Hakone: Owakudani (In Search of the Black Eggs)

Cliff and Lilia and I recently took a day trip to Hakone. We had been meaning to go for a long time and with the fall leaves changing into such gorgeous colors we decided there was no better time then the present! Ironically our favorite place in Hakone was actually the nearly barren wasteland of Owakudani! Hakone is famous for its hot springs and in Owakudani the water is so hot and sulfuric that they actually boil eggs until they turn black for the tourists! Supposedly eating a black egg from Owakudani adds seven years to one's life. We had to try it out! Off we go!
Not many trees here!


I made sound like a major goobery dork here, but I just loved hiking around Owakudani. It felt so otherworldly to me - like maybe I had stepped back in time or crossed over into middle earth or something. Owakudani reminded me of the outskirts of Mordor. Rather than the one ring to draw us deeper into the realm, though, we had visions of hard boiled eggy goodness.


Beautiful!
I think if I had a nice camera these pictures would have been even more amazing. I thought the lighting was great!



We're getting closer!


Don't touch the water!

I love the contrast of colors in this photo.

Looking back at the ropeway house where we came from.
At last! We are so close! Let's go buy our eggs!

This lucky man's job is to lower and remove the baskets of boiled eggs from the springs.
Success! This little bag of eggs was HOT! I hat to keep switching hands! Rather than eat them at the top of the hill we decided to trek back down the path before eating these.



This area reminded me so much of Yellowstone and my little brother. The sulfur smell bothered him so much as a child when we visited that park that my parents had to buy him an air freshener to carry with him.... ha ha!


Here we go!
Oooohh ahhh! I think mine looks like a picture from the Hubble Telescope. I see a few nebulas... some solar systems....
All Lilia saw was LUNCH! Yum! I think between the three of us we tacked on about 35 extra years to our lives!!

Belated BADGIRL!!!

The third annual Badgirl Ball took place in early October this year. As always the 51 ladies rocked it out. We were by far the coolest and classiest cats there. Our theme this year was "Bollywood" complete with saris, silks, incense, and a dance number! My friends Brittany and Rachel and I choreographed a "bollywood" style dance for all of us to do and we snuck in a little Michael Jackson "Thriller" with a fog machine to complete the show. It was spectacular if I do say so myself! I'm really happy that we pulled everything off as this is my third and final Badgirl ball. So sad and strange to think I won't be around for next year's!

I was able to pick up a few saris in Singapore this past spring. I had such a hard time choosing which one to wear! I finally settled on blue as I had a shirt to match.
This was our decorated table! It was AMAZING!
Every detail was incredible. The decoration committee did such a fantastic job.

We even had a drink fountain! Unfortunately the power was a little weak with the Japanese conversion, but what can you do?
Some other themes this year included "Roller Derby Girls (pictured below,) Stepford wives, Super heroes, Go Go Girls, and Can Can Dancers.
Here are the Mace ladies. They did a great job too.
Nothing beats the Warlords, though!
I draped Kristin's sari for her. I think I did pretty well! I think I am ready to move to India... or not.

As always we had a blast. The food was great, the music was great, and the company was wonderful too. Yay Badrgirl Ball!

Lilia is 18 months Old!

Our little snuggle bear is 18 months old now! Time has been flying by lately and it is so hard for me to believe that she will be TWO in less than 6 months! CRAZY! She is a girl on the go, and each day brings new discoveries and hilarity. I wish I had a pocket video camera that never ran out of batteries to record all of the moments that fade so quickly. Here is just a glimpse of this little cutie to tide you over for now. We love these new p.j.s that we got from the Japanese kid's clothing store. We Americans call it the "Bunny Store," (for the bunny on the sign,) and I am there shopping ALL THE TIME. Lilia loves this particular jammie set and actually brought me the pants the other night to put on her.
Look at me!

Lilia loves to climb into small boxes, crates, and spaces right now. I think I did the same thing when I was her age. My mom has pictures of me climbing into the toilet. Yuck! We try our best to keep Lilia from the bathroom.

Lilia LOVES her some daddy. She climbs all over him and covers him with kisses. As soon as she hears the door open in the evening, she runs to Cliff and hugs his legs. It's so sweet.
"Hop on Pop!"
Her hair has gotten sooooo long! I actually have to comb it now as it tangles a little in her sleep.
Ever the serious child, you can tell that she is taking in the world around her and her mind is going a mile a minute.
Until the next minute, when she would rather just yawn and zone out....

She is so much fun, though!
Other developments include some new words. She has been saying:

Circle - "kur- kul"
Yellow - "lell-oh"
Hat - "hat or usually just hah"
Eye
Bye bye
Milk - "mel"
Ball - "bahl"
Go
Dog - "Dahh"
Uh oh!

She also continues to sign and has sounds for certain words too. She makes a fish face and sucking sounds for fish and she makes airplane and helicopter noises and points when she see them in the sky. She calls Elmo "La la la" (from the song Elmo sings.) Lilia is also learning to walk up stairs on her own, but she still prefers help. She loves to run around and climb and she is the MOST affectionate child I have ever seen. She loves to give kisses and hugs and every time she hugs someone it is accompanied by her sighing "ahhh." She is so sweet! She loves to kiss daddy hello and goodbye and she carries her stuffed monkey around and kisses it all day long too. She will kiss her friends as well and we have to be careful as she will often grab whatever child is closest to her and plant one smack on their lips if they aren't paying attention!

Last but not least, she has slimmed down a lot! Everyone said this would happen when she started walking! The little strawberry outfit that she is wearing in the pictures above is actually from LAST winter! It was so TIGHT last year, but this year it is perfect! She is also still taking her antibiotics and will continue to do so for the next 6 months until she is reevaluated for the VU reflux. She doesn't seem to mind them and we have been very fortunate to avoid any other U.T.I.s so far. All in all life is pretty good!