Pay It Forward

I spent a much-needed weekend away from home this past weekend. I will go ahead and say it:  it was an awesome time. It was the first time I've ever been away from all three of my kids and my husband at the same time. On top of that, I spent the weekend in one of my favorite places--Seattle. What made this weekend particularly special, however, was the reason for which I made the trip. 

A year and a half ago, my mother passed away suddenly. (Some of you know she was already dying of cancer, but her actual cause of death was congestive heart failure and a massive heart attack caused by the cancer drug Herceptin.) I say suddenly, but the final twenty or so hours of her life were particularly painful and difficult. Through it all, there was one person by her side, right up until she breathed her last breath. (My sister was also there for her last few hours.) This friend had driven from Seattle to Logan a few days previous for the sole purpose of caring for her during that round of chemotherapy. She was the one who broke the news to me of my mom's dire situation. She didn't leave town until after the funeral, at which she gave the most beautiful memorial to my mom.

Her name was Yuko Johnson, and she passed away last week after her own years-long battle with cancer. She was one of the most impressive people I have ever known. She is the reason I went to Seattle this weekend. I said this past weekend was awesome. It may be strange to say that of a funeral weekend, but it just was. 

When I arrived in Seattle, Yuko's husband and daughter welcomed me into their home and we had a very nice and heartfelt visit. Chris's family, of course, was there, and Yuko's friends came and went as the day wore on. I have known Yuko for twenty or so years, and it was absolutely lovely to learn about Yuko from people who knew her even longer and from other times and places of her life. I enjoyed visiting with Tia, her daughter, and being able to recognize the many things she must have picked up from her mother. The one thing that impressed me the most was that there were so many people in the world who absolutely loved this woman. She was a true friend to all these people. I won't go into a lot of detail about Yuko's life, but I can attest that it was a particularly full and dynamic one.

I wish I could have given her a big hug before she left. I suppose that I will get my chance someday. 

By the time it was time for me to return home, I was refreshed and ready to face my crazy life again. I also had a heart full of gratitude--that I had Yuko for a friend, that I was able to meet and make friends with so many of her friends, and that I have her as a teacher and example. Heck, I was grateful for being able to travel so far away, even if it meant having to submit to a full body search at airport security because I absolutely refuse to go through the full-body scanner. 

Here are some photos from the weekend. I searched all my digital photos for anything with Yuko in it, but I had nothing, unfortunately. This is Yuko's sweet mother-in-law and some of her friends. One traveled all the way from Germany. The tall girl in the middle is Yuko's daughter who just returned from and LDS mission. (She also has a son who is currently serving a mission in Brazil.) We made Japanese curry for lunch. Delicious food, warm company, lovely lunch.

This is at her graveside service. I was so glad and honored to be invited. Yuko's daughter is on the far left, and the rest of us are friends from all over the world.

I know that I am now refreshed and can better do my day job on a basic level. I hope to be a better wife, mother, sister, and person. Yuko, I hope to be a bit more like you.

Mata au hi made.

Birthday Card

Dear Mom,

Happy 61st Birthday! I don't know if birthdays from this life count where you are now, but I am thinking of you all the same. Maki is, too. So is Jessica. We miss you.

Love,
Katie

Found My Camera

Blog title says it all.

My bro participated in a charity event. Fundraiser for the Denver Adult Down Syndrome Clinic, which is an essential part of his life right now. My brother is the bomb, apparently.

 Here he is with some Denver Broncos cheerleaders, and below with none other than Miss Colorado.

Here he is with some Denver Nuggets dancers. He was pretty busy that evening, as he was also part of the main entertainment. Some of the clients of the organization put together some dance numbers and performed them. The best, though, was that Maki danced with all of these very nice, lovely ladies that evening. It was fun!





A couple of years ago, I enrolled Ellie in ballet classes. After a few months, I realized it was a total bust. She was not loving it, to say the least. I gave her a year off and now we are back at it. Here is the first day of ballet (and tap and tumbling) lessons, part II. We hope it sticks this time.

This child can't not pose for a photo.

A week later, school started. It was a very exciting day, since it was Ellie's first day of kindergarten.

I had to throw these in here, just to balance things out.

Unfortunately, for this date and time, this is all I could get of this guy. Hey, at least he's wearing pants!

Waiting for the bus. I'm only partially joking when I say that I selected the kids' elementary school based on the fact that the bus will take them to school. (I can be one lazy mama!)

Have a good day at school!

Despite the fact that I grew up where I grew up, I am one who makes a point of staying away from nature as much as possible. (Not quite as bad as Monk, but I definitely sympathize with his position.) I believe that there is such thing as too much nature, and that threshold isn't very high.

Today, however, we made a short trip into nature--the Garden of the Gods, to be exact. It was, of course, beautiful. Despite the intense heat, it was a fun and worthwhile family activity. It was made even more worthwhile afterwards when we went to Rudy's for lunch/dinner. Yum....mmm....

It was a good day. It's been a good summer. I don't think I'm ready for it to be over.

Filler

Dear World,

I have been a terrible blogger. At this point, I don't think I can even call myself a blogger. (Which begs the question, what is the definition of a real blogger, anyway? But this is not a topic for this particular blog.) I rarely post. Currently, I have left off part III of a 3-part series on my family's vacation that we took in May. I will repeat, I am a terrible blogger.

My current excuse for not keeping up is that we recently purchased a new computer. While I am loving this change (we are now converted Mac users), it has turned my world upside down. Not just learning to use the Mac, but transferring files, etc. (Thanks Dr. Doctor Dirty!) Add to that, the fact that I hate the camera that I currently own, and if you know me, you know that if I have taken a dislike to anything, it's bad news for that item. In this case, it means that (a) I can't find the stinkin' device; and (b) even if I had the stinkin' thing in hand right now, it might not make a difference because it hasn't been working due to some possible abuse it has experienced at my hands. (I mentioned that I have taken a dislike to this thing, right?)

Anyway, the newest photos are not currently accessible. I apologize. Here is a cute photo just to keep you reading. (Old file photo.)

That reminds me, I need to deep clean my kitchen. Well, my house, really. But then, what's the point? I have 3 kids, the oldest of whom is 5 years old, the middle of whom is 3 years old and has a Y chromosome (if you have a child with a Y chromosome, you know the implications), and the youngest, of whom is as much trouble as 2 or 3 of the middle child. Youngest of said children doesn't even have a Y chromosome. Oh, and she bites.

To continue with the futility of cleaning my house--Judd is in the process of potty training. Long story short, the world is his potty. More specifically, my hardwood floors are his personal toilet. (Clorox is currently my best friend.) If you know my son, you are currently thinking, "I can see that." Personally, I would just have him stay in diapers because potty training is the pits. (Second only to breast feeding, in my opinion. Le Leche League, please refrain from commenting, ever, on this website.) However, I have 2 major motivators driving this thing:  (1) 3-year-old child poop really stinks and (2) he starts preschool in a couple of weeks. I'm up against a deadline here. (In case you're wondering, Jake still holds his breath when he changes the kids' diapers.

Anyway, here's to hoping that my next blog post is all about the Chuck-e-Cheese potty training victory party. Oh, and here is my message to the world about potty training:

Makers of toddler underpants, please make them so the picture is in the FRONT. If the picture is not in the FRONT, my child has to wear his underpants backwards so the picture will be in FRONT. He has a very difficult wedgie he futilely adjusts all day long because he has to have the picture in FRONT. Thank you.

Here is another gratuitous photo:

Because I am a terrible blogger, this is all for now. I promise to one day finish my travelogue. I really need to find my camera, upload the photos, and break the stinkin' thing for good.

In case you're wondering, that is the same cabinet the kids are playing in. Currently, all three kids disappear into that cabinet on a daily basis. I need to get a photo of that. Where is that stinkin' camera?

Tribute

It's almost Father's Day, and I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to my mother. Late, I know, but I was not able to do this on Mother's Day. Please indulge me.

The photo is of her when she was about my age, maybe younger. This is one of the many ways I remember her. At this age, she was vibrant and full of life. A terrible cook, though. I used to dread meal times. Don't worry, she got better at it. By the time I was a teenager, I actually looked forward to her meals.



On our recent trip to Japan, I found myself buying and eating things just because they were things that reminded me of my mother. I found, also, that that was something some of her friends did also. My mom had a real sweet tooth. She loved Japanese sweets that were filled with or made with anko (sweet bean paste).

I credit my mom with many things in my life. Here are a few:

+ I'm a pretty decent piano player. My mom sacrificed to make sure I got my lessons. (We didn't have disposable cash when I was a kid.) She also didn't give me a choice about the matter, and I'm glad for that. I think of her every time I sit at a piano.

+ My tastes in food. I like salty things and sweet things. Oh, and spicy things. Basically, the kinds of foods she preferred, I prefer.

+ The confidence to do the things that I've done. Many things that I have done, I did because she said I could do it. I guess that's a mom's job, right?

The list could go on and on.

It's been a little over a year since she died, and I still think about her all the time. I think I still miss her as much as I did a year ago, but it doesn't hurt nearly so much. Ellie still remembers her vividly. It's amazing the things she recalls--like the park they used to walk to every day the summer that she lived with us.

I just wanted to say "thanks, mom, wherever you are," on this not-Mother's Day.

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The Journey, Part 2

Here we are, at week two of our fabulous Japan vacation--finally. We headed back to Tokyo via shinkansen (bullet train) and reunited with my brother. Incidentally, he had fattened up nicely since I had seen him last. An entire week of eating whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted had taken its toll.

We were able to visit my grandmother for Mother's Day. The kids actually had a great time at my grandma's place.


Here's Ellie posing with her namesake. She is named after my Aunt Sumie, who is my mom's younger sister.



Ohaka-Mairi (Grave-Visiting)

Something that I was thrilled to be able to do was visit my grandfather's grave. He passed away ten days before my mother did last year. It was a very interesting experience.

Here is my aunt cleaning the grave stone. Every stone in the cemetery was sparkly clean. It was beautiful and impressive. The stone is actually the marker for an entire family. So far, my grandfather's ashes are the only ones in this grave, but it is intended for the entire family.




My family's crest. Each family has one.




Here is the fruit of my aunt's labors. Pretty cool, huh?




Tokyo Disney Sea

We went to Disneyland. The truth is, Disneyland was a major factor in our dicision to go to Japan. For one, it is incredibly convenient to go to Disneyland in Japan, particularly if you are staying in the Tokyo area. So you just have to go. We actually guaged whether we would go to Japan based on whether Disneyland was going to re-open after the earthquake and tsunami. They re-opened about a week before we went, and Disney Sea re-opened the first week we were there. It was perfect.

Also, making our experience awesome was the fact that there were very few people there the day we went. We didn't have to wait in line, and we were able to see all the shows we wanted to see.

If you're wondering what Disney Sea is, it is a Disney theme park based on the ocean. It is quite fun, and definitely unique to Japan. (We skipped Tokyo Disneyland for this trip and opted to do one day only at Disney Sea.)

We went with some of my family's lifelong friends, the Sawaguchis. Yoshiko-obasan (Aunt Yoshiko) was my mom's best friend in junior high school, and they have been very close ever since. She has three children, one of whom is two weeks older than I. We've been friends, literally, since birth. Her name is Nahomi. She has a daughter, Sora, who is six months younger than my Ellie. But Judd decided she was his girlfriend. He still talks about her all the time.

Here's Yoshiko-obasan trying to reign in my son.





Ellie, Judd, and Sora hanging out with Pinocchio and Jiminy Cricket.




I have no idea who this parrot-looking thing is supposed to be, but here's the crew again.




All in all, an awesome day. Perfect weather, no lines, great friends, lots of fun!

Lost in Tokyo

The Big Event of the trip happened when we came back to our apartments after Disney Sea. Easily one of the worst nights of my life.

By the time we reached Ueno Station (major Tokyo train station), Ellie was asleep and Jake had to carry her. Luella was in her stroller, and Judd was walking alongside. Jake, being tired from carrying Ellie all the way from Disneyland, went ahead of us and rushed to the apartment. I told Maki to go with Jake, so he went ahead, too. That left Lorraine, Judd, Luella, and me. It took us some time to get to the apartment because we had to carry the stroller down several staircases just to get out of the train station.

When we were almost to the apartment, Jake met us on the street, and we were chatting as we continued on our way. Jake said, "Where's Maki?"

I thought he was joking. He wasn't. My gut sank to my feet. Almost immediately, Jake went off in search of my brother. We agreed that Lorraine would stay with the kids and then I would head out to search.

As I was walking back toward the train station, I realized that there was no way we were going to find my lost brother in the middle of metropolitan Tokyo. No way. Oh, and by the way, this was about 10:30-11:00 pm.

Before I left the apartment, Lorraine had showed me on a map where the police station was. As I approached the train station, I ran into Jake who had basically circumnavigated a whole section of the train station. No Maki. I told him that we needed to go to the police. We went to the police station.

There was almost no one in the police station, despite it being one of the major stations in the city. (Lowest crime rate in the world, in case you didn't know.) A receptionist took our report and got an APB out. He sent me back to the apartment to look around that area and also to stay put so he could find me if he needed to. He sent Jake out to keep looking.

Just as I was entering the apartment building, I got a phone call. The police had found Maki. I was to return to the police station so they could take us to where he was. (Where had he gone that we needed a ride to get him?)

It turned out that he was at a satellite police station, a 15-minute ride by car. One of the police officers thought it would have taken 45 minutes, at least, for Maki to have ended up where he did. They said that someone found him in the street, crying. Fortunately, that person had called the police, which happened to be right around the time the APB went out.

After filing reports, many thank-yous, etc., we finally arrived at our apartments after midnight. It was a bad night. But, lots of prayers answered. Thank you, Tokyo Metropolitan Police. Thank you, Aunt Rainey.

In the interest of space, time, and not boring you, the reader, to death, we shall continue this travelogue at a different time. Stay tuned!

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The Journey, Part 1

It finally happened. We went. It was pretty much a last-minute decision, and motivated largely by a desire to not see a mountain of money get flushed down the toilet.

Which is to say, we went to Japan. We got back two weeks ago, so my blogging today is actually quite timely on my part. On April 30, we got up sometime in the 3:00 am hour, packed our kids and Maki into the SW, and headed to the airport to catch a 6:40 am flight. INSANE! There, we met up with our fearless travel companion, Jake's aunt Lorraine. She has traveled to Japan with us before.

3-hour flight to Los Angeles, then a few hours layover, which turned into several hours layover, then a complete ditch of the first airplane in favor of the "spare" airplane. Jake and I reminisced about our first trip to Japan together. It involved an emergency landing on an Air Force Base. But that is a different story.

Here is Big Bro getting excited about his big trip in L.A.




Here's Little Buddy being the complete punk that he is. He loved watching the big airplanes, though.




This is the airplane bassinet. Luella didn't really like it, but I sure did.



After the flight from hell, we landed in Tokyo (Narita). The airplane or airline is not to blame on this one. You should try traveling with three kids, ages 5 years, 2 years, and 11 months, on a 12 hour flight. Also, with an adult to keep track of. I will stop complaining here--if I don't, this posting will be all about how we should never ever ever travel with children. Ever. Ever.

We handed off my brother to my dear aunt, and we headed to our hotel. (My aunt took care of Maki for the first week.)

We had planned to spend our first week in Osaka, so after one night in the fine city of Narita, we hopped on a bullet train for Western Japan.

Here's half our crew in the shinkansen. Judd thought it was awesome.



Osaka

I have been to Osaka once. It was eleven years ago, and I went there for the sole purpose of going to Universal Studios. It was very hot, and we left quite early because of that. This would be my first real trip there.

Osaka has an aquarium that is supposed to be one of the world's best. We went there. I should also mention at this point, that our first week in Japan was what is called "Golden Week" because it is a week that has a handful of national holidays. Most people will just take the entire week off to travel. Thus, tourist attractions are insanely crowded during this week.

That is what the aquarium was like. Insanely crowded. (Sorry, no photos from inside the aquarium--way too many people. You don't know crowded until you've seen a crowd in Japan!) We managed to work through the crowd, though, and we did see some pretty cool things there.

This is at a fountain in front of the aquarium. In case you haven't noticed, Judd doesn't pose for photos. I guess Luella doesn't either.




This is at the mall next to the aquarium. This is an old fashioned truck--I think probably a food-delivery truck.




To be quite honest we used Osaka as more as a base for our excursions through Western Japan. For example, we took a day trip to Nara, one of the ancient capitals of Japan. This is another place I had never been. The big attraction for us here was Nara park, which is home to various gardens, temples, 200 or so tame deer, and a giant Buddha. Oh, and the largest wooden structure in the world.

This is a real, live, breathing deer. They were everywhere.




Five-storey pagoda.




Beautiful cherry blossom tree.




Beautiful garden.




Largest wooden structure in the world (Todai-ji). It is only 2/3 of its original size. This thing was enormous. You don't get a sense of its size unless you see it in person. It houses the giant Buddha.



I love giant Buddhas. I don't know why. I think they are really cool. I've seen the one in Kamakura several times, but I understand that this one is bigger.




This is the interior of the building. On the opposite side, almost across from this scary looking statue, is one of these huge wooden support posts. It has a hole cut out of the bottom of it, just big enough for a child or a small adult to crawl through. The legend is that if you can crawl through the hole, you are guaranteed enlightenment. (Incidently, the hole is the same size as one of the giant Buddha's nostrils.)



So, of course, my kids had to do it. Even if we had to wait in line for 45 minutes.

On Jake's birthday, which also happens to be Children's Day in Japan, we went to Kobe. So, of course, we had to have...Kobe Beef!




Isn't this beautiful!? We definitely splurged on this one!




It was a Happy Birthday treat for sure!

We spent one day at the Osaka-jo Koen (Osaka Castle Park). It's a huge park surrounding Osaka Castle. No, we did not visit the castle. After visiting the previous sites, we realized that such a historical wonder would be utterly wasted on the kids. So we did this instead. It turned out to be a good thing.




That wraps up our time in Western Japan. More to come later. For videos, please see my Facebook page. (I haven't figured out how to upload videos to Blogger via iPad yet.)

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As Promised...

Here it is, weeks after my last post here, and finally posting details of our Utah trip. It was just yesterday that I figured out the finer points of blogging on my iPad, particularly, posting photos. (My kids can operate this thing better than I can.) Here are some fun details:

My brother got a burger. We don't eat a lot of burgers with fries and soft drink around home, so he was happy as a tween girl at a Bieber concert.



Burger courtesy of LaBeau's, Logan, Utah. Check my food blog for details.

Cousins!




Maki letting loose.




The weather was crazy while we were there. Sun, rain, snow. We put flowers on my mom's grave. It was super snowy and then it got sunny. Kind of like the day of her funeral. The kids wouldn't stay in the car, despite the half-foot of snow.




Don't forget the obligatory McDonald's on the road.






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