Matsumoto Castle and Monkeys!

This past weekend the kiddos and I traveled a little over four hours away to the Naggano area. This beautiful area is surrounded by the Alps.

Our first stop was Matsumoto castle!

We were greeted by our little ninja friend who helped us make our way to the top on the castle!

We then traveled thirty minutes up into the mountains to find a cute little village. Hidden in this village were monkeys!!

They told us not to make eye contact with the monkeys or they could BITE us!! We had to put on our sunglasses on this overcast day as hearing that made us want to look at them, ha!

We all walked away with no bites and had a great time.

Fuji Adventures

Last weekend we traveled to one of our favorite areas, Mt.Fuji. The area right now is at its peak with fall colors!! The area has so much to offer for the outdoor lovers we are! This time our neighbors traveled with us, we had an amazing time!!

This park was full of multiple waterfalls and trails that zigzagged throughout.

Fish appetizer on a stick😳

We then traveled to a torn fall festival. It felt like the Christnas markets we use to go to in Europe. Full of crafts, food, and beverages. The Midwest in the kiddos went for corn on a stick!

We had heard of the Fuji Safari park and decided to try it out on our way home. Going into it we thought it would be much like a zoo. NO... It was completely different!! The animals were LOOSE!!! You drive through the park and the animals would roam about. There were signs placed not to roll down your window and keep your doors locked. That's it... This park would NEVER work in the states!!

Oh, hello lion sitting above our car..

Did I mention the animals can cross the street..

We then parked our car and went into the "active" part of the park. I mean how much more active can it get?

As active as petting a kangaroo chilling!!

Hello..

Christmas 2016

There are many advantages to being stationed in Japan. One of them is the awesome launching pad it is to explore all of Asia! 

This past holiday we hit the sea and cruised to Cambodia, Taiwan (two stops), Vietnam (two stops), and Bruni. All together the cruise was eleven days out if Singapore.

There wasn't one stop we didn't like!! The ship was constant entertainment and we even won first place in the gingerbread decorating contest out of 400+ participants!!

It was a holiday we'll always remember (and hopefully the kiddos will too😉).

Claire getting ready for Christmas dinner😊

Sorry, we took a ton of photos and I took them off of my phone for space before updating the blog😳😁