Motegi Hanabi (Fireworks)

While we were still on vacation, we finished out the week by going back to Motegi raceway for a fireworks show. It cost us 5000 yen ($50) for a carload. Our friend Heather and her daughter Summer went with us. Actually, we went with her. Our car does not seat six so Heather drove and we paid for the ticket.

We paid for all you can ride passes, but it was so busy that the kids only got to ride a few rides. Savannah even sat for about an hour to ride the motorcycles. I bought hot dogs and yakisoba to eat, but no one wanted since I returned just as the fireworks began.

We met up with three other Japanese families. One of the families had just purchased a new car. Part of the deal was the she got reserved seats. When she went to get tickets, they asked how many she needed. She said 18 which would cover all of us... and they gave them to her. We were literally three rows back from the track. Rows one and two were empty so we had a clear view of the fireworks. It was one of the best shows that we have ever seen.

I usually enter the pictures and movies backwards in time because that is how the blog takes them - the format is a bit frustrating. I got 90% finished and realized that I entered them incorrectly... so you can see the day in reverse.




I didn't get many still photos. The camera wanted to focus too late. Most of them came out blurry like the next one down. This was about the best one I got. I switched over to movies afterwards.





More fireworks.












I believe this is the podium that they wave the flags from to start/finish the race. You can see how close we were to the track. There is an IRL Race coming up in September that we are thinking about going to. I heard it is super-loud because they run on the oval course. We went to a race at Mid-Ohio, but that is not an oval course. Loud, but I hear it is nothing compared to an oval course.





Savannah on the climbing ropes. Again, as it got dark, the camera had a hard time focusing. I thought this would have been a great picture so I put it on here.












Denny on the climbing ropes. It was hard to let them go since there were so many people around and it was getting dark. We are still learning to let go of the reigns a little.






All of the kids on the climbing rope.











Savannah and Denny on the airplanes. The pilot has to fly the plane to the height of the reflective targets. The passenger hits the button to score points. The plane with the most points gets a license. I think they collect licenses for prizes at the end of the day.




View of the mountains at Motegi. This course is literally out in the middle of nowhere. The first time we went, we thought we were lost and then out of nowhere, big signs for the raceway.

Savannah on her motorcycle.

Looking at the front straight-away.

Looking at the back straight-away.








This has nothing to do with Motegi, I just stuck it in here. This was Denny singing a song on his first day back to school. I think Elin is relieved to have them back in school. It was a long six weeks.



Part of the fireworks display.



More fireworks...



More fireworks...



Heather took the kids on the off-road ride. This is the one that the kids would not ride the last time we were at Motegi. I was disappointed. This time, parents did not buy a pass. Heather got a free ride because Summer is under four years old.




Savannah on the motorcycle. They took them in groups of four. One of the boys could not ride the bike so he had to leave. This was the first time Savannah has ever ridden a two-wheeled motorcycle. This comes after only a month or two of riding a two-wheeler. I was nervous that she would not be able to do it after waiting about an hour for her chance, but she jumped right on and took off. Great job Savannah!