Tama Zoo and the Three Waterfalls of Kuroyama

October is full of days off from school and birthdays for us. So on Jake and Jane's special weekend we did some fun excursions. For Jake's birthday we headed to the Tama Zoo with the Walkers. Their bug house was amazing, we loved the butterfly house, the fire ants, and the big praying mantis....and Grant loved the cockroaches.

Some other highlights included a lion bus (where the lions were right outside the window), a baby orangutang who put on a great show of swinging and climbing (we probably stayed for a half hour watching him), and swiming tapirs. But of the course the best part was spending time together.

That evening we came home and ate Jake's requested dinner: rouladin and klose (yum!). Then we ate his favorite blackout cake. From his candles can you tell how old he is? After putting kids down for bed we played Pompei with Chris and Leigh (we love game nights!).

After that action packed day we had another birthday to celebrate so we went on a hike (maybe more of a walk) at the Three Waterfalls of Kuroyama. Even the drive over there was quite exciting as google maps took us on an over the mountain route which was absolutely beautiful. When we arrived we accidently passed the parking lot and had to turn around on a super narrow road (but we made it out thanks to Jake's driving skill). The first waterfall was right up the road and in a fun narrow gorge.

We caught a trail to the side of the waterfall which took us on some side trails and then we found the trail that went over the ridge to the other two waterfalls. These two waterfalls seemed like a picture right out of a travel magazine. They were green and perfectly placed. Apparently there was a male and female waterfall (I'm assuming the female is the stronger waterfall).

The trail back was so much shorter than expected (in fact without the side trails the hike is only a kilometer long). So we had some extra time to kill, which we spent playing on the little playground and taking pictures at the love bench.

That evening we decorated mickey and minnie cupcakes with friends. Jane was so happy and had a blast.

In other news, these two were so adventurous going down the slide head first during the week.

And a friend from my culture group got my kids a fun Japanese treat. A much more exciting fundip-esque treat that felt like a science experiment. My kids loved it.

Anyway this birthday week has been amazing!