Day of bargain hunting

Well, we had a blast sledding yesterday. Jiji knew of a great little kid sledding place around the corner, with a nice short slope. The kids went up and down a million times, especially enjoying a little jump over a big bump. Lucas loved it too, riding in front of Kai until he fell asleep cozy in his snowsuit in Jiji`s arms. It was a great day for being out, sunny and warm, maybe 50`s F. The snow started to melt, people were out with their shovels and ice picks putting snow from around their houses, driveways and sidewalks out onto the street to melt in the sun. Today Kenji`s dad said they don`t even clear snow unless it snows at least 5 inches and then only on the big streets, everyone is so used to it here. Today we went to the next town about a half hour away to bargain hunt, actually just to check out some used stores. Very pleased to find that we should be able to furnish our house nicely at very good prices. Since used things aren`t valued as much here, the prices are right. Like a nice table and chairs for $120, a couch for $60-80, a computer desk for $35, etc. Many look very new, and if they look used much at all are very cheap. The clothes, especially kids are very cheap too. We only bought an umbrella stroller today, we`ll wait to see what space we have and what will be given to us. The way there was interesting especially for the boys. Kai`s biggest interest was the train, he kept looking for tracks. But we went along the ocean for alot of the way, big waves today. Many snow capped mountains to be seen along the way too. Sage wants me to promise that we will climb to the top while we are here, like the biggest of course. I told him I wasn`t sure I have the energy to hike up the biggest with three kids(well, that`s just an excuse really, I don`T think I`d have that much energy anyway!), but maybe we`ll find a smaller one to climb for sure! There is one naked (not snow or tree covered) mountain that has a new top, it is bare and steaming, several years ago it erupted and grew alot, burying some building and people in the process. The town we went to is a shipping port it seems, we went around in a big shipyard and by a huge oil refinery with tanks that are so huge it`s difficult to get your mind around, and of course the huge tanker ships(sure that`s not a technical term!) docked around it. The gigantic cranes were neat to see too. There was a place where they stockpile wood chips to sell to paper factories, with mountains of chips and a bulldozer type of thing moving around on top plus a roller coaster of a conveyer belt all around the yard. Then a place with logs sorted into all different sizes. Also a big scrap metal place where they were using a loader with a big magnet to move the metal around. And many, many huge old warehouses. We ate lunch at good old McD`s. Same old stuff, except Lucas had fish nuggets, and it was real fish:). Oh, and my big complaint as many of you have heard me say, the awful toys we have in the US, thankfully, they were nice little bulldozers with faces here! A new thing here, self service gas stations. Every other time we`ve been here they were all super full service, this means gas can be a little cheaper. It`s still quite a bit more here.
The boys are eating well here, although Sage and Kai`s age difference is clear, Kai is still in the picky stage at 3, while in the last year Sage has jumped the hurdle to being brave to try new things and liking more variations. Sage so far has tried and liked some fish, scallops, a little sashimi(raw fish), some different ways of eating familiar things also. He hasn`t liked everything, but this is a big improvement from previous visits, especially being willing to try things. Kai`s diet is a little more restricted:) but he has been eating pretty well anyway. We`ve tried to say he needs to try things at least, or give him a choice between this dish or that to eat and it`s working fairly well. Lucas is beginning to get used to fish also and is eating pretty good too. Kenji`s mom puts out quite a spread each meal, especially breakfast which for us is usually cereal or oatmeal and occasionally eggs(when dad was cooking!). Breakfast here is cereal, many times eggs, sausage, some veggie, yogurt, toast(white bread cut like 2 inches thick!), tea, sometimes jello. Sage says I wish we could live here forever, just for the breakfast! We are eating well, now I have a high standard to live up to I guess! It is typical to have many dishes and eat small amounts of many things at Japanese meals, you typically have 3-4 dishes to eat out of-a soup bowl, a rice bowl, a small plate, maybe a smaller plate for dipping sushi or sashimi in soy sauce, etc. Traditionally it is not typical to drink water or anything with your food, but to drink hot tea afterwards, except for with noodles and curry, ice water is served. Although they eat meat, it is usually small amounts in a dish. I asked the boys to wash dishes last night and it is their new favorite thing to do! No dish washer here, haven`t seen one in stores, there are little dish dryers I`ve seen for sale, they are like a dish drainer with a lid that heats air and dries the dishes! Never thought about it but although there are many dishes, they are all small so easy for them to handle and the sinks are lower too. I asked them if they would like to keep doing this when we move into our own place and they said every night! Yoohoo! They did a good job too! Tomorrow we leave for a night in an onsen hotel for Kenji`s mom`s b-day, she will be 72 I think. She doesn`t act it! It is in the town we will be living in so we can register Sage at his school and visit it and register for the socialized health insurance, which you must do where you live. Also of course to visit the farm( which actually is called Menno Village), yeah! I`m excited to finally see where we will be spending the next two years and be able to make a list of what we need etc. Then I can really tell you what our life may be like! Sorry can`t post any pics for awhile, the program we need isn`t downloaded on Hiroshi`s(K`s dad`s) computer and don`t want to bother him with stuff he doesn`t need. So you`ll see a bunch later. One last thing-Sage is intrigued with the warmed toilet seats ("I love it!")and also the fact that there is a faucet on the back of the toilet that runs when you flush the toilet so you can rinse your hands off(no soap). There is almost never a sink with the toilet, which is separate from the bath. Well, better go help set the table.