Bella's Birthday Weekend

We spent Bella's actual birthday in Harmonyland (Hello Kitty, My Melody and other Sanrio characters).  If you go on your actual birthday, you get to go on stage with Hello Kitty - a highlight for Bella.  We had a great visit and the girls rode in their first roller coaster together.  We weren't sure what the age cut-off was and told Morgan you might need to be 10, so when asked how old she was she quickly said "I'm 11 and my sister is 10."  :-)  It worked!  We lucked out with very short to no lines for the rides!

Surprise cupcakes in our hotel and more presents!

and the next morning we visited the Hells of Beppu.  We went to the Umi Jigoku blue hot spring which had a very hot foot bath.  We loved it and thought our feet felt rejuvenated afterward.  I was enjoying it a lot until Jeff pointed out all the dead skin floating (yuk!).  Then we went to the Chinoike Jigoku which was the red hot spring.  While we were there a camera crew asked us for an interview and apparently we will be on the local news at 8 PM!  It was a great day for exploring.