Fireflies (aka Lighting Bugs)

Tonight we had a great time! It was raining much of the weekend so when we heard that fireflies were going to be at Koko-en (the Garden right next to Himeji Castle) we were all was excited. Being from Phoenix, I have never seen fireflies so I was just as excited as the kids were. Luckily the rain stopped so we were able to ride our bikes. After stopping off at the moat to feed the fish (thanks for all the great crackers and chips Sara), we heading into the garden. This is the same garden we visited back in November http://hammesgroup.blogspot.com/2007/11/koko-en.html.



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.

So finally after about an hour, we were able to see the fireflies. Of course it was dark out, so I couldn't take any pictures for all of you back home, but I did manage to capture one on film.

They were so cool to watch. They were so tiny!! I was expecting them to be a lot bigger (like you see in children's books). They were flying around everywhere. RJ and Sara thought they were so cool!

I have included a couple of videos for you. Sara loves to do whatever RJ is doing, even long after he is finished.She did this for a long time.

Then while we were waiting, RJ found a place to sit down. Sara was walking everywhere and he started talking to her in what appeared to be Japanese. I captured it on tape.Can anyone tell me if he is really saying it correctly?