Halloween

This was the 13th/14th combined Halloween party
I once again I Marilyn Monroe and Derick was..... a boxer... hmmm... he wore a hoodie and gloves... he figured this out the day of I think... this was our conversations leading up to the event...
2 months out-
Lisa: Derick what do you want to be for Halloween? I can help?
Derick: I don't know we will talk about it later...

1 month out-
Lisa: Derick what do you want to do for Halloween? I can help! We could do something together!?!
Derick: um... I don't know we will talk about it later...

2 weeks out-
Lisa: well I am going to be Marilyn again... let me know what you want to be and I can help you
Derick: I don't know... we will talk about it later

1 day out-
Derick: What am I going to be for Halloween Lisa?
Lisa: I dont know sweetie what are you going to be? ARGGGGHHHH
I made these creepy witches fingers for the party!
14th Wood pumpkin I carved with an f-16 complete with missiles...
Derick waiting for trick or treaters... eating a power bar... classic
Me and Kona waiting... some of the Japanese kids were scared to come up because they were afraid of Kona. Japansese kids come on base by the hundreds on Halloween to get American Candy
Another one of my pumpkins!
View of my sliding glass door from the outside! I love my sea glass mural and my skull cutouts.

Giant Jellyfish Infestation

It was a moderatly stormy day on the beach...
This is the same beach that I found the body on... the waves had been really high and I had hopes of finding a float... and I needed to face my dead body beach issues and go back to prove to myself that there would not be one this time... so I went... Kona and I
Kona wore here blue bandanna... its her favorite one... she thinks she looks sexy in blue... I agree... this is a float... but its a lame plastic one... I found tons of the plastic ones... even a cool lime green one that turned out to be pretty heavy and I didn't want to carry it 6 miles back the the car...

anyways... I didn't find any floats but I did find dead bodys... dead giant jellyfish bodies!!!! the same giant jellyfish that canceled my salmon catch... I must have passed hundreds of them on my walk...
and i found a fridge... I did carry that back to the car... not
I also found a couple of those squid lights that I have mentioned before... they have these big lights on the squid boats to attract the squid at night... this is actually a kinda small one... and they wash up intact... I cant even take a light bulb out of the socket intact...
and here is a giant jellyfish... it is HUGE!!!!
They were bigger then Kona... yes I can now see how an infestation of these would break the salmon nets... CRAZY

Rokkasho Salmon Festival

This is the Salmon Festival at Rokkasho... it was slightly disappointing cause we could not actually catch the salmon this year... more info about that later... anyway this is on the way into Rokkasho... need a map... no worries its painted on the side of this fish... good luck!anyway here is box of salmon... just hangin out...
Squid hung up to dry... very Japanese...
Grilling squid... ughhh... I just cant bring myself to try it.. its the whole freaking thing... maybe if it was just a peice... not the whole thing...
There were a bunch of booths and this one had cherries hanging from it... notice the little picture of the octopus dancing...
A Japanese lady getting Kona kisses... she found them surprisingly enjoyable
Cooking yakisoba... yummm....
This is how you get dessert... perfect little cones...
Crazy old noodle man... this was soo cool to watch... and then you could buy the soup with these noodles he was making next door!
The little stage area where they had the grill your own dinner habatchi grills... super classy when they wrap the seats in black trash bags
"Salmon catch cancellation notice

Because of an unusually heavy infestation of GIANT JELLYFISH in the ocean, the boats could not go out to set the nets to catch live salmon... the weight of the jellyfish would break the nets"

WHAT!!!! AN INFESTATION OF GIANT JELLYFISH!!!! hmmm... that sucks...
Sad faces.... this is where we were to catch the salmon... but it wasn't to be!
But I traded my ticket for a dead salmon... hmm that doesn't quite as glamorous as a live salmon caught by hand...
Watching the guy clean the salmon for us... those are all eggs...
Kona had a great day!
And we ended the day watching Japanese dancing in the little stage area!
All my awesome salmon fillets packed away to be frozen for later use! I feel like a took a big step today in conquering my fear of fish!

Shinto Shrine and Pagoda

After we went apple picking we found this super cool Shinto shrine with an awesome pagoda. This was the road to get there... it was the smallest road yetHere is the painted billboard map of the area
Walking up the stairs to the shrine was like walking up to heaven with the sun in our faces and all the leaves on fire!
It was gorgeous... I am in love with fall in Japan
And I am in love with ginko trees.. they turn this awesome gold color in the fall

This statue was amazing... my camera batteries were dying or else I could have gotton some better shots... I love all the moss and lichen all over him
Jokey and OAR with a samurai suit... WOOD

Tons of Tori gates
And finally the pagoda!

Apple Picking

We went apple picking with directions that I wrote down on a post it note... Derick was not impressed... But between my friend Rachel and I we got there... and this is it... a shack... in the Japanese country side... thank goodness we are in Japan where everything is fairly safe... cause in the states I might have been kinda scared...Inside the shack we met this really nice lady who knew no English... but no worries... between hand motions and our broken Japanese we communicated what we need to and bought entrance to the apple orchard... it was like 500 yen to get in and eat as much as you can and you get to bring 3 kilo's home...
To get to the apple orchard we had to walk down this hill with a vineyard on it... we ate grapes on our way to the apples... they were so delicous!
Our whole group... and the awesome old Japanese lady who was at the bottom of the hill at the orchard who taught us the proper method of picking apples from the tree and which ones were the ripest... with NO English! She was awesome!
Derick and I... awww
Smash throwing his son Caleb up in the air... it was kinda scary for me... that kid went high!
Awesome view from an observation tower in the middle of the woods next to the orchard! Fall is the best in Japan...

A vending machine with bottles of grape and apple juice... I love Japan...
This was a short drive from the orchard at the "cherry house"... its this big dragon thing that you pay to go in and get a helmet and climb up inside all those tubes going around the outside... in the states this would be a lawsuit waiting to happen!