Happy Birthday Davin! (April 12, 2016)

Dearest Laurel-kins! <3

Today was the birthday of my adopted brother-in-law, Mr. Davin Tenhunen.

The best part of Davin's birthday was the CAKE! It was so freaking delicious! MmmMmmMmm!

I was willing to suffer through any of Kristin's family photos in order to get me a piece of that!

D got some pretty good presents. Kristin and Scott are going to get him a framed picture of his epic duel with Case from their wedding, and his mom is buying him a new set of Warhammer paints. Not a bad haul for a long-distance birthday party.

Hopefully D doesn't mind that I didn't get him a present. I've been very busy... sleeping...

I'm sure you'll make it up to him for the both of us when we get home. You're so good about buying presents for all my friends and family members so that I don't have to think about getting anyone anything at all! >.<

I LOVE YOU!

Your Prince Bear,
Erich

Heat and Humidity in India (April 10, 2016)

Dear Princess!

I miss you so much! I've been sleeping through the nasty parts of the world.

Kristin thought I should stretch my legs a bit though, so she woke me up when she came back from her ship tour today. The first thing I noticed was how sweaty and disgusting she looked. That's all I needed to know to skip this stop, and go back to sleep in our nice air-conditioned state room.

But... Kristin bullied me and dragged me outside for some pictures.

 Ugh. It was hot and humid. Nasty. I guess it was worth taking a peek over the ship rails, maybe.

So here I am in Chennai, India!

Since I was up, I decided to get a delicious burger from the grill before going back to bed. Yum!

And, of course, Kristin wanted to take the opportunity to get a picture of me in front of all the places I've been to so far. So here I am in front of the postcard door!

I told Kristin not to wake me up from hibernation again until the humidity goes away.

Your Grumpy Bear,
Erich

Easter! (3/27/16)

Today Scott and I went over to his parents for an Easter lunch. Scott and I got a easter basket and there were peeps in it! After Scott pillaged the basket for a while it was time for lunch. Scott made us delicious burgers. (Claudia cooked, Scott just assembled ours.) He put bacon, avocado, and pepper jack cheese on it. We enjoyed a Dr. Pepper and hung out with the family. Alex and Heidi were there as well as Yesenia and Matt, along with Yesenia's kids Destinee and Dezeray.

Laurels first drag race! (2/13/16)

Today was fun! Me and Scott met up with his friends in Pomona at the NHRA winternational drag races. We saw many things around the grounds and had a good time watching the cars fly by on the track.

The Glorious Beauty of Himeji Castle (March 18, 2016)

Lover-bear Laurel,

I hope this finds you well. I miss you lots and lots and lots! <3

Today was a good day. We visited two amazing castles! The first one was Okayama Castle which is a black castle. 

It was cool to see it first so that we could contrast it with Himeji Castle, which is a beautiful white castle!

We got to ride on the Shinkansen again to get to the city of Himeji! I love bullet trains!

Davin thinks Himeji Castle is the most impressive castle he has ever seen and it is his new favorite. 

Kristin was also impressed by Himeji but her favorite castle remains Arundel Castle in England. I liked this castle A LOT! So, I’m with Davin on this one.

It was raining on and off today so I was lucky to have the protection of Kristin’s rain jacket. 

One thing I noticed while we were walking through the city of Himeji was how clean Japan is. There is not much garbage or litter on the streets. Unfortunately, there are also no garbage cans. This caused the siblings some annoyance as they had to carry their empty soda bottles and trash a long distance before getting a chance to throw it away.

It doesn’t bother me too much though, as I’m more of a restaurant bear, than a garbage can bear. But some of my relatives would be pretty upset by the lack of trash cans to eat out of!

We saw some more pretty flowers at the castle.

I like that the Japanese have even decorated their sewer lids!

The Japanese people seem to like bears because they point at me and say, “Kawaii!” Kristin says that means, “Cute!” in Japanese. Just another reason to like it here in Japan, the people are friendly and have good aesthetic sense! Japan gets this bear’s stamp of approval. 

We will be moving on again soon, headed back towards the nasty hot and humid parts of the world. I’m not looking forward to that! I’ll be going back into hibernation for some time, I think. But, I will be happy knowing that every day brings me one day closer to you!

Until next time, my love!

Sending you lots of love of the smothering kind! 

Your Bear Prince,
Erich Tenhunen

Konnichiwa! We’ve Arrived in Japan! (March 17, 2016)

Hello Lover Princess & Dear Friends,

We finally reached the country of Japan! Strapped in to my special bear chair and soon to be hoisted atop my personal human beast of burden, I was ready to rock the land of the Samurai!

The port we found ourselves in was Nagasaki. We did a little touring of the city before we headed to our hotel for the night. We visited Fort Dejima, and the Nagasaki Peace Statue. 

It is sad to think of all the humans who were incinerated by the nuclear bomb. Kristin teared up at the thought of all the innocent people dying, but also said that as a nation Japan kinda deserved it seeing as the bombings saved Allied lives and Japan had been the aggressor and did all kinds of f&*ked up things to its neighboring countries, including genocide, and raping women. FYI, Korea is still waiting for an official apology for the raping… So… there you have it… Heh… Awkward…

Let’s not dwell on the past! Today the Japanese people are the friendliest people I’ve ever met!

Tomorrow we are going to see two awesome castles but first we have to get to Okayama to spend the night. So, tonight we got to ride on the super-fast and totally awesome Shinkansen! 

It’s even more awesome that bears get to ride for free! D&K had to get special Japan Rail Passes to save lots of money on tickets. I don’t get my own seat though, so that’s the only downside.

So far Japan is great. Friendly people, free train rides, and it’s very pretty. Check out this early to bloom cherry blossom tree! 

I also approve of the Japanese diet—Fish, fish, and more fish! Yum!

I know it’s only for a week, but I think I’m going to be really happy here. Of course, I’ll be even happier to come home to you, my love.

Oyasuminasai my darling, and sweet dreams to everyone!
Erich Tenhunen