Kate Hana Jensen is here!

On Tuesday, October 9th friends Trish and Seph welcomed their little girl! They named her Kate Hana (which means "flower" in Japanese). I was able to visit them in the hospital on Day 2, she was so little and cute! Holding Kate makes me both really excited and really nervous to have my own!

Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium

While in Okinawa we visited the Churaumi Aquarium, the largest aquarium in Asia and the second largest in the world (the first being in Atlanta, GA). Their claim to fame is that they have the largest single fish tank, which houses everything from whale sharks to manta rays (they're the only ones to be able to keep manta rays since they have to have such a huge tank to swim in). I must admit it was pretty cool.

The last picture is of a road sign we passed on the way to the aquarium that I got a real kick out of. The Japanese are notorious for being the most polite people EVER (constant bowing) and this is actually a road sign with a man bowing in apology for the road work!

Latest Belly Shots

Here's two pictures taken of my RAPIDLY growing stomach. They were taken in Okinawa- when I was 32 weeks along. I just thought the second one was really funny- had to share.

Happy Anniversary to Us!

While we were in Okinawa we celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary- its been a pretty exciting two years for us! We went back to the same restaurant where we celebrated our 1st anniversary last year. We brought with us a bottle of wine that was a wedding gift from the Emalas- thank you Ashley and Jason!! Andrew got to enjoy a lot of more of it than I did :)

Congratulations to Kelly and Massi, Jessica and Matt, Larisa and Ryan, and Stacey and Logan who also celebrated wedding anniversaries in October!

Okinawa!

Two weekends ago we traveled back to Okinawa for a final "adults only" getaway before the baby arrives. We went there this time last year as well, its definitely one of our favorite spots to visit in Japan! It's about a 2 hour flight from Tokyo.

Onigiri on Fridays

On Friday mornings I volunteer at the Tokyo Union Church, making onigiri (Japanese rice cakes) for the homeless. Onigiri are probably the most popular snack here in Japan, you can find one just about anywhere. Andrew LOVES them. There's a small group of us that volunteer there each week. I'm pictured here with friends Nicola and Melanie, who are also pregnant with their first babies. We're all due within weeks of each other.

Latest Belly Shots

Here is may latest belly shot, taken last week as we were headed out to dinner. This is me at 28 weeks. I'm a little concerned that I still have 12 weeks to go, since I'm already feeling HUGE. On our way to dinner, our taxi had to stop to let the below procession of people go by (carrying a shrine on their shoulders). We still aren't sure what this was for or where they were headed but it was still going strong when we headed home from dinner too (note that it was a different group of people too). I especially got a kick out of the gigantic sumo wrestler leading the pack in the first picture.