She was so surprised to get a present!
She was even happier when she looked inside. Apparently she had been wanting one of these bag like backpacks. She had been borrowing her brother's whenever she needed one and he was willing to share. 
the kids were still excited to see a water fall after all the rain the last 2 days...oh to be a kid again!
Some of the beautiful spring flowers
Our cute kids posing so you can see the colorful flowers by the big pond.
The pond without the kids in the way.
Mitch took this great picture!
I thought these flowers were beautiful. I have no idea what they are called.
Some more flowers on the green Lilly pads. I don't think my brother has flowers on his Lilly pads in his koi pond.
The kids were checking out all the tiny fish in the small planter with all the Lilly pads.
This was not posed. RJ sat down on a rock, so Sara sat down next to him and they put their arms around each other. It was so cute!!! It just warms my heart to see them being so nice to each other.
Sara learning how to sit like a lady
Sara not wanting to sit like a lady anymore.
If you look closely (click on the picture to see it bigger) you can see that these are tiny fish. Full bodied fish. Head and eyes (the blue round part) and tail. He loves these things. Thankfully Favi is willing to buy them for him because Mitch refuses to.
Sara also wanted all of you to see that she has some on her plate too. She also likes them.
The other night, Sara crawled up on my lap and wanted to read to me. So I gladly sat back and listened. But it seemed she was speaking in a different language. Since she had been at school that day, I think she was speaking Japanese. Hope you enjoy this short video. If the ending doesn't melt your heart, well, then nothing will...
After bike riding, Sara got daddy to give her a ride on his shoulders. Of course, that led to another ride....
RJ was feeling a little left out of all the videos, so we decided to create a video of him. Recently one of our friends asked to hear more of RJ's Japanese....
This has a vine like flower that looks like very tiny grapes. Sara (the other Phoenix teacher who also goes to Ikebana with me) thinks that they are gooseberries (sorry can't spell). The white round looking flower is a peony. Only one bloomed, but it was pretty.
This is this weeks creation. I have no idea the names of these flowers. The purple one looks like a rose, but is not. I like how colorful it is.
This is what we like to call a waffle with ice and chocolate inside (the name is only written in Japanese).
It is delicious! Just enough chocolate for me!
This is another one of our favorites. A light coating of chocolate over creamy ice cream.
They are similar to BonBons. I like to "accuse" Mitch if sitting at home and eating Pino all day. They come is in different flavors (cheesecake, mint, etc) but the flavors don't last long in the stores. Japan is famous for trying new flavors on the market but pulling them while they are hot so that they never have to see if they would last of fail. Interesting concept.
We saw this restaurant while in Okayama last month (I know I still need to post those pictures. I was hoping to wait and see what Mitch blogged about so you didn't have to see the same pictures twice, but he seems busy this month, so I will get on it this week)
Da Bra slow food slow life. Not sure if anyone in America would go someplace where they advertise slow food.
Another stop in Okayama..the parking garage.
Anyone need a ticket from the "ticket spitter" I guess they have heard us call it a ticket spitter (the machine that spits the parking ticket out) that is why they labeled it that way.
Hysteric Panic - this store is next to The Mall. Whenever we go to yakiniku for dinner, we see this. I finally took a picture for you.
Cocopelie (I think they meant Kokopelli) It is a hair salon.
merry haha - this is one for me..I love finding my name all over Japan without Christmas next to it!
Comfortabul Space - got to love their spelling...I don't ever want to hear anyone complain about my spelling (or lack there of) again.
I thought my dad would get a kick out of this one. This was right outside a steak house in Kobe, Japan. Kobe beef is suppose to be very good. It is a bit too pricey for us to try.
Another one for me - merry drop. This was a sticker display in a craft store
There were several of these signs along the street while we were in Kobe this past weekend.
Mitch thought the sign meant Shoe CreaM, but I believe it is suppose to say Shoe CLean. They often mix up R and L in words because they have a hard time hearing the difference.
We walked along these rocks to reach the Tatami room (Japanese tea room with Tatami mats for the floor)
This was part of our group waiting to go in to the other room. You first go into this room to look at the decorations and bring your mind to a calm place. (Toraya-san, Mitch, Sara, RJ & Hino-san)
These were the decorations in the first room.
This is the tea master who prepared the tea for us. The tall white thing in the middle of the picture was a fire that held the pot of water on top to get hot.
These were the sweets we were presented with. The green one was like a sponge and the blue one was powdery and the pink one was waxy.
The tea was then poured into the tiny cups and placed into a "leaf" holder (saucer).
When they present you with your tea, they place their finger tips together and touch hands and bow. RJ was trying to be polite and do it back.
You receive 2 rounds of this tea. The second tea is not as strong as the first tea, which I think is a good idea.
Sara trying to perfect her hands and bow.
This is Shigeko. She is my student at Shogai. She was so kind to us during the ceremony. She spoke to us in English and explained what was happening. It was wonderful!
She is preparing the tea for us.
These are the sweets for this ceremony.
The 3 layered sweet is made from white bean paste (I think) and hydrangea.
The other tables set up near ours.
She is wiping the bottom of the cup before it is placed in the saucer.
The cups are so cute and small.
My favorite part was watching Sara be so dainty with her tea cup. She LOVED it!
Once again, a second serving of tea.
