Picnic in the Park

A couple of weekends ago we actually had a rain-free beautiful day! We walked up to the new shopping center and bought a bottle of California wine (a rarity in a Japanese supermarket), some nice soft cheese, a little proscuitto, some olives, and some fresh bread from a great bakery in the shopping mall. Usually one has to be a bit weary of Japanese bakeries (for example, deep fried sandwiches or donuts with hotdogs inside), but this bakery was heavenly! We loaded everything in the great wine backpack that Chad and Roxane gave us for our wedding. We than walked about 45 minutes to the huge flower park in Kani City. We have a year pass so figured we should take advantage of it. It was very nice to sit in the grass, watch the families playing ball and children running and playing.

We had a wonderful time and got to see a big praying mantis on the way out.

It is getting much colder here this week and very windy. Feels like fall. This week was Halloween week at our school so many of the kids were dressed up in costumes and we helped them all make little pumpkin cups and taught them how to say 'trick or treat' and gave them candy. I bought a frog head thing for my costume and Damien went to work this week as a cowboy (mostly so he didn't have to shave and could wear jeans!).
Next week is a much needed holiday. We are going to the huge aquarium in Osaka, a temple town on the top of a mountin called Koya-san, 2 temples in Kyoto/Nara and then Jeremy is coming to visit for a few days. I guess I will have to more to post after all of that!