our trip to yufuin was so much fun! we arrived sunday evening and had time for a bath before dinner (dinner is served at 7, which is actually tommy's bed time, so that was a bit rough). the food was delicious (sorry, no food pictures.) we put the kids to bed, and i actually went to bed with them. i was worried about tommy, because he really only sleeps well in his crib (as we found out over obon), but eventually everyone fell asleep. unfortunately, tommy woke up a four and wanted to play. eventually he fell asleep again and we all got up at 7.

rare photo

after breakfast we straightened up our room, then headed out for some sight-seeing. we left the youth hostel with a song. the manager at the youth hostel recommended going to the kannawa area in beppu, where all the jigoku (hells) are. basically these are onsen that you can't enter, maybe because they are too hot, or too acidic (or basic?) and would kill you if you got in. there are seven (eight?) hells in the kannawa area, but we only went to one, the kamado jigoku. we got some eggs steamed by the jigoku, some chicken, then dipped our feet in a steaming hot pond. then we looked and boiling mud, a face onsen, eggs being cooked and the big white pond. hiro tried his hand at climbing on monuments. *sigh*

sasha's egg

yummy egg

my feet

trying on her own

bubbling mud

eggs in a basket

ok, getting down

afterward we had lunch, then we went to a beach just outside of beppu. it was great! hiro and sasha played in the water, without clothes, which made me worry about 'accidents' and told them over and over to let me know if they needed to go poo! i collected a few shells and rocks, and also found some little creatures rolling in the surf. i *think* they were sea slugs, but i guess they could have been sea cucumbers!

pirate ship playground

sea slug 2

sasha and daddy

looking at the playground

then we went home, had a bath, then dinner, then bed...except we couldn't get tommy to go to sleep. eventually yoshi took him for a walk and he conked out. *sigh*

all of the above pictures, except for the one of yoshi and tommy sleeping, and the sea slug in my hand, were taken by the nikon. but i feel like this was the best picture i took (taken at an onsen/park in nakatsu, oita, on our way home):

water lily

it was taken with my little olympus digicam. isn't it great?

set at flickr: trip to yufuin. not all photos are public, so if you are one of my contacts, be sure to log in to flickr.


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