Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/12 sec, ISO3200 “Ready for Take Off” Miami, 2016
こんばんは！Hello, how’s it going?
Today I am writing this to you from Miami, Florida. I have started my vacation!
The flight from Austin went through Atlanta, and it was a nice trip. I sat next to a young man who is in the midst of his pilot training and he told me a lot of facts about commercial aviation, including some of the history of McDonnell-Douglas, models of airplanes, and also some of the shop-talk and nicknames of planes. It was quite fascinating! I hope he can achieve his dream of becoming a commercial airline pilot! ✈️
I arrived in Miami safely and was picked up by relatives and then we all had a nice catch-up dinner with family at my cousin’s house where we are staying. It was especially nice for me because I only see my parents and brothers once a year at most, so seeing them as part of our larger (100+ people) is quite a treat! I’m looking forward to the rest of the week.
Tonight’s photo is of the younger generation showing everyone a drone. One of the boys just returned from Jamaica, where they used the drone to take aerial photography as part of their activities. It was really cool to see one in action! Fascinating to say the least!
I hope you had a great day, and we’ll see you tomorrow!
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.6, 1/40 sec, ISO3200 “PADI Kame” Cedar Park, 2016
Hello!
Today’s photo is of my PADI diving certification card, which I received waaaay back in 1996, while on our honeymoon in the South Pacific. I have the card with me because I am starting my vacation tomorrow in Miami! 🌴 Most of the time we’ll be cruising in the Caribbean, so I honestly doubt we’ll have the chance to scuba, but it’s good to be prepared, isn’t it?
Well, more from Miami if I can fit in the time to blog!
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/3.6, 1/23000 sec, ISO400 “View from the Kitchen Sink” Cedar Park, 2016
こんばんは！Good evening!
Tonight’s photo is yet another cloud image. This is the view from the kitchen that I saw when I was doing the dishes this evening. The clouds here in Central Texas are nice, but the best clouds I have seen were probably in Hawaii. They move so fast and are so close to you, it’s amazing! Plus, they sit in front of a beautiful blue sky… The sky here in Texas is hazy and the clouds are so distant… a completely different feeling. I like it too. ☁️
I wish I could take photos of the clouds and the sea more often… which is why when we move to Japan after the kids are on their own, I’d like to live close to the ocean. Here in Austin, there are a few lakes and rivers, but it’s not the same as the sea… I never really think of a lake or rivers as somewhere I’d like to swim. It seems so foreign to me! But I have heard people say the opposite – that they don’t like swimming in the sea because the salt water and fish give them a bad feeling.
I guess it’s because I grew up near the ocean and swam in the sea a lot, that I feel more comfortable in the salt water. And the sound of the surf crashing on the shore! ❤️🌊
Anyways, I hope you had a nice Wednesday, and I’ll see you tomorrow… dream of the clouds and sea tonight! ☁️🌊
こんばんは！Happy Father’s Day to all the dad’s out there!
Today was a super busy one for us because both Koa and Bay are starting week-long summer camps. First off, Koa is attending a percussion camp down at Texas State University in San Marcos which is about a 45-minute drive south from us and today was his check-in and audition. He’s pretty excited because he gets to stay over in the dorms! Plus there are a lot of fun activities planned and many different classes where he’ll learn a lot of different kinds of percussion. I think he’ll have a ton of fun! 🎼
After dropping him off, we decided to stop by the Kyle Flea Market that we passed by on the way to the camp. It was pretty fun, but super hot! Although today is only in the low 90s, the flea market warehouse was not air-conditioned so it was sweltering! 😅 We didn’t find anything worth buying but it was still interesting to see how much junk was for sale.
Next up was lunch, which I got to decide since it is Father’s Day. I was presented with two choices: Shake Shack or Burgerfi. I think I was pretty much guided to choose Burgerfi which was fine with me. The burgers were yummy and it really hit the spot! I chose the “Conflicted Burger” which was one meat patty and one veggie-patty. It was pretty good, but I think I should have just gotten a double-cheeseburger with jalapeños, which is exactly what Bay ordered. Mariko had a cheeseburger with fried egg, and I had a bite… definitely a good combination!
Next up on our Sunday list was to visit the UT campus to check out where Bay’s 3D Printing & Product Design camp will be held. Mariko will be dropping him off and picking him up each day so she wanted to make sure she knew the location. Once we checked it out, we walked to a cream-puff bakery called Cream Whiskers for some ice coffee and matcha cream-puffs. It was yummy!
When we left the bakery, it was close after 6pm so we headed home and then watched game 7 of the NBA finals, and that brings us up to the present!
Oh, one more thing… my Father’s Day loot!
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/8, 1/17 sec, ISO6400 “Father’s Day Loot” Cedar Park, 2016
I received a bunch of cool stuff:
Sweet treats and trail mix from my parents
Yo-kai Watch game for the Nintendo 3DS (or my 2DS)
Food-grinder attachment for our mixer so I can make fresh burgers 🍔
5-year Diary. Each day has five entries, so you can easily see what you did on the same day the previous year
Now it’s almost midnight and I didn’t get to play Yo-kai Watch yet… maybe I’ll get to play tomorrow. 🎮
