Birthday girl!

On our last night in Japan, Yukine celebrated her 5th birthday!  I can't believe she is already 5. Happy birthday Yukine! We all love you very much!  We had such an amazing visit in Japan.  Thank you Baba and Jiji for taking such good care of us!

A walk in Oike

Kana-chan and kids visit!

Luckily, we had time to see Kana-chan, Mebae-chan, and Sasuke-kun. The girls started playing together right away, which was great because we didn't have a lot of time to hang out.  It is amazing how fast kids grow...everyone has grown up so much since we last saw eachother! It was so fun to watch Mebae-chan and Yukine play together.  Maybe next time Sasuke-kun and Hiroto will be playing together more.  Thanks for making time to see us Kana-chan!

Hana Koen (flower park)

Baba and Jiji took us to one of Yukine's favorite places, Hana Koen.  We were happy to have a beautiful sunny day to spend there.  So many flowers, lots of walking, and an awesome playground. We all had a wonderful time. Thank you Baba and Jiji!

Japan Trip continued...Ichie-san and Kaz-kun visit!

Our good friends, Ichie-san and Kaz-kun, came to visit us.  Hiroto was so fussy for the first part of the visit, but when we finally went outside, he started having fun.  We went to go see a field of purple flowers down the street.  It was beautiful.  We also took a little walk to see some cows. It was a very nice afternoon.  Thanks to Ichie-san and Kaz-kun for coming to visit!    

Yamanami bokujou

Both Yukine and Hiroto got to ride the horse at Yamanami Bokujou. This was one of the highlights of the trip for them.  I was pleasantly surprised that they both just got on the horse with no trouble at all.  We had a very nice time there.

Picking blueberries

Baba and Jiji have a small blueberry orchard behind their house.  I can't believe how big the  blueberry bushes have gotten!  The kids had a great time picking and eating the end of season       blueberries.   We were thankful to be in Japan this time of year. 

Fruit at Ukiha

 

We went to buy fruit at Ukiha michi no eki.  You can get really fresh, local fruits at a very reasonable price.  On the way there, we stopped at vending machine loaded with figs.  They were great!  Then we had a snack at the Ukiha michi no eki.

Yoshibu soba

We made sure to eat at our favorite soba restaurant right away. We love Yoshibu soba restaurant in Oguni, the food is delicious!  We tried to wake Hiroto up to eat, but he was out...jetlag.

Japan! first day.

frogs in handa from Kristina Detwiller on Vimeo.

We got to visit Japan in early fall this year. The next several posts will be from our trip. 

The first day, we got busy searching for frogs for Hiroto. It was on the top of his list of things to do during our visit there. At first he seemed afraid, but he got used to holding them after a while. We had fun looking for frogs and all kinds of bugs during the trip.