Delaney's Baptism.... in the Ocean.... in March!

March 28, 2015-  Must document the official date of this event!

So, we are a small branch, in a sparsely LDS area.  The options for baptism here are slim.  Well, that's not true.  There are quite a few options!   There is the ocean, there is the Kintai River, there is the base swimming pool, and there is the closest Japanese branch's font.  Now, each of these come with some issues.  The ocean is cold, salty and you need a good access point where you can get waist deep quickly. And it is pubic.  The river is also a public area, and quite cold in the winter.  The last time they did a baptism there, there was a minor incident in that uninvited spectators got concerned and called the police.  So there is a little wariness associated with the river.  Also, with the beach and river are the logistics of having a service for it and a place to change out of wet things after.

The base pool can be tricky.  We can use it, in theory, but no one has actually tried it.  Since it is open till 9pm, the decision would also have to be made about how public you wish this event to be, since I don't know that you can reserve the pool just for yourself during it's operating hours.  I'm not sure where you would have your talks and what-not, and it would be awkward with the lap swimmers hanging out with you.  The changing room would be nice though.

The last choice is the actual font.  I see you thinking that it is the logical choice. Let me tell you why it may not be.  It is an hour plus drive away. And the font is outdoors.

We did run through all the choices with Delaney.  I'm kind of inclined to go for the cool factor and do the ocean or river. But we left it up to Delaney.  She thought about it, and decided on the ocean, and we said it was okay to wait a bit till things warmed up.

2 weeks ago Delaney said she wanted to be baptized as soon as possible.  Oh.  Okay.  So we planned it for today.  Thank goodness we have an awesome family in the branch who happens to live right on the beach.  Awesomeness!  They allowed us to use their home for the service and then walked us the 100 feet to the beach access and we paraded down to their private beach (that they share with their neighbors).

 It worked out great!  I thought Delaney would balk at the frigid water, but she tromped right in.  It took Dan a minute to catch his breath before he could speak, but Delaney seemed unaffected.  And then she went under.  Her face when she came out was priceless.  She was so disoriented by the cold.  Dan scooped her to her feet and they hustled out. The smile on her face was radiant.

And then we went in and had refreshments after she changed.

Rylee, hanging out on the back porch of the sweet house we had the program in.  We had about 45 people stuffed in their home!

Walking down the street to the beach access.

The beach where Delaney got baptized. 

All excited and ready to go. 

Dipping in the toes. 

Yikes!  Getting cold now! 

Delaney, coming up. Her face was priceless.  

She couldn't quite get her bearing. 

All smiles after. (She said it wasn't that cold!)

 Happy Dan and Happy Delaney.

Marian, being Marian

 Marian is awesome.  I think she enjoyed playing in the creek more than anything else on our trip.  She wanted me to take tons of pictures of her around the water.  It was so fun to see her really enjoying herself.  I may have taken more photos than strictly necessary, but it was delightful!

Trip with Marian: Nara

We left the hotel at 9am and drove  a little over an hour to the city of Nara.  We stopped at Nara Park.  It is a HUGE tourist park with a ton of different shrines and temples of all sizes.  The main attraction was the Todaiji Temple, which is the largest wooden building in the world and it houses (I think) the largest brass Buddha statue in the world.  We had several hours to roam the park and it was plenty of time to do that.  I got totally and absolutely lost.  There are tons of walking paths that criss cross, and lots of souvenir shops and lots of shrines and temples and the map was not very helpful.  Fortunately we had lots of time to get un lost.

The park is full of Sika deer.  Someone a long time ago decided these deer were messengers of the gods, so they are revered and plentiful and spoiled.  They sell little deer crackers to feed them and the deer are so well fed that sometimes they dont' find it worth the effort to come and get the food.  We enjoyed the deer and the farther you went into the park, the happier the deer were to eat from your hand.

This is the largest wooden structure in the world.  Are you impressed?!

Yep, getting our selfie in!

Marian was less than impressed.   But the building was huge!

This is the giant Buddha. It was incredibly hard to get a good photo because of the angles, so this was the best I got.

This was a considerable smaller statue right next to Buddha.  I liked it because it was more fun and easier to photograph!

There were a couple of these cool guys, but with the light coming from behind, it didn't make for great pictures.

Marian doing the heroic pose.

Just a random shrine by the path.

I found a deer!  She's looking for a snack.

I have no idea what these are but there were lines and lines of them.  Pretty cool.

More random shrines along the path.....

Marian with the deer. She had fun.

I wanted to show how many deer there were roaming around.  A lot!

With a cool tree stump like this, a photo is a must! 

And then we had to do this.

With all the deer how could we not take a bunch of deer shots?!  They were just so cute!  

And hey, deer!

I think this was temple dedicated to relationships.  I forgot the name.  It was really pretty though.

I was feeling artsy.

And the long rows of lanterns were so impressive.

Hello, deer!

This was interesting.  I saw this guy in an attitude of prayer and surreptitiously zoomed the camera in for a shot.  As I was putting my camera away, he stood upright and pulled out a camera and took a picture!

We stopped at an Udon Noodle shop for lunch.  Marian really likes it but I'm less impressed.  I'm more a yakisoba kind of girl.

Hey, look!  More deer!

My new best friend.

They were guarding this torii.

And.... BEST sign ever!

On the 6 hour bus ride home, we stopped for dinner.  Marian decided to sample this.  Yep, octopus tentacle.  It was hard to get a little bite- very chewy.  But she gave it her best and tried it!

Trip with Marian: Kyoto

My friend asked if I wanted to go on a weekend trip with her, and I thought it would be fun.  We signed up and paid for it 2 months in advance, before I had time to talk myself out of it.  Unfortunately, less than 48 hours before departure, my friend couldn't go.  No worries, I took my favorite traveling companion and we had a great time!  It was a tour guided trip to Kyoto and Nara.  All I had to do was sign my name and throw money at them and they took care of the rest.  Good deal!

We left at 7 am Saturday morning (and returned at 10pm Sunday evening).  It was a 6 hour ride on the bus.  The rest stops on the expressway are awesome!  We had a potty stop and then an hour lunch break.  Then we got to Kyoto and stopped at the Ryoanji Zen Temple to see a famous rock garden that has been exactly the same for nearly 500 years.  Yeah, I didn't find it that thrilling.

Next it was off to the impressive Golden Pavilion.  It was crazy packed with tourists because it was a Japanese holiday and this is one of the biggest tourist attractions in Japan.  It was pretty cool. Then it was on to the hotel.  There was a night tour, but Marian was not interested.  We wandered around the few blocks near our hotel and got some dinner and called it an early night.

Chicken for lunch, yes please!

Best rest stop food ever!

The grounds around the Zen temple were gorgeous.

Marian was happy to pose for me.

Sad, but the only photo I took of the Zen Rock Garden was this.  I had brought my niece Charlotte's "Flat Stanley" doll with us and this is the only picture I got with this famous site!

The inside rooms had some lovely paintings on the walls.... but you can't see them in the picture.  I was impressed though.

The architecture was neat.

And turtles!  Who doesn't love Turtles?!

Oooh, pretty!

This is the Golden Pavilion.  It was initially a castle, but became a temple after the death of the guy who commissioned it (the third Ashikaga shogun, if that means anything to you!).  It was built in 1397.  

So enthusiastic!

There we go!  We are having fun!

Or maybe not?  I love this kid's deadpan face.  She'll say, "Take my picture."  and give me this face.

I did like this place, but it was jam packed with tourists an you had to just ride along with the crowd.  I was pleased with the pictures we got, since we were mostly in motion the whole time!

Vending machine ice cream is awesome!

I loved this picture.  The 3 ladies in kimonos going one direction and the man and woman in kimonos coming towards us.  The lady is checking out the 3 kimono-clad other ladies.

The fabulous view outside our downtown Kyoto hotel room on the 4th floor.

Breakfast was included and this was our favorite stuff:  Marian LOVED the chocolate croissants and I loved the little pork dumplings. Yummy!

Posing with her delicious croissant.

We took the "Western Style" buffet breakfast. This was the option we passed on!