Mushroom Girl

Cynthia - transformed into a true mushroom! The pictures of random people and things are Cynthia's own artistic expression as she marched around the studio with our camera.

River Walking

We spent one afternoon wading along the Tama river mostly b/c it was the only place in the area that offered some respite from the heat.

The last picture is just of the camembert cheese that is readily available here that I love! This variety has black pepper through the middle of it and costs less than $3.

Front Row

We had front row seats for this little fireworks show - maybe a little too close for comfort.

August Images

Since it's been a while since I've posted I thought I'd play catch-up and post several pictures from this past month. We didn't get out as much b/c it was sooooo extremely hot and we couldn't handle it! We made it to only one small summer festival but we still had a good time.

Karuizawa local flavor

More Karuizawa

Karuizawa

I took our friends to Karuizawa the day before they leave for their move to Alaska. We had fun but I will truly miss them. We visited Onioshidashi which is the lava fields and Shiroito water falls.... and then walked down the machi (shopping street) and I got to show off my past home-town!

The Birthday Celebration!

We got to celebrate David's birthday a little early while he was here for his extremely short visit. Our super thoughtful friends, the Hanazawa family, got this cute cake and we had a sushi party with them! It was a really good time.

Okonomiyaki.....

Okonomiyaki..... decent stuff..... I like it much more now than I did as a kid. We aren't very good at cooking it though. Somehow everyone else can make it perfect and neat but sorry, not us!

Krispy Kreme - Is it worth it?

Krispy Kreme!!! I love that place and was Thrilled when I heard one opened here in Tokyo last fall. To bad that I finally went and found it in Shinjuku but didn't have enough time or energy to stand in the hour and a half line(??!!$%#&) for some donuts. (Note Cynthia's sadness when I refused to get in line and wait!))

Working for a Living

Friday night we were fortunate to get a room at the New Sanno hotel in Tokyo so the girls and I had a fun escape. We got to go swimming and have a good time.... then Saturday morning we were up and out bright and early b/c Cynthia had 2 jobs. The first was really easy and over with in about an hour and a half.... the second was more like 4 hours and much harder as Cynthia had to deal with extensive hair-dos. Anyhow, somehow we made it through that and lived to tell you the pictures are hysterical...

Fourth of July

Our Fourth of July was rainy and yucky. No fireworks.... but we tried to have fun despite all that.