Time with Grandma & Grandpa

Adriana was lucky enough to spend a few days just with Grandma and Grandpa! She had fun with them while we spent a few days touring Tokyo. Thanks mom and dad for doing that so we could have more flexibility in such a large city.

Adriana had a great time and did quite a bit. Here is what Grandma wrote about it. 

Monday:

Adriana went with Grandma and Grandpa to Kushiro to take all the equipment for the new Sister’s Apartment.  She was such a great traveler and helped a lot on the apartment: helped Grandpa put shelves together, helped grandma sew the curtains (shortening them), she washed and dried the new dishes and put them away.  She also enjoyed drawing on the packing cardboard and sitting on the deck in the sunshine.  The first night we were caught in a Typhoon from Tokyo and it rained and rained and we had to go out in it to eat and get curtains and book cases and etc.  As we were coming back to the Hotel, after walking through a lot of water and the wind about blowing us away, Adriana said to Grandma, “I think I should have gone to Tokyo!!!”.  At that point we all wished we’d gone to Tokyo!!!  Grandma and Grandpa had a great time with her and she was so good all the time.

Tuesday:

We finished fixing up the apartment and then drove the 5 hours back to Sapporo.  That morning for breakfast,  Adriana had two orders of pancakes at McDonalds!!!

Wednesday:

Adriana went to Bicuri Donkey with grandma and grandpa for lunch for a sister’s birthday.  She ate two plates of rice and loved it!  In the afternoon Ayaka (a neighbor) and her mother, Miho came down and we did a lot of origami and the girls played with a paper balloon and had such a great time.  That night Grandma and Grandpa had a welcome dinner at the mission home so Adriana went up to Ayaka’s apartment and played and had such a wonderful time that she didn’t want to leave when Grandma came back for her. They had really treated her royally.

Origami with Ayaka

At the hotel

McDonalds

Helping get the apartment ready for the new missionaries. She was quite the helper!

This is a good example of the bathroom. This is the shower, and soaking tub

And the rest of the bathroom, sink, washer, dryer. The toilet is separate.

Yummy lunch

More fun with Ayaka

Sleep over with the sisters.

Last days in Sapporo and a few culture tidbits

Our time went by so fast in Sapporo, it was hard to leave. Here are a few from our last days and a few things cultural we enjoyed.

Adriana having fun writing her own music!

This yellow line is seen on all the sidewalks and throughout the subway. It is for the blind and is awesome!

Bikes everywhere, many have seats for kids.

We loved their bakeries!

 These next few are a little weird... the toilets are very high-tech! All of them have a bidet, or wash you can do after your business. Many also have a seat warmer and a button to push that makes a flushing sound. I was so confused about this, but found out that many people were flushing while they were 'doing business' to avoid any embarrassing noises. Because of so much water waste, they added the sound.

The bidet

All the features

This was in my parent's apartment. The sink is attached to the back and the sink water turns on when you flush and flows into the tank. Saves water and is very handy.

Public standing toilet

 Two days before we were supposed to fly to Tokyo, they were predicting a Typhoon to hit Tokyo right as we were supposed to be arriving. Not knowing how bad it was going to be and if we would be able to make it as planned, we changed our tickets to leave the evening before we were scheduled to just to beat the storm. It was sad to cut our time short, but as things turned out we are glad we did. The storm came in and the airport was closed the whole next day! It wasn't too bad in Tokyo, just really windy and raining. My parents had a rougher time and got more of the storm.

Saying good-bye outside my parent's apartment.

Taking the train, then plane to Tokyo!

All around Hokkaido

We had a day long tour of places around the island of Hokkaido. It was so fun to see the country, volcanic mountains, lakes and some yummy food too. Again, the Takahashi family took us on this trip for the day.

Christine is the best baby ever! She handled all the traveling, time change, napping wherever, etc. so well. And of course, everyone agreed that she is so cute!

We went to an art museum that had some great pieces! Adriana decided to take pictures of anything that was pink to show Elena when we got home. So sweet!

The girls with the Takahashis

A blue statue for Abigail!

We went over the high pass of Nakayama Toogei Pass and had Potatoes on a stick. They were the whole potato and dipped in a batter and fried and very delicious!  They are called: Jagaimo.  From this spot we could see Yootei San, which is one of the highest mountains in Hokkaido.  It is  known because it looks like Mt. Fuji.

Three potatoes on a stick!

Tanner potatoes

This kind had cheese in the middle - our favorite!

Adriana was fascinated by the fact that the steering wheel is on the left side.

Toyako – Toya Lake  (lake is Mizu Umi).  This is another high mountain and is very famous for the hotel on the very top of the mountain.  It is called the Windsor Hotel and is very beautiful.  It somewhat looks like a cruise ship.  The area has a golf course, Spa, Wedding Chapel and the Summit Meeting was held her 8 years ago.  The view of  Toyako was amazing as it is a vocanic lake formed thousands of years ago.  It even has a big island in the middle which was another mountain before the lake was formed.  

Lake Toya

The Windsor Hotel

Another view of Toyako. We had lunch along the path that goes around the whole lake which is 26 miles. Perfect distance for a marathon, which they do. Beautiful!

Yootei San (the Fuji Mountain)  

we got a view of Showoshinzan, which is a Vocano near Toyoko called Usu. 
It erupted in 2003 on Dec 13^th.  

Yootei San

My dad got a special treat by accident. At this stop they had cream puffs so we decided to try them and they were fabulous! They also had this 'milk' that we got to help wash down the cream puff. Well it wasn't milk. It was a yogart drink, unflavored, not tasty to us, but very creamy so my dad loved it! The other funny part was that Adriana tried it first and said it tasted funny. We were confused until we had a sip!

On our way back to Sapporo, we stopped at a very large and famous Natural Spring called Wakimizu.  It was amazing with a walkway out over it’s flow and Tsutomu told us the water had been flowing off the mountain for 65 years to get to this natural spring.  We refilled our water bottles with this wonderful water. Facinating.

Enjoying some time with the neighbors.

Christine enjoys a sink bath!