Party, Parade, BBQ, and Garden

So we've had some fun in the last little while, and there is still more to come. Before our trip to Tokyo (we leave June 9th) we have another BBQ, a toga party and our Sayonara party planned. But for now here is what we did in the last two weeks. First we had a party at our house. For no reason really. . . we played drinking games some people were really drunk lots of people spent the night. Good times were had by all.

Martin, Julies, Alex, Rod, James and me playing drinking games.

Chris, Thao, Sam, and Cam in during the Pancake debacle...read on

Cam had 10min to make a pancake, on a dare...luckily he had some help. Mitsuo, behind him, is a chef. Did I mention, this was after copious amounts of alcohol, and somehow the pancake ended up spicy....

Thao Mitsuo and I. Funny thing, I'm not taking the picture. Just steadying Thao's hand.

TEAM WORK!

Early one Tuesday morning the gang decided to go to the Aoi Festival which is essentially a parade that starts at the Imperial Palace and goes to a shrine not far away. Except in this parade many people follow the whole way instead of just standing and watching. We opted to pick a spot and stand and watch because it was 32 degrees and we were too hot to follow. Also the parade was very different from most parades I've been to. It was very slow and very quiet and everyone looked grouchy. There wasn't any music at all not even a drum. Weird. But the costumes were cool and the highlight was the Geiko wearing a 16 layer kimono HOT, so we were glad we went and afterwards we had felafel's. Yum.

An ox?

This was what the ox was pulling, except it seems the people are pulling more than the ox

The 16 layer kimono. OOOOOO.

It's too hot!

Even though we got out of the sun, everyone but me got sun burnt to some degree!

Felafel's, YAY

Last Sunday our landlord Yaron put on an awesome BBQ for everyone in the area and all our friends, it was super fun. Although there was a lot of drinking involved and Karleen spent most of the next day throwing up. OOPs.
(SIDE NOTE:Any time you see a paper cup in someones hand, it's a shot of Tequila, Whiskey or Rum)

Elle, Thao and me...pre drunk, that is.

This picture is really eclectic. I think it's my favorite of the night. Note the first paper cup!

It may be blurry, but you should be impressed. I took this picture with the timer! WOOO, drunkin timer action!

Frank and Mitsuo

Ah...what's going on here?

Frank...the Ladies man

Cam flashes the horns, and guess who appears in the back...Josh?

Alec (the b-day boy), me and Yaron

The guns!

Why are we all looking at something different?

Gangsta kabob faces

Simon and Alec look so innocent...what a sham!

On Thursday the weather was so nice we got up early and went to a beautiful garden about a block away from our house. we walked around took some pictures and then picked a spot to sit in the sun and read our books until we had to go home and get ready for work. It was a beautiful day.

Just the one? Maybe it's giant?! I SHOULD be careful!

A Heron

This could have been a better picture, except for all the ants attacking me
(Mom, Kim...you know how I feel about ants!)

So, we sit down to read our books, and all of a sudden...3 very brave little ducks decide to join us! We were a little sad we didn't have anything to feed them, but they checked us out thoroughly anyway. One even checked out Cam's book.

Our time here is quickly running out but we're packing it full of fun. We can't wait to see you all. Love and Hugs