Best of Hawaii!

Best Beach: Pounders Beach. (The waves bounced off the rocks and sent a cool sideways wave to catch with the Boogie Board.)Best Pediatric Dentists: Us (Clockwise from left: Me, Steve, Chad, Dr. Kane (our director), Laura, Dr. Baens(faculty)) Best Food: Coconut Shrimp from Sugar Mill Shrimp Shack.

Best Dessert: Chocolate Souffle' from Roy's (To die for).Best Burger: Guacamole Burger from Cheeseburger in Paradise!

Best Restaurant: Yard House in Waikiki (Kinda like a pub version of Cheesecake factory. Awesome Enchilada Stack.)Best Class at Conference: There was a conference?

Best Wildlife: Mr. Turtle (yes it was a boy, they have longer tails)Best Sound: The LOUD pounding surf outside our window each night!

Best Ride: The Red Convertible Mustang (Not good for loading in eight pieces of luggage.)

Best Drive: The Tantalus Loop above Honolulu. The guide book said it is best done in a convertible and we happened to be driving one so we went!Best Quote: "Where's the Turtle?" (Said next to the crowd of people standing at the red rope surrounding the giant sea turtle on the beach.)Best Fruit: Pineapple + Pineapple + Pineapple + Pineapple = Canker Sores X 6/Owwwwe (and the fresh Mango and Guava and Papaya and Sugar Cane and Coconut, all from the fruit stand on the side of the road. They also had yummy fried bananas.)

Best Woman: EMBest Drink: Pina Colada

Best Shaved Ice: Anything with Sweetened Condensed Milk from Matsumotos!Best View: Atop Diamond Head. Nice job Em for making it up there!!!!!Prettiest Flower: Plumeria. It smells sooo good.Best Looking Girls: Laura Melissa Em and Diane. (What lucky men we are!)Most Romantic Moment: Our walk at sunset.

The Truth About Em

Why did I marry Em you may wonder? Well it is obvious so you may not have such a ridiculous question. Was her great ability to find the best bargains? Or was it the great way she does awesome accents? Maybe because she has a great vocabulary. Her looks? (well duh! but that's not where we are going.) Or perhaps it is her great love of literature.


NOPE

...It is because (careful it may get sappy) she is a great nurturer. Yes one who nurtures. I observed her during our long 2 month courtship and even longer 2.5 month engagement as she played, cared for, loved, helped, etc her nieces and nephews. She was great and I knew she would be a great mother.

CASE IN POINT

We were both riding the monorail back to the Haneda Airport in Tokyo after walking around the imperial gardens like zombies, exhausted after our flight from Honolulu. Sitting across from us was a cute little Japanese boy. After riding for a little while he began to fall asleep, head bob and all.
His mother next to him didn't do anything! This really bothered Em and she began stirring. I expected her to come up with some Japanese phrase to tell the Mom to put an arm around the poor little tyke and give him a little comfort and love. (Incidentally there was another kid behind us and he began falling asleep too). I too could barely restrain myself from reaching out and putting the ladies arm around the poor kid or putting my own around him. Its a good thing we didn't do anything because as we arrived at the Airport stop, we saw a different lady come over and wake up child number 2 and then pick up boy number 1. She also had a third child in a stroller. (Sorry innocent Lady on train who was incorrectly judged, just make sure you do take good care of your own kids...if you have kids...if you feel that's the right thing for you...!) So Em had me hop up and help get the little girl in the stroller off the train for her. Then Em helped push the stroller. The girl didn't like Em so she let the mom push and Em carried the sleeping boy while I helped the older boy drag a small suitcase. Em said the whole exhausting jaunt into Tokyo was worth it to get to hold the sweet little guy. I think she REALLY missed our kids!!! She is the greatest mom with the biggest heart for her kids!












*Oddly enough it was a Japanese couple who took that picture of us at the top. =)
*Sorry Google Reader people who got the accidentally published version of this blog. It was some weird keyboard shortcut error.

Hirosaki Sakura Matsuri (Cherry Blossom Festival)

These are my favorite of the 300 Pictures we took last Tuesday. I couldn't believe how beautiful it was! Every where I turned was another perfect shot for a picture. We had a great time, especially since we had our good friends with us.

The cherry blossoms begin blossoming in southern Japan in late March/April and ends up by us in late April early May. One of the most famous festivals is in Hirosaki, about 2 hours west from Misawa.

Here's a little wiki info for you:

The cherry blossom also known as Sakura (Japanese kanji : 桜 or 櫻; hiragana: さくら) in Japanese. In English, the word "sakura" is equivalent to the Japanese flowering cherry. In China the cherry blossom symbolizes feminine beauty, the feminine principle, or love in the language of herbs. In Japan cherry blossoms also symbolize clouds due to their nature of blooming en masse, besides being an enduring metaphor for the ephemeral nature of life, an aspect of Japanese cultural tradition that is often associated with Buddhistic influence. The transience of the blossoms, the extreme beauty and quick death, has often been associated with mortality; for this reason, cherry blossoms are richly symbolic, and have been utilized often in Japanese art, manga, anime, and film, as well as at musical performances for ambient effect.

Which picture is your fav?*Thank you Wikipedia!