One Last Trip to the Beach

With all the chaos that has happened our summer fun time this year was pretty limited. Usually we would often go to the beach about a 2 hour drive away during summer vacation but not this year.

On a warm autumn day we took one last trip down to the beach of the Boso Peninsula. Still the fear of another tsunami had me planning escape routes as the girls pounced around the seashore. We have taken the children to very few places this year, especially involving the outdoors for obvious reasons. Radiation being another one of them.

The girls love the beach and love the water and it was difficult to keep them from jumping in.  Although they did get their feet quite wet. Afterward we warmed up in Ashi-yu or in other words took a foot bath. 

It felt very nice. Ahhhh I want to go back

Cana enjoying the warm foot bath after walking on the beach.

As this video shows the girls were very excited and I am trying to make sure they are okay, especially Cana who is always trying to keep up.

We ate dinner at the restaurant over looking the ocean and stayed till the evening.  We dined on fresh sushi and shellfish from the water below and counted our blessings as we enoyed the meal and atmosphere.

We are certainly going to miss places like these...

Growing Girls

The girls on the lawn by the outside food area at Costco, Japan

The girls are getting heavy, I carry them to bed sometimes and it really is getting difficult. They do more, eat more and energy seems to be unlimited. Meanwhile mommy and daddy are trying to recover our strength whenever we can get the chance. 

When they play together it feels like heaven, when they are fighting, or annoying one another and making messes it feels like a nightmare. Guess which one we experience more often.

All three girls are at different ages and different stages. It is quite difficult to manage and rarely do we have solo time with them to check on their "progress". The way mommy and daddy treat the group versus one on one is quite different. In a one on one opportunity we either discipline, encourage or instruct and this happens occasionally.  However, most of the time the girls are in the same room and it is somewhat hard to tell whether they are playing together or seperately.  Well unless somebody starts crying and the parents have to once again investigate. They go back and forth freely making a team of three and then two and then playing by themselves. It is like watching some sort of chemical reaction with a lot of energy being released.

The girls playing a pogo stick jumping game at an arcade in Yachiyo, Chiba

Just as they are growing I too feel like I am growing in my capacity as a parent and my understanding of the dynamics of raising children.  Growing children are always learning and teaching each other as well. Even if it is mistaken. Children enjoy teaching each other things and sometimes I have great joy in watching them tell each other stories or teach a song or dance to one another.  And isn`t that what life is all about?

"GROWING"



Cana from baby to little girl

Karaoke is something we try to do from time to time.  The girls love it!

It seems like Cana has been the baby for the longest time.  But recently she is becoming more and more like a little girl.  The fact that I can converse with her and have an actual dialogue even though she is still only 2 years old is still something I am trying to fathom. 

She is in a stage of growth, the once angelic persona is often mixed with tantrums and unexplained crying sessions.  Something is definitely going on inside, something is developing within her. Yet I am still amazed that she will heed our words.  She will put up a fight but it appears she thinks it through and eventually returns with affection. 

Describing Cana one thing I have to say is that she pays close attention to those around her.  She often will pick up on non-verbal cues or even on dialogue and respond by helping or being the first to jump in the bath tub, etc.  Most of the time we rarely have to persuade or ask her to do much.  This is something that the other two do not come by naturally.  Seeing the differences and similarities in my children makes me reflect on the fact that part of me is in them too. 

Am I looking at a part of myself when I look at them?...when I look at Cana?  Of course I would like to take the credit for the good behavior and shun the bad, but the truth is probably the opposite.