Tanabata

On July 7, tanabata day, everyone in Japan wish upon two stars: Vega and Altair.
Ken wrote his wish on a "tanzaku" paper. It says, "I want to be strong like a robot!"

Anything your heart desires will come to you.

Kanbara-matsuri

Ken had a bad cough and was diagnosed as childhood asthma. He went to the hospital again on Thursday, but it was its nonconsultation day. So we went to Kanbara-matsuri, a festival held near the Niigata station.

There was over 500 "yatai" stalls along the street. Ken enjoyed playing "wanage", water-balloon fishing, and having "okonomi-yaki" and poppo-yaki.
He was very tired and had fallen into asleep as soon as he got home.

Digging stump

We did it!

I cut any of thick, radiating roots, divided the trunk lengthwise, and then cut the root extended downward. It was a very heavy job. Maybe I should have used potassium nitrate, a compound known as stump remover.

Kameda Park

I took Ken another park, Kameda Park, on Sunday.
The park has a large playing ground, big play forts, cooking place for BBQ, and a stream for playing in the water. We are fully satisfied and loved the park so much.

A fort with sliders.


Another play fort. It has spiral chutes and a rope slide.


Stream in the park. It flows into the pond near the entrance.

Yamano-shita Park

On Saturday, I and ken went to the Yamano-shita Park near the West-Niigata port.
There is a huge play system, which has over 70 of equipments, in the park. Ken was very pleased and played on all equipments, in particular long slides and rope bridges.




Spiral and roller chutes.



(Left) Ken ate "poppo-yaki", a kind of sweet bread. He did not like it very much.
(Right) He played on the pirate ship. He fell the net and knocked his back on the floor.