Strawberry Fields Forever!

Blergh, I am so not a Beatles fan.  But this is a perfect title for our awesome Sunday.

The day did not start out super promising but there's always time to turn a day around (hello Pollyanna, hijacking my blog!).  I was called in early, early Sunday morning and admitted a tonsil bleed so that I could operate on him first thing in the morning.  He wasn't bleeding profusely and it's just better to wait until daylight whenever possible.  So, I admitted the guy, came back home by 4 and was completely RIPPED from the deepest sleep by my alarm at 6:45.  I went in, stopped the bleed in the OR, came home and went back to bed.  Yay!

I woke up at 12:30 and lazed around for a bit.  SMS was super patient but I knew from the day prior that he really wanted to go strawberry picking.  So, I rallied and asked him if he still wanted to go.  Yes!

I looked up some great  information on a local strawberry farm, Tsukuihama Tourist Farm.  They offered all-you-can-pick-and-eat strawberries for Y1500/30 minutes.  There are no kids prices here- Y1500 for everyone 3 years and older although the prices do decrease a small amount at the end of the season when the strawberries are smaller. We were not allowed to pick strawberries to take home although we did buy a 12 count flat of strawberries that one of the gardeners picked for us.  We were given a small plastic tray divided into two parts- one for the stems and one for the condensed milk used as a dip and completely unnecessary since the strawberries were so delicious and sweet on their own.  Seriously, these were the Platonic ideal of strawberry!

Also, we had company!  We called up Doug and Rose and offered to steal their children for a bit.  They wanted to come too and even though there was a initial sticker shock, the overall experience was so awesome that they were so happy.  Both Doug and John said that "This is perfect!"

Afterwards, we were a little cold outside the warmth of the greenhouse so we went straight home instead of going to a park.  SMS and I headed back a couple hours later after ordering Pizza-La for a group dinner.  We had pizza, kale salad and chocolate fondue for dessert with, you guessed it, more strawberries.

It was really an awesome day.  It was a fun, uniquely Japan experience and it was shared with really great friends.  SMS and I are definitely going back once more before he leaves.