Style Cafe

A cute little place I’ve been eyeing since we got here. We tried out the Style Café’s yummy coffee and ice cream. You’d almost think we weren’t in Japan.

Shiva

Our favorite food seems to be curry. Indian curry, Japanese curry, I’m not sure what ethnic group curry. We tried out another curry place recently and it was great. Of course. This is Shiva, located downtown on the “yellow brick road”. The employees were super friendly, babysitting Cora for us and giving us free drinks. They get my approval!

Our free wine.

The free mango juice they gave Cora.

A spicy chip thing.

Tandoori chicken.

A tasty tomato soup.

Curry.

Cheese nan.

Yogurt dessert with fruit on the bottom.

Photo Booth Fun

We had a little fun at a photo booth a couple of weeks ago…

well more than a couple of weeks ago…the date says July 5th. I’m a little behind.

20 pounds

I’m putting this out here for the world to see. I’m hoping it will give me motivation to stick with it. I want to lose 20 pounds. By March when I plan on going home would be awesome, but that might be asking too much in such a short amount of time. That however is the goal. I already work out 5 days a week so my real issue is my battle with food. It is seriously time for a change. And that change begins today. Wish me luck…

Faith is…

Faith is risking what is

for what is yet to be.

It is taking small steps

knowing they lead to bigger ones.

Faith is holding on when you want to let go.

It is letting go when you want to hold on.

Faith is hearing God’s yes

when everything else says no.

It is believing all things are possible

in the midst of impossibilities.

Faith is looking beyond what is

for what is yet to be.

It is seeing the Light in darkness,

the presence of God in all.

~ Ellen M. Cuomo

A bakery trip

My friends Olivia, Libby and I (and the babies of course) went to a bakery and café down by the river. They had some tasty goodies. Oh how I’ve missed the smell of a bakery. (I worked in one for about 6 months).

As you walk in you are greeted by all the yummy treats.

This little fella was cute. I had to snap a shot!

What I decided on. A chocolate sprinkle donut, a mushroom pizza, and a cinnamon roll! Sweets here are usually half the sweetness they are in the states, but I was really impressed with how yummy the cinnamon roll was. It had apple in it too which was a lovely surprise!

Cora enjoying her donut!

We passed a 7-11 on the way home and I grabbed one of these to finish the adventure off right. Little Starbucks goodies hidden away in a convenient store. How…convenient! :)

oh happy day!

Lotus Fields

We have lotus fields right off base that I’ve been meaning to snap some photos of. Finally got a few the other day on a walk.

So pretty…

Fireworks Festival Part 2

Part 2 began at Masa’s house with some food.

Japanese style food

We brought all this garbage. I was trying to be super typical with pizza and fried food. They weren’t too interested in it however.

Cora using chopsticks. She might be better at it than me!

Masa and his mom and dad. Our gracious host.

watching the boats pass by.

A panoramic view from our seat

Cora and daddy watching the fireworks. She wasn’t too sure about them at first. But she eventually started to like them.

Night shot of the Kintai bridge.

Night shot of vendor alley.

Masa’s neice and nephew wanted to take some pictures with Cora and then of course they gave her gifts. Look at the little boys face! haha. He was being silly for the camera.  

    

Side by sides of last year vs. this year. She’s grown so much!!

Aha…we meet again.

We enjoy our little tradition we’ve started. Only one more to go.

Firework Festival Part 1

Every year they have a summer festival, us Americans refer to as the Fireworks festival, down at the Kintai bridge. They have lots of food vendors, a drum ceremony, a Miss Iwakuni pageant, and then an hour and a half of fireworks. We started a tradition last year of going with our Japanese friend Masa. We started at the bridge this year, went to Masa’s for snacks, back to the bridge for the fireworks, then back to his house for more food and drinks. Luckily he lives within walking distance so we got to beat all the traffic. This is part 1 of the pictures. Didn’t want to overload ya’ll! :)

Walking to the festival

vendors

think we decided these were crepes.

corn, chicken, beef, octopus, squid. we got the beef and corn

snow cones!

Kintai Bridge   

pretty koi fish

Lovin’ our angel!

More to come….