And then, he lost balance.

So, we went on another family field trip a few days ago. We all had the 10th off, so Kyoko arranged a skating trip for us! We went out for lunch, skating, onsen and then dinner. It was a really nice day, too. A little cold, but sunny and awesome.

To start, Tatsuru (Tatsu for short) drove us all again. He's such an awesome chauffeur. We used the BH bus again and this time there wasn't a time limit, so we could stay out as long as we wanted. The bus wasn't big enough for everyone, so Angel and Keira went with Eriko. And for all intents and purposes, they probably had a better drive there. George sat up front with Tatsu and he chose the music for a good part of the trip. Its about an hour and a half to Koriyama from BH. And George has a very... eclectic sense of music. It's like driving with dad, but amplified by about 10. I can't lie, though, George's car trip music always reminds me of traveling with dad, since he always has interested stuff to listen to. As in, both dad and George do. Lol. Anywho~ Talia and Tonya had decided to put on headphones and listen to their iPod's. Which would've been ok, but Talia kept randomly bursting into song. It was kinda crazy. And then, she got fed up with the headphones and made George switch our music to hers. Now, Talia's music tastes run a lot like Heather's, so it was a lot of the Biebster and other bubblegum pop. We all promptly put on our headphones and I didn't catch any conversation until we got to the lunch place.

We ate at World Buffet and it was pretty good! They had a good selection of different foods and it was all pretty good quality. I ate some really good fried rice, spaghetti, nahn bread and some good desserts, too. They had a chocolate fountain! Yummmmmm~~~~~  And I tried milk tea pudding and that was really nice, too! We were joined by Jen (one of the teacher managers), Mikako-san, Terashima-san and one of the chefs that I don't know the name of.

After lunch, we all headed to the ice rink. Tatsu took care of our skate rentals and we all busied ourselves with tying our skates. And I must say, the skates were HIDEOUS! Bright red, plastic and gross. I sooo wanted to use my own pretty white skates, but no dice. And before we left BH that morning, Kyoko was trying to convince us all to get helmets. We all kinda looked at her like she was crazy. Lol.

We laced up and hit the ice. We skated for about 2 hours and it was awesome. I was really worried about falling, but I only fell once! And it wasn't even my fault! It was all David! I was holding him from behind and seeing if I could push him, like in that one Vinyl Cafe story with Dave and Morley. And then, he lost balance. And me, being the brave wifey, tried to save him. And then I lost balance. And I pulled him back, rather than falling on him. And he fell on me. On my left hip actually. It was quite painful. But, it was my only wipeout. And it was spectacular like always, so yeah. I'm satisfied. Lol. It was an awesome workout, though! I worked my arms and legs something fierce. Tatsu, Terashima-san and Eriko had never gone skating before, so it was cute seeing people teaching them. David actually spent most of the time skating with and teaching Eriko. He's really good! we'll have to start skating more when we go home.

After skating, we headed to an onsen. It was really nice and relaxing! Especially after that workout. We sat in the little onsen area outside and just soaked. Angel and I apparently looked really alike while we were there. Our hair was slicked back since it was wet and my glasses were off. Even some of the other ladies there said 'Ah! Futago-chan, ne?' (Ah! Twins?) when they saw us. It was cute.

After the onsen, we all had a chat about dinner. Tatsu and most of the others wanted suhi, but Keira, Angel, Eriko and I didn't really want fish. So, we were going to go for yakiniku instead. But, when everyone else heard of our plan, THEY all wanted it, too! So, we went to Hyper Gaja for dinner. It was pretty good. Yakiniku and I have a kinda love/hate relationship. There's so much cross contamination going on, it's unreal. But, once you get past that it's pretty good. And it's a fun way to eat.

And then, after dinner, we all split up. Eriko, Keira, Angel, George and I went home and Tatsu took everyone else out to do karaoke. I couldn't afford to, and in truth I was really tired from the days activities. Lol. So, we all bid each other farewell and hopped back in our cars and left. The car ride back was a laugh and a half. George is always fun to travel with. Lol.

And we listened to good music on the way home. <3