An Afternoon at the Bon Festival!

This weekend we went to the Japanese Bon Festival at the Botanic Garden! I didn't even realize it was going on until Friday. I spent the weekend at an aikido seminar here in town and they said we were going to the festival during the Saturday lunch break. I am so glad that they did it because we had so much fun! Autumn liked the calligraphy table so much that she went back twice. At first she wasn't happy about going to a festival because there would be too many people. Mike was the same way but he decided he'd rather brave the festival than the Saturday night dinner. But when Autumn saw the signs with Japanese writing, she got excited. She got even more excited when I told her they said things like onegaishimasu (please) and domo arigatou gozaimashita (thank you), which are words she knows!


Mike was so tickled by all the cosplayers and the appearance in the wild of the famed Three Wolf Moon shirt that he took his own photos and posted a few times to Facebook. :) A sure sign of a good time.


We passed the Yukata dressing booth and I, of course, had to make sure Autumn tried one on. The idea charmed her enough that she let a stranger help her get it on! Mike and I were surprised because she's usually pretty "don't look at me" most of the time. SO GLAD she did...


Because look at how cute this is. I am so going to make her one for the next festival. While we were trying on the clothes, she saw a boy and said, "That's my friend Kasey from school." And then Kasey passed and popped his head around the guy dressing Autumn and said, "Hey, Autumn!" Turns out his mom was part of the Sekisui team working the food booth. I'm going to give her a copy of the photos Mike and I took. Kasey is on the left.


Happy girl! I had to run on to class after eating a bite and watching the kendo demonstration but Mike and Autumn stayed a bit and enjoyed the gardens. It was a beautiful day and I am so glad it turned out so well! Next time I think I want to get a group of my aikido kids together and go! It would be so fun.


Hopefully it won't be the same weekend as the seminar I was at this weekend because it would be soooo hard to choose! Stop by Passing Pinwheels to check out some photos of me taking bokkens, throwing people, and also getting defeated in battle!