Operation Tanuki Town

Our mission should we choose to accept it was to infiltrate the town, view pottery made in one of six ancient kilns in Japan, purchase a tanuki statue and return home. The main objective of the mission would to be the purchasing of the tanuki statue. We had to go to the source. We were bound for Tanuki Town. In the middle of Shiga is a town that crafts the majority of the tanuki statues that are seen in Japan. The name of the town is Shigaraki. Shigaraki is a tiny little town that is situated out in the middle of nowhere. We did our research and planned the best route to the town. This trip would take a total of six train rides, three there and three home. We did not encounter any problems until we went to board the third train of the morning. It should not have been a complicated procedure. We needed to get off the train, exit the terminal, buy a ticket for a new train line, and head off to Shigaraki. It should have been easy. But as it seems, nothing is ever simple.

We exited the JR line and proceeded to the other train line. There was no ticket machine so I walked up to the window and asked for two tickets to Shigaraki. The gentleman on the other side of the glass responded by crossing his forearms into an X and speaking far too rapidly in Japanese for my ears to comprehend. As he did this, his comrade began to point toward the other side of the station and motioned in an arc. All in all I understood the meaning perfectly. We were in the wrong place. This was not the train line that traveled to Shigaraki. That line was somewhere “over there”. Now all we had to do was to locate the third train company that operated out of this tiny station. This proved to be a tricky proposition. By the time we finally located the hidden entrance to the needed train line we found that we had missed the train by two minutes.

On the up side we had located the hidden entrance, but now we were left to entertain ourselves for one hour in the middle of nowhere. So we did the only thing that seemed reasonable. We went to Seven-Eleven. Convenience stores here sell all manner of treats and we walked out with a box of chocolates called “Melty Kiss”, an apple Kit-Kat, and some rice balls filled with tuna salad. We hoofed it back to the train station and we sat on a bench eating our lunch.

Finally the appointed hour came and we went to board the train bound for Shigaraki. The train was one of the smallest trains we have ridden. It was a total of two cars long. We found a seat in the back car and prepared for a trip through the countryside. I thought it very interesting that I found the ride on this quaint little train to be more romantic than the ride we took in Kyoto that was billed as a romantic train ride. I was impressed by the myriad of fall colors that we could see as the train winded its way through the valleys of the Shiga countryside. The blazing yellows, reds and oranges that covered the hills and low mountains were striking and beautiful. It made me realize that I will always long to be near the mountains. I enjoyed watching the track drift off in the distance as the train progressed. The majestic view and tranquil country almost made up for having to wait to ride the train.

We arrived in the town of Shigaraki and were immediately greeted by the largest statue of tanuki I have ever seen. It made me laugh when I looked at his midsection and sitting in the middle of his tummy was a pay phone. It could have been worse and have sat a bit lower. That is not a phone I would like to place calls from.

Our first destination after arriving at the Shigaraki Station was the ceramic institute and museum. We were lucky that we found a giant map of the town and plotted our course. The walk to the institute was about a mile. It was a very pleasant day and the weather could not have been any better for a nice long walk. We finally reached the ceramic institute and took the opportunity to look around and admire the beautiful pottery creations made by some talented artists. It was a cross between a gallery and a museum. The art created was stunning. There was a vast array of styles. Some of the artists created cutesy knick-knacks, while others produced pieces of abstract modern art. We opted not to tour the actual museum because the price was too high for our liking. We also took some time to tour the grounds of the institute. The campus is situated on a very large hill that afforded an awesome view of the fall colors found in rural Japan.

The afternoon was beginning to wane and it was time to move on. We still had to find and purchase the perfect tanuki statue. This would not be a little decision. On our walk to the ceramic institute we had passed not fewer than ten large shops that displayed hundreds of tanuki statues each. We would have thousands of statues to choose from. We found the perfect one after much browsing and searching. I hope to one day set outside the front door of our home. Carrying the wrapped statue under my arm because it was too large to fit in the backpack we headed back to the train station. The sight of a very picturesque and vacant shrine just off the main road distracted us. We took advantage of the opportunity and entered the shrine to take in the sights.

In doing so we missed the only train out of town. Once again we found our selves stranded in a tiny little town in the middle of nowhere. This time the length of time we had before the next train was an hour and a half. We started to look around for someplace to eat dinner. Not far from the station was a sukiyaki restaurant that looked delicious, but at almost sixty dollars a person it seemed too dear for us. There was another restaurant next door, but the sounds of off key karaoke coming through the walls deterred us from entering. We were left with only one reasonable choice. Once again we would go to Seven-Eleven. This time we left with a snack. I had a can of hot coffee and a sandwich; Jenny had a bottle of hot milk tea and a box of milk cake. We wandered back to the station where we ate our food in quiet solitude until the stationmaster approached us and said that it would be okay to board the train that had arrived forty-five minutes before departure.

We rode the train back to Omihachiman and walked to the only restaurant still open at eight-thirty in the evening: McDonalds. We stumbled through the front door wearing and exhausted from our day of being stranded in small town Japan. We had to laugh that we headed off to a small town and found ourselves spending time in two small towns. It made us realize how fortunate we are to be located in Omihachiman. Our city is a fair size, not too big, not too small. Omihachiman station has trains that depart on a very regular basis. We find life and traveling to be convenient and simple.

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Sukiyaki Thanksgiving

Thursday was Thanksgiving. It did not feel like a real Thanksgiving though. There was no turkey, no mashed potatoes, no big family gathering, and worst of all, no pumpkin pie. Equipped with the knowledge that anything we did would not make for a true holiday feast we decided on patronizing a new restaurant. There were several restaurants on our list. We were not sure which one would fit the bill. Whatever choice we made it had to fit three criteria: first, it must be someplace we had never been. Second it needed to be close to our home. Last and most important it must not be named McDonalds. We had to cross most off the list at the last minute due to rain and our own lack of willingness to walk great distances with water falling from the clouds.

The list was narrowed down to three choices. We could visit a local Italian restaurant called Prema Prema, a Japanese restaurant near Logan’s school or we could stay home and scrape together a meager supper. Staying home was the wild card. About midday dark clouds began rolling across the sky, and soon after that a cold rain started to fall. The thought of trudging across town in a cold and dreary rain made staying at home seem more and more like a viable option.

However, eating spaghetti made with bland sauce from a bag, and garlic bread fashioned from slices of white bread spread with butter and sprinkled with what remains of our dwindling garlic supplies would never be an acceptable holiday meal. Our minds were made up. We would trek to the restaurant closest to home. That restaurant happens to be Prema Prema.

We geared up for a walk in the rain. Logan put on his raincoat. We grabbed our umbrellas, and set off. But we would not eat at Prema Prema that night.

They were closed. We stood in front of the door. The rain beat a soft pitter-patter on our umbrellas. I looked at the dark restaurant. Then I looked over at Jenny and said, “I think they are closed.”

She glared back at me with a wry grin and said, “What makes you think that Mr. Wizard? Is it the fact that it is pitch dark in there? Or is it the fact that there aren’t any people inside.”

“Nope.” I replied tugging on the door handle, “The door won’t open.”

It was about a two block walk to the Japanese restaurant near Logan’s school so the trip did not take long. We did not exactly know what type of food they served or if we would be able to order anything on the menu. Japanese restaurants are generally very helpful to people who can not read the words on the menu. In the front window of the shop there are plastic models of the food served in the establishment. Before we decided to go we had never bothered to look at the window to see what kind of food they served. It turns out that they were an upscale udon restaurant. Udon is a type of noodle served in a thin broth. The udon noodle is very thick and the broth is sweet. It is a very popular dish here in Japan, but it is not my favorite. I think that the udon noodle is mushy and the broth is too sweet, but that is my personal opinion. Even though we do not particularly care for udon we decided to go ahead and eat dinner at the restaurant. We saw in the foyer that there was a stone grinding wheel to make the flower for the noodles, and farther in the restaurant we could see where the noodles were made fresh everyday.

The hostess ushered us back to our own private room where we sat on the floor around a low table. We had taken plenty of time to stare at the offerings in the window and had made some preliminary choices for our dinner. I wanted to try the sukiyaki udon, and Jenny was leaning toward something that looked a lot like nabe. I ordered the sukiyaki udon and Jenny ended up choosing the tempura and sushi set that came with a big bowl of udon soup. Logan wanted the Thomas kid’s meal. A few minutes after ordering we were brought our food on giant serving trays. Jenny’s came first. The tray contained a large bowl of udon, a plate with six pieces of sushi on it, and a dish of tempura. Tempura is a type of deep frying. Tempura refers more to the batter used to coat the food than anything else. Tempura batter is delicate, sweet, bread like, and delicious. Next, out came Logan’s food. He had a hamburger patty, a piece of fried chicken, two fried shrimp, some french-fries, rice, and a cup of chocolate mousse. My dinner came last. On my tray there were three bowls.

In the first bowl there was rice. In the second bowl there was a raw egg. In the last bowl there was the sukiyaki udon. Sukiyaki is similar to nabe. Beef and vegetables are cooked in a pot with a sauce. The sauce for sukiyaki is made up of soy sauce, sake, and sugar. It is very delicious. The beef, vegetables, and tofu are placed into the sauce and cooked, and in my case there were udon noodles too. This is when the raw egg comes into play. I used my chopsticks to beat the egg until it was thoroughly mixed. Then I pulled out a slice of cooked beef and dipped it into the raw egg. After going into the raw egg the beef made a short trip into my mouth. This process was done with all the contents of the sukiyaki.

Jenny and I swapped food halfway through. We both agreed that the sukiyaki was the better of the two meals. Logan ate his slowly. Not because he was enjoying every bite more because we were eating in a new location and he was overwhelmed. I must admit that the udon at the restaurant was the best that we have ever eaten and probably will ever eat. We ate until we were stuffed in the spirit of the holiday that it was. After all that is what Thanksgiving is all about. Sitting back and shoveling massive amounts of food into your belly while being surrounded by turkeys. Now if only we could have found a decent pumpkin pie in this country Thanksgiving would have been complete. I guess some things will have to wait until next year.

Nabe+Drinking=Fun

Last Wednesday night was a staff dinner party with the teachers at my grade level. About once a month the second grade teachers all gather together for dinner. To say that this was a dinner party is misleading, it happened more like this.

On the Friday prior I came into work and found a note on my desk. The note read, “We will have a drinking (crossed out) nabe party on Wednesday. Please check with your wife.” It is hard to say if the drinking was crossed out to be polite or so that I could check with my wife about dinner without mentioning the drinking. I was verbally reminded about the party and how much fun it would be to drink some alcohol together. It was a subtle hint and reminder that I had not been out drinking with them in quite some time. I checked with Jenny and she confirmed that it would be cool for me to go out with the people I work with in my day to day.

So on Wednesday evening I set off to find the nabe restaurant. It was easy to find, as it was the same location as when we had the first drinking, er... nabe party there. It is hard for me to believe that it is a functioning eatery. The place is a bit run down. In order to describe it best I will borrow a term from my students in Grand Rapids. The place was “broke down.” It is situated in between two railroad tracks so that every twenty minutes or so there is a train going by on one side or the other. I found a spot to park my bike outside which was a sticky wicket as the front of the restaurant was situated along a busy street, so I propped my bike up along the wall hoping it would not be carried away by a train. I entered and was greeted by the oldest restaurateur I have ever met. He must have been approaching eighty and the restaurant he tended must be in the exact same condition as when his father handed him the reigns. I would not be at all surprised to learn that the eatery predates the train line. The room I was ushered to was as dilapidated as the rest of the location. In the corner of the room was a large screen that at one time featured a majestic painting of a large eagle. Today, however, that eagle appears to have undergone drastic surgery. Large portions of the fabric are being held together with pieces of bright white medical tape. But I suppose that the condition of the building has little bearing on the deliciousness of the food. And the nabe at this place is supposed to be some of the best around

Nabe is a complex dish that requires throwing a bunch of vegetables and chicken in a pot of broth and allowing it to cook. It is the broth that makes it special. There is a lot of garlic in it. I happen to love garlic and will put lots of it into just about everything I eat which makes nabe a thing of beauty. Sitting at the bottom of the pot are four or five giant cloves of garlic. The broth is then brought to a boil then the chunks of chicken are thrown in along with bok choy cabbage, mushrooms, carrot, tofu and chicken meatballs. Once the meat is cooked thoroughly it is scooped out and placed in a bowl and eaten. It is delicious. The best part is that it tastes great with a nice cold glass of beer. Then again what food doesn’t taste better when accompanied with a nice cold lager? We ate all of the food including some pork that one of the teachers had brought from the grocery store. The pork is used to make a dish called shabushabu. Shabushabu is very similar to nabe. I picked up a thin slice of pork with my chopsticks and dipped it into the boiling broth and swished it around until it was cooked. When it was cooked I ate it.

We talked, ate, laughed, drank, and ate some more. When all of the veggies and meat were gone it was time to make the rice. Cooked rice it added to the broth along with a couple of beaten raw eggs and some chopped green onions. The rice, egg and broth mixture is allowed to cook until the egg is done. Then it is all scooped out and placed into a bowl and eaten. My favorite part of eating the rice is getting one of the big cloves of garlic in my bowl.

The entire time the eating is going on the beer is flowing like wine. Well in a way. You must never pour a beer for yourself, it is considered rude to do so. So when you need a refill you grab the bottle and fill up your neighbor’s glass and they, in turn, do the same in return. Well this leads to one seldom having an empty glass, which makes it difficult to gauge how much you have consumed. When this happens the most reliable method is to judge how fast the room is spinning. If you find it hard to stand then you turn your glass upside down. This gets tricky when you are drinking sake because the bottom of a sake glass is just a smaller cup and people will continue to fill it. I, how ever made an early evening of it leaving before the sake even came out. I retired about nine and was home tucked safely in my spinning bed around nine thirty.

Birthday Party at Ren-kun's House

We followed up the Friday night birthday fun with some Saturday daytime birthday fun. Logan’s friend Shigeru was having a birthday party in conjunction with some other children from Logan’s class, and he invited Logan to be one of the guests. We met Shigeru and his mother in our parking lot and waited for a ride to the party. The party would be held at the home of another member of Logan’s class. We arrived at Ren’s house, where the party was being held, in a matter of minutes. It would not have been at all difficult to walk there, but I am glad that we got a ride because I do not think that I could have found the house without an excellent map.

Logan had a great time playing with his friends. In all there were about eight children there ranging in age from not yet born to four. They played with Ren’s massive collection of toys for about an hour. All this time the adults were trying to figure out what to talk about. The common theme of the morning was silence. Ren’s Dad stayed and visited for a short time before he had to go to work. Other than that I was the only man there. We sat and talked a little but mostly watched the kids play. Then the magic thing that brings all people together came out. No, not that! Food.

Ren’s Mom began to bring out plate after plate of food. There were sandwiches and fried chicken. My favorite though was the big giant bowl of sushi. Now this was not ordinary sushi it was a special type of sushi called chirashizushi, and Ren’s Mom had gotten up at five in the morning to prepare it. Chirashizushi is sushi that is all mixed up. The rice is prepared and mixed with long strands of scrambled egg, seaweed, and little tiny fish that are almost too small to see. It is a very special and very delicious type of sushi that is usually served in the spring for the Hina doll festival. We were also fortunate enough to eat some authentic Chinese gyoza. Shigeru mother and father are Chinese, and his mother made some delicious steamed pork wontons. It was a lot of fun to eat our fill of the delicious food.

We enjoyed the lunch and the kids went back to playing. It was time for after lunch karaoke. Ren had a little keyboard with a microphone. The children took turns sitting at the toy piano and playing while another would sing into the microphone. Ren was quite a rock star. He really had a good time singing, and he was dressed the part too. He had the glam rock look down pat. He had decked himself out in a pink barrette and a bright pink headband. Logan tickled the ivories while his front man Ren belted out the tunes. He was just a little eyeliner short of being David Bowie’s Iggy Stardust. Logan and his friends had a great time. They did not seem quite satisfied however. There was something missing from this birthday party.

Then that which was missing was found, and out came the cake. It was a simple cake with white frosting and strawberries on top. I was a bit shocked and delighted when I was asked to cut the cake.
I was horrified however that they wanted me to carve it up before singing Happy Birthday. I lead a rousing rendition dedicated to “everyone” then I sliced the cake into twelve portions. We devoured the cake. I think that the cake was the first homemade cake that did not come out of a rice cooker; we have had in a little over a year. And a delicious cake it was. I ate my entire piece and some of Logan’s piece too, as he was more interested in playing with his friends than in eating cake. Not too long after cake we made a graceful exit and soon found ourselves in the loving confines of our own home.

Always trying to find a way to escape the prison of our own four walls we soon found ourselves making our way to the local Starbucks. It is a bit amazing but it was Jenny who made the suggestion. We were sitting in our chilly apartment when she suddenly exclaimed, “I think a nice hot latte would be nice.” Me never being one to pass up an opportunity to drink a nice latte; I was up and standing at the door with my coat on as my answer. I figured that actions speak louder than words. So off we trooped to the one Starbucks in Omihachiman. I drank a gingerbread latte and Jenny had a crème brulee. Logan shared whichever one he could get his hands on. We sat and joked about our day and how much fun we had as we sipped our coffee. Once again the day ended with a nice cup of Joe. Perfect.

Otanjobi Omedeto means Happy Birthday

“Happy Birthday to You! Happy Birthday to You! Happy Birthday deeeeaaarrrr Jeeeennnny! Happy Birthday to You!!!!!” This is possibly the best song that gets sung only once a year. Now I realize that the song gets sung over and over through out the year, but each person really only gets it sung to them once a year. Friday we got to sing it to my beautiful wife Jenny. Yes on Friday, November 16 my wife turned 24. She was very excited for the big day and kept asking about her present. But I told her that she would have to wait to find out.

We started the evening by going to the store to pick up some necessary supplies. First we had to purchase some gifts for a birthday party on Saturday. Then it was downstairs to get the fixin’s for fajitas. We grabbed onions, peppers, corn chips and some beef. We were all set for fajita fun. Now all we needed was a birthday cake.

We walked down to the Andenken Bakery. Jenny had to pick out her birthday cake from an amazing array of delicious deserts. She chose a white cake covered in fruit. They even offered to write Happy Birthday on it. The real shock, for them, came when we asked if they could write it in Japanese. I am fairly sure that her jaw almost hit the floor. Then she asked again in broken English if we wanted “Happy Birthday” written in English. We assured her that we wanted “おたんじょび　おめでと” written on the cake. She gave us a worried look and hurried off to write our message. At this point we were all prepared for an evening of bacchanalian birthday fun.

We walked on home and started cooking Jenny’s birthday dinner. We had all we needed to make some marvelous Mexican food. We created a spread of foods that was quite impressive. We had steak, onion and pepper fajitas, guacamole, real cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato, sour cream, and plenty of tortillas. It was a feast and we enjoyed each morsel of it. We then finished the meal with a big slice of birthday cake.

Then it was time to open present. Well, yes there was only one present to open. Logan and I bought a jigsaw puzzle for Jenny featuring characters from the movie “My Neighbor Totoro.” I know it doesn’t seem like much of a gift, but Logan and I wrapped each of the one thousand pieces separately. It took quite a bit of effort on her part to open the gift, and when done this way it sure seemed like she got a lot of presents. Now all she has to do is assemble the puzzle, which she spent some time doing that evening.

七五三

I suppose when your three year old son asks, “What are we going to do today Kevin?” The best answer is not “The same thing we do everyday Logan. Try to take over the world.” I say this only because at the age of three children should be expected to set and meet attainable goals. Conquering the world at such an age may just be too lofty a goal for one so small. And if we did manage to do so would he really know what to do with such great power? No, one so young should not rise so high so early. Instead we set our mind to conquering kindergarten, and that is just what we did on Thursday morning. It was a perfect start to our Shichi-Go-San celebration.

Shichi-Go-San is a festival celebrated by families who have young children ages seven, five and three. In fact that is what the name of the festival means, seven, five, three. It is a minor festival that families seem to celebrate individually. Families with a child aged three, five or seven will go to a Shinto Shrine to pray for the health, safety and happiness of their child. Sometimes the child is dressed in a traditional kimono while other times the child is dressed in their best suit of clothes. What we have seen here is that girls tend to be dressed in an elaborately beautiful kimono; while boys tend to wear more western clothing like slacks and a sweater, or a suit. While at the shrine the family will pray for their child and perhaps have the priest say a prayer of blessing over the child. The child will then be given special candy to commemorate the day.

I have wanted to visit Logan’s school and Thursday was the perfect opportunity. I had already taken the day off of work in order to celebrate the shichi-go-san holiday and now I would be able to go and watch him play at school too. We walked to school together in the morning. Logan led the way holding my hand much of the way. We got to school and Logan began by putting all of his school things in their proper places. Then he began to play with his friends. He started the day by playing house with some of the other boys and girls. They all had a great time bringing plates and cups over to me from the kitchen. I would then ask them, “Kore wa nan desu ka?” (what’s this?) They would then tell me, cake, sushi, tea or whatever it was that I was eating or drinking. I thought that it was hilarious when I asked one of the boys what was in the cup he just handed me and he replied, “Biru.” (beer) My personal inclination was that maybe ten o’clock in the morning was still a tad early to be drinking a beer, not to mention the fact that we were at school. But I drank it non the less and I even told him that it was delicious. We continued to play house with students bringing me food and me asking what it was then eating it. They brought such peculiarities as lemon juice, orange beer and corn soup. We played until it was clean up time.

Next we all had to gather for circle time. I can not decide if the sound of twenty-five preschoolers screaming/singing is cute or horrific. Right now I am leaning toward cute because hearing all of those little tykes belting out the Anpanman March was enough to bring a smile to my face. The kiddies sang two or three songs. Jenny and I watched while three of Logan’s friends all jockeyed for position trying to sit next to him. They would move their chair to be right next to his. Then when they got up to sing another student would come and move the first chair out of the way and place their chair next to Logan. It was quite comical to see them moving the competition out of the circle only to have their chair moved in turn.

After circle time it was time to head off to banana room for a special nutrition presentation. We got to learn all about the three food groups and how they work together to give us plenty of energy to play and have fun at school. What? Did I misspeak? You did not know that there were only three food groups? Alas, yes here in Japan there are only three food groups. There is the fruit and veggie group, the dairy and meat group, and there is the grain and rice group. I thought that there was another too, but I was wrong. The teachers had a story about pigs that ran out of energy because they did not eat a balanced diet. Now when Logan needs a bit of convincing to eat his veggies we remind him about the pigs that did not have enough energy to play at school. This usually does the trick and he responds with a healthy, “That’s OK I’m at home now. I’ll just take a nap.”

After the nutrition presentation it was time to go outside and play on the playground. We had a lot of fun playing. The children all wanted to show me all the fun things that they have to play with on the playground. We first went over to the sandbox where they taught me how to dig in the sand. Then it was off to climb on the jungle gym. There were many shouts of, “Rogan no Otto-san kochira wa” (Logan’s dad over here) We climbed, ran, dug and swang all over that playground. I then went over to where there was a group of kids playing in the sand and I ordered a couple of hamburgers and a coke from their “restaurant.” They had a great time making food for me. Kids would come running across the playground with a plate of sand to bring me a piece of “cake.” We had a great time playing and I especially enjoyed meeting Logan’s teacher and all of the boys and girls in his class.

After school we decided to go and get some lunch. We decided that as it was a nice day that we would get some boxed lunches and go and eat picnic style. We walked to our favorite bento shop and ordered. We then wandered toward the mountain. We found a nice spot near the canal at the base of the mountain to eat our lunch. It was a great spot to eat our food. The weather was pleasant and the view was nice. The leaves on the trees along the canal are just starting to change color so we were able to appreciate the fall colors as we ate.

After lunch we headed off to Hachiman-jingu. The shrine was all prepared for the Shichi-go-san celebration. They had placed an inflatable Anpanman, Baikinman, and Dokinchan near the Shrine to encourage families to come to the shrine for the festival. Logan and I went up to the shrine to say a prayer and ring the giant bell. I took a moment to pray for Logan’s health and happiness. Then we went down to the information booth where we got some chitoseame. Chitoseame is thousand year candy. Thousand year candy is given to children on shichigosan because it is believed to ensure long life. The package is decorated with a crane and a turtle which are both symbols of long life here in Japan. We opted not to have the priest say a blessing over Logan because we learned that the blessing would cost about fifty dollars. It was actually one of our Japanese friends who said that she thought that the price was very expensive.

We decided to cap off our fun day with a piece of cake. We went over to a cake shop near the shrine for a couple of pieces of cake. We got a caramel cake and green tea desert and went outside to eat. Jenny walked over to the vending machine and bought a nice hot bottle of milk tea and we sat on top of a rock wall eating our cake and drinking tea. It made me laugh when we were in the cake shop ordering cake Logan had said that he did not want any cake and that he was full. When we got outside and Jenny and I were eating. Logan suddenly decided that he did want some cake after all. I found it comical that he was so matter of fact about the idea that he did not want cake. Then the words came out of his mouth once we were outside and eating, “I do. I do want some cake.”

We walked home and spent the rest of the afternoon resting and enjoying the time together. We had a good day and the day made me eternally grateful for my family. Watching Logan play with his friends was a lot of fun. It made me glad to see him act like a little boy. At one point when he was at school he was using the hose to fill a tub of water when he moved the steam of water and got his friend’s shoe wet. I noticed it happen and I made him turn off the water. He then had to apologize and set her shoes in the sun to dry. Though I was not happy that he had gotten her shoe wet it did make me glad that he is learning to get along with others. He did need me to help him apologize to the little girl, but once he did she was not so mad at him any more. I am glad that we took the opportunity to go and celebrate 七五三. We had a good time and I pray that my little boy will have a long and happy life.


七　shichi　(seven)
五　go (five)
三 san (three)