A Slice of Heaven...

Today was one of the BEST days! I got to watch the boys and we had SO MUCH FUN!!! I took them to the park (after we played at home for a bit) and we fed the (aggressive) geese... they were getting so close to the boys and honking so loud! The others from the other side of the lake were swimming over as fast as they could because they wanted food too! The boys loved feeding them! It was a gorgeous day and Logan was happy as we strolled and Luke was happy on his bike-- good thing, because I parked a little far away from the playground! (It's been a while since I've been to Rio Vista!) They loved playing on the playground and running around and trying all the different things! Luke pretended that he was commandeering a space ship! Logan was just having fun with me playing hide and seek as he ran up to slide down over and over! He would peek up over the edge of the slide at the top and wait for me to pop out and say, "I see you!" He laughed so hard and LOVED this game. (Last couple of pictures.) They were having so much fun that they didn't want to leave! I knew we didn't have much time before Todd was supposed to come get them and I knew they were getting hungry so I kind of talked them into going to eat... I wish we'd had more time because they were having so much fun! While getting into the car, Lukey said, "Grandma?" and then I said, "What?" And then he said very emphatically, "I love you!" And I said, " Good, because I love you too!" and he got the biggest and cutest grin on his face! We went to Chik-fil-A for lunch and Logan kept saying over and over, "sauce, sauce" and "loon, loon". He wanted to make sure I knew that he wanted the sauce for his chicken and a balloon! He was able to reason with me this time to wait until AFTER we ate and played in they play area to get his balloon! (He couldn't do that last time and we ended up having to get a couple of balloons because he lost them!) Logan ate really well, but Luke got in a hurry and didn't eat much! He wanted to play! Those boys had so much fun just playing in the play area-- they wanted me to play hide and seek with them, so I counted while they found each other. There was lots of giggling and fun as I would come to the end of the slide and they would shout gleefully as they came around the corner! I could only chase them so far, too! What a fun day!! Todd ended up coming there to get them, since it was closer than my house, and that gave them more time to play. I'm sure they both fell asleep in the car on the way home. They played hard! Every time I think about the day, I'm just filled with so much joy and happiness! It's so fun to have these little guys around and they are so sweet and innocent! It was such a cool and breezy but sunny day-- literally perfect for going to the park! At each stage, they didn't want to go to the next because they were having so much fun, but then realized how much fun the next place was! We had such a fun adventure today! I love those boys!!!

Happy Birthday to Brookie!

We had a super fun evening celebrating Brooke's birthday! First we went to PF Chang's for dinner (haven't eaten there in so long!) and then we headed to Megan and Todd's for cake and ice cream. The boys were especially excited for cake and ice cream! We had fun and played a new game but I can't remember the name of it! We had a fun time... It has been so much fun to have Brooke and Ben here! They arrived and moved in this week! They live just down the street from Megan and Todd and are in their ward! It's going to be great having them so close!

Day 9-- Kyoto & Osaka

Today was our last full day in Japan. We leave tomorrow!! This morning we climbed through the famous red gates of Kyoto. We actually did way more of this hike than Bill and I did when we were here the last time-- mostly because we wanted to get away from all the people-- and most of them didn't go all the way to the top. We almost got to the top, but decided not to. We got so many great photos though! The narrow path at the bottom was so crowded with people though... last time lots of people were here, but you had the path to yourself as you walked-- not this time. It was wall to wall people! As we got further up, it thinned out quite a bit which was so nice! It was really cold and rainy! We walked through all the different shrines and got a great photo near the top with Kyoto in the background. We were so cold by the end of the hike, we went back to the market area where we found some really good hot chocolate (at a coffee place, of course) and just down a little we got some really yummy crepes-- so we sat down in this coffee place and ate our hot chocolates and crepes. I was so chilled! We kept trying to get into this really popular Japanese type pancake place but today we went there for the 2nd time and you STILL had to have a reservation, it was so packed with people! Just for a pancake! Ben really wanted to try them, so he was pretty bummed. We had to settle for the crepes, which were pretty good! We took the train to Osaka this afternoon and checked into our hotel there for just one night. It was a gorgeous hotel-- probably the nicest one we've stayed in in Japan. We had a huge room. After we got settled, we went to go see the Osaka Castle. It was a pretty good walk from the hotel and you could see it out our window. It was really amazing and the whole inside of it is a museum. We all loved Osaka and wished we had more time here. It's a big city, but no where near the amount of tourists! After we visited the temple, we walked to dinner and had another type of savory Japanese pancakes for dinner called Okonomiyaki. It was pretty good! They cook it on a grill in front of you-- just like so many foods we've had in Korea and Japan! Todd and Ben looked up this little place that was a hole in the wall and it got great reviews, so we went there. We walked back to the hotel after dinner and I about froze. It was a long walk too! Well this has been such an amazing trip and I have really enjoyed it. We've had so much fun together-- but I am so ready to head back to the USA tomorrow! It's going to be a long haul as we have to fly back to Korea, then on the Salt Lake and finally Arizona. It has been so fun and I'm glad we came!

                   

Day 8--Kyoto, Japan

Bill and I have been here before but this morning we went to the Temple of the Golden Pavilion... so pretty and the grounds were absolutely stunning! There were sooo many people there, it was really crowded! All of Japan has been that way... so many foreigners, not just Americans, too! Korea was pretty quiet-- it was kinda nice. There were tourists, but not like here. When we were in Japan in 2020 there weren't anywhere near this many in Japan either!!! We walked around the grounds and enjoyed all the buildings on the property. We found a snow cone place on this little quiet street in Kyoto off the beaten path and it was pretty good! They were huge! Then we headed over to the bamboo forest which was just as pretty as the last time we were there. We got some really pretty pictures there, but again... LOTS of people! I found some Dr. Pepper in a vending machine while I was waiting for everyone before we headed up to the Monkey park... I had a bunch of change in Yen so I tried to buy some and it wouldn't come out, so I kept trying and trying... another guy came up and used the machine and got one out just fine. Turns out, I was trying to use Korean wan! The coin looked exactly the same as the Japanese yen coin and had the same amount on it!!! So Bill put in his change and got everyone one! Hahaha! You can't fool a Japanese vending machine! We HIKED and by hiked I mean HIKED, up to the Monkey park. It was a half hour of straight up climbing! We were lucky it was a very cool day or we would've been covered in sweat! It was so worth it though because there were monkeys everywhere. We were the ones enclosed, not them! They were wandering everywhere and you could go inside a little hut and buy food and feed them too. (Megan, Todd, Brooke and Ben did it.) They were so fun to watch-- we stayed there for quite a while until it was time to make that hike back down the side of the mountain. First we got a great picture with Kyoto in the background. That night we went to dinner at a yummy Shabu Shabu place and it was SOOO GOOD!!! The servers were super animated and fun and had us shouting something they told us to repeat-- hahaha! They were super cute and tried so hard to speak English with us! After that we went back to our hotel and played cards for a bit and then everyone was so tired we decided to just go to bed!!!