Life in Fukuoka, Japan: Aunt Mimi's busy week, Part 1

The past week was wonderful! I was Aunt Mimi for one week in Salem. I loved it. It wasn't all fun and games...little Ella was sick for a few days.

Last Saturday, June 17th I drove to Astoria (and no, I didn't get lost at all) to watch Ella's dance recital. She was in the hip hop, tap, and ballet performances for her dance level. The recital was so much fun and all of the kids did such an amazing job. My brother has been sick since the day before so he came to the recital and then home again to rest. Michelle, Ella and I went to meet other girls and their families at Dairy Queen because "all the best families go to DQ". That is what the little dancer kept saying. Too cute!

Ella and I played all evening. She is 6 going on 7. Her birthday is on June 28th and we are having her party on June 30th. I spent the night in Astoria so that Ella would be able to spend the majority of Father's Day with her dad before taking Ella to Salem with me for a week. On Sunday morning we all woke up early (my brother was still resting since he wasn't feeling great). Ella made "I Love You Daddy" pancakes for her father's breakfast. Ella's dad was taken his breakfast upstairs so he could have breakfast in bed. He had a large stack of pancakes and some fruit. He ate a good amount of pancakes before he realized that he really didn't feel good. Needless to say his breakfast ended quickly. We decided to let him sleep while we went to the Astoria Sunday Market. The market there is really nice. I was able to get fresh berries, asparagus and of course caramel popcorn. One woman had very unique and beautiful bracelets and necklaces. She used sea glass and she made her own silver beads. I wanted to buy one, but they are very pricey and I just didn't know how much I would really wear it. Now a days I try to think about what I need for Japan, not just what I want. (This can be difficult.)

Ella and I drove to Salem about 3:30ish. I made it to Salem just fine with one exception...I couldn't find my apartment building. I know what you are thinking. You are saying, "What? You could drive all the way to Astoria and back without any trouble but you couldn't find where you live?". Yes, that is what I am saying. I only made one little error. I turned left when I should have turned right. I had to call Mark to ask him where to go. I am sure he got a kick out of that. (Just so you all know, I haven't forgotten where I live since then.)

Ella loves to play. We played all evening and I by the time I got her to sleep I was also ready for bed. We had big plans for our week so we needed to be well rested. My cats were not very friendly when Ella entered the apartment. I think they hid for the majority of the first two to three days. (Silly cats)

Monday, June 18th. A.C. Gilbert's Discovery Village:

Mark, Ella and I all went to the Discovery village for the day. We didn't know what all was going to be there since none of us had every been there before. (Here is the link if any of you want to check it out -
http://www.acgilbert.org/). There are many older, restored homes that were in different locations in the city that were then moved to this place. We all had a great time. There was a very fun bubble room. You could stand in the middle and then pull up a weight which caused a almost hula hoop looking thing that pulled up and had a bubble going up around you. Very, very cool! There were things to explore and things to play on Ella has a fun time and we were there for quite a while. Ella met a girl and they played for a long time on the two story erector set. Ella almost had me going down one of the two slides that were pitch black and spiral. No Way.....I was about to let go when I was almost hit with a full panic attack. I do not do small spaces that are black as night. No way!