Sister Suzy and Cousin Gabrielle in Japan

Visitors, visitors, visitors!! After 9 months of none at all, the past two months Joe and I have been busy hosting visitors galore. This month Sister Suzy and Gabrielle have come. We have jam-packed as much Japanese culture and experience into 10 days, including:
Udon, print viewing, shopping downtown, Hiroshima, Miyajima, Kyoto, Sushi Row, Kobe, Himeji night-life, the Himeji Museum, Shopping at Casual Shot for "Engrish" t-shirts, Tegara Park, exercise on "Aneurysm Hill", Tea Ceremony, River City Mall shopping, Okinomiyaki at the Kousaka's restaurant, Ikebana with Eiko, a Himeji Castle tour with Toshi and Keiko, a hike up Mt. Shosha, a relaxing half day at Akane no Yu Japanese onsen, and of course delicious food and tons of shopping!!!
We have laughed, laughed, talked, laughed, gone sight-seeing, and laughed some more. This quick, yet jam-packed vacation, has been memorable and more enjoyable than we could have dreamed!

Kyoto and Kobe

Karaoke and Jazzercise combined...Suzy and Gabrielle before the Himeji Castle Tour

Suzy and Gabrielle learning Ikebana with Eiko...At Tegara Park

Print viewing in Himeji

Bike ride around the Himeji Castle Moat

Joe and Suzy in Kyoto...Suzy in front of the floating Tori gate in Miyajima

We look forward to our next visitor...JP CASEY!!!

We're having a baby...

Here are a few pictures of what life is like pregnant in Japan. The food is delicious here, but doesn't help the cravings much... We sure are lucky to be experiencing a healthy pregnancy during our year long adventure!

In Kobe with Sister Suzy and Kyoto with Joe

Waiting for the bus in Himeji

Clamming!

On Sunday, June 15th, we went to a beach in Himeji with some friends, Shin and his wife Yumi, Kengo and his wife Yumi, and all their

adorable children. The weather was warm and a little overcast, which was perfect! When we got there we each grabbed shovels and buckets and walked out into the low tide to go clamming! After we spent about an hour digging for clams, we went up into a lounge area to dry off and eat snacks. We had a great time playing with the little ones, which got us excited for our own! On our way home we stopped at Kura Kura Sushi (Crazy Sushi) and were treated to a wonderful lunch! It was a really fun day!

Made in Japan

Our Japanese adventure just got a little more memorable, and exciting! Just as we were preparing to take a vacation to Thailand, we found out that Katie was 6 weeks pregnant! Although we had to cancel our trip, we couldn't be more thrilled!! The addition to our family is due in November, about three months after we return from Japan!

The Jellybelly.

Joe and the Jellybean.

Our First Visitors!

Ociel and Jeff, two of Joe's close buddies from Loyola Marymount, happened to be the first official visitors for us. We all hit it pretty hard, given we only had about 72 hours before they had to head back to China. For them it was as much a chance to forget about work and relax as it was to see a foreign country, so we did the sightseeing in Kobe, Kyoto and Himeji during the day and left the nighttime for random izukayas, karaoke rooms, shochu bars, etc. It was go, go, go, and extremely memorable.

Geishas in Kyoto

Near the port in Kobe.

Kobe. Okinomiyaki!