Long time no Talk!

Hi Everyone,

It has been a long time since I completed a blog entry. I will give you a synopsis of the last month. I spent the last few weeks of summer lounging around and being a "house wife." Wow is that a great job! I have decided that working is overrated and I would like to be a house wife forever. It is fabulous. But enough about that.

We have been going out many birthday parties and dinners out in Tokyo. We have been to Spanish Tapas, Brazilian all you can eat meat, and Japanese Karoke. Have put on a few pounds in the last few months but I am working on that at the moment.

We recently went to a Brazilian Carnival down in Tokyo. Both Japanese and Brazilian women were dressed up in the typical Brazillian Carnival outfits. (if you can call a few pieces of cloth and a ton of feathers outfits) It was really fun but there were so many people we ended up in a bottle neck of people and almost got trampled. It was a very unJapanese situation. Normally, in big crowds people will just shuffle along but someone must have gotten aggresive and all of the suddden everyone was pushing. Don't worry, we are both okay and Quinn even managed to pick up some elderly people and children along the way.

School has started again and that means work has started again. This year is going well so far and I am already planning our next trip. We are deciding between New Zealand, the Philippines, or Malaysian Borneo. If you have any input on these countries please send me an e-mail. Part of the decision will depend on price of tickets.

We also had our one year anniversary of living in Japan. So that means, some of the annual events are cycling through again. We went to the friendship festival again this year and had a different perspective by knowing a bit more about Japanese culture. We saw a lot of cool planes this year including the F22 and people parachuting from planes. We also took Ethan to the pool again for dog days of summer. He enjoys playing the pool but he likes the river better. Ehtan is still doing well for those of you wondering about him. He has turned into quite the cuddle bug and is now allowed to sleep in the bed.

Here we have some pictures of a neat event we went to a few weekends ago. Here is some background information: a yukata is a type of Japanese robe that in the past was traditionally worn around the home and at Japanese Inns to go to the onsens (Japanese bath). In recenet years the Yukata has been worn outside the home for different Japanese events. The Japanese continue to embrace their history and culture while being forward thinking on technology and development. Hence the idea of a Yukata boat cruise. This is an event where for $30 per person you take a cruise around Tokyo bay (viewing all the light up skyscrapers) and have all you can drink alcohol while wearing a Yukata. Additionally the people working on the boat are wearing hats that have megaphone and microphones attached to give directions and whatnot. It was kind of like being on a floating night club. It was great.