サトコさんとコンラッド君にバイバイの日/Saying good bye to Satoko-san and Conrad-kun

カリフォルニア州のサンフランシスコに来週引っ越してしまうサトコさんとコンラッド君と、最後にもう一回プレイグループをする事が出来ました。マディソン がコンラッド君達と一緒に遊ぶのをせっかく楽しみにしていたのにたぶん乳歯のせいかな、私にくっ付き虫。集合場所に来る途中に予定外のお昼寝をしたせいで 寝むそうなのに寝れないし...困った、困った...仕様が無く私の膝に座らせてピザの耳を齧らせたら良い子にしてくれました。ある時点で赤ちゃん４人の うち３人一緒にそれぞれのピザの耳を齧っていたような気がする...笑！あの２、３分は静かで良いときだったな〜：）
Today we had our last playgroup with Conrad, Masaki, and Sephi in Central Park. Satoko-san, her husband Brian and Conrad-kun are moving to San Francisco next week so this was our last all 8 of us get together for playgroup. I was really looking forward to Madison playing hard with her friends, but she was not having a nice day yesterday probably because of her teething. She took an unauthorized nap while walking to the park and that caused her to not be able to take her afternoon nap even though she was sleepy and fussy. She could not, did not, or would not want to play away from me so she would perch herself on my lap and nibbled on my pizza crust. At one point 3 out of the 4 babies are nibbling their own pizza crusts they got from their mommies and giving their mommies a few minutes of quiet and peace so I thought that was really funny:-)



最初に 言った通り一人で置いてく度にご機嫌斜めでグスグスしていたマディソン、一回写真を撮りたくて赤ちゃん達だけで座らせたらセフィちゃんとコンちゃんを誘っ て赤ちゃん３人で泣き合唱...すごかった...そのビデオをどうぞ！
Like I said Madison got really fussy and whiny every time I left her so when I went to take some good shots of our last get together she would not have it... so she started bawling and in the end she has recruited two other of her friends to do some harmonious crying... Here it is!

セ フィ：困った、困った！
Sephi: (hands on head) "Oh man! I can't take it anymore!"

コンラッド君に最後のプレイグループの思い出をちゃんと覚えて置いて貰おうと密かに計画していた作戦を実行：）
Sephi also wanted to give Conrad something to remember her by:-)

学 校が終わった後セントラルパークに来てくれたデイブに８人のママとベイビー達揃って写真を撮ってもらう事が出来ました...残念ながら泣き疲れてどっか遠 くに行っちゃっているマディソン...でもセフィがみんなの代表で言いたいことを言ってくれてるね、ナンバーワン!!
Dave was able to come meet Madison and I after work and walked up at the perfect timing as we were walking out of Sheep Meadow so I asked him to take our last group shot... Too bad Madison is absolutely somewhere else exhausted from all the crying she did today, but Sephi is making a statement for all of us, We are the best!!

この３ 人のママとベイビー達に会えて本当に良かったです。８人みんなでずっと遊んでいられたらいいけどこれも人生...離れて行くのは辛いけど沢山の良い思い出 と写真があるから大丈夫かな...また次に住む所で良いママとベイビー達に巡り会えると良いな〜！
I am absolutely so happy that Madison and I got to meet these lovely babies and mommies to share and play every week. It will be really sad that this group cannot stay intact, but that's life I guess and I have nothing, but great memories and pictures so I just hope we will be able to meet great mommies and babies like them wherever our next place may be!

ボーナス！先週の出来事から.../BONUS! from last week...

とっても知りたがりでうろうろしたいマディソンの活動範囲を狭くする為にたまに寝室とトイレの戸を閉めておくんだけど、寝室にある枕の上でお昼寝するのが好きなエリーは戸が閉まっていてがっかり...諦めきれずエリー必殺“後ろ足で立って前足で押す”をしたんだけど、トイレの戸とは違って全くびくともしない結果...その様子を見ていたマディソンは爆笑...：）
Sometimes we close out bedroom door so that Madison won't go exploring and stay in the living room but Ellie likes to snooze on her pillow in our bedroom so she is trying to get in there... She is trying her old stand on her back legs and push trick that usually works on our bathroom door but this door is really shut so it's not working out and Madison is getting a really good laugh from her trying...:-)

先週、たまたまブラックアイドピーズの歌を聴いていたらマディソンは踊らずにはいられなかったみたい！早速フリップで録画開始：）ピボットしながら回っているのが良いよね！
I was listening to One Tribe by Black Eyed Peas the other day and Madison started dancing as usual so I got it on Flip! She got one of the dancing techniques... Pivoting!

木曜日はと〜っても良い天気でちょうどセントラルパークでミートアップの日。今回は５組のママと赤ちゃんで大賑わい！みんな歳が近いから一緒に遊ぶ事が出来ました：）
On Thursday we had a beautiful day and it was a Meet Up day in Central Park Playground and this was a big turn out with 5 Moms and their Babies! All the babies are really similar in age so it was quite fun:-)
新しい友達、ダニエル君とカイトウ君。
New friends, Daniel-kun and Kaito-kun.




その日にたまたまユニオンスクエアの学校まで会議に行かなきゃいけなかったパパとセントラルパークで待ち合わせをする事が出来ました。マディソンは丁度バガブーでお昼寝を始めちゃったから家に帰る前にセントラルパーク動物園に寄って行く事に...　天気が良かったせいか活発に活動していたアザラシがキスしてる所を写真に撮る事に成功！日本の雪猿も忙しそうに動き回っていたよ。
Today Dave had to go to a school in Union Square for the day for a meeting so he was able to meet us at the park as Madison started her nap in the bugaboo... SO instead of going home we headed to Central Park Zoo for some animal watching... We got really cute picture of Seals kissing and Snow Monkey from Japan.

最近の出来事.../What You've missed...

最近の出来事...

What You've missed...

No. 1:
マディソンの友達、マサキ君の誕生日会に行った時過去６年間も大事に使っていたカメラが突然カメラ天国に行ってしまいました...
No. 1:
While at Madison's friend, Masaki's birthday party our Sony Cyber Shot Camera decided to pass on to the Camera Heaven after being with us for 6 years...

さようなら...
RIP...

そしてこのカメラで撮った最後の写真は...

そしてずーっと待っていた一眼レフを買う機会が来ました...キャノンリベルXSiかニコンD5000か迷ったんだけど決めたのは...
Then finally I got my wish of owning one of those cool big cameras... We couldn't decide between Canon Rebel XSi or Nikon D5000 but we decided to go with...

これ！
This one!

そしてこの新しいカメラで今日撮った写真は...
Pictures we took with our brand new camera...

写真撮り過ぎ〜！の顔
Tired of Mommy taking too many pictures!

連続撮影モードがあるの〜！！
Now We can do continuous shooting!!

No. 2:
最近マディソンはしゃがんでいる状態から何にも掴まらずに立てるようになりました。そしてそのまま拍手するのが最近のお気に入り：）テレビで誰かが拍手をしているのを聞く度に一緒にパチパチしています。でもカメラが壊れてないのでビデオが撮れなくています。フリップビデオって言うケータイサイズのビデオカメラを買う予定でいるんだけど、もちろん私のデザインした好きな柄をカメラの表面にプリントしてくれるので今急いでそれをデザイン中です。それが終わり次第すぐにマディソンの拍手を撮って載せるのでお楽しみに：）
No. 2:
For a while now Madison can stand up from squatting to standing up without hanging onto anything and then clapping while standing up:-) But since our camera's death we weren't able to film yet... and a little longer since we are getting a Flip Video very soon since our Rebel XSi doesn't have a video function and since I always have to design my own when there is an opportunity to, I'm currently designing something cool to be printed on our Flip Video Exterior... so her clapping film will come once our Flip Video arrives at our door steps:-) Anyways, whenever we have TV on and there is a lot of clapping going on, she LOVES to join in on clapping, it's very cute!

No. 3:
日本語で読んでいる皆さんごめんなさい、ここは訳すのがとても難しいので止めました。頑張って英語で読んでください...
No. 3:
We, I mean Dave, forgot to write this part of an incident in our Raleigh trip post so I'm turning the computer over to him...okay, here goes...as I mentioned we went over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge on the way home and with the 2nd longest bridge in the U.S. comes a hefty price of $11.00...and while our EZPass had said low balance on our trip down we had never had a problem and after five days we figured it would have replenished itself...so when we approached the toll booth at the bridge we went to zoom through the EZPass lane, but the car in front of us wasn't moving so we made fun of him for getting in an EZPass lane and not having an EZPass and having to turn around...then we went to go through and the light didn't go green and the arm stayed down...it didn't say low balance...it didn't say anything...the toll booth lady came out and said this is an EZPass lane and we said we have EZPass and the lady said then there must be something wrong with it and Anna said the last guy couldn't get through you need to shut this lane down...CLOSE IT DOWN...and I use all capitals for a reason...the lady all capitaled us back and said make a U-Turn up there...to which Anna responded...CLOSE IT DOWN!! MAKE A U-TURN toll booth lady shouted...I think it was the road noise that made everyone talk so loud...so we made our u-turn and stubborn me was like that toll booth was broken we are going through a different EZPass lane, so I did and the same thing happened...no light, no arm raise...no nothing...so fearful of toll booth lady I did the cardinal sin of toll booths and I backed up...gasp...I know...but don't worry I looked behind me...so we were able to move over to toll booth ladies lane and then Anna pointed out the fact that we did not want to go through toll booth ladies lane so we jetted over to a different booth and met nice toll booth lady who said maybe we had a malfunctioning EZPass or maybe we had changed our credit card and not notified EZPass...BINGO!!! Whoops...when we got home and checked our account we were $34 in the hole...YIKES!!! Sorry toll booth lady...our bad :-)

OSMT-Our Secret Mission Trip/極秘検索旅行の巻

This past week has been my Spring Break...it actually continues until Wednesday which is really nice...Sunday after I preached at our congregation we headed off on Our Secret Mission Trip (actually only secret to most of my co-workers, all of my students and most of you guys in cyberspace)...it took us almost two hours to just get to the Verrazano Narrows Bridge and through Staten Island...then I somehow went the wrong way on I-95 in Jersey...once we finally figured that one out, we made pretty good time through Philly and D.C. and Baltimore. Then we hit pouring rain in Richmond, Virginia and since we had already booked a hotel room on-line about an hour and a half from our final destination in South Hill, VA as Mapquest said it would only take about 7 1/2 hours to get there...we pressed on and near midnight, after 10 hours of travel we tucked in for the night...the next day we completed Our Secret Mission Trip to...

RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA!!!
今週始まった学校の春休みは来週の火曜日までなので、日曜日に教会でミサが終わった後極秘旅行(僕の仕事仲間と生徒達には内緒なのです)に出発...スタッテンアイランドへ通っているベラザノ橋まで２時間もかかったり、間違えて高速９５を反対方向に行ったりと最初が大変だったけど、その後は何事も無くフィリー、ディーシー、バルティモアを越えて南に下りました。リッチモンドに着いた辺で豪雨に降られて本当は運転し続けたくなかったんだけど、あらかじめ予約をしてあったホテルまでがんばってもう１時間半行く事に...１１時ちょっと過ぎぐらいにやっとホテルに到着。１０時間のドライブの後一晩泊まって明日はついに極秘旅行先の...
北キャロライナ州、ラリーへ!!!

So now we share our secret...we hope to make Raleigh our future home this summer...I had two interviews at schools and we also looked at houses and apartments as we decide what to do...while the interviews went well they unfortunately couldn't hire me then as they hadn't been given their allocations for the '10-'11 school year yet, so that was unfortunate...but we still had fun looking at houses and apartments and hopefully the middle of this month we will receive some good news and get to move forward with our housing plans which we will share more of at that time.
ここで秘密はおわり...今年の夏からラリーで暮らす予定を立てているんです...僕が２つの高校で面接をした後、いろんな家を見回ったり。残念ながらまだ何人雇えるか分からない学校側は僕を気に入ってくれたけど、その場で仕事が確実にできなかったから後２週間ぐらいしないと分からないけど、確実になり次第家を買う予定です。細かい事はまだ内緒です。

The last school I interviewed with backed right up to a beautiful city park that has basketball and tennis courts, a pool, a dog park and a playground...as well as a beautiful tree...
２校目の高校の裏側にあるきれいな公園(バスケ、テニス、プール、遊び場と犬の公園)で...綺麗な木の下で...

Madison loved the swing...
マディソンのお気に入りのブランコ...
My Dad was kind enough to donate some of his Choice Hotel points so we stayed out by the airport at a Cambria Suites...it was very nice and had an indoor pool which Madison wasn't too sure of the first night and then really warmed up to...
僕のお父さんからホテル用のポイントを貰って無料で４泊することができました。しかもキャンブリアスイートって言うとってもいいホテルに：）ここに室内プールがあったんだけど最初の日は入りたがらなかったマディソンも最後の日には...

First Day in Raleigh:
ラリー初日：

Last Day in Raleigh:
ラリー最終日：

Don't worry we didn't put her in the hot tub...
大丈夫、このあっついお風呂には入れなかったから...

After all her swimming she had worked up quite an appetite...
やっぱりいっぱい泳いだ後はお腹が空くね...
We also found time to visit downtown Raleigh and the Marbles Kids Museum...
子供用の博物館に行く事が出来ました...

Madison enjoyed the balls...
ボールが面白いね...っていうかおいしいね...

And the bricks...

ブロックだ〜...

While visiting our housing options, Madison loved the golf cart rides...
モデルハウスを見学する時に乗って移動したゴルフカートをとっても気に入ったマディソン...

On the return trip I had the brilliant idea to "swing by" Virginia Beach for a pit stop and then head up Route 13 North which looked like a nice scenic, straight shot over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel which we found out is the second longest bridge in the United States...what we didn't know was that Route 13 is littered with stop lights and towns and that some of those towns target out of towners who barely run red lights (it was yellow when I started) and give them $161 tickets...grrrrrrrr!!! So we are letting everyone know who comes to visit us in Raleigh...do not be tricked into taking Route 13...it is not worth it!!! After a total of 15 hours of travel (including our three hour pit stop at Virginia Beach) we arrived home just before midnight Friday and enjoyed a night in our own beds!!
帰り道にバージニアビーチに寄り道して海岸沿いをドライブしてアメリカで第２に長いチェセピーク海岸橋を通って行こうと計画。景色はとても良かったんだけど橋を通った後に使って北に行ったルート１３っていう道は最悪！黄色で通ったはずなのに赤だったって警察官に止められて１６０ドルも罰金...県外の車を狙って止める警察が多いらしい...打からラリーにクライン家に会いに来る時はぜ〜ったいルート１３は使わない事!!後悔するよ!!３時間の寄り道を合わせて１５時間のドライブの後夜の１２時頃に無事に到着、自分達のベッドでぐっすり眠る事が出来ました：）

BONUS PICS: One of Madison's playgroup friends, Masaki's 1st Birthday Party...Here is the happy family
ボーナス写真：マディソンの友達のマサキ君の誕生日会で...幸せそうなラウ一家。

Madison and the birthday boy enjoy the view from the 22nd floor of the Benjamin Hotel in mid-town Manhattan...
マンハッタンにあるベンジャミンホテルの２２階の窓からの景色を楽しんでいるマディソンとマサキ君...
Madison thinking...in one month this will all be for me :-)
マディソンの頭の中...後１ヶ月で私が主役のパーティー：）

Already a Facebook sensation with over 5 likes :-) We end with one of our better Daughter on Daddy's shoulders pictures...
フェイスブックで沢山の人達が気に入ってくれてる話題のツーショット：）パパと娘の肩車ショット...