Misumoto Park

I finished up summer school on Friday so after a week of not being able to spend that much time with the girls we decided to take them out this weekend. Yesterday we went to a great park on the other side of Tokyo. It was another huge park with lots of open green space and water with a dog run. However the grass in the dog run was knee high so we decided instead to walk around the park which was quite cool on a 30 degree day. A lot of children were playing in the water ways trying to catch tadpoles and small fish. Jazz and Dixie of course did not step foot in the water. We had lunch there and while throwing away our trash we noticed that one of the bins was for "pet" (actually in japanese it said PET bottles but they shortened it in English). We had another great day discovering one of the many parks around Tokyo.

Showa Memorial Park

Wow its been more than a month since I last blogged. A lot happened in that time with school ending, a trip home and Jazz being in season so we didn't go anywhere with the girls. Yesterday Shin drove us to a great huge park, Showa Memorial Park. We had to pay to enter but inside they had a great series of dog runs, beautiful gardens and lots of green grass!! Yes that's one thing I miss living in Tokyo - big open grassy spaces. The girls had a great time and made a few new friends in the dog run. We then sat out on one of the lawns for lunch and meet another couple with two beagles. We were lucky to beat the rain which set in just as we were leaving. It was nice to be back out exploring new places with the girls again.

Fun at Sakura Dog Run

Today Shin took the car in for its 6 month service and then drove us to Sakura Dog Run in Chiba. Jazz and Dixie really enjoy themselves at this dog run and today was no exception. It was a bit hot today so I soaked their cooling t-shirts in cool water and that made a big difference. There weren't many people there today so we basically had the back dog run to ourselves to play ball and sit in the shade with the girls.

We have been tagged by our beagle buddies over at Dughallmor Beagles so we thought we'd join in. We still have another tag to play about our sleeping positions and will post once we work out how to make a collage for the sleeping pics we have.

Here are the rules:

1. Link to the person who tagged you.

2. Copy the image, rules and questionnaire.

3. Post in your blog.

4. Answer the four questions.

5. Pick 7 friends to share with.

6. Come back to BLoGGiSTaiNFoCoRNeR and leave the URL of your post in order for your blog to be added to the master list.

7. Have fun.

Questions and answers:

1. The person who tagged you? Dughallmor Beagles

2. His or her site title and URL? Dughallmor Beagles

3. Date you were tagged? May 21, 2009

4. Persons you tagged? Cinnamon&Cookie, Noah, River, AO4 and Kess.

Happy 6th Birthday Jazz

Today Jazz celebrated her 6th birthday. I can't believe that its five and half years ago that we brought her home as a cute little puppy to our old apartment that did not allow pets! We moved shortly after getting Jazz and have been happily living with her and Dixie in our current apartment across from the park. The weather wasn't very good today so between rain showers I took the girls for a walk over to Jiyugaoka to the Three Dogs Bakery to buy Jazz a Birthday cake. They told me that the cake I wanted would take about 6 hours to thaw so I decided to go for chicken meat loaf and a smaller fresh cake instead. So for dinner Jazz and Dixie scoffed meat loaf and birthday cake!

Last Weekend

Yes a whole week has past since I meant to post these pictures! This week was super busy with report writing and parent teacher conferences but now that its all over for the year and there are only 3.5 weeks to go I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and can look forward to summer holidays! Anyway last weekend Shin found a new dog run about 2 hours out of Tokyo in a beautiful part of Nikko. This place is a Pet Resort where "animals always come first" and is set in a forest. Some parts have been cleared to make several dog runs. The grass was in need of a mow but we had the whole place to ourselves and the weather was beautiful (29 degrees). We had a picnic lunch and lay in the shade of some big trees. What a great discovery!

Family Reunion Third Day

The 5th of May was Children's Day in Japan, Dixie's Birthday and our last day of our great little weekend reunion! We had a great time catching up with everyone as we missed last year's reunion.

Carp windsocks are flown for Children's day.

Nana at breakfast in the pension.

Jazz and Dixie at breakfast in the pension.

Momo dressed as a bear.

All the beagles at Akarenga Pension from left to right; Poki, Beat, Momo, Momo, Bel, Piero, Veronique ,Cookie, Milk, Dixie (pink) Jazz (blue), Gonta and Nana.

Family Reunion Second Day

After breakfast the second morning we set out early to another nearby dairy farm so as beat the crowds lining up for icecreams. At 10am in the morning we were able to secure a delicious soft serve ice cream each. Jazz and Dixie also enjoyed a taste. Jazz and Dixie enjoyed running around like crazy with me in tow through the lush green grass. As last time Jazz freaked out when she saw the cows. She is so curious but can't bring herself to go near them and starts to spin around in circles!

Shin and I both nearly lost our whole icecreams to Jazz whose favourite food in the whole world is icecream!

It was safe to hand my icecream over to Dixie who just licked her share nicely.

Jazz's uncle Gonta and aunty Momo.

Momo, Milk and Cookie all waiting patiently for their icecream.


Jazz and Beat

For lunch we went to a soba noodle cafe with outdoor seating just perfect for our doggy companions. We were joined by two more beagles here, Piero and his new sister, Veronique.

Jazz eyeing the soba noodles

Jazz and Dixie sharing a soba noodle.

Piero

Piero's little sister Veronique and Bel

Jazz and Dixie looking not too pleased with all the posing for photos.

After lunch we drove to a near by lake and walked all around it with all 13 beagles! There were many "how cute" comments and many people asking if they were family etc. The beagles enjoyed all the attention and the good smells around the lake. After that we drove up into the mountains hoping to catch a glimpse of a still snow covered Mt Fuji but it was too cloudy! We stopped in a a souvenir place and bought some fresh milk for the girls. Then we headed down the mountain and back to the pension were after dinner we celebrated Dixie's 3rd Birthday and Poki and his sister Cookie's 2nd Birthday.

Trying to get a group shot with Dixie not really cooperating!
View across the lake to the mountains in the distance.

A beagle walk along the board walk.

Family Reunion First Day

Wow already a week has gone by and I am just now posting the pics from Jazz and Dixie's family reunion. Last Sunday we set out to early as we knew there would be a lot of holiday traffic. Surprisingly we made good time and arrived in time to have lunch with Beat (Jazz's brother), Momo and Poki, Bel, Momo and Milk and Cookie. After lunch we visited a local farm hoping to have an icecream made from farm fresh milk. Well everyone else had the same idea so we decided not to wait in the long long line but went to buy some other farm produce. After that we went for coffee at a cafe by a local lake before heading on to the pension we were staying at. They have a dog run out the back so Jazz and Dixie could play with some of their beagle relatives in there. We all rested before dinner in the pension dining room complete with all the beagles!

Momo, Beat and Poki

Momo, Bel, Dixie, Jazz, Momo, Beat and Poki.
Jazz and her brother Beat.

Poki and Beat at lake side cafe

Happy Birthday Dixie!

We just got back from a great weekend away for our Beagle Family Reunion and I have many photos to sort through before writing about what a great time we had and all the things we did. But I just had to do this post quickly as it is a very special day today - our little Dixie turned 3 today! We celebrated her birthday at the restaurant in our pension with 11 other beagles, a black lab and a papillion. Beat, Jazz's brother's mum ordered a cake for Dixie, her youngest beagle, Poki and his sister Cookie. We sang happy birthday and then the cake was cut and shared amongst all the guests. Being beagles the cake was gone in seconds!

Heiwa no Mori Park

Yesterday it poured with rain all day so we couldn't really take Jazz and Dixie anywhere. We decided we would take them to a pet shop and then Costco but everyone else in Tokyo had the same idea and the line to get into the car park at Costco was too long to wait in. This morning we decided to try again and this time there wasn't a line up. After getting a few things we headed to Heiwa no mori Park as it was close by and one our way home. We have never been there before and found that it was in fact a lovely green park that joined onto a water front park and man made beach. The dogs were not allowed on the beach but we enjoyed a walk in the lush, cool clover and had an icecream so the girls were very happy. Next weekend is a long weekend and we are going on a reunion trip to meet up with Jazz' litter brother, Beat and many other beagles some of which are related to both Jazz and Dixie. I am really looking forward to the break.

Prime Land Dog Run

Its been another busy week as I am rewriting our cirriculum at school and I had a friends wedding to attend on Sunday. We did however manage to get out to enjoy this great sping weather with the girls on Saturday. Shin found a new dog run about 55km out of Tokyo. It was made up of three small dog runs and a pool area. Jazz and Dixie were the only two in the main run but the neighbouring dog run was playing host to a Newfoundland meet with 11 big black pups! I thought Dixie would freak out especially when all the neighbours were barking but Jazz and Dixie remained very quiet and stuck right by me when we were near the fence. We didn't use the pool area as you had to pay extra and Jazz and Dixie would not have stepped one foot in the water! We played around with the ball for a while until I cleverly threw it over the fence and down into some farmers garden! It was non retrievable much to Jazz's disappointment. After that the girls didn't run about much so I used the opportunity to get some close ups and posing shots. It is very easy to take pictures of Jazz but a little more tricky with the ever moving Dixie!

A Fantastic Weekend!

Today we went in search of a small pond for my turtles. The first pet shop we went to didn't sell them so we headed off to another pet shop near Senzoku Pond. They didn't sell them either but we did end up buying new harnesses for the girls. Then we started to walk to the pond and found that they were still having a Hanami Matsuri (Spring Cherry Blossom Festival) and had all the usual festival food vendors set up all around the pond. We stopped and ate yakitori (skewered BBQ chicken) and yakisoba (noodles with cabbage, shrimp, ginger and seeweed) for lunch. The girls were very happy with the things they scored from the lunch table! While walking around Jazz and Dixie caught sight of the turtles and koi in the pond and were very curious! A typical festival game here is catching goldfish with a small scoop and being able to keep the fish you catch - well Jazz and Dixie thought they would really like a turn at that game. The woman in charge didn't look so happy when Dixie jumped up for a closer look! We didn't end up finding a pond for my turtles but we certainly had a nice time at Senzoku Pond. In the days before Shin and the girls I used to live near this oasis in the surburbs and walked around the pond every morning before going to work. Its a little far to walk there from where we live now so it was nice to drop in by car today.

On Saturday the weather was fantastic so we decided to head down towards the Shonan Peninsula to Dog Garden Resort in Fujisawa. The "resort" has a cafe terrace, dog run with fake grass and swimming pool and a pet shop. It was quite funny to see Jazz and Dixie jump up and into the pool as it was empty. Obviously they could smell there wasn't any water in it or they certainly would not have jumped right in. It was quite hot and Jazz and Dixie were not to interested in playing in the dog run so we went upstairs to the cafe terrace for lunch in the shade of a huge palm tree! After that we went for a walk along the beach before heading back to Tokyo.

Happy Hanami

This weekend all around Tokyo people are out enjoying picnics under the cherry trees in various parks around the city. Many of them are so crowded that picnic mats cover all the ground side by side and many people flock to the best spots. Having Jazz and Dixie and not being lovers of such crowds we decided to opt for a less popular park to do our cherry blossom viewing (Hanami). Rinkai park near Oimachi has a very nice grass area and lots of cherry trees with low branches to sit under and not so many people as other parks Ive been to in previous years. Its raining now so I wonder how long the blossoms will last - such short lived beauty. This park also has a dog run that Jazz and Dixie had a bit of a run around in. When we got home we went to meet up with beagle friend, Nala and some of the staff who used to work at Pet Love Cafe in the dog run near our house.

A Reunion With An Old Friend!

Three years ago, in a time before Dixie, one of Jazz's best friends at Dog Inc left for London with her family. Jazz and Daisy loved to play crazy games together - in those days they were both younger and crazier. Daisy has returned from London and is back at Dog Inc. Both Jazz and ' Crazy Daisy' as she was affectionately know have calmed down a lot, they still like each other but don't play as they once used to.

Jazz and Daisy's last day at Dog Inc before Daisy left for London, February 2006

Three years on: Jazz, Dixie and Daisy, with staff dogs Soldier and Ingo at Dog Inc this week.

Satte Dog Run

Today we discovered a great new dog run about 60kms from Tokyo. Shin found it on the net and we set out hoping that it would be as good as it showed in the pictures. It was quite cold and windy today but the girls were excited to be somewhere new. The place was divided into three dog runs; one for under 10kgs, one for over 10kgs and an agility course. Even though Jazz doesn't weigh in at under 10kgs we started there first because of Dixie's fear of big dogs. After some playing and running around with other dogs we decided to try the bigger dog run. Dixie was ok except for when we met a very cute and very excitable, 8mth old Basset Hound. Dixie kept barking at her as she ran up to us to play. The dog run was right next to a steak restaurant so Shin and I stopped in for lunch while Jazz and Dixie had a rest in the car. They were very happy that I remembered them and gave them a piece of steak for being good girls.

A Jazz and Dixie Day

From left to right: Dixie, Jazz and Nala.

My Spring break went by so quickly! Its been nice to spend more time with the girls even if the weather hasn't been so great. As today was the last day of my holiday I decided to make it a total Jazz and Dixie day! This morning we walked with Shin to the bus stop and then on for an hour walk in the park. It was sunny but very chilly. We stopped in at As Classics American Diner for breakfast. They make the best club house sandwiches in Tokyo there! After breakfast we headed home and did a spot of gardening on the balcony. Jazz and Dixie had to oversee what I was doing. After that we made carrot juice so the girls got to crunch on some carrot sticks which they love! Then it was back outside as it had warmed up a bit and the sun was still shining. We arranged to meet up with a beagle friend of ours, Nala. We walked together over to the next suburb to have coffee outside. As we sat with the girls so many people came to pat the 'cute beagles'! At one point we were joined by another girl beagle called Momo. So many children wanted to pat and play with the girls we could have opened a 'Beagle Petting Zoo'. After coffee we continued our walk on to a local pet shop were I picked up some snacks for J&D before walking home. We were out for 3 hrs! I got a little colour in my cheeks and the girls are now snoring on the sofa! I wish there could be days like this every week!

Return of the Sun Lizards!

Where does the time go? It's been more than 2 weeks since I last posted! As usual work is keeping me very busy but we are managing to enjoy weekends away with the girls. Spring is here although you wouldn't know it by the wintery cold weather we are having this week. Last week was beautiful, with warm sunny days but since I am on Spring break this week and have the time to be out and about with the girls it has turned cold again. Other signs of sring are the cherry blossoms and the sun rising higher in the sky and shining in on the girls in their favourite morning sunning spot. I got out of the shower the other morning to find them like this!

Everyone is Back Home

Jazz, Dixie and Shin are all home! On Friday and Saturday I had a teachers' conference from 8- 5pm both days. As I would not be able to spend any time with the girls at all I decided to let them go to the pet hotel at Dog Inc from Friday morning. Shin was in Paris this last week and came home yesterday evening so now everyone is here! It looks like the girls had fun with each other.

Girl's Day

Today is Hinamatsuri (or Girl's Day) here in Japan. This is our third Hinamatsuri since starting our blog (2007)(2008) and today I bought some of the traditional sweets eaten to share with my girls. We tried both "sakura-mochi "(bean paste-filled pink rice cakes with cherry leaves) and "kashiwamochi "( rice cakes wrapped in kashiwa (oak) leaves. Kashiwamochi are traditional Japanese sweets usually eaten on Children's Day on May 5th but they were being sold together with the girls day sweets today. A great thing about Japan is the festivals, celebratory and seasonal foods - there is just so much variety! Happy Girls Day to all the girls out there.

A Stinky Dog Run and a Run at the Beach!

On Saturday after a week of rain we decided we would take Jazz and Dixie to an indoor dog run as the ground was still very wet out. Shin did a bit of a search on the internet and found one that looked ok about 50kms out of Tokyo so we headed out. The first thing we noticed when we got there was the smell of dog pee pee but decided to give it a go anyway. I lead Jazz and Dixie into a big shed with a fake grass floor and immediately Dixie was attacked by a chocolate lab. That made her very scared and edgy with other dogs there and thus she preferred to sit up on a bench or on my lap. Jazz was a bit more adventurous and went up to people for a pat but neither of them was interested in playing there at all. This happens in the Komazawa dog run too especially in summer when it gets particularly stinky so I think that Jazz and Dixie super noses are offended by the oder! They usually love the grassy clean dog runs we go to and can run around for ages but when it comes to concrete or fake grass they are not interested! The dog run was not far from the beach though so we headed down there for a bit of a run on the beach. It was quite cold but Jazz and Dixie were in their element, running and pulling me along behind them. I only wish I could have let them off the leash but with all those smells and that vast open space I am scared I would not get them back. I envy the Dughallmor Beagles who often run along the beach and always look like they are having such fun. Shin went off to Paris today for a week so its just the girls and I at home this week:(