Miyazaki Festival!

A couple of weeks ago, Miyazaki had a big festival. We headed down to Main Street with our friends Heidi, Aileen, and Julie to watch the parade. We had a little time to kill before the big event, so we walked down a "walking only" street, which just happened to be the right choice! There were all sorts of booths set up for the festival. Lots of food cooking and entertainment going on. Musical groups walked around playing instruments. A man with a giant head scared the crap out of Bridger (okay, it may or may not have been a costume. But a giant head is scary no matter what.) And Casey and I did some goldfish...ing! Heidi was telling us that fishing for gold fish is traditional at festivals. You pay a dollar or so and get a bowl. You also get a little net that is made of paper. The goal is to catch as many fish as possible before your paper net breaks. I wasn't too sure that I wanted to stick my hand in with a bunch of swimming fish (yes, I do realize they are goldfish, but they are fish nevertheless.) Anyway, Casey was victorious and we gave it a try!

We then made it to the parade and snapped lots of photos. By far, the coolest thing we saw in the parade was the traditional Lion Dance. I'm curious about the name because it is a dance where individuals are dressed up in what appears to be dragon costumes. There are two people to a costume (one person being the head and the other the...well...behind.) They shake around and come up to people. Apparently it is tradition to have the lions "bite" your children's heads for good luck. Now as a gaijin, I find this particular tradition to be quite amusing (only because getting your head bitten would be considered a bad thing in most situations.) Anyway, Casey wanted to have Bridger do it, but I didn't think he'd be quite up for it. And I was right. They started walking in our direction, and Bridger scrambled up Casey and clung to him for dear life. So we'll just have to go with the luck we already have and hope it's enough.

Here are links to some videos from the day:
Gold Fishing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_2JFmseoKc&feature=youtu.be
Traditional Lion Dance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvd7tAV50Pc&feature=youtu.be

(The lion dance video is blurry for the first 20 seconds or so. Not sure why. Sorry about that! And sorry for my obnoxious laughter and screaming. Yeah...)


And of course, the pics.

Not really sure...

Our little family

As you can see, Bridger was pushing himself away from the big-headed...thing.

Inside a shop.

Street performers

Julie, Heidi, and Aileen!

Aileen's squid treat...

And now for the parade!

All in all, it was such a fun festival. We're so grateful to have friends from here who will show us around. Thanks Heidi, Aileen, and Julie!

Halloween: Stone, Scissors, Paper Style

So here's my post on Halloween. Why yes, I do realize we are quickly approaching the middle of November. But our costumes were just too cool not to share. You'll likely be jealous of the sheer awesomeness of them.

Actually, we decided to be completely cheap and make our costumes out of cardboard from the boxes our bottled water comes in. We cool like dat. (Yes, I did just write that.) After all, we can't bring a whole lot home with us next year, so why spend the money on it, right? Casey came home from the Kindergarten one day, after playing Rock, Paper, Scissors with the students (which just happens to be Stone, Scissors, Paper in Japan, I believe) and said "I know what we should be for Halloween!" So Stone, Scissors, Paper it was.

We went to the Halloween party at our LDS branch, along with our friend Hailey. She dressed up as a silent film star and looked awesome!

Bridger decided he couldn't stand the torture of his rock costume, so it lasted about five minutes (the fact that it was a stuffed garbage bag makes his protest understandable, I suppose.) And my scissors costume lasted about seven minutes. Apparently scissors costumes aren't all that conducive to baby-holding. Who knew?

So pretty much, Casey was the only one to stay dressed up for the entirety of the party. He walked around asking people to sign him. Nice conversation starter, I'd say.

Oh, and one more thing before the pictures: Casey dressed up for the Kindergarten's party earlier that day, but without the scissors and stone, a paper costume is kinda sad, right? The mothers who came for the party seemed to agree, and several asked what he was. He started to just say "paper" rather than explain. Many of them replied with "Well, that's a lazy costume!" Lame is probably a better adjective than lazy, but either way, it made us laugh.

Our amazing costumes...

With Hailey and Ayano!

Minnie and Anpan Man (Aileen and Shane)

With Yuiko!

And...the costumes are off.

Ayano and Yuiko :)

Nothing Better Than A Sunset

Ya know, there are a lot of incredible things in this world. But I must say that there really is nothing better than a sunset. And Miyazaki sunsets are some of the best I've seen. My neighbors likely laugh at the little American girl snapping photos from her balcony every night.

Sorry that the buildings are difficult to see, especially with this black background. But the sky's the important part anyway, right?