Pretty Miyajima

It is so pretty, and I have been working on my artsy photos!

Chaperoning Miyajima

 On December 15, I got to chaperone Callie on her field trip to the Miyajima Aquarium.  It WAS raining this time, but we went anyway.  I was prepared with umbrellas and ponchos, but the rain kept to a decent drizzle, so it wasn't too bad. I had 3 girls to supervise and the only one who could not
behave was my own.  Sigh.

It is about a mile walk from the ferry port to the Aquarium, and that left us with just over 2 hours to explore the Aquarium.  We did not have much time, after the sea lion show and the penguins, so we didn't explore all the aquarium.  It was more fun than I had anticipated.

 At the iconic Torii.  Callie is avoiding the school group photo.

Now she is trying to avoid me. 

She did NOT want her picture taken! 

 So I snuck this on on zoom.

And then I took Selfies, because I needed SOME photos!

5 Story Pagoda.... never gets old!

The sea lions were very cool. 

And quite talented. 

Did I already say talented? 

Callie loved the tide pools the best. 

And the dolphins were cool, and depressing to see. 

We timed it to make the penguin petting schedule.  Nice canned shot, hmmm? 

And they got to pet this one.

Breakfast with Santa

 The PTO put on a delightful activity called Breakfast with Santa.  For a mere $5 per family, you got a pancake and sausage breakfast, and Santa was there for photos.  None of the kids wanted anything to do with Santa, but they were more than happy to chow down on delicious pancakes.  I thought it quite the successful event.

Rylee's best friend Milly wanted Rylee to sit with her and Santa, so Rylee did go up.  This would be the only Santa photo this year.

Ryle proclaimed it a tasty breakfast.

The kids spent the next hour playing at the playground. 

And shouting "Take my picture!" 

Chaperoning at the Zoo

 Now that everyone is in school, I can do one of the things I always wanted to do- chaperone their field trips.  And let me tell you, it is a lot more fun for the kids than it is for me!  I was so hoping it would be cancelled for rain, but the day dawned lovely and clear.  And it was a lovely day.

I was given charge of 5 third graders, and after an hour long bus ride to the Asa Zoo, we were set loose. It was a lot of fun for the kids, and not horrible for me.  Except the very noisy, rowdy bus ride back to school afterwards.

So silly with the rhino figure.

 These guys were cute, especially the baby.

Half my charges, in front of the lion. 

That's a black bear behind me. 

Delaney and Beau and the cheetah. 

Yeah, most of the animals paced back and forth in their tiny, depressing enclosures.   

At the petting area, they let the kids hold and pet guinea pigs.  The kids had to sit down, and the little Japanese ladies placed a cloth protective shield on their laps, then put a guinea pig down for petting.  The kids LOVED it! 

Silly fun with the hippo statue. 

Selfie with my girl and the flamingos.

Be still my heart!

We were getting ready to start Relief Society at church.  The men had already begun, in the room next to us.  I was getting the ladies settled so we could start, when one of the sister missionaries told me I just HAD to come over and "see this!"  I knew that Joshua conducted the hymns in Priesthood, so I thought she was just excited about that.  I wandered over and peered through the window and saw this:

Oh my gosh!  My heart melted!  That's my boy.  My 14 year old, cranky teenager of a son, holding a baby in one arm and directing the song with the other.

All the RS crowded around, peering through the window and we frantically pulled out our cell phones, hoping the song wouldn't end before we got a picture!

The man playing the piano is the father of the (4 week old) boy being held by the guy in the background with the blue tie. Josh is holding the (2 month old) daughter of the man in the blue tie.