Jake and Japan

This is the most patient dog in the world. Lucas built a contraption so Jake could carry things...yeah, I don't know either. The dog's attitude the whole time was, "Do I really have to do this? Yes, I do." (Seriously, I thought of that Bible verse where Jesus asked God to take the cup from him if possible, and if not...you know the one.)


He's even smiling while walking around with the thing. The dog's a saint.


That's why Drew and I are each sleeping in the same T-shirt all week to leave with him at the boarding kennel when we go to Japan. We also paid for the upgrade so he can watch TV. Seriously, did you know they have TV's now in kennels? What have our children and our pets come to?


Okay, and this is the pattern I printed out from Ravelry to knit on the plane. I think I can finish this thing in 26 hours (round-trip)....


And finally, I learned enough kanji, or katakana, whatever it's called, to recognize some things. My MIL gave the boys this book a long time ago for Christmas. It's a book of Christmas carols, and I tried to sound some out, thinking it would be in Japanese for the American words. So check out the first song there on the right. See there's a title, then some other info in small print. Now look at the second line of the stanza - see there are 2 different symbols, then that third is repeated the rest of the line. Guess what that says?


You guessed it, "Fa-ra-ra-ra-ra,ra-ra-ra-ra." I shit you not. I found another song and sounded it out, again expecting Japanese words that I might know, and guess what I got? Me-ri-ku-ri-su-ma-su! Get it? Also, Sa-n-ta ko-ra-su - Japanese is awesome! (And also devoid of L's, in case you didn't know...)