our neighborhood zoo is fabulous.  700 yen (just over 6 dollars) for the whole family and just a couple of miles away!  plus it's quaint- and you can get up close to the animals. 

and you can feed the wild dogs raw meat.  Ike was too scared.  He loves roller coasters but wouldn't get near the caged wild dog.  such a weirdo.  Zeb loved it.

metta loved feeding the giraffes. and I love the Japanese guy with his kid next to Kent.  they could be brothers.  besides the Asian thing.

we could have watched all of these monkeys for hours.  Primates are so fascinating.  Zeb and Ike loved the kid monkeys!! probably because watching brother monkeys play and fight was like watching themselves.

it was a semi cold afternoon- but we got some soba.  all of the kids ate it up.  Metta is so funny and is ALWAYS asking for 'Jap-a-eze noo-noos' .  It's so dang funny how she says it.

When the people here try to talk to her at grocery stores or anywhere else, she says: "Hi Jap-a-eze people".  it's so funny.

flamingos are one of my favorite zoo animals.

bamboo is pretty cool.  and it's all over the place here.

we spent quite a bit of time in the little critter room.  A place full of little creatures that you can pet and pick up and basically torture!  all of these poor little animals mauled by little children ALL DAY LONG :)

I think guinea pigs are so so gross.   and so so ugly.  I wouldn't touch them.

I love their little faces here.  Ike has the cutest giggle.

ew.

I do like little chicks, though :)  they made metta nervous.

but mack loved them!

aren't they SO much cuter than the piggies?!

I have no idea what she is doing here- but it was funny.  I love her.  she gets really excited for just about everything and it makes life pretty exciting to always see those big eyes.

zeb and ike refused to get in a pic- so I made them take it. 

after the zoo we went to a local 'rec center' where the kiddos could play.  It was super fun and FREE!
they have these giant nets that hang over a big gymnasium where the kids can climb and hang around.  heaven on earth.

even mack was excited!

metta hung out in the baby room.  and shoved the japanese kids around just like she would an american :)

all of the kids stare at her and try to jabber to her.  she jabbers back.  I don't think they care that they don't understand each other!

these dolls were hideous and scary.  she picked one up and said: "mom! this doll has pretty hair like me!"

japanese play food.  very fitting that it's curry, rice, and eggs.  Definitely one of my favorite Japanese dishes!

and the big game board!  lights flash all over the board and you have to slap them to get points.  This boy loved helping Ike and metta!! metta loved it, too.

I think I'm almost all caught up on blogging! which means we need to go out and have some more adventures!  we've got some super fun stuff planned for next week and I am SO EXCITED!!!  I've been looking forward to our next adventure since we found out we were coming to Japan.  I can't wait!