There are two caves in these pics, the below pics are of a "vertical shaft" cave. It was kinda scarry going down, down down into this cave. We had to take turns staying with Ili at the top as it was too dangerous to take her all the way down to the bottom on the slippery ladders. Inside the cave the temperature drops to 12C compared to over 30C outside. The kids had a blast exploring the various little indents as well as dodging the bats! HA!

HI All!! XOXO!!
SO SO Sorry about the lack of new material on this site. I am trying to post more new pics as I get a spare minute or two. Here are a couple of us on a recent excursion to a natural cave called "winds hole" (HA!) Not the best pics, sorry, but it was a fun day. The water in the stream running from the cave was literally like melted ice, too cold to stand in for more than a second or two even in 35C weather. Somehow the kids managed to swim in it-don't ask me how-HA! Crazy kids!! More pics coming soon. Love to all!!

Our 14th Anniversary!!

We celebrated our 14th Anniversary this March! Amazing how time passes so quickly! Jeff was all hush, hush about his plans. Little did I know he had planned an all day outing to Himeji Castle, one of the oldest and most well preserved castles in Japan. It took us about 2 1/2 hours to get there by bus and train, and worth every minute of it. Close by this castle is the area where "The Last Samurai" movie was shot in part. It took us so long to see the main castle and surrounding buildings that it was too late to go up there, but we hope to someday. We finished the day by finding a cute little Turkish restaurant (we had the whole 20-seater place to ourselves-HA!) where we enjoyed kabobs before heading home.

Here are a few pictures of the experience, one neither of us will forget! Thank you so much, Babe. I love you and thank you for 14 WONDERFUL years! Also a huge thanks to Titus and Mia for watching the 6 fascals so we could take off, not something we have had the privilege to do that many times! We love you!

The walls are made of these huge rocks all put together like puzzle, pretty neat.
This is the other side of a passageway you have to go through to get into the main complex. See how low it is? HA!
Some are made out of hue rocks. The sometimes used coffin stones for the top of the passageways because they were so big, like this one.

On the way into the castle. You have to pass through all these corridors, etc, to get in. An old defense strategy.
The real deal. Old Samurai armour on display inside the castle. I overheard someone say that the fake mustache was to show that the warrior was very young. Not so sure if this is true or not, but he was a tour guide, so maybe it is-:)
A view from inside the castle. I don't remember if this was the 4th or 5th level. There are 6 levels in all. You can see the other area of the complex where the princess and her dozens of ladies in waiting lived.

This is one of the entrances. It is so low that we couldn't stand up at one point.
Another one of those passage ways. They hang red ribbons from the top so you don't hit your head on the iron frame. :) (I managed to anyway-;P)
This is outside the main castle on the castle grounds where there used to be a whole complex of other houses for Lords and Ladies. (they burned down-:( )You can see the main wall in the background. This was already quite high up. (and coooold!!)

Here we are just inside the main gate, you can see the wall and castle in the background.












Me inside the main gate

Jeff at the entrance to the complex. This place was quite intricate!

Dear Family and Friends,
We love you all so much and miss you bunches. I wanted to comment real quick on the shortage of new pics on this blog. I have some I am going to post as soon as I get a free second (somewhere between hours 25-30 in the day-HA!) But honestly, I know you are all waiting to see what we have been up to and how the kids have grown. Sorry to keep you waiting. Check back soon, you may be surprised! XXX! Love you!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Mila!!!! Miss you and pray that this was the best birthday ever!!! Happy 35! XXX!

It took me two days to cook it all from scratch using our micowave size oven, (which we are SO happy to have, ovens are rare here) but here is the final product! Actually this is only about 1/4th of the dinner, our table was too small-:) We had many of our local friends over for dinner, it was quite an evening full of fun and new friends.

Titus anxiously awaits the feast!! :)

Our Little Reindeer

Vincent and Aeryn helping to make Christmas cookies. All the kids were such a big help.

"Read to me, Vincent!!"

Iliana just LOVES her books------can't you tell??

Christmas Witnessing!!

The kids had so much fun passing out tracts this Christmas season. We met so many precious people along the way. It is hard not to be noticed when you are a blond kid passing out tracts in a park crowded with dark-haired Japanese! HA!

Usually it was too cold to stay out for more than about 1 hour each day, but all together they gave out over 2000 in about 5 days!! It was fun racing to see who would get out the most each day. The final score.......? Little Ethan, with Vincent as a close second. But they all did great and well deserving of a reward-Merry Christmas kidos, we love you!

Melanie and Iliana-Fun at the park.

Bye-Bye Lengthy Locks!! We'll miss you---A little.

Here is Ethan's hair right before I cut it. It was sad to cut it after a year and a half but when our neighbour asked us if we had 5 girls and 1 boy, we knew it was time to let it go-:)

The Pigeons were just too fascinating for little Ili, she was motionless for quite some time-and that is saying something! She has to be our most active child-keep us running-HA!

Day at the Zoo!!

Kaylee loves to pose!! HA! This was before Ethan's haircut. He just loved the snake-neck turtles-wierd things. :)

Sweet Baby--Iliana 8 months

OK So here it goes, guys. I finally have some time to post some new ones. I am going to try to get as many up as I can before I either run out of time, or my internet shuts off again-:P. ENJOY! We love you!!

Well we almost got everyone to look human............!

This was a long photo shoot. I counted 30 frames-HA! Not easy getting everyone to sit still and look pretty. I guess Ethan was trying a little too hard.--:)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

We love you!!

We miss you all sooo much. Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year!! Drop us a line sometime! XXX!