いい天気ですね？

ひさしぶり！こんいちわ、みんな。

The weather is so much warmer! It's so nice, but it makes me fearful of summer weather pushing through. I don't want any humidity! None! I'm sure we'll be having summer temperatures soon enough. Ugh.

Yes, sorry I was away for about 9 days. My parents finally were able to fly from Belize to visit us here in Japan. Even though those 9 days went by in a flash, we still had a great time and went to many places. The only bad thing that happened because of them visiting, is that I gained back about 1 pound! Noooooo. くそ！

I've gotten back to the walking and exercising with a passion. I'm determined to get down to at LEAST 140lbs. (63.5kgs.)

As I said, we took my parents to many places while they were here: Kyoto, Ise, Toba, Inuyama, Nara, and Nagoya. They ended up being in Nagoya the day before they left, since they were flying out of Nagoya anyway! Duhr.

I had hoped for good weather and was not let down! It only rained one day while we were out, but thanks to some helpful planning by my father-in-law, we spent that time inside, at the Toba Aquarium.

And!!! My dad and I experienced something brand new in the Nara Park - getting bit on the bum by deer! Oh - my - god. My dad had a bunch of cookies, and a group of deer were pestering him to death, to feed them. (Anyone who had been to Nara Park to feed the deer, has probably been through this.) He got bit twice! On each bum cheek! He was amused and surprised, but the second time they bit him he got a little annoyed. He turned to the deer who did it and gave it a light tap on it's nose. Haha. But then I got bit! And I didn't even have any cookies on me! I guess it happened because I was standing close to my dad, so they thought I had something. Or it might just be because they're gluttons and pushy! The deer didn't bite us hard or anything, but it was enough to make my eyes bug out in surprise when they did. O__O

わたしはしかのクッキーですか？。。。

I had a blast using my Nikon D60 everywhere we went, and I ended taking over 600 photos in total during their stay, but I'm only going to post a few of my favorites. Enjoy!



Prayers on paper, on the banister in front of the Tōdai-ji Temple.

A deer in the Nara Park, begging Takeshi and I for a deer cookie!

Children marveling at one of the aquatic environments at the Toba Aquarium.

Traditional Japanese box measure for bulk tea leaves. Genmaicha. In Ise.

A sunbeam hitting some sakura flowers. Kyoto City.