today we had a great time! kuri and i decided to try ohanami at the big park on uminonakamichi. i went a bit earlier, and so we went to the aquarium first. it was fun, as always! then we went to the park, and just happened to meet up with kuri and her kids in the parking lot! then we went to the toddler's playground and had lunch. while kuri and i chatted, the kids went to the playground, one by one (except for mini-ping, of course!) eventually we joined the kids, and let the baby walk around a bit.

after a while, we walked over to the zoo, which does not cost extra. the animals were pretty cool, and the kids had a great time watching them. i particularly like the peacocks. esp. the ones that are allowed to walk around freely around the zoo grounds. i think the kids liked the flamingos the best, they were very noisy and the pinglet said they were having a party!

after finishing at the zoo, we walked the long way back to the entrance. first the kids took one turn on the roller slides, and then we went over to the new bouncy land area. there used to be amusement park rides at the park, but now there is only a ferris wheel. where the rides used to be, there are now soft bouncy trampoline-type areas, one for little kids, and one for bigger kids. they jumped and jumped and then it was time to leave!

for one more treat, we went to the new starbucks in shingu-machi. we all had a treat, and it was nice to sit and chat without walking around. the kids were pretty well-behaved with only a couple of noisy out-bursts! but they were getting pretty tired as well, and i was only to glad to take them home, though it's always hard to finish up a chat with kuri!

sadly, my cameras' batteries had died, so i have no pictures from today. am now charging batteries at this moment, and hope to never have this happen again!