Snow?

Does anyone still ready this thing? Geez - whoever owns this blog is really a slacker...

Ok, but really - it finally stopped snowing. Yes, SNOWING! The pups thought we were back in Alaska - who'd have thought that it would snow in Japan (except of on Fuji of course). BTW, nobody here knows how to drive in the snow :)

e were supposed to have a race on the first day of the snow - that didn't happen :)

Throw the frisbee Mom!

Kisses for EVERYONE!

Will Smith

Okay, so it's been a while... Hope that everyone had a great Christmas! Not a lot going on here - Christmas was good. We got a special visit a few weeks ago. Will Smith came to promote his new movie. Enjoy the pictures!

Fish for your Food

So we went with my office friends out for dinner last weekend and fished for our food - crazy huh! You pay a lot of money and still have to do the work ;) It was a great time and we had so much food we practically had to be rolled out of the resturant! Enjoy the pictures!

They have a "Ship" in the resturant from which you fish off the deck or from the windows.

Not quite the same as Alaska - but still fun! And not so cold...

Ah, the fearless fishermen.

Miss Me?

Sorry guys, things here have been so crazy. I promise - you're not missing much of the Smith's in Tokyo, considering I've been working 60-70 hr weeks! There is an end in sight though - the new director gets here at the end of the month, so hopefully I'll get my life back :)

In the mean time, I have been able to sneak away to my culture group meetings. Check out me in a kimono! Our Japanese counterparts took us to a formal tea ceremony and dressed us up. We felt like little kids. I have to say, I have a new perspective on why the Japanese have squatty potties - I can't imagine going to the bathroom, let alone breathing, in one of these things for very long. Not to mention getting ready for your day hours in advance! Enjoy the pictures, miss you all. Anyone coming to visit anytime soon? ;) (right...)

Marathon Pictures

Okay, it's been 3 days since the marathon and we are both feeling pretty good - not to mention not waddling any more! Here are some pics :)

Pre-race photo of the girls. There were actually 32 of us from our running club that went.

Where but Tokyo do you have to take a subway to the starting line???

Running with a few other people (25000). Did I mention it was raining? We all looked really sexy in our ponchos! Note, the starting line is nowhere in sight from this point. It took 12 mins to get there.

One of the shrines along the way.

There were drummers on the course for entertainment, but they had to take shelter from the rain.

Post Race calm.

We Finished!

We Finished! I’m happy to report that we both finished the marathon and can still walk :) In spite of the pouring down rain, the marathon went well. There were over 30,000 runners – it was crazy! I took a disposable camera with me and should have the pictures back tomorrow. I’ll post them as soon as possible. Miss you all!

Countdown

15 Days Until the TOKYO MARATHON!!! Me, nervous???? Maybe...no...yes... yep, pretty much. I can't believe that in two weeks we will be trying to run 26 miles - all at once. I plan to run with a camera, so I'll post pictures when we're done :)

Snow?

We couldn't believe it - we had snow flurries today!!! We were setting up all day for a race that our base is putting on tomorrow, so naturally, since the race is outside, it had to snow... It's pretty much the coldest that it has been since we got here. Crazy, huh!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Have you missed us? Sorry, our blog site was broken for a while. Patrick got it fixed for me, so now I can talk to everyone again :)

Christmas in Tokyo is very interesting. Not being primarily Christian, they are just now starting to celebrate the holiday. They have Santa, decorate trees, play music and buy each other presents. They just don’t celebrate the religion behind it. It’s more like a celebration leading up to the New Year.

Patrick was TDY for a few weeks in between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It was a really hard trip… to Hawaii… we don’t feel sorry for him. By the time he got home, it was a few days before Christmas and I hadn’t had time to get out our tree. Last year we had a pre-lit 9ft tree in our large living room. This year, the though of getting out our old 6ft tree, which has seen it’s better day, didn’t really appeal to us. Instead, the day before Christmas we found a small 3ft tree that fits much better in our whopping 980sqft home.

Christmas was good and everything else is going well. Patrick is still training for the Tokyo Marathon, which is in 53 days. I’m on the injured/reserve list, unfortunately. I still intend to run, but we’ll see if my knee will let me. I’ve developed “runner’s knee” – the cure for which is simply not running…yeah right. Patrick is still doing great and I know he’s going to do really well in the marathon :)

That’s it for now, hope everyone has a great new year!!!

Mission: Grand-dog Retrieval

Hi Everyone! I’m on my way to Texas to get our cute ‘little puppy” dogs – when last we had the dogs, we dropped them off in Houston after our quick exit from Alaska. They have loved being at my in-laws house and we have reports that Mr. Man has lost 10 POUNDS – which we are chalking up to chasing squirrels, pacing the fence with the dogs next door, and a cooling hair cut :)

(The 'kids' helping with our last minute garage sale)

After all of the craziness involved in preparing to export dogs, I'm hoping that everything goes smooth from here. I’ll let you know how things fare on the trip home. I am routing through San Francisco with high hopes of getting to see the dogs on my layover. Wish us luck!