The Day After

My birthday luckily fell on a Saturday this year, so I got to indulge the whole weekend! While we had the main party on Saturday night, I decided to spend some time with the girls doing some fun things on Sunday. We went out for lunch at the new Turkish restaurant, then the plan was to go up Mt Hachimen and paddle in the river (it's significantly cooler up there on a hot summer day), but it rained so we nixed that idea and went home for a bit. Later in the afternoon, the sun came out for just long enough for us to play at the park next to Kanairo Onsen (hot spring) followed of course by a dip in the bath. We ended the day, the whole spoilt weekend, with ice cream parfaits at Joyfull.

Waiting for our order. Amy and Lena have learned how to amuse themselves waiting! Now they would just fight over my iphone, sigh, well I will give that to Erica, and pack a deck of cards for the big girls!

YUM! It's only been about ten years since I ate Turkish food!!

Left: Erica, queen of the castle. She was amusing the lady standing there watching her own child, but constantly called her 'mama' and posing for photos. Right: with Sara, a friend's daughter.
Amy and Lena on the big climbing frame, the main attraction at this park.







Plus one more kid, Sara's Dad Kevin, who couldn't resist this one (my broken toe kept me on the ground), complaining that all the playgrounds back in the States have all gone 'safe' ie, no fun.


A very rare onsen pic! Usually the abundance of naked persons milling around means that photos are off-limits, but I managed to sneak one!

Joyfull, taken by Amy. We went for the ice cream, but of course ordered dinner too. I had a pizza, the pizzas aren't too bad. I'm not fond of the Joyfull menu, but it's just so easy to feed the kids there - and I LOVE the chocolate parfait - pic below.

Arty 'watercolor' option on my new phone. Left: Georgia, who taught Amy and Lena at Kieo and is now back in Canada. Right: Hannah, another Keio staff member.

Mari, local JET and Kiwi girl, and me on the right, being arty.