Happy 4th of July!

Even in Japan we still find a way to celebrate the 4th of July. There isn't any firework displays or anything, but we still get all of the Americans on the team together, dress the kids in their red, white & blue and hang out. Brian's parents are actually over here visiting us right now, so getting to celebrate it with them made it that more fun!

This year one of Brian's Japanese teammates, Nobuhiko Matsunaka, hosted a BBQ at his house here in Fukuoka. I guess he does this every year and this year it just so happened to land on the 4th of July. Matsunaka is a baseball legend over here, so it was really exciting being invited to his home. Or as we call it, the Matsunaka compound!

This was the first Japanese house I had been to, as most of the people here live in apartments. This house was located right in the downtown area tucked away on a little side street (we thought we were lost going to it!), complete with it's own private gate and all! The BBQ was set up on his lawn, he had people cooking all sorts of yummy food all night, and we even got to try our first taste of tongue! Yes, cow tongue! They were serving it up, right with all the chicken, pork, beef and sausage! Brian made us try it, and despite being a little tough and the "eeww" factor running in your head, it really wasn't that bad. It was really fun trying all the food, you just grabbed your chopsticks and dug in! Brooke loved everything we gave her, especially the yakisoba noodles they grilled, they were delicious!

Soon after we arrived, Austin was wisked away by some Japanese ladies who were either friends/family/staff of the Matsunaka's (we weren't sure!), and taken to the upstairs of the house with all of the other kids where there was a big play area set up for them! They played forever up there having so much fun, we didn't see Austin all night!! He loved it and could have cared less about being down at the BBQ with us! We all just laughed because they kept taking our kids away from us (so we could enjoy some kid free moments I'm sure!). It was so nice of them, it's just funny having complete strangers take your kids and babysit them for you (where are they when we are at the games?!)!

It was such a fun night and it was really cool seeing the home of one of Brian's teammates. It was great getting to hang out away from the stadium, let the kids run wild, eat some delicious food and meet some new friends, and oh yah, celebrate the 4th!!

Happy 4th of July everyone!!!

The "Matsunaka Compound!"

Brian and his Dad enjoying some good Japanese BBQ!

Brookie and Grandma all festive in their red, white & blue!

Austin upstairs in the play room!! What you don't see in this picture are all of the other kids running around everywhere and all of the Japanese ladies taking care of them!! How awesome was that!

Half way through the night they played a hilarious game! You blindfold someone, spin them around while they are holding their forehead to the handle of a baseball bat, then direct them (if they are still standing from being so dizzy!) to a watermelon some 10 feet away, and let them try to wack the watermelon as hard as they can with the bat to split it open, still blindfolded mind you! It was so funny watching them do it and when someone actually cracked the watermelon!! Then we would all eat it!! We are definitely doing this at our next BBQ at home!

The team's 3rd baseman trying to crack open the watermelon!

Austin was in heaven playing with all their cars!

Bri & me

Brooke couldn't get enough of the yakisoba noodles!

Grandma, Brookie, Papa, Me, Austin and Brian celebrating the 4th together in Japan!

Happy 4th of July!