Princess Rider

This blog is especially for my Aunt Janice



Last year when we were celebrating Sara's 1st birthday, we requested no presents since we knew that we were most likely going to be moving to Japan. My Aunt Janice insisted on getting Sara something so I asked her to pick out a cute, fancy dress for Sara's 1st birthday photos.



Sara loved it so much, and since it was still a bit big, we brought it to Japan with us. The other night we had a sukiyaki party with some of Mitch and my English students and Sara picked out the said dress to wear.



All night long she was very ladylike in wearing her dress. But when Miho brought us home, she took off for the bike storage area and decided she wanted to go for a ride.



Here's to you Aunt Janice...Princess Sara

Dancing Babies

I vaguely remember something about dancing babies on the Internet and on Allie McBeal a few years ago. Don't worry, mine is dressed...

RJ received another birthday card in the mail this past week from his cousin Jordan. It was one of those singing ones. Sara got a hold of it and started to perform from us. I hope you enjoy!

How Much Would You Pay?

While we were in Okayama this past weekend we learned that fruit is very famous and delicious in Okayama. On our way home we stopped at a rest stop to buy some peaches and grapes.

These grapes were 1700 yen (about $17) and the peaches were a bit less (I can't tell you as some were purchased as a gift for the others on the trip, but if you want to know how much those 2 peaches were, comment or email me and I will tell you).

They were the most delicious grapes and peaches I have ever eaten. They were SSOO juicy!

Yukata Matsuri

We returned from our island vacation Sunday around 1:45pm My friend Miho came over at 2:30 to help us put on our yukatas. We were headed to the Yukata Matsuri in downtown Himeji.

One of my classes at Shogai purchased my yukata for me as a going away present.


Mitch got his at a welcome party we went to last September
Mitch, Miho, RJ, Sara and Akiko all dressed up and ready to go
If you wore your yukata on the city bus you only pay 1/2 fare...maybe we will wear everyday

The same day, if you were wearing a yukata you could go into the Koko-en garden for free, so we stopped for a few poses
Rob, Lyn and RJ
Heather, Sophie, Mitch, Eiko, Sue (our dentist here in Japan) and Chiaki

the back side of Sara and Akiko
The happy Hammes Family
Miho, Akiko and us on the bridge in Koko-en
Miho and Akiko
Sara, RJ and Akiko waiting patiently for pictures to begin

We met up with several people form Shirasagi to have a group photo taken in front of Himeji castle. When it started to rain, we ducked under the main gate. Sara posed for us with these 2 cute Japanese girls in their yukatas.

more of the groupMiho's shoes. These are gettas, the typical shoe to wear with your kimono or yukata

Akiko- beautiful smile!
Sara was a bit tired and restless, so Daddy did a great job of entertaining her....

More of the group waiting out the rain

This is one of RJ's friends from school.

So I bribed RJ with ice cream if he kept smiling and being happy through all the pictures. Every time we would take a picture with the group, he would ask, "Can we have ice cream now?" He was so good...
And then the real smiles came out!

And so did the paparazzi

It was a bit ridiculous how many people wanted to take RJ and Sara's pictures while they were eating ice cream
One of the camera men took Miho that they were shooting for a photo competition.
Sara and Akiko (Sara loves to hold Akiko's hand)
Some of the beautiful fashions


Even though it was raining, we had a great time.

On Monday at school, RJ was asked to go to the Yukata Matsuri AGAIN with his friend Kimi. They had a blast!

Shirashi Island Villa

I have a stack of journals to read and grade, a final exam to write, yet here I am blogging. I hope you enjoy today's post. Maybe you can leave a comment so I will know that ditching my school work was not in vain....

This past weekend we had a great holiday weekend with great friends!

Friday:We boarded the bus at 3:12 to head down town to catch the Shinkansen. Sara did not want to sit up front with her family, she chose to sit with Dopie (opps, I mean Sophie)



Once at the train station with everyone riding the train, I found out that this was to be Kimi's first trip on the Shinkansen. RJ,being the expert (this was his 5th ride), asked me to take their picture.

After the 40 min bullet train ride, we had another 45 min regular train ride. Sara was getting a bit tired so she got a ride...

I like to take pictures of the man hole covers as each city has their own design
This is from Kasaoka (where we picked up the ferry to the island)

Once we arrived on the island, we walked about 10 mins up the hill to our villa


This is the view from our room

This is the balcony

On Saturday we all headed down to the beach for some fun and relaxing time.


Joe decided to challenge the kids to run and jump in the water
I was so impressed with RJ!

Sophie relaxing
More jumping
Sara got into the act toomore flips by Joe

RJ doing it alone...he is growing up!!
Cute Sara



Mitch, Marie-Louise, Favi and Katie relaxing
Look closely at this picture. (click on it if you want to see it bigger) Notice the tori gate near the edge of the water to the right of the little house like structurenow you can see it is well out of the water. High tide vs low tide.
This is where we had our BBQ later that night.

RJ with our villa in the background
Joe and Katie brought some fireworks for the kids to play with. Mainly they are sparklers.
RJ and Kimi enjoying some fireworks
Then it was BBQ time. Mitch, Zuka and Chris did the cooking while Joe did the talking.
Then it was time to eat!

Yes those are whole fish that the guys BBQ for us. Kimi loves to eat the eyes.

More fireworks after the BBQ on the beach

Katie practicing her "getting kids to eat" skills. She will dive head first into that arena in November.
Mitch and Chris rehashing their idea of a fun late night swim the night before...be sure to ask one or both their version of their story.

Sara and Sophie
After we returned from the BBQ, we found the villa COVERED in flying ants. RJ and Kimi thought it would be fun to catch them

the next morning, I took the kids back to the beach (I figured it was the lesser of 2 evils, Favi and Zuka were on breakfast detail, and Mitch was willing to pack)
We found a hermit crab on the beach. Kimi was kind enough to pick it up and put it into my ready made beach. I carried it up to the villa so the kids could show it off.
Then it was time to leave. Me, Sara and Favi posing by the dock waiting for the ferry
RJ, Kimi and Sara waiting. RJ is happy that he is getting closer to being the same height as Kimi (she is only 2 weeks older than him)

We had a great weekend! Thanks Marie-Louise, Chris, Sophie, Faviola, Zuka, Kimi, Joe, Kaite, Mitch, RJ and Sara for a fabulous beach vacation!