Swan Park revisited

Have you ever been to Russia? Have you ever been to Eastern Russia? Yes? No? Just wondering.

Anyway, I guess it’s not as cold in Northern Japan as it is in Russia because ducks and swans fly all the way to our area from Siberia to spend the winter.

Several weeks ago, the kids were home from school because water pipes at their school burst. We had to come up with someplace to go, since it was day 4 of them staying home. So we got a couple of friends and went to the Swan Park.

We arrived and saw this:

They definitely look Russian to me. They even talk Russian.

Mark thought the ducks were the coolest thing ever. Then he wanted to get closer….

We never know if we are allowed to feed the ducks, but we still bring bread (lots of it), just in case. No idea what that sign says on the fence. We were waiting for an old guy to come out from the “office” and tell us “DAME!” which means,  “Don’t do that”. But no one did.

A couple minutes later we saw two buses pull in:

 

A whole bunch of elementary school kids and their parents emerged from the bus. The ducks followed them:)

This is another view of the park. We have climbed the tower last year with Robert.

This is what it looked like from the top of the hill I was supposed to slide down with Mark. I was too scared. I am not usually scared of sledding hills, but this one was for some reason terrifying. I ended up walking down the hill half way and then going down. The sledding hill is the one to the right. Left “hill” is the “stairs” to go up.

  

Notice the cement looking border next to the stairs. Japanese kids actually use that as a slide when there is not snow. It’s quite fun.

At some point Mark decided to integrate better with the Japanese community.

 

Despite the snow, the kids had a great time playing on the playground.

These are definitely not the natives. Liz and Bridget were two brave mamas. Liz is 8 months pregnant with #4, plus she brought a friend’s daughter along; and Bridget has four kids already. That’s how we roll around here:) By the way, usually Bridget doesn’t wear “character” hats outside. She left her hat at home so she had to put on an extra one that belonged to her son.

Alex wanted to stay there forever…funny boy.

 

See what you are missing out? Siberian swans! Next time you are thinking of going to Russia, come see us instead.