The front of our townhome New Year's Eve morning.

That's one BIG snowball, Jim.

Landon is building a baby snowman.

The girls kept themselves busy building a fort. Jim slowed their efforts down.

So, they started another.

Our little angel!

Ryutosen FAlls

Summer of 2010: The swimming hole is behind Ashley. The feared rope swing! Jim had to bribe the girls to use it. Megan was too scared until Ashley showed her up. Ashley got $20 for being the first.

Here she goes!

It's a pretty good drop.

Swimming hole from the other side. This became our favorite hangout spot this summer.

Ryutosen Falls.

Halloween 2010

Landon being his usual silly self. He loves the camera!
Megan and Kaitlyn... BFF's.

Ready for Trick-or-Treating!

Yokosuka and Tokyo, Japan- November 2010

Waiting at the train station.

The first of many train rides today!

The Shinkansen has finally arrived. We're getting ready to board the bullet train to Yokosuka.

Getting settled in for a long ride on the bullet train... five and a half hours to go at 186 miles per hour!

Our first sightseeing trip took us to Kamakura which is about an hour from Yokosuka. A great little town with lots of shrines and the Great Buddha.

Interesting info. on the Great Buddha statue.

The Great Buddha's shoes.

Funny moment: Megan's shirt sleeve somehow got stuck in her braces.

These handwashing and mouthwashing stations are located at most shrines.

Enjoying some ice cream and souvineer shopping.

These windows are common at most Japanese restaurants. The food is fake and shows potential customers what's on the menu. It all looks so real.

Downtown Yokosuka.

Stopping in a bread shop for an afternoon snack. Yum!

Hard to believe we found our way around in this city with signs like these.

Subway sign. Jim thinks it's funny to ask me, "What does that sign say?", and watch me fall for it every time.

On our way to the top of a mountain to Godzilla Park. What I thought would be a 30 minute walk, turned out to be about an hour and a half.

Not quite halfway.

Godzilla Park... I don't know what the real name of this park is, but Godzilla Park sounds good to me.

Japan has some pretty awesome parks!

Gotta love the roller slides! Just don't lie down and get your hair caught in it. No that hasn't happened to me.

The great Godzilla slide. Landon got a real kick out of sliding out of Godzilla's butt.

We passed many businesses along our way to the park and most of them had bike parking such as this. That's why this nation is so skinny. What a concept.

On the train to Tokyo. It was packed to the rim, but very quiet.

Leaving the subway terminal and about to start our walk to the hotel.

It's been a long day, but we're almost there.

Finally, we've arrived.

Outside the hotel.

Our hotel room. Very nice. The kids beds are behind us. They upgraded our first night's stay to an Admiral's Room because they messed up our first night's reservation. Lucky for us!

An unmarked cemetary right in the middle of homes and businesses. You see things like this a lot.

Awesome! Yes, it's real, and there were many more just like it behind that glass.

An unplanned stop by a park near Roppongi. The kids had a blast.

We visited the Roppongi shopping district our first night to see the Christmas lights. Beautiful!

Tokyo Tower. It's a copy of the Eifel Tower, only bigger.

Enjoying some play time in the indoor hotel pool.

Lobby of New Sanno