Fall at Morioka Castle!

Tomorrow we have a long day trip planned with the SICE group, so we decided to stick around town today. We headed down to Iwate Park and the castle to see the foliage and give Catie a chance to play on the swings. The foliage was awesome! We were also happily surprised to find a festival happening in the park. We ended up spending most of the day playing around the castle grounds and enjoying the festival.

Morioka Castle

Taiko and a bounce house- something for everyone!!!

 

As always, there was a delicious array of festival food

one of my favorites...custard-filled cakes. I'd never seen the panda shape before though!

You can get pretty much anything grilled on a stick- tofu, mochi, fish, scallops...

Not to be denied, Catie ate chocolate covered bananas in one hand and a custard panda cake in the other

and then a donut. (she also had some steak kebobs & roasted sweet potatoes)

We stopped in the museum to use the bathroom and Catie put on a happi coat and joined some other kids drumming on one of the Fall Festival Dashi

 

watch out, Catie!!!