Wednesday: Miyajima and Hiroshima

 We drove to Miyajima on Wednesday morning.   We did most of the things.  We didn't walk all the way to the Aquarium because no one wanted to go in.  And only Josh and Morgan went off to see the 5 story Pagoda and shrine.  The girls and I went to Okonomiyaki for lunch and did some shopping while Josh and Morgan went to find picturesque photo opps.

Shenanigans with the photo props.

Apparently yes, it must be done.

Someone MAY have brought crackers for the deer.

Which made her VERY popular.

 They did enjoy the deer very much.

I enjoyed the okonomiyaki very much!

 Rylee did not.  She decided she only liked the noodles and she was sad.

This is the iconic Torii gate. 

And this was the very last chance to get unhindered pictures with it. They closed it down this day and put up repair structures the next day.  It's getting repairs and a makeover.

Yes, more deer.  Always more deer! 

 And I made her pose with the stone lantern, just for something different!

 It was just too cute!  I feel like the deer looked healthier this visit than I recall them in previous visits.  And that was nice.

We took the train from Miyajima to Hiroshima because I was tired and did not want to drive 90 minutes to get there.  Everyone was tired!

We went to the Peace Memorial

And I made Rylee pose.

 I have no idea what this face is, but I have an "I was there" photo.

And thence took the train back to Miyajima station and I drove back to the hotel.  It was a super long and tiring day, but it was also a lot of fun. And we got delicious loaded fries from the bowling alley- they still have the best ones!!

Tuesday: Space-A Adventure to Iwakuni

The kids wanted to go back to visit Iwakuni.  We had one week between school getting out and Josh's summer job starting.  So we made a plan.  A plan that didn't go quite like we hoped.  But it went!

We had called and Futenma said they had a flight out at 1pm on Tuesday.  That was perfect.  I got Josh to his 7:30am orthodontist appointment and was on my way home when my friend texted to say she couldn't host us in Iwakuni, she had a family emergency and was going to be flying home to the US as soon as possible (her dad was in the hospital with heart issues, and she needed to be there with him). So our lodging and transportation were no more.

Dan was able to scramble and call the TLF and rental car place in Iwakuni and got us a room and a van!  So the trip was still on!  We made it to the Futenma Terminal in plenty of time, got checked in, they said yes they would take us, and all was moving along nicely.

We got to fly on the little-little plane.  Only 6 seats in the back- three rows with one seat on each side.... plus the pilot and co pilot.  It was pouring rain, so the first 20 minutes were a little hair-raising, but we made it out of the ugly weather, and on to Iwakuni.

The girls are so excited that this is happening! That's our plane behind them.

So cute and small.  But fast! It got us there is 90 minutes.  The other small plane (that seats 12) has propellors and takes 2 1/2 hours and is a lot noisier.  So this was a fun plane to go on!

 You can see our pilot there in the front!  And you can see how small the plane is.

Me and Delaney.

Josh and his lovely friend Morgan.  Yep, we did a trip with Josh's girlfriend.  It went fine.

Delaney wanted a picture of the flight.  Being above the clouds was pretty cool! 

 I'm not sure this was an intentional picture.  But this was the hotel room at the TLF.  It was awkward to squeeze 6 people in a room meant for 5.  And it was tricky to decide who could share a bed, when the inflatable mattress we brought was a toddler size (so Delaney or Rylee were the only ones small enough to sleep on it).  There was a rollaway bed as well.  But that still left 2 queen beds.  And no one wanted to sleep with Josh, and no one was comfortable sleeping with Morgan, and the two of them were not permitted to sleep together!  We ended up with Josh on the rollaway, me and Callie sharing the queen bed in the bedroom.  Delaney put the blow up mattress in the kitchen area, Rylee put the two chairs together, and Morgan got the pull out couch to herself. It went shockingly well!

Josh: After Graduation

 On Thursday, Josh got his wisdom teeth removed. He really wanted me to video him being silly. Unfortunately, he wasn't that sort of silly.  He was coherently silly.  When they came to take him to the car, he was ridiculously excited about getting to ride in the wheelchair. He wanted to race it down the hallway and kept trying to pop wheelies in it.  It was pretty dang funny.  But not conducive to being videoed.  This is him when he got home.  Not doing too badly.

On Friday, he had the annual burning of the school stuff.  He and his sisters burned all the no-longer-needed papers and notes from the year.  It would have been better if I'd remembered to buy marshmallows.

Cool kids

Callie 's class read and watched "The Outsiders" and dressed up from the book one day. This is Callie as a Greaser. So tuff! 

The 8th grade had a pool party on the last Friday of school.  Callie did NOT want to participate.  So she didn't.  We went out to lunch.  It was yummy. 

Marian created this Barbie house in her Green Tech class.  The girls have had a blast with it.  I have been amused. 

And Marian is driving!  She's working on it at least.  She is doing amazing and slowly gaining confidence to be out on the road.  She took the drivers class and got a 98% on the test!!  Now she had a week and a half before her behind the wheel portion. I hope we prepare her enough.

My birthday

 Well, if Callie had a birthday, then it means mine was right behind hers.  I did have a special day and I did enjoy my loot.  And now you can enjoy the photos that Dan and Callie took: