white cloud mountain

my goodness- I'm a few weeks behind!  I'll do my best to catch up this week!  My parents left today - but kent still has a couple of days of paternity left and then we have the four days off for Thanksgiving!  hopefully we'll have some nice time to just sit and relax.  and blog.

two weeks ago- we went up into our favorite mountains to catch the fall colors!  fall here is different than back home (utah or ohio).  it lasts longer and is stretched out for months.  the trees all seem to peak at different times- so while the colors may not be as widespread or vibrant- we get to enjoy them for a looooong time!  and autumn is my very favorite season- so I love it.

We went to white cloud mountain and did a great hike dotted with shrines!  it was AMAZING.  we had the perfect weather and the views were gorgeous.

we drove up and up and suddenly came to a mountain covered in beautiful buildings.  

it really was such a stunning sight,

our kids were really good and loved the hike.   mack sat in the baby bjorn and was a pro.  this is the one part of my newborns that I love.  they don't do much and usually are content to be squished into a carrier and come along with us.

I am beginning to love the smell of incense burning all over Japan!!

before moving here - I had no idea Japan was so mountainous!  

this guy is at almost every shrine we visit.  We really need to figure out who he is and what he's doing!

Ike had three purple spots on his forehead from a stamp at school and the Japanese all over the mountain were intrigued by them!  everybody stopped and pointed and giggled.  Ike is a weirdo!

I'm just starting to get a hang of the fact that I have such a big family now.  I feel like adding a 4th kiddo has turned us into a bit of a circus, EVERYwhere we go the Japanese stop and stare and count my kiddos and then jabber to us!  all while holding up four fingers with looks of amazement.  or maybe it's a look of concern!

we got to climb to the head of this giant statue and look out over the mountain.

it's a fairly small lookout on top- and the tairway upa dn down is spiral and narrow!  I don't think there's a limit of people allowed in the statue because once we got to the top- ten more people piled onto the platform and squished us tight!   it was fun :)

after our hike- we went across the street to this american camp ground that was hilarious!  the sign behind metta says: "welcome to camping".  they had santa claus everywhere and ritz crackers for sale.  and a bunch of japanese families camping in tents in parking spots on the asphalt!!  I love this country.

mr mack finally woke up for a bite to eat- and then crashed again when we drove home!

here's another santa and christmas display.  

I'm excited to look through my pictures from our adventures last week and get blogging!