Hakone

 The Friday after Thanksgiving we went up to Hakone with 3 other families that we are good friends with.  Hakone is a resort town at the base of Mt. Fuji.  We had gone up to Hakone once before right after we moved here, but it was rainy and cloudy so we didn't really do too much.  This time, we had some of the best weather ever!!  We were up there for two days.  The first day we did a loop around the Hakone area.  It was a ton of fun--you do 5 different ways of transportation--a boat, a bus, a train, a cablecar and a ropeway.

Here we are at the boat--it was a pirate ship--the kids LOVED it!!

The kids with some of their friends and the pirate!

You can tell we really liked taking pictures with the pirates!

There were quite a few torii gates in the water--very scenic!

 After we got off the ship, we did a little hike--we thought it would be easy, but it ended up being mostly uphill, however the kids did fantastic.  Between our 4 families we had 11 kids with 9 of them 5 and under!

At the beginning of our hike--most of the kids!

Hiking up the trail--the kids were real troopers!

Love the signs in Japan!!

 Here we are on the cablecar--we again had amazing views of Fuji!!

 This was a place we stopped at called Owakudani that is a volcanic valley with active sulphur pits--it is a big tourist draw mostly because they boil eggs in the sulphur pits and the shell turns black and by eating the eggs it is supposed to add 7 years to your life--needless to say we had a couple!!

People peeling their eggs

Ethan with his black egg--it is just like a hard-boiled egg, except the shell is black

Cade finding the stray cat--he loves animals!

Family picture with Fuji in the back

Fuji--you can never have too many pictures of it!

The kids with Hello Kitty and a black egg!!

Another great japanese sign!

We had the most amazing time--it was one of the best trips we have taken here.  It is hard for me to believe we will be moving in the next 7 months--I am really going to miss Japan!!