Skiing

J went skiing with us yesterday. What a difference a couple of years make. He was skiing on his own and he had a great time! Here are a couple of pictures.

Skiing down Milk.

J and I in the lodge getting some hot chocolate.

Curry

Yesterday we went to a really fun curry restaurant. It was train themed and they actually bring you your curry and drinks etc. on a model train! The kids loved it.

The restaurant interior. Lots of cool train stuff, including a clock just like they have in stations.

Taking the water from the train.

S was a bit scared of the train at first.

Here comes the curry!

J had the shinkansen special. It came in a special dish!

Takao-san and fall hiking

We took advantage of a national holiday and a nice crisp fall day for some hiking.

We took the chairlift up half of the mountain.

Then we enjoyed hiking up to a temple and viewing the leaves along the way. Here is a picture of a monk playing a conch horn.

We also got our books signed. Including yours Grandpa and Nicki!

Rice Husking

Last weekend we learned about and helped with the process of husking rice at a local park. J and B helped plant the rice in the spring. So, it was fun to be a part of the end process too. Here is a picture of the rice when it has been cut and dried for a few weeks and is ready to be husked.

First, J stuck the ends of the dried bushels into a machine that knocked the rice kernels off of the stock.

Then, J turned a crank, turning a fan to blow the heavy rice kernels from the light chaff.

S. helped pick up the scattered grains. This is better than the sand box!

Finally, J. put it into another machine too take off the outermost husk off of the rice, leaving brown rice. Yummmm. Too bad, they later polished 30 percent of the rice grain to make it into white rice. But, still, I can't wait until the harvest festival in a few weeks where we will get to eat the rice that we husked!

Sports Day!

My first post when we moved to Japan a year ago was about J's undokai. He just participated in his second undokai! I could not believe the difference that a year has made. Last year he was afraid to join in the dances and races for the most part. This year he was very excited about the preparation for undokai. When we watched him perform and race with his classmates and interact with them in Japanese it was amazing! What a great experience this year in Japan has been for us and I am so glad that our children have been such good sports throughout all of the changes. Here are a few pictures.

Also, S really likes coloring, I couldn't have the whole post about J. He fills notebooks.

Matsumoto Jo

I feel that J has been able to do a lot of really neat stuff in Japan. However, he hadn't been to see a castle. We lived in Matsumoto for a summer about 9 years ago. They have a really neat Japanese castle in Matsumoto; you can climb all the way to the top. So B and J took the 3 hours bus ride to Matsumoto to check it out.

J took this one.

They spent the night with our friends and their two cute girls.

Kamakura

Kamakura. Considered a great day trip from Tokyo. We'd been here a year and still hadn't made it. So we decided to go on a holiday weekend, even though we knew it would be insanely crowded. It was. However, we still had a great time. Here are a few pictures of the "big buddha" or Daibutsu and some other spots we visited in Kamakura.




On a different note, I can't believe how much my boys have grown and changed since we can to Tokyo a year ago. I estimate that it is now an extra 80 pounds on my bike when I bike with both of them on there. WOW.

Return Date!

Wow, it's been a long while since my last blog post. We survived the hot and humid and sticky summer on our bikes and have been busy here in Japan this September. For starters we now have an official date for our return to the USA, December. Christmas in Idaho and then off to Michigan again!

Also new in September, I was finally able to quit my job. I reached the goal needed for our plane tickets home (the ones we already used in June) and we decided that our sanity dictated that I quit my job. September has been a great month!

It started off with me taking a trip to NYC. I met my mom and dad and sister Charlene there. Did I mention that it was just me taking this trip? Husband stayed with both kids here in Japan. International flights are really not that bad when you don't have kids along. We had a great time visiting friends from my sisters mission and sightseeing. I hadn't been to NYC for a few years and it was great to go back, some things had changed and some were still the same.

A week after I came back First Son and I were able to go to Tokyo Disney Sea with some of his classmates. I think Tokyo Disney Sea is specific to Japan, but it is a lot like Disneyland only instead of a castle in the middle of the park there is a large volcano. The volcano was the highlight of J's time there. Especially during the night show when it exploded! Husband stayed home with S so that J and I could have a good time riding all of the rides that had a height restriction!

The second longest national holiday period took place last week in Japan. We visited Kamakura with the kids, a place that I had been wanting to visit for a while. I will post more on this trip later.

Beach Pictures

Our good friends came to Tokyo for a visit. J and B had a great time with them at the beach. J is really into the water this year, I am impressed that he gets up time and time again!

Suika Wari

Instead of doing a Pinata, children in Japan look forward to summer when they get to break watermelons. We had a great time with this tradition!

Seth in his summer kimono.

Grandpa and Nicki came to visit. We had a great time sightseeing around Tokyo and Kyoto!