Flowers & The Invincible Summer

Cold, windy ocean selfie after a day of festivals.

I believe that you are never to old to have your invisible summer. That summer where there isn't a past or future, just the present. That summer where you just feel...alive. This year, this summer, is my invincible summer.

Knocking off early on a Wednesday for some quality beach time.

So what makes the invincible summer? It means making the most of the little free time you have. It means festivals every weekend, pulling half days at the office when the work is light, and lots of laughing.

To quote The Perks of Being a Wallflower, "You stand up and see the lights on the buildings and everything that makes you wonder. And you're listening to that song, and that drive with the people who you love most in this world. And in this moment, I swear, we are infinite."

Towada Yabusame Festival

The summer officially started with the Yabusame, or horse archery, festival in Towada. It was at the end of April, and the weather couldn't have been more perfect with the cherry blossoms in full bloom.

Just waiting.

The archers attempt to hit three successive targets while atop a galloping horse. It looked like something that would take a ton of practice!

The kids were afraid of him.

The festival was pretty small and our favorite part was feeding the horses. They had a bunch of carrots cut up that you could purchase for ¥100. SOLD!

LOVED him!

Archers getting ready

After watching a few rounds, we went back home. Unfortunately, this is the only cherry blossom viewing we did this year. See last year's cherry blossom festival post, here.

A couple weekends later, my friend Sara and I headed to Karumai for the Tulip Festival.

One of these things is not like the other.

Like all of the flower festivals, this one was pretty low-key. There were only a handful of food booths, though one of the most popular items is a sarunashi, or monkey pear, ice cream. Sara and I were on a strict juice cleanse at the time, so we didn't get to enjoy it, but Mark ordered it last year and it was amazing.

The following weekend, Sara and I recruited our other friends, Vanessa and Kayla, for a festival double header. We started out at the Azalea Festival in Shichinohe and then hit the Nanohana Festival in Yokohama Town.

Festivals and chu his go hand in hand.

The weather wasn't as great as it had been the past two weekends, but we trudged onward.

Tenou Shrine at the top of the hill.

As we were leaving, we saw a sign for a castle, so of course we took a slight detour.

We happened upon a table with wisteria flowers twisting around the posts, and decided it would be the perfect time to play with the timer on my camera.

Just another dysfunctional family dinner.

Even though Mark has tried to explain how to use the camera to me multiple times, I'm still not great with it, mainly because I stop listening about five minutes into any explanation. So I thought I was setting the time, but was actually setting the number of shots the camera would take.

So we got this little gem.

On the way to the Nanohana Festival, we stopped by Lawson for lunch and more chu his. Lawsons are convenience stores all over Japan, and they have some of the BEST food.

Orange chu hi, raspberry Kit Kats, and spicy chicken nuggets. Another typical Lawson lunch!

As we got closer to Yokohama, which is very close to Shipwreck Beach, the wind started picking up significantly.

Storm is brewing!

Nanohana is the Japanese word for the rapeseed flower, which is used to make canola oil. There wasn't much to the festival other than the maze.

So so cold. Thankfully the chu his were there to keep us warm.

We rang the bell three times for good luck, got in the car, and finished the day with a BBQ at Sara's house.

Weekends like these I'm so thankful for the friends I have made here. With Mark gone, they are my family, and I wouldn't trade our chu hi fueled weekends for anything. Because this is living. This is life.

And it's beautiful.