Another Festival

There are so many festivals around. This one was a block away from our house, so even though Teddy was TDY, we still made it out. The kids got some snacks and we watched a little Japanese dancing and then walked home.

Pumpkins & Boxes

 We have several gigantic pumpkins starting to grow. We didn't keep them shaded so they didn't reach their full potential, but they still got to about 40-60 lbs.

 Christine loves the tramp. These boys love the tramp too. They think it is extra fun when you have boxes on the tramp. These boys are great.

We have sure been very fortunate to have a yard in Japan. The kids (and I) would go crazy without a yard!

Blue Tub and Outdoor Fun

 The kids wanted their water blue, so Pa threw in some blue food coloring.

 Christine sometimes puts up one finger for the peace sign. I love her pig tails.

 We have some climbers in the family. The kids are often found climbing in the tree and making all sorts of contraptions.

 Christine loves the trampoline!

I love the weather in Japan, but I could do without the ninja mosquitoes.

Park Fun

 What kid doesn't love the park. Our kids would live at the park if they could.

 Theodore and Thaddeus made some bridges in the backyard, but we're still working on their engineering skills. They collapsed and some wood jammed into their mouths. Theodore's tooth turned brown and Thaddeus ripped up the gums on his upper mouth. The dentist said we'd have to wait and see about the tooth. It has actually lightened up a lot now and you'd can't even tell that it was so dark, but it did take awhile.

 Marie wanted me to take a picture of her in the tunnel... and then her hands and feet. :)

We sure have a bunch of great kids!

Outdoor Pool

 We have a bunch of fish in our family. The girls loved jumping off the board. They were excited when we told them they were allowed to go off the big one!

 They were a little scared once they got up there, but they ponied up and jumped off! Then they did it several more times.

Kyoto Day 2

 The next day, we went to visit the monkey park which was super awesome. The monkeys were running around us with all their babies. The moms were cleaning them and their bright bums were cool. These monkeys were hanging out all around us and were easier to see than the last monkey park that we went to. It is about a 20 minute hike up to the park. You pay at the bottom and the ladies there were really surprised that I was going to hike it since I was immensely pregnant. Pregnant ladies in Japan are very conservative. 

 We also saw the bamboo forests. They were worth seeing too.

 I debated on going to this shrine because they all start to look the same after awhile, but I am glad that I did. It was definitely a little different than the other ones that I have seen. It is actually covered in gold leaf. It was a really hot day and I was even more thankful that we saw some of our sights the night before.

We went back to our awesome hotel and then headed home the next morning. It was a quick trip, but definitely something that I won't forget.

Kyoto Trip

 We weren't sure what sort of a hotel we were getting in Kyoto. They aren't quite like hotels in the U.S. We were surprised by this AWESOME room! Our kids loved it! It could have had a little bit more space, but it worked perfectly for us. Each kid had their own little cubby with a bed and a T.V. in it. The shows were all in Japanese, but the kids all loved it anyways. Teddy and I shared the last cubby. It would have been amazing, but I had a very large belly by this point (I was due in 3 or 4 weeks) and I couldn't get comfortable.

 These displays were at the entrance of our hotel.

 Here is the front of our hotel on a main road. It was in the perfect spot for us too! After we got unpacked and settled into the hotel, we decided to go see some sights. We drove for about 5 hours to get here and it was already pretty late when we got started. It worked perfectly though because it was in the middle of the hot summer and we got to walk around when it was cool. Here are some neat things we saw on our walk!

 I am going to miss all the random shrines. I really enjoyed the one below with all the red Tori gates. It was a unique experience because we were one of the only people there since it was night time. This place is usually really busy and we only saw around 5 people there!

 I wish I would have brought a tripod for some neat night time pictures, but I think they still turned out OK. It was so fun!