celebrate new beginnings!

It feels like forever since the last time I posted something here.  Junji and I have been busy busy busy.  We finally found a house and we are so excited about it.  It’s a very old house that needs a lot of cleaning and a little bit of love–but I think it is going to be awesome.  We haven’t moved in yet, but hopefully that will happen before the end of the month.  We have been going through so many changes lately, so I felt like it was time to start a new blog.  From now on I will be posting on our new blog new house project.  Please click here!! And to celebrate new beginnings I will give a special Junji pot to the first three people to post a comment on our new blog!

jellyfish and whales

Last weekend we went to an art festival called A Fair in the Park.  My favorite of the day were these two prints from Tugboat Printshop–because I love the ocean more than anything and because they make me think of Kochi ❤

Jellies.

Diving Whales.

good bye kochi, hello pittsburgh

Here is a photo from our last day in Kochi.  We were sitting in the airplane on the runway when we got a call from Joji.  He told us to look at the observation deck of the airport where we could see all of our friends waving to us.  It was very sweet!

And here we are in Pittsburgh.  On our first day we went to a park near the University of Pittsburgh where they have set up a new carousel.  It was a sunny and beautiful day.

Sorry I haven’t been posting much.  We are still exhausted from our travels and jetlag.  Saya is sick now with a high fever, and to make matters worse she got scratched across her face by Peaches the cat.  We have also been keeping busy looking for a place to live…  More updates soon!

Last post from Kochi…

Tomorrow night we will be in Tokyo, and the night after that we will be in Pittsburgh.  We have been super busy this past week as I’m sure you can imagine.  All week I have been saying that we are almost done packing, but all the little things we have to do just seem endless.  I think tonight is going to be another late night.  On Friday we had our pottery sale, and it was a big success.  Thank you to everyone who came.  I hope you enjoy your pots!  Here are some photos I took before the sale started…

We transformed our living room into a small gallery.  Maya was our helper for the day.

I wish I could say that Saya was a good helper too, but babies and pottery don’t mix well.

(Saya painted the little ladybug.  I put it on the shelf to bring us good luck for our sale 🙂

And here is some cuteness for you…

Our friend Ai stopped by on Saturday.  Her children’s hamsters had babies, and she brought one of them over to our house for Saya to play with.  Saya loved that of course!

This is the last time that I will be writing about our lives in Kochi, Japan.  I won’t go into how sad I am about leaving Kochi because it is just too difficult.  I have said too many goodbyes and shed lots of tears this week.  Tomorrow there will be at least 15 people seeing us off at the airport.  I am just praying that I will make it through that in one piece.  Please keep visiting to see what is in store for this little family of ours.  All my love to everyone in Kochi.

weekend photos: beach camping and ocean adventures

happy baby (I can still call her my baby right?)

Our first rest stop on the way to our campsite.  We stopped as soon as we saw the sign that said ocean park.  We found these tide pools that were perfect for an early morning swim.  They were filled with all kinds of cute little fish.

Rest stop number two.  Saya and her good friend Sakura.

We ate shaved ice.  The flavor is yamamomo.  So good.

Jellyfish are so cool.  They had loads of these little guys for sale at the udon shop where we ate lunch.  I was tempted to buy some, but thank goodness Junji talked me out of that.  We definitely don’t need to be buying more pets when we are a week away from moving :).

Saya and Sakura watching the jellyfish.  We can’t take our eyes off of them.  They are so beautiful.  (Isn’t it these little discoveries along the way that make life so much fun?)

Touch.

And finally, the beach.  There are no fancy restaurants or resorts here–just a bunch of surfers and campers enjoying the white sand and clear water.

The shoe queen.  Wherever there are shoes to be found, there is Saya trying on every pair.

The kids.

Our campsite.

Saya relaxes while everyone else works to pack up the cars.  Good times in Kochi.

We love pottery!

Junji’s pots from his last two firings will be for sale at our house on Friday and Saturday of this week!  If you live in this area, please come on over!  We will also be selling other household items including a kotatsu, English books, bookshelves, etc.  Everything must go!  We will be here on Friday from 1 pm to 8 pm and Saturday from 1 pm to 6 pm.  If you need help finding our house please email me at sutclkr@earlham.edu.  I will try to post some pictures of the pottery that will be for sale tomorrow.

What’s this?

I didn’t know at first either, but it is a little glass toy that someone gave to Saya.  When you blow into the tube at the top it makes really good popping sounds.  It’s the prettiest little thing, but very delicate.  I think I’ll put this one away until she’s a little bit older.

last sewing project in japan…

…before I pack up my sewing machine.

It’s a linen skirt for fall.  It’s really long!  Is it too long??   (We found her hat from last winter while we were packing.  I think it makes the outfit.)

It’s a packing disaster…

…at our house this week.  (But we are getting things done, and handling the moving stress pretty well.)

yosakoi photo fun

The huge dancing festival in Kochi this past weekend seemed like the perfect chance to take some photos.  Junji and I both tried, but it was more difficult than we thought it would be to get a good shot.  We had fun though.  This is my favorite.  (more on flickr)