School's out for summer!!

The June-gloom sea fog is officially here!

Sometimes it burns off, but we had some really thick fog!  It cleared up enough for N's class to walk to the jr. High for a tour... I chaperoned!

Junior high will be fun!!

She liked the 'stach the best!

She's too cool for her old mom!

6th grade is officially over and jr. high is looming at the end of the summer!!

I attended another friendship lunch.  We had a western roundup! We taught line dancing, drank lemonade out of canning jars, had BBQ pork for lunch...

And had indoor s'mores!

I love this beach!

But it smelled really bad yesterday.... Turns out they were washing the fishing nets that have been sitting in piles all winter.... The whole beach smelled awful!  

I didn't find a ton of sea glass, but I ran almost 3 miles!!

I helped our squadron commander's wife put together welcome baskets for the new arrivals in our squadron.  I added some of my favorite things!  (Only some, because I have a lot of favorites here in Japan!). They had a glass float, a sanddollar with suminagashi, a small bottle with sea glass, a bunch of snacks, drinks. Notes, toys, and a loaf of this 'crack' bread a friend introduced me to!  It's like soft, moist, French toast bread!  You can literally imagine the syrup in the fluffy bread!  Oh, I hope they enjoy it!  I at least had fun putting it together!!

We finally went to 'Off the Wall...' A surfer, burger joint in misawa.  The teriyaki chicken burger was amazing!!!

My hair has island fever....

Setsu and I went out to ramen for lunch!  (She doesn't speak any English.... It made for interesting lunch conversation, or lack there of!)

I had a spicy ramen.... Don't know what kind!

When I took her home, she cut these beautiful flowers from her garden to give to me!  Her garden is gorgeous, I'll try to get a picture of that next week.  She invited me and my family over for a Japanese tea ceremony!  

The grass grows crazy in the summer.... So much rain, humidity, and sunshine!  Lots of mowing...

And then I run into these guys... I kind of let the grass grow wild where they live... I hope they appreciate loving in the Japan-jungle of my backyard!  I didn't want to bother him...

At my English class, some of my students brought me gifts... This is a different kind of mochi... Well, it wasn't exactly mochi, I don't know what it was... But it had taro root in the white part... The filling was a little bit of yam and orange... Surprisingly good!

Another student made this green leaf cake for me.  It was soft and squishy like angel food cake, a little sweet, a little savory!  Oishi!!

I LOVE this picture!  The farmers have flooded the rice paddies... And the reflections are so pretty!

Before we moved here a friend told e to try Lawson's chicken nuggets.  They are DELICIOUS!!!  Like moist, juicy, roasted, crispy chicken!  

Nic won the president's award!  Smert girl!!

I found these at Lawson's, also.  Banana bread??

Turns out it had banana inside!  Real bananas!  They were kind if mealy, though... The texture overpowered the taste...

Ramona took me to a new recycle shop.... And look at my ¥1,000 score! (That's like $10!). I can't wait to start playing with this stuff!

Silly misawa!

I hosted this month's cooking class, we made light, summery foods... Southwest taco wraps, Vietnamese lettuce wraps, tuna salad (no mayo) on bell peppers, marinated cucumbers, and an Italian soda.  No one went home hungry!!!  (Except nic)

That night nic babysat our neighbor's kids.  I was making my dinner and Eva decided to help!!  She made some yummy scrambled eggs!

I found these at a Lawson's... They have ice cream on the front... They weren't cold, but they were VERY creamy!!

I found a float the other day.... I think I'll take it to the clinic and have people 'sign it' and then I'll mail it to doc.  

I found a Japanese sand crab... They are freakishly frightening.  I won't go barefoot at this beach!

We were scheduled to take the overnight bus, I knew I would be tired, so I went for a run to ensure I would sleep on the bus... The tide has changed, the waves are harsh!  Man, the waves were viscious!

We missed the bus, so we took the Shinkansen this morning... And then we braved the Tokyo subways.  Nic doesn't seem too down in the mouth about it!

She even took off and led me to the hotel.  She remembered the way!

We made it!  

Now we're just waiting for nana and LJ's shuttle to make it here!