Bon Odori

Man I have a lot of blogging to catch up on, but now that Ela can push buttons on the computer from my lap, it'll take awhile. First on the agenda: Ela and I went to the Bon Odori dance put on by the JMSDF for the Americans. At this event, they display the Japanese version of line dancing (to oversimplify), help us learn a few dances, and do some taiko drumming. There's also a few games and lots of fair food. Since it was an event put on by the Japanese, I thought it would be a good time to try on Elly's Japanese baby-yukata:

Since it was also super hot, I thought it'd be a good time to not use the car seat in the stroller. Instead, we slathered on the sun screen and got out a hat. On the way to the park, a kind Japanese lady told me how Ela was watching the cars from her stroller. When we go there, they were passing out fans, which helped a tiny bit in the crazy July heat.

So we met up with some friends, watched some dancing, and I got a hamburger. The whole time I kept remembering how last year I was just pregnant enough to be really uncomfortable in the heat. I also realized that everyone who I hung out with last year except like two people are gone now. I'm just lucky the new folks are so cool. :-) Here's a picture of the dancing:

So we watched for awhile, while Ela had a snack, and then she conked out and we headed home.

I'd say a good time was had by all.
Coming soon: a visit to the new aquarium...