A Trip to Bunny Island

 It was a 2 hour drive to the ferry and then a 15 minute boat ride to the island.  We chose a blisteringly hot day (is there any other kind here in the summer?!!) to go and that was a poor choice.  We were hot.  The bunnies were hot.  No one wanted to move much and sweat was plentiful.

The kids loved the bunnies though, so it was worth it.  I had hoped for some bunny-swarming photos, but it was to hot for the bunnies to leave the shade.  We may need to go back when it is cooler.

We saw this delightful sight at the ferry station.  So cute!

Mommy was nearby.

 I was a little surprised that it was a little-bitty ferry!  But we made it on and it got us there just fine.

The moment we stepped off, there were bunnies!  We brought 3 chopped cabbages, a bag of carrots and a bag of chopped celery. 

Cabbage was the favorite. 

The girls were SO excited to feed the bunnies! 

Bunny Island hosted a facility that made poisonous gas during both World Wars.  There are still some remnants of the buildings there.   

Marian was delighted. 

Dan fed bunnies too. 

Cute Delaney. 

Callie had to do as many poses as possible. 

Ryle wanted to hold them and love them and call them George! 

Marian thought these guys were funny- all stretched out in the shade and too hot to move! 

No, you are not suppose to pick up the bunnies.  This one was docile enough and happy enough for food they he did not protest.  ...at first! 

Delaney and I hiked up a steep trail to see what was at the top.   Spoiler- there was nothing at the top, not even a view.  Just a fence.

Marian is happy to have a bunny and Rylee is cross it isn't on her lap. 

Brings new meaning to the phrase "snuggle bunny"! 

And if there is a tree, then Marian must climb it. 

Ryle spent the second half of the trip doing this.  She was mad we wouldn't let her bring a bunny home. So she ran and sulked. 

This photo does no justice.  Marian was a hoot.  She put cabbage on the end of this stick and was "fishing" for bunnies. 

Rylee climbed and posed in the tree for me. 

Hey!  Those are my favorite people!  And a funny thing here- all of us independently chose to wear blue that day! 

Beautiful ocean from the island. 

Delaney thought she was so funny.  The bag is empty, and the bunny is curious.  Delaney is delighted. 

Callie wanted a meditating photo. 

And Rylee was happy to have a lap-o-bunnies.

On Fire

 When school let out, Joshua had a bunch of papers that needed to be trashed.  I have lovely, fond, end-of-school memories of dancing around a barrel of burning schoolwork, with the Hallelujah chorus paying at top volume.  I thought it a shame to deprive my son of such an experience, so I immediately got on Amazon and purchased a fire pit.

We had uncooperative weather for a bit, but last night we finally had everything we needed.  I had to run out and buy wood, and I had to search high and low for appropriate skewers, but we were ready!  Joshua took control and got it started.  The girls immediately descended and could not wait to roast marshmallows.  The s'more-making got in the way of schoolwork-burning so I think there is still paper for next time.

The kids had a great time.  Joshua got a minor skewer burn on his arm, but Callie was attacked by a flaming marshmallow and got burned on her cheek.  It blistered and is a little painful.  Poor kid. Aside from that, they can't wait to do it again!

My chief fire starter.

Lighting up the homework. 

Yeah, everyone wanted to play with the fire. 

All my lovelies, roasting their marshmallows. Dan commented how fabulous it was that all 5 kids were having a good time together and no one was fighting.

Serious business for Rylee. 

Delaney was pretty intent as well. 

When you are cool, the sun shines on you 24 hours a day!

Beach Day!

 Today we went to the beach!  I know, you say, gosh, don't you live on an island?  How hard is it to go to the beach, you ask?  Well, you'd be surprised.  Japan is not a beach-y kind of island. It is more of a rocky shores kind of place, so finding a splash and swim friendly patch of sand is tough. I know of two little beaches 20-30 minutes from our house and we've been there, but they are rocky and kind of scary to walk into the water at.

My friend Laura invited us to a new beach I'd never been to.  She said it was about an hour away.  I thought it was high time I tried something new, and past time to go to the beach, although I wasn't thrilled to have to drive so far.  But I signed on for the adventure.  It was over an hour to drive the beach, and the weather turned yucky and I was getting a bit cranky about it all.  Although the sun was shining when we headed out, it was raining when we got to the beach, but we set up anyway.  I was thinking it was going to be a quick beach stop, but the rain moved on and the weather became rather lovely.

Unfortunately, since it was raining when we arrived, and we were all wet, I did not sunscreen anyone.  And that ended badly- mostly for me.  We had a marvelous time!  I was planning to sit on the beach and chat with my friends, but the girls wanted me to come in and I decided I'd rather be the mom who hung out with her kids.  So I exposed the world to my swim-suit-clad mom-body and braved the freezing waters and had a fabulous time!

Callie discovered there were sand dollars.  I LOVE sand dollars.  So the girls and I cruised around, faces in the water, looking for circles on the bottom.  When we spotted one, we'd dive down, 8-10 feet to get them.  It was a blast!  Rylee got cold and joined the other kids on the beach, playing in the sand, but the rest of us stayed in the water for nearly 2 hours (hence the sunburn for me!).  We hung out till 3pm and then packed it in.  The wind was really kicking up and tummies were growling.

It was a really good day!

Me and the ladies, heading out on a grand Beach Adventure! 

Joshua wasn't sure he wanted to come, and since it was our first foray, I let him stay home.

We crossed this bridge from our main island, to another little island. Ha ha.  "Little" it may have been, but we still drove another 20 kilometers to get to the perfect beach! Yep, it was raining already.

Callie thought this was so funny, that it says "Aloha", but we are in Japan. 

So pretty with the lush green foliage everywhere. 

And, having recently seen the Jurassic World movie, it was kind of creepily like that.

Delaney discovered that salt water is nasty. She was not pleased, but finally figured out how to keep her mouth closed enough to enjoy the ocean. 

Riley had a great time bobbing along. 

I do love to see this girl smile! 

Making a mad dash for the towel and a drink. 

This group was a hoot.  Can you see the head by the blue float?  She was totally buried.  And they are working on burying the other 2 kids as well. 

I really enjoyed playing with these girls. And the boogie-boards were worth every penny of the $7 I spent on them at the MCX this morning! 

Check this out!!  Marian found a starfish!  She also caught a little fish. We did let them go.  But it was pretty cool. 

 A picture of the beautiful beach.  It was gravel sand, so not very soft on the tootsies.

But the sand extended far enough out into the water that you didn't step on any gross stuff. 

This was our haul of sand dollars!  Even Rylee found one!  One of the pink ones was hers.  I modestly claim bragging rights for the biggest one and the black one.  Marian got most of the gorgeous ones though.

Did I mention it was a fun day?!

My Visiting Teacher Loves Me!

My visiting teacher loves me!  She brought me this amazingly delicious pie.  Just because!  It certainly made me feel special.  And it was so yummy.

Last Day of Yochien

 June 30 was Rylee's last day of Yochien.  It was a great experience and so worth doing.  She had some fun faces for me at the bus stop.  The Reece's were goodbye gifts to her classmates.  Apparently they do not do peanut butter in Japan and Reeces is a novelty.  So she passed them out to her classmates on her last day.  And she had a great day!