New Years Pictures

On New Year's Day we took Violet to the shrine by our house so that she could see what people do on New Year's Day here. The morning started out with drums and flutes being played throughout our neighborhood. She loved it and continues to talk about it to this day.

There is a bell that people ring when they say their prayers.

Violet saw a plane and to this day she will randomly talk about this day saying "big nose" (referring to the mask inside the shrine) "airplane" "fun".

The next day we went to an onsen nearby with Mark and his two boys Conan and Leif. Violet really loved playing with the boys.

After the onsen we went to a shark museum.

Getting ready to walk in.

Violet is touching shark skin.

Here is a little Blow Fish that fell in love with Violet.

Sharks!

Look Daddy!

Touching baby Cat Sharks.

The next day was our 7th wedding anniversary and we went to an onsen over night with Violet. On our way there we stopped at ToysRUs.....We bought Violet this little kitchen set and she LOVES it!!! She cooks all the time for us!

Wearing mommy's slippers.

Off to Semi Onsen

..to celebrate 5 years of marriage. \(^-^)/

http://www.semi-onsen.co.jp/

This will be our second time to go to this particular hot spring.
Check out old pics:
We went there 3 years ago for or 2nd anniversary.

Anniversary Trip to Furofushi Onsen

To celebrate our 4th year of marriage we went to an onsen which was right on the Sea of Japan. Here's a video:



And....
Pictures from our stay at Furofushi Onsen

Video: Steph's Bday Thank You Movie

Hey everybody, I made this little video to share some memories from my birthday weekend. Thank you everyone for making it so special! Hope you like it.
Also, you can see the inside of a really old traditional Japanese inn where we stayed. There are video clips of the fancy dinner and breakfast we had there too.

Onsen Trip

For our 3rd year anniversary trip we stayed at a Traditional Japanese Inn (Ryokan) which had an "Onsen (hot spring)". The town where we stayed is called "Hanamaki" and it is famous for onsens.

Above is the name of the hot spring hotel where we stayed. Below is the the "rotenburo (outdoor hot spring)" where we soaked about 4 or 5 times a day....




Tea House with foot bath:



Inside the tea house with foot bath(below):





Dinner:


Sashimi(raw fish) & other delicacies:


Dinner Video 1:


Dinner Video 2:


Dinner Video 3:


Inside our room:


A little Japanese television:


Breakfast:






A nearby hotel where we went for coffee:




Here is the website of the Ryokan where we stayed: Misuikan

Steph wrote a nice entry about onsens a year ago. To read it click the link and scroll down the page a little to "Onsen Mania"