Superhero Bean Bags

I was invited to a first birthday party for a sweet little boy, Baby Jack! His parents, a few friends and I recently had a Super Hero Night where we all wore our Super Hero shirts to dinner and bowling.

Super Hero Night

I used this night as the inspiration when deciding what to make for Baby Jack. I came across these while searching for baby boy gifts and knew I had to make something along these lines. She made them as hand warmers and I wanted mine to be bean bag like and durable enough for a toddler.

Superhero Hand Warmers from Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy!

I cut all the pieces out all the pieces using a mixed nuts can for the circles and free-cut most of the designs. I did use images of the Superman logo and Batman that I printed off the internet and sized down. I used my machine to sew a web of black thread on the background of Spiderman's face.

I hand sewed all the embellishments on using a small blanket stitch around the edges. This was the most time consuming aspect of this project.

One the tops were all hand sewn, I sewed the front and back together, right sides together and turned them out and they were ready to be filled.

Since these were for a little guy, I opted to put my filler inside a small segment of panty hoses (I used lentils since I had them in my pantry!). Putting the filler in the nylon will help prevent spillage and makes it SO much easier to sew the opening up.

Finally, I sewed up the opening and gifted them on Jack.

The finished bean bags

They were a hit! He loved them,

Kawatana Human Torpedo Training School and Peacock Park

My weekend started with solo adventuring to the Kawatana Human Torpedo School ruins. The school was established during WWII to train kamikazes fighters, but are now the shell of buildings that are being reclaimed by nature. The largest structure has tress growing up through the floor and looks like in 20 years it will just be a pile of rubble.

I also visited Osaki Park (known to American's as Peacock Park). There is a large enclosure with about 70 or 80 peacocks and peahens, as well as an aviary with flamingos. There is a large playground with a small zipline and a fun spiderweb jungle gym.

Hiking in Saza and Osetocho Beach

I went on a hike organized by the base in the town of Saza. It was supposed to be a 3.6KM hike, but due to some wrong turns/miscommunication it ended up being a 10KM hike. It was beautiful and thankfully a cool day, but the hike consisted of narrow stairs up one side and down the other, over and over and over again.

The next day a friend took me to a cute little beach in Osetocho about an hour away. It is a little cove and looks like it would be a great place to go spend a warm day just wading in the water and laying out in the sand. It was windy and cold when we went, so we explored the rocks and admired the view.

One last picture...a baby at the bar. There is a new bar in town and apparently they welcome and serve all ages!

Hinamatsuri (March 3)

In Japan, Hinamatsuri is celebrated on March 3, which is known in English as Girl's Day. For Girl's Day families put up displays of Japanese dolls in their homes and sometimes you see them around town. To celebrate Girl's Day, a few friends and I had a Girl's adventuring day. We went to a hidden glass beach, and explored a couple islands; it was a wonderful day and I was glad to see some new areas that I hadn't explored before.

The tiny glass beach we went to.

Becky and her digging stick

The view from the glass beach

A piece of glass amongst the rocks

A self portrait

Another glass beach view

My best find of the day, a piece of broken pottery

The Giant Buddha on Ikitsuki Island

Hina Doll Display

The Giant Buddha and a playful lion

Saiwai Bridge on Hirado Island

"Sunday Ride"

Hirado Foot Onsen

Hirado Foot Onsen

Temple on Hirado Island

Temple on Hirado Island