Lovely November Saturday

Andy had to work today (this whole weekend actually), so Catie & I headed out to the Sports Park for some playground fun. I think a good chunk of Morioka had the same idea- the playground was a zoo! The amazing ‘Safety Town’ side of the complex was closed for the season, so Catie couldn’t ride any of the bikes or cars, but she had fun at the playground anyway. Sadly, we missed one of her friends by minutes! After leaving the playground, we headed back up to Gandai where we fed the sheep and played around the lily pond. 

this is the best playground in town. You can see it doesn't hold a candle to Glen Miller!

I've tried getting Catie on this awesome zip line a few times, but she is not interested :-(

 

These things always remind me of Twinkies.

and back on campus...

Catie likes to run laps around the pond.

 

I think the reflection is better than the actual view!

As usual, Catie demanded her usual Saturday night steak from the meat truck. There is a yakitori (grilled meat on sticks) truck that parks in front of Big House every Saturday night. The owners called out “Catie-chan!” before we even made it to the truck. This was probably a good thing, since it wasn’t until we arrived at the truck that I realized I have no idea how to say ‘steak kebob’ in Japanese! Catie yelled “steak”(in English), I said “4” (in Japanese), and they gave us the right stuff. Sometimes it pays to be a regular (you know, like those times when you are alone with your kid in a country where you don’t speak the language and where your kid is going to have a meltdown in the parking lot if she doesn’t get her Saturday night steak- THOSE times)!