Swim Lesson Finale

Abby finished her last swim lesson today!

We won't be doing the next session as we will miss a full week of it on our adventure to Singapore!!!!! 

So she completed 4 straight weeks of daily lessons and improved immensely! 

I had them pose mostly to show off the shiny car! I took it to the do it yourself car wash today and it made a huge difference. 

New Eats

I needed some quick Yen change today, and stopped in the Japanese 7-Eleven on base to break my $50! So I picked up two new items to try! 

Onigiri--basically a rice triangle wrapped and seaweed and stuffed with something--in this case cooked salmon

So amazing 

Then I grabbed a bag of wasabi potato chips! Why not??!!! Fun twist-cleared my sinuses. 

Golf

I made my first attempt at golf today! I've been telling Mike for a while I wanted to hit the driving range....but timing and weather has prevented it---not to mention our crazy busy lives!!

Our office spouse organization on base officer free lessons twice a month for the late summer and Fall! The instructor was American and did an amazing job guiding us newbies and helping those who have played before. I had no idea how challenging the grip and swing were for golf....much more respect for it now. But I did hit all my balls! Even if half of them rolled/bowled onto the grass!

Dinner with friends

Last night I had the other 3 department head wives over for dinner. Between the four of us we have 10 kids! 9 girls, 1 boy!

Luckily they all get along!! 

Enjoying Icees on the patio!

Mall afternoon

My good friend Allie and I headed to the local mall this afternoon with her daughter and Maddy (Abby was on a camp fieldtrip!) 

We had lunch at an adorable cafe and did a little retail therapy! I got my first pair of Japanese shoes!! Japanese sizing fits up to a 8-1/2 to 9 American depending on the style. 9+ is impossible to find a fit for. 

My Flat White Latte

My Smoked Salmon sandwich 

Maddy in the new hat we got at this store...."Mom look, I made friends" Being a goof while our friends shopped! 

Super comfy everyday flat walking sandals (that's all we do here is walk.....and eat 😜)!! I needed something versatile and somewhat cute. 

First tooth!!!

Look who lost her FIRST tooth!!

3 months shy of turning 6 and her first tooth came out!! She held out in fear (of blood) for over two weeks. And yesterday promised that today was THE day! 

She woke up and Abby brought her all of her favorite plus items and held her hand!!

And I pulled out my first tooth!! 

Maddy was SO incredibly proud and boastful all day to everyone she saw!

She earned herself a chocolate ice cream cone today for getting that over with! 

OH Holy HOT run!!!!

This is what a summer morning run looks like here in Japan! I ran with these ladies today and bagged out at 2 miles.....I'm just not acclimated enough and wasn't carrying enough water! But it is fun to get out! 

Sankeien Garden-Yokohama "Lotus Bloom"

Yesterday I joined two other ladies from base and headed out to the Yokohama Sankeien Garden.

The Lotus flower is in bloom, but only blooms early morning. 

We left at 6:15am and it was still HOT....two trains and a bus later and we arrived!!!!

The Lotus flower represents a lot in Buddhism and originated in Asia.

"A lotus begins in deep mud and each stem must grow through dirty, murky water. But the blossom rises above all this muck and opens in the sun to be beautiful and fragrant. This is the true nature of humans, who can rise through adversity into the beauty and clarity of enlightenment."

 Stages of bloom for one day only: 

LEFT: Post-Bloom and the seed pod is charging to drop seeds into the water

CENTER: Pre-bloom

RIGHT: Mid-bloom

 Fully bloomed

 Pagoda across the pond

 The yellow center pod turns green after the leaves all fall to generate new seeds

 Clever Japanese-- they created a cool off station for kids (and anyone roasting in the HOT HOT weather like we were) They trimmed the Lotus leaf stem and around the leaf edge; plugged a hose into the stem (which is very porous) and voila! Instant outdoor shower!

 Followed this dragonfly around for a while.....and he finally posed

 LOVE how the light shows the veining on the Lotus leaves

 BUZZZ!!!

 AND.......a petal fell and was caught by the leaves below

 Pond in the center of the garden with a boat

 Japenese crane of some variety

 Turtles were doing what I wish we could have done.....we were MELTING and it was only 10am

 Japanese Wisteria still remaining from the early summer bloom

 These Koi and Carp at the waters edge were in a frenzy

 Turtles began to emerge

 Came in for their close ups

 For 50 Yen (less than $0.50) you can buy a string of bread to toss to the fish

Yamato Bon Odori 2015

My first dancing festival was amazing! The base bussed us to and from the station where the festival was occurring, making it so easy. The event ran from 5pm til 8:30! We danced for one hour straight, in the HOT sun before it went down. These Yukata outfits are heavy and not breathable! I was prepared to sweat!! And we did!! 

The base offers this opportunity and they train us for 6 weeks (90min lessons once a week) to prepare and learn the dances. 

At today's festival we performed two dances. 

All dressed in my Yukata. They arrange someone to dress you in this! It's like a Japanese corset. Very fitted and tight! 

The red part is called an OBI. It is a banded belt of sorts and you see them everywhere here. Then there is the bow that slips in the back, and the fan! 

All the ladies who danced today 

Dancing at the festival! We dance in three lines, three across! Spacing is important!

It was 3-1/2 hours of constant rotating dancers. So we danced for one hour, ate for an hour and then had an hour to enjoy the performers and people watch. 

Lots of young kids dancing in the mix 

All the performers are very energetic and animated!!

Lanterns at the festival entrance 

We stopped at a Chinese restaurant and it was amazing. No English menu, but I took a chance and loved this dish. Pork and veggies with squid and some very different mushroom variety. 

Ended my night pounding one of these.