Friday: the Space A adventure home

 The weekly flight from Iwakuni to Okinawa was scheduled for a 2pm showtime.   They had 16 seats listed, and there were 15 of us trying to get on.  We got there and got checked in- plenty of space for all.  I was stressed about getting the rental car returned.  I hustled over to get it checked in and then hoofed it the mile back to the terminal.  The inbound flight was due to arrive at 3pm, and I was back before then.

The plane arrived at 3:30.  In the past, they have called passengers thru security about the time the plane lands, but not this time. We waited and waited and started to wonder if maybe they were forgetting us.

They finally called us thru security around 4:30.  And we waited and waited and waited. And I had not packed snacks this time. So the kids were getting hungry.  And bored.  I finally asked the Marine at the door and she said there was a ventilation issue they were trying to fix.  Alas, it did not get fixed.  And it was in the cargo hold.  They unloaded all the pets, and forced the pet-owning families off the plane with their pets.  Then they had to dig through all the luggage to find the luggage that belonged to the 7 families that got evicted from the flight.  Yikes!

We finally boarded around 9:30.  Then we sat on the plane for another hour. Yippee.  The flight was under 90 minutes, and this time we learned that because we came from Iwakuni and did not need our passports stamped, we could skip the long line. Plus, our luggage actually came out in the first 10 minutes, so we were out of there pretty quick.  Still not home till after midnight. But hey, when you fly for free, you can't complain!!

Delaney entertained herself while we waited by adding a "please" to this sign. She felt very clever.

 Finally going out to the plane!

We got out of there so fast that Dan wasn't quite there yet. So the girls waited patiently.

Thursday: Kintai and Iwakuni Castle

We do love Kintai!  So of course we went there.  Plus, Morgan wanted some good photos of Japan, and this is a great place for that.  It was hot and we wanted to be back by lunchtime, so we didn't linger.  We took the ropeway up to the castle (rather than the mile long, very uphill hike), and perused it. Then we moseyed around and enjoyed the sights.  Callie was bitterly disappointed that there were no cats for her to love, and we did look thoroughly!

My and my favorite bridge!

 The view was lovely, as always.

 A very dark photo of Josh.

I thought this was cute, with them all looking over the bridge. 

Such a pretty bridge.  And oh, what's that at the bottom? 

Oh yes, those are my children!  They just HAD to go wade a bit. 

Posing on the bridge with the castle (almost!) in her hand.

Selfie with my crew on the bridge! 

Mushy couple at the castle. 

Me and the castle

 Delaney at the top floor of the castle, checking out the amazing view.

 Rylee with the glorious hydrangeas.

 Uh, where did this come from?!!  I left my phone in Rylee's hands and got this!

One last view of my pretty bridge. 

Of course there was ice cream. 

And a pigeon who wanted to share. 

 This goober wanted the dipping dots.  Apparently rainbow flavor is not the best.

Callie went for grape and green apple.

Guess whee we went for lunch?!! 

Sako's makes THE best BLT's. So delicious. 

And Missy, the proprietor needed a photo with us. She gave Josh another kokeshi doll to match the one she gave him on our last lunch there before we left Iwakuni 2 years ago.

And the kids really wanted to stop by the Fruit Stand for old time sake.

It was a good day!

No photos of the rest of the afternoon, but it involved visiting my favorite thrift stores and stopping by the new dessert shop.Definitely a good day!

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!

Another Temple Trip?!!

Since I am in the Relief Society Presidency, we decided to try to make the temple more accessible.  I mean, as assessable as possible when you live on an island without one!  So we planned out a one-day trip to Fukuoka. With cheap flights (under $100), we coordinated a trip for June 1.  6 ladies attended and we had a good time.  We caught the 9:30am flight out and the 8pm flight home.  

We landed in Fukuoka, stopped for a delicious lunch, then took two taxis to the temple.We did the 1:30pm English session, which was packed.  Then we did pictures.  We had a misunderstanding about metro stops and rather than walking to the closest station, we walked a few miles to the biggest station.Which was fine. We had time and we enjoyed the walk, but we did walk for over an hour!  

I managed to talk the rest of them into trying Okonomiyaki for dinner and everyone left happy, especially me!  We took the metro to the airport and had plenty of time to get checked in and to our flight.  It was a really great day with some really great ladies!

Me, back in my beloved Mainland, at the Fukuoka Temple!

Group shot! They asked a sweet Japanese lady if she would take the photo and she got way down to get just the right angle. She she nailed it!

Temple from a different spot, as we were walking away. 

 Another group shot as we hoofed it through the city.  Good times!

And if you are counting..... This makes the 4th temple in the 4th country in 4 months!  March was Hong Kong, May was both Taiwan and Seattle, and June was Fukuoka.