the 4th and Mozzo Liams

it's already July. this is just getting crazy. i just absolutely don't believe any of this. oh, and we missed one of my favorite days of the year: the 4th of July. back in Provo, the 4th was possibly the biggest event of the year, and it was definitely my favorite tradition. this year, we had to miss the Provo Freedom Festival! (obviously.) what we would do (not always on the same day, but you get the idea), was:

• always wear a new red, white, and blue outfit each year!
• wake up super early to see the balloons. even though I hate waking up, this is always one of my favorite parts of the day. especially the Coca Cola balloon
• go watch Mom in the Freedom Run. I am not a very fast runner, but I have been getting better, so I wanted to actually race this summer. oh well. there's always next year!
• hopefully go back to sleep for a little bit!
• watch the parade! this is one of the best parts of the Provo Freedom Festival. it was so fun seeing all the floats and walking around the cute, little historic area of Provo by Center Street and BYU.
• go mountain biking as a family, or just bike on the Bridal Veil Falls trail. we have been doing this as long as I can remember living in Provo, even before I even knew how to ride a bike!
• go swimming with our Wendelboe cousins
• help Mom make dinner to bring to our ward party, the Culdesac of Fire! this has to be my favorite part of the whole day (besides watching the fireworks). we live in the perfect part of town to light off fireworks! not by the river, not too close to the hill, and our house is in a nice little culdesac where there are absolutely no cars. so, in our Bishop's driveway, hamburgers and hot dogs and sometimes chicken are being grilled, and everyone brings an item- salad, watermelon, or dessert. after we eat, we all light off fireworks in the culdesac and just have fun, until it's time for my personal favorite.
• FIREWORKS!!! not only is our culdesac the perfect place to light fireworks, it's the perfect place to see the fireworks from the Stadium of Fire as well! we have only actually gone to the Stadium of Fire once to see Carrie Underwood, and it was a blast! but we like our little ward party so much that we probably won't go again.....unless they can get One Direction! (probably never gonna happen.)

this year was different. way different. when you're not even in America, it's pretty much impossible to celebrate the birthday of your country! and I left most of my red shirts at home, sadly. but I threw something together, ate a bowl of Lucky Charms (without milk and with a fork, I might add), grabbed my bag, and we were on our way to our next "adventure stop", Nikko! Dad's chemistry research buddies and grad students organized this trip for them to get out and:

• go down an elevator to see a waterfall. yes, this is Japan, where hiking is not popular at all! this is one of the things I like the most. not having to hike! and my toes are still blistered. what the crap did I do to them?
• see 2 wild monkeys while on the bus! (no, they were not my brothers.)
• check into this really cheap motel that is designed for college student drinking parties. holy crap, this place was........different than the hot springs resort we stayed at in Uzawa, and the fancy hotel we stayed at in Kyoto! we had 2 rooms, but we had to sleep on futons and tatami mats, the bathrooms weren't clean at all, and in every corner, there were spider webs. even though this place had hot springs, I took a long shower as soon as we returned to Tokyo!
• visit a Mozzo Liam shrine (I admit, I am really good at spelling, and I can usually figure out how to spell strange words, but seriously, I cannot figure this one out! So, it sounds like that), which let me just say.........I love Mozzo Liams! even though they are the kind of shrines with graves in them, there's a lot of fancy decorations and flowers. this particular shrine (I forgot the name) was where those "hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil" monkeys originated. and sorry, we didn't get good pictures!
• get ice cream and see statues wearing red bibs (I believe they are called Gizo statues)
• eat a wonderful dinner of fish. they didn't provide forks and spoons, but I was smart and brought my own! sadly, this dinner didn't really agree with my stomach. well, it was fish. no surprise there.
• visit the hot springs, go to bed, eat fish for breakfast (not too different from the dinner), see a famous bridge, and check out of our nasty place!
• go to a Ninja Theme park! this was SO FREAKING LEGIT!!! we saw a dancing ninja show, a puppet show, Samurai torchure chambers, and we threw darts at a sugarcane board! I won a dagger, Justin (who got a perfect score) won a glowing, talking sword, and Wesley just won 2 ninja stars.
• got back on the bus and went back to Tokyo!!!

 hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil.

let me just say, although I love Japan, America is my home, and I love it dearly! after taking American Studies (advanced English/history class, which I actually loved, most of the time), I only further appreciate the freedom that we have: freedom of speech, religion, expression, everything. it is also a very beautiful, diverse place, and I can't wait to get home!

oh, and a funny story........
{overheard at the dinner table}
Dad: so, when we go to Nikko, we will see a Mozzo Liam, and-
Me: I just love Mozzo Liams! Wait............ can you explain to me what a Mozzo Liam is again?
Dad: you just said you love them!
Me: Yes, I know.......oh, that's what they are. oh yes. Mozzo Liams. I love those!