I have no snappy title

It rained here today. How rude! Luckily it was mostly just sunshowers, sporadic and short lived. We decided to find some indoor fun and had been feeling guilty expecting Thomas to enjoy the more adult fun we've been having with new food and long walks. So we decided to check out a popular place called Mona Kids Jungle. It's not that exciting. Well except for the smoking room with cigarette vending machines again. I don't know that I will ever see that as normal. And the bathroom had slippers at the door and an adult and child squatter toilet. I put the slippers on and did my best to not think about where they had been. When in Rome.....

Anyway. It was so blissful to watch my baby laugh and yell and run without a care in the world. My life is so amazing right now and I almost feel a little guilty at times, like I don't deserve this. Why do I get such a charmed life? (And in my typical anxiety ridden fashion...when will the ball drop?) kind of thoughts.
I did my best to shove all of that to the background though and instead focus on the fun of watching Thomas try to stand up in a ball pit. He couldn't do it.




I have no idea why this is upside down. I don't really care to be honest. Look at that face! He makes my heart explode.


I loved these slides as a kid. I'm happy to see that Thomas digs them too.

But at some point we decided to let him try things out on his own, just to see if he could do it. And you know what? He did. He crawled up this ramp about 20 times all on his own. It hit me he isn't my baby anymore. He doesn't need me to help him climb foam ramps.

Or go flying down slides. I never expected being a parent to be such a rollercoaster. Within five minutes I was laughing loudly, filled with joy watching my little love enjoy himself, and then I was nostalgic, sad even.....because he's growing much too fast.

Josh asked me if I was having baby pangs...and when I really thought about it....I wasn't. I don't want another baby. I want Thomas, all over again. When we were driving home, listening to Thomas giggling at something in the backseat I felt at peace again. My little family is perfect for me today. That's really all I've ever wanted.







In completely unrelated news.


In our hunt for a place to live I met Ryoko. She works for Seaside Realty. Their marketing campaign is that all of their properties are within walking distance of a beach. I consider that to be a huge bonus so I called them up and said help me find a home! While she was driving us all around town I couldn't help but notice a pink marijuana leaf air freshener. Then I started noticing a lot of them dangling from rear view mirrors.
(They really decorate their cars. I'll have to get pictures. Glue guns are involved. They would be in big trouble in the states.)

The point is, I was sitting here thinking how unprofessional that was and what's with all the stoner decorations here?

I was reading today and apparently it's not a stoner symbol here. They just think it's pretty. I feel a bit better knowing we didn't just hand over almost 400,000 yen to a hippy.

I also learned that the incredibly bitter vegetable in that Japanese "pancake" we ate was called Goya. When I think of Goya I think of weird cans in the Mexican aisle. It's a huge deal here, something about it being really really good for you. But like most incredibly healthy things it's an acquired taste.
I vote that they get rid of the smoking rooms and skip the Goya. Sounds like a fair trade to me.