December? WHAT?!

 I know, I'm no different from anyone else when I say, "HOLY &^%$ IT'S ALREADY DECEMBER!?!"

But good heavens this year has absolutely flown by.  

We've finally hit somewhat of a stride here (which I'm sure will have a wrench thrown in it sometime soon because that's how it works, right?).  3/4 kids are in school full time, Japanese is being learned at rapid rates by everyone under the age of 10 (don't even get me started).

We've been SO busy the past couple months but nothing really seemed "BLOG-WORTHY".

But then I realized, sometimes the small things are totally worth sharing!

Andrew had to go to Utah for a couple of days for some appointments he really couldn't get out of.  Before he left we decided to take the kids to karaoke, and they had a little too much fun. As you can see, we OBVIOUSLY have the next round of  "So you think you can dance" contestants. 

Keane and Holland both participated in a speech contest where they had to write a 1 minute speech in Japanese and present it in a big auditorium to a bunch of people.  I totally missed the boat on a lot of details for this event, but they did AMAZING, were SUPER BRAVE, and seeing as I didn't really have them start preparing until the week of the event (oopssieeeee), I was thrilled with how well they did.  Plus, now we are prepared for next year!

It's basically impossible to hear them in the videos, but just imagine they are saying something amazing and you will be right on the money.

The kids all had a day off of school a couple weeks ago so we went mikan (tangerine) picking.  It was cold, but everyone had a good time and ate their weight in mikan while we were there.  

As you can see, we are still in full mask mode over here. We have been through many masks that people made for us before we left (who knew we would be wearing masks so much that they would WEAR OUT completely????), but hey, they make great stocking stuffers!

This past weekend I was tired of being at home.  Andrew has been traveling a lot (he went the the states, he had to go up to Tokyo a couple of times for church assignments) but I have largely been at home and was starting to go stir crazy.

On Thanksgiving we decided to go hiking, but couldn't find the trail head so that was a bust.  We wandered around the mountain a bit, saw some really neat shrines of the concubines of several kings, but after about 30 minutes people were grumpy so we went and got ice cream and went home.

SO I decided to try again this past Saturday.  We got up early and went to try and hike at a place called Mikuradake (Three Peaks).  

APPARENTLY all it takes is 1 winter away from the bitter cold to forget how to dress for cooler weather.  While it doesn't hit negative degrees here in the winter, we do get chilly weather (30-40 degree highs) and Saturday up in the mountains it was kinda cold.  I was worried from the get go that it was going to be another bust because we weren't adequately dressed, but we started off and got moving anyways.

Our kids generally like hiking and being outside in the mountains where they can collect sticks, poke at bugs, and run around, so I kept hoping we would all warm up and it would be ok.

And warm up, we did.

After the first 10 minutes of walking, the trail turned into huge stair like boulders that we heaved our bodies up.  Needless to say we were getting toasty, and breathing hard.

Some people along the trail realized we hadn't brought water with us (ROOKIE HIKING MISTAKE GUYS!!!!!) and kindly gave us a bottle of their barley tea (which is my favvveeeee).  Poor Americans can't even remember to bring water...

Even a sign telling you not to leave your cigarette butts on the ground is pretty!

MOM!  It's as big as my HEAD!

We got very near the top and realized Cache and Indie weren't going to be able to climb the rest of the way.  Andrew took them and turned back while Holland, Keane and I continued.  

Keane, crazy afraid of heights and in the front eventually was clinging to the rock telling us we shouldn't come up because it wasn't safe. Holland was dancing around the top while Keane was screeching at her to stop or she would certainly plummet to her death (I assure you she was safe).

The tides turned on the way down when Keane, an expert climber, skipped right down, and Holland complained the whole time about having to keep going. 

In the end, it was a fantastic morning, the hike was gorgeous, we left the house to do more than go grocery shopping or go to school and everyone got home plenty tired.

Last night our neighbors brought us over a present and some amazing takoyaki (ummm little balls of...stuff....that taste really good?) for our "1 year Japan anniversary!" (we've been here almost a year and a half, and have been in our house for one year and 2 months, but I was so blown away that they remembered and even cared) and I realized that even though things still seem so foreign, and I still sweat through my shirt when I have to make a phone call in Japanese, we are getting into a groove.  It's easy for us to love it here.

Christmas is coming up and I just can't believe how much has happened, and how quickly it seems to have gone by since last Christmas.  I feel like we were just going on our Christmas trip to Kumamoto.  I feel like the kids were just finishing the school year in March, and beginning the new School year in April.  I feel like we just barely got back from our summer trip to the United states, and yet...here we are.

I hope the Holiday Season is pleasant for everyone. I know there is a lot going on, both good and bad, but I wish all the happy things upon all of you!