Sapporo Japan Temple Dedication

Sunday before last, church was canceled so that members could attend the Sapporo Japan Temple Dedication. Only children eight and up could attend, so Ken and I had to go in shifts.  Ken took Stone and went to the first session and I made it to the third and final session. The dedication was only broadcast via satellite, so we had to go to a stake center up in Hiroshima. It was a lovely meeting and such a blessing to all the saints here to have a third temple in Japan!

Waiting for the session to start.

My cute Stone waiting for the train.

My handsome buys on the train on the way home.

Fujisan {Mt. Fuji}

My Fuji climb in pictures!

(The pictures watermarked are courtesy of my new friend and co-hiker Shelly Hill)

 

Early start. To get to the trailhead, we had to ride a local train, the shinkansen twice, another local train, and a local bus. 

Sabrina and I waiting for the bus at Gotemba station.

Trailhead of Subashiri. It was like a small town.  There were restaurants, bathrooms, souvenir shops, a shrine.  It was crazy.  

climbing, ever climbing

 

One of many station stops along the way.

 

Another station stop.

 

We took the Subashiri trail because it is less traveled and it starts in the trees.  The landscape was gorgeous.
 

So gorgeous!

We hiked most of the first day in the fog and mist, but every once in awhile we would catch glimpses around us.  I was mesmerized by the way the trees grew.  Completely bald on one side.  I'm guessing it is from the wind and snow.
  

When we were nearing our mountain hut where we would be staying the night, the moon came out.  We were finally high enough above the clouds to see how far we'd come.
  

This meal may not look like much, but it was!  We started our hike later than planned because the bus schedules were different than we anticipated.  That meant we had to hike quickly up the mountain so we could arrive at our hut before 8:00pm so we could get dinner.  It was sooo good to finally eat some real food and take off our backpacks and rest.
  

This picture doesn't even begin to capture the craziness of the mountain hut we stayed in.  I would say there were probably close to 180 people staying the night there.  We each had a 2'x6' area to sleep on with our backpacks hanging on a hook above our feet.  Sleep should be in parentheses because there really was not much sleep that happened.  You try sleeping in a huge room, jam-packed with strangers who snore, cough, take hits of oxygen from their cans, etc.  It was nuts.  All part of the experience.  They turn the lights out at 9pm and this was taken the next morning around 2am as we all prepared to summit.

 This picture was taken looking up at the summit.  The line of people is so long.  Along with all the people, there were also guards yelling at us to "keep moving!"

I love this picture so much!  The lights in the bottom left are all the hikers still trying to make it to the top before sunrise. The lights in the middle are the cities below, and then obviously you can see the stars above too.  It really felt like we were on top of the world.

 Just waiting for the sun to rise.

As soon as the sun came up, they started playing Japan's national anthem.

 

 In all her glory!

Proof I was there!

The top of the mountain was also crazy.  There were restaurants, a shrine, and souvenir shops, along with bathrooms that cost 500 yen to use ($5).  I was freezing so we went into the restaurant to enjoy some hot chocolate (me) and ramen (Sabrina).

Our group! Behind us you can see into the crater at the top of Mt. Fuji.

The torii gate signals the summit of Fuji.  Another picture of the whole group.

The other members of our groups were pretty exhausted after the climb, but Sabrina and I wanted to do the hike around the crater and go to the actual summit of the mountain. So the two of us set off to keep going.

The crater! What an incredible view!

Sabrina and I on the real summit of Fuji!

 Besides the glorious sunrise, the sand run down was my favorite part of the hike. It was literally miles of running down volcanic sand. Some parts were deep and sandy, other parts were shallow and very rocky. It was a crazy, downhill workout.

While on this crazy hike, I realized that I am a mountain girl at heart.  I love being up in the mountains away from everything. I love the perspective (literal and spiritual) that comes from being on a high mountain.  This hike was so fun and so hard and makes me want to do it all over again!

Yanai Goldfish festival

On August 13, one of our neighboring cities, Yanai, holds the annual Goldfish Festival.  The festival starts at the train station and goes down the main street of the town.  The streets are beautifully lit up with thousands of goldfish lanterns made from washi paper and bamboo.  There is a "parade" of sorts complete with dancers, drums, and floats.  My favorite part of the parade is when they spin the floats.  They yell and run as fast as they can in a circle.  This year was the third year we attended the festival.  We were reminiscing how when we went our first time, we were so completely overwhelmed by the sheer number of people and the noise.  This year it just didn't seem like a big deal.  It is funny how we get used to things.

cute kids on the taiko drums

boys mesmerized

this was the "angry" fish

Peps and her water bottle

2016 States Trip {Running and my deep thoughts}

While we were on our trip, I was able to go running a lot.  I'm a very slow runner, so when I go, I have lots of time to think.  Here are my deep thoughts.

When we arrived in the States, I was amazed at how big everything was.  The cars are bigger.  The streets are bigger.  The houses, the sidewalks, the stores--EVERYTHING is bigger!  As I was pondering on this, I was thinking about how we are currently raising our children in two worlds.  They are most certainly American. We speak English, eat American food at home, and they are being taught at an American school on base.  Right now though, they are also living a Japanese life.  We live out in town where (most) our neighbors are Japanese and we shop at a Japanese market (for fresh food) and eat at Japanese restaurants and do a lot of sight-seeing and traveling and playing in Japan.  Our feet are in both worlds.  So when I was pondering what this might mean for our children, I hope that they take the best things from each world and learn from it.  I hope they dream big like we do in America.  I hope they believe that they can accomplish anything they want to.  I feel like in America we can succeed--or fail--as big as we want to.  I don't know that people throughout the world all feel the same way.  Not all cultures encourage their kids to spread their wings and fly--fly as high as they can.  I hope that Ken and I do that for our kids.  I hope they grow up knowing that the sky is the limit; that they can go anywhere or do anything they want.  But in saying that, I hope they take lessons from their time in Japan.  I hope they learn to bloom where they are planted and to be content with what they have.  I hope they appreciate the beauty in the earth and the power of a smile.  I hope they help take care of the earth. I hope they learn how to serve in the church (whether the congregation is large or small). I hope they always appreciate the new beginning that each sunrise brings and the cleansing power of a walk on the beach.  I hope this experience helps to shape them into the people that God wants them to be. 

On our last day in Utah, I was feeling bummed about leaving to head back to Japan.  I was running and processing this and was considering the possibility of not coming back to Japan.  Finding a job in the States and moving back.  I was reflecting on the many lessons I've learned while here and wondering if our time is done.  The thought hit me as strongly as if someone spoke it out loud--the lessons are not over yet.  My time in Japan is not yet over.  So, until it is, I get to keep learning and teaching and serving and discovering what else is out there for us,

2016 States Trip {Miscellaneous}

 

 

 

 

On our last night in Utah, we had a little goodbye party.  Another four generation shot.  Pepper has so many lovely women in her life!  Can you tell I'm done smiling for pictures?!

 

We flew out of LA and our good friends the Wheelers were there.  We got to spend a day at the beach with them and had dinner at Ruby's on the Newport Pier.

 

On our way home, we had an overnight layover in Incheon, South Korea.  This was our little Airbnb find!

 

The kids did great.  Our trip was amazing. It was so full of wonderful people and wonderful memories.  We came home exhausted and happy.

2016 States Trip {Temple Square}

One of the last things we did in Utah was go to Temple Square.  Ken and I were so excited to be able to show our boys the temple where we were married.  Being so far away from the temple, our kids don't get to see how important it is to us because we don't get to go very often.  I was grateful to be able to show them and let them feel the spirit that is there.

 

As I look through the pictures, I'm laughing so hard because there aren't even any of the temple!  It was there.  We felt the spirit (AND goofed around).  Gotta love the four generations of girls!

2016 States Trip {Camping}

After the trip with Ken's family, we were excited to take a trip with mine too.  We went camping at the North Fork of the Duchesne River.  It was beautiful and so removed from everything.  It was wonderful to be able to unplug and just be out in nature.  We went hiking and ate good food.  We enjoyed my awesome DI-find leggings. I got to go running up in the mountains with my husband and sister. My kids got to bond with my side of the family.  I got to listen to the story of how my dad became interested (dare I say obsessed?!) with treasure hunting.  I got to see the legacy that my grandma is leaving by watching how tough she was while hiking with us.  I got to deepen my relationship with my sister.  Wonderful trip!  We loved it!