Tanabata Matsuri 2010

Hard to believe but it's been a year since our last Tanabata Festival blog entry. The time does really go by much too fast. This year I went with Neal, Quinn, and Pepere. Scarlett stayed home with Grammy Sue. Fun was had by all as usual. We had some beers (Q excluded), ate some yummy festival foods, and Quinn played lots of games.

We did have one mishap that night that I'm pleased to say did not result in any major meltdowns or scenes on Q's part. One of the games common at Japanese festivals is a kiddie pool filled with goldfish. The kids are given a flimsy paper net to try to catch one ...which usually breaks as soon as it gets wet. So early in the night, Quinn got himself an orange goldfish (check out the picture of Q alone) and carried it around until we stopped to take a group picture. We put everything down on the street to take the picture and when Neal went to pick up our stuff someone had stepped on the bag and well the rest you can figure out. We immediately headed to the nearest pool and got a replacement. Tragedy averted once again with a new black bug-eyed goldfish (picture with Q and Neal).

The other popular children's game involves picking tickets and opening them to reveal a number and you win the prize that matches the number. At one game Quinn was given the lovely option of a toy gun or crossbow (a mother's dilemma). Japanese parents don't understand or feel the same way as American parents about toy weapons. Guess it's because Japan doesn't have the same troubles as the US. (which is one of the major reasons we love living here/ safety). In case you were wondering he chose the gun (which mysteriously disappeared while we took our trip to Hiroshima/Miyajima Island ... a future post).

Each year one street always has a huge display that the kids can interact with and take photos. As we walked up to that street, Quinn's eyes got bigger and bigger and his smile grew bigger and bigger; as he shouted out in excitement, "Mommy look there's Mario! There's Yoshi!. Look it's the mushrooms, and chomper plant and, and, and...." Yup! you guessed it. The display was Super Mario this year.

Like I said before, fun was had by all.