China Day 1

The trip that I was dreading and anticipating for months was finally here!  I was so excited frankly to get this race OVER WITH, I was so tired of training!  I wanted to move on with my life, and not have to get up at 5 every morning!

One of my favorite things in Japan!  Mount Fuji from the plane...

We settled into bed pretty late and had to be up before 6 to catch a ride up into the mountains to find the wall.  Our hotels and bus rides between cities were all put together by race organizers.  In order to run the Great wall race-you have to sign up through a travel company that takes care of major logistics.  It made things very nice.

The drive to the mountains was pretty...

Our first day was spent getting race information and surveying the course!  Driving up to the wall and seeing it for the first time was pretty awesome!

At one of the entrances

First views

They all wanted us to sit in bleachers to listen to instruction for an hour but we rebelled, and found a rock wall in the shade and listened from there.

The big group meeting was held here in 'yin' and 'yang' square.  The start and finish of the race was here as well.  We all had been prepping for this for months, so it was very surreal to be here and finally seeing the Wall...ready to run!

Great ladies

We spent 3 hours on the wall checking it out, it was exhausting!  After the race, we decided that walking it, in many ways was harder than running it!  As 'Great" as the wall is-stairs are only entertaining for so long!  We got bored pretty fast!

Everything below here is race route pictures...we would be running this in 2 days!

East Coast on the Wall!

Ouch!

Rocking our hats!

This photo is a great example of the old Wall, and newer Wall...

This section was VERY steep, the rock was very slick, and much harder to maneuver than the brick.

We also ran on a section that was not touristy at all, we only saw one other group here.

Most steps were not uniform, but these little ones drove me crazy, 1 was awkward, 2 even more so...

OHIO...we four have all lived in Ohio at some point!

After several hours, we made it back to yin and yang square for more pictures, it was beautiful.

He is saying No!  No pictures!  Too late!

After a long day of walking, we were bused to a small town called Jixian.  Our hotel was AMAZING...now for one day of rest before the big day!

Audrey turns 5!

My baby turned 5!  I am not quite sure how that happened, and it makes my heart very sad, but I am just crazy about this little gal.  She is independent, snuggly, lovable, adventurous, and full of personality!  She keeps me on my toes, and my knees, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Tradition calls for a donut on our birthday morning!

Siblings

We have always thrown a special birthday party for our children on their fifth, and Audrey was counting down the days for MONTHS!  We had it at the base pool, mainly because they have an awesome obstacle course on water, they inflate for birthdays that our kids love.  

party cake...sort of frozen

Happy kids

We are blessed with wonderful friends here in Japan, and Audrey had an amazing day... 

Spring 2015

Spring in Japan.  I am sure it can't be more beautiful anywhere else...
Some of my favorite shots from the past month...

Audreys first day of Japanese kindergarten!

Japanese all the way!

The road behind our house 

I spent a perfect day at Showa Kinen Park enjoying the tulips with my littlest...

Pictures cannot do this place justice in the spring...the cherry blossoms, poppies, tulips, azaleas, dogwood, and daffodils are just arranged in a way that is truly incredible.

We also spent another afternoon doing hanami under the cherry blossoms at Shinjuku Gyoen in Tokyo.  Hanami is literally 'cherry viewing' in Japanese, and families have picnics in the parks under the blossoms.  It is a tradition here I really love.

Shinjuku Gyoen

tea house window

While at Shinjuku we also geo cached, and found this hidden treasure after ALOT of hunting!

We are still enjoying perfect spring weather here if anyone wants to come visit!

Sumo with the Kiyose

Tommy and Stanley both are in cub scouts here at Yokota Air Base.  They have gotten to see and experience some pretty neat things on the base, but they also have had a great time getting to know some of the Japanese packs off base who we do events with several times a year.  A couple weeks ago the Japanese hosted a sumo tournament for the boys.  We did not end up going to this event last year so were unsure what to expect.  We were surprised at how authentic they made it.  It mirrored very closely an actual tournament here in Japan, except the size of the wrestlers was a shade different.

Flags hung in recognition of the upcoming Boys Day on May 5,

these are hung all over Japan if you have a son

The ring

It started with a very elaborate blessing of the ring, complete with sake and salt by a priest

This made us a bit uncomfortable

showing their colors

Tommy

and again

Stanley

throwing salt into the ring is considered good luck before you fight, and the boys loved doing it

Stanley

You win a fight in sumo, by forcing your opponent to step outside the ring, or by throwing them to the ground.  Stanley got very into it and did very well.  He came in 3rd overall

Gathering round

Even the pack leaders were good sports and tried their hand at it in the end.

The boys had a wonderful day, running around practically naked, wrestling, eating curry, and throwing salt...whats not to love?  I am pretty sure we will go again next year!