on friday, i didn't have any plans. i had asked yoshi to take the day off, but then remembered that we had to take sasha to the hospital on monday, so i asked him to take that day off instead. after yoshi went to work, i got some laundry together (it rained pretty much all week) and took it to the laundromat to dry. then i decided to keep on driving, and we ended up at uminonakamichi. instead of marine world, i decided to take the kids to the wonder world park. as usual, it was not busy, though there were a few people wandering around. actually, we saw more people than usual, but many of them were carrying inner tube type toys because they were on their way to sunshine swimming pool (only open in summer). looks like a nice water park...i wish i had known about it before i had kids! lol

the field of flowers was blocked off, though, because they are working on the fall flowers. i could see some of the cosmos starting to bloom (here's a photo from last year) so i think i may go back in october (depending on baby. might have to go with my mom ;) anyway, first things first, i got some ice cream (B&R of course) and enjoyed that with hiro and sasha.



then we went to the toddler park. that was great for hiro, but hard on sasha. she wanted to play, too, but since she can't walk yet, and i am far too pregnant to take her around, i could only put her on a bouncy toy. hiro loved the slides, though.



sasha wants to share tea with everyone:



then we went to the splish splash pool. this is a toddler pool (with a scary looking suction on one side...) that you can actually get in--if you plan ahead, wear your bathing suit--and it's nice and refreshing. that day was cloudy and not too hot, very nearly a perfect summer day in fukuoka, but we still enjoyed going into the pool for a splash.



near there is a children's center. we went inside and i let the kids play on the playground. this was perfect for sasha.











after that i was pretty tired, and it was time for lunch and then nap, so we left. uminonakamichi seaside park is so big, i still haven't seen all of it! i hope to spend more time there in the next few years with the kids. it's lovely.