well, i was going to try for nablopomo, but yesterday, the day we came back from omuta, was so tiring that i just didn't have blogging mojo. *sigh*

the holiday with the in-laws was fine. this year yoshi's brother and his family didn't come. it's almost definite that he will be transferred back to kyushu in april, so they wanted to spend time there before moving back. also, they have a two-year-old and a four-month-old, and who wants to travel when everyone else is? i wanted to see the baby, though. guess we'll just have to wait a bit longer!

it snowed on new year's eve day, as we drove down to omuta. it was pretty, and not too much although hiro was bugging us to let him play in it. we made good time, there weren't many cars on the highway, which was nice. we got to the omuta house at mid-morning. after a few minutes, sasha wanted to go for a drive with me, so i took her to you-me town, which was very crowded. then we went back to the house for lunch. in the afternoon we went to visit family, and then yoshi's friend and his family. i worked a lot on my crochet! i still have quite a bit left to do, though.

we had sukiyaki for dinner on new year's eve. i guess that's because i don't eat sushi. i'm not complaining, it was a nice dinner, even though sasha wouldn't eat. sasha wouldn't eat at all while we were in omuta, it was a bit frustrating! she even called the osechi 'old food', which was pretty funny (the osechi was fine, something that the in-laws ordered, not made, but it was cold.) the kids were a bit obnoxious, though, running around and being noisy. they are all of an age where they get bored easily, and they didn't have many toys to play with (there were a couple of wooden animals on wheels, small hand-held toys, but only so interesting, you know?) i tried to get them to sleep at nine, but they were way over-excited and wouldn't listen, so i just burrowed myself under all the blankets meant for us and waited for them to join me. it didn't take long for sasha to go to bed, and then hiro. i think yoshi put tommy to bed, though, and once again i went to bed early on new year's eve.

on new year's day morning, i went to omuta station to get yoshi some newspapers, and some bread for our breakfast. the newspaper stall is no longer at the station, and the conbini only had two of the four yoshi wanted. i managed to find another at 7-11 and then went back to the house. we made our annual trip to the onsen (mikawa onsen), then back home for lunch, where we had the spiced sake, then osechi. as i mentioned above, it was ordered again this year (PIL ordered it last year, but in previous years, MIL made it. i am sad, as she is an excellent cook, but her health hasn't been the best lately.) sasha wouldn't eat, so i didn't drink alcohol, and took her and hiro for a drive. i got them some onigiri, which sasha only ate half. ugh. went back to the house and wanted some beer, but no one offered. *sigh* don't really remember much of the evening, except kidlets bouncing off the walls.

on the second, we went to omuta zoo, because kids were free, and they have a white tiger. since it's the year off the tiger, i wanted to get some photos, so we all went together. MIL even bought me a little stuffed white tiger, and sasha a little stuffed hamster. cute. there are a few carnival rides there, so we all went on the ferris wheel, then sasha and i went on the merry go round while hiro and yoshi went on the teacups. then hiro insisted on the merry go round with mommy so he, tommy and i went on that. afterward, hiro threw a fit when i took a bite of his ice cream (he expected me to just take a little lick...) we went to lunch at a nice onsen, but the kids were getting pretty tired. (also, as we were leaving the onsen, an inquisitive old lady mistakenly thought i was pregnant. i was not offended (i do know i'm fat, you know) but i guess i should probably try to reduce my weight. *sigh* did i mention our wii is broken??) yoshi and i took the kids for a drive, but no one went to sleep. therefore, yoshi dropped me off at you-me town for some 'mommy time', but it was pretty crowded and not very relaxing. i did manage to snag a seat at misudo and did some knitting, but an old lady sat next to me and try to talk to me. i do not understand omuta dialect (or even plain old hakata-ben, for that matter) so i faked my way through most of it. i think she knew i didn't understand most of what she was talking about, but she was quite nice. afterward i went to toys r us to get some toys for the kids (PIL gave us otoshi-dama (money) the day before) so they wouldn't be bouncing off the walls again that night. yoshi picked me up and got his daddy time, and i drove around so someone would fall asleep. luckily, tommy and sasha did, and hiro and i watched a science program on TV. after we got yoshi we went back to the house, had dinner and then i gave the kids their toys. much better evening! then we went to onsen, back to the PIL's and then sleep.

yesterday morning we got up fairly early. i got bread again for breakfast. after eating we packed everything up and left. on the expressway we noticed that the car was nearly out of gas, so we exited and then got some gas. phew! on the way home we decided to go to the kashiihama aeon, which was fairly crowded, but i got some beans and tomatoes for dinner (chili), yoshi got a fukubukuro (lucky bag) and the kids got cranky. when we finally got home, we unloaded the car, i did about three loads of laundry and made a trip to the laundromat. ugh. i am so tired!

well, that's pretty much our whole holiday. pretty much the same as other years! phew!