You look left there's a group of them being led by an older student. You look right there's another group lined up wearing the same color hat. This can only mean one thing it is field trip (ensoku) season in Japan.
Sophie had hers today- a trip to the farm to dig up sweet potatoes. The note from the teacher said that eating a freshly baked sweet potato was Sophie's favorite part of the trip. That's my girl!!
Bailey is off to the local zoo tomorrow and he is excited as can be. We have to leave earlier than usual tomorrow morning and so I was trying to get a few extra things checked off my list before I gave the kids a bath. Bailey had the what-to-bring list memorized and he stood beside me saying check as I put it all out on the table. A plastic bag for garbage? Check. A wet towel for cleaning up after lunch? Check. A picnic sheet for eating lunch on? Check. One by one they went into his Thomas (of course) backpack. I don't know if he is more excited about seeing all the animals or just getting to be out with all his friends. Whatever the reason, it got him into a bed in record time tonight.
I know that a trip to dig up sweet potatoes and going to the zoo are fairly common field trips -anyone else have a field trip story to share??
6 comments:
Not sure if I have mentioned to you before, but there is a Thomasland in Japan which Bailey may enjoy. It is in Fujikyuhighlands (next to Mt. Fuji of course). The rides are all for little kids. You can pay entrance only for Thomasland which is cheaper than full entrance for the whole of Fujikyuhighlands. And they often have discount coupons, do look around.
My sweet potato digging date is this Saturday!
My daughter (11) is a bit older than your littlies so her ensoukus (not a real word I know!) are not as much fun but this morning I sent her off on an ensouku to the Toyota car plant in Toyota city. I think she was more excited about riding the bus there....as her last ensouku was to a precious stone museum way out in the sticks and it took them 3 hours to walk the 8 km (5 miles)yes they had to walk there!!). I think she'd rather go dig potatoes (*^ - ^*)
Hi Heidi! We had actually considered taking Bailey to Thomas Land for his birthday next month but we decided to take him to Disney Land instead (we can get a discount for tickets through Hub's company). I know that he and Sophie would both love Thomas Land. Maybe in the spring??
Fiona, I can't believe they made them walk for three hours just to see something they probably weren't interested in the first place. On the upside, I bet they slept well that night!!
Hi Trisha! Our kids are almost same ages. It'd be great to get together sometime! I imagine you must be so busy with them being in school already. My kids are still at home with me, but when we went to the zoo last week I did notice lots of kids wearing the matching red or yellow hats so it must've been the ensoku groups. I'm kind of dreading the whole school thing though - mostly since I don't speak Japanese too well yet. Funny that instead of worrying how the kids will be in school (I'm sure they will adjust so quickly) I worry more that it will be me who will not know what is going on! I keep hearing that there are so many requirements and rules about supplies, uniforms, lunches etc. Scary.
Trix or Treats to Trisha, Bailey and Sophie!
Have a great evening!
In Hokkaido, Ensoku season is June, as by now it's too cold really. So we are pretty much free now until about February, when we start on the snow sports days and ski competitions. (Which last year went on even in a blizzard!)
Thomas land is GREAT!!!! We used to live about 30 minutes drive away, just at the time it was made. Yoshi was about 20 months old at the time and a mad Thomas fan. The first time we went, we were not sure if there'd be huge lines or what, so we didn't tell him where we were going. He literally stopped breathing when he saw! So cute. We went lots and lots of times after that. If you can make it an autumn or winter weekday then it will be very uncrowded and you'll be able to ride multiple times on everything. When we used to go, kids under three were free, so we'd go with friends, and one mother would take two kids each on her ride ticket. We got A LOT of rides that way, but maybe they have wised up to that by now (ten years later - Yoshi just turned 11 last week!)
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