Asakusa

The weekend before Brooke left, we stayed up in Tokyo for a few days. One of the days we went to Asakusa. Asakusa is a district in Tokyo that is most famous for its Senso-Ji temple, a buddhist temple and has some other temples. It is a very japanese district and a lot of fun. Instead of taking the train to Asakusa, we took a water taxi--it was very fun to cruise through Tokyo and see all the buildings and different architecture.

This was after getting off the water taxi--Brooke and the kids in front of what has been nicknamed "the golden poo".

After walking through the first Torii gate, you enter a street that is filled with TONS of different shops--way down there at the end you can see the temple. It was very fun to walk along and see what people were selling.

For example, this shop was selling the lucky cats--that was ALL they sold! There were also shops selling Japanese sandals, fans, etc.

This is a typical scene--we are always having groups of Japanese ladies stop us so they can fawn over the kids, especially Cade--the kids are pretty use to it now and we have even learned the japanese word for cute, because we hear it ALL the time!! Also, in Japan you see people wearing masks any time they are sick.

Kailey eating a chocolate-covered banana--Japan has the best snacks and food.

They dress up statues a lot--I think it is so funny!

Brooke, Eric and the kids in front of the temple

They have these at every temple--people write down their prayers and then tie them on here.

Growing up, my dad gave Brooke incense every Christmas as a joke. Here she is finally embracing the incense.

So you shake that metal thing and pull out a stick that coordinates to a number...

on here and pull out your fortune--pretty cool!

Looking at the koi

Brooke desecrating the temple--big NO NO to ride on top of religious statues, but so funny!!

One of the many delicious treats you could buy--looks tasty, huh?

Cade has really embraced riding the train--here he is hanging on.

Brooke and I went to another temple the next day and saw tons of little kids all dressed up in their finest--here is a picture of one family--I thought they looked so cute!

Thanksgiving at Lake Yamanaka

This year for Thanksgiving we went and stayed in cabins at Lake Yamanaka. It is at the base of Mt. Fuji. We stayed in some cabins with 5 other families (3 of which were good friends). We had a lot of fun. The lake is about 100 yards from our cabins--it was gorgeous. Here are a couple of pictures!

The kids and I on a walk by the lake--Mt. Fuji in the background--as you can tell, we had some amazing views of Fuji!

Cute Kailey!

They had this giant swan boat you could ride on around the lake

Tons of fishermen on the lake

Kids playing on the swings by the cabins

The toilet in our hotel--this is a typical Japanese toilet. The best thing, is the heated seat--nothing better than sitting on a warm toilet seat. Also, when you flush, water comes out the faucet at the top so you can wash your hands--the kids loved it!

Lake Kawaguchi 27K race

For Thanksgiving, we went up to a lake called Lake Yamanaka with a couple of other families for the holiday weekend. Sunday, 5 of us ran a race around Lake Kawaguchi. Three of my friends did a marathon and two of us (me and a friend) ran the 27k race around the lake. Yes, 27K is 16.7 miles--it seems long, but wasn't at all--I had a BLAST. I have run a lot of races and this was by far the most fun. As you can see from the picture above, the scenery was gorgeous. Lake Kawaguchi is one of the lakes around Mt. Fuji. We were lucky and had a clear day and some amazing views of Mt. Fuji. It was so awesome to run in such a beautiful place and take in all the amazing views. The other thing that was awesome were the costumes. Japanese people dress up in costumes to run races. I saw some of the craziest costumes and a lot of these people ran the whole marathon in their costumes. Crazy!! Overall, one of the best japanese experiences I have had here.

Picking up our race packets--we noticed they were practicing CPR--unfortunately they needed those skills--at mile 8 there was some guy that collapsed and they had to do CPR on him--not a good sign!

Another view of the lake--just gorgeous!

I passed these guys twice--they were some taiko drummers that were performing during the race--it was so cool to hear and watch them.

A woman (nope that is a man) running the marathon in his maid costume.

This guy also ran the marathon in his little tutu and don't get too close--those red panties were mesh and WAY see through--EWWWW!!

Another view of Mt. Fuji during the run and no that guy is fishing, not peeing, although I did see a LOT of men peeing on the side of the road during the race!

The chicken costume--you can't tell, but the head of the costume is like 2 feet tall.

Stitch costume and he ran the whole marathon with that huge head on--I don't know how these guys do it!

Like I said, there were TONS of costumes--it was so fun to run and watch all the people and see what they were wearing.

At the end of the race, instead of bagels and granola bars, you got a bowl of soup with a lot of things that I had no idea what they were!

Post-race picture with my friends, Jessica (middle) and Shari (right), who ran the marathon.

Like I said before, I had a blast--I am definitely looking forward to doing more races--hopefully a half marathon this spring (maybe I can get Eric to do it with me)! Back in June, when I started working out again after having Cade, I thought that running 5 miles was a lot. My friends talked me into doing this and I am so glad they did. I have really come to love distance running--I am slow, but enjoy the time to myself and really appreciate a husband that watches the kids in the mornings and Saturdays when I do my longer runs!!! Thanks honey!!