Eh, Tsunami Shhm-unami....

Where do you go when a 7.0 (and 5.0) earthquake hits a couple hundred miles south of you? Drive closer to it and go the beach! Heck yeah!

Okay, so the earthquake hit while we were already on our way there, and now we know what the Japanese guy kept saying over and over again on the loud speaker. But we watched and nobody else was running away screaming, everyone was swimming, so all looked okay. And it was. It was really, really okay! Quite lovely actually.

We spent the first half of our Saturday at "Swimmer's Beach" about an hour south of Misawa.

The beach was lined with great little shacks selling yummy food and beach toys, hats, etc. I went to one to try to buy a shovels and pails for the boys and I was 30 yen (30 cents-ish) short as all of my money was back on the beach and the ladies sold it to me anyway - cause the Japanese are awesome like that. Then, to shove their awesome-ness in my face even more, when I came back later with the 30 yen I was short, they wouldn't take my money, and then gave the boys free french fries. They just had to show off and one up my good deed :)

I tell ya what though, L's blonde hair & blue eyes gets him (and us) REALLY, REALLY far in this country.

Construction House

This was in a separate play area at the Aviation and Science Museum. It was so neat that it deserved it's own post.

Step 1: Load the wall pieces onto the belt, turn the crank and watch it go up the belt and fall into the cart...

Step 2: Wheel the cart around to the crane. Place the wall pieces into the frame on the first story, or fill the basket on the crane and turn a series of cranks until the basket is raised high enough and over the 2nd story, then lower again so one can reach into it, or until your arms fall off, whichever comes first.

Step 3: Complete the walls and roof on the 2nd story.

The first story had the frames in such a way underneath that you could make hallways and separate rooms. I don't know who had more fun with this, me or the boys. Okay, it was me!

Misawa Science & Aviation Museum

What I thought would be a 1 or 2 hour adventure with the boys turned into 4, and I was still dragging them out of there with things left unseen, untouched and unclimbed upon.

And the greatest thing about this place is everything you see should be touched and/or climbed upon. Imagine the Exploratorium in S.F. meets air museum. The boys had so much fun climbing inside of planes and helicopters, learning about wind and centrifugal force, riding in flight simulators and other cool stuff. But hands down - the greatest thing, out of all the great things there, was making butt impressions in the pin screen...

In fact, they boys so enjoyed playing with this that eventually I just sat down and let them go crazy!

Here is some more fun...

M. says... (quotes from my 5 year old)

"Mom, my friend's friend had a friend who went to the beach and saw a vampire. A REAL VAMPIRE MOM! And the vampire ate him!"

The funniest thing ever...

Uncle D. showed this to T. and I when we were visiting him in Portland. We pretty much think it's the most hilarious thing we've ever seen...

There are a couple bad words, just a warning if you have tiny ears wandering around the room!

Where no SANE mom has gone before...

No, I'm not the first mom to drag her two small children to the mall on a shopping mission in a foreign country. Millions have before me. But I feel qualified enough to say that not one of those women was actually in her right mind. And neither was I.

We are driven out of desperation. Desperate for human interaction. Desperate to escape the house. Desperate for silver strappy shoes to wear to a formal dinner just over 24 hours away because the shoes you ordered online took forever to get come in and they Hurt. Like. Hell.

Now, shopping with two kids for recreational purposes is hard enough. Shopping with two kids when you actually really need to find something in particular is an entire different experience.

M is a typical 5 year old and/or male shopper, only interested in doing it if there is something in it for him. If not, he's whining and asking when we can go home. Wow, I wasn't aware the guy mentality kicked in so early.

L is always fun and enjoyable as long as everything is on his "I'm almost two" terms. Let's outline those terms:
1. Absolutely no stroller whatsoever unless I'm exhausted from running and said stroller's tray is full of my favorite snacks.
2. All fabrics must be touched, especially if I choose to be in my stroller with sticky hands, and even more so if there is a possibility of my hand getting stuck in the fabric and broken off.
3. If it has an animal on it, I am allowed to spend as long as I want pointing to the animal and making animal noises. Do Not Rush Me!
4. Shoes are negotiable.

Fully aware - and terrified - of my children's terms I stuffed them into the car and headed off. 20 minutes later and a few small towns over we arrived at the mall.

And then a miracle occured.

L sat in his stroller - and they both managed to follow me around the mall twice, through both stories, with minimal whining, screaming, and grabbing. M was on a silver shoe mission, calling out to me whenever he spotted a silver shoe, be it a toddler's flip-flop or the most hideous boots of all time. We stopped briefly by Kid Vegas (more on that another day) and nobody cried when it was time to go. I found my shoes (paid twice as much as I wanted to for them but oh well) along with other things I needed but figured I'd never ever find.

At lunch the boys ate all of their food (because McDonald's is so hard to eat), never tried to escape, and they even let me enjoy my own yummy Japanese lunch. And all it cost me was two happy meals, and a couple japanese die-cast vehicles that are so cool I actually wanted to buy them for the boys.

So, one pair of fancy shoes, one expensive backless bra, and 6 pretty baskets later we arrived home. Alive. And no more insane than we were when we left. Ready to shop another day!

Psshaw! I'm quitting while I'm ahead.

Here's hoping Japanese bra cup sizes are the same as Americans...

Does Papa make good bbq'd chicken?

See for yourself...