Chris' Birthday Trip

Yes, I know it has been forever since I've updated our blog, but I have a perfectly good reason. Even though we've been in our house for almost a month, we just got the internet connected last week.  See, that is a good reason, right?
Well, since I've last blogged, we've been quite busy. We learned how to drive on the left side of the street on the right side of the car,  we moved into our cho (house) which we love, we took a day trip to celebrate Chris' birthday, and Chris left for his first deployment.
For Chris' birthday we took a trip through the MWR (a place on base that plans wonderful day trips) to a market, Japanese buffet, and an onsen (a private family natural hot springs bath) and a tea.  It was a wonderful experience!  Our first stop was to a market where we saw huge and unique foods, here are just a few pictures. Notice the huge grapefruit, red carrots, and yes, that's fish on a stick (this picture is just for my nephew).

Then we headed to the Japanese style buffet. It had some delicious, but also different foods, such as chicken feet. Sorry, I couldn't bring myself to take a picture of them this time.  Our view while we were eating was beautiful, it had just snowed the night before, and the snow was so pretty glistening in the sunlight.

Then we loaded the bus for the Japanese onsen. These places are all over Japan. They are natural hot springs baths and your skin feels so soft after you get out of the extremely hot water!  When you first enter the onsen, you go downstairs to a long hallway full of doors.  Inside each door is your own private onsen!  All of the onsens face a beautiful view of the mountain. It was a fun experience and we can't wait to try more! Then we ended the day at the onsen with some hot green tea.  Chris had a great birthday and it was a fun last trip before he left.