SUMO - TAIKO - and some damn good Japanese food LOL That is what my Labor day consisted of. Jim, Bryan, Eddie, Mimi, and Cheyenne and I went to the Japanese Festival at the Missouri Botanical Garden. As always it was a blast. It was so great to have Jim with us this year (last year he did not feel up to coming along) even if his wheel chair did break (AGAIN).
Though I have found that calling the corporate headquarters scares the crap out of a local office and gets things moving faster. Not only are they sending me a new wheel for the front they are sending a spare just in case and they got back with me Today as opposed to the 2 months it took last time LOL. I love it 
But back to the festival. We did some shopping ( I got a great cotton Kimono to use as a robe that actually fits right - reaches the floor on my 6ft 2 in person LOL) found the place we are going to get Cheyenne’s halloween costume (she wants to be a Japanese maiden so we are getting her a kimono and obi) we have to go to the shop because they didn’t have her size left at the festival, no big deal this way she has lots to choose from.
At one point i lost Jim and Bryan, once jim finally answered his phone (LOL) I met up with them in the Bonsai display Here are a couple of our favorite Bonsai:
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| From 2008 Japanese Festival |
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| From 2008 Japanese Festival |
Bryan took a TON of pictures of the Bonsai so I will have to pester him for copies of all his pictures too 
We also saw the Taiko Drums, as always they were awesome, and of course the SUMO which is always my favorite.
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| From 2008 Japanese Festival |
Uncle Fats (Koryu) and Tyler (Sunahama) put on a great show and everyone had a blast.
During the Taiko Cheyenne got a little bored so I took her over to the fountain to play
She was SOAKED LOL. 
From 2008 Japanese Festival
On the way out I took jim over to see the floating globes in one of the reflecting pools
After the gardens we went to IHOP for dinner. Then we toodled home to collapse LOL.
All in all we had a wonderful day as a family. And other than my getting sunburn (silly me wore a tank top and no Sunscreen...) and everyone being exhausted when we finally got home, none of us were the worse for wear.
Now it is back to the Grind- Planning Mimi’s 16th birthday party, work, and the home stuffs LOL. But it was a nice day away from the norm. I can’t wait till next year.
