Happy 1st Birthday, Elodie!

A year ago, we were blessed with a tiny little perfect baby girl. She has been enriching our lives ever since! It has truly been an incredible year. Happy 1st Birthday, our sweet little peanut! It's been the best year of our lives!

A special day, for a special girl. Here's a glimpse of Elodie's day....

My mom and I spent all day Friday baking cupcakes in my tiny Japanese oven. So of course we let Elodie try one, even though it wasn't quite her birthday yet. She had a strawberry flavored one, and loved it!

A pre-birthday cupcake.

She woke up on her actual birthday to this awesome indoor jungle-gym that we bought her.

Happy birthday from Mom & Dad!

For breakfast she had a Cinnabon muffin, and it was gone in seconds! I think we have a sweets-lover on our hands... which shouldn't be surprising considering who her Mom and Dad are. ;)

Cinnabon muffin.

After breakfast, Joe took Elodie to swimming class while my mom and I decorated for the big Hello Kitty birthday party. I was fortunate to find Hello Kitty table cloths, plates, cups, napkins, cupcake stands, etc. all in the U.S. So everything matched perfectly and it was super cute.

I put together a collage of photos in the shape of a 1, as well as a timeline of monthly photos from Elodie's first year. My friend Anna came over to help make the hanging flower pompoms. Everything turned out perfect.

For food we had 3 flavors of cupcakes, Hello Kitty decorated sugar cookies, and an ice cream sundae bar. Lots of sugar!

The decor!

Timeline of monthly pictures.

Smash cake for the birthday girl!

Family photo before the party.

Elodie telling you she's ONE!

The party was a huge success! We are so grateful that so many friends came to celebrate with us (and that Grandma flew all the way from Michigan to be here for it!).

Awesome friends.

Elodie's swimming buddies.

Of course the highlight of the party was of Elodie eating her cake!

Make a wish!

hmmm not sure what I think about this cake stuff...

It's pretty good stuff after-all! I think I'll have some more!

Don't forget, I'm ONE!

YUMM!

And into the hair it goes.

Do you want a piece? It's really good!

Sure, we'll have a piece with you Elodie!

After the cake, we took her right in the shower room and hosed her down! She was clean in no time. ;)  After the party, it was time for presents!! She received so many wonderful gifts.

Birthday girl wearing her tiara :)

YAY! Leap frog computer!

Cuddly puppy.

Cute pink polka-dot jacket.

Playing in her new ball pit the following morning.

Living abroad and so far away from family during important life milestones is difficult and sad at times, so it was really nice to have an awesome group of friends who understand to be a part of Elodie's special day.

We are truly grateful to ALL of you who made her day so special... both near and far. It was a fantastic day! Thank you to everyone!

I posted an album on shutterfly of all the photos from her birthday. Click here to view it. Password is the same (eidole).

Tokyo Weekend Trip

We went to Tokyo for the weekend with Miyoko and her husband Kiyoshi. Their nephew is a theatre director in Tokyo, and his play was showing in a theater downtown. So we went to the show, and then spent the rest of the weekend touring Tokyo. Even though Joe and I have been to Tokyo before, we were able to experience all new things this time because 1) Tokyo is HUGE and there is so much to do there, and 2) we had our own personal tour guides!

On our way to Tokyo, we stopped in Yokohama to eat at this cute floating restaurant with spectacular views on the bay. Surprisingly, there were quite a few Mexican dishes, so you can imagine how excited Joe and I were! (Nagoya does not have any good Mexican restaurants!) Anyway, the food at this particular restaurant in Yokohama was very good. We both had fish tacos, and they were fabulous.

Floating restaurant in Yokohama.

After our quick lunch, we drove the rest of the way to Tokyo to see the play. It was interesting to watch a play in a language that we don't understand. Surprisingly though, because of the costumes and actors, we understood almost everything. I'm sure we would have enjoyed it more had we actually known what they were saying, but overall we still had a nice time. Miyoko's sister volunteered to watch Elodie, so Joe and I were actually able to sit through part of the play together, which was really nice.

Standing next to the advertisement for the play.

After the play, we went to a really fancy Japanese restaurant in the heart of downtown, right next to the Tokyo Tower. Each party has their own private room, which resembles the culture of the Japanese Edo period. The restaurant overlooks a 71,000 square foot Japanese garden.

It was set menu with 8 courses, all of which were really lovely - everything from the appearance, detail, and taste - was absolutely wonderful. Our set menu included: boiled pike conger & shrimp, deep fried tofu coated with sweet miso sauce, assorted sashimi, eggplant with sesame dressing (my favorite!!!!), tofu in seasoned soy milk, sauteed Japanese sea bass, rice with ginger and burdock root, and fig for dessert. 

The restaurant entrance.

Walking through the garden to our private room.

This isn't a great picture of anyone (except Joe who looks really cute!), but it's the only picture I have of the table and wanted to share what the room looked like.

Miyoko showing Elodie the tea kettle in our private room.

The waitress, dressed in Kimono, who served us each course.

Joe & Elodie with Miyoko's nephew (the director) and his daughter.

It was a wonderful Japanese experience, and I'm so glad we went! The only downfall is that it was very expensive. The set course cost us about 10,000yen each - or about $127.50 per person (and that didn't include drinks!). But the atmosphere was outstanding, the food was delicious, and it was an overall fantastic Japanese experience - so I'd recommend for anyone visiting Japan to go here! Although I should warn you, the restaurant specializes in tofu. ;) Here's the English website if you want to see pictures of the restaurant: Tokyo Shiba Tofuya-Ukai.

On Sunday, Miyoko and Kiyoshi drove us around Tokyo to show us different parts of the city that we had never seen before. Here are a few highlights from our day....

The new Tokyo Sky Tree, which opened this past May 22. It has been sold out for MONTHS!.. and you still can't go up without an advanced reservation.

Pagoda at Asakusa temple.

Asakusa temple, a Buddhist temple built in the 7th Century. It's Tokyo's most famous and popular temple. It is also one of the oldest, although the current buildings are post-war reconstructions.

Nakamise, a shopping street from the temple entrance gate to the temple. Any and every kind of Japanese souvenir can be found here! It was incredibly crowded!

Tokyo style "monjya" in the Tsukishima district. It's basically Tokyo's version of okonomiyaki. They have similar ingredients, but monjya has a lot more liquid and is more runny. It's then eaten directly off of the grill using a small metal spatula.

Joe eating monjya with his small spatula, haha! We liked okonomiyaki much better than monjya.

We also stopped at Daikanyama for some shopping, but I didn't take any photos there. I found some cute moose cookie-cutters, and Elodie got new hair bows... a successful shopping trip. :)

Wow, that was an exhausting but fun weekend!!!

Kobe

Sitting on a hillside overlooking the sea, Kobe is a beautiful city... and one of my favorites in Japan. This harbor-side city is nestled between the sea and Rokko mountain range. It's relatively small, so very walkable and easy to get around.

Kobe really didn't have very many site-seeing destinations within the city. It's known for it's shopping, cafes/restaurants/bars, & of course... BEEF! So that's what we did... walked around, shopped, and ate.

Kobe Harborland, a huge shopping and entertainment district along the waterfront of Kobe's port area.

Visiting a shrine and temple in downtown Kobe.

Famous Kobe beef restaurant.

One of our Kobe beef steaks.

Each our steak course meals were $125! Excellent taste and overall wonderful meal... but very expensive! Glad we tried it, but don't need to do it again. :)

So what is Kobe beef? This is the description on the menu from the restaurant, "Kobe beef is the brand name of beef from a cow that succeeded blood of Tajima cow, a Japanese Black Cattle. It has lived for a long time in northern part of Hyogo Prefecture from generation to generation and the BMS value (fat hybridization) is ranking 6 or more. The beef does not look with a lot of marbles, but the taste is elegant and not fatty at all: and the fine fibers of meat are good for health. We recommend this beef positively because this is much more tasty compared with other beef in Japan."

Basically, it's a prized Japanese delicacy. It's tender, flavorful and well marbled with fat. Very delicious!

So that pretty much sums our our Obon holiday - Takamatsu, Himeji Castle, & Kobe. :)

Himeji Castle

Himeji Castle is the largest and most visited castle in Japan. It's widely considered Japan's most spectacular castle. Unlike many other Japanese castles, Himeji Castle was never destroyed in wars, earthquakes, fires, or other disasters - and is currently still in its original form. It was built in the early 17th century, and represents the highest achievement in Japanese castle architecture. The hilltop castle complex consists of over 83 buildings and advanced defensive systems dating back to the feudal period.

Because of its elegant appearance totally covered with white plaster, the castle has been compared to a white bird taking flight. It's famous knickname is the White Heron Castle. In 1993 it was registered as one of the first World Heritage Sites in the country.

We were super excited to take a day trip to view this spectacular castle. So I don't even need to tell you how disappointed we were when we arrived and saw this....

 Yep, that's right, it was completely covered. Had we done our research, we would have known that this castle is under a FIVE YEAR restoration project. So not only could we not see the outside, but the interior of the castle was also completely closed off. Major bummer.

So we walked around the exterior of the castle and to the West Bailey building that is still open to the public. The West Bailey was the former home of Princes Sen and her husband Tadatoki Honda, the son of Lord Tadamasa Honda. 

Watch your head!

Looking up!

Walking around the exterior.

This is the well for the setting of the famous ghost story, called "Banshu Sara-Yashiki." A long time ago, a servant named Okiku, who served the lord of the castle, was falsely accused of stealing a valuable dish. She was tortured to death on the charge of the missing dish and then her body was thrown into this well. The story goes that you can still here the poor girl screaming from the well.

"Stone Throwing Hole" - if enemies tried to scale the walls, defenders could drop stones or boiling water, or throw spears or shoot guns through this hole. Similar holes can be found throughout the castle grounds. The stone throwing holes of Himeji Castle are said to be the finest in the history of Japanese castle architecture, combining a decorative appearance with a deadly function.

Windows of Princess Sen's room.

I loved the triangle, square, circle, and rectangle "windows."

 After walking around the exterior, we headed over to nearby Koko-en garden. It's the former site where a mansion of the Himeji lord and his men's samuri houses existed. Now it's a large Japanese garden with a teahouse and restaurant.

We ate a traditional meal at the restaurant here, the local specialty: conger eel.

Japanese traditional meal: conger eel on rice, tempura, miso soup, and pickled veggies. It was fantastic!

Walking on the bridge through the garden.

View of part of the garden.

The garden was stunning, but it was really too hot out to enjoy it. So we did a brief loop and then headed to the ice cream shop... or as the Japanese say,  ソフトクリーム ("softo creamu")

Joe of course got chocolate, I had mango strawberry swirl. Both were fantastic. Perfect way to end our day trip to Himeji Castle.

Despite being thoroughly disappointed that we couldn't see or enter the castle, and the fact that it was a bazillion degrees out, we still managed to have a good time. It was a nice day trip, we saw and learned a lot, and look forward to visiting again in 2015 when the restoration is complete. :)

11 Months

Before I dive into Himeji Castle and Kobe, I forgot to do Elodie's 11 month post!

 Wow, only 1 more month and our little baby is going to be ONE!

Elodie spent most of the last month in Michigan and Minnesota visiting family. While there, she learned so much! She perfected crawling and can now speedily go anywhere around the house. She wasn't used to the carpet at my mom's house, so she had poor rug burned knees while we were there. She also learned how to pull herself up to a standing position, and can stand for quite a while holding on to something. She is just starting to be able to move/take a few steps while standing and holding onto something, like the couch.

Elodie also learned how to play peek-a-boo by herself - she puts clothes/blankets/objects in front of her face to play. She also points to objects, all the time... which is pretty cute. She also consistently says, "a-da" for "a dog." I don't know if this counts for her first word or not, but she definitely recognizes "a-da" - whether it's in person, on TV, or even on Skype.

She also got her top right 2 teeth, so now she has all 4 on top poking through and 2 on the bottom. And she's quite the biter these days!!

We are going to have a big Hello Kitty party for her next month on her birthday. My mom is flying here for it, so we're really excited!! Can't wait to give her cake and let her smash into it. :)

Kagawa Prefecture = UDON!

During the Obon Japanese holiday, we ventured over to the city of Takamatsu, a city located in central Kagawa Prefecture on the island of Shikoku. Normally, this drive would only be about 5 or so hours, but because we decided to drive during the busiest holiday of the year, it took us double that... yep, we were in the car for over 10 hours. NOT FUN!

The Obon holiday is the "Festival of Souls" held each year on August 13th-16th. Obon is a time to pay respect to one's ancestors. Families generally travel back to their hometowns for a 3-day reunion with their relatives and the spirits of the deceased. It's an old Buddhist memorial festival, where people welcome back the spirits by praying at grave-sites and in front of small alters in the family home. Even though that sounds depressing, it's actually a celebrated time where people enjoy the time off of work, and spending time with their families. Lanterns are hung, and people often gather to perform folk-dances called "bon-odori."

Even though we didn't participate in the Obon festivities, we did enjoy our little vacation of traveling in Japan. We spent 2 days in Kagawa Prefecture in the city of Takamatsu, then headed over to the famous Himeji Castle for a day trip on our way to Kobe, where we spent another 2 days.

No one understood why we wanted to go to Takamatsu, "There is nothing to see there!" is the response we usually got from people when we told them that's what we were doing for part of the Obon holiday. We went there for 1 reason, and 1 reason only... to eat UDON!

Udon is my favorite Japanese dish. Japan, and Asian countries in general, have many types of noodle dishes - but udon is very distinct in that the noodles are white, thick, chewy, and made from wheat. The noodles can be served hot or cold, and with hot broths or cold dipping sauces.

The Kagawa prefecture is famous for their udon. There are literally hundreds of udon shops within the city and around the region. I read that many people flock to the city for udon "chain-eating" where they go on tours to just eat udon at the famous shops. And that is exactly what we did.

Kake udon is the most basic variety. The noodles come in a hot dashi and soy-flavored broth. It's topped with green onions.

I had "atsuatsu" which means "hot noodle + hot soup," and Joe had "hiyaatsu" which means "cold soup + hot noodles." Each was topped with green onions and ginger. This was our favorite shop, called Yoshiya.

This udon shop, called Ogataya, was very unique. The soup we had was "hiyahiya" which means "cold soup + cold noodle." But you literally have to prepare it yourself. They bring you the noodles, and then you grind your own radish to put on top, then squeeze a lime over it, add green onions and ginger, then top it with the brown sauce. It had a very strong taste!

These were just 3 of our favorites that we tried. We had it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for 2 days straight... so we were pretty tired of it by the end of the second day. ;)

During the breaks between our eating fest, we did mange to do a couple other activities while in the region. We walked through the famous Ritsurin Koen (park) and also took a ferry over to Megijima Island.

Ritsurin Koen was absolutely stunning. It's considered one of the best gardens in Japan and features ponds, hills, historic trees, and beautiful pavilions. It's nestled next to the mountains, which makes for a beautiful backdrop. You can even enter the teahouses and enjoy tea while sitting on the veranda overlooking the ponds (which we did not do because of Elodie - thought bringing a baby in there would severely disrupt the peacefulness of others, haha, not to mention we both hate Japanese "ocha.").

Sooooo many water lilies.

Beautiful red bridge in the garden.

Stunning views of the park.

I love Japan.

As I mentioned above, we also took a ferry over to the small island of Megijima. Megijima is also known as Ogre Island, because of it's association with the popular Momotaro legend in which a small boy is visiting the island in order to fight its resident ogres. A cave is actually found near Megijima's highest peak, where visitors can go and visit the chambers and view cartoon ogre statues from the story. Unfortunately, it was just too hot to do anything on this island. We had no motivation to venture to the top of a mountain to see some cartoon figures from a story, nor did we have our swimsuits to enjoy the water. Soooo after a quick walk down the beach, we headed back to the city to the nice air-conditioned shops & restaurants.

On the ferry, escaping some major rain brewing over the city.

Statue on the island.

Overall, a great 2 days in Kagawa Prefecture.  But a couple of things to remember for next time we travel in Japan... 1) Never, EVER, travel during Obon, and 2) Never travel during the summer, especially in August - it's a terribly hot month to enjoy anything outdoors.

Up next... our day trip to Himeji Castle & a couple of days in Kobe.