2009 Med Group Party

Rene and his lovely Dental Assistant Kieko

So last night we attended our final party. This was the Medical Group Party. We had a great time with the dental group clan. What a nice group of dentists the squadron has. This morning Larissa and I woke up to a 5.1 magnitude earthquake at approx. 5:46am. I was sleeping comfortable when all of a sudden my bed and windows started shaking. I did not realize it was an earthquake until Larissa came running into my room saying her bed was shaking. Wow! what a moment. This one lasted for a few seconds. We are all packed and ready to go after a hectic week of work, and activities. Our driver arrives at 0700 and our plane departs Narita at 1:00pm. I have to psych myself up for the long flight. My mouth is already watering as I think about the BBQ, Seafood, and Mexican food. You bet I am taking my running gear.

Party Time

Rene, Me, Chris, Christina, Patty, Eric, Shelly, and Leo- My running buddies

My running buddies trying to get the dance party started.


This Sunday Rene and I attended our running club Christmas Party. I have to say that I was impressed with the Striders club and the very nice party they had for its members. We were bussed to and from base to the New Sanno Hotel in Tokyo. The Grand room was set up with a nice display of warm decorations, service and a buffet line that went on forever. The food was excellent and the company was so much fun. We will attend our final party for the Med Group tomorrow night. As I said, somewhere in there I will start my packing. See all of you soon.

Happy 11th Birthday!

Officially Larissa's birthday is on the 16th, but we celebrated this Saturday. The one thing she wanted to do was go back to DisneySea due to getting sick on her last visit. She was able to take two friends and they had a fun, fun, time. Happy Birthday to my sweet baby girl!

The park was alive with Christmas spirit and holiday cheer.

The girls being silly with Rene

We had a wonderful lunch in Little Italy, the wait for this place was 1 1/2 hours, but well worth it.

Cold cloudy days make for a lazy afternoon when I come home after work. Lately, I have had no time for resting let alone keeping up with my blog. Every holiday season, I tend to get bogged down with party planning and the hustle and bustle that comes with all that I get myself involved in. Friday was Thanksgiving dinner with our culture group and a special snack for Larissa's class. Saturday was the start of Larissa's early birthday celebration with a sleepover and early rise to DisneySea for the day. Today, is our running club Christmas party at the New Sanno along with more parties and holiday activities this week. Somewhere in there I will start preparing for our trip back home.

Disappointed

I am so disappointed in Tiger.

Commitment

The Yokota JV team

Coach Ernie, one of our well rounded volunteer coaches. He is truly committed to helping these boys.

Monday night we attended the annual Yokota Football Banquet. The boys were presented with letters and a nice dinner. It was wonderful to see such commitment from volunteer coaches and assistants. These boys are a fine group of kids and it was apparent how serious these kids take academics. Impressive! Renie will head to Misawa for a weekend of wrestling.

Last night we attended the Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony.

The Golden Temple

We enjoyed this site one last time. The crowds were heavy today. Below are some of the sights we visited on our final trip to Kyoto. Hope you enjoy the pics.

The Silver Temple (Ginkaku-ji)

The Silver Temple is a Zen temple originally built to serve as a plade of rest for the Shogun. I could have stayed here all day. Out of this world!

The Tori Gates

My little Geisha girl

Breathtaking!

This was a destination the Carrasco's were excited to see. We made it a point to take them to the top. What a nice view of the city of Kyoto.

The Geisha

The backstreets of Gion, a place we missed seeing last year. This was indicative of Old Japan.

There she quickly walks and soon disappears.

I am walking down the street, turn my face and oh my gosh, there she comes walking towards me quick as can be to avoid cameras.

Our second visit to Kyoto was just as enjoyable as our first. We were able to visit some different sites and I accomplished my mission of seeing a real Geisha in action. We had so much fun stalking through the back streets of the Gion district. The Geisha's and Maikos (Apprentice Geishas) usually arrive at this area around 6:30 to 7:00pm for dinner and entertainment of their guests. WE had done our research. We felt like the paparazzi with our camera's just waiting for one to come out of these old traditional wooden homes. We first spotted two in a taxi, then one down an alley. They are like Japanese nuns, We were so excited.

Osaka

The Osaka Aquarium

The Santa Maria coming in to dock

This was a place filled with awe and wonder. The famous giant crab.

Our crab was delicious.

The girl grilling our crab.

Staying in Osaka was a great idea. Our decision to stay in Osaka was based on the fact that all hotels in Kyoto were booked. Osaka is a 90 mile drive from Kyoto or a short train ride. We wanted full autonomy with our schedule and also wanted to visit Dotonbori street with its famous giant mechanical crab. I felt like Anthony Bourdain on one of his visits to Osaka. Everything on his show was so familiar right down to the drummer boy. This was a happening place and we truly enjoyed the grilled crab and octopus balls.

Cooked to Perfection

Happy Birthday to Me

Those are our steaks on the grill, Yum!

Renie was happy he had a whole expensive steak to himself. Spoiled child

Kathrina and I enjoying some Kobe Beef soup.

We are successfully back from our Thanksgiving road trip to Osaka, Kyoto, and Kobe. We were accompanied by the Carrasco family. The drive was beautiful with all the maple leaves looking so colorful. We rented a van so we drove in comfort and had free tolls to and from our destination. We also had an English speaking GPS system and took full advantage of driving everywhere. I have to give Rene and Ernie an A+ on driving. Some of the back streets in Kyoto were quite narrow. For my birthday dinner, we were able to enjoy dinning on the best steaks in the world. These are the Kobe steaks. Kobe steaks in the states are easily well over $100.00-$300.00. This steak is a legendary delicacy of Japan. It is so well marbled that they go right off the charts for Prime grading in any other country. It takes a special cook to perfect this steak. We were able to enjoy a steak set each for around $54.00 plus dollars. They were well worth the price and we also enjoyed watching the chefs prepare them with such skill. Now we can say we ate a steak in Kobe, home of the best steaks in the world.