We heart MN!

Christian's first trip to the mid-west and my joyous return. We visited MN and SD for about 12 days. We arrived home and were kept busy with wedding stuff. After the business had settled, we were able to enjoy the steamy hot weather MN had to offer!

We caught up with old friends! And Christian tried walleye for the first time. Here we are out to dinner with Nicole and Aaron.


Off to SD for 2 days. At the boarder...


Leave it to Christian and I to use the most of our camera memory on a spider...

A reunion with Salsa


Beautiful spider...


Christian overjoyed to hold her...


And so happy to see one of my favorite profs and one of my Sioux Falls families...


We did lots more in SD that we just never took pictures of! I was so happy to visit again with old friends, have a BBQ and for Christian to eat Mexican for the first time!

On the way home we stopped by Pipestone National Park for a hike around the query!

The beautiful prairie...

and us...


Christian and the query...


Us at the waterfall...


and as usual...I was found at the bookstore reading the children's books


We also headed up to Taylors Falls for a hike! It was beautiful!


We found another waterfall...


Check it out...


And the best birthday present ever!! AMAZING tickets to Wicked!!

adventures with friends.

Rick and Nicole came down to Uonuma to visit Christian and I over the holiday weekend (July 18th). We decided to hike to the same waterfall Christian and I had hiked to over the 4th, show them an old house and out for delicious horse!

The house is an old house which belongs to the Meguro family. It is a large property with a shrine and beautiful gardens. It is also the first house in Niigata to get electricity. Here we are at the gardens of the house...


The waterfall again...


Us at the waterfall...


Christian and Rick tried to see if they could throw rocks across the valley and hit the waterfall...


The boys also wanted to go swimming in the river. After 5 tries they were able to jump and make a heart...

4th of July hike

On the 4th Christian and I spent the afternoon hiking. The sky was overcast but the chances for rain were low...at least until we got to the start of the hike. It was a short 30 minute hike but it was pouring rain for the entire trip! The view at the end was worth it though!

The trail...


Us at the top


The beautiful view...


We did it!

Golden week in the Tokyo Islands

Hello my well, two followers…as you can see, I haven’t written in a long time. The honest answer is that well, I strongly dislike blogging and only do it for you mom and grandma.

It has been, well a good long time since I have written and so I am going to power blog, lots of entries in a short while. Sit back and hold on…

First, we have to go back a bit…like way back. This first entry is about my “Golden Week” trip. Christian and I had Thursday plus Monday-Wednesday off and with one day vacation, took advantage of our 7 day weekend.

We took a boat ride off the hustling and bustling city of Tokyo to the Tokyo Islands. There, we enjoyed the peace and quiet of the beautiful islands! No one could have ever guessed we were actually in Tokyo city!

The island we went to was Miyajima. It is known through out Japan as a young peoples or party island. It is also known to have the best surfing in Japan with waves similar to Hawaii. We also took a day trip to Shikenijiima which was a quiet little island a 15 minute ferry ride away. We enjoyed hiking and a quiet beach on that day.

Here are some pictures…

Christian and I are waiting for the ferry. It was an overnight ferry which left at about 11pm and got us to the island around 7 am.

We were able to get little “sleep spaces” on the ferry.

We’re here!! (with heavy backpacks full of camping supplies!)

Day 1 (April 30^th) we walked to the camp sight (about 5K) and set up our tent. The wind was blowing like crazy and actually blew our tent away at one point. We were invited into a group of surfers who had arrived earlier and found a more protected area. We also found some heavy rocks and bricks to weigh down the tent more.

After we set up, we walked down to the beach. It was beautiful! (note the beauty of the Japanese tetra pods…concrete in the water is so lovely)

The island is technically in the “sub-tropical” region but it surely did not feel like it. We were bundled up in a few layers and said “whoohoo, sub-tropical” as we took this picture!

Day 2 (May 1^st) on the island was sunny and lovely! We rented bikes for the remainder of the trip and spent this day exploring the island. We went to the history museum and learned many fun facts…such as a large population of the islands were people political exiles or criminals who were exiled there by the government.

We also explored the main temple and shrine of the island.

The temple…

Christian and me in front of a small shrine to some god…

Beautiful craftsmanship on this temple…

We also went to a “look out point” where we were able to climb around and find what we can only assume is an old look out tower…

And us…

After, we also went to a glass museum where they hand blow glass and to a sand onsen. The sand bath was wonderful! We were buried in hot sand for about 15 minutes. It felt a little warm but was amazing! After a long day we huddled in many layers in our sleeping bags for the night!

Day 3 (May 2^nd) was spent trying to learn to surf!

Since the island is known for it’s surfing, Christian wanted to try! We rented wetsuits, a surf board (for Christian) and a body board (for me).

We spent a few hours in the water and after been tossed and turned in the water till I was sure I knew what drowning felt like, I gave up and spend the afternoon in the sun reading Harry Potter.

Christian tried his luck surfing but gave up and had way more fun on my body board. Christian and his surf board…

After the adventure, we returned our rentals and headed to the free onsen for a warm bath and sunset.

Day 4 (May 3^rd) was our day trip to Shikenijima

We took the morning (about 10 am) ferry to the island and took a stroll around. There is not much to see or do on this island except hikes into the mountains and the beach. We found a preschool that had their carp “windsocks” up for children’s day (May 5^th). We thought these ones were so amazing because they were HUGE! We had to take a few pictures…

We enjoyed lunch and headed to the beach! It was a bit cold so I only went in for a short while. I enjoyed lying on the beach and reading while Christian hiked and climbed on the rocks.

And us…

The evening was spent playing in the stone animal museum and eating delicious sushi.

Day 5 (May 4^th) was time to go home

We packed up our tent…

Returned our faithful bikes…

And got back on the ferry…

It was a wonderful trip…little colder than we were expecting but better than Niigata!