Bon Odori in Shioya

We had our big Bon Odori festival at our country club this past Saturday. The club and our landlords spent much time and effort and a great time was had by all. Brynn and I had to arrive early to have help putting on our yukata (summer kimonos). We were still sweating buckets even though we were wearing light cotton but we were grateful that the women from the club and the dancers for that evening were there to help us get ready. I must say that wearing a yukata was more uncomfortable than wearing my wedding dress and that there was more preparation, belts, bows, and ties, and less breathing than when I wore my wedding dress, too. The woman asked me if I could breathe and I said, "Not deeply" and she replied, "Perfect!" and moved on to the next neighbor. I don't know if she didn't understand me or if she did and quite frankly I don't know which would be worse :0) Then, we received our drink passes, game tickets, and two raffle tickets. Because we lived in the neighborhood and we were new, we were given all of these free and just had to pay for the buffet dinner...which was delicious. They had yakisoba (noodles and something else), yakitori (grilled meats), corn dogs and fries, grilled steak, potatoes, corn, salads, fresh fruit, etc. The kids loved playing the games and seeing what prizes they could win. Tanner won one of the best prizes...a raquetball set for kids and loved the balls included in it. Following dinner, there was a Japanese drum performance. It was quite entertaining and they even let the children come up and dance and play the drums. After the drumming ended, we all had a Japanese dance contest around the pool. Brynnie even danced because one of the other girls mentioned prizes for the best dancers. We didn't win a best dancer award but were surprised by the raffle. Many prizes were given out and we were not winning anything. It got toward the end and we began visiting with some neighbors and weren't paying attention. We NEVER win anything anyways. All of the sudden we hear our number called. We won a box of beer. WOW!! Needless to say, we passed that one off to another new family to the neighborhood. We went back to talking and weren't paying attention again and our OTHER number was called. I saw another box of beer sitting on the table and thought, "Oh great!" I went up to collect our prize and was handed an envelope and everyone was cheering. Come to find out we won the GRAND PRIZE which was an overnight stay in a resort on an island about an hour away with dinner and breakfast included. Needless to say we were surprised and also needless to say, we have figured out a way to take the kids with us...you know me.....I can't even leave my kids overnight with my parents without crying, do you think I can leave them in a foreign land with strangers? While it won't be a romantic getaway for Bryce and I, we will have a blast with our kiddos. Finally, after that, all of the "veteran" men started throwing the "newbies" into the pool with their clothes on. Bryce was conveniently NOWHERE to be found and had resorted to hiding in the children's play room claiming to need to watch Tanner. The men asked me if he was there and I sweetly replied, "I don't know, but if he is, you didn't hear it from me." They were perfect gentlemen. While the others they threw in without warning, they allowed Bryce to choose to willingly jump in or be thrown. He came out and removed his wallet, keys and belt (which had the women screaming) and did a back flip off the diving board which had everyone cheering. I am still trying to see if anyone got a picture of his perfect jump but here he is after getting out of the pool. We had a wonderful time and enjoyed getting to know our neigbors much better!