A Day at the Beach

Brandon and I went on a day trip to the beach yesterday. It was a beautiful day, the sun was out early in the morning, and it didn't get hot until the afternoon. So we packed our cooler full of ice and bottled water, got our beach chairs and towels, and left the house to go to the beach. We had breakfast before we went, but left fairly early in the morning to beat the heat wave that was sure to come. The drive was fantastic. Kind of reminded me of being in Hawaii. The view of the coastline and all of the islands were beautiful.

We arrived at the beach around 11am. It's pretty cool the way it's set up. There are little lunch stands that sell Japanese noodles and hot dog's on sticks. And outdoor showers available to wash off all the sand you encounter. The beach is in a U shape and they net off the mouth of the U to keep the jellyfish out. The water is clear and blue, I could see right to the bottom while I was swimming. There are large tents set up over giant concrete slabs. This was great for shade. We set up our chairs and cooler under the tent, and surprisingly it wasn't very crowded. We had an entire tent to ourselves. Our friends showed up later and set up their chairs as well. I slathered myself with sunscreen and we all stripped down and headed for the water. It was warm like bathwater, but oh so refreshing compared to the heat outside. We alternated from swimming in the ocean and sitting under the tent all day long. We ate snacks and got hot dogs from the vendor's. I had made lime aide at home and put it in a large water bottle. I wanted to at least pretend that I was having a margarita on the beach. And since I don't drink and I'm pregnant, the lime aide worked great. We eventually made our way back to the water to swim again. It was perfect. Although by 4 o'clock it was so blazing hot that walking on the sand even with sandals on became impossible. We took one last dip and packed up our gear. This was the kind of day that I had been waiting for. I wanted so badly to go to the beach during my stay here, and it was everything I had hoped for. I can't wait to do it again.

Brandon and I drove home sitting on towels in our swim suits. When we got home we showered to get all of the sand off and put on some clean clothes. We headed into town to grab some dinner. We also went to the ginza to grab a Starbucks coffee and a treat. It really feels like home in there. It looks exactly the same as every other Starbucks you would find in the states. We sat and ate our treats and drank our iced lattes and visited and laughed. This never gets old to me. I love being married to my best friend. We can talk and talk and never run out of things to say or laugh about. It's hard to believe that next week will be our anniversary. We have been together for 5 years now. And I still can't imagine being any more in love than I am now. But I know I am wrong, because every year my love for him grows. I'm so blessed to be on this journey of life with Brandon, he makes it so much more worth enjoying.

When we finally left for home, I felt satisfied with my whole day. I'm glad that we got to spend it together. This morning he left for the ship. I hope the next weekend we spend together is just as rewarding.