Wow, that was so quick!

Well, Wendy and Valerie are gone...sniff, sniff. I hope they had a great time because I had an awesome time with them visiting. We packed alot of stuff in the few days they were here, and then I sent them home with a packed suitcase of some of my junk to take home for me. Here's some fun pics of their time here. Me and Wendy eating some sushi. Fun fact about my head and Wendy's head...my head is square shaped and Wendy's head is a long oval. Therefore, I hate any pictures of us where our faces are pressed together because her normal shaped head emphasizes the block-ness of my head. I refused to press my head next to hers even on her wedding day.

That's Kyoto behind us. We climbed all that way up...me with my flipflops and Chi-chan in her heels. We're troopers.

We went to Fushimi Inari, which is famous for its thousands of tori (the red-orange gate) going up the mountain. And it is also a shrine representing foxes (is that the plural for fox?). Wendy's son's name is Fox. I had no idea that I was taking Wendy and Valerie to the fox shrine.

Wendy, me, and Chi inside all the tori lined up.

Fushimi Inari is also where "Memoirs of a Geisha" filmed the scene when the little girl runs through all the tori to go pray at the shrine. I'm re-enacting the scene.

Wendy and Valerie at a house church in Itami. I forgot to warn them that Japanese house churches like to put you on the spot and ask you about your relationship with Christ. Their first time to meet these people and Wendy is sharing about her experiences sharing Christ with others and Valerie is giving advice on how to raise children who love the Lord.

Wendy and Valerie on their wheels. Riding my bike is a major mode of transportation for me. Wendy and Valerie borrowed my neighbors' bikes and rode all over town with me.

I heard that going to Osaka Castle at night is beautiful. Here's the thing...it's closed at night. So, we didn't get to go inside, but we sat outside and stared at it.

Example of Japanese English...It's not sample. I realized with Wendy and Valerie that my English skills have greatly decreased since I've been in Japan. It took me a second to figure out why "It's not sample" was not good English. Which is disheartening since my Japanese skills still stink too.