Pumpkin Spice Sugar Cookies

I was looking through cookie recipes I had pinned on Pinterest and decided to try a few in the near future. I made some Pumpkin Spice Sugar Cookies from No. 2 Pencil. They turned out absolutely delicious. I generously frosted all the cookies with the cream cheese frosting and there was still some leftover. My mom and brother aren't the kind who like sweets so it was sort of surprising when they still ate a bunch without as much frosting. My dad, from whom I inherited my sweet tooth from, says it is a 9 out of 10 on the cookie scale. Definitely going to keep this recipe.

I Found My Twin

Carly and I just happened to match outfits so we had to take a picture together. :)

Everyday Life...

... is sort of hard to get used to after a super long vacation. (Hello, College Algebra. I'm pointing at you.) Fortunately, being homeschooled makes life easier. I finish my work as fast (or slow) as I want. Ben and I are planning a Lord of the Rings marathon. :))

Grape Picking

We went on another bus tour. We stopped at a few places including places where they make wine and rocks that are supposedly good for you (??? not exactly sure what that one was about). My favorite was when we stopped at a place where you could pick as many grapes as you want (you have to eat them all, of course).

Excuse my messy hair. I spent the day in a bus. I don't know how all the other young ladies kept their hair looking nice. (Maybe by not sleeping...)

I'm going home tomorrow. It's sort of a Yay! and a Aww. You can bet I'll come back at the next opportunity though. It was fun and I'll miss a lot of things such as feeling safe walking somewhere by myself and the awesome bread they have here.  Can't wait to see all my family and friends in the States again though. :)

Bye (for now)

Today is my last Sunday at YBC. sigh I'll miss everyone, but I'm gonna head back over there as soon as I can get on a plane. :)

Odaiba

A couple weeks ago, my aunt told me about a museum full of wax celebrities and I've been wanting to go there, so yesterday I went with my aunt and my friend, Nao. I took so many pictures with different people but I'll only post my favorites. :)

Yep. Sit-ups with David Beckham

Living in Japan with the majority of people being shorter than me made me feel tall, but after going to this museum, I feel short!

Eel

My grandparents took me to go eat some eel today. It was absolutely delicious! It was also extremely expensive! One person's portion cost about $40.

Shirakawa-go Bus Trip

Sept. 8-9, 2014

gotta follow the guide

There was a hole in the wall

I got the Yomogi. Wasn't too bad.

View from the hotel window

Market

Raw beef sushi

Kamakura

1st stop: Zeniarai benten shrine
2nd stop: the big Buddha statue
3rd stop: Hasedera Temple
and we hiked everywhere.

Ate French Toast at Loncafe

And that ends the day in Kamakura.

Asakusa (2)

After that we ate lunch and took a boat to Hama Rikyu garden. That was a beautiful place. We had tea there then walked to Odaiba where we rode the Ferris wheel.

 Then we ate crepes and decided to end our day of adventure. (It turns out she had never been to Odaiba before either.) We got to the train station and she headed for the sign that said Yokosuka line. I had saw a sign that said the line we were supposed to go on was behind but she insisted. I kept saying, "Are you sure?" She was pretty confident until we were actually on the train. After I finally convinced her we were on the wrong train, we got off at Yokohama and switched the the right line. In conclusion, it was as unique a day as any. :)

Asakusa

I went to Asakusa with my grandmother's older sister. Though she is ten years my grandmother's senior, she is in excellent shape and doesn't tire easily. It was actually pretty fun.

This is some sort of fortune thing. You pay to take a stick with a number out of a cylinder, then you find the corresponding box and it has your fortune on it. Then you just tie it to the poles in the middle of the picture. 

The Japanese think that if you wave the smoke toward you, it makes you smarter and heals you.

They wash their hands in this water fountain before they pray at the temple.

The symbol that is used to represent a temple is similar to the Nazi symbol. And it's everywhere...

O_o

Also saw some sort of TV show going on.

These following few pictures are for a few friends. Ignore if you don't like expensive samurai swords. ;)

Hmmm... this post is getting too long. I will make a part two.