The BioPark... Yeah, it was awesome!

On Thursday Aug 13, we drove the 4 hours to Sasebo.  Did I mention it was $80 in tolls?  Yeah, traveling in Japan is spendy!  We left after Dan got home from work, so got to Sasebo (Naval Base) a bit late.  On Friday, we had grand and exciting plans!  We drove an hour to the Nagasaki BioPark.  It is a more hands-on zoo experience.  I love that their website says this:  "We believe that stepping into such environments and sharing them with the animals will help you deepen your understanding about animals greatly. It also gives you opportunities to learn about the distance you should keep from animals and what you should be careful about when you pet them." 

I liked the layout of the park.  Rather than letting you roam aimlessly, they had a route for you to follow and this ensured that you saw everything.  It is especially handy when it is built on the mountainside and you can't see much other than what is in front of you. 
The zoo is a bit depressing, because well.... it is a zoo and animals are sad when penned up.  But the petting parts were awesome!  They have little machines that let you buy food for 100 yen and you can feed the animals: flamingos, wallabies, capybara, raccoons, monkeys.... so fun!

(Yeah I cannot figure out how to change that white outline!  It looks just fine in editing mode and nothing I try makes it right.  I'm sorry!)

Starting the road trip with a car full of kids.

The girls were impressed with the texture of it's skin. 

 I was delighted with myself for guessing what these were.

These are Gray Crowned Cranes. 

I had never seen these before!  I did not know that Wallabies looked like this! 

So cute! 

It was hot and they were not too active.  They were still happy to eat though.

Ryle thought she was so funny, holding hands with this guy. 

These monkeys were on an island, and were not hungry. 

There was this slingshot.  It is hard to see, but that is what Callie is holding. 

I was feeding a flamingo just before the camera clicked! 

Up close and personal. 

Callie was very involved and wouldn't even look up for me. 

I love this girl! 

The colors on these flamingos was lovely. 

It took Rylee a while, but she got brave enough to feed them.... out of the food container. 

There was an insectarium.  It was low on variety, but high on touchability! 

Callie thought these big beetles were great.  No fear at all. 

Ryle needed some time and encouragement. 

Scary looking, aren't they. 

 Marian was not intimidated, but not as fascinated as Callie.

Apparently they tickle when they walk.

She finally got the courage to pick it up!

Yuu Beach

 Despite the fact that we live right on the coast, there is a sad lack of good beaches in the area.  20 minutes south is the closest (usually) swimmable beach.  The kids kept asking when we were going to the beach again, and last Monday I finally had time, opportunity, and sunny weather.

We debated the merits of the closest beach vs the nicer beach we had never been to.  We decided on the 30 minute drive beach.  You Beach is a "resort" beach here, and is a lovely beach with decent water.  It had a terrific gradual entry so you can go out a ways before it gets too deep.  It is different in that it doesn't have the large rocks and gross vegetation that many of the other beaches have.

We spent about 3 hours there and had a great time.  Joshua and his pasty skin stayed home, which was probably good.  Despite sunscreen applications, everyone had a bit of sunburn somewhere.  It was a good day.

Marian, Callie and Delaney, seeing just how far they can go.

This is the beach.  It was really crowded, because of Oban Week and lots of vacationing locals. 

 This is how the Japanese deal with the sun.  It is awesome to see folks covered head-to-toe swimming at the beach!

The beach is more gravel than sand, and the girls discovered it wasn't much fun for sand castles. 

We had a great time looking for shells.

Unfortunately, there weren't many to take home, since most were inhabited. 

Delaney had a marvelous day! 

Rylee, taking a snack break. 

That's Marian out there in the middle.  She swam out pretty far, to where it WAS deep, and she would dive down for interesting things.  She did unearth several good sized sand dollars. 

Callie went out to join her. 

Delaney felt pretty brave with a floaty on, even though she's a pretty good swimmer without it.

World Boy Scout Jamboree

Saturday August 2 our Scouts went to the World Jamboree, which just happened to be held in Japan this year and just happened to be in our Prefecture.  So it was fairly convenient to attend for a single day.  Even more awesome, because we are "residents" it was free!  Whoopee!

Since I was in Tokyo with Callie and Delaney, Dan took Rylee and Joshua out for the day.  It was a roasting hot day, but they had a good time and felt it worth the trip.  Plus, they get bragging rights to be able to say they attended the World Scout Jamboree, which is only held every 4 years.  

Anyway, here are the pictures.....

Tokyo Fun Trip: The End

 Sunday was a free day.  That was great, because we had plans.  We went to church.  And then we went to our new friend's house for lunch.  And then we kind of stayed.  The girls had a great time playing with their 6 kids plus a neighbors 3 or 4 more kids.  So it was kind of a crazy busy fun house.  And we got lunch!  It was a good day.

Because Tokyo is so tough to drive in, the family uses a "bucket-bike" to move around town with multiple childrens,  and we got a ride home in it.  It was a tight squeeze and a little unnerving, but we made it safely back to the hotel!  It was kind of nice to relax that evening and I had packing to do.

Monday morning we made it to the fancy breakfast buffet, and it was lovely and delicious.  We got on the bus at 9am and started the long journey home.  We stopped every 2 hours or so, but in the middle Delaney and I both needed to go, so I blamed her and asked for an early stop.  We stopped 30 minutes early for our potty break, which was much appreciated.  We had a longer lunch and dinner stop and managed to arrive back to Iwakuni a full hour before the schedule officially said we'd be home. I was very happy with a 9pm arrival.  Dan picked us up and drove us home and all was right with the world!

Ywp, still love the view Sunday morning!  The church building is right next to the temple.

This is the Bucket Bike!  The 3 of us squished into the bucket for the ride back. It was all kinds of awesome! 

Delaney loved this family bathroom stall.  It has everything one might need.  And you can't even see the baby-changing table.  Note the urinal for a boy, kid-size sink,  the tiny toilet, the "changing stand" (where you step up to change clothes so your clothing doesn't touch the gross floor when you are changing), and the adult sized toilet.

My very first Big Mac in a year.  It was delicious. 

And for dinner, I had curry chicken.  Yum! Japanese rest stops are the best!

Dipping Dots after dinner.   In Melon Soda flavor!

Callie had a rose flavored ice cream cone.  It was interesting, and cold and delicious.