Japan Miscellanea

Here are some pictures from Japan that really don't fall into the post above, but are still blog worthy.


Helping my new friend catch some fish!


Outside of Osaka Castle

By the Meiji Shrine.

Relaxing at the Osaka Aquarium

Shinjuku

Colonel Sanders

The girls and their pimp ride

On the subway in Tokyo

Outside a hotel in the Dotomburi section of Osaka.

Ashley and me trying to get our faces in line with the statues behind us.

At the waterfall in Shinjuku Park

Near Kinkaguji (The Golden Palace)

Meredith and me standing outside the "Cocoon" tower in Shinjuku.

Gabby and Meredith's new friend.

Waiting....I did alot of this. At the New Sanno Hotel in Tokyo.

Riding the Shinkansen (bullet trains).

The girls taking a break right outside Osaka Castle.

By the Meiji Shrine in Harajuku.

What the?

Would You Like to Learn Engrish?

If you have any travel experience to Japan or any other Asian country for that matter, it will be no surprise that we spotted quite a bit of oddball English wherever we traveled. Sometimes it was t-shirts or clothing, other times it was general signing, but regardless of what we read or where we saw it, it leaves one lasting question...."who the heck proof-reads this stuff?"

Here is a sampling of some of the "engrish" we ran across:

Most of the flashing comes before the flush!

You? What about me?

Naked fames....bad. Clothed flames...ok.

This was a restaurant, by the way.

Do what at the beach? Push ladies off the train platform?

Yeah, don't you know smorking causes rung cancer!

Red Sox Game #2

CG: "Chris, I have an extra ticket to the RED SOX game on Saturday, wanna go?"

CS: "Do bears crap in the woods?"

CG: "I take that as a yes."

CS: "How much do I owe you for the ticket?"

CG: "Don't worry about it. My treat!"

Ok, well that is not exactly how the conversation went, but when a close friend offered me an extra ticket to go watch the Red Sox at Fenway, I cheerfully accepted, of course. I hadn't sat in the bleacher section at Fenway since I was a kid, but this time around the view wasn't nearly as bad as I remember. Granted, there were a few hits to deep center, including Big Papi's 3-run homerun, that I couldn't see, but overall the weather was great, the game was better, and the company was entertaining.

It was LDS night that night, so there were alot of soda-drinking, casserole loving, ice cream devouring, BYU graduating, Eagle Scout earning, cleanly-shaven, down to your knees short wearing, clean cut men and women there. Ironically, the pitcher that night for the Orioles was Jeremy Guthrie, an LDS guy himself. Jeremy actually went to BYU his freshman year before transferring to Stanford. We both were actually in the Missionary Training Center at the same time preparing for our missions, so we chatted a number of times and shared a mutual friend, Isabella. LDS ties aside, I'm still glad the Red Sox pounded him!


The view of the field from the bleachers.


Caro, David, me, Ben


I don't even remember this picture being taken. I'm sure I was pondering something like this..."When did I get so old? Most of the Red Sox players are younger than me!?!"

Wyatt was getting tired, needed some help getting around after the game.

Caro in one of her rare moments when she's not rolling her eyes at me.

Caro (bottom right) with her cousin (bottom left) with two boys she used to nanny for: David and Wyatt. Alex (the boy's dad) is in the back.

Summer Family Time

Having family that lives far away is tough at times. A few years ago I would have never believed that when I moved back to Boston, my family would still be far from me. It seems no matter where I end up, the majority of my immediate family remains a plane flight away. Nevertheless we try to get together as often as possibly. Last weekend, I was fortunate to have two sisters (with their husbands and little girls!) come back to Methuen and spend some time here. Annie's family was in town for a wedding and Elaine's family was here for a mini-vacation, I guess.

Although everyone still had their own agendas we still were able to spend some quality time together. We even took a day trip up to Maine together to see Grammie Erma, Uncle Tom, and Aunt Deanne. It was their first time meeting baby Lucy.


Me and Baby Lucy. Maya is currently in a band-aid phase and insists on sticking them just about everywhere, including Lucy's forehead!


Annnie with Grammie Erma holding Lucy.


Aunt Deanne with Lucy and Maya.

Grammie Erma with Baby Lucy

Uncle Tom holding Lucy. The look on Lucy's face is priceless.

Maya in hopefully one of many playtimes with Lucy

Maya and me with grapes on our mouths!

Mommy and Lucy

Grammie, Me and Maya.