Nagasaki Lantern festival weekend

What a great weekend!  Both girls were invited to a neighborhood friend's house for a slumber party.  Bella's 1st sleep over and she was ecstatic.  Actually I'm pretty sure she didn't get much sleep staying up all night chatting with Marie.  I've decided to do the Half Ironman Japan in June and have a training buddy Brandi and we went for a 9 mile run Sat (on treadmills as it was pouring rain) and a 30 mile hilly, windy bike ride Sunday to mainland Japan's most westernpoint.  And Jeff met up with his buddy on Friday and got to golf too. 

Sunday afternoon/evening we went to the Nagasaki Lantern festival in China Town - Shiambashi.  There were blocks of lanterns hanging overhead with street vendors selling food and trinkets, and tons of people.  There were a few stages with performances we saw belly dancing, a parade, and some acrobatics.  The lanterns themselves were very elaborate with lots of little lights inside.  We also found a lantern with a horse the girls could get on and dress up for all of us - the whole event was free! 

Here are a few photos.  Love JeLiMoBe

Valentine's Day in Bio Park

We went to Bio Park about 1 hour away toward Nagasaki for Valentine's Day.  We all had a great time petting and feeding the animals.  Here are some pictures.  Love JeLiMoBe

Valentine's $ from Grandparents

Valentine's the girls made and gave each other