Someone went to China

 Someone went to China.  Two someones, actually.  Sadly, neither of them was me.  Dan took Callie on a little trip, just for funnies "because we are so close". But mostly just because he wanted to go and I said he had to take at least one child with him.  Callie was the lucky winner.

Hanging out at the airport.

Excited to be on their way! 

Being a silly pickle. 

Oooh, pretty colors! 

She is such a little ham. 

The architecture is pretty cool. 

That's my man. 

My little tree-climber. 

I do love this kid! 

She does make me laugh! 

They visited the Zoo. 

Ha ha ha ha.  Callie is too funny. 

A little further away from the real wolf! 

Oooh, so pretty! 

Big bears. 

Adorable bear! 

Cute kid. 

A Liger?! 

Dan said the Chinese wanted pictures taken with Callie. Just random folks wanting photos with the cute American kid.  She looks so uncomfortable!

That looks fun.

Girl Scout Bridging Ceremony

 Delaney completed her first year in Girl Scouts.  It wasn't too bad and she enjoyed it a lot.  There was a "Bridging Ceremony" last Saturday.  We had to be at the Kintai Bridge at 0745, which I was less than thrilled at, but it was fine.  The girls walked across the bridge to symbolize moving on to the next year, awards were given out, badges handed out and then we all enjoyed a pot luck breakfast.  Delaney had a blast.  Rylee was the only other person awake when we left, so she came alone and had a marvelous time.

Crossing the bridge.

 Rylee and Delaney with friend Charlie.  You can just see Iwakuni Castle at the top of the mountain on the right of the photo.

Bad lighting, but here is Delaney getting her awards. 

Rylee and the early morning bridge. 

Having breakfast with my girls! 

Riley had a terrific time catching roly-polies.  She was sad we could not take them home with us. 

She consoled herself by finding a little grass-hopper! 

Kintai is so pretty! 

And I do not know why they use these super-tall poles, but the fishermen are great to watch!

Award Ceremony

 This year I got to endure 2 back-to-back award ceremonies for the kids.  They split the events into K-3rd and then the 4th-6th grades, and I got to attend both.  Delaney got a math award but she was too fast and I didn't get more than a moving blob photo.  Oops.

Callie got 2 awards, one for reading the most books in her class and one for having a GPA over 3.5.  Marian had to go up 3 times.  I confess to being extra proud of her, my girl who technically failed math last year. She received an award for Academic Achievement, one for Most Improved Student in Math, and one for having a GPA over 3.5.  I'm proud of all my kids, but when I know how hard Marian has worked and how far she has come, I do feel a little extra joy in her accomplishments.

Gyms were not meant for photography!  But here is a blurry Callie.

 Marian with her Most Improved Award.

Callie with her Honor Roll award. 

Callie is a hard worker.  She is a good student and always does her best.  She is a awesome because she is rock solid, responsible, and diligent in all her work.

A somewhat Happy Birthday

 So I mentioned that Callie had a birthday, and she did have a good day.  But I failed her and ruined it.  (We didn't get ice cream at Miyajima because we were so full from lunch and forgot, and we got on the ferry too late to sit at the seats with a table.  Totally unpardonable sins on my part.) Because she is 100% my child, she refused to enjoy her evening.  She sulked through dinner and cake and most of the gifting.  Because of her crabbiness, pictures did not happen and this is all I got!

She requested an orange Jello Poke Cake.  It was delicious.

And she did get good loot.

Miyajima Birthday

 I had offered to take the sister missionaries to Miyajima Island on their P Day, and then realized it was Callie's birthday.  So I pulled her out of school and took her with us.  It was a gray, drizzly day, but we had a good time anyway!

She was like the Pied Piper with the deer.  Have food, will follow!

The always lovely iconic Torii. 

This was super cool!  We saw a wedding party!  No good photos, but it was fun to see! 

The deer knew who had the food. 

But this one was hoping I had some too. 

Callie climbed the tree and asked for a photo. 

And she just HAD to pose here! 

I didn't take a ton of pictures because we've been there a lot and Callie is only interested in pictures when she wants them taken.  I did work on my artsy photos though and thought these were rather pretty:

Delaney's Field Trip to Iwakuni Castle

 Well, this is embarrassing!  Delaney had this field trip nearly 3 weeks ago.  Oops.

She had a field trip to Kintai, which isn't that exciting since we've been there a million times. This time was exciting because it was the first time we went up to the castle.  Even more awesome.... we got to take the ropeway up.  I can't believe I did not get a photo of the ropeway.  It is a glass tram that travels up the mountain so you do not have to walk the mile up there.  It was pretty steep!

Half way up the ropeway and this was the view of the bridge.

At the top of the ropeway.  So high! 

The castle is kind of a museum inside.  It was not very exciting, but was fun to see. 

Lots of this sort of thing.  Which would have been cooler if I could touch it! 

n the third floor you could look out the windows.  How awesome is the view?! 

And this is zoomed in!

The unzipped view. 

Delaney at the Castle. 

Selfie with my girl and the castle! 

I could live in a house that looked like this. 

Delaney and the bridge.  It was an iconic day and pretty fun.