yesterday we went to uminonakamichi. we had lots of fun, although i really need to bring bentos and drinks with us when we go!! first we went to marine world, and all was going ok. we basically went straight to the touching pool which wasn't very crowded. there was a boy there, though, who was touching a ray and it must have spooked him because he jumped and splashed a lot of water. he got my arm all wet, and one of the workers there asked if we needed a towel (usually there's someone there supervising and 'teaching' about the animals you can touch in the pool) so he gave me a towel. now, only my arm was wet but the boy's shirt had some drops on it so i wiped him a bit. i think i embarrassed him, though! poor guy.

next we went to the dolphin show, though the first part is actually a seal and sea lion show. it never changes (actually, i don't think the show changes except maybe once a year...) and the kids got bored (they couldn't see well, either) and so we left before we actually got to see the dolphins (which is cool because they jump really high and stuff). we went to the large panoramic tank, which has loads of sharks.

afterward we went to the wonder world park and had loads of fun. this time i remembered to bring the swimming things and towels, and we loaded up on sunblock so we wouldn't burn. the kids had lots of fun, and i had to pretty much be in there the whole time for tommy's sake. in the end i did get burned but i think that's because i didn't do a good job reapplying sunblock to myself. don't worry, i got all the kids so only i got burned. *sigh* so, some pics of the kids enjoying the water:










we didn't have lunch before and it was so difficult dragging them back to the car (you know, because i had to get them out of the water, dry them, put their clothes back on...doing it all on my own of course!) they just wanted to play but tommy was clearly exhausted and we were all hungry, and the walk back to the parking lot is far! the toddler playground and splashing pool is kinda in the middle of the park, and we had parked closer to marine world than the park (because hiro had to go to the bathroom when we first got there, and there are toilets near marine world) so it was a long way to go with three tired and hungry children in the burning sun...but we made it to the car and tommy and sasha promptly fell asleep! i got something at hokka-ben and hiro and i shared it. later on i got onigiri for tommy and sasha.

we had a great time. i think the splashing pool would be a great place to have sasha's birthday party, so maybe next year! the problem is you have to pay for parking, then pay to get into the park (though kids not in elementary school are free to get in the park). maybe i can do it for tommy and hiro's birthdays....