Beach Day!

This past Saturday was July 5th. Not really the right day for a 4th of July party...but it worked out best for us. A group of Americans from the Mito church (mostly AETs, but some non-AETs too), and some Japanese friends, decided to have a 4th of July party at the beach. We barbecued hamburgers and hotdogs, set up a volleyball net and went swimming and bodyboarding.

Derrick and I road our scooters out there (about 40 minutes away) a few hours early so we could go bodyboarding. We bought some bodyboards and wetsuites at a second hand shop. We also bought a bodyboard-sized backpack so Derrick can carry both of our boards on his back.

Here are a few pictures of us and our boards:

This is the clam that I found on the beach. Derrick decided to put it on the grill and eat it.

It actually seemed to be a Japanese family activity to bring shovels and rakes and have everyone digging for clams to bring home for dinner. Some people had bags of 10-15 huge clams the size of softballs or bigger. We found three and brought them home....Derrick made clamchowder. Here are the clams he used:

Here is the group as we started up the barbecue. This day was memorable, not only because we got to try out our new bodyboards for the first time, but also because we hadn't had a real hamburger since we set foot in Japan. Sure we've been to McDonalds....but we all know that's just not the same! It got really misty that day and we could hardly see 10 meters ahead of us (sorry for all you americans who didnt grow up with the metric system....that is what I'm used to and that is what I use).

The day did clear up very nicely and the sun came out and we played a lot of fun rounds of beach volleyball!

The day was a ton of fun and we thank Mark and Michelle for planning it and Kendon for helping out with food and stuff. And thank you everyone for coming! We had a great time!