Pottery painting

Today we ventured out in the rain to paint pottery near Arita. A friend had suggested it and I thought it would be a fun thing to do while my mom was here. Denise and family also came. Of course Andrew and Ben breezed through their painting but my mom, Kat, Denise and I took our time. Pottery is very popular in this part of Japan and Arita and the surrounding towns produce a lot of famous pottery.

Being creative :)

This is my finished product. It will be fired and during the firing the plate will turn white and the design will be blue. Arita is known for its' blue and white pottery.

Trying to keep the boys and the babies entertained while we worked.

This and That - March

This post is for daddy...

The babies and Ben have changed so much since you left. Hope you enjoy these pics...

Hey! I know you!

Daddy's little princess..

Mmmm, paper

Ben's new friends at Saiki park.

Go Mizzou!

Hugh Hefner

and one of his playmates...

Opening of toll road party!

All around Japan there are tons of toll roads. In the Sasebo area they have a toll road which stretches from the Fukuoka area down towards Sasebo. They just completed a section of the toll road which actually took the road all the way down into town by the main base. In true Japanese style they had an opening for the road so of course we had to go check it out.

It wouldn't be a toll road party without a goat to pet!

This Taiko group was so cool to watch!

Of course the boys were more interested in the puddle and getting dirty than watching the show. I would have thought though that maybe they would have been interested in loud drums but the puddle won out!

We were able to walk up the exit/entrance ramp and go up on the road.

Tully the Tulip from Huis Ten Bosch!

Ben, Kat, and Grace

View of Nimitz park from the top. Nimitz park is a military owned area which is generally open to the public. They have ball fields and a USO there plus an entrance to the Sasebo shopping arcade.

The Sasebo Burger Boy! The Sasebo burger is very famous here. It is a burger with egg and a few other weird things on it that the Japanese think are great! We can't wait to drive on the new road! It will probably cut out about 10-15 minutes from our commute to main base!

Bath time fun!

Ben and Nate's comedy act continues...

Misc. with Nana 3

Nate is on a sleeping strike! My mom has been desperately trying to help him sleep but he sure isn't giving in! These are her failed attempts from yesterday!

Flurry of posts!!

Sorry Grant - I hope these posts make up for my lack of them in the last couple of weeks!

There he goes!

Well I decided it was time to buck up and take Ben's training wheels off. With Grant gone so much I knew it probably wouldn't get done anytime soon so I just decided on a whim to do it. Ben did great although he still looses power and crashes quite a bit! Hopefully soon we will be taking bike rides together sans training wheels!

Misc. with Nana 2

More various pictures with Nana.

My mom started having laptop problems and I wanted a small laptop to bring upstairs since Grant takes our other on cruise. So we went out and bought small notebooks. Here is our kitchen table covered in computers! How much more dependant can someone get!

Playing on the bus at Jusco. I think my mom was in overwhelmed mode by this point!

The outside of the bus.

Playing air hockey in Jusco with friends Kat and Andrew.

My mom got a kick out of these appliances in Jusco. These are typical refridgerators and on the left is a washing machine. Very small!!!