Monday, Monday...can't trust that day!

Monday morning started early.  Gray was restless and at some point during the night ended up in bed with me.  Which meant I was only half sleeping while getting kicked and worrying about him falling off the bed.  That's the only reason I was coherent and awake enough to feel the large aftershock around 4:30 a.m.  I lay there with the room swaying back and forth thinking "yep, I'm back in Japan!"

That morning we went down for our complimentary Western and Japanese style breakfast.  After all the delightful breakfasts I'd just eaten, I'm not gonna lie...it was a little depressing.  But, I consoled myself with the memory of yummy french toast.

Next stop, a bus to Haneda airport about an hour and a half away where we had something wonderful waiting for us:
My cousin WENDY!!!
Wendy and her husband are super famous traveling photographers (Blue Lily) who, with their two adorable kids, are currently trotting around the globe taking pictures of people.

And they came to Japan!!!
And they were GOING to come to Misawa.
Yes, I was THIS --> <--CLOSE to having MY FIRST and only visitor.

But alas.  The bullet train from Tokyo still isn't running all the way up here.  And every flight was completely sold out for weeks.  And driving would have taken extra, EXTRA long to get around the detours.

So we had to settle for an hour visit at the airport.  Which was awesome, but also sorta heartbreaking.

SO CLOSE!!!

See, Wendy is not just any cousin.  When I moved from Salt Lake to Carlsbad when I was 16, I moved into Wendy's hood.  She is a year younger than me so we weren't in the same grade but she graciously welcomed me and shared all her awesome friends.  So I had an instant "in".  Wendy and I got to be great friends and we still are.  She is super funny, and silly, and genuine, and nice, and smart, and it turns out, now she's a great photographer.
(Kelly, your Christmas pictures taken by Wendy, get the most compliments.)

So I was really REALLY excited for Wendy to come so I could show her around up here, and make lots of yummy food for her, and stay up really late gossiping with her every night.  Me = :(

Let's take a walk down memory lane with the help of my totally awesome--decade-old--scrapbook pages, shall we?

We are soooo cute!

And so weird!

But mostly we're just awesome.

Sorry Rama*, I had to post all of these incriminating photos.  Even though there is now a n#de photo of us on the Internet.  Also, we had way too much time on our hands in High School.  Also, should I cut my hair real short and dye it red again?

Wish you were here!  Have fun back in the states!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

*At some point during high school, I started calling her Wendy-Rama.  And then just Rama.  And I still think of her as Rama not Wendy.