Lantern Festival

On Saturday, we went to Onomichi to a paper lantern festival that is held every year in October. Onomichi is a smallish city that is about 15 minutes west of us by train. This was my first time there, but since we arrived after dark, I still have very little idea of what it is like for the most part. For the lantern festival, a few thousand lanterns are lit along the waterway, in green spaces, and along the approaches to shrines. It looked as if the paper lanterns were all hand made by students and featured everything from Doraemon to stag beetles to self portraits. 

Some of the lanterns were placed to form pinwheel patterns and circles, like this shot of Karlee and William

Theo had a ton of photos taken of him by absolute strangers which would be creepy and rude back home. It is probably pretty lucky that Dustin and I are laid back about people taking photos of our children at every turn because it happens every time we go to any sort of event. Theo is the last person to mind and plasters on his cheesiest grin.

I am impressed that Theo managed to wade in a sea of fire and paper without knocking anything over or lighting himself on fire. 

William almost put this candle out with a stream of drool that escaped from his mesmerized face.

A close up view of some of the drawings featured on the lanterns

We all shared an amazing crepe creation from a tiny shop on a side street. One was vanilla ice cream and strawberries rolled in a crepe and the other was bananas, chocolate, and custard. Unfortunately we didn't get a picture before they were devoured. 

It was an extremely peaceful, candle lit evening and well worth the trip.