Well, no, not any kind of business like the KidZania play spot in Japan that I've posted much about, but perhaps even better: Grandma and Grandpa's place in Ohio.

Anthony generally spends the summer at my folks' place in rural Ohio, both to bolster his English ability, and, well, to be able to see Grandma and Grandpa. They live in the countryside, so it's always a great experience for him.

We arrived yesterday evening. Our luggage arrived this morning. It didn't take long before he was playing outside, power-washing some heavy machinery. The toy backhoe has been a recurrent theme [...]

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This is #8 (and the final post) in a series on our visit to KidZania in Nishinomiya, Japan, where Anthony's day included working at a gas-station, banking, construction, driver's ed, journalism, and pilot training.

Having procured his driver's license earlier, he was still interested in renting a car so he could drive around a bit. Every time he'd tried before, there was a long line, but this time he was able to get in.

However, for reasons I didn't initially understand, he came back to us and said that he wanted to do something else. This was surprising, and it [...]

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#7 in a series on our visit to KidZania in Nishinomiya, Japan. Anthony's day so far: gas-station attendant, banking, construction, driver's ed, and journalism. Next it was time for a bit of flight training.

Kidzania's flight-training area also had a plane mockup for flight-attendant training, as well as for kids to take part as customers, giving the flight attendants people to train with...

Anthony was interested in pilot training. That area of the "school" had six mock cockpits, so 12 kids could "train" at once...

When it was time for a new group, the kids got flight jackets and the [...]

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The last day of Anthony's school before breaking for the summer -- the Japanese school year starts in April, so summer break is during the middle of a grade -- included a sleepover for all the first graders, right at the school. I went to pick him up at the appointed time on Sunday, but he ended up playing with some friends for a while.

First we piled the kids into some cars and headed over to a nearby river play spot, one that Anthony played at last year. This year, though, he wasn't really in the mood to play [...]

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Our short trip to Ishigaki Island in the East China Sea last May was very photogenic. In covering the second day, I've posed no less than eight times (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8) and still didn't cover it all.

This time, I thought I'd post some of Anthony's shots from that day, from the cell phone he carries to school for emergencies, but is otherwise not allowed to touch except when we're out and about and allow him to use the built-in camera.

The day through the eyes of a six-year-old....

Hill and Finger Mid-Island Road [...]
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