It rained about 2 inches this past Saturday, and about an inch today (Sunday). But it did stop just long enough for us to go to the Zoo, which happens to be about five minutes from our house. Its really a huge area, but it is pretty spread out. I would venture to say they had about as many animals as the Saipan zoo but in an area at least 100 times bigger. It was 500 yen to get in and I saw you can get a 1 year pass for 2000 yen ($5 and $20 respectively).
These are in no particular order, but all taken at the zoo.
Not exactly sure what this thing was, looks like the body of a cockroach but the head of a fly, but I really like the pattern in its eyes.
Probably the only Zoo where you can rent a fishing pole ($2 for a piece of bamboo with a string and a hook on it). You couldn't fish in all the ponds just this one designated one.
The above is one of those places you can't fish in. But you can buy some fish food for a dollar and watch the fish and birds go crazy.
I know its just a simple fly but everything looks much cooler through the macro lens. You can even see the different sections of the fly's eye below.
Whoever invented the put your face in a hole so you appear as something else things should be a rich man. We have at least five photos of us with this contraption.
This is the turtle water slide, just because your a turtle in a zoo doesn't mean you can't have fun. Plus a turtle is right up there with a turtle in the slowest animal category, so every chance they get to go 90 miles an hour down a metal slide into a pool of water they take it.
I'm sure the sign below is more appropriate when the lion isn't sleeping in the shade, but then again if I had the choice to sleep or walk around for gawkers when its 110 degrees in the shade I would probably sleep too. Note the person in the picture is crying, as anyone would be in that situation, but you have to appreciate the attention to detail they put in to something so simple as a beware of feces spray sign.
This ends the zoo pictures, the rest are from around our house.
These two are a little overexposed as I am still testing some macro techniques out but they still have a lot of detail in them.
This is a frog we found outside our house a while back, it was polite enough to stay still long enough for us to abuse it with a flash and take a ton of photos of it.
These are ants, just normal everyday ants. But it does show you how close up this lens can go.
These are just two examples of the awesome things we get to read here. The spare tire cover is very typical, and most spare tire covers have some kind of rambling about nature being the new science and we all love nature so spend more time outside by driving your Toyota.
I wish I had one of these cars, but I don't think they get very good ratings in any crash tests.
There was a decent lightning storm yesterday but I was having some trouble capturing it (not even in a bottle). Every time I took my finger off the shutter it would go off, so I only managed the one (good) shot above, but I still think it looks pretty good.
Another macro example. I think this is a baby praying mantis. It was smaller than a dime (a dime would have crushed it and covered any of the resulting mess of being crushed by an object larger than yourself.
And of course another dragonfly.
And finally, the crib. The box says simplicity for children and thats for a reason. Children sleep in it, they don't have to put it together or read instructions or find little screws or bolts. Thats why its not called simplicity for dads to be. Its been a while since I had to read directions to put something together but I was able to get it done, with minimal assistance from Christine (who was playing on the computer the whole time).
This being our first kid I have no basis for comparison but that crib looks huge. Its solid too, the kid can wail and shake those bars all it wants and its not moving or coming apart. But of course it won't do that because its going to be just like its mother, asleep.
You can see the small pollen sacs the bee uses to store all the pollen it has collected.
Not exactly sure what this thing was, looks like the body of a cockroach but the head of a fly, but I really like the pattern in its eyes.
Probably the only Zoo where you can rent a fishing pole ($2 for a piece of bamboo with a string and a hook on it). You couldn't fish in all the ponds just this one designated one.
The above is one of those places you can't fish in. But you can buy some fish food for a dollar and watch the fish and birds go crazy.
I know its just a simple fly but everything looks much cooler through the macro lens. You can even see the different sections of the fly's eye below.
Whoever invented the put your face in a hole so you appear as something else things should be a rich man. We have at least five photos of us with this contraption.
I'm sure the sign below is more appropriate when the lion isn't sleeping in the shade, but then again if I had the choice to sleep or walk around for gawkers when its 110 degrees in the shade I would probably sleep too. Note the person in the picture is crying, as anyone would be in that situation, but you have to appreciate the attention to detail they put in to something so simple as a beware of feces spray sign.
This ends the zoo pictures, the rest are from around our house.
These two are a little overexposed as I am still testing some macro techniques out but they still have a lot of detail in them.
This is a frog we found outside our house a while back, it was polite enough to stay still long enough for us to abuse it with a flash and take a ton of photos of it.
These are ants, just normal everyday ants. But it does show you how close up this lens can go.
These are just two examples of the awesome things we get to read here. The spare tire cover is very typical, and most spare tire covers have some kind of rambling about nature being the new science and we all love nature so spend more time outside by driving your Toyota.
I wish I had one of these cars, but I don't think they get very good ratings in any crash tests.
There was a decent lightning storm yesterday but I was having some trouble capturing it (not even in a bottle). Every time I took my finger off the shutter it would go off, so I only managed the one (good) shot above, but I still think it looks pretty good.
Another macro example. I think this is a baby praying mantis. It was smaller than a dime (a dime would have crushed it and covered any of the resulting mess of being crushed by an object larger than yourself.
And of course another dragonfly.
And finally, the crib. The box says simplicity for children and thats for a reason. Children sleep in it, they don't have to put it together or read instructions or find little screws or bolts. Thats why its not called simplicity for dads to be. Its been a while since I had to read directions to put something together but I was able to get it done, with minimal assistance from Christine (who was playing on the computer the whole time). 
This being our first kid I have no basis for comparison but that crib looks huge. Its solid too, the kid can wail and shake those bars all it wants and its not moving or coming apart. But of course it won't do that because its going to be just like its mother, asleep.
I got a new macro lens (its for the baby, really it is) so here are a few new shots using it.
This is a locust, or cicada. When we got back from our trip to the states, I got in my car and started to drive to work. About two minutes into the drive, I rolled down the window because I thought one of my belts was bad. It kept getting louder and louder, even when my car was idled. Come to find out its tens of thousands of these things screeching like mad. Apparently they are only here for a few months, which is nice, but its gotten to the point now that you just tune them out.
I keep speeding home trying to find bugs in our front yard before the sun goes down. The other day, Christine called because she found a blue dragon fly and wanted me to get home and photograph it. I wasn't any where near being home though. Then it struck Christine that she could use my camera and try to get the shot herself. She did a pretty good job too.
The rest of these bugs (and the locust above) were taken at a park about ten minutes from our house.
A new expressway (maybe?) is being built above us (well above the valley we live in anyway). We snuck up there and took a few pictures of our valley, kind of gives you a reference point for how far we are from the ocean.
And the crazy dangerous thing I did this past sunday. Swimming with whale sharks. A group from the office got together and went on this dive. You get about a ten minute brief (the highlights of which are, don't touch the eyes, don't put things in their mouth etc) and then you are placed on a boat, taken out about one mile and dumped into the ocean. Out in the ocean is a huge net suspended in the water that houses these two huge whale sharks. They about 30 feet in length each. We had about 45 minutes in the net with them. They are actually pretty docile, and of course only eat plankton and other non human things. It bumped into me a few times but I quickly freaked out and swam away. 
This is what I looked like for most of the dive, ready to throw that camera at the shark and swim away, because you know throwing things underwater works really really well.
