Mount Fuji Camping

The second weekend in June we decided to go on our first family camping trip.  We had friends on base that had shared a great location with Mount Fuji views so we packed up the car and headed out to Lake Motosu.  Eric took a half day on Friday so we could arrive before it got dark and get everything all set up.  It was very windy when we arrived so set up was a little difficult but Eric got it done with a little help from the boys.  We grilled hot dogs for dinner that night and sat around the fire after dark.  It was a pretty chilly night but the boys slept great and we woke up to an amazing view of Mt. Fuji.  We were lucky enough to have a fuji view all day Saturday.  We rented a canoe and went out on the water a few times during the day.  The wind picked up again Saturday afternoon but it felt great after a warm morning.  The boys also tried to do a little fishing without much success.  We relaxed by the fire again that night and Lincoln played with some little Japanese girls camping nearby.  Our first family camping experience was great and we will definitely do it again while we are here.  I was a little sore, tired and dirty but the memories made it all worth it!  Here are some pictures from our camping adventure....

The boys were in charge of collecting rocks for the fire pit

They tried to help a little with the tent set up

Hot dogs for dinner....two nights in a row

Roasting marshmallows for Smores

Reading before bed in the tent

 

What a view to wake up to!

Our little campsite

Linc loved playing in the beach gravel

Hayden with Fuji

A & E

Canoeing

I mostly let E do all the work

The man

Brothers wading in the water...it was cold!

Boys trip out in the canoe

My boys in the distance

Trying to catch fish with no luck

Yes I packed wine

Adventures in Japan - ten (juu)

Ok, I made it to ten and it hasn't even been a year!  I'll stop the count here.  :)  Here is what we were up to in May....

I participated in another run with the Striders running group.  In Japan they have races called Ekiden.  There were 7 legs of this race.  I ran the 6th leg which was a 5k.  The race was about 2 hours away in Yokohama.  After the race we had an all you can eat and drink dinner with a Japanese running group.

All the runners before the race.  Many of the Japanese dressed up for the race so I wore a tutu to try to fit in.

Hand off of the sash

My culture group had its final meetup which was a closing ceremony luncheon held at the Officer's Club.  We had a nice Hawaiian themed lunch with performances.  I really enjoyed getting to know these ladies and learning more about their culture and also sharing ours.

Hayden had a great baseball season and really enjoyed having daddy as one of the coaches.

Boom!

Hayden Vaillant #10 2017

Proud dad and coach

Eric and I celebrated our 10 year Anniversary on May 12th.  We went out to a nice Italian place for dinner.  Hard to believe it has been 10 years! 

For Mother's Day we visited a local shrine/garden.  The azaleas were a little past peak but it was still a nice day with beautiful views.  The boys always spoil me with flowers and breakfast too.

Family Selfie with the Buddha statue behind

Love these boys!

Ok Buddha

Hiking the grounds with these crazies

We attended another Family Lunch at Lincoln's school.  Its always a different experience but he enjoyed the food this time and so did we.  Family lunch includes songs, getting served by 4 year olds, waiting for everyone to be served to begin eating, clean up, and more songs before you are dismissed. 

Happy daddy is here!

Mommy too!

We attended our first Sumo match!  We were excited to get tickets through ITT as they sell out pretty quickly.  Sumo tournaments are held 3 times a year in Tokyo.  It was the 7th day of the tournament.  We also visited the Edo Tokyo Museum on this trip.

Sumo Wrestlers walking around the stadium

Edo Tokyo Museum

Photo Op

My little Sumos....of course we had our own sumo match when we got home.

The more elite wrestlers before their matches.

Whoever falls or gets pushed off the platform loses

Eric ran in a Spartan race off base.  This was the first time this race has been held in Japan.  He ran with two other friends and they said it was very challenging but fun....if you call fun carrying a 100lb ball, scaling walls, or crawling under barbed wire.  Any challenges they could not complete they had to do 30 burpees before moving on to the next obstacle.  Eric had to do this once when he missed on the spear throw. 

If you look closely you can see Eric at the start

Juan, Eric, and Daniel after the race

Scary face

Good times

Eric and Juan at the finish

A couple days later when Eric was still recovering we decided to climb Mt. Mitake for a date day.  It was a little more challenging than we expected and we were both spent by the time we got to the top.  We then decided to see a waterfall which turned out to be a long trek down.  This also meant more climbing back up.  It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed the time together.

This was closer to the top but you can see how steep it was.

And also lots of stairs

We made it!

Walking around the shrine

Made it down to the waterfall.

We had a great lunch after with a beautiful view