Transportation Park

We visited the transportation park which is along Tsujido beach. Vicky used her new camera for the first time. The park is fun - it has transportation-themed activities for kids and a transportation museum. Plus, grass, walkways, play structures, etc. like a regular park. It also has a big water park, but that's closed for the season.
http://picasaweb.google.com/grout7/TransportationPark#

Dante's Photos

Dante's Christmas Day Photos
http://picasaweb.google.com/grout7/DanteSPhotosOnChristmas#

Prepping for Santa

Dante is checking how to spell Santa Claus - his mom wrote it out for him to copy.

Three more photos here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/grout7/PreppingForSanta#

Merry Christmas!

In Japan, they play Chrismas music in all the stores for a month, but they don't get the day off work. So, our Christmas in Japan will be on Saturday, when I can stay home.
The Tree Set is from D2. It came with all the decorations - glass balls, garland, bows, gold-painted pine cones, 30 blinking lights, little wrapped boxes, a big bow for the top, a Merry Christmas sign, and a packet of cotton (for a snow effect). About $22. I put on the lights and Dante did everything else. I didn't give him the cotton, 'cause I thought it was lame.
Vicky doesn't have the same idea I do that the tree isn't complete until there is a pile of presents under it. I guess she wants them all to show up on Christmas Eve at midnight.
For Christmas dinner, Vicky's having sushi, Dante is having his favorite pasta (carbonara), and I'm having adzuki-bean filled pastries. Maybe I'll get some KFC, too. When in Rome . . .

Nunchaku Like Michelangelo

7 photos of Dante's "ninja" class.
http://picasaweb.google.com/grout7/DanteKarate#

Bang!

I had a car accident yesterday. Some guy turned right right in front of me. He couldn't see me coming because of small trucks going my way waiting to turn right. I slammed on the brakes, but couldn't stop. Scraped my bumper pretty good and damaged the corner of his bumper.
He was a friendly retired guy, but he didn't speak a word of English. We babbled at each other for a while, and I called the folks at work to bail me out. Takamura-san and Ishikawa-san came to where I was. They arrived not long after the police.
I don't really know what the police thought about the accident. They told me to drive slower and Takamura-san said everything was alright.
Ironically, I was only driving the car to work that day to return it to the rental company for its annual inspection. So, I had to get a new car anyway. I joked that I didn't have to tell my wife, since I would be driving a new car home, anyway. But, I called her and told her the story. She told Dante, and he asked, "Is Papa going to jail?" I think he was rather hopeful that I would go to jail - I'm not sure why.

Mark's Commute to Work

http://picasaweb.google.com/grout7/MarkSCommuteToWork#