ahh..the simple pleasures

Today, Elgin and I woke up with the sun shining in our eyes..a little bit later than usual, about 10am. For breakfast we had a traditional Japanese snack of rice balls on a stick and cream of corn soup. We were still very full from yesterday that we didn't have much of an appetite. Since we ate breakfast late, we skipped lunch.

It was a beautiful warm day. We went with the family to Kashiwa Park. There were several young families with their children playing and picnic-ing on the grass. We played frisbee, jumped rope, and badminton. There was also another huge jungle gym for all the children to play on. The park is a great place to people watch. The sights of the park were very peaceful.

there were duck paddle boats at the park!

a really unusual tree -->

plum trees

all the dogs are so cute here -- so many cute outfits and very well groomed

We saw a make-your-own-cotton candy machine. Elgin was eager to make it, yet, as a chef he didn't know how to swirl the cotton candy around the stick?? As you can see, Yuki appreciated it :)


For dinner, Shu cooked for us, it was oishi! --

- tofu soup with onions, burdock, daikon, and an interesting fish cake (translucent with black dots).

- burdock and carrots

- sticky pork

-japanese sweet potatoes

- salad with tomatoes, avocado, and pomelo


After dinner, we played games and just enjoyed everyone's company.

From a previous posting, I know what Yuki calls us now, it's "oni-jan" and "one-jan". "Oni" - older brother, and "One" - older sister, and the "jan" part at the end of the name is a cute way to address us. You can greet someone younger than you or someone cute to you with "jan". Or you can greet someone older than you with more respect with "san". Now I get it! :)