konnichiwa, b-s

you haven’t experienced all your vacation has to offer until you’ve been chastised in Japanese because your kids are wearing backpack leashes.

it was just how you’d imagine it too. a lot of pointing a giggling with hand over mouth and overdramatic overacting illustrating that my kids had on backpack leashes.

don’t they give them some kind of a courtesy spiel on the tour bus about how not to be a dick to the people in your host country? pointing and giggling? that’s gotta be in the top three lessons on how to not irritate Americans. seems pretty basic to me.

well, my little friends from the Pacific, these are everywhere:

i don’t know about you, but I kinda love my kids. I’d put watching them melt like the wicked witch of the west pretty much at the bottom of my list of things that sound like fun.

as a matter of a fact, I’d go so far as to say that anyone who plans to come to Yellowstone with toddlers should invest in a solid leash monkey or two. kids are quick and I don’t think boiling magma discriminates by level of cuteness. as a matter of a fact, I saw a 4 or 5 year old climb up onto a rock about 500 feet above jagged rocks below all titanic style and was saved by a stranger who pulled him down by his shirt. the whole thing happened in about 10 seconds start to finish. kids.are.quick.

oh no, j! how will you ever forgive me for humiliating you when you were three all because I cared about your health and well-being?

the Japanese tour groupies weren’t the only ones who had commentary on the leashes. a group of Mennonite gals wearing crocs also seemed to be disgusted with my kids’ ensemble. I’m not even gonna touch that one with a 10 foot pole. let me repeat. in crocs.

oh well… if you see a kid wearing a leash sometime just know that it’s not what you might think it is (I’m being repressed! I’m being repressed!), but rather a parent trying to keep their kid safe in a situation they deem dangerous.

and for the record, my kids love their monkey “pack packs”