Adventures with Morgan

We have ventured off base with Morgan several times over the last few weeks.  Kamakura, Kurihama, Yokosuka, Tokyo....lots of fun over the last several trips.  :)

Our first destination was Kamakura.  We headed out of the house around 9 and walked to the Yokosuka Station.  We made it to the Kamakura station and walked down the main drag toward Hachimangu.  This place looks much different than when we first visited in January.  The trees make a huge difference!

Kids in front of the first Torii.  Garytt knocked Morgan down.

 

 We left the shrine on a different route than we did the first time we visited and we found this little torii and building in the woods.  Quite a peaceful place.

This is a shide ("she day") and is used in Shinto rituals.

After this shrine we decided to take a break for lunch before we continued with the rest of the tour.  We took Morgan to a yakiniku restaurant.  I don't know if it was the excitement of having her big sister there, or if she was comfortable eating at a place she had been to before, or maybe, juuuust maybe Mackenzie is broadening her eating horizons...the child tasted everything we had on the table!!!!   It took some convincing, but Kris talked me into ordering the meat plate I was very resistant to as soon as we sat down. 

 Yes, you read that right....beef and pork tongue.  Before you judge....it was sooo yummy!!!  I really didn't want to taste it, but after Mackenzie, my most picky eater, gobbled up two pieces (of course, she didn't know what it was, and we still haven't told her) so I couldn't let her show me up!  So delicious! 

 That's the tongue and Mackenzie's corn on the cob (which she didn't eat because she had a loose tooth).

Garytt helping to cook lunch.

From here we jumped back on the train....on the VERY crowded train...to the Hase station.  I knew that the time we were going was when the Hydrangeas were in bloom (the last couple weeks of June).  What I didn't know is how many Japanese people go to visit the Hydrangea parks.  WOW!!  We were smooshed on that train!  From that station we followed the mass of people toward Big Buddha. 

I never knew there were so many different kinds of Hydrangeas or that they could be so many different colors.

 Next up:  ICE CREAM and a little ditty from a very friendly man who was eager to show us how well he spoke English. 

Garytt's green tea ice cream mustache.

This man was fabulous!  We ran into him a few times on our trek through Kamakura.  At the end of the video you can see him really work out how to ask how many times we thought Japan would fit into the US.

http://youtu.be/AolDENv7znA


Next, we made our way to the Hasedera Temple...again, VERY different than what we observed in January.  The flowers were amazing!

I didn't think it was possible, but shy Mackenzie actually agreed to stand next to the lady in her kimono.  And, the lady was so nice...she put away her camera and folded her fan so she could get close to Mackenzie.  :)

 Right before I took the picture below, Garytt was walking backwards while he was talking to Kris and didn't realize he was headed right toward stairs.  Yeah...he fell down the steps and busted his face.  He got a little cut on his lip, inside and out.  Poor boy.

 There was a pond right next to this little statue where we watched tadpoles swimming around for a few minutes.

I can't wait to see how this beautiful city looks in the fall!