Dear Liam

Dear Liam,

We hazard a guess that at some point in your lifetime you may question us on why we haven't taken any exciting adventures with you. At which point we will reference you to this blog posting.

If your little Thomas train could talk he would tell you of all the sights he has seen with you since we have left Seattle, WA.

These past five days we have taken you on quite the adventure through Japan.

We started our adventure with your very first trip on the Shinkansen (Bullet Train). You were SO excited to watch these beautiful trains blast through the train plate forms. What a smooth ride we had at 187mph. We were able to travel from Tokyo to Hiroshima in a little over 4 hours. Distance wise that is Seattle to San Francisco!

As like anywhere else we have been in Japan, you continued to be a big hit. We cannot tell you how many times a day we heard people explain "Kawaii!!" (how cute!) as you passed by.

In fact, we weren't in Hiroshima more than 30 minutes before a sweet elderly lady made these mini-paper cranes to welcome YOU to Hiroshima.

From there we took you to Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and directly to the A-Bomb Dome.

We also saw the Children's Peace Monument which is dedicated to all the children who lost their lives in the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima. This statue is based on the true story of Sadako Sasaki, a young girl who died from radiation. She believed if she folded 1000 paper cranes she would be cured.

To this day children from all over the world send paper cranes to be held on display around her monument.

We also took you through the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. Although you may have been too young to understand every thing we were seeing at the time, we can only tell you it was incredibly humbling to see the Japanese history and American history of the Atomic Bombing.

When our day in Hiroshima was over dear Liam, we took you on a ferry ride to the island of Miyajima. There we took you to a shrine that was originally erected in the 6th century, although it has been built again and again over the years. The version we saw was the 8th rebuild of the shrine that appears to float on the water during high tide.

We also took you to your very first aquarium on Miyajima. Even then you had to take the time to show the sea turtles your little train Thomas, who traveled all over Japan with us.

Miyajima has an abundance of deer. If for some reason you grow to have a fear of them, we know why.

It was on this island adventure that a deer put its head right into your snack cup and helped itself. It was here that a deer poked its head around the diaper bag. It was here that deer would get as close to your face as possible and make you cry in hysterics. It was here your Dad was the "Deer Whisperer" and took pictures with these goat like scavenging deer.

When we traveled back to Hiroshima you decided it was time to nap. But, while you napped your father and I enjoyed Okonomiyaki for lunch. Japanese pancake.

It. Was. Awesome.

From there we traveled on to Kyoto. Our first adventure there was Kiyomizu-dera, a temple built in 1633, originally not using a single nail in its construction.

You were quite the trooper and made quite the trek to see this sight with us.

We made afternoon AC breaks in our hotel play land which you called "Weeeee" in Kyoto.

We took you to the Kyoto Nishiki Market. Some of these stores opened with the original market in the 1300's.

We also took you to Nijo Castle, which was built in 1603. It was ornate and amazing to see, despite the insanely intense heat!

We even took you to a random outdoor water spray area we found so you could cool off with the local kids.

It was the type of vacation that only occurs once in a life time. You enjoyed yourself. We are sorry you may not remember it. But, we are so glad we got to take you to explore Japan!

love,

Mom & Dad