Mt. Fuji

So I am finally posting about Jebs Mt. Fuji climb. This occurred weeks ago and I just haven't had the time to sit and load all his pictures up. So Mt. Fuji is one of those amazing things that really you are told you "have"to do while in Japan. Mt.Fuji is kind of the main God for the Japanese religion (Shinto). Its a huge symbol of their culture and entwined in everything for them. Its also a pretty difficult climb. Its the tallest Mountain in Japan and is tougher then expected. The Japanese always say "A wise man will climb Fuji once, a fool twice." Americans tend to be foolish and some members of our branch have climbed it numerous times. :) So Jeb really wanted to go this year, and seeing as how Pregnant girls are seriously discouraged from going, he had to do it alone. He left here at 2:30 in the morning, made it to the beginning point (which is about half way up the Mt.) at around...... I am trying to remember 4:30 I think. Started out at around 5:00. Bought his "stick." (Ok a total tourist thing to do, but you can not climb Fuji and not get the stick. Because when you tell anyone who knows that you actually climbed Fuji they say, "where's your stick?" and then they want to check out your stamps, that you can get on your way up the Mountain till the final one at the top. ) So he made the climb in just over four hours. Which is a good time, I believe the average is 6-7 hours. Worst time is around 10. Of course coming down is quicker, although I heard painful on your shins.

I will just show you the pics of his journey. Take in note it was the last day of the "Legal" climbing season, the Mt is now officially closed. The weather up there is crazy. Although it is still like summer here, they Mountain has received snow. And the winds I read somewhere in the off season can actually blow people down the Mountain. So the last day of the season and the weather is starting to turn and wasn't very pretty. So Jeb is wet from, both perspiration, and rain.

Some guys from Jebs work. I just liked the view of the clouds far below.

Up they go!

Farther up the Mountain, Jeb looks a bit more tired

In this picture you can actually see the ocean in the distance!

Here is one of the gates leading to the shrine. I have learned they are to mark the way for the God to come.

Here is money stuck in the wood, people giving to the God. They usually have little boxes you can throw your money in but I guess they didn't have them here so they just stuck it in the wood. I am not sure what the God does with the money......... or who collects it, I can't help but wonder.

Still climbing up.

As you can tell they are very much above the tree line. NO vegetation up here.

another gate.

He made it to the top! and took a picture of his watch as proof that he made it up in the time he said. This because he was the first person from his group up there and knew they wouldn't believe him.

A nice map showing you the way around the volcano top. WHICH by the way I found out afterwards has been dormant for 300 years and is beginning to rumble again. Scientist are wondering if she isn't due to go......

Good job handsome man!!!

This is him, LATE that night when he finally arrived home. Exhausted, barely able to walk (I said he should have slowed down) but in truth happy that he made it and of course (being who he is) happy he did it in such great time.

Some cute things

I haven't done any cute little things for awhile so I thought I might share a few. First of course is the picture the hospital e-mailed me of little girl number 3! I think she is adorable already. During the ultrasound she kept her legs up like that as much as possible and kind of looked like she was rocking back and forth. Then if the technician pushed on her a bit she would kick and punch out. It was fun to watch.




So here are the girls making cookies. Jebs work requests "mormon" cookies a lot so we try to provide. Harley has now moved up from just stirring to now reading me the directions! She reads them very well. I think this made it so when we started doing some fraction work in school time she thought it was so fun and just flew through it. That girl is so smart and just loves learning. She is a great little chef in the making. Niyah is great also, she just loves to eat it before its ready a little to much. :)

A couple of weeks ago, I said to Niyah that it was about bath time. I finished cleaning the kitchen and went upstairs to find she had put herself in the bath tub. With her sunglasses on. I asked her what she was doing, she said she needed goggles for her swimming.

They do however have real goggles. Their Daddy brought some back from Missouri. They were so excited I could hardly get them to take them off. Harley kept asking when we could go swimming. She has really become a great swimmer and I have to fight to keep her in the shallow end. She loves the diving board. Niyah was so funny as she kept standing in front of the mirror smiling at her reflection and saying over and over I look so cute, I look so cute! I couldn't help but laugh and take a picture for future posterity!

This is us with a Elder we enjoyed having over. His name is Elder Black and he is from Idaho. Funny guy. He had to leave this area to go out into rural Japan. Poor guy, they get spoiled when they are here by the base because the members here all feed them really well. I hope he is enjoying himself now, out in the rice paddies!

Ultrasound results

So I went to have my ultrasound this past week. The verdict is that we are 90% sure that we are having.. another Girl! We are very excited. Jeb says he loves his girls and already loves this one but is just a bit disappointed he really wanted that boy. :( I think this girl is going to be extra special and can already tell she is coming with a very independent mind. For names, no ideas yet, any suggestions anyone has are welcome! So go ahead post a few ideas. Well that's all for now just a quick update. Sorry no pictures, they didn't have a printer to give us a ultrasound pic. They said they would try to e-mail me one. We will see.

The Grand Tour

OK some of you few people who visit my blog will find this very boring. But an even fewer people have asked me about the house we live in. The mood struck me so here are some quick pictures of our home. Before you continue remember, I have never been gifted in the area of interior decorating. If it wasn't for contact with some people who have this gift it wouldn't even occur to me to attempt to decorate.... so keep that in mind when viewing my simple home. This is not to show off any type of decor, lets pretend that you surprised me by stopping by and asked to look around. (I didn't even do any special cleaning for these pics so its kind of like you did!)

You walk in, just an empty entry way. I have had a few moments when I have thought about what I could do to brighten up the place but since we have had to buy alot of new furniture since moving here it has not been my top priority. On the right hand side is my laundry room and the half bath. No need to see details of those I promise they are the most basic kind and nothing has been done to improve them. I shut the laundry room door for the picture because its laundry day and I am not showing my dirty clothes to the world.

As you walk in you see into the living room, dining area, and out the back door. The piano is on the wall to your right. Exciting stuff??? You can see my little china hutch I love so much. Also my new big Japanese fan that I love on the wall.

The living room dining room and such from different corners of the room so you can get an idea of space and layout. Not that big but its really not to bad either. My new book shelves, I really like them. Its supposed to have a TV in the middle. Since we don't have one (and no we don't want one) I need to find a big vase with a plant or something to fill it up.... someday. You can see into the kitchen and up the stairs to the bedrooms. I will say my curtains that Jebs mother helped me with make it so much nicer then the cheap blinds. She taught me that much, curtains can make a big difference.

The kitchen has more cupboard space then I was expecting so thats really nice. There is a door that opens to the laundry room from here. Making it easy for the girls to run in circles through the kitchen, entry way and around and around.

Up the stairs you can see into the girls bathroom. It has a red and blue fish shower curtain, so in all my skill I bought red and blue towels and red and blue matching rugs... WOW. I did however wash the rugs together and the blue rug is now purple, red stayed the same surprising. There goes my skills. The computer room is on your right. Our bedroom is on your left. I am not showing you our bedroom. Even though it was clean, bed made and everything. Its just the bed is all there is to the room. Its just a bed with some closets I promise. We do have a master bath thats all.
(computer room)
Now the only thing I have some bit of pride in. I think the girls room is cute. Thanks to Jebs mom sending me the vinyl flowers and their names, and finding by chance a matching curtain at the base thrift store, for me at least this room is adorable. My tastes like I said are simple. The cutest decoration in the room of course was the two little cow girls I found when I came in to take the pictures. So cute I thought they would be the highlight of the tour.

Welcome to our home. Now how about some chocolate nut drop cookies? I made them last night with the girls, its my Aunt Janettes recipe and she has the best cookies in the world. :)

Mt. Mitake

So for the weekend we headed up to a nearby mountain. Mt. Mitake, we heard it was neat and easy to get to and all the good things. We were not to be disappointed. IT was gorgeous and so so so so refreshing to be in nature again. I couldn't believe how soothing it was to hear peace and quiet. So I will do my best to give you a tour. :)

So after a scenic 30 minute drive we found the road pulled into the first parking lot we could find (feeling a little overwhelmed not knowing how to get to the actual "mountain") paid 900 yen (around nine dollars) to park and preceded to hike up the steep hill. At the top we see the cable car ride to take you the rest of the way up. TADA (along with parking right next to it for the same 900 yen, "oh well" I think "I'm feeling good today")

So here is the cable car. It was fun to ride it up and after seeing how steep of an incline it was I was grateful we could ride the cable car (for another 560 yen per adult of course)
up up we went

Till we reached the top (we thought) and it was beautiful.

The view was amazing. When you reach this section, its a little open area with little places to grab a bite to eat and buy lots of little tourist trinkets. Sit down, eat and so on. It is also where all the trails to hike on start off. So after looking at the view for a while we picked a trail and headed off.

The trail was wonderful and peaceful and full of fun things to see, frogs, really big spiders, beautiful flowers, birds singing, squirrels chattering. We never did see one of the flying squirrels which is supposed to be the God of the shrine up there. Niyah was very disappointed in the lack of monkeys and flying squirrels.

We found a good place to sit and have a bite to eat and just sit and soak in the silence. I realized just how noisy it is to live in busy Japan and how much I have missed the quiet, it was wonderful. We heard distant music and followed the it till we found a little shrine. It was fun to see this little religious shrine with traditional Japanese music softly coming out into this beautiful forest. I understood why the Japanese thought this was a sacred mountain.

As we continued along the trails getting slightly disoriented on the way we eventually found ourselves back at the beginning of the trails head. After careful study of the Japanese map we realized that the big main shrine was back where we came from and that the little village that had made us think we had taken a wrong turn was the correct way. So back around we went through the village.

Up to that point the hiking has been nice, slightly steep in some points but not bad. In the village the roads took a sharp turn it seemed strait up. Jeb says minimum 45 degree angle.... if that helps. So we wandered thought this village up and up twisting turning, hoping we had taken all the right turns. Lets just say a little less then an hour later we see the shrine at the top of a hill in the distance. We go through a bit more wooded area, and turn up again to another little village with places to eat and trinkets to buy. I am thinking it would be so peaceful to live here. The view is amazing. Its so quiet. Just sell a few things to the tourists and life in the top of the mountain sounds nice. So the last steep I mean steep hill and we reach the bottom of the shrine (we think) to see a large flight of stairs.

If you are wondering how the girls and the pregnant girl where doing climbing a mountain this whole time. I would say surprisingly well! On about the second steep upturn the girls starting saying things like, my legs are burning, what are we looking for???, isn't that a shrine???, why do we need the shrine????........ you can imagine. In their minds especially Harleys you could tell she was seriously doubting her parents reassurance that it was a neat opportunity to see this shrine and not many people get to do this so we are very lucky. Niyah asked more then once, "Mom so when are we going to start the fun adventure you said we would have?" HAHAHA we are on the fun adventure I would say. She just didn't believe me.

UP THE STAIRS and we were a little disappointed. It was neat. The view was to die for. Just not the big shrine we expected. Then we noticed some more stairs and everyone heading up those. AHHA so this was just the gate, entry way to the shrine. No wonder. SO up the stairs we go, and then some more, and then some more. A good reference if you are from Price is the Helper Junior High stairs, repeated up different slopes three or four times. With little shrines along the way and all sorts of neat things to see. We went around yet another turn with more stairs appearing and Niyah says "I HATE STAIRS". But really we were having a great time.

Then the real shrine. WOW it was neat. It was just neat to be at one of the oldest shrines. Around 2000 years people have been going there. There were so many different buildings I wish I understood the religious beliefs better so I knew what they were for. But it was so worthwhile to see everything. The wood carvings, the stone work, everything.

So here are some pictures of the area around the shrine. I wish I could give you more information of what they different buildings and such were but I can not. So just enjoy as we did.

This picture is a little blurry. But I wanted to share it because this is when it started to rain as we were looking around. Raining really hard. This man there invited us inside of one their temples I believe. He preceded to tell all sorts of stories in Japanese that we of course couldn't understand. (I am studying the language but am far from understanding) A nice lady next to us spoke in English though and told us he was describing the dance they would be performing for the God of the shrine the next night. And also telling stories of his childhood. He was a lonely man enjoying people to talk to.


When the rain stopped for a short interval we headed out. Enjoyed the breathtaking scenery a little longer and then headed back down. The views heading out were wonderful with the fog from the rain. Just amazing. It was even more peaceful on the way down since everyone else was off the trail because of the rain. It was a wonderful experience and was well worth the efforts to get to it. We would love to go back again.