Its been a crazy past month. I took a trip to LA in June because our visa situation was in essence not working. We're giving Japan another chance to get it together ;) and hope they don't blow it.
Had a great time in LA. Tony & Karen picked me up from LAX and took me to my favorite Mexican food spot immediately, Pepe's. A taco never tasted so good!! Got to spend time with some friends and a lot of time with our family which was awesome. Rachael accompanied me to multiple ICEE tastings and I don't think she hated it.
I got showered with early birthday gifts and the baby scored an awesome stuffed giraffe from Auntie Rach and inherited daddy's first baby blanket :)
I enjoyed LA weather but was quickly greeted by "Japanese summers" when I got back to Japan on June 23rd and it was 90 degrees and pouring rain. Not so fancy.
Loved my visit but missed Zeph and had to save him from eating anymore McDonalds.
Things have been pretty low key with a few exceptions. Its hard to want to leave an air conditioned home when its hot as all heck outside and raining.
Sunday we found an International grocery store which was like visiting Disneyland for the 1st time.
Corn tortillas, jalapenos, turkey (for thanksgiving), red vines and enchilada sauce all in one place equals a good day and worth the 2 hour train trip in the rain.
We had dinner at TGIFridays that evening in Shibuya which was awesome!
We got a new IMAC a couple weeks ago and it has changed our lives ;)
Renting movies and Anthony Bourdain episodes on Itunes makes life a little more comfy. Lately we have been spending our evenings reading my geography book ("Geographica: World Atlas and Encyclopedia"-check it out) and trying to figure out where things are in the world and ending the evening with a show or movie. Not bad.
Well that's how my night ends. Zeph stays up working on papers and being productive. I have a good excuse though ;)
Last doctor visit was on July 6th and our baby is good and says hi. We find out its gender on our next visit August 3rd. 4 and a half months down 4 and a half to go.
This week was the Chichibu summer festival. It was pretty great. Beautiful, traditional floats are brought in from the surrounding neighborhoods as part of the festivites. One of the main streets is lined with all kinds of different booths which range from yummy kebobs, shaved ice, fish on sticks to turtle catching games for small children. The first night of the event ended with an hour fireworks show. This fireworks show makes Disneyland's fireworks show and the 4th of July fireworks (at least that I've seen) look like little sissies. Just amazing!
Zeph wants to thank McDonald's for helping him manage while Claire was away. He reports that he pretended he was eating a taco every time he sunk his teeth into a cheeseburger... or chicken mcnugget, or pancake, or sausage mcmuffin, or shaka-shaka chicken, or (hey hon, will you insert the rest of the menu before you publish this, thanks, Z). Also, McDonald's contributed to the number of drinking glasses we have in the house; every time Zeph ordered a lunch or dinner combo/set, he got a glass commemorating the World Cup. We will not be forgetting the world cup anytime soon as Zeph has racked up a modest 12 glasses. Yet, bizarrely, Zeph lost weight while Claire was gone. Makes one wonder about the validity and fairness of the claims made in movies like "Super Size Me". Zeph wants to become McDonald's "Jared", but wasn't Ronald McDonald "Jared" before Jared? Who knows? Good luck with that Zeph.
