Japan

What does the thought of Japan conjure in your mind? I think of Mt. Fuji, the rush and vibrant scene of Tokyo, and the history of Kyoto. But of course I saw none of those things on this trip.

Instead I saw some of this.

And quite a bit of this.

I think I saw some of the best.

I drove near Tokyo but spent most of my week doing things like this.

 
John is quite a mimic these days. And after only a couple days, he had picked up some of my expressions. Soon he was saying things like:

"What's that?"

"Cars are everywhere." (though the everywhere came out more like everwr)

Then after a questions: "Huh. . . (pause) . . . I donknow."

Okay really, who is making the better face here?

 I basically tagged along with Amree and was extra hands for her. I greatly enjoyed the time with her. But one special thing for me was the cooking class. She attends a monthly cooking class that several of her Japanese friends put on. They taught us to make three different dishes -- a soup, a pork with rice, and pickled turnips.

Making the pickled turnips. They had a slight lemon flavour and were SO good.

Breading the pork.

Is it me, or am I looking really tall here?

In fact, I look like a GIANT. 

 Table set and ready to eat.

But I will leave you with some more cuteness.

I had such a great time hanging out with John. He is a riot and continually cracks me up. I call this his casual pockets look. In fact, the bruise on his forehead is a casualty of casual pockets. He was running with his hands in his pockets and you can guess the result.

Carrying Cada in the snugglie brought back so many memories of doing the same with my kiddos. I kept calling the snugglie her baby Ambien because if she was fussy all it took was a dose of the snugglie and she would be out.

The week flew by. And while I would have loved to stay longer, I was missing my own kids something fierce. So I am glad that I went. And now I am glad to back.