Yesterday we went to a Hanshin Tigers baseball game, followed by a judo farewell party for Chad (one of his teachers started the party by saying, “Ladies and judo-men, thank you for coming. Kanpai!). Both events were really fun, but drinking in the sunshine followed by drinking at a small izakaya led to two sleepy friends this morning. So, we slept in and then lazed around all morning. Chad played League of Legends online and I drank coffee on our balcony while reading blogs, twitter and the news.
We finally got going in the early afternoon, walking from our apartment to Nunobiki waterfalls, down through Kitano (spotting a woman with a monkey!) and to Starbucks, to Sannomiya for a little shopping, and then all the way to HAT Kobe for some more shopping and sushi.
We ate sushi at a kaiten sushi restaurant called Kurazushi, and while we were waiting for some of our specially ordered sushi to come zooming down the sushi train, Chad surprised me with a Rilakkuma stuffed animal! Yay! Just looking at it makes me so ridiculously happy. You can’t deny Rilakkuma is one of the cutest characters ever, not to mention the fact that our favorite things are the same in life: eating sweets and relaxing.
I know. I look tired. Focus on my cute Rilakkuma & the striped bag I got for only 300 yen instead!
We tried some new sushi today, as well as some yummy sweet potato sticks (top left corner, above). You can see sushi with grilled bacon and mayo on the bottom left, and lemon steak sushi on the bottom right. In the upper right corner is my handsome husband with his cheeks full of sushi, and in the middle you’ll see more normal types of sushi (crab salad, tuna salad, shrimp mayo and cucumber salad, shrimp, and tuna).
Chad expertly making green tea with the powder and hot water.
All in all we had a really nice day. We’re both feeling sad about leaving Japan, despite our excitement about going home, so I made a summer fun bucket list to help cheer myself up! The warm weather was a welcome reminder that summer is on it’s way, so I thought I’d share my list (so far!) with you!
Caitlyn’s Summer Fun Bucket List
1. Drive-in Movie
2. Binder Park Zoo
3. Go fishing
4. Make S’Mores
5. Have a Star Party
6. Learn to play guitar again
7. Make a bird feeder
8. Make jam
9. Join a book club
10. Go mini golfing
11. Go bowling
12. Have a BBQ
13. Go on a picnic
14. Make banana splits
15. Make homemade ice cream
16. Tie Dye Shirts
17. Blow bubbles
18. Paint rocks with my niece
19. Cheese Fondue
20. Make Root Beer Floats
21. Board Game night
22. Milk Carton Boats
23. Go to a museum
24. Friendship Bracelets with my niece
25. Look at bugs/plants/nature under a microscope
26. Learn to make egg tarts
27. Get a cat!
28. Can tomatoes
29. Play badminton
30. Run at least one 5K
31. Have a fancy night dressed up around town (going to ordinary places)
32. Find a gym with yoga and zumba that’s reasonably priced
33. Volunteer
34. Pay it Forward by paying for someone behind me at a drive-through
35. Paint Balling
36. Wine and Cheese night
37. Make kimchi
38. Make homemade pickles
39. Make homemade Bloody Mary’s
40. Make pineapple upside-down cake cupcakes
41. Make sun tea
42. Dandelion Blowing
43. Make a sandcastle
44. Make/decorate pottery
45. Bon Fire
46. Celebrate 5th Wedding Anniversary at Guster concert!
47. Visit Green Dot Stables in Detroit
48. Go to our high school reunion
49. Traverse City & eating/drinking cherry-flavored things!
50. Shorts Brewery
51. Make waffles
52. Make homemade bread
53. Make cookies with my niece
54. Make trail mix and go for a walk with my niece & nephews
55. Make dreamsicle orange punch
56. Make strawberry mimosas
What fun have you been up to lately, and what fun things do you have planned for summer?
I like making seasonal bucket lists because they help me remember the fun things I do over the seasons. They remind me to do more and to try new things, too. This is my 4th Summer Bucket List on the blog, and each time I’ve made one I’ve tried to add some things I know I’ll do with a reminder (though it doesn’t seem like eating s’mores should need a reminder!), as well as some things I hope to try/do. This year’s list has some tried and true things to check off, like making the watermelon rind pickles enjoyed at the Pretentious Tea Party again or going to the beach and grilling. It also has new things, like lots of fun stuff with our Lily (we’ve already finished the summer reading program at our local library!) and attempting to replicate amazing choux cream pastries I had at my favorite bakery in Japan. 
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Little Snail 