So my in-laws are visiting. This is the first time my father-in-law has left Japan so evidently he REALLY liked Sean when they visited. First let me pretext by saying my father-in-law grabs the bull by the horns when it comes to trying new stuff. He loves to try things and have a good time. I bet he would have been a good friend of mine if I had met his younger self at college. Anyhow we are visiting my parents this weekend. On Saturday we went fishing. He was amazed my folks owned a boat because in Japan you have to be pretty dern rich to own a boat. We fished and he caught 2 blues, a croaker, and various bait fish. Dad caught a skate (not a sting ray) and some bait. I caught 2 I threw back because we had enough bait, and a crab.
Today we shot the gun. He had a hunting license before Mayumi was born and had let it lapse since having a hunting license in Japan is a major PITA. Mayumi, Father-in-law and I shot. Mayumi has a natural shooting ability. Her groups were consistantly tight with the odd stray bullet. She didn't miss the target once out of three boxes of 22 shells. I did fairly well. My groupings were good, I didn't miss the target and I was consistantly high and to the right. Part of this was because I misunderstood my dad when he told us it was shooting a little high and aim low, I heard aim high. Anyway I was to the right. Her dad wasn't bad. He missed the target a few times. Groups were OK with more odd shots than both Mayumi and I together, but hey, he is a little older. Mayumi mentioned that maybe we should start looking for a place for recreational shooting. I love my wife :)
For dinner tonight we were going to go to my parent's favorite BBQ shop. Unfortunately they close early on Sunday and were already out of BBQ when we called. We went to this other place that Mom had been told was good. The Q was... well.. fair. Her parents just picked at it and obviously didn't care much for it. Neither did Mayumi, Mom, Dad or I. I did, however, enjoy the collards. I got a side to go because it isn't every day I get to eat collards. Tomorrow we go to Beaufort/Morehead city. I will be taking them to El's for a shrimp burger, hit the Sanitary for lunch or something, and show them around the old hunting grounds. Look here is where I used to live. Ok, it is actually the corner lot three houses north in that pic. Here is the pizza hut. That is about it. I'm sure we will drive around some and look at boats, houses, front street and such but overall that is what Beaufort was to me. Not much excitement left in that little town for me at this stage.
I am enjoying this trip much more than my Mother-in-law's last trip. If you recall she and Oakel got in to a little misunderstanding and it just seamed to stick the entire trip. This time they seem to be getting along nicely. Oakel has been hugs and kisses the entire time. Sean is, well, 6 months so he is full of other juices as well. Here is to hoping that everything holds out until Friday.
Posted by Rob at September 18, 2006 12:52 AM