Dinner with Takuya and Keiko

Takuya and Keiko met us for dinner! We had some more food that the kids didn't want to eat. I thought the yakisoba was really good, but I am not a fan of the weird pancakes.

They also told us that they are expecting their first baby! So exciting!

I love some of the drinks they have in Japan. I love the Calpis Soda! The kids did too because they were constantly filling up their cups.

Everyone found something that they liked to eat. It was a more successful eating adventure than most!

We sure enjoy our adventures in Japan!

Helpers

These kids are great at helping each other out! Everyone likes to feed Christine, also frequently called 'Steen'. We sure have a great family.

Happy 7th Birthday Marie!

 Marie was very excited to be the first one to celebrate a birthday in Japan!

 They have been doing lots of swimming lately, so she wanted a swimming themed birthday cake. I thought it turned out pretty cute!

 I am glad that she was so excited. I try really hard to make their birthdays special, but this one was a little tough being in the hotel. We managed to make a neat cake! When it was time to light the candles, I realized that we didn't even have a way to light them. Then I remembered that the van we bought in Japan had lighters left in the glove compartment. I ran out to the parking lot and her birthday was saved! Happy birthday my sweet Marie!

 We added a Japanese treat to spice up the celebration. We got some ice cream treats that came in balloons! The kids thought they were fun to eat. They were perfect for Christine to eat! You cut a hole in the end of the balloon and suck/squeeze the ice cream out.

 Happy 7th birthday Marie! She is getting big much too quickly. We sure love you and are glad that you are part of our family.

Stamps and Skype

 I was excited to find some stamps with hiragana on them! I can now make cards for any Japanese friends.

We have been keeping in touch with people through Skype. It is sort of a weird feeling being separated by everyone. We have often lived far from family, but it is different when you are on the other side of the world.

Another hike!

 We decided to test out another hiking area. It was a very different experience than the last one! The kids were able to walk more freely without having to worry about falling off any collapsing bridges. There were a couple different spots along the way that the kids could play in the water. 

 At first we wanted the kids to stay fairly dry, but then they found the perfect jumping in spot, so we caved in and let them get soaking wet. They made a Japanese friend who they convinced to jump in with them.

 The girls were trying to skip rocks. Their father is going to have to teach them because I am not very good at skipping rocks. We had a fantastic time and the weather was great!

Sukiya

 We ventured out to another Japanese restaurant, Sukiya. Marie loved her food again and the others were happy with getting just white rice. We were given wheat tea instead of water. I think Pa is the only American who can think that it tastes good. Overall, the kids were good and we had a fun time!

 Claire woke up a with some crazy hair!

Hiking in Japan

After doing a lot of posts to get sort of caught up (at least within two months), I fell behind again. To my defense, we had a lot of birthdays and Halloween in October. I have had a cold for the last month as well, but hopefully I am back in action.

 While hanging out in the TLF for a couple weeks, we tried to venture out into Japan. We found a place to hike. It is not one of the main hiking trails in Japan. In fact, we might be one of the first white people some of the people in the area have ever seen. The roads going out to the hike were really remote and we weren't sure we were even going the right way. We eventually ran into this sign at the end of a long, fairly steep, very narrow road. I thought we might have to reverse our way down to head back home, but Teddy pulled off a crazy turn around job driving our van.

 There were some very pretty sights. We also came to a sketchy bridge that I wasn't to excited to cross. Of course, Teddy said it was probably just fine and decided to test it by trial and error. Thankfully, he found success. It wobbled when you walked on it and there were a few missing boards along the way.

 Thaddeus likes to copy his father.

 We had brought some food for a picnic, so we settled at a picnic table across the bridge. We didn't go much further because it was starting to get dark and we still had to find our way home. Teddy was able to read a sign that said there was a bear spotted in the area a month ago. We also found a sign that said only one person should cross this bridge at a time. I was nervous that it was only suggested for one Japanese person to cross the bridge at a time, not a large American person.

 We all made it safely there and back. Our Japanese adventures have definitely begun.