Hiked Mt. Fuji - wahoo!!!

We finally conjured up enough guts to climb Mt. Fuji. For the last year we've heard everyone on base share their stories of hiking it, how awful it was, how people get altitude sickness and can't finish it, how people die on it each year, and how it is something that you MUST do before you leave Japan. Sounds exciting huh...only if you're crazy...right! I can't believe we wanted to hike it. I was REALLY tempted to change my mind, but I'm glad I didn't. To be honest I'm just glad I didn't die! My goal wasn't to rush up the mountain and see how fast I could climb it...it was merely to survive...and I did - YAY!

Here are a few facts about Mt. Fuji:

1. It is the 2nd tallest single standing mountain in the world (12,388 ft) and tallest in Japan.

2. It's an active stratovolcano with the last eruption in 1707.

3. It's considered one of Japan's holy mountains.

4. Mt. Fuji is frequently depicted in art and photographs.

I like this picture of Mt. Fuji because it pretty much sums up how our hike felt...straight up and barren (once you past that tree line it is NOT very pretty).

Getting ready to start (4:30 a.m.).

Are we sure we want to do this???

Our group at the starting point (5th Station - 5:00 a.m.).

We arrived just in time to see the sunrise as we started hiking. It was so beautiful and peaceful....a perfect way to start our hike.

The incline is quite steep during the hike so there were endless switchbacks to traverse. Luckily there were numerous stations or "huts" along the way selling food, water, oxygen and services to brand your hiking stick. It was nice having so many places to rest, puff oxygen (the altitude changed so quickly that we were all short of breath), and eat a few snacks.

Shane above the cloud level.

Just when we thought we were getting close we would look up and realize we still had FOREVER TO HIKE :(

One of the locals burning a stamp into our hiking stick. Each station had a different stamp. This was a HUGE motivation to keep us going. All we wanted to do was reach each station so we could decorate our our sticks with all the stamps.

A Japanese mountain man that we met along the way.

Still having fun :) It was like a really long date. We loved it!

The entrance to the summit....WE MADE IT!!!

This is us and our friend Bryce.

Looking down from the summit. If you look closely you can see some cities in between the clouds. You can also see the switchbacks in the bottom right corner.

Here we are looking into the crater at the summit. It is a mile around the perimeter.

Our whole group at the summit. What a great feeling!

The switchbacks down were so steep that it was easier to go fast and basically "ski" down the mountain.

We had a great time and the people we were with were really fun and entertaining. Thanks everyone for an exciting day.

P.S. The whole thing (up, hanging out on top, & back) took about 13 hours. We were in no hurry...like I said before the goal was to survive...not break any records :) It was nice because no one was stressed out or in a hurry...it was a very fun and laid back day.

Shane's excited to hike it again next year, but I think I'm good. No need to do that again :) I'm going to check that right off my list.

Let me explain this video or it will make NO sense at all.

As we drove through the entrance of Mt. Fuji the road had grooves on it that made it sound like a song. Kind of like when you run off the freeway and it makes that loud noise (to tell you that you are going off the road)...well these grooves were spaced so that it played a song. On the way down the mountain I tried to video it. You can't see anything except for us in a dark car, but listen and see if you can hear the song. We don't know what song it is, but it is still fun.

Pretty cool huh!

Fussa Tanabata Festival

A few weeks ago the city outside our base had a big summer festival. The sisters in the Japanese ward (who meet in the same church building as us) offered to dress the sisters in our branch in traditional summer kimonos (Yukatas) so we could attend the festival in traditional Japanese attire. It was a blast. The Japanese sisters were all so cute and friendly. Even though only 1 of the 18 sisters spoke English, we had a great time. We all fell in love with those sweet sisters that served us that day. It was such a special experience for all of us.

The Japanese sisters dressing us in the Yukatas.

My Yukata. Aunt Tiana...the dragonflies reminded me of you :)

One of the sweet Japanese sisters teaching us about some of their traditions. She's the one who put this whole thing together.

This was my favorite part of the morning. The Sensei on the left was teaching us how to go to the bathroom while wearing a kimono. It was really cute and funny.

The Japanese and American sisters.

Our family at the Tanabata Festival in Fussa city.

We ate everything we could...and it all came on a stick.

A banana dipped in pink chocolate and covered in sprinkles. Tia was loving it!

The kids played this fun Japanese game. They were given a little plastic scooper with paper lining the middle of it and were allowed to scoop as many balls as they could into a bucket until the paper broke. Jayden went straight for the big ball and the paper broke just as he and Shane scooped it in the bucket. Tia was able to pick up 1 scoop of little balls before hers broke (the workers were kind enough to give Tia a few extra balls for trying). It was fun!

I don't have a clue what this thing was, but it was so friendly we all wanted a picture with it. It looks like a green banana to me :).

(Norma, Becky, & I)

Here are some of my good friends from the branch.

Thanks Becky for letting me borrow this picture from your blog :)

Katsuura & Kamogawa SeaWorld

Two weeks ago we went to the beach with my friend Michiko Ozawa, her husband Kuni, daughter Yuka, and granddaughter Sara. I'll quiz you later :)

My friend Linda convinced me to join a crocheting club (called the Cackle Club) with a bunch of Japanese women off-base. Michiko started this club with an American about 7 years ago. Linda moved last month so now I am the only American in the group. It's a lot of fun. They try to speak english but every once in a while they all start rambling off in Japanese. I think it's so funny...I love trying to guess what they are talking about just by watching their mannerisms. I'm starting to get really good at it.

P.S. Did I mention that I have NO idea how to crochet? I just sit and make beanies on that round thing with the pegs sticking up. They haven't kicked me out yet :)

The Beach

Shane, Michiko, Tia, Kuni holding Sara, Yuka, me, & Jayden.

Yuka & I are the same age and Tia & Sara are only 10 days apart.

Tia loving the gross seaweed.

See the guy laying down? He fell asleep and his buddies put a stick of butter on his chest...look closely (click on the picture) and you can see it melting :)

Yes that is a pool at the beach! Not only is it a pool, but that is a pump and a hose that filtered the ocean water into the pool. We thought it was so funny so I asked Kuni why he brought a pool to the beach and he explained that his granddaughter is scared of the ocean so he brought it for her to feel safe and have a good time. He is one awesome grandpa. "Kuni, can we adopt you as our Japanese grandpa?"

Jayden spent the whole time trying to catch this crab.

He was having a hard time catching it so he ran all the way back to the tent, grabbed Kuni, and brought him back to catch it for him.

"Kuni caught it"...or I should say "it caught Kuni".

We learned about a really fun tradition while at the beach with the Ozawas. The Japanese buy watermelons (which are very expensive in Japan) and bring them to the beach to beat them with a stick, then they eat it. It's actually a game called Suika-wari. Suika means watermelon and wari means to crack. A person with a stick is blindfolded and gets spun around a few times. Then, he is guided by everyone's calls towards the watermelon and gets 1 shot at cracking it open (and you CANNOT feel around for it). Whoever cracks it open wins.

Jayden saw a bunch of people playing this game, so he went and asked if he could help. This is Shane retrieving him before he did any damage to their watermelon.

Tia saw the same group of people EATING their watermelon and just walked up, smiled, and they gave her some. This is Shane retrieving her and apologizing :)

After retrieving our children twice we decided it was time to whack our own watermelon open.

We are just 1 big family of cheaters. We were peaking, feeling around on the ground, touching the watermelon and then whacking it. Our friends were so sweet and told us afterwards that we were not supposed to feel around for the watermelon and that you only get 1 whack. Ooops, we should have asked about the rules before we started.

The Hotel

Our Japanese hotel room. Michiko and her husband let us stay at this hotel with them through their time-share. It was beautiful. The kids loved sleeping in the same room as us on tatami mats and futons.

While at this hotel we experienced a Public Japanese Bath for the first time. We LOVED IT! It's like going into a VERY hot, peaceful, beautiful, & large bath tub after you've spent quite some time washing and scrubbing every piece of your body. The men and women are separated (because you are completely nude the whole time), so I took Tia and Shane took Jayden (so that we could hold them and have a little cover up :) It is not weird to the Japanese at all because it is something they've grown up with in their culture. I never thought we'd actually do one of these Japanese baths, but it was AWESOME! I've never felt so clean and relaxed before!

The view from our room.

Another view from our hotel room.

The beach is on the top left right by the houses.

Poolside BBQ

Don't we look SO RELAXED (like we are going to fall asleep)???....this was JUST after our Japanese Bath.

The sweet Ozawa family.

Our Japanese BBQ (octopus, crawfish, something in a shell & more). We had so much to eat we didn't know what to do. It was a beautiful, peaceful night by the pool. Everything was misty and you could hear the ocean in the distance. It was perfect.

Jayden and Sara having fun during dinner.

Seaworld

The Sachi Show (Shamu).

The Dolphin Show: the dolphins are singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

The smiling Sea Lion.

Watch the video below to believe it.

Isn't that awesome? He smiles better (and longer) than we can.

The end of a really hot afternoon, but as you can tell the kids had a blast.

This was a way cool road. You start driving across the bay on a very long bridge (called the Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line), when you get to this rest stop in the middle of the water (which is huge and is called the Umihotaru) you drive right under it and into the ocean. Then you are in a tunnel for a couple of miles before you exit above ground again. It was pretty freaky especially when Shane and I started talking about "what if there was a leak, and what if this thing flooded, etc." We were totally freaked and excited to get back up on the ground.

We had the best time with the Ozawa's. Thanks you so much for a very fun and memorable vacation! We ABSOLUTELY loved it!