Dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving point

One of the things I love about Utah is a kid-friendly atmosphere. Thanks to Mormon culture, you can find a lot of kids almost anywhere you go. Thus, there are many kid attractions. I especially love with education themes. Since I have my cousin visiting this week and my high school friend in two weeks (yes, those are my excuse), I bought a year membership to the Thanksgiving Point. Yuna (children 2 and under are free) and I get to go free, at least till her birthday in April and all guests get half priced admission. Yuna and I are looking forward to spending great year with dinosaurs, farm animals, and beautiful gardens! We welcome all who would like to join the fun! 

Perfect Saturday

8 am: Pick up bountiful basket. We got 2 zucchinis, a cauliflower, a cantaloupe, a lot of tomatoes, bananas, a pineapple, huge potatoes, a bunch of celery, green onions, a cucumber, and lettuce.

8:30 am: Scripture study

9:15 am: dropping the art project to Margaret's friend to take to Las Vegas. 

10am: Skyped with Baba. 

Lest of the morning: David - cooked delicious beef stew. Ayae - preserve all the vegetables by cutting, boiling and packing. Yuna - played independently with books, drawing, going under chairs, singing, and so forth. 

2 hour afternoon nap for Yuna plus 30 minutes of self-talking/singing in the crib till I finally got her. Power nap (20 to 30 minutes) for David and Ayae. 

David - read his stuff.

Ayae - Yoga and harp. 

4:45pm: Yummy beef stew for dinner. 

5:30 pm: Dropped Yuna off at the chapel with babysitters from the ward (they ended up with RS president and her husband). David and I attended temple session in Japanese at the Provo temple. We completed five of my family names. 

9:30 pm: Christian graciously offered to go shopping at Days. So chocolate fudge ice-cream to end the day. 

  

What a great day! 

By the way, the RS president, who watched Yuna today, told me that Yuna was very easy and played independently. She talked how Yuna would just read books when the other kids were watching movies. It was the same with her own kids. So I wasn't surprised when she told me that she usually did not have kids watch TV at home. Her kids are now older (like 8 and 6?) that she sees more creativity than others. I am glad to hear one successful story of no-TV plan, and also we sticked to it, except for special occasions. As a stay-home-mom, I witness this kid turning brighter and funnier each day. What a blessing to be a mother! Lots of love, Yun! 

Manhattan, NY 2013

So, here is a report from NY trip! I flew from SLC to JFK arriving 2:58 pm at terminal 4, where my brother Takuma and his friend, Minekazu, arrived at 2:55 pm from Japan. It took them a little while to go through the custom but we were able to get together without using cell phone at the airport. From there, we took a taxi to my friend Janet's apartment by central park. Her sweet friend, Graceann, welcomed me, showed me around, and walked us to Metropolitan museum, the first sightseeing in NYC! 

So here are some pictures I liked.

Graziella by Jules Joseph Lefebvre

Mada Primavesi by Gustav Klimt

Irises by Vincent van Gogh

The Four Trees by Claude Monet

Water Lilies 

The Martyr by Auguste Rodin

Special Rock project.

Buddha Dipankara. 

This smile resembles with my grandma in Kanagawa Japan. She's got perfect smile like this Buddha. Love my grandma. 

The Guggenheim museum by Frank Lloyd Wright.

And, Italian restaurant, Gina's, to celebrate the first day of NYC! 

Preschool playground

Just an ordinary playground by our house but the playground with cousins make it super fun! 

Oh, Margaret, I WISH your family lived in Provo. 

家の裏にある学校の庭園。いとこと一緒だと100倍楽しくなってしまう(^^)

義理姉の家族、ユタに住んでたら、もっと頻繁に遊べて楽しいのに〜(>_<)

Taking a walk at BYU

No, this is more of taking a rest at BYU. 

We went to the travel agency at BYU and bought a ticket to NYC. My first time to NY. I have a mix feeling of worry and excitement. Just like the one when I first came to America, the beautiful island Hawaii. Although my NY trip is just 4 days, I want to be well prepared to have a lot of fun!! My research for a fun NY trip begins now. 

Birthday Week

Our little Yuna turned 2 years old. That was a big mark for us. Even airlines recognize 2 years old as big boys/girls that they start charging them for full price. (Yes, we just paid another $900 for Yuna to fly back to the States with us this summer.) But there is more joy that she actually speaks sentences (in Japanese).

Starting on Sunday (her actual birthday was on Friday), Yuna had an amazing week.


On Sunday the 14th, a neighbor friend brought her a cake. He spelled "ユーナ(Yuna)" with strawberries. How sweet!

On Tuesday,  she had her friends over.

Presents from Aunt Ikuyo.

Birthday Sushi from Sushi teacher.

She also received "swim lessons" and "music lessons" for birthday presents. She had many many birthday wishes and was proud to be two years old.

And, of course, more cakes!

名古屋弁デビュー?! Debute for Nagoya dialect

My mom found two books for Yuna; a princess book and a pictorial book for dogs. We puickly learned she was not interested in princesses but dogs. She then picked up how to say "so cute" in Nagoya dialect in Japanese.

母が持って来た２つの本：お姫様の本と犬の図鑑。もちろん気に入ったのは犬の図鑑。そして、覚えたのは半名古屋弁「めちゃかわいいやん！」これで、「でら」を言うようになったら．．．

昨日は高校の友達が来てくれました。Friend from high school.

学んだ事：オーガニックナプキン。もちろんだけど、普通の使い捨てナプキンは薬が入っていて、それが、粘膜を通して体に吸収されちゃうから、生理痛をひどくしたりするらしい。生理痛がオーガニックナプキンに変えてから軽くなったという声も多々あるとか。。。試してみる価値ありかも♪

Things learned: Organic napkins. I knew about cloth diapers vs. disposable diapers. But this never came to my mind. My friend told me that the chemicals used for napkins as well as diapers can be absorbed through mucous membrane into our body, which will lead to painful menestral periods. She said hers became much lighter after changing napkins to organic ones. It will also create better environment for future babies as well. This motivated me not only try it for myself but also seriously start thinking about toilet training for Yuna.

The toilet training will probably start after coming back from Hokkaido trip next weekend.