Memorial Day Monday 2010: Today we drove south to Lake Nodaki which is located in Nagasaki. It is about a 45 minute drive. There was a pretty cool park and a trail that went around the lake. A great place for nature lover's. 
We're hiking down the mountain to get to the bottom of the falls. Behind us, you can see a little of Lake Nodaki.
The kids enjoyed playing tug-of-war with someone's dog.
The kids were shocked to see how long a giraffe's tongue is.
This particular lion seemed to be the Alpha lion. It fought with another lion right in front of us because it didn't want to share the food. It was amazing to watch and to be so close to it all. Landon refused to feed them after that; the whole thing frightened him so much.
Landon feeding the lions.
It was so cool to only have inches between us and these wild animals.
The park had all these buses in the shape of different animals. We got the lion bus.
Two peas in a pod!
These 3 pictures at the park were actually taken at the Ginza which is a shopping arcade downtown Sasebo; not at the zoo.
Enjoying a treat at the zoo.
Hand-cleaning stations like this one were all over the zoo. I love how they shaped them into animals.
Ashley's classroom hosted a special Mother's Day Tea . Ashley wrote a poem for me that you can see in the picture.
The kids enjoyed climbing across the rocks in search of hermit crabs. Megan even caught a baby flounder.
High tide next morning.
Our little beauty queen!
Sunset at Shirahama.
We cheated and made s'mores without the graham crackers. The kids never want the crackers anyway, just the marshmallows and the chocolate, of course! Unfortunately though, the stores here were all out of the jumbo marshmallows, so we were stuck trying to roast these dinky little things. They still tasted great... just a lot more work.
This is where we cooked and ate our dinner. We looked like such ameteurs next to the Japanese who brought everything to their campsite but their kitchen sink. They were all cooking up a feast while we were trying to not drop our hotdogs into the coals! We've got to improve at this whole camping thing. It's embarrassing.
Landon flirting with the locals. Jim and I had taken a walk down the beach and by the time we got back, Landon was entertaining two Japanese girls with his digging skills.
Hermit crabs that the girls caught. We brought them home only to learn that we had to return them to the sea or they would die. Apparently, they're not the same as land hermit crabs. And yes, we did return them.
Shirahama Beach at low tide.
