Oops! I forgot about the Temple!

 Well, this is rather embarrassing!  The entire reason we took our Sasebo trip was to go to the Temple on that Saturday (Aug 19th).  And I completely forgot to post about it.  Oops!  It was a great Temple trip because Joshua had gotten family names to do.  So Joshua and Marian were able to get some family names done.  I squeezed into the Temple just before they were done and Dan got to do a session after the kids were done.  It was a good day at the Temple!

The little kids spent the morning at the Zoo right next door.  Then we roamed the local streets looking for a likely lunch stop.  We finally settled on a "Lawsons" which is like the 7-11s here and has yummy ready-to-eat goodness. We left the Temple around 3pm and made a dinner stop and then hit horrific traffic.  We got home a little before 8 and were well pleased with our trip.

Pretty much the only Zoo photo I got.  Yes, the little one in pink is not mine.  But she's a cutie!

Fukuoka Temple! 

It is no easy task to get a selfie with the Temple! 

Thems is my favorite kids! 

Joshua cracked me up.  He wanted to try this Yakisoba in a bun. 

 He said it wasn't bad.  I assume it tasted like.... yakisoba noodles in a bun.

Then he gave me "angry eyebrows". 

And if Josh was getting a photo of him with his lunch, by golly, she needed a picture of her with her melon pan.

The End of an Era.... okay, fine... Just the end of Summer!

Well, when everyone already knows what is going on, there isn't much to report, even when there is stuff to report because everyone has already heard it.  But this is for posterity.  Because I am going to make a book of all my blog posts at the end of this year and I'm going to want to remember this.

School starts tomorrow.  I am a little sad, but mostly delighted.  The kids seem to have a mixture of feelings on the subject as well.  Joshua is going into High School and Marian is starting Jr High.  Callie already knows she has an awesome teacher, and Delaney has one that may be a little impatient (so I have been told, but I'm hoping that's just a single perception).  Rylee will finally get to go to Kindergarten!  It is pretty exciting!  I will have all my little ducklings in school together and I'm not sure what I'm going to do with myself!

Joshua has been running with the Cross Country Team, and I'm incredibly proud of him for doing it.  He has a bunch of AP classes this year, plus Seminary, so I'm not entirely sure he will be able to continue with it.  He will have to manage his time very well, and after seeing the schedule of Cross Country meets, I don't know if there IS enough time to fit in all he needs to do!

We had grandiose plans for the summer.  I didn't want the kids watching screens all day, so we implemented some goals and ideas and restrictions.  We did not do as well as I would have really liked, but honestly, we did better than I expected.  Well, we did till the last week or two, and then all bets were off!  The kids did fairly well with their goals.  Callie made some pretty ambitious ones.  She did not learn to play the violin, but that was because we have neither a working violin nor a teacher.  She did not learn to play Primary hymns on the piano, but she did take lessons and practice consistently.  There were crochet lessons, and everyone completed the summer reading program.  YM, YW and Faith in God goals were achieved, and everyone but Rylee passed the swim test.  So I felt it was a productive summer.  I had planned for more field trips and excursions, but it was so stinking hot!  We did make it to Bunny Island and the Bio Park.  I did take the kids out to eat at local off-base establishments twice, but I wish we had done it more.

I'm fairly pleased with our summer and think it went well.  I am going to call it a win!

The BioPark: And then there were Monkeys!

 I think the children would all agree that the monkeys were the best part of the park.  Again, there were lots of people, so the monkeys were not really hungry, and thus were less prone to cooperate.  However, they were quite curious and would come over just to check you out.  Callie was the best at collecting monkeys, but not so good at keeping them for a picture.  Joshua was obsessed with trying to get them to climb on him, but then flailed like a school girl when they did.

It was a lot of fun and we fed them raisons till the monkeys refused to take them.  They were delighted with the mealworms provided in the vending machines though.  While the signs did warn of excrement, we were fortunate in that only 2 children were pooped on, and someone got chewed up raison hacked back up on them.

We didn't stay with the monkeys as long as we might have, because we were looking to go to the hippo feeding at 3:30.  We did make it but couldn't push through the crown to see anything but gross muddy water, and a broad and boring hippo butt.  And that was about the end of the stuff to see and do.

Checking to see if the monkeys eat bamboo.  They don't.

I love Delaney's face as the monkey grabbed the bamboo. 

Callie got a new friend! 

Trying to entice the monkey onto their shoulder. 

Ryle trying so hard. But the monkey just wants to see her hands. 

Callie basking in her success. 

There were a couple moms with babies and they were too cute!! 

This guy did a surprise leap onto Dan and nearly stole his sunglasses. 

 Dan and his new buddy.

Rylee feeding the mom and baby.

This guy was trying to lounge. 

This monkey dropped onto Joshua and freaked him out.  I call the following 3 photo series "Making Friends."

Marian is too cute. 

 I got a monkey!

Rylee was so thrilled to finally get one on her shoulder. 

I love the "I'm not smiling" face. 

These guys were across a moat and we hucked raisons at them, which made them happy. 

Me and my favorite kids!

The End

The BioPark: We pet Capybara!

 It was a hot day at the Biopark, and unlike most of Japan, there was nary a vending machine to be seen.  We did finally stumble upon a refreshment stand and had several options to quench our thirst.  I went for a melon-soda shushy, but most of the kids opted for snow cones.

Once we were cooled and refreshed, the girls ran off after cute baby goats.  Then we headed over to the capybara.  This was one of the many highlights of the trip.  Marian has a special fondness for capybara and was excited to see them.  They really did look like giant guinea pigs!  But their fur... um, hair.... whatever it was, was not soft at all.  It was quite bristly, like pig hair.

We immensely enjoyed hanging out with and feeding the capybara.

The kids loved that they got to add their own flavors to their snow cones.

Riles mountain of shaved ice. 

The baby goat was particularly cute! 

Marian posed for me.  And the other kid cooperated as well! 

Yes, the little goat was quite popular.  And so adorable! 

Marian finally got to touch a capybara!  Her life was then complete. 

Aren't they cute?! 

Even Joshua enjoyed them. 

There was kibble to feed them, but the bamboo was more favored. 

It was hot and there were lots of people.  I think the capybara were feeling fat and lazy. 

And this kid was just so darn cute, I had to get a picture! 

Rylee, posing for me. 

This guy swam across the pond underwater and popped up for a snack.

The BioPark... Yeah, it was awesome!

On Thursday Aug 13, we drove the 4 hours to Sasebo.  Did I mention it was $80 in tolls?  Yeah, traveling in Japan is spendy!  We left after Dan got home from work, so got to Sasebo (Naval Base) a bit late.  On Friday, we had grand and exciting plans!  We drove an hour to the Nagasaki BioPark.  It is a more hands-on zoo experience.  I love that their website says this:  "We believe that stepping into such environments and sharing them with the animals will help you deepen your understanding about animals greatly. It also gives you opportunities to learn about the distance you should keep from animals and what you should be careful about when you pet them." 

I liked the layout of the park.  Rather than letting you roam aimlessly, they had a route for you to follow and this ensured that you saw everything.  It is especially handy when it is built on the mountainside and you can't see much other than what is in front of you. 
The zoo is a bit depressing, because well.... it is a zoo and animals are sad when penned up.  But the petting parts were awesome!  They have little machines that let you buy food for 100 yen and you can feed the animals: flamingos, wallabies, capybara, raccoons, monkeys.... so fun!

(Yeah I cannot figure out how to change that white outline!  It looks just fine in editing mode and nothing I try makes it right.  I'm sorry!)

Starting the road trip with a car full of kids.

The girls were impressed with the texture of it's skin. 

 I was delighted with myself for guessing what these were.

These are Gray Crowned Cranes. 

I had never seen these before!  I did not know that Wallabies looked like this! 

So cute! 

It was hot and they were not too active.  They were still happy to eat though.

Ryle thought she was so funny, holding hands with this guy. 

These monkeys were on an island, and were not hungry. 

There was this slingshot.  It is hard to see, but that is what Callie is holding. 

I was feeding a flamingo just before the camera clicked! 

Up close and personal. 

Callie was very involved and wouldn't even look up for me. 

I love this girl! 

The colors on these flamingos was lovely. 

It took Rylee a while, but she got brave enough to feed them.... out of the food container. 

There was an insectarium.  It was low on variety, but high on touchability! 

Callie thought these big beetles were great.  No fear at all. 

Ryle needed some time and encouragement. 

Scary looking, aren't they. 

 Marian was not intimidated, but not as fascinated as Callie.

Apparently they tickle when they walk.

She finally got the courage to pick it up!