Happy Anniversary Poopy

My all-time favorite picture of Sean
Originally uploaded by kuckibaboo.

Here we are. Eight whole years into our marriage. Most recently I've been feeling pretty blah about my life. I'm simply feeling fairly uninspired these days. It took Sean to point out that we've seen a lot of fantastic places, met a ton of great folks and learned a great deal about our selves since we've been on this matrimonial adventure. And now the pace is changing. Pretty much since we've gotten married we've been planning the move to somewhere else in the short term or we've been in travel mode. Only now after a year of "settling down" am I starting to feel like I've stepped off the roller coaster. As always Sean is there beside me to take those first few steps onto unexplored and sometimes frightening ground. Sure I'll admit sometimes I push him or maybe he drags me kicking and screaming but in the end we get where we were going holding hands. And that's the best part, the holding hands I mean and of course snuggling and smooching.

So I found an actual copy of this photo in a bunch of boxes I was going thru this past weekend. It's not a particulariy good photo, kind of grainy, a little too bright and it's not really in focus either. But it's the mood I love. Sean is by far the most moody person I've ever met and on this particular day Sean woke up with the most heartbreaking case of melancoly I've ever witnessed. We were staying at Mike and Claire's in Vancouver for a few days and we had just returned from 3 months in Mexico, Sean woke up with a bit of a cold and we were alone. We were suffering from reverse culture shock and overnight, sadness had crept into our very souls. We spent the morning crying and talking about our time away and vowed we'd return to Mexico and continue our adventures to other parts of the world. I took this photo somewhere in the middle of our conversation and tears and it's always just been my favorite shot of Sean.

Thanks for being so tender hearted my sweet. I love you very dearly and can't wait for the next adventure.

Eiko-chan of Memuro!

If you read this please email me and let me know if you have another email address. I get a message that says your mail box is full when I try to email you!

Domo!

Coming soon...

...Me. And pictures of us well, mostly of Keenan. It's been crazy this whole coming back to Canada business and we're just starting to find our footing as of late. All is well. No worries. We're cool. More to come. Soon.

Once again I quote the ever wise Sara..."Bret is awesome!"

Many congrats to our dear friend Bret who just landed an internship working with Save the Children in Southern Sudan this summer. You are a truly talented young man and I know you'll pour your heart and soul into your posting. For some twisted reason Greg mentioned the pudding eating contest in the last round of congrats emails and I just couldn't sit on my coveted footage of the event any longer. This video comes from the last big get together of all of our Tokachi/Obihiro friends. We were at our fav gathering/eat'til you bust restaurant "The Viking" and we were up to our usual foreigners behaving loudly in Japan antics. One thing led to another and Bret and Greg launched into the highlight of the evening. I bring you the "Pudding Challenge". Enjoy.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Introducing...

I've added a new link under "On being a Father...". Actually the link header is new too. I've been following Greg at Daddy Types for well over a year and he cracks me up every time. He's got his finger on the pulse of every cool kid related gadget and design item. He's both thoughtful and merciless in his writings and he finds THE sweetest stuff on You Tube. Check him out when you get a chance.

How is it possible...

...that cats feel so great after they visit the litter box? Our cat does laps around the house like she's just won the canned tuna 6/49 everytime she poops. Does she really feel THAT great afterwards?

Home bittersweet home

Spray on "Sanity". Clearly, I'm in the wrong business.
Originally uploaded by kuckibaboo

Well here we all a full month into 2008. We’ve been back in Canada for a little over 6 months and it already feels like we’ve crammed a lifetime of events into that short time frame. As of December 21 we’ve had our own home sweet home in lovely Westboro Village, we’ve both got good jobs, we have a car and Keenan’s daycare is a stone’s throw away. We’ve found a great local eatery within walking distance that serves a wicked brunch for under $5, is kid friendly, has fast a turnaround time and just so happens to be the home address for the International Elvis Spotting Society (or some such craziness). We are thrilled to be living 30 minutes from my brother, 45 minutes from my sister and only a days drive from Sean’s folks. We have a Canadian address, phone number and cell phone number that we actually live at which feels exceptionally good. We miss Japan everyday.

Life here is at times insanely busy for us. We try to work opposing schedules as much as possible so that we don’t have to pay over $1000 a month in daycare and babysitters. So that means we (Sean and I) rarely see each other on the days that we’re working and on the days we’re not we’re chasing after boy wonder and trying to unpack at least half of one of the many boxes still stacked in our front hall, living room, kitchen and bedroom. It’s the times when we stop and think for a moment that we miss the view of the Hidaka range from our balcony in Obihiro, the get togethers with our Tokachi clan, the scent of flowering Memuro wheat on the breeze in June, the neverending Hokkaido adventures and that exciting feeling of just living abroad. Life was a heck of a lot slower for us in Japan, albeit sometimes too slow but we sure miss the fact that I worked part time, daycare was $15/day, Sean was often off before 2 pm and sometimes before noon and we actually really had our shit together there. It took lots of time to get it that way but by the time we left we were totally dialed. We knew all the places in town to get foreign (North American) food and if not we could order anything on line and have it delivered. We knew how to conduct ourselves in all our day to day functions and if not we had a great group of pals to help us out. It’s hard for me to remember the fact that we were really burnt out by Japan when we left. And then when I look back at how I’m feeling about being in Canada after 6 months it’s similar to how I felt about being in Japan after 6 months. Liking it but still not quite home yet.

The next few months will be another adjustment period for us. Spring is such a beautiful, transformative time and I’m anticipating getting swept away by the green freshness of that season. Hopefully I’ll find the time for another blog post before the tulips wake.

I survived my first week of being a full time working mom!

Yes, it's true, I've put in my first 40 hour work week in about 4 years and I'm still here to tell all about it. We've got a great daycare provider for Keenan, we've got a great car (still in the works but soon to be a done deal), I've got a great job but I'm soooo glad to have the next two days off! I'm going thru a really intensive 8 week training program and I'm seriously being put thru the paces. This job is quite a new setting for me and it is exceptionally fast paced. I like it though, the staff are great and company is organized in a near obsessive compulsive manner.

The first day I left Keenan at daycare I was fine. But day 2 was a different story. I cried on the way to work. I really miss being with my boy 24/7 but it is also really great to have some time to myself and have meaningfull adult conversations during daylight hours. On my first day at work I went shoe shopping on my break. What a treat! I even tried on shoes. AND they fit! So nice to do that kind of stuff without a whinging toddler pulling at my skirts.

Now our next big step is finding a place to live. We're checking out a house in the Westboro area on Thursday. It would be really nice to not have to worry about disturbing neighbours above or below us. We're hoping for a move out date around Jan 1. It's been really great staying here with my sister but I'm really looking forward to having a place to call ours again.

It finally feels like we're making our way back here in Canada. Even though we both still call Japan home and we miss it terribly I think we're starting to feel better about coming back. Ottawa is a really great city and it's so good to be close to family again.

That Bruce Springsteen sure knows how to put on a good rock concert!

What a great show! As long as I've known Sean he's gone on about how fantastic Bruce Springsteen concerts are and last night I finally got the opportunity to experinence one for myself. Even though I thought the venue had some piss poor acoustics and therefore the sound was a bit echo-y it was amazing to see such a legend perform so easily along side his friends aka the E Street band. Before the show I had asked Sean "Who's opening tonight?" and Sean looked at me like there was a microwave tower growing from between my eyebrows and cooly replied "No. One. Opens. For. Bruce." Ok then! There was however a pretty cool surprise when Arcade Fire came out to perform State Trooper alongside Bruce and the band. It was actually freakin' awesome. Then they did one of their own tracks which I wasn't fond of. But I think in the beginning the youngins were a little rattled by the caliber of their hosts so I'll cut them some slack. They did manage to pick it up near the middle again. Apparently Bruce really likes Arcade Fire and he and the E Street Band provided flawless back up. I usually like my Echo and the Bunneymen type music sung by Echo and the Bunneymen but this time around it worked really well and the crowd went wild. As Arcade Fire left the stage he thanked them and said "What could be better than that?" and then they launched into Born to Run followed by Dancing in the Dark. Well now, there you go. The show was a little short by Bruce Springsteen standards (a little over 2 hours) but they're not spring chickens anymore and they never stopped moving on the stage the whole time. And man can that guy sing. I don't know how he can move around so much and still belt it out so clearly. Like I touched on before it's amazing to see a group of folks performing so well together. They communicate in a way that only long time partners can and the result is night of extremely passionate and energetic music.

It was a great show to get Sean and I launched back into one of our favorite pass times which is going to see music performed live. The last concert we went to was Ben Harper in 2003. We went thru a real painfull dry spell in Japan. Many more millions of thanks to my big sis for securing the tickets for us and for watching Keenan while we were out.

Breathing again

It has been too long since I last posted. I almost feel as though I should be starting out with "Forgive me Father for I have sinned". I've felt both guilt and frustration for not having written anything in the past two months. Poor old blog it's served me so well for so long and well to be quite honest I've felt a little over stressed for not having my usual written word release in my life.

Here's the deal...once we hit Canadian soil again my brain went into hyper overdrive...where will we live? Will we be able to find daycare? If so, can we afford it? Do we need a car? If so, can we afford car insurance? Where will we live? Will we both find jobs we like? Will our jobs and daycare mesh or will the 3 of us never be in the same room until we take Keenan off to preschool? Will we feel reverse culture shock? If so, what the heck will that be like? Will Jose and Tony really be able to put up with the Japan O'Flanagans? Will we pine endlessly for Japan and our friends? So many "ifs" and questions and I haven't even listed them all.

Well, one of the "Big 3" has finally been answered. I am now employed full time. So, I am now officially breathing again. The world looks so different when you breathe and let big chunks of stress roll down your back. Actually 2 of the "Big 3" have been struck from the list as Sean landed an awesome job less than 3 weeks after we got back. You won't find the job details here but Sean has and I will post them to Facebook. Now the last piece of the puzzle needs to fall into place...daycare for Keenan. That's my most pressing task right now. Then a car, then a home and then we can officially promote ourselves to the level of Ottawa O'Flanagans (would that be O'ttawagans then?)

Now that I've got the whole job thing sorted out I can reinvest a wee portion my energies in some "me" time again. I just couldn't relax enough up until now. And now I'm so wound up it's gonna take me a while to come back down. First step is to come back here and that's the only expectation I have of myself at this time. I'd like to do some catching up. Write a bit about Tokyo and Kamakura, the trip back to Canada and what we've done, seen and felt since we've been back. We don't have high speed internet so there will be no photo's until we move into the city. I'll just have to paint a more detailed picture with my words.

It feels good to be back. I particularily like the inhaling and exhaling part. Peace.

The last week on Hokkaido day by day: Saturday

Our last day living on Hokkaido at least at this point in our lives. We may come back someday for another extended visit especially since this is Keenan’s birthplace. For now though this is it and our last day here isn’t even a full day. The 3 of us woke up together all within an arms reach of each other. Having sold Keenan’s crib yesterday he was bedded down on his travel futon next to ours. It was nice to wake up to his easy breathing and eventual big smile. He is such a morning baby and it did loads to lift the packing weary spirits of his pooped out parents.

Pretty much everything was ready to go and we just needed to sit on our suitcase to get it closed over Keenan’s futon, strip our bed of bedding, fold up our futon for Kasi and wait for Sean’s supervisor Iwata-san to arrive to take us to the train station. He arrived around 7:15 am having just finished 18 holes of golf and we realized he likely was waking up just shortly after we drifted off last night. He was a little amazed by the weight and amount of our luggage but we got it all downstairs and packed into his mini van. There was no time for a lingering good-bye to our apartment. No last look in each room. No last peek at the stunning view of the Hidaka range from our balcony. No last chance to stand in our tatami room to take in that sweet scent of the mats one last time. Just a dash down the stairs in an effort to make it to the train station before the train left at exactly 7:50 am. Miyagashi-san, Sean’s other supervisor came by the apartment to pick up the receipts for the final payments of our utility bills. She has done a lot for us including bending a few rules in the last months of our stay here. To the depth of his gratitude Sean hugged her before bowing. She was genuinely shocked by the contact but I think she really appreciated the weight of the gesture. On the road and sitting in the back seat I was reminded of the last time one of Sean’s supervisor’s drove us down the same road. It was 8 pm, dark and foggy and I was in labor for Keenan. This time it was 7:30 am, bright and sunny and Keenan was sitting in my lap pointing at all the wondrous things he was seeing flying by the window. An arrival and departure so familiar and yet so very different. My heart ached for our home of 3 years already and it felt dreadful to get out at the train station. We got out of the car and made our way up the escalator. Iwata-san helped us with our heap of luggage and when we got to the platform Eiko was waiting for us. It was so good to see her. It helped slow time down a bit. We got our stuff loaded on the train and then we had some time for last good-byes and a few photos. The next time Eiko sees Keenan he’s going to be a much bigger boy so the two of them had a few last cuddles. Then we returned to our seats and our last good-byes were waves separated by the window. For those few minutes before the train departed I thought my heart would break. Seeing the tears on Eiko’s cheeks, feeling the lump in my throat, hearing Sean sniffing beside me and then on top of all of that Keenan was having so much fun making faces and waving to Eiko and Iwata-san. Another mixed bag of emotions and there we sat stalled on the verge of our departure. Then in a blink we were finally off. We sat and cried for a few seconds and then eagerly sat up to take in our last view of Obihiro. The most tears came when we crossed the city/town border between Obihiro and Memuro. Our last look at Obihiro was farmer’s fields a few weeks before harvest and at their peek of green-ness and beauty. After that we settled into our seats and enjoyed the view as much as possible. The only unpleasant view was the porn mags the guy sitting in front of us seemed to be enjoying. Friggin’ jerk. Keenan was a little fussy but it was nothing a couple of boobies couldn’t fix and he soon settled into a nap. The ride across the Hidaka range was beautiful and blissfully relaxing. Getting out at Minami Chitose is always a nightmare with lots of luggage as it is completely non-wheel chair/stroller/large rolling luggage accessible and of course we had 2 of the 3 including 4 carry on pieces. We did receive more than our fair share of stares but we managed fine nonetheless. Once inside the airport we headed directly to check in and got rid of the bulk of our burden. Our bags ended up being overweight but they let us get away with it. Our flight ended up being delayed by an hour, which we of course didn’t find out about until after we went thru security. So we had crappy food and little running around space for Keenan who was now both not interested in crappy food and very interested in running around. Yippy for us. Eventually we got on the plane and the sadness crept into our hearts and minds again. It was raining as we sped down the runway and rain streaked across the windows like the tears slipping down our cheeks. At long last we lifted off and left our beautiful Hokkaido with only one-way tickets in our name. It was a very strange feeling leaving our home behind. Regardless of the cultural differences and language difficulties we made lots of great friends and fell completely in love with the island. We had so many wonderful adventures and saw so many great things. We learned a lot about each other, our relationship and ourselves. Best of all though we left with the best omiyage ever our sweet, energetic and brilliant son Keenan. The best living memory we could have asked for.

The last week on Hokkaido day by day: Friday

Waking up on Friday was like being shot out of a canon. We had a very tight schedule we needed to maintain and a frightful long list of things to do. Within an hour of waking up Keenan had us frazzled. It seems all of his molars are fighting to come out at the same time and it’s causing him a lot of discomfort. It’s really hard to see him cry from the pain. We gave him a shot of baby Tylenol and rubbed a bit of teething gel on his tender gums which seemed to bring him down a couple of notches. Then we were off to take Sean to Nougyou for his very last day of teaching. On my way down the stairs I noticed something in our mailbox. It was from Keiko. She mentioned the night before that she had bought us a going away present but forgot to bring it. She must have dropped it off late last night or early this morning. It made me cry just thinking about it and I left it in the mailbox for later not wanting to open it for fear of before 9 am meltdown. After dropping Sean off Keenan and I went to the Abe’s to meet Ross and get the paperwork for the car sorted out. Keenan slept in the car while we took care of business and I arranged to meet Ross later in the day to drop it off. Then I took Keenan to daycare and I prayed he stayed asleep while I took him upstairs to the baby room. No such luck. He woke up as soon as we got into the genkan. Probably had something to do with 150 kids running around and shrieking! He cried when I tried to sneak out and it really broke my heart given how out of sorts he’s been this week. But this was our last full day in Obihiro and we had things we had to get done and we couldn’t afford being slowed down today. I ran out to the car, got home in record time and finished the last box. I weighed it and the snowboard bag and the big duffle bag all were miraculously under the weight limit. Then I darted back out to Nougyou to pick up Sean for 11:30. He started crying as soon as he got in the car. Being an agricultural and forestry school the grounds and driveway are beautifully maintained. We looped around and drove thru the forest one last time. We stopped for a few minutes and talked about leaving and then off we went. Sean had just realized he hadn’t taken any photos of his schools from the outside and he was really sad about it. We headed over to his office to pick up his airline tickets from Tokyo to Ottawa. I initially stayed in the car but he was taking too long and I had to pay the road tax for our car in the same building so I went up to his office. As soon as I walked in the door I could tell something was wrong. The tickets weren’t ready and wouldn’t be before we left for Tokyo. Un-f!!k-ing believable. We talked about what we would do and it was decided they would send them to us in Tokyo. Thank God we’ll be staying in one place and not spending each of the 6 day in a different hotel and city. Then there’s the Visa issue whereby Sean’s work Visa runs out on Wednesday and he needs to get a tourist Visa that he needs his ticket to Canada for. The tickets are supposed to arrive in Tokyo on Tuesday but we both have reason to feel like that could just as easily get screwed up too. We’ll just have to cross that bridge when we come to it. While Sean dealt with that typical office nightmare I paid the car tax and did some banking. By the time we were done we were an hour behind schedule. We rushed over to the train station to buy our train tickets from Obihiro to Chitose for Saturday. Then we flew home, taped up the last box and sped to the post office. The box ended up being over the 30 kg limit so we had to remove a few items. Not good since we were steadily running out of space in our bags. Luckily the woman at the post office had amazing English and it was really easy to communicate that we wanted to repack and reseal the box right there and then. While I took care of the box, Sean paid our rent and water bill and cashed some Post Office money orders we received for selling some books and his Sony disc man. Then I did some banking and we dashed home. The whole ticket thing at the office bunged up our schedule so we loaded the car full of the luggage we were going to send ahead to Narita Airport in Tokyo, and then I dropped Sean off at Black Cat the delivery company and then left to pick up Keenan. He was sound asleep when I got to the daycare and the woman who takes care of him was going on about how much she was going to miss him. I felt for her but honestly I really just wanted to get the heck out of there. We said our good-byes and as soon as we got home we set to taking Keenan’s crib apart. Sean loaded it in the car and then realized we all couldn’t fit with it in there so he unloaded it and then we went to Sean’s office so he could deliver his Sayonara speech. In the meantime Keenan and I went to City Hall to pick up 5 copies of his birth certificate, as I won’t be able to get another once we leave the country. Yes, that’s right. Stupid policies! The whole birth certificate thing makes me livid as when we went to City Hall to register Keenan’s birth shortly after he was born I filled it out in English so it could be read by someone who doesn’t read Japanese in like our “home” country and after we left someone crossed out all the English and replaced it with katakana. So Keenan’s birth certificate is a total mess and to top it off I get asked a zillion questions when I want a copy. So I showed up ready for the questions and of course was asked “Why do you need a copy?” To which I replied “Because he’s my son and should be able to have a copy of his birth certificate whenever I want”. So then I was asked, “What are you going to do with these copies?” And I said “None of your business”. So the woman sat there mumbling “my business”, “my business” over and over again trying to figure out what I was referring to as I grew more and more hot under the collar. From that point on it was English only for me. Every time she spoke to me in Japanese I just butt in and said, “I’m sorry I don’t speak or understand any Japanese” and then to make matters worse she spoke to me in English like she should have been doing the whole time! Anyhow, I paid my 1000 yen for my copies and was out of these for the last time. Thank goodness I don’t have to go through that crap ever again! So back to pick up an emotional Sean at his office. His speech went well but he was in rough shape. We drove home from his office one last time and then reloaded the crib into the car. I went by Black Cat (the delivery company that we used to forward our luggage to Narita Airport in Tokyo) dropped off Keenan’s car seat and then on to Big Ban to try to sell his crib. I got 1200 yen for a 10 000 yen crib, 3000 yen mattress and a 2000 yen set of Winnie the Pooh bumper pads. Oh well, we did get great use out of them. I got back into the car and drove it down Shirakaba-dori one last time. I dropped it off at Ross’s and Eiko picked me up and took me back to our place where Sean and Keenan were waiting to go for dinner. We met up with Gregory and Kajsa at Ryugetsu and had a really lovely meal. Keenan was a pretty good boy and certainly loved having Kajsa and Eiko around to pour attention on him! Eiko drove us home and we finally had our tearful good-bye. We’re going to miss you so much Eiko. And so will Keenan. I sing a few parts of the songs you sang to him and his face lights up each time. He’s really going to miss his Auntie Eiko.

At long last we were down to our final night with lots of cleaning, organizing and a bit of packing to do. We did so nonstop until 2:30 am. I packed and Sean finished the cleaning. He attacked the kitchen with a tenacity I’ve never seen from him. I guess he was partially fueled by the reminder of the nightmare of an apartment he walked upon his arrival in Obihiro 3 short years ago. We both really strove to leave the place cleaner than we found it and in a way that would be inviting to Kasi, Sean’s successor. When we finally crawled into bed it was just so wonderful. We were so tired we didn’t even have the time or energy to be sad. One more sleep.

The last week on Hokkaido day by day: Thursday

I had my last class at Nishi today. I had 2 classes of grade 1 students. They’re incredibly genki and I had a great time. I had wanted to take a bunch of video in the school but the teacher wouldn’t let me. I did however manage to snag the following video upon my departure!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

For some reason leaving this school wasn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be. Perhaps I’m getting more used to the fact that I won’t be doing this anymore. After class I went by the town office in Memuro to say good-bye and get my last paycheck paid out in cash. I went to City Hall with my supervisor, picked up the cash and then we said our good-byes. I darted back over to Nishi because the teacher wanted to meet Keenan. It was near pandemonium but he kept good control of the kids and we had a great visit. Then I darted over to JA to close my bank account and Keenan got a free Anpanman fan for his unbearable acts of cuteness!

In the afternoon we got some more packing and cleaning done and then Eiko came over for what should have been our last visit. She brought us all nice gifts but the best one was for Keenan. Eiko and Keenan are very good friends and Keenan loves it when she sings Japanese nursery rhymes to him. So Eiko bought him a book of 6 nursery rhymes that are written out in hiragana and katakana and the book plays the melodies you can sing along to. He absolutely loves it and we do too cause we can learn the words to the songs and sing them to him. Eiko also brought some nice sweets over and we had tea and sweets together in the middle of our near bare living room. It was a really lovely afternoon and I just couldn’t imagine it would be our last visit for a long time. We talked about times gone by and how much we were going to miss each other. There were lots of tears and we were all filled with sadness. Sean and I left Keenan with Eiko and the two of us went to the post office to mail 2 boxes. In the car on the way home we discussed how difficult it was to say good bye to Eiko so we decided to invite her out for dinner the next night. Hopefully we could put off the good-bye as long as possible.

When we got home Eiko helped Sean with his Sayonara speech in Japanese. Keenan’s teeth were really bothering him and I finally got him down late for an afternoon nap. After Sean and Eiko were finished we made plans to get together for dinner on Friday night. Eiko went on her way and shortly after 7 Keiko showed up. We had a thrown together dinner of all the food items in the fridge and cupboards that would have otherwise gotten thrown away. We sat around and talked, played with Keenan and did lots of laughing. We shared the last of the amazing tea Keiko brought me from Toyko 2 years ago and had some more sweets. Keenan started getting very clingy and whingy and it was getting difficult to hear our own voices. As this week wore on Keenan became more clingy and whingy with each passing day. We were very careful about packing his things up last and not rocking his world too much. He’s generally all for change but we weren’t too sure how he’d react to his home being packed up. By Wednesday I think he know something serious was going on and found it very stressful to lose sight of either of us. We’ve had to really work at being sensitive to his feelings as we’ve been so wrapped up in our own emotions and to be quite honest a day full of whinging doesn’t leave you with much empathy. So after about 15 minutes of the 3 of us trying to have a conversation we decided it might be a good idea if Keiko went home. So I got my beloved rocking chair out of Keenan’s room and we talked about how much I was going to miss it. Keenan and I have spent soooo many hours in that chair together and it’s just terribly heartbreaking for me to imagine it gone. We talked about the new family it would be going to and I asked Keiko to tell them that if they ever wanted to get rid of it they’d have to get in touch with me. I don’t know, maybe we can arrange to have it taken apart and shipped to us. Or maybe in the coming days/weeks/months I’ll get over it. For now though it’s hard to imagine that point in time. I carried the chair downstairs for her and we loaded it into her SUV. Then we stood downstairs in the grass, in the dark and said our “till we see you agains”. We hugged for a good long time and talked about how much our friendship meant to us. We shared some tears and Keiko promised to get herself on the Canadian conference circuit for immunology! I went back upstairs and I didn’t cry, I bawled. It was the first time Keenan ever saw me do that and he looked very concerned. The 3 of us had a nice big hug and Sean and I talked about the pain of leaving our good friends behind. If we would’ve had to say good-bye to Eiko and Keiko on the same day I would have been a nut-job by the days end. Thank God we averted that disaster! So I put Keenan to bed without our beautiful rocking chair. I carefully laid him in his crib for the last night before we dissembled it and brought it to the recycle shop. Poor boy I hope that doesn't stress him out too much.

After Keenan was sound asleep Sean and I did lots of cleaning. He tackled the freezer and fridge and I did more sorting of our stuff, stripped the bed and put away the laundry. We went to bed very late and were even too tired to watch Lost.

The last week on Hokkaido day by day: Wednesday

Started my day with packing. The novelty has worn off but I don’t officially hate it yet so we’re still ok! Keenan and I took Sean to Obi-Ro (Obihiro school for the hearing impaired) for his last day. I got home, got Keenan to bed, did a bit more packing and then some blogging. I’m determined to keep this “last week on Hokkaido” series alive. Micky and her husband stopped by and left with my Cuisinart ice cream maker, 7 closet organizers, a Pyrex roaster, 1 fleece shirt, 1 cotton sweater, a sack of organic popcorn and the movie edition of Trivial Pursuit. O’Flanagan special leaving Japan price: 6000 yen or roughly 60 Canuck bucks. Lucky folks! My sister called late in the morning. Actually she called 4 times but we kept getting disconnected. It was great talking to you big sis. I really needed that down time! Keenan toddled and made lots of noise while we were on the phone but mostly he kept himself busy by unpacking and repacking the box in the living room. Lunch followed the phone call, then back to Obi-Ro to pick up Sean. When he got in the car he had tears in his eyes. The kindergarten kids all made posters of his likeness and they were the only kids in all the schools he visits that noticed he shaved his goatee off more than a week ago. We went and got some boo-hoo ice cream and a Blendy and sat in the car and chatted a while. Then off to Nishimatsuya to pick up a sling to carry Keenan in and to support him while he sleeps on us in the plane. We zoomed back home to do yet more packing. Got the 4th box done and threw out a heap of stuff. Then a fellow named Ross came over and bought our car! Finally! He’s in the business of buying and reselling cars so we made less than half of what we were asking but the most important thing is we made $500 which is $500 more than we were lined up to make if he didn’t come along and buy it. Thank God that’s over! We had celebratory Mos Burger for dinner, did more packing and cleaning and then we watched a couple episodes of LOST and collapsed into bed. 3 more sleeps.

The last week on Hokkaido day by day: Tuesday

No surprise I spent the day packing! Keenan was an awesome little man. He took up with a long handled scrub brush and used it as a broom most of the day. Must’ve picked that up from his dad as I don’t handle anything broom-like. How lucky would I be to have TWO men in my life to do the sweeping?! I finished Keenan’s room. It’s empty save for his packed bag, diapering supplies, crib and rocking chair. Friday I take the crib apart and take it to a recyle shop and Thursday Keiko comes for tea and to pick up my beloved rocking chair. I would leave everything else behind for my rocking chair. I’ve spent so many hours with Keenan in that chair. It’s a very emotional thing for me to give it up but it would cost $700 CDN for me to get it to Canada. So Keiko (the person who bought it for me) is taking it to another friend of hers that just had a baby. If she ever wants to get rid of the chair she has to get in touch with me and maybe I can figure some way to get it home when we’re a little more cashy. Keenan and I went out for a couple of hours in the afternoon. We went to Nagasakia for the last time and I bought him a toy and a book for the flight from Tokyo to Toronto. They’re my meltdown prevention implements. On the cusp of an impending meltdown new books/toys/plastic containers are the best diversion. Hopefully we won’t need more than the two. We also went to Homac to buy another box. We’re up to 4 now and that’s our limit. Whatever doesn’t fit stays in Japan. Thankfully I got all the most important stuff into it so we’re not making any heartbreaking sacrifices. Except of course for my rocking chair. We didn’t start watching Lost until 11:30 pm and it was a freaking unbearable cliff hanger of a episode so we stayed up until 1:15 am watching the next one. I was a babbling idiot by the time I pulled the covers over my shoulders.

The last week on Hokkaido day by day: Monday

We packed, packed and packed some more. Sean’s folks called us in the morning. Will likely be the last time they call us in Japan ☹. Keenan toddled amongst our piles stuff and us and made a game of unpacking things we had just packed. Sean tackled the kitchen and I packed our clothes and a box. Looks like we’ll defiantly be needed that 3rd box. Oh well. We heard from Sean’s successor and she’s buying pretty much the rest of our stuff so no need to worry about that anymore. Yippee!

I spent some time closely examining the tapestry Nishida-san gave me in the sunlight and I realized I could see very faint lines she had drawn to mark the pattern. That should help make things easier for me and I’m a little more excited about practicing the stitches and getting down to my first attempt. I’m am terribly worried about mucking it all up though. It’s very different from her usual work, very feminine with a green floral print on a yellow background. Gives me butterflies just thinking about it!

The evening was filled with more packing and more emotions. We discovered all kinds of good food we've been hording and never ate cause we were afraid we wouldn't be able to get it again! Now it's gonna get given away, tossed or left for Seans replacement. Oh well!

Sean made us a lovely pasta dinner and we stayed up way too late watching episodes of Lost (yes, we are addicted!).

The last week on Hokkaido day by day: Sunday

Good-bye for now Akan!
Originally uploaded by kuckibaboo.

We went to Akanko today. Sean’s folks had a tapestry made by Nishida-san, a woman we’ve all fallen in love with and our mission today was to pick up the completed work. We also, were there to say good-bye to Nishida-san, her husband and the sleepy lakeside village known as Akanko. The drive there was pretty uneventful. It’s been really chilly here in Obihiro for the last week so we were adequately bundled, as it’s always at least 5 degrees colder in Akan. As we approached we could see blue sky stretching out beyond the volcanoes and over the village. A sign that this was going to be a great day as we’ve been there many times but today is only the second time we’ve had sunny weather. Keenan slept for the whole ride including our stop at the Ryugetsu cake factory to pick up sweets for the Nishida’s and us. He was very genki when we got out of the car, which was a relief, and we loaded him into the stroller and headed for the Nishida’s.

We headed towards their shop to the sound of hacking and pounding on wood. When we got closer we realized there were 6 or 8 big logs in the middle of the cobble street and many of the Ainu carvers were removing the bark hence the weird sounds. We noticed Nuburi Toko, one of the elder master carvers was overlooking the work of the younger generations and he barely spoke a word. He just nodded or shook his head or moved his hands this way and that and the younger men corrected their course. We ran into the Nishida-san and he told us the logs came from Canada. They bought them to carve and erect in the middle of the main street. They’re going to rework the main road to include the poles and even a stream. Everyone from the community took part in the design and planning and the arrival of the massive Douglas fir logs from Canada’s West Coast was the first physical sign of the change to come. The sketched out plans looked really lovely and we were both instantly sad that we won’t be around to see the work finished. Somehow though we both felt very proud that good ‘ol BC Douglas fir were chosen to be the centrepiece of their new community project. The Nishida’s promised to email us photos when it’s all finished.

So we went into the shop and Mrs. Nishida was there. She had indeed finished the tapestry. It is absolutely beautiful. Speed did not affect the quality of her work. Words can’t really describe it and I know Tom and Pat will be both impressed and moved to tears when they see it. We thanked her very much and gave her the sweets and a card with silver embossing of a Bill Reid carving. We had a great long chat and just enjoyed each other’s company. We asked if she had any other embroidered pieces or tapestries and she didn’t. She had one that was unfinished on the wall but that was it. She then got out her catalogue and asked us what we wanted. Sean and I went thru the catalogue and decided we wanted both a tapestry and then one piece that was purely embroidery. Nishida-san showed us her patterns and we decided on the elements we liked and then I picked out some fabric and it was done! She’s going to custom make us two tapestries and send them to us in time. I was so very pleased. She really is a master at her craft and she’s always so busy. I couldn’t believe she took this on for us. Right about then it really started to get emotional for me. It was very exciting to be able to discuss what I liked and pick out how I wanted the designs laid out and then we were pretty much done and it was time to say good-bye. We went into the back of the shop so I could pay for Tom and Pat’s tapestry and she turned around and went back to the front of the store. She came back with the unfinished piece that was on the wall and gave it to me as a present with instructions that I was to learn the stitches and finish it myself. What? I couldn’t believe my ears! First of all I just learned how to knit and I’ve been doing it for 7 months and I’m not terribly good at it. I haven’t done embroidery in years and I’ve never done freehand. I was stunned to think she thought I could even make a halfway decent attempt at finishing something she started. Then some tears came and we hugged. The store got busy, I paid for Tom and Pat’s piece, and we went to the front of the store and finally said our good-byes. Then more tears came, this time from both Nishida-san and myself. So we had a big nice long hug while all these customers milled around us. Then she spent a few minutes giving Keenan smooches and we went on our way. I cried and cried as we walked away. I felt sick and sad and full of unhappiness about leaving Japan and our great friends.

We spent the rest of the day shopping taking in the beauty of the place. I passed up the opportunity to buy a particular item in Biratori and I scoured Akan for one for Tom and myself but to no avail. The good news is our persistent hunting led us to two places we had never been before. In one shop we met a very cool young man named Kengo. He went to high in Australia and he had amazing English. He showed us around his family shop, gallery and workspace. He told us about David Suzuki and Bill Reid coming to visit on two separate occasions. He seemed pretty impressed by us Canadians! He gave Sean a small amulet he carved out of deer horn. Just like that. 20 minutes of conversation and blamo “I’d like to give you this present”. We said our thank-yous and good-byes and headed off up the street. The carvers were back at the logs after their lunch break and then had a truck mounted with a crane moving them into position. The master carver raised an arm and the others were put into motion. Another gesture and the log was repositioned. They had a large pickaxe type tool they used to move the log a few inches at a time. Every time it came to bear the weight of the log it forced sap from the outer layers and it made the air smelled of that loamy fir smell. It was a bit of a mind bender standing in Akan a week before we were to leave Hokkaido and have the aroma of our beloved BC rain forests wafting around us.

I ran back to the Nishida’s to buy a storybook for Keenan I had forgotten to purchase earlier. We looked into one more shop took our last look into the village and were off. It was very emotional leaving that place. But we’ll be back again.

On the way home we stopped just outside of Ashoro and drove up the hillside so we could have a view of the lake. We ate our chocolate and then headed home. We finished off our day with heaps of packing, and 2 episodes of Lost. We couldn’t have asked for a better last Sunday living on Hokkaido.

Last day teaching English in Utopia

Thursday was my last day at Kamibisei. After my near meltdown on my last day at Minami I was a little more prepared for my emotions. I woke up to rain and it suited my mood but I wasn't going to let it wreck my day. I took Sean to work and then parked just below Obihiro no Mori Park and did some knitting for about 45 minutes while Keenan slept in the car seat. Keenan cried when I left the room at daycare. Poor wee guy. I know he gets over it fast but it’s hard when my parting memory of him is a view of his tonsils. I took my time getting to the school. Took lots of drive by photos of the farms and misty mountains. The potatoes are in full bloom right now and they are a terrific sight. Beautiful bands of pink or white blooms alternating with wheat just on the cusp of turning golden. I’m sure going to miss that drive. I arrived at the school and found the accountant tending the petunias. This is a typical sight at my schools. Everyone tends to the flowers and the best part is they all seem to like it.

My first class was with the grade 3 and 4 kids. There’s a total of 14 of them so they have a combined class. They’re a great bunch of kids and the ones in grade 3 were in grade 1 the first year I started working here. It’s great to have that history with them. And it’s been amazing to watch them grow and change. Since it was my last class ever with these kids I decided to scrap any sort of lesson plan and let the kids play their favorite English games. So we played Line and Row and Battle Janken for 40 minutes. It was a riot and I got a good couple of minutes of video of the later. It’s intense. And it’s a good demonstration of how good kids are at playing Janken (Rock, Paper, Scissors) in this country. Janken is used to solve any dispute and the final result is rarely challenged. It’s quite remarkable actually! I had a great class with those kids. We had fun, laughed a lot and the kids even used lots of English!

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My second class was with the Grade 5 and 6 kids. Another small class (there’s about 41 kids in the whole school between grade 1-6) and another full class of games. The kids had lots of questions about what I was going to be doing in Canada (me too!). So we started off with a good chat and then we played games until a few minutes before the end of class. I said a short speech and wished the grade 6 kids luck with going to Junior High next year. I managed to keep it together in the classroom and didn’t cry until they all walked me down to the genkan and then the tears kicked in as they waved me out. Gosh, I hope I can keep it together for my last day at Nishi-sho this Thursday! Anyhow I had a nice slow drive to the daycare and stopped to take lots of photos. The rain let up and I stopped and got out of the car to get into some wheat and potato fields. I just had to see them up close. I’m sooo going to miss that school and that drive. I can’t believe how lucky I am to have had such a great job here.

These are the days

Just a few of my awesome kids I'm gonna miss
Originally uploaded by kuckibaboo.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned this but I went back to work on a part time basis in mid June. I’m teaching English in the town of Memuro again. Same schools I had before save one. Keenan goes to daycare and seems to really enjoy it. He’s usually the only kid his age so he gets full on attention from his caregiver, which suits him oh, so totally fine!

Today was my last day at Minami-sho. It was heart wrenching. The kids and teachers there are awesome. All the grade 6 kids made me a present and wrote me a letter in English. Upon my departure all the teachers and a couple of the students came into the genkan while I changed into my outdoor shoes. They lined up and I shook their hands, then bowed and thanked them for yet another great experience. At the fourth of 7 people I lost it. I started to cry and couldn’t really say much else. Thank God so much can be said with a deep bow. Three of the students followed me outside and saw me to my car. They chased after my car until I got to the road. Waving, calling my name and shouting “good-bye” as they ran. I nearly came undone. Such good boys and so difficult to wave good-bye for the last time.

Tomorrow will be much worse. It’s my last day at Kamibisei-sho. Don’t tell anyone but it’s my favorite school. The kids there are golden and their voices will follow me forever. Something about that place got into me like sunshine and it always lifts my spirits to be there. Tomorrow will be very hard indeed.

Pooh Story # 3: Pooh breath

In this my second year of being a parent I’ve come to learn that all the vein popping, really terrible things about being a parent are temporary. I am as I type praying this theory plays out for the rest of my years. Hair pulling, biting, nose picking and gas to name a few are all things we’ve come to deal with and some have moved into the ranks of being a near distant memory. Most recently as in a few short hours ago, I nearly had a melt down over a diaper changing “incident”. We’ve thankfully moved into a phase of our son’s life where only about 1 in every 6-diaper changes is a full contact/tackle sport (people the world over should be knocking on wood as they read those words in an effort to cancel the jinx I’ve created by typing those very words). But this morning during his first diaper change of the day (read: before 6 am) Keenan engaged in a habit that is sometimes funny, sometimes brain splitting and nearly vomit inducing disgusting. Basically Keenan likes to toss his salad when he’s diaper free. Can’t say I blame him much, given the fact he’s wearing a hot diaper around his fixin’s pretty much 24/7. It’s gotta feel good to well, feel them. Anyhow, we usually get a kick out of this and it’s of course never a problem when we’re changing a pee only diaper the BIG problem is when there’s pooh involved. It’s such a freakin’ nightmare to get the pooh off his hands before he gets it everywhere. Keenan never sits still so there’s always flicking, clapping, waving, wiggling and kicking involved in every diaper change so you can imagine the horror when any one of those actions is paired with pooh. Baby hands + twig and berries + pooh = parental meltdown. Today and for the second time in about 2 weeks (please don’t let this be a pattern) Keenan put his hands in his pooh, waved them about and then put them directly in his mouth. The hands got in the mouth while I was trying to keep the kicking feet out of the diaper. Obviously my triage priorities were backwards. Feet in diaper are less likely to get into mouth than hands in diaper. It was before 6 am don’t forget. My excessive cursing roused Sean from our bed and he came to my rescue. Sean held the bottom end while I cleaned the hands as best I could. Then I finished up with the bottom end while Sean washed his own hands. Keenan was standing up on the change table while I snapped his shirt closed. His face was level with mine and he giggled his poohy breathe all over me…Flash back about 10 years ago to a child-less Nancy and Sean on our first camping trip together on Salt Spring Island. We hitch hiked into Ganges for a coffee and some groceries. We were sitting in a trendy little outdoor café and there was a young woman sitting a couple of tables away with two young boys. They were about 6 and 8 years old. She had a dreamy Parisian accent but her boys were a little less than dreamy. At one point she looked at one of them and yelled, “You’re a horrible little boy”. I thought to myself “what an awful thing to say to your child, I’m never say that kind of thing to my children”…Well this morning I was calling our “pooh ingesting toddler” things that were way worse (I may or may not have called him a “shit eating nightmare of a child”). Oh, how my image of that Parisian woman has changed. By now she’s a wise, sagely, saint of a mother with kids nearly out of high school and I’m a recently minted mom left praying for the day we move out of this poohy hands phase.

Happy Birthday Canada!

Today is Canada’s 140th birthday and we celebrated by going to the Friends of the World Festival at the Tokachi International Relations Center. There was lots of dancing, singing, games, socializing and general good fun. But the best part is that folks from all over the world set up food stands and offered up a taste of their home countries culinary fare. So yesterday we tried fried plantains from Ghana, curry and rice from Peru, Lemongrass soup from Myanmar and salad rolls from Egypt. Yummy yum yum! During our lunch we were treated to an earthquake while sitting on the grass. A truly strange feeling indeed! After lunching with Bret, Sara and Gwendolyn we headed over to Memuro Park for an all-afternoon BBQ. We’ve come to really love this little weekend ritual with Bret and Sara. It was especially nice to have Jonah who is visiting from Vienna and who is on his way to work in Tokyo for the summer, Katie and Kajsa stop in for a wee bit too. After that we went home and Dan and his family came by to buy Sean’s bike and a few other house hold items. We had a pretty good day all in all but can’t wait to be part of the big Canada Celebrations in Ottawa next year.

Auntie Bret changes first diaper!

Bret has sooo many amazing experiences under his belt but when Keenan was born we found out that he had NEVER changed a diaper. We vowed that someday he’d be responsible to change Keenan and he managed to dodge the task until we sprung it on him one evening shortly before Keenan’s first birthday. He bravely stepped up to the plate even though we couldn’t guarantee a poop free experience. The following video documents that monumental event. Oddly Bret keeps calling Keenan “Baby” even though he’s known him for a year, perhaps some sort of subconscious dissociation instinct was kicking in. Bret’s participation took about 6 minutes with Sean stepping in a couple of times to wrangle Keenan and then in the end to dress him. After a couple of minutes of shooting this video I was laughing so hard that I hit the stop button on the camera by accident so there’s a wee bit of a transition. You don’t actually see too much in the following video but the commentary is truly priceless.

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13 ½ months

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There was just no time to write a 13-month update so Keenan’s public will have to be fine with 13 ½ months! I figured the video would be a crowd pleaser too!

So much has happened in the last 6 weeks and as much as Sean hates to admit it Keenan is now a full-blown “toddler”. Apart from that the biggest news to report is that Keenan has finally made the leap from being afraid to try walking to wanting to do it all the time. We bought him a Fisher Price walker a couple of months ago and he could only ever push it in straight lines and would freak out when he got it wedged into a corner or under the table. Now he runs with it, spins it around corners and pushes balls around the apartment with it. The other evening Sean and Keenan walked to the drug store together and Keenan had his walker with him. They were walking thru the cookie aisle and Keenan spotted a package of the raisin cookies he likes and he picked them up and put them right in the basket area of his walker! They proceeded to the checkout where Sean paid for their cookies and then they walked out. You can imagine how everyone in the drug store melted into pools of oob due to the extreme cuteness overload. While Tom and Pat were here Keenan ventured into full blown walking attempts sans walker. And within hours he had all of us on the floor encouraging him to walk between us. Now he can manage a distance of about 15 feet on his own. He’s also mastered getting up from a sitting position on the floor but still doesn't consider walking as his primary mode of transportation. I’m sure that’ll come in the next month or so and should make our 7 days in Tokyo that much more interesting!

The thing I find most endearing as of late is the rapid development of Keenan’s “ha ha I’m a funny man” personality. Basically he’s a ham and he totally knows how to work the crowd. He has a fantastic repertoire of gestures that he’ll do on command including “Power/Hulk Smash”, “Who knew?” “Sniffy face while eating”, “yeah while clapping” and the cutest one so far titled “Oooohhhhhh”. They have to be seen to be believed so hopefully I can get them all (there's a wee bit of the Power/Hulk Smash gesture in the video above) on video and posted. Not only is Keenan a funny guy himself but he finds many things around him funny like silly faces, Sean sitting on the toilet and putting his fingers up anyone’s nose. Actually that last one has become a bit of an annoying past time and although we should probably be trying to discourage it we still find it too cute to do so! Adding to the laughter it appears that very recently Keenan has become a walking tickle zone. It seems everyday he develops a new ticklish spot and we can send him into peels of writhing and giggling with very little effort whatsoever.

This week there has been a new development in his limited vocab. Apart from calling us mumum and dada he’s starting saying “oh ma ga” or “oh ma gu” which I guess is “oh my God or goodness”. And he understands the context in which they should be used. Interesting, as I didn’t think either one of us said either of those phrases very often. I guess it’s time to start watching what we say. Especially the “f” words. Frig it is from here on out!

Books glorious books. Our child is a bookworm and we love it! He loves all of his books and reads most of them several times a day. Keenan will get up in the red chair all on his own and sit and go through 4 or 5 books on after the other. He inspects each page, looks at the pictures and talks to himself all the while. He’s quite particular about when we read to him though. If he’s quietly “reading” to himself he usually doesn’t like to be disturbed by an adult butting in to read to him. He does love to be read to but under his own terms. He especially likes his books being sung to him in silly voices, which is cool cause that’s generally my favorite way to read to him!

We haven’t been buying Keenan very many toys recently since we’ll be leaving so soon and don’t want to pack many back to Canada with us. It really is amazing how few toys kids actually need especially when so many household items make good stand-ins. There are a few things he can’t seem to live without like his Duplo, ring sorter and growing collection of balls. He’s up to 6 different balls now and loves rolling and chasing after them. Yesterday I bought Keenan a couple of water park toys. There is a fantastic kids water park at Ecology Park in Otofuke and I’m sure we’ll be heading back there a few times before we leave. Keenan fell in love with another kid’s truck when we were there last so I got him one of those, a small watering can, rake and shovel. They’ve proved to be hits around the house already so maybe they’ll come to Canada with us.

There seems to be interesting developments in Keenan’s eating behaviors on perhaps a weekly basis. While Tom and Pat were here Keenan starting doing this business where he would scream and scream when we put him in the high chair and then we’d have to hold him down and put a taste of food in his mouth. After that first bite he’d totally shut up and sit there with his mouth open like a starving little robin. Very strange. Then there was the “I’ll eat anything if you coat it in yoghurt” phase which quickly turned into the “I won’t eat anything unless it’s coated in the yoghurt you’re eating right now at this very second” phase. Confusing. I’m not sure words can convey how vile Vegetable beef rice pilaf coated in tropical fruit yoghurt smells. Sean nearly barfed up his dinner over that one. Now we’re in the “I’ll eat anything if it’s coated in green” phase. Yup, that’s right. If Keenan doesn’t want to eat his rice just dot it with green peas. Not eating the toast? Then just shake some dried parsley on it. Oh and he won’t eat oatmeal without cinnamon.

Keenan has possibly the cutest, most perfectly square, bright white front teeth, which have earned him, the new nick name “Chiclets”. He also sprouted a lower incisor about 10 days ago and last week he sprouted another on the other side. Today I noticed an upper molar punching through on one side and another on the other side just under the surface. The amazing thing is he isn’t making much of a fuss about it at all. Just lots of drooling.

Despite all the teeth I’m still breastfeeding him about 3 or 4 times a day. He is gradually weaning himself and no longer needs the boob to fall asleep at night or for naps. I’d like to keep up the breast feeding for the flight back home as it is so comforting for him and really helps with the ear pressure change during take off and landing. I imagine some time after we get ourselves settled in Canada he’ll be fully weaned. I’m not in a great rush though.

I’m really reticent to type this for fear of jinxing us but it appears the Holy terror diaper changes are growing less frequent. He’s moved up to the next size in diapers as of this week. We’ve started using diaper liners again because we’re simply so sick and tired of scraping shit off diapers and subsequently reaming said shit out from under our finger nails. Someday I’ll plant a tree for every 100 liners we’ve used.

Our little guy is getting so tall but he’s a lean fellow too. He still has his umbilical hernia but it’s not as bad as it used to be. Hopefully it heals itself soon. I don’t have recent weights and measures but will update this likely by the end of the weekend.

Keenan was a very lucky little boy to have his Gramma and Grampa here for a fully month between May and June. From the first morning they were here he pulled them into his tractor beam of cuteness from which they will likely never break free! It was especially great for them to see him take his first steps, develop his gestures and just be a part of his daily life. They were likely 10,000 photos taken (I really do wish I were kidding!) to document their stay and many are of the boy with Tom and Pat, which is really lovely.

In the next month we’ll be leaving Keenan’s birthplace to return to Canada. Sean and I will be going home but Keenan will be leaving his. It makes us sad to leave but we’re also very happy to be going back. Sean and I are looking forward to bringing Keenan back to Obihiro when he reaches an age when such a trip has meaning for him. I hope time continues to creep by in this part of the world. For the next 15 to 18 years at least.

Just the 3 of us again

At 12:30 am on Saturday morning Tom, Pat and I struck out for the Obihiro train station. The train ride to Chitose would be their last adventure in Japan on this trip. They left for the train station tired and nervous but were smiling and waving as the train pulled away from the platform. We had a good visit. No month long adventure with ones family is ever without a few bumps in the road but we all survived. Once again we logged lots of miles on the car, toured the spectacular Hokkaido countryside, met lovely people, bought lots of bits and bobs and ate great food. We watched plenty of “Keenan as TV” and he really loved having his gramma and grampa around to kiss (oob), chase, read him stories and hold his hands while he practiced walking (yes, the bunlet walks, more about that later). We did too much to include in what is supposed to be a short post but I’ll try expanding on the highlights in future posts.

So yesterday morning Keenan had a 3-hour nap while Sean and I cleaned house and enjoyed a rare two-latte morning! I had a great phone chat with my sister for almost an hour and a half. We could have gone on longer but we were disconnected. We spent the afternoon running errands and then we fully enjoyed an in car MOS burger dinner at Obihiro no Mori park whilst our babe slept in his car seat in the back. Then we headed over to the A Co-op and I bought a few groceries in a sleep deprived, zombie-like stupor. I don’t really remember getting home but I do remember Sean waking me up on Tom and Pat’s bed at 8:30 pm to help him put Keenan to bed. Then I woke up once again at 6 am in Tom and Pat’s bed feeling remarkably refreshed. My first 12-hour sleep since Keenan was born! Both Sean and Keenan are still asleep and it’s 7:40 am so I have this delicious time to myself! I’ll upload some photos and perhaps start another post before reality sets in.

The countdown is officially on. 1 month and 3 days until we leave Japan. Oh, bring on the mixed emotions, long lists of things to do, packing and teary good-byes already. We are finally ready to return to Canada.

Japan is better with more Japanagans

Tom & Pat "The Hippest Hippies"
Originally uploaded by kuckibaboo.

Well Sean, Keenan and myself are feeling much better a week after the snot fest. Last Friday we did indeed take Keenan to the hospital, as he didn’t since to improve on Thursday. The sensei gave us a decongestant/antihistamine/cough suppressant/mild sedative concoction for Keenan that worked absolute wonders. He was feeling much better in just a couple of days. Sean and I still have a fairly persistent dry cough but we’re doing much better all the same.

So last Saturday morning we packed our wee family into our car to make the trip to Sapporo to pick up Sean’s parents. The 3 of us were definitely not feeling top drawer but a trip to Saptown always lifts ones spirits so we were happy to hit the road. Sean picked up Tom and Pat at the train station late in the evening and due to the complete lack of train service back into the city they took a $140 cab ride back to the hotel. Regardless it was great to see them again the next morning and we had a great time farting around in Sapporo before heading back to Obihiro. We’ve had a great first week and the next 3 promises to be just as fun if not funner!

I really feel like our time is slipping away from us here though. After Tom and Pat leave Sean, Keenan and I will only have 1 more month here. It seems hard to believe that 3 years have gone by since we set foot on this island. Time is flying and I wish it would crawl.