Luke turns 9

Luke's only birthday request was that he got to spend the entire day with Jane.  That was a good and easy birthday wish to fulfill.   Schedule that day was:

- crepe breakfast in bed
- went to the gym with the Wilsons, Batemans and Johnsons for some kickball.  Luke and Jane played kickball for awhile and then ended up in the hallway talking solemnly  about how they are both moving away and how sad they are they won't live next to each other anymore.  They talked for a long time about it.  I wish I could have heard their conversation.
- came home  - brought Jane, Malan, Olivia and Emme.  They all end up outside playing a game of hacking up the ice that had frozen in our little sand table.  Luke had a giant pick-axe and was hacking at the ice with all his might.  Looked fun.  I went to go get "the ice worker's song" from Frozen to blast on the block rocker but I couldn't get it figured out in time - story of my life.  Always with the technological problems.  But they had a lot of fun playing with the ice outside.  When they got any special icicles - they would run them in and put them in the freezer.
- Luke and Jane played Minecraft and Malan directed a jungle play upstairs with the little girls.  They made green paper vines hanging from the ceiling and she wrote her own music.
-  Then we went to Lucy's holiday piano recital at the church.  Luke's "cake" was a tower of ice cream sandwiches at the recital - they were a hit.
- We got home and Luke, Jane and Malan went off on the go-cart to watch a "Grumpy Cat" Christmas movie and spend the night in the tree house with dad.   The little girls stayed here to watch Shimmer and Shine and have a sleepover in the living room.
Ah - and I forgot that on his birthday eve - we started what will maybe be a new tradition.  We let him come in our bed and snuggle with us while Joey and I told him all about the night he was born.  We told him about the umbilical chord wrapped around his ankle - like he was bungee jumping into the world and ended up watching bungee jumping videos online.  It was great.
He got an awesome headlamp from Grandma Songer, he bought Pokemon Moon for his DS with Grandma Hale's money and he got a Minecraft Stop Motion Movie Creator from the Wilsons that he and Jane have made many, many movies with.

luke9 from katiehale on Vimeo.

So, kinda lame footage but maybe someday he'll want to know what he was like on his 9th birthday - so there it is.

Luke - let me tell you what you are like right now (well from your mother's perspective).  You have a heart of gold kiddo.  Anytime I need you, like REALLY need you, you come through every. single. time.  When you sense I'm out of commission for some reason or another - you rise to your calling as the oldest child and help get ba-bas and sippies and breakfast for everyone.  You get all your work done and help everyone else.  And you shine with pride knowing you've done a good thing.
You are at a stage right now where you have a lot of pent up energy that escapes you through high-pitched, repetitive noises and impulsive throwing of couch pillows. :)  Dad is realizing what his own dad went through when he was your age.   You get out a lot of this energy by jumping on the trampoline and running your track of back and forth from the front door to the back door.
You definitely love learning and are always fascinated with something whether it be Egyptian hieroglyphics or glaciers or microscopes but mostly it's dad's science lessons.  Those are your favorite.  With the exception of dad's science lessons - you prefer learning independently through books and YouTube videos and not being talked to.   So I let you do that a lot and then you teach me - - which I love.
You are funny and likeable - especially with your peers.  You make friends quickly and are a thoughtful and good friend and look out for others' interests.  Now, adults, on the other hand - when adults talk to you there is always a delay of a few seconds before you respond.  It's like you have to force yourself to answer their questions.
You are a wonderful and caring brother.  You let Lucy play Minecraft and Pokemon with you (and have recently taught Maryanne too) and you think Freddy is hilarious and let him beat you up with whatever weapon he has.  But you sure hate for anyone to go in your room and so you keep the door closed at all times.  You like to keep it really clean and hate for Freddy to come in and get into your stuff.
You are intense so when you get frustrated - the world knows about it.  Some things come really easy for you (like retaining information you've ever heard or read) and some things (like learning a new physical job or skill) don't.  And when it doesn't - it's hard for you.  But you are willing to do it because you want to do the right thing.  And that is my favorite thing about you - you always want to and try your best to do the right thing.  Like I said, heart of gold.
You are a talented comic writer and write and draw some really funny stuff.  And I love that you still love your mom and even let me pick you up sometimes and hug you so tight.  You're a good kid.  We're glad you're around.  Happy 9 years of Luke!

(party post here)

Japan - -Day 7 - last day

I rolled out of bed Saturday morning with some urging from Joey and went to Lisa's Zumba class in my pajamas.  She is a phenomenal teacher and did a good job waking me up with her jammin tunes and jumping moves.   I really enjoyed it. 

At one point she had us all facing each other doing a fighty dance-off.  It was funny to use our mean, competitive faces against these sweet Japanese ladies.  But they held their own.   Good work out and fun to see Lisa in her element.  (and Mike can totally hang - you can tell he's a regular supporter of his wife)

We ran over to Rupungi Hills tower for our 4th and final fail at seeing Mt. Fuji, and then to Harajuku again for some last minute shopping.  We loved the shop we found and bought tons of stuff for our kids and their caretakers.  And then stopped off for some of their famous crepes.

 Then we were off to India... uh, I mean Yokohama... to celebrate Dewali at an Indian festival and watch Lisa dance with her bollywood troop.  It was a blast.  We ate yummy indian food from tents and then got to see Lisa dance.  Afterwards they did a ceremonial lighting dance and where they lit candles and carried lighted pots.  

IMG 4610 from katiehale on Vimeo.

Next we ate at Genki Sushi - the perfect ending to a perfect trip.

They didn't have 6 seats together so Mike and Joey sat together across the restaurant.  Our group was definitely less courageous.  Joey and Mike are so alike in their adventurous eating and ate the most exotic things they could find.

But the 4 of us sure had fun.  Lisa was a hoot this night.  What a fun sissy-in-law.  

sushi silliness...

genkisushi from katiehale on Vimeo.

So - that was the end of our trip!

Here are some things we noticed about Japan:

- No garbage cans
- If you ask for directions they put their life on hold and run down hallways to make sure you get what you need.
- Hot drink vending machines!
- Drink vending machines EVERYWHERE
- Toilets - sink on back of toilet, bidets, "music" buttons that sound like running water or other pleasant sounds to hide your unpleasant sounds. :)
- watching people at train stations give us our tickets.  Almost ceremonial.  So precise and serious.
- Lots of old people out hiking and playing disc golf
- Ofuro - the whole room is a shower chamber
-  You can be in a big crowd and have it be very quiet.  Unless they are drunk.
- Parenting  - they seem to really enjoy their children
Mike said they send their kids out on their own doing an errand when they are really small.  They come back with a feeling of accomplishment. 
-  Men work a lot later and more hours

 A couple of Mike's favorite drinks.  Because he was under the weather - he really liked the lemon honey hot drink.  

 And if we ever bought anything on accident that had tea or coffee in it - we'd give it Troy.  Eventually he started saying in a resigned voice, "Troy will drink it"  haha. 

And here are a few fun signs we enjoyed. 

And that's a wrap.  Good trip, good food, good company.   Turns out - we are glad we did it.

Japan - Day 6

October 14, 2016

We woke up in our quaint little hostel and the boys ran to get pastries while Vic and I took showers and watched funny SNL skits on her phone.  Here's a very flattering picture of us all eating pastries and I think watching something on someone's phone.

Our first stop was Sanjusangen-do - a Buddhist temple.   There wasn't the beautiful grounds or anything like some of the other temples - it was just a big, long building.  The temple name means hall with thirty three spaces (between the columns), describing the architecture of the long main hall of the temple.

It is the longest, wooden building in Japan.

This might be my favorite place we went to though - I don't know I just loved it.  It's overwhelmingly impressive.  I remembered loving this from my previous trips too.  You walk in and see this -

Kannon gods for dayzzz....
There are one thousand life-size statues of the "Thousand Armed Kannon" with 28 stone guardian deities in front.  The Kannon statues are made of Japanese cypress covered in gold leaf. They stand on both the right and left sides of a huge seated Kannon in the middle of the hall - so 500 statues (10 rows of 50) on each side.  At first you think they are all the same but it's so fun to just stare at all these statues and see all their differences.  And to see their arms and all the things in their hands.    The temple was finished in 1146 but in 1249 a huge fire burned up most of them and so 124 statues are from the original temple and the rest were redone (can you imagine!) in the 13th century.  I just really loved it all.

A closer look at the Thousand Armed Kannon (not really 1000 arms but it just mean infinite arms.  I think there were 20 on each side and 4 main arms so 44 arms).

Then it was time for lunch.  After our disappointing dinner, we were determined to have a good lunch (it would be our last meal in Kyoto).  We found a place with good reviews, Tiger Gyoza Hall.    It was a long bike ride away, but we were determined to make it.  All in all, it turned out to be worth the effort.  On our way, we accidentally passed through the Nishiki Market, which on its own was worth the ride and visit.  Nishiki Market was several blocks long, and contained the strangest foods you could imagine.  Lots of fish, octopus and squid on a stick, and sparrow on a stick (we did not stop to eat).

It was such a crazy place and so crowded - not the best place to ride bikes through - but definitely fun to see.


Tiger Gyoza Hall did not disappoint.  The Gyoza was outstanding and my yakisoba with cloud ear mushrooms was so yummy and Joey loved his ramen.

Here's a few video clips of bike riding.   One is in some small streets and then one by the canal.  And I'm really glad that Mike or I didn't crash while taking these videos. :)


Kyotobiking from katiehale on Vimeo.

Next, we returned the bikes, and grabbed a train to KinkaKu-Ji (the “Golden Pavilion).   We almost didn't go here because we were pressed for time but I really wanted everyone to see it.  They ended up loving it and it was actually Joey's favorite.  The golden pavilion itself was awesome but the grounds were just gorgeous and so lovely and relaxing to walk around and take it all in.  We all took so many pictures. 

 

tossing some coins in a bowl - because it's Mike Malmborg and he can find a way to play a game wherever he is.

Next we took a very crowded bus (I think Troy was having some claustrophobia) to a train station to go to the bamboo forest.  Tough guys waiting for a train.

 Here we are peacefully smiling - little did we know that M&V's backpack WITH their PASSPORTS are in the rack above us about to be LEFT ON THE TRAIN! 

We had accidentally gone to a wrong station (trying to outsmart google) and it was actually cool because we got to see a beautiful canyon. Anyway - we jumped back on the train and it was empty (a rare thing) and so Mike threw his backpack up on the rack and we all took a seat for the 2 min ride.  When we got off - Mike said "Vic- our backpack!"  And panic set in.  Passports!   We tried our best to communicate with the sweet train attendant lady.  And she totally saved the day.   Between her broken english and my broken japanese - she realized what had happened and frantically called and they somehow tracked down the backpack and had it waiting for them at kyoto station.   Such a miracle!  Vic & Mike loved this lady and found a new love and gratitude for Japan's honesty.   Joey, Troy and I stayed to take a peek at the forest - although it was pretty dark and we didn't stay long.  But on our way out they had me take a picture of their new friend.

grainy pic of bamboo forest

on the way out - this teacher and her kids stopped us and asked us a bunch of questions in english to practice their english - it was so cute.  Then they wanted to take a picture with us.

And this ended our Kyoto trip.  We got tickets on the shinkansen back to Tokyo.  It was nice to just sit on that smooth and beautiful train and relax.  Mike let me listen to Hamilton on his phone - which blew my mind.

Mike Hale picked us up from the train station and took us straight to eat one of his favorite things - Doner Kebabs.  Joey has talked about these kababs with awe and hushed tones ever since.  I think these might have been his favorite thing in Japan - but really - it was basically a whole week of favorite food ever whether it was japanese, indian, french or turkish.

I asked if we could drive by the Tokyo temple on our way home.  It was so good to see that temple.  So many blessed memories of that place.   Couldn't get pictures because it was way too dark but here's one from the internet.

So with kebabs in our tummies, kyoto adventures in our hearts and our passports safely in our bags - we went back to our Tokyo Halesies house and fell fast asleep.  :)

Japan - Day 5

Day 5 - 10/13/2016

We woke up bright and early to catch our shinkansen (bullet train) to our waiting adventure in Kyoto.  This is the old capital of Japan before Tokyo.  It was Japan's capital from 794 to 1869 so it's also known as the thousand-year capital.  And we got to take a crazy fast train going over 180 mph to get there!

 M&V forgot their passports to exchange their rail passes and so they raced back to M&L's house in a taxi to get them and still were actually only one train behind us.  We were impressed with their speediness and also their cool-headedness in dealing with a traveling crisis.  So kudos to them.  We had just enough time to scout out this great place to rent bikes before they caught up with us.

 Oh our bikes!  We loved riding around all together exploring Kyoto.  It was the perfect way to travel and totally made me feel like a missionary again.

While riding the shinkansen - Joey had strategically mapped out our plans  so we could get the most out of our Kyoto trip.  So we hopped on our bikes and were off to our first stop.... Nijo Castle

The caste was surrounded by a moat and wall.  Inside the perimeter walls was another moat with a smaller island containing additional buildings. The castle had really impressive buildings and beautiful grounds.  {The next lovely pictures were taken by the photog extraordinaire - Victoria Malmborg.}

The highlight of Nijo Castle were the “nightingale floors.”  These were specially engineered floors that created a high pitched squeak when stepped on.  It sounded like bird’s chirping.  The Shogun created the floors that way so he could hear anyone coming.  It was fun to hear the music created by the many visitors walking the halls.   (we got to walk through the main castle without shoes and hear the floors but couldn't take pictures inside the castle)

Joey and Mike got the guided tour with headphones and then gave us the readers digest version.  Here is some Nijo history brought to you by Joey:  "Nijo Castle was the Kyoto home of the Tokugawa shogunate  (tokugawa = family name, shogunate = dynasty of shoguns).  Shoguns were feudal military leaders as opposed to emperors that ruled Japan at other times. The Tokugawa shogunate was the longest ruling shogunate, in power for over 250 years  starting in 1600 until the Meiji restoration, the modern emperor family of Japan. Nijo castle was kind of a vacation home since the Tokugawa shogunate's main residence was Edo (Tokyo). "

these guys

 Next we took a long bike ride and along the way saw some cool and random things... like wrestlers picking up cars - stuff like that.

And Joey took us along the scenic route where we didn't have to dodge as many people.

We chugged up a mountain as best we could on our little bikes, found parking for them, hiked a little more up a narrow, people-filled, shop-filled street until we got to our second stop - Kiyomizu Dera. 

we are standing on the balcony of the main temple with the spring water below us

 Here's a pano Joes took us on the balcony.

History corner with Joes; Kiyomizu temple is a giant temple complex built on a mountainside. In the 700s a monk in Nara, a city to the south, had a dream about a magic spring and where to find it. When he found it, there was an old man there who gave him a block of wood and told him to carve a statue. The statue was enshrined at the spring and the temple was founded. It became a major pilgrimage site where many came to drink the water that gave long life. Kiyomizu means pure water, an apt name. It is now known that this spring is an artesian well with water coming from 4000 feet below the ground where there is a crack in the fault. What was once a waterfall is now channeled through a stone shrine that splits the stream into three cascades that pass overhead as you walk through the shrine. You can choose to drink from one of the streams that offer health, wealth or beauty.  The central attraction of the spring is surrounded by a sprawling  temple complex that beautifully frames this special site. 

We weren't really sure if it was health, wealth and beauty but if it is...  looks like Joey got health

 Troy - Health,  Mike - Beauty

And I can't tell which stream Vic is drinking from - but let's give her wealth.  

mmmm - health tastes so good

It was getting dark and they were closing but we ran over to this cool little pagoda (the one you can see across form the main temple in the other pictures)   We got to see this and an amazing night view of Kyoto before they kicked us out. 

We had a fun ride down the mountain on our bikes.  By this point we were pretty hungry and needed to stop and eat.  Joey found this little joint and got to try tacoyaki - which were on his japanese food bucket list.  It's little pieces of octopus in the middle of a pancake ball - which happened to be hot lava and burned our mouths.  Joey liked them and it's a good thing because he had to eat them all. :)

We didn't know where to eat so just picked this random place across from the tacoyaki.  It was our culinary fail of our Japan trip.  (actually my tempura was good but nobody else liked their food)  The dude stuck us back in this private little room and then I swear he totally forgot about us.  We kept having to go out and remind him we were there.  It took us over an hour to get our food that wasn't good.  (but honestly it was nice to have a place to rest and hang out)  But - yeah, not sure why we are smiling because we weren't impressed.

  When we passed it the next day I made everyone stop and get a picture of how they really felt about this place.

Next we got to do some night hiking at Fushimi Inari Taisha. It is famous for its thousands of torii gates, which straddle a network of trails behind its main buildings. The trails lead into the wooded forest of the sacred Mount Inari.  Inari is the god of rice ... so kind of a big deal.  His messenger is the fox so we got to see lots of fox statues.  It was really fun to be hiking around late at night under these lit up gates. 

We made it about half way up the mountain.  We would have liked to go to the top but realized how late it was and how tired and jet-lagged we all were and decided to head back down.  

We took a train to our bikes and our bikes to our hostel - Costa Del Sol.  It was an awesome hostel - we slept on futons and it had the traditional tatami mats and sliding shoji doors.   This was probably my favorite night in Japan.   We shared a room with Vic and Mike and it was so fun to have a sleepover and just hang out in our little japanese hostel.  We had a prayer and fell asleep to each other singing songs from our missions. 

pic taken by troy the next morning

It was a very special and memorable night.