Thanksgiving at Mt. Fuji

This year, we decided to celebrate Thanksgiving with some friends at Lake Yamanakako, near Mt. Fuji. We all rented cabins, 5 families total, in a nice little campground next to the lake. With a bunch of of bikes to choose from, a ping-pong table, swing set, lots of trees, and a tree swing, all at the base of Mt. Fuji, there were plenty of things to do and see.

Our cabin was a three-bedroom, two story, cabin with electricity, shower, and a full kitchen...the only problem were the Japanese heaters with too many options and buttons! We just wanted them to turn on and produce heat! After a little trial and error, we got them to work.

A walk down to the lake gave us the view we have been looking for ever since we moved here! Clear days are not very frequent and seeing Fuji has proved nearly impossible! The weekend was clear, fortunately, and this is what we saw....

Lake Yamanakako is also home to ducks, geese, and swans...the swans being a little more eager to get our bread than the rest. It you weren't careful, they would take your hand too!

Besides the view of Fuji, the big hit was the tree swing. The kids found it first and then the "Big Kids" got to play!

 Our dinner was excellent and we met some great new friends....

What a great weekend! Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Great Buddha Trail Hike

Along the ridge that overlooks Kamakura, home of the Great Buddha (or Diabatsu), is the Great Buddha Trail. It is a challenging 3 mile hike with a few hand over hand spots and a nice steep downhill at the end. It was just Dad with Alex and Devon on this one while Mom and Katie were visiting friends and shopping in Seattle. They'll get their chance soon. This hike was good enough to do several times again!

Yokohama China Town

Here are a few pictures from our trip to China Town Yokohama. Lots of chinese restaurants, meat pies (kids loved them), cooked ducks, and pandas on just about everything you could imagine. It was a lot of fun.

Our niece Karrah was visiting and with her ability to speak quite a bit of Japanese (she just finished a year of teaching English in a school a few hours from us) made it so much easier to get around! Thanks Karrah!

Shinagawa Aquarium

Hearing about the Shinagawa Aquarium from some friends, we decided to check it out. The tunnel through the large tank was great, sea lion show amazing, but the highlight for everyone were the "hand cleaners"...

Back to School

The kid’s first day of school was Monday and it was the day the typhoon was going to hit! How exciting for all of us. There were rumors that the school would not open, because of the storm, but everything stayed open. The kids all go at the same time this year and got a ride from Mom. The wind was too strong for umbrellas if you wanted to ever use it again! As it turned out, the storm didn’t hit our area until later that afternoon, so after an early dismissal, we all made it safely back home…didn’t even lose power!

Anyway, here are a few pictures of Devon (13, 8th grade), Alex (8, 3rd grade), and Katie (6, 1st grade) dashing to the car!