so, this year we were ready for the gion-gurumas!  i think that staying the night before creates extra work for rachel, but i hope that i could help, even if only a little (of course, i would rather be a big help, but helping a little is better than being a burden!) if nothing else, i did bring a bottle of NZ sav blanc....

rachel and i stayed up late on saturday, drinking wine and enjoying cheese.  and waiting for little ones to go to sleep!  *sigh*  i think tommy was the last hold out, not going to sleep until nearly midnight.  ugh.

so, there are soooo many pictures at flickr, and so many more left on the computer (which i will probably not be uploading to flickr.)  i did post four pictures of the cake, mostly because i took two pictures with two different cameras.  silly me.  so, on to the pictures.  there may or may not be any commentary!



(before--saturday evening.  sorry it's blurry.)



(after--sunday morning.  nearly ready for guests!)



cake by amy



the first gion-guruma is accompanied by children who sing a song.  the following cars have the dancers!



this guy was with the first car.  here he is enjoying a glass of beer at 10:30 am!  it looked great!














our lovely hostess, and her friend/coworker.







...and i think i will finish this tomorrow!