Kyoto a gogo

Ok, so it was a long day, but totally worth it. Some things you might want to know... we are both waking up at 4:30 am, and we want to hop in bed for sleep at about 9:00 pm at the latest. We feel that we are getting around the town well, despite our inabiltiy to speak Japanese. We have our phrase book, dictionary and translator, but it doesn't always solve the problem. We have depended on the good will of our fellow man to get us through confusion from time to time. Its amazing how much you can accomplish just by paying attention, though. As far as eating goes... anyone of you that really knows me, knows that I am pretty picky. The good news is that there isn't a great deal of "white slimy food" over here... but the bad news is that I can't really decipher what is what... so that leaves me reluctant to try really unknown items. Brian is enjoying just about everything he eats- he likes Haggis from Scotland, after all. We will hope that Ivy follows in Brian's food footsteps!

So since we were up at 4:30, we got ready to go catch the bullet train in the central Tokyo station. We weren't sure where we were going, so we wanted a cushion of time to get us there. We were amazed that the subways were not totally crowded at 6:00 am- the stations were in fact, deserted. The only people aside from us on the subway were very hung over looking men that appeared to be on their way to work. We took two subways to get the the bullet train, and then boarded the bullet train for Kyoto.

The train ride was about 2.5 hours long, and was very comfortable. I wrote 35 postcards on the way there. They are not the most interesting postcards you will ever get... 35 is a lot of them to write. We enjoyed looking out the window at the passing scenery of the Japanese countryside. It seemed to us that there was not any discernable break in towns the whole way. Some towns were smaller than others, but there was "civilization" out the window the whole way. Some farms, factories, shrines, neighborhoods, industrial parks, high rises... a bit of everything. When we got to Kyoto, we realized that we had not planned ahead and bought any kind of a map of the city. Kyoto is a LOT bigger than we had guessed. My cousins Kim and Nashon had visited Japan a couple of years ago, and based on the notes from their trip- we thought we could figure it out. We were wrong, though. We thought we'd hop in a taxi and go to the Imperial Palace for a tour at 10:00. It's kind of a long story, and if you really want to know, I can tell you later.... but after jumping through A LOT of hoops to get there, present passports and get permission to tour the palace, in the end we skipped it to walk around town instead.

The sun was out in Kyoto-- the first time that we had seen that since we got to Japan. It was really, really hot! We did less walking in Kyoto than we've done since we got here, but we felt it more. We walked across town and found a "handmade art center". This was a 7 story building featuring all kinds of "made in Japan" goods- a good place for some touristy souvenir shopping. We are guilty of wanting to do this kind of shopping- as were all of the other tourists in town. It kind of reminded me of the "trading posts" that you find near the Grand Canyon. Whatever- we did buy a few cool things, such as Kimonos for Brian and Ivy, two wood block prints for me (!!), and a carved stamp with Ivy's name written in Kanji characters. We also had lunch there... not the best lunch in the world, but definitely one we didn't have to negotiate in a foreign language.

After we left the tourist trap, we hopped in a Taxi to head to the Gion district. The taxi driver drove us through a beautiful area that featured numerous shrines and temples, before depositing us in Gion. We walked back up the hill and explored some of these beautiful sites before doing our shopping. We are pretty convinced that we visited the same temple featured in Lost in Translation-- which was pretty cool for us. We actually went in the temple and sat for a few minutes and enjoyed the gorgeous experience. The temple was huge and full of beautifully ornate objects. We didn't really know what we were looking at, but we loved it anyway.
After leaving the temple and shrine areas, we went to the central shopping district... where we had a good time shopping for some gifts. We chose some chopsticks for Ivy at a store that sold nothing but chopsticks. One pair for when she is little, and another fancier pair (with pink rhinestones) for when she is older. We also went into a wonderful store that had all kinds of beautiful small gift items. I could have spent hours in there, deliberating over fun things to buy... Brian had to buy Ivy one more kimono outfit!

That was pretty much it! Home on the bullet train and we were tired!

Tomorow is our big day! We just got a call from Taz, confirming that we will meet Ivy at about 12:00 pm! We can't wait, and now I feel like I might throw up in anticipation...

We still heart Tokyo, but are kinda tired...

I can't even count how many subways we were on today! Brian has done an AMAZING job of navigating all of our travels through this city- he has a knack for it, thanks perhaps, to all of the Air Force training.

We started the day by heading downtown to the central Tokyo train station to purchase train tickets to go to Kyoto for the day on Thursday- I'm not even going to tell you how much it cost! Amtrack where we live is subsidized.... that's obvious. Anyway, the bullet train will be super cool. We will leave that train station around 7:00 am, be thinking of us!

After purchasing the trian tickets, we walked over to the Imperial Palace gardens to walk around for a while. We were fortunate enough to catch a special exhibit of artifacts from the Royal Family- which was beautiful and fascinating. The grounds were extensive and contained many enormous stone walls, moats, koi ponds, stauary, lawns and guard houses. I have attached a couple of pictures from these gardens.

It was pretty darn humid today- we both really felt it. We were very very hungry when we left the gardens, and decided to see if we could have lunch in a "mall" that we'd walked past on the way to the gardens. We went directly to the top floor of the 5 story building and chose from about 25 different restaurants for lunch. I'll admit, the one we chose had a sign offering an English language menu... which had great appeal. It will be hard to top the lunch we had today. It was wonderful. We had Katsu chicken and pork loin, along with a delightful salad, pickles, rice, miso soup and iced green tea. The salad was my favorite part... it was the most delicious thing I've eaten in a week.

After lunch, we walked around in this mall. I have never seen such an appealing selection of merchandise in my life! I could have spent tons on money and time... but I was good. I did buy a couple of gifts and a small balsa wood squirell to go on Ivy's shelf in her room. It is precious. We think we might go back to this mall next week with Ivy just to walk around.

We next wanted to head to a baby store we'd heard about in another part of town. It required a few different subway trains to get to- and then our map didn't make sense to us... so we hopped in a taxi to get there. It was the best 710 yen I've ever spent! The baby store was comprehensive... we wandered through it and bought some diapers (!!!!) and two tiny kimono outfits for Ivy, as well as some more wipes- we hear you can't have too many of those.

On the way back to the subway, we stopped for a coffee (or tea) at Tully's coffee and then lots more subways. We got a little lost a couple of times, and two very kind Tokyo residents helped us out a lot! We owe them big, especially the gentleman that realized he had steered us wrong, and hopped on our train to correct his directions, even making himself late for an appointment.

Speaking of kindness, I wanted to mention the kindness of our flight attendant on the NW 27, Sharon, who aside from taking wonderful care of us on our journey to Japan, also made a gift of a delicious bottle of champagne to us to celebrate Ivy! Thanks!!!!

Ok, so that's about it for today. We are going to have a snack for dinner and veg.

Tomorow's update will be after we get back from Kyoto.

As we were drinking coffee this afternoon, I realized that we really only have 2.5 days left!!! A long, 9+ year wait comes down to this. Un be lieve a ble.

We heart Tokyo!

Ok, so first things first! We got a final picture of little Ivy Sara, from Okada-san attending a festival in her village. Obviously, we can't wait until Saturday, but we are trying to stay busy.
Here are some pictures that we have taken so far-- out of order, but oh well. Ok- so there is a picture of the 100 yen shop- which is like a dollar store- endlessly entertaining for me- Brian was a little bored. Also a picture of my new favorite book store in the world (and I've been in a few :). There is a picture of the Tokyo Tower- which we could practically touch from our lodging. A picture of our first successfully navigated meal in Japan (this one is for you Vicki!). Brian in front of a nearby Starbucks. I told him that this is like going to McDonalds-- and he didn't care. The Starbucks is exactly the same as any other Starbucks anywhere else- food offerings a bit different. A picture of some vending machines- they are EVERYWHERE! A picutre of our first glimpse of beautiful Japan from the window of the plane- and a picture of us on the plane too.

Ok- so we love Japan! It is a beautiful country, and we find the citizens delightful! Everywhere I look, I'm trying to soak up the experience so I can tell Ivy about it later. Its kind of hot here- and quite humid, but not as bad as South Carolina this time of year. We are trying to get comfortable with the area this week- so we can explore confidently with Ivy next week. Our lodging is very nice and spacious. It is situated at the foot of the Tokyo Tower- so we'll never get lost... you can see the tower from every part of town. Yesterday, when we woke up, we set out to explore a bit- and figure we walked about 6 miles or more. We had lunch in a noodle shop- somehow ordered and paid for it without speaking Japanese or english. It was delicious! We found the Roopongi Hills shopping area and did a little bit of shopping- but mostly just window shopping. There are coffee shops everywhere- litterally on every corner- which makes us very happy. At the end of the day, right across from our hotel we found a delightful bakery that has European style pastries. It was a nice way to end the afternoon of exploring.

We were pretty tired out from all the walking- Brian took a nap and I read for a while. I'm almost done with the book already (the only one I brought), but there is a lending library downstairs! We ordered dinner in and watched a movie on the laptop.

I know this is too much info for some of you, and not enough info for others of you... but there's so much to tell about this awesome experience, and we aren't even to the Awesome part yet! Saturday at noon is our big event-- synchronize your watches. More later...

Here are the latest pictures of Ivy, as well as a picture of Brian testing out his baby carrier. That's just a prop in there, my teddy bear! The picture with the three babies is Ivy and her "room mates"-- she looks huge compared to them, but I don't think she's reached 10 pounds yet. It is so hard to imagine how big she is based on these pictures! She looks very tranquil, though, and we are very pleased to see that she likes a pacifier- that will be very handy for the flight home.

We had a delightful weekend away up in the Sierras. We walked, napped, read, watched the squirrels, Brian fished... and not to mention the Death Cab For Cutie show in Reno. All of the pieces for our travel to Japan are falling into place- we will be packing on Saturday and ready to go on Sunday!

We will update the blog while we are away, with pictures of our new adventures with Ivy! Thanks so much to everyone who is so interested in our journey... all of the correspondence is very heartwarming!

10 days to Tokyo!

We were hoping to get updated pictures of Ivy this week, and we did! We hear from Okada-san that she is a very good girl, and sleeps through the night and is awake for much of the day. She likes to talk to herself.... just like me! I'm sure we'll have a lot in common :) My mom and I went on a marathon shopping trip yesterday and picked up just a few more things for Ivy-- she will be the best dressed kidlet on the block, for sure! Brian got a chance to hang the shelves in her room this weekend- so I can display some squirrels in there for her, of course. I also finished the artwork that I created-- so at least on the surface... we are ready!

We head to the Sierra's for one last weekend trip as a family of 2... very soon there will be 3 of us! I'm looking forward to so many things as Ivy's mother. I just can't wait to meet her and hold her precious self for the first time.

Great News!

Here she is, just waiting for us! Ivy Sara looks ready to be scooped up by her parents, doesn't she?

We got the news today that the custody has been transferred to the adoption agency- just waiting for us to go to Japan and pick her up. It was a great relief to us to hear that the paperwork was completed.

We have been staying busy during our wait by stocking up on baby items and finishing some projects. We both bought baby carriers and are trying to figure out how they work. We also have to get our car seat installed and learn how to operate it. We have received some lovely gifts so far, like the lovely quilt made by my dear neighbor and friend Joann. Also, check out Ivy's first Teddy Bear-- so cuddly and soft, I've already tested it out!

I'm almost done with the decorating... only a couple of small pieces of artwork to complete. Some of you wanted to see the kimono I ordered from ebay- I chose it for the colors, which I think are beautiful.

So, here are the particulars: Ivy's birthday is April 25th and though she weighed less than 6 pounds at birth, she's close to 9 pounds now. We will leave San Francisco on July 19th to travel to Tokyo to meet her. We actually won't meet her until July 25th. So hard to wait that long, but what's a few more days in a 10 year wait? We will spend a few more days in Japan with her and then travel home on August 1st, landing in San Francisco on August 2nd.

Tuesday we are heading to the Adoption Agency Office to get the immigration paperwork organized, and final details set. I'm pretty sure that the three weeks before we leave will fly by!!!

We are really enjoying hearing from our friends and family at this time- sharing our news! We'll send more updates as we have them!

At last we have some news...

As some of you already know... we got a call on Wednesday morning from Taz to let us know that we had been matched with a baby girl. This is a picture of Sara, who is currently 2 months old and waiting for us in Tokyo. We don't have a lot of information yet, but expect to get a lot more information starting at the end of next week. What we do know is that we already love her!

We are waiting for appointments to be set up for her passport, for her embassy appointment, etc. and then we'll be making our plans!

It's been such a long road for us over the years, that it seems kind of unreal! It's beginning to sink in a little now. I look around our house, and think how different it will be when we bring our bundle of joy home with us. I cant wait to hold her... just thinking about it brings tears to my eyes. Brian will tell her stories about Rufus the squirrel.... it will be wonderful!

We feel as prepared as we can be. We have most of the "stuff" that we need and have read some books on baby care. I'm sure I will be calling on the help of friends and family for advice along the way--- you know who you are! Fortunately, I was able to "practice" with an infant that Sally takes care of for the last few months, so I have officially changed a few diapers, but Brian hasn't!!!

We plan to name her Ivy. Its a name that we have both loved for a long time- kind of old fashioned, and perhaps a little bit unique. We will keep her other name Sara as her middle name, as a part of her heritage.

I'm adding a few more pictures here, and will add more when we get them. Thanks everyone for your support and interest in our journey. It's an amazing time for us, and we can't wait to get there and scoop her up!