we've had the car for a week now, we really like it. yoshi saved so much money on it that he bought a GPS navigation system, a camera for backing up and an alarm system. and the guys at honda installed it (not for free, i think. but hey, they installed it!) the car is a boring white color, but then, it's used so you don't get to choose that. and the inside is a light tan color, great for looking roomy, but not so good for having small children. i think we're going to try a no food or juice policy, but we'll see. and i probably won't be taking any pictures of it. that's kinda weird.

i really only want to mention one thing about my brother-in-law's wedding. it had a 'christian' ceremony, where a foreigner performed a wedding, partially in english, for them. it was extremely offensive, and i'm not even religious by half. at first, i thought i was going to cry (you know, because weddings are beautiful), but then i wanted to laugh (especially at the guy's really terrible japanese pronunciation, but that wouldn't have been nice) but then i realized what a farce it was. so terrible. i think that if i were devout, i probably would have taken hiro and sasha and walked right out (imagine everyone else's embarassment!) as it was, i remained and silently mocked them all in my head. oh my.

after the ceremony we went out into a little garden where we were handed a balloon and offered some flower petals. the bride and groom came out and rang a bell together, and we released the balloons. then they walked through the garden and we threw the flower petals at them. after that, the two families (only family members went to the ceremony) went into a long ceremony hall and the father of the groom and father of the bride introduced each person in the family to the other side. whew, how boring. after that, we went to have a huge family portrait with the bride and groom. finally, it was time for the huge japanese version of a wedding celebration (not religious). that was long, too, and mostly boring, but there was a lot of food and even though i couldn't eat most of it, i did end up feeling full. hiroyuki managed to spill a full glass of orange juice, but all in all, i think he actually had a good time. sasha was good, too, especially with all the baby sembei we gave her. she actually nursed to sleep for the first time ever, though the party was too loud for her to sleep through the whole thing. and that was that.

and now to cute. of course it has to do with sasha. recently she has been making a clicking noise with her tongue. i thought she did it as a development thing, and then i thought she was copying us. she was copying us, but not tongue clicking. she's actually copying the sound of a kiss, and it is so adorable. maybe i can get it on video soon.