Asamushi Aquarium

We made a foray out into the wilds of Japan today and drove to the Asamushi Aquarium in Aomori. We picked up directions from the family center on base and they were typical of a country with no street names. "Turn on white pole road" "Turn left at the fifth traffic light" and so on. We got there all right, there was some snow along the way and a very long tunnel through a mountain. We thought the ticket price was a little high (1000 yen for each adult) until we realized there was a dolphin show and feeding shows for the otters and dolphins.

Some of the exhibits were a little ghetto, there were small fish tanks for local frogs and such, but for the most part everything was really well-done. Some of the tanks looked kinda small, but they had a huge variety of sea life. The sea lions, seals, and otters were definitely in show-off mode and Annelise couldn't take her eyes off of the turtles. Here eyes were really wide the whole time we were there. The penguins were kind of disappointing, they were all sitting around in the habitat and none of them were in the water.

There was also a tunnel tank where you could walk through the tunnel while fish, some sharks, and a huge stingray swam over and around you. Annelise thought that was really cool, she kept looking around. We ate lunch in the little cafeteria and then went to the dolphin show. We missed watching any of the feedings, we didn't feel like waiting around and having the stroller meant we took up a lot of space.

The dolphin show was really cool, there are 5 or 6 dolphins there but only 2 did the show that we saw. They jumped through a hoop and played with soccer balls and large beach balls and did some other typical dolphin stuff. I wish we had gone to the dolphin tank to see them separately, but Annelise was getting fussy.

We will definitely go back and will probably take any visitors we have. It was worth the price of admission and the aquarium is across the street from the ocean. It was a beautiful drive up there through the mountains, and then you pop out right on the water, so pretty!

I posted some pics on our shutterfly site, check them out. Oh yeah, and Nemo is the same in any language. There were 2 tanks with clownfish in them and the Japanese kids were crowded around them saying "Nemo! Nemo!" It was pretty darn adorable.

She's 4 months old!

Annelise Marie, you are four months old today! I can't believe how fast the time has gone and it's crazy how much you've grown! You're at least 25 inches tall and weigh between 14 and 15 pounds!

You hit a couple of great milestones this month, sweetie! You laughed your first, adorable, baby laugh on March 6. It doesn't happen often, but that makes it even sweeter when it does. You also rolled over for the first time on your own on March 13! You rolled from your tummy to your back and I didn't even see it, I left the room for a couple of minutes and when I came back you weren't the way I left you! You're not very interested in rolling over, though, and haven't done it again since.

Your legs are getting stronger and you can support yourself for longer and longer amounts of time. You even pushed yourself forward the other day. You were laying on your tummy and scrunched up your legs and PUSHED! Granted, your arms weren't cooperating so you scooched on your face, but there was still forward movement!

We didn't get out and do much this month, we've been pretty busy here at home. We did attend our first bazaar on base and bought gifts for lots of people. We bought you your first robe, I pretend it's a kimono. You look so adorable in it and I love dressing you up when we get on the webcam with the family.

We went to the last session of our pottery class last week and took cupcakes to share with everyone. You wore the "I *heart* Japan" onesie that Aunt Sherry gave you, the Japanese people thought it was so cute! You even made friends with an older Japanese woman who carried you around and even put you to sleep while I finished my vase.

Some big things are coming up this month, sweetie. We're going to go to the aquarium this weekend (weather permitting) and at least one cherry blossom festival. I can't wait to see the cherry blossoms and to take pictures of you surrounded by them.

Oh yeah, one more thing. I decided this month that you speak whale. We love Finding Nemo and sometimes you sound just like Dorrie when she's speaking to the whale. You make a variety of sounds and some of them even sound like words. I swear, you even said 'Ranger' once! We have the best conversations, I love chatting with you.

You and your Daddy are too adorable for words. You light up when he walks into the room and he just about melts when you smile at him. Nothing makes me happier than to see the two of you together, the two of you make everything better!

I'll close with a picture of you in your robe, so cute!

Shutterfly and update

Check out our Shutterfly site at ajminear.shutterfly.com for new pics. I'm not posting pics here because I make one big post on Shutterfly every month. I also added new pics to the December and January albums there, some photos that my sister took.

The rest of our belongings arrived yesterday so the house is full again. Annelise slept in her crib for the very first time last night. John spent quite a bit of time putting together the crib, glider, shelves, and jumperoo, he's my hero. Annelise loves her jumperoo, although her legs are so short that I have to put a pillow on the floor so she can bounce around and she hasn't yet figured out how to use her legs to turn herself around to play with the different toys.

We'll be spending the next couple of days unpacking and decorating her room, I'll post pictures on the Shutterfly site once everything is set up!