Sarah and I had a great time sharing some of our favorite Epcot attractions with her parents. We took her parents on Soarin', a remarkable simulated hang glider flight over the landscapes of California. We took them to see Turtle Talk with Crush, an interactive encounter with Crush the Surfer Dude Turtle from Finding Nemo. Sarah and I have visited Epcot so many times, it was fun to see the attractions again "for the first time" through her parents' eyes.

One of our favorite country pavilions in Epcot's World Showcase is Japan. Sarah loves the gift shop with all of the Hello Kitty and Monchichi and Pokemon and other big-eyed Japanese characters merchandise. We also love the display of antique, wind-up tin toys. But our favorite attraction at the Japan pavilion is a little easier to miss if you don't know to look for her...

At a kiosk just by the entrance to the gift shop is Miyuki, a diminutive Japanese lady who takes clumps of soft rice dough, much like taffy, and, using small scissors and her fingers, magically transforms the candy into a variety of animals: elephants, horses, dragons, eagles and just about any other animal you can think of.

Only a select few spectators actually get to take one of Miyuki's creations home as a souvenir. As many times as we have stopped to watch her in action, we have never been lucky enough to get one of our own... until we visited with Sarah's parents! We wanted to be sure that we got to see Miyuki's presentation, so we got to her kiosk early to have a front row view, not expecting to be chosen to request an animal. But chosen we were! Sarah requested a porcupine and her mom requested an eagle. We've always been delighted by Miyuki's talent and entertained by her thickly-accented commentary, but we were even more thrilled to have a souvenir of our own!

As part of our Epcot world tour, we thought it would be fun to take pictures of ourselves wearing the hats of each country. We laughed a lot as we visited each country and posed with the headwear of the region. Here, for your viewing entertainment, is our gallery of the Hats of Epcot: