Kobe Burgers in Paradise

Our own private beach

I love living here!

Conquering our first year of marriage and Fuji-san!

We wanted to do something special for our first wedding anniversary, so why not conquer Mount Fuji! Combined with a lovely trip to Tokyo, it was a great way to celebrate our relationship!

Curry Udon in Roppongi

"Maman" sculpture in Roppongi Hills

Beer garden in Tokyo

Wine and Tapas at Cicada in Hiroo

We started climbing Mt. Fuji at night so that we could see the sunrise from the top and avoid some of the heat. It was extremely difficult and something I would never do again. But with encouragement from Ryan, we made it to the top and I'm very proud of our accomplishment! We started at the fifth station which is located at 7,500 ft above sea level.

Okay, maybe it was worth it just for the view

Slow and steady, 8 hours later, we made it to the top! 12,389 ft above sea level!

Oh crap. We have to go back down!

The next morning (July 18th - our anniversary), Ryan surprised me with breakfast in bed, but instead of eggs, he got me a beautiful necklace!

After a day of physically exerting ourselves climbing a mountain, we spent our anniversary in luxury, starting with afternoon tea at the Mandarin Oriental!

View from the lounge at the Mandarin Oriental

For dinner, Ryan surprised me by taking me to the New York Grill - where Lost in Translation was filmed! The food was phenomenal (mmm...fois gras!) but the company was the best part.

Happy Anniversary, my love! I can't wait for many more years as your wife!

Dr. Sabina! (and a short trip to Boston and New York

My sister is a doctor! Last May I was lucky enough to travel back to the States to see her graduate and take the hippocratic oath. I'm so proud of her! And woohoo, I have a pediatrician already lined up for whenever we have children!

After celebrating Sabina's accomplishments in Boston, the Fam and I traveled to New York to see my in laws. My mom had never been on an Amtrak train, so we took the Acela Express!

I got to see my awesome college roomies (and Shar's husband)!

My brother-in-law, Bobby, is a firefighter and showed me around the firehouse. I'm so proud of him!

Me and my wonderful mother-in-law

The "Ryan" wall at the in-laws house.

Sabina visits Okinawa!

Ryan and I were so excited to have our first visitor last May - my sister, Sabina! I had lots of things planned for her trip and I hope she loved Okinawa as much as we loved having her here.

We went to the restaurant, En Okinawa, so she could see taiko drummers and a shisa dog dance. If you get bit, it's good luck!

Sabina stuffing her face with sushi

Then we went to Okinawa World to see the Gyokusendo caves. She got to even dress up in traditional kimono, and Ryan tried out Dr. Fish!

While Ryan was at work, Sabina and I went to see the dragon boat races. Every boat I thought would win always ended up losing! We also got Japanese street fair food and saw creepy kid sumo wrestlers.

We got pedicures at Cocok's where Sabina got strawberries on her toes and lunch at Transit cafe overlooking the East China Sea.

We went to the Pineapple Park in Nago. "Puh puh puh puh Pine-apooo"

and the Churaumi Aquarium!

We also got a yummy seafood dinner at Sam's by the Sea!

We hope she will come back and visit us again!

Biking around Ie island

Ie island is a small island off the coast of Okinawa, accessible by a 45 minute ferry ride. Our friends, Tim and Christa, wanted to bike around the island before the moved from Okinawa and invited us to join them. While it wasn't an easy bike ride, it was lots of fun and it was a great way to fall in love with living here all over again!