King Edward Park

Yeah, I know Japan has parks, but...not the softness of the grass, or the bright clean blue sky, and those ducks! This is also a very nostalgic place for me, not only did I play here often as a child, but I walked through this park everyday on my way to High School, so every tree and bush is familiar to me! They've changed a lot of the playground, so only the fort and the pirate ship, the big swings and the horse are left from when I was a kid.

First, that wonderful grass.




Lena in a toy train's 'engine'


Those bold ducks! They are quite smart. They'll keep their distance if you try to chase them or catch them, but if you just only feed them, they'll come right up to you and take it out of your hand. They'll even bite your fingers, which is cute and not the slightest bit painful.



I loved these swings too as a kid. They are HIGH!! You really feel like you're flying.



























I love Erica running past full tilt in the photo on the right. She has her own agenda! I think she started out chasing the ducks, but soon got carried away with the sheer joy of running for the sake of it and watching her own feet whizz by. On the left, Aunty Becky is making sure she doesn't take that one fatal step - she would stop at the edge, but then kept saying 'bath'.


Full on kid fun! She was almost obsessive about the slide, part of the joy I think was in conquering the steps. Below, she won't even stop for a photo, she just powers on up those steps. Actually she was a little afraid of the swing. She kept saying "Ow! ow! ow!" which I guess was the only word she could come up with to let us know she wasn't liking it that much!