたのは良いんだけど、受付の人に盗まれなかったもう一つのバンパーがないと新しいのがあげられないって追い返されてしまい、駐車場に戻って自分で取れるか試したけど鉄が錆びてるしドライバーもないし自分一人では取れなくてもうヤダー！！！：( しかも、駐車場を出る時お金払わなきゃいけないんだけど、今日はデイブに買ってもらって小さいバッグを持って来たからクレジットカードと免許証だけで小銭は一銭も無しの状態。悪い予感通りクレジットカードは駄目って言われて大焦り！何とか車の小銭入れに入ってるので足りたけど一時はどうなるかと思っちゃいました...せっかく今日中に決着がつくと思っていたのにガーッカリ：(
Well, the afternoon did not go as well as I had hoped... Getting to the DMV was good but turned out it's one of those that is connected to the mall complex so I had to pay to park and after standing in line to get what I thought would be a number ticket the guy told me that I was supposed to bring the other license plate still on the car in order to get the new one, and I explained that I didn't have a screw driver to which the guy replied that I should have gotten some help so I walked back to the car and asked the booth agent if he had a screwdriver I could borrow and then I walked up to a tow truck that was outside and he said he only had a philipshead and I needed a flathead...so boo! So I went back to the car and tried to MacGuyver the thing...First I tried using the jumper cables I found in the car but the nails were too small and wouldn't grab the rusty screws...then I realized I needed something flat that would fit right in and twist so I tried a quarter...too big...I tried a penny, but did not possess the necessary finger muscle to turn that thing and finally gave up...I guess all the time I was playing with the penny made the time pass more than a half hour...so when I pulled up to the booth to leave the agent told me $3.00 and I got out my credit card and he declared "cash only" and I just had to laugh because everything was going wrong...so thankfully the car behind me was patient as I picked dimes and nickels out of anyplace I could find them and the agent must have felt bad for me because he lowered the price to $2.00 and I was able to locate the necessary amount and off we went with a completely happy Madison...then while driving toward Target to kill some time, Madison started screaming, but I needed gas and I had never put gas in this car before, so at the gas station I kept looking for the handle to pop the gas tank only to find out it didn't exist in this car and all you have to do is pull open the tank...talk about easy to steal gas...after getting gas I pulled into our Church building parking lot which was kind of like a half-way point and I changed Madison in the back seat and we headed off to Target a little later than planned...and it was the most relaxing Target trip ever...
デイブのチームとの待ち合わせの時間までまだちょっとあったからターゲットでぶらぶらしながら買い物をした後、学校に向かってちょうど試合が始まる寸前にパパに顔を見せる事が出来ました：）結果的には負けてしまったけど同点延長まで行ったから良いゲームだったよー。
Then we headed to the school that Daddy's team was playing in basketball that night and got to say hi to him just before the game so that cheered us up. The gym was really nice, but the fans had to stand in a type of balcony seating and look down on the floor so I pouched Madison and a nice guy gave me a seat...the game was very exciting, Dave's team lost in overtime 76-73.
このビデオは昨日撮ったのなんだけど大変な事ばかり起こった日には丁度良い可愛いビデオで、この日の締めくくり：）
Lastly I wanted to leave you with a video I took yesterday of Madison and Coco to bring a little cheer to my dreary day!!
P.S. Madison is a good girl :-)
Okay, so where do I start!? This morning I felt like being productive so I made a list of things I need from Stop & Shop for our Thanksgiving feast and headed to the car with Madison in on my hip... Dave took our car yesterday to school so he told me where the car was parked which was around the corner from our place. I'm glad we walked up to our car from the other side of the street because as we were crossing the street I spotted an empty front end of our car and realized that our license plate was missing!! Gone!!
I got a little queasy in my stomach as I always do when I hear bad news, or when I know something bad happened... And this morning I was glad that our car windows are intact that nobody broke in and as we walked to the back our back license plate was still there... I felt a bit relieved but then I started to get panicky about what to do next... Do I still go to Stop & Shop and worry about this later? but what about driving with a missing license plate? Don't I get a ticket for that? Do I call a police and file a report? I've never called 911 before on purpose!! Grrr!!! I'm nervous!! What do I do!!! Dave, help me!!! I wish he were here, he knows exactly what to do with these situations!! I should mention that Dave is the most calm person that I know... Why do I know this? That's because we've been in two really serious car accidents in the past together and although we were never injured from either accidents our cars had been totally smashed and totaled and while I ran around in super-panicky mode Dave would be taking care of everything without sweating a bit and you know he usually sweats by just breathing right!? So my panicking lasted about 5 minutes as I sat next to Madison who had no idea of the situation and was smiling at me... I think she calmed me down so I told myself, Okay I should not drive to the store, but not sure if I should just call 911 because no body died... Oh I should ask an officer who was writing tickets to cars that were parked on Friday side and didn't get moved... So we did, after calling Dave and leaving a message that everything is okay except our license plate, we walked back to basically our place and looked around for an officer but he was already gone so we stood on the corner and thought about our next move then I spotted flashing lights of a police car so I flagged her like I was flagging a taxi and thankfully she pulled over for me. I explained to her that seems like one of my license plate got stolen and didn't how to go about it. She told me that I need to go to 108 Precinct to file a report then take some kind of a paper to DMV... Yes, I will get a ticket by driving a car with only one license plate but how else would I get there!? and No, don't call 911 because no body was killed or injured. Thinking back she could have shown a little more sympathy but at that time I was too desperate for some kind of guidance I didn't care. So we drove about 10 minutes to 108 Precinct and parked at a meter(hoping this whole thing will be done in 40 minutes) and got a little lost but finally arrived at their door step. I know Madison or I did nothing wrong but very much nervous going in... We waited for our turn and sat down to file a theft report. I forgot to bring the registration card along so had to go back to the car to get it but everything got done in about 35 minutes or so and turned out that the DMV place that they told me to go to sounded really close to where we need to be this afternoon to go see Dave's away basketball game so we will just have to make one extra stop, Yay:-)１０時間後...
10 hours later...
違う建物の所に着いたのは良いんだけど、受付の人に盗まれなかったもう一つのバンパーがないと新しいのがあげられないって追い返されてしまい、駐車場に戻って自分で取れるか試したけど鉄が錆びてるしドライバーもないし自分一人では取れなくてもうヤダー！！！：( しかも、駐車場を出る時お金払わなきゃいけないんだけど、今日はデイブに買ってもらって小さいバッグを持って来たからクレジットカードと免許証だけで小銭は一銭も無しの状態。悪い予感通りクレジットカードは駄目って言われて大焦り！何とか車の小銭入れに入ってるので足りたけど一時はどうなるかと思っちゃいました...せっかく今日中に決着がつくと思っていたのにガーッカリ：(
Well, the afternoon did not go as well as I had hoped... Getting to the DMV was good but turned out it's one of those that is connected to the mall complex so I had to pay to park and after standing in line to get what I thought would be a number ticket the guy told me that I was supposed to bring the other license plate still on the car in order to get the new one, and I explained that I didn't have a screw driver to which the guy replied that I should have gotten some help so I walked back to the car and asked the booth agent if he had a screwdriver I could borrow and then I walked up to a tow truck that was outside and he said he only had a philipshead and I needed a flathead...so boo! So I went back to the car and tried to MacGuyver the thing...First I tried using the jumper cables I found in the car but the nails were too small and wouldn't grab the rusty screws...then I realized I needed something flat that would fit right in and twist so I tried a quarter...too big...I tried a penny, but did not possess the necessary finger muscle to turn that thing and finally gave up...I guess all the time I was playing with the penny made the time pass more than a half hour...so when I pulled up to the booth to leave the agent told me $3.00 and I got out my credit card and he declared "cash only" and I just had to laugh because everything was going wrong...so thankfully the car behind me was patient as I picked dimes and nickels out of anyplace I could find them and the agent must have felt bad for me because he lowered the price to $2.00 and I was able to locate the necessary amount and off we went with a completely happy Madison...then while driving toward Target to kill some time, Madison started screaming, but I needed gas and I had never put gas in this car before, so at the gas station I kept looking for the handle to pop the gas tank only to find out it didn't exist in this car and all you have to do is pull open the tank...talk about easy to steal gas...after getting gas I pulled into our Church building parking lot which was kind of like a half-way point and I changed Madison in the back seat and we headed off to Target a little later than planned...and it was the most relaxing Target trip ever...
デイブのチームとの待ち合わせの時間までまだちょっとあったからターゲットでぶらぶらしながら買い物をした後、学校に向かってちょうど試合が始まる寸前にパパに顔を見せる事が出来ました：）結果的には負けてしまったけど同点延長まで行ったから良いゲームだったよー。
Then we headed to the school that Daddy's team was playing in basketball that night and got to say hi to him just before the game so that cheered us up. The gym was really nice, but the fans had to stand in a type of balcony seating and look down on the floor so I pouched Madison and a nice guy gave me a seat...the game was very exciting, Dave's team lost in overtime 76-73.
このビデオは昨日撮ったのなんだけど大変な事ばかり起こった日には丁度良い可愛いビデオで、この日の締めくくり：）
Lastly I wanted to leave you with a video I took yesterday of Madison and Coco to bring a little cheer to my dreary day!!
P.S. Madison is a good girl :-)
11.17.2009
６ヶ月半検診.../6 1/2 Months Check Up...
今日、マディソンの６ヶ月半検診がありました。６ヶ月半？６ヶ月じゃないの？何でかと言うと、一番初めて予防注射を始めた時が２ヶ月の誕生日からだったんだけど、その予防注射の１種類が丁度お医者さんの所で切れててやっとその予防注射が受けれたのはそれから１ヶ月半後...そして一回予防注射を受けた後は最低４週間、間を空けていなきゃいけない為それから全部の検診が約２週間ずつ送れる事になってしまったのです。でもそのおかげでお母さんがこっちに居た時にお医者さんに一緒に行けたんだけどね：）５ヶ月半の検診の時にお医者さんが次ぎに来る時に新型インフルエンザの予防注射をしてあげるって言ってたんだけど、ニュースとかだとその予防注射の悪い噂ばかりで、近所の学校で変な反応が出て病院に行かなきゃ行けなくなったて言う事を聞いてとても心配になりました。昨日の夜もデイブとどうしようかーって話し合ったあげく今日の朝予防注射の事に詳しいアリソン(生物学者)に電話をしてみる事に...やっぱり当たり前だけどニュースって悪い事しか言わない事が多いしそんなに心配する必要は無いって、今アリソンの家族が住んでいる所には新型インフルエンザの予防注射が切れてて無いんだけど、リリーにあげる為に毎日お医者さんに電話をして入ったか聞いているみたい...結果的にもしまたお医者さんが勧めたら射って貰おうと思っていたらやっぱりこっちでも全部無くなっちゃったみたい！なので予定通りに６ヶ月の予防注射と普通のインフルエンザの注射を貰って来ました。マディソンはすくすくと絶好調で育っているから何も心配する事はないって！しかも待合室に居る時に、早速男の子に気に入られてじーっと見つめられていたから女の子だからよけい保護心の強いパパが来ていなくて良かったよー。お父さん、デイブの気持ちがわかるでしょ？家に着いた後ソファに横たわって疲れてっぽいマディソンの写真を撮りました。あんまり昨日の買い物後の写真と変わらないけどね：）
Today Madison had her 6 1/2 months check up at 10:20am... Why 6 1/2 and not 6? It's because when Madison started her series of shots at 2 months of age her doctor was out of one of her shots which is something to do with blood born disease and if you've been keeping up with Madison's blog from the beginning you remember that Dave mentioned it back when this originally occurred... Anyways so Dave had to keep calling the office to see if they have gotten it in for a while and we ended up waiting for 1 1/2 months and we have to have at least 4 weeks between shots so from then on all her appointments became about 2 weeks behind...
So today as we were walking to the doctor's office I made a call to Aunt Alyson the Biologist/Pro-Vaccine-ist to see what her opinion is about H1N1 Vaccine as Dave and I discussed last night. At Madison's last check up her doctor told me that she can get H1N1 vaccine at her next check up but we were scared of what we hear about H1N1 on the news and of course only bad news travels and spreads over the news so when one school in Woodside, NY had a bunch of kids taken to emergency room because they had really bad reactions to the live H1N1 vaccines that really freaked me out... I was comforted by what Alyson had to say and was planning on discussing with Madison's doctor once we were there and to get it if she offers it again, well they were out of it so Madison got her regular shots plus half dose of regular flu shot and will be coming back in a month to get another half dose of regular shot and possibly the H1N1 vaccine... I'll keep you posted! ANYHOW, everything checked out great and she is growing nicely:-) She is already attracting the attention of older men as a 5 year old boy wouldn't leave her stroller side in the waiting room so I was glad her protective Daddy wasn't there to shoo the boy away!
As soon as we got home I took a picture of chilling Madison laying on the couch, she managed to give me her cutie smile! Such a good girl... Very cute and relaxing and not much different from yesterday's post shopping picture though...:-) Oh speaking of yesterday, When we were in a cab Madison was snoozing but I was watching the news and they were talking about Black Friday coming up and mentioned a few sites that are helpful for bargain hunters out there so enjoy! It's http://blackfriday.info Sorry I can only remember one site but hey it's a pretty informative site about all the Black Friday deals!
Today Madison had her 6 1/2 months check up at 10:20am... Why 6 1/2 and not 6? It's because when Madison started her series of shots at 2 months of age her doctor was out of one of her shots which is something to do with blood born disease and if you've been keeping up with Madison's blog from the beginning you remember that Dave mentioned it back when this originally occurred... Anyways so Dave had to keep calling the office to see if they have gotten it in for a while and we ended up waiting for 1 1/2 months and we have to have at least 4 weeks between shots so from then on all her appointments became about 2 weeks behind...
So today as we were walking to the doctor's office I made a call to Aunt Alyson the Biologist/Pro-Vaccine-ist to see what her opinion is about H1N1 Vaccine as Dave and I discussed last night. At Madison's last check up her doctor told me that she can get H1N1 vaccine at her next check up but we were scared of what we hear about H1N1 on the news and of course only bad news travels and spreads over the news so when one school in Woodside, NY had a bunch of kids taken to emergency room because they had really bad reactions to the live H1N1 vaccines that really freaked me out... I was comforted by what Alyson had to say and was planning on discussing with Madison's doctor once we were there and to get it if she offers it again, well they were out of it so Madison got her regular shots plus half dose of regular flu shot and will be coming back in a month to get another half dose of regular shot and possibly the H1N1 vaccine... I'll keep you posted! ANYHOW, everything checked out great and she is growing nicely:-) She is already attracting the attention of older men as a 5 year old boy wouldn't leave her stroller side in the waiting room so I was glad her protective Daddy wasn't there to shoo the boy away!
As soon as we got home I took a picture of chilling Madison laying on the couch, she managed to give me her cutie smile! Such a good girl... Very cute and relaxing and not much different from yesterday's post shopping picture though...:-) Oh speaking of yesterday, When we were in a cab Madison was snoozing but I was watching the news and they were talking about Black Friday coming up and mentioned a few sites that are helpful for bargain hunters out there so enjoy! It's http://blackfriday.info Sorry I can only remember one site but hey it's a pretty informative site about all the Black Friday deals!
11.16.2009
５番街を歩いて.../Walking up on 5th Ave...
週末にちょっと風邪気味だったマディソンだけど昨日の夜やっと夜泣きせず寝れて鼻水も止まったみたい...そして今日は天気が良さそうだったからマンハッタン迄行って５番街を歩きながらクリスマスショッピングをして来ました。行く時にタクシーに乗ったら渋滞に巻き込まれちゃってちょっと時間がかかっちゃったけど無事にコーチのお店に到着。デイブからの誕生日プレゼント(小さいヒョウ柄のバッグ)を選んでおまけのもう一つ定期入れみたいなクレジットカードが入る紫色のも...ありがとデイブ：）その後はせっかく３割引のクーポンがあったからジューシーのお店に行ってうろうろしたんだけど結局何も見つかりませんでした：(そしてギャップのお店で授乳休憩をしながらマディソン用に何か可愛い服が入っているか見た後、ディズニーのお店にも寄って河西家用のクリスマスプレゼントを探しました。何を買ったかはそっちに届いてからのお楽しみ！その後はせんトラル公園の動物園に寄って丁度始まったベンギンの餌付けを観る事が出来ました！マディソンも可愛いペンギン達がとても気に入ったみたい...また来なきゃ！
This weekend Madison got a bit of a cold, runny nose and a bit of fever and sweating so none of us got to sleep well and just fyi I was feeling the similar symptoms as Madison so even though we made it to the Church building on Sunday morning we had to turn around and go home when Madison was soaking wet from sweating so much in her car seat... Anyways, she slept through the night last night and was looking good this morning so I decided to go do some Xmas shopping on 5th ave today. I decided to take a cab as it's very easy to catch one right outside of our duplex. Our first stop was at Pret A Manger to get an iced coffee to drink while shopping and a sandwich to eat later... Then we walked over to Coach on 57th and got to pick out my birthday gifts from my sweet husband. Our next stop was at Juicy Couture store since I had 30% off total purchase coupon I was hoping to find something for my sister Asuka but couldn't decide on one thing so let's see if I can make up my mind by the 18th which is the last day for 30% off. We quickly stopped at Gap for nursing Madison and got to help a grand-ma who was buying a gift for her grand daughter who will be turning 1 in May and not sure of what size to get . After that we were off to the World of Disney store to find something for my other sister Sayaka's family who are huge Disney fans. I got something, but not enough so I will probably have to take another trip before Xmas, but I found my nephew a really cute pair of pajamas with an "I (mickey heart) NY" logo. Madison fell asleep while at the Disney Store so we walked over to the Central Park Zoo as planned and when we got there it was 2:31 and I noticed they were feeding the penguins at 2:30 so we raced straight to the building, but Madison was sleeping so after watching for a little while I decided to go outside and eat my sandwich and then when Madison woke up we went back in to see the penguins, who were still being fed, and Madison really enjoyed it. I had planned on walking over to Whole Foods for some Vegan chocolate chip cookies, but it was getting a little chilly so we headed for the subway to go home and rest after our fun-filled shopping day.
Coco was worn out just hearing about the day.
This weekend Madison got a bit of a cold, runny nose and a bit of fever and sweating so none of us got to sleep well and just fyi I was feeling the similar symptoms as Madison so even though we made it to the Church building on Sunday morning we had to turn around and go home when Madison was soaking wet from sweating so much in her car seat... Anyways, she slept through the night last night and was looking good this morning so I decided to go do some Xmas shopping on 5th ave today. I decided to take a cab as it's very easy to catch one right outside of our duplex. Our first stop was at Pret A Manger to get an iced coffee to drink while shopping and a sandwich to eat later... Then we walked over to Coach on 57th and got to pick out my birthday gifts from my sweet husband. Our next stop was at Juicy Couture store since I had 30% off total purchase coupon I was hoping to find something for my sister Asuka but couldn't decide on one thing so let's see if I can make up my mind by the 18th which is the last day for 30% off. We quickly stopped at Gap for nursing Madison and got to help a grand-ma who was buying a gift for her grand daughter who will be turning 1 in May and not sure of what size to get . After that we were off to the World of Disney store to find something for my other sister Sayaka's family who are huge Disney fans. I got something, but not enough so I will probably have to take another trip before Xmas, but I found my nephew a really cute pair of pajamas with an "I (mickey heart) NY" logo. Madison fell asleep while at the Disney Store so we walked over to the Central Park Zoo as planned and when we got there it was 2:31 and I noticed they were feeding the penguins at 2:30 so we raced straight to the building, but Madison was sleeping so after watching for a little while I decided to go outside and eat my sandwich and then when Madison woke up we went back in to see the penguins, who were still being fed, and Madison really enjoyed it. I had planned on walking over to Whole Foods for some Vegan chocolate chip cookies, but it was getting a little chilly so we headed for the subway to go home and rest after our fun-filled shopping day.
Coco was worn out just hearing about the day.
11.13.2009
パパの練習試合へ行く/Daddy's Scrimmage Game
今日、パパのバスケの練習試合が学校が終わった後あったので応援をしに行ってきました。
Today Mommy and Madison were able to come to my first scrimmage of the season.
初めての試合で緊張していたのか前半は結構の差で負けていたんだけど後半はどんどんと追いついて４分１５秒の残りの時に２点差...
We were down a lot early as the guys seemed a little nervous, but we battled back big time as the scoreboard shows with 4 minutes and 15 seconds to go we had cut the lead to 2...
でも、トップ３人がファールアウトで抜けた後追いつく事が出来ないまま...
With my top three players fouling out in the 4th quarter we were never able to quite complete the come back...
結局他のチームが７点差で勝利、でも今年一番最初の練習試合にしては良くできたからみんな満足していろいろ練習しなきゃ行けない所が分かったみたい。
They ended up winning by 7, but for our first scrimmage of the year we have a lot of positive things to take away and a better understanding of what we need to work on.
そして写真では見せられないけど、この騒がしいゲーム中にベンチに座っているママの膝の上でお昼寝をする事が出来たマディソンは本当にさすが！
And although there was no one to take a picture of it you can now include pretty loud basketball game as one of the things Madison can officially sleep through as she slept in Mommy's lap in the corner of the bleachers while students and parents went crazy as we made our comeback.
Today Mommy and Madison were able to come to my first scrimmage of the season.
初めての試合で緊張していたのか前半は結構の差で負けていたんだけど後半はどんどんと追いついて４分１５秒の残りの時に２点差...We were down a lot early as the guys seemed a little nervous, but we battled back big time as the scoreboard shows with 4 minutes and 15 seconds to go we had cut the lead to 2...
でも、トップ３人がファールアウトで抜けた後追いつく事が出来ないまま...With my top three players fouling out in the 4th quarter we were never able to quite complete the come back...
結局他のチームが７点差で勝利、でも今年一番最初の練習試合にしては良くできたからみんな満足していろいろ練習しなきゃ行けない所が分かったみたい。
They ended up winning by 7, but for our first scrimmage of the year we have a lot of positive things to take away and a better understanding of what we need to work on.
そして写真では見せられないけど、この騒がしいゲーム中にベンチに座っているママの膝の上でお昼寝をする事が出来たマディソンは本当にさすが！And although there was no one to take a picture of it you can now include pretty loud basketball game as one of the things Madison can officially sleep through as she slept in Mommy's lap in the corner of the bleachers while students and parents went crazy as we made our comeback.
ブロンクス動物園/Bronx Zoo
今日は祝日でデイブが休みだったのでブロンクス動物園へ行ってきました。ロバートとホーリーの家族と待ち合わせをして１１時頃に前と同じ入り口から入館。前に来た時はつまらなそうだった鳥の建物から動物園を一周することに...
Dave had today(Veteran's Day) off so we decided to visit the Bronx Zoo with Robert, Holly, Carter and Grant who live in CT... We met up at the parking lot at around 11 o'clock and off we went...
マダガスカル園に入る前にカーターとグラントはお昼休憩：）
In front of Madagascar building the boys decided to grab some snacks:-)
グラントが何か言っているのをみんなで熱心に聞いてる様子かな？
I can't remember what but Grant must have been telling us something really important about the Giraffes...
動物園にいたほとんどの間はバガブーでお昼ね。残念！
3 out of 4 hours that we were there Madison enjoyed her nap...
最後の方でやっと起きれたマディソン！シロクマと一緒にハイポーズ！！シロクマとお揃いの帽子が可愛いね：）
Towards the end Madison finally woke up and got to see the Polar Bear! They both have the cute matching Polar Bear hat!
家族写真、ヤダー！！
Didn't want to take a family picture!!
大好きなステュウステュウで。
At her favorite grocery store Stew Leonard's...
ちょっと寒い日だったけど外を歩き回るのには悪くない日だったし、マディソンも従兄弟に会えてよかったねー。
It was a chilly day but not a bad day to be outside walking around plus it was really nice to be able to get together with Madison's cousins:-)
Dave had today(Veteran's Day) off so we decided to visit the Bronx Zoo with Robert, Holly, Carter and Grant who live in CT... We met up at the parking lot at around 11 o'clock and off we went...
マダガスカル園に入る前にカーターとグラントはお昼休憩：）
In front of Madagascar building the boys decided to grab some snacks:-)
グラントが何か言っているのをみんなで熱心に聞いてる様子かな？I can't remember what but Grant must have been telling us something really important about the Giraffes...
動物園にいたほとんどの間はバガブーでお昼ね。残念！3 out of 4 hours that we were there Madison enjoyed her nap...
最後の方でやっと起きれたマディソン！シロクマと一緒にハイポーズ！！シロクマとお揃いの帽子が可愛いね：）Towards the end Madison finally woke up and got to see the Polar Bear! They both have the cute matching Polar Bear hat!
家族写真、ヤダー！！Didn't want to take a family picture!!
大好きなステュウステュウで。At her favorite grocery store Stew Leonard's...
ちょっと寒い日だったけど外を歩き回るのには悪くない日だったし、マディソンも従兄弟に会えてよかったねー。
It was a chilly day but not a bad day to be outside walking around plus it was really nice to be able to get together with Madison's cousins:-)
11.08.2009
Weekend Recap/週末報告
Usually we use our weekends to recover from a crazy week...but today we needed our Monday to recover from a crazy, yet rewarding weekend. This past weekend was the Springfield Gardens Church of Christ annual Harvest Picnic and Festival at the building on Sunday. Anna and I with two other ladies were in charge of the festival aspect so we spent Saturday setting up and then Sunday the kids went at it...Anna developed an Amazing Race game for the kids that was truly amazing...she did such a great job! There were 24 kids that competed in teams of 3, they competed in contests such as unscrambling Bible book names to reveal a secret message that told them how to get their next clue, finding gummy bears in a large bowl of flour using only chopsticks, introducing themselves to five people they don't know, setting up 25 dominos and knocking them down, building a structure with 15 playing cards, unscrambling song lyrics, shooting baskets and spotting the differences between two pictures...Anna used a picture from 80s night and made the changes using her wizardry with Photoshop...there are seven differences in all can you find them...the kids were amazing in their quickness to find five of the seven. After completing one of the activities they would have to go back to the person they got the game from to be shown a picture of the object that the person with their next game was wearing like a police badge, a purple tie, flourescent green head band, alien ears and a colorful necklace...it went really well.
いつもは忙しい週日からゆっくり休む為に使う週末ですが今週末はやる事がいっぱいで月曜日にやっとゆっくり休む事に...教会で毎年ある収穫祭を兼ねてピクニックがミサのすぐ後に予定してあってその準備で金曜日と土曜日は大忙し！僕とアンナはその時にある子供達のゲームの係も担当。アンナがとても面白いゲームを計画、こっちではテレビ番組であるゲームなんだけどチームで世界中を巡りながら各地点で貰う任務をやり遂げながら競うゲームです。子供向けの任務を７箇所で用意...下にある写真はその任務の一つで子供達は７個ある違いの５個を見つけないと次の任務のヒントが貰えないこと...見つけられるかな！？
Can you spot the differences?
違いが分かるかな？
I guess you will have to become a fan and leave a comment to let us know :-)
見つけられたらコメント残してね：）
Madison would also like to take this opportunity to thank Aunt Alyson for her leopard outfit which is nice and cozy as the weather cools down.
アリソンおばさんが送ってくれた可愛いヒョウ柄のパジャマのお礼をここでさせてね...
We also weren't sure if we had previously posted this picture of Madison with Barbapapa...
この写真は前に載せたか覚えてないんだけどバーバパパと一緒に...
Lastly we include a video of Madison's sister Coco playing with a toy that was sent from Japan. For the longest time Coco wouldn't have anything to do with toys...we started calling her Coco Kitty because she would just sleep and eat, but lately she has become a lot more playful so that has been fun.
そして最後にマディソンのお姉ちゃんのココがお母さんの送ってくれたおもちゃで遊んでいる様子。今まで全然おもちゃに興味が無かったココのあだ名はネコのココ(毎日ご飯食べて寝てるだけ)...でも突然いろいろと興味を示すようになって見てても面白くなりました。
P.S. Anna swears the packaging had a dog face on it, even though I thought it looked an awful lot like a cat toy which may be why Coco Kitty liked it so much :-)
P.S.ネコじゃらしに見えるけどちゃんと一緒に付いていた紙に犬の絵が書いてあったっ手アンナは言うけどどうだろう？でもだからネコのココが気に入ったのかな？：）
いつもは忙しい週日からゆっくり休む為に使う週末ですが今週末はやる事がいっぱいで月曜日にやっとゆっくり休む事に...教会で毎年ある収穫祭を兼ねてピクニックがミサのすぐ後に予定してあってその準備で金曜日と土曜日は大忙し！僕とアンナはその時にある子供達のゲームの係も担当。アンナがとても面白いゲームを計画、こっちではテレビ番組であるゲームなんだけどチームで世界中を巡りながら各地点で貰う任務をやり遂げながら競うゲームです。子供向けの任務を７箇所で用意...下にある写真はその任務の一つで子供達は７個ある違いの５個を見つけないと次の任務のヒントが貰えないこと...見つけられるかな！？
Can you spot the differences?違いが分かるかな？
I guess you will have to become a fan and leave a comment to let us know :-)
見つけられたらコメント残してね：）
Also as part of the Harvest festivities the congregation welcomed the four new babies that had been born this year by giving them a Child's Bible and saying a prayer that their parents will raise them in the Lord. Madison looks like she is ready for Christmas as she enjoyed her wrapping paper.
あと収穫祭に備わって教会からマディソンに子供用のバイブルをプレゼント。マディソン、クリスマスの準備ができてそう...何が中に入っているか気になっているみたい：）
あと収穫祭に備わって教会からマディソンに子供用のバイブルをプレゼント。マディソン、クリスマスの準備ができてそう...何が中に入っているか気になっているみたい：）
Madison would also like to take this opportunity to thank Aunt Alyson for her leopard outfit which is nice and cozy as the weather cools down.
アリソンおばさんが送ってくれた可愛いヒョウ柄のパジャマのお礼をここでさせてね...
We also weren't sure if we had previously posted this picture of Madison with Barbapapa...この写真は前に載せたか覚えてないんだけどバーバパパと一緒に...
Lastly we include a video of Madison's sister Coco playing with a toy that was sent from Japan. For the longest time Coco wouldn't have anything to do with toys...we started calling her Coco Kitty because she would just sleep and eat, but lately she has become a lot more playful so that has been fun.
そして最後にマディソンのお姉ちゃんのココがお母さんの送ってくれたおもちゃで遊んでいる様子。今まで全然おもちゃに興味が無かったココのあだ名はネコのココ(毎日ご飯食べて寝てるだけ)...でも突然いろいろと興味を示すようになって見てても面白くなりました。
P.S.ネコじゃらしに見えるけどちゃんと一緒に付いていた紙に犬の絵が書いてあったっ手アンナは言うけどどうだろう？でもだからネコのココが気に入ったのかな？：）
11.04.2009
ゴロン出来た！/Rolling Over!
今日初めてゴロンで来た訳じゃないんだけど今日初めてビデオに撮る事に成功しました。ちょっと無理矢理かもしれないけどね：）気づいたと思うけど夏服をまだ着せてまーす! 可愛いしもったいないからいっぱい重ね着で...多分この考えは岩井家から代々伝わってるんだと思うけど、杏奈はただ安いからと言ってすぐ壊れちゃいそうな物を買うよりも、少し値段が高くても長持ちしたり本当に自分の気に入った物を買わないと意味がないと信じてます。だからデイブになんでそんな高い物買ったのー？って聞かれるといっぱい着たり使ったりする度に値段が安くなる考えを使って説得したりします。いきなり変な事を話し始めちゃいました...
マディソンの事に戻りまーす！乳歯も順調に出て来ているし毎日ご機嫌で笑顔ばっかり...泣いているとき以外はね；）
Today wasn't her first day to roll over but I finally got to record it to put on the blog...It's also not her best work since it's not a nice graceful roll over but good enough:-) You may also notice that she is in somewhat summery clothing and you may think "Hello!? Does Anna know it's November and not September??" and the answer is yes! but I want to give those cute summer clothes more chances to be worn as long as Madison can fit into them... and she still can! So I've been doing a lot of layering lately to stretch these clothes' life expectancies... and this is helping my PPW(Price Per Wear) theory... Not sure if I should call it a theory or motto but I use PPW theory a lot to convince Dave to buy things that are not neccesarily cheap, and if it's not something you can wear then I use PPU(Price Per Usage)! and it works! I'd rather pay a bit more for something that I know I would use for a long time or many times than buy something just because it's cheaper and for them to be broken right away or for them to not work good enough and be added to our useless junk pile... Okay I went off the subject once again and that yellow tank-shorts wasn't that expensive but I think I wanted to defend my purchasing of other cute clothes that Madison has...
それと、ハロウィーンの時に撮ったエリーとココの写真を載せ忘れてたので今日載せまーす！あすかが買ってくれた蜂のコスチュームだよ：）後マディソンとココの遊んでいる姿...というか杏奈がココを押さえてるからマディソンがココをおもちゃみたいに扱っている様子...今日もそんな嫌な事が遭った事も忘れているのかマディソンの近くに寄りすぎて思い切り髪を引っ張られて泣いてました。おバカちゃん！
Anyways, I found a cute picture of our Beans dressed up as Bees(Asuka got them the costumes last year!) and pictures of Madison and Coco playing together AKA I'm holding Coco so that Madison can pull at Coco's hair and call it a Play time! Today Madison was sitting up and Coco happened to walk by and got close enough for Madison to reach(I guess Coco didn't learn her lesson the last time!) and Madison grabbed her hair pretty good and cried out for help so let's see if she learned the lesson this time:-)
マディソンの事に戻りまーす！乳歯も順調に出て来ているし毎日ご機嫌で笑顔ばっかり...泣いているとき以外はね；）
Today wasn't her first day to roll over but I finally got to record it to put on the blog...It's also not her best work since it's not a nice graceful roll over but good enough:-) You may also notice that she is in somewhat summery clothing and you may think "Hello!? Does Anna know it's November and not September??" and the answer is yes! but I want to give those cute summer clothes more chances to be worn as long as Madison can fit into them... and she still can! So I've been doing a lot of layering lately to stretch these clothes' life expectancies... and this is helping my PPW(Price Per Wear) theory... Not sure if I should call it a theory or motto but I use PPW theory a lot to convince Dave to buy things that are not neccesarily cheap, and if it's not something you can wear then I use PPU(Price Per Usage)! and it works! I'd rather pay a bit more for something that I know I would use for a long time or many times than buy something just because it's cheaper and for them to be broken right away or for them to not work good enough and be added to our useless junk pile... Okay I went off the subject once again and that yellow tank-shorts wasn't that expensive but I think I wanted to defend my purchasing of other cute clothes that Madison has...
それと、ハロウィーンの時に撮ったエリーとココの写真を載せ忘れてたので今日載せまーす！あすかが買ってくれた蜂のコスチュームだよ：）後マディソンとココの遊んでいる姿...というか杏奈がココを押さえてるからマディソンがココをおもちゃみたいに扱っている様子...今日もそんな嫌な事が遭った事も忘れているのかマディソンの近くに寄りすぎて思い切り髪を引っ張られて泣いてました。おバカちゃん！
11.03.2009
Mommy's Birthday Dinner/ママの誕生日ご飯
As you should be well aware, yesterday was election day, what you may not know is that it is also a day off for students in New York City...for teachers it is a day of meetings which is usually worse than having the kids in school...but it does mean I get to escape right as the 2:50 bell rings so I had planned to meet Anna and Madison in Union Square for a 3:45 reservation at Max Brenner, Chocolate by the Bald Man, a restaurant that had been featured on a Food Network show entitled "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" for its chocolate pizza...so we had to give it a try...we actually had a real pizza and a chocolate pizza to go with our Strawberry smoothie with White Chocolate...
みんな知っている通り、昨日は選挙の日で学校はお休み...って言っても生徒だけで先生達は一日中会議って言うつまらない日...でも２時５０分丁度に学校から飛び出して３時４５分に杏奈とマディソンとユニオンスクエアで待ち合わせをしました。チョコレートピザでテレビでも有名になったマックスブレナーって言うチョコレートのレストラントに予約を取って杏奈たちを連れて行く事に...普通のピザと有名はチョコレートピザ、そしてホワイトチョコを使った苺のスムージーを注文してみる事に：）
While the chocolate pizza wasn't the best thing we ever ate, it was pretty fun...Anna liked watching everything everyone else was ordering and we are looking forward to going back to try the crepes and other yummy desserts!
チョコピザはおいしかったんだけどあま〜い！でも本当にチョコレートの味がおいしい：）杏奈は他のお客さんが頼んだ品物の飾り付けが綺麗で観ていて楽しかったみたい。また今度はクレープを食べに戻って来るつもりです：）
みんな知っている通り、昨日は選挙の日で学校はお休み...って言っても生徒だけで先生達は一日中会議って言うつまらない日...でも２時５０分丁度に学校から飛び出して３時４５分に杏奈とマディソンとユニオンスクエアで待ち合わせをしました。チョコレートピザでテレビでも有名になったマックスブレナーって言うチョコレートのレストラントに予約を取って杏奈たちを連れて行く事に...普通のピザと有名はチョコレートピザ、そしてホワイトチョコを使った苺のスムージーを注文してみる事に：）
While the chocolate pizza wasn't the best thing we ever ate, it was pretty fun...Anna liked watching everything everyone else was ordering and we are looking forward to going back to try the crepes and other yummy desserts!
チョコピザはおいしかったんだけどあま〜い！でも本当にチョコレートの味がおいしい：）杏奈は他のお客さんが頼んだ品物の飾り付けが綺麗で観ていて楽しかったみたい。また今度はクレープを食べに戻って来るつもりです：）
11.02.2009
Happy Birthday to Mommy, teeth, funny avocado face and sippy cup!/ママの誕生日、乳歯、アボカド食べてる変な顔、シッピーカップ
So Today is Anna's Birthday...and yesterday was Madison's half-birthday (although I think I am going to start a national petition to get a baby's birthday changed to the date of conception, so Madison is actually 15 months old because I do not feel we should discredit the growth in the womb, so all you who missed Madison's 1 year birthday on August 1st gifts are being accepted at your leisure), anywho, if we go by societies count then Madison and Anna's birthdays could basically not be further apart...pretty cool huh...well we started the birthday with a card from Madison that said she hoped her day was as special as the day that she gave birth to her and then work got in the way and then I came home with an ice cream cake and a card of my own after my basketball practice...tomorrow the kids don't come to school due to election day so I will be meeting Anna and Madison in Union Square at 3:30pm to begin our fun-filled secret evening that you will find out about in a future post...also in a feat of perfect timing a package from Japan arrived today, so at least Anna had one thing to open on her birthday!
今日は杏奈の誕生日、そして昨日はマディソンの半誕生日...まず朝起きたらマディソンからの誕生日カード(私が生まれた日のようにに記念に成る日でありますようにって：）僕がバスケの練習の後家に帰りがけにアイスクリームケーキを買ってカードと一緒にプレゼント...明日は選挙の日だから学校には生徒が来ない予定なので３時半にママとマディソンとユニオンスクエアで待ち合わせです。何をするかは明日まで内緒なんだけどちょうどタイミング良く、日本から荷物が届いたから杏奈が誕生日にプレゼントを一つでも開ける事が出来て良かったー。
In other news, here is proof of Madison's teething...for months she has been putting everything in her mouth, but now when she puts our fingers in there it hurts! We tried to capture the protruding teeth so click and look closely and you can decide whether you see anything or not.
そしてここに乳歯が生えて来ている証拠...もう最近ずっと何でもかんでも口に入れているマディソン、今指を入れると少ししか出ていない乳歯でもイターイ！！写真を撮ってみたんだけどまだちょっと分かりづらいかなー？探してみてください：）
We have also included this bonus video of Madison making funny faces when she eats Avocado but come on! Wouldn't we all?
そしてこのビデオはマディソンがアボカドを食べるたびに凄い変な顔をしている様子！何となく気持ちがわかるよね？
And we also introduced Madison to her first sippy cup tonight:-)
マディソンの初めてのシッピーカップのビデオもどうぞ：）
今日は杏奈の誕生日、そして昨日はマディソンの半誕生日...まず朝起きたらマディソンからの誕生日カード(私が生まれた日のようにに記念に成る日でありますようにって：）僕がバスケの練習の後家に帰りがけにアイスクリームケーキを買ってカードと一緒にプレゼント...明日は選挙の日だから学校には生徒が来ない予定なので３時半にママとマディソンとユニオンスクエアで待ち合わせです。何をするかは明日まで内緒なんだけどちょうどタイミング良く、日本から荷物が届いたから杏奈が誕生日にプレゼントを一つでも開ける事が出来て良かったー。
In other news, here is proof of Madison's teething...for months she has been putting everything in her mouth, but now when she puts our fingers in there it hurts! We tried to capture the protruding teeth so click and look closely and you can decide whether you see anything or not.
そしてここに乳歯が生えて来ている証拠...もう最近ずっと何でもかんでも口に入れているマディソン、今指を入れると少ししか出ていない乳歯でもイターイ！！写真を撮ってみたんだけどまだちょっと分かりづらいかなー？探してみてください：）
We have also included this bonus video of Madison making funny faces when she eats Avocado but come on! Wouldn't we all?
そしてこのビデオはマディソンがアボカドを食べるたびに凄い変な顔をしている様子！何となく気持ちがわかるよね？
And we also introduced Madison to her first sippy cup tonight:-)
マディソンの初めてのシッピーカップのビデオもどうぞ：）
11.01.2009
And the Winners Are.../そして優勝は...
I think I forgot to mention that there was also a costume contest as part of 80s night...everyone who went and wasn't dressed up put their vote in a bucket and this morning after worship they announced the winner...there was a tie for 2nd place between Leon/Flavor Flav who had the giant clock around his neck and Olivia Newton John and her aerobics baby!! That's right...Anna heard Olivia tied for second and exclaimed in a stunned voice..."that's me!" and Anna and Madison went up to collect their prize...a coffin with a frankenstein and candy...my type of coffin!
昨日書くの忘れてたんだけど８０年代パーティーでは仮装コンテストもあって、パーティーに来たけど変装しなかった人達が一番いい格好をしている人に投票。今日の朝ミサが終わった後優勝者を発表...２位に来たのは２人(リオンとオリビアとエアロビックス赤ちゃん)!!その通り...杏奈がオリビアって聞くなり”それ私!!”って：）マディソンを連れて２等賞を貰いにステージへ...賞品の棺の中に入っていたのはフランケンシュタインの人形とおかし！
Then came the announcement we had all been waiting for...the grand champion...in what our host described as a landslide...the winner was...Richard Simmons!!! Like any nominee for an award I had thought about my acceptance walk and gave a hearty leg kick and jumping jacks that would have made Richard proud...my reward however would not have made him proud...it was a gigantic basket filled with all the best junk food the 80s had to offer...Twinkies...Yodels...Ding Dongs...Jujy Fruits...Pringles...Cracker Jacks...Coke in tiny glass bottles and numerous other goodies!
そしてとうとう待っていた１等賞の発表が...圧倒的な投票が入ったらしい優勝者は...リチャード
シモンズ!!! 計画通り体操をしながら賞品を受け取りにいったデイブ、リチャードも誇らしいでしょう...大きなバスケットの中にはもちろん８０年代に出て来たお菓子の数々！
Much of the credit must go to my lovely wife who did all the shopping for our costumes, but none of the spoils...those are all mine :-)
でも感謝しなきゃいけないのは妻の杏奈...衣装を用意してくれたからね...でもお菓子は全部僕の！
昨日書くの忘れてたんだけど８０年代パーティーでは仮装コンテストもあって、パーティーに来たけど変装しなかった人達が一番いい格好をしている人に投票。今日の朝ミサが終わった後優勝者を発表...２位に来たのは２人(リオンとオリビアとエアロビックス赤ちゃん)!!その通り...杏奈がオリビアって聞くなり”それ私!!”って：）マディソンを連れて２等賞を貰いにステージへ...賞品の棺の中に入っていたのはフランケンシュタインの人形とおかし！
Then came the announcement we had all been waiting for...the grand champion...in what our host described as a landslide...the winner was...Richard Simmons!!! Like any nominee for an award I had thought about my acceptance walk and gave a hearty leg kick and jumping jacks that would have made Richard proud...my reward however would not have made him proud...it was a gigantic basket filled with all the best junk food the 80s had to offer...Twinkies...Yodels...Ding Dongs...Jujy Fruits...Pringles...Cracker Jacks...Coke in tiny glass bottles and numerous other goodies!
そしてとうとう待っていた１等賞の発表が...圧倒的な投票が入ったらしい優勝者は...リチャード
シモンズ!!! 計画通り体操をしながら賞品を受け取りにいったデイブ、リチャードも誇らしいでしょう...大きなバスケットの中にはもちろん８０年代に出て来たお菓子の数々！
Much of the credit must go to my lovely wife who did all the shopping for our costumes, but none of the spoils...those are all mine :-)でも感謝しなきゃいけないのは妻の杏奈...衣装を用意してくれたからね...でもお菓子は全部僕の！
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