The last few pics

Well, we are home now. And outside of a luggage loss scare, all went well. We are all a little jet lagged though Austin is recovering better then the rest of us. And I did find my luggage. I guess in our confused state Saturday night and everyone trying to grab everyone else's luggage, I just left a piece behind, but luckily it was still there.

Anyway, I promised a few last pictures. We didn't do alot on Friday. We went to a local outdoor mall and did some shopping. The crab on the side of the building was neat.

That night, Dad, Deana and the kids ate pizza while Curtis, Mom and I went out for teppanyaki. This was a style cooking with a grill similar to that of a hibachi grill. They brought us a bowl of 'stuff'.Inside this stuff was something like a pancake batter, noodles, bacon, the squid and shrimp and a raw egg. We mixed it all up and fried it on the grill like a pancake.

It was actually very, very good. Afterwards we went back to our little sushi bar and had the special. Our waitress was so sweet.

Then as we were walking home, Curtis said....wait....do you hear that?? We stopped and listened and sure enough, coming from a hole in the wall was an obvious 'karaoke' voice. So we stepped inside. There was one other American there and about 10 people total. We each sang a couple of songs and got them on video. I cannot figure out how to post them, so I will let Curtis do it.

I know Dad was disappointed he wasn't with us.....and just think, if he'd been willing to eat a little squid, he could have been there! LOL

And this sweet thing is what we came home to.....

Thanks to Curtis, Deana and Avery for being quite the tour guides last week. Japan is an amazing country and I am honored to have been able to visit it!

Japan Vacation - Day Seven

OK - too late for pictures....but I promise they are coming!!! And even some You Tube links!!! But it's late and we all need to go to bed to get up EARLY and pack to head home tomorrow so here is a quick peak into what we did today.

First Curtis and I went out for another 5-miler and even though it was clear and beautiful we could not see Fuji today from the highpoint park.

When we got home, Dad had omelets made for us and we headed out to shop around 11 AM...so it was a lazy morning! Much needed!!!

We went to Isezaki-Mall....we shopped and shopped!!! We split for lunch again....me, Curtis and Mom tried the local cuisine......Deana took the kids and DAD to McDonald's.....

After all the shopping we decided we just needed a time to rest and recuperate! So we headed home where we laid back and watched a movie. Later this evening, Dad, Deana and the kids ordered pizza and me and Mom and Curtis went to a teppanyaki restaurant, then to a sushi restaurant, then to a ........yes.....Karaoke BAR!!! Just wait for You Tube!!

Japan Vacation - Day Six

WOW - there are so many things I want to say and so many pictures I want to show (I took 125 and Dad took 198), but we only have so much room, so we will give you the highlights.

Curtis made pancakes again and we headed to the train station where, even though we had pancakes, we had to stop at the bakery and get some more sweets for the train.

Our first step was Kamakura. There were many temples and shrines and the entrance was lined with cherry blossoms that weren’t quite in bloom although we did see a couple of beautiful ones later in full bloom. And we got to climb LOTS more stairs!

From there we went to the Enoshima Island and had lunch.

NO, we didn’t eat that! The kids (and DAD) had hotdogs and potatoes. The rest of us had the local cuisine again.

When we left the shrines and temples, we headed to see the Big Buddha. We were even able to go inside of him. He was constructed in 1250AD. A few hundred years later, a tsunami destroyed the building that housed him, but he remained.

As we were leaving the Big Buddha, there was a gathering of people with their cameras out standing around a tree. We moved in to see what their interest was. There were a couple of squirrels that were pretty much tame and because squirrels are so rare in Japan, everyone was taking pictures of them. There was this one kid actually trying to pet it - and succeeded! So....Mom decided she would feed it. Look closely at the two dots on her index finger. She didn't tell us about this until many hours later on the way home. Not sure if she was bit or scratched. But at the time, she wasn't about to admit it because we were all making fun of her for trying to 'pet the wild squirrel'!

Our next stop was Hase-Kanon where there were many more temples and shrines. The one with all the little idols was for all the unborn souls and there was another very big Buddha that was covered in 24kt gold. We weren’t allowed to take pictures of him…..but when I tried anyway, the Japanese guards told me in perfect English that I wasn’t allowed to take pictures…..ooops. Gomenasai (that means I’m sorry). And oddly enough, the picture didn't turn out anyway - spooky!

While we were there, the kids decided to play with the Koi…again! Avery actually got them to suck on her finger.
When we left, we were again exhausted and ready to go home, but Avery kindly reminded Curtis that he promised we could go to the ocean to collect shells. After realizing that 5 tired adults were nothing against 2 upset children, we decided to head to the beach. And what a treat that was (thank you Avery and Austin)!! It was probably 45 degrees at the most and windy and I am sure that water was cold. Of course I don’t know for sure, but Austin and Avery sure knew. Once we finally gave in and let them play in the water, we decided we had to stay long enough to watch the sun set. And after a week of cloudy and rainy skies, God showed us his true beauty through the setting of the sun behind Mt. Fuji.

Check out Austin's fishing adventure. Avery was sooo upset because she didn't catch a fish of her own!

We came home to homemade Sushi rolls and tortilla soup. Bed will be early tonight and we all will sleep in tomorrow morning. We will visit a couple of local souvenir shops, do laundry and get ready to travel home. I am sure that even though this sounds like a down day, there is sure to be some excitement to report! Stay tuned for our last day in Japan!!

Japan Vacation - Day Five

Well sorry to disappoint, but first of all, there was no Karaoke tonight. We (once again) got home late and we’re absolutely bushed. Secondly, Mom and Dad informed me that they would rather I do the blogging, so you're going to get my perspective for the remainder of the week. :o)

We started off this morning with a trip to the local bakery to load up on sweets and breads for breakfast. It was wonderful.

Then we headed to Sankein Garden – it’s so close to where Curtis and Deana live that we were able to walk. The gardens are beautiful and just full of cherry trees that aren’t quite in bloom just yet. There were ponds with Koi and ducks that we fed.

The gardens have so much history and a beautiful pagoda in the center.

Inside the welcome center, us ladies took part in an official tea ceremony.

As were leaving the gardens it started raining, so we walked to a local drug store to stock up on umbrellas (since all the ones we had broke the day of the windy rainy baseball game).

Our next stop was shopping and lunch at the local store and ‘home depot’. Mom, Dad, Curtis and Austin went to visit the Harley Davidson Shop and Auto Wave (Auto Zone) while Deana, Avery and I went to the grocery store to browse. Look at what all we found!

After shopping/browsing, we had lunch in the food garden. Some of us (DAD) had McDonald’s while others of us tried the local cuisine! Look at Austin and Avery ordering their own ice cream…in Japanese by themselves. I am so proud of how quickly Austin is picking this up and how excited he is to even try.

After lunch we headed to Motomachi, the ‘Beverly Hills’ of Yokohama. Here are a few pics of us “wanna be’s”! Yes, that is a box of cherries for 25000 yen (or approximately $250). And those apples the kids are holding are $8 each!!!

After leaving Motomachi, we went into China Town. What an experience that was. There were street vendors, stores, lights, food – it was like a street festival. Very alive and very entertaining. We all found a little something. Check out the “Christmas Story” duck! And Mom found something tasty! Austin ended up with his BIG souvenir……

Tomorrow we are heading to Kamakura – where the big Buddha lives.

After an early morning 10 mile run/bike ride, we had a traditional breakfast of French Toast and scrambled eggs at the local Denny’s. Then we headed into the busy town of Tokyo.

Our first picture brings us to the busy intersection in Shibuya where over 2 million people cross through each day – they call it the Shibuya Scramble Crossing…it’s the busiest pedestrian crossing in the world. I sent Austin into the middle of the street.

Afterwards we headed to Oriental Bizarre for some souvenir shopping and then to Shakey’s for pizza. But this wasn’t your ordinary pizza. Check out the pizza below really well. I grabbed a piece with seaweed on it…no big deal, right? Until I took my first bite and saw the baby fish eyes staring back up at me. I almost spit it out! Dad had a piece too…he didn’t touch his! Some pizza had hotdogs and corn, or tomatoes and anchovies, or ham and squid and your traditional mayo and cheese!

On the way to the next stop....Dad found some cute Japanese girls. Surely this doesn't surprise anyone.

Next we headed to the Imperial Palace. This is where the emperor lives….it is very heavily guarded, but very beautiful. And everyone was so enthralled with our two American kids. Below is one of several pictures taken. They would come up to us and ask if they could take pictures of them with our kids.

From there, the boys and girls split. Mom, Deana, Avery and I trekked out to the Tokyo Tower. It’s the exact replica of the Eiffel Tower. On the way, we found a couple of neat shrines and even witnessed a monk ringing a giant bell. Check out the stairs we had to climb to get to one of the shrines (there were 85....I counted!). That is me at the very top to the left. We also got to see a street performer with a monkey.

We stayed in the tower until dark and got an incredible view of the city lights.

Curtis, Dad and Austin went to several music stores and even saw some $50K guitars. He will have more on that tomorrow. We walked over 15 miles, 2 buses, 10 trains….and made it home after 9PM. We’re beat! Tomorrow we are staying local….going to China Town, Sankein Garden, MotoMachi (the Beverly hills of Yokohama) – maybe some karaoke tomorrow night! Stayed tuned.