Japan

We had the opportunity to visit family in Japan for two weeks over the new year.  We had a very busy 13 days there; we experienced many parts of Japanese culture and the beauty there.  Over the next few days/weeks we will be posting pictures from our journeys across Kanto (the region of Japan we were in).  We were largely in the Kanagawa prefecture.  Kanto is where Tokyo and Fuji are located as well as many temples, shrines and other fun things.

A few general comments:

•  Their train system is amazing. You can get just  about anywhere by train and a few minutes walk.  Sometimes you have to hop on a short bus ride too, but their main mode of transportation is public and they seem to have it down pat.
• We were surprised at how little English was spoken there, particularly considering the United States' presence since the end of WWII
• Fuji is absolutely breathtaking, I kept calling it the lonely mountain
• Even through the language barrier we found that almost all people were extremely polite
• Cemeteries were everywhere - but they are not like western cemeteries (we saw 1 of those and about 100 Japanese ones), more to come about them later
• Tokyo Disney/Tokyo Sea capture the magic and childhood that is Disneyland

Here are some select pictures from the trip

 

Waterfall and Beach

After Queen's Bath we hiked back and went to Hanalei Beach.  It poured on the drive but was sunny by the time we set up on the beach.  Here are some pictures next to a waterfall on the hike and some fun ones from the beach.

Kirsten managed to photobomb perfectly.

Trying to pose and riding the wave didn't work out so well for me.

Lorrie wanted to play ring-around-the-rosie...
this is us all falling down.

CSULB "Graduation"

On May 23rd I "graduated" from CSULB with my masters degree. I say "graduated" because I still have to do summer school before I am officially done. Nonetheless, it was an awesome day with some awesome girls. We started off the day we brunch at Mimi's Cafe, then headed over to campus for some pictures and the ceremony. After the ceremony I headed to my parent's house where my extended family came over to celebrate with some carne asada! It was a great day of celebrations!

Brunch with our GRAD glasses

The brunch bunch

Irvine internship buddies

Carpool

Clinic partners

Having some fun

Walking into the ceremony

Graduating

Pfotenhauers

Sisters

My amazing parents

The fam

My awesome husband

These are just some of the pics from the day. To see more or to download copies (all my speech ladies) click here: CSULB Graduation

Mother's Day 5/13/2012

We have not posted in awhile and have a lot of blogging to catch up on. On Mother's day (May 13th) we celebrated my (Elise's) mom's birthday as well as mother's day by going up to Venice Beach, hanging out, walking around, and eating dinner at C&O Trattoria. C&O's is a great family style Italian restaurant that Alex discovered while at UCLA. We had so much fun hanging out and celebrating my mom. Here are some fun moments from the day: 

View of some of the boats from the pier

Me and Kiri on the pier

My mom and Kiri on the beach

Mom and Dad

Alex kite flying

Dad assisting

Mom taking her turn with the kite

Kiri the pro kite flier

These are some of my favorites of my mom

At dinner

It was so yummy and so much fun!