A Day with the Monkeys

No, I am not talking about my children. On Saturday we took the kids to a small town called Arashiyama. This town, which lies on the outskirts of Kyoto, is famous for the Japanese Monkey's, Bamboo Groves and the running river rapids.

We were given explicit instructions to not feed the monkeys, do not touch the monkeys and do not look at the monkeys. Normally we would laugh at being told this, but last weekend a friend of ours went to the mountain and did not listen to this advice and was attacked by a monkey. So we were very diligent to follow these instructions. We had to hike about 20 minutes up the mountain to reach the area where most of the monkeys were.


After you walk around the top of the mountain you can go into this special building to feed the monkeys through a fence.

The top of the mountain also has an amazing view of Kyoto and the surrounding areas.

On the way down the mountain there was a small playground.

After we left the monkey mountainside we got ourselves lunch and then walked around the town for a while.


After lunch we hiked up another mountain to check out the view.

On our way back to the train station we walked through the bamboo groves. It was so surreal to be walking through a bamboo path.

As usual I have posted about 200 more pictures here. (I may need some new computer memory after all the pictures I have been taking!)

Weekend Wrap Up

It's been a productive, yet very fun, weekend.

Friday night I finished cleaning the house (yes another thing off my to-do list!) while Matt cleaned up the boat. Afterwards, Emily had a friend spend the night and we just hung out around here.I think Matt enjoyed spending some extra time with Emily and her friend.

Yesterday we dropped Emily off at practice and then spent the morning getting some stock up items for Matt's air shipment (they are packing his stuff on Oct. 15), as well as picking out a small TV for our bedroom in Japan. The old tube TV in our bedroom here will become victim of the "digital converter" in February, so it just made better sense to get a new one for Matt to take with him. While a pop up tv would be pretty cool so we won't have to see it all the time, we just settled on one to mount on the bedroom wall.

Last night Matt and I caught up with some of our closest friends, Matt and Kate, as they were in town from Ohio for the night before they headed to the beach for the week. We managed to catch dinner and the big Buckeye game (what a win!). We will be meeting up with them and their kids at the beach next weekend. I am looking forward to spending some time with them. It's hard to believe and Matt and Matt (imagine calling their place during college) have been best friends for over 15 years.

This morning the kids had their second language class (they are loving their teacher) and then we met Val and her family. Yes they are here! We spend the afternoon tubing, skiing, wake boarding and swimming out on the boat and then went to one of our favorite Mexican restaurants for supper. It was funny watching the kids. There was no awkwardness and it was like we have never been apart. Val and the kids are here all week and Neil is here until Tuesday night. I can't wait to show them some of the cool places in the Raleigh area. I am sure I will have lots of pictures from the week to share.

So what did you do this weekend? Leave me a comment and give me a wrap up.

Back from MIA

Saturday the whole family flew from NC to Ohio to visit family and friends until Tuesday. Sunday Jamie and her two girls drove from Illinois to Ohio to stay overnight with me and the girls in a hotel. A fun "girls only" shopping and overnighter. On the way her youngest (Hannah) got "car sick" once and that was it. But no big deal.

Fast forward to Monday. We had an awesome trip thus far. It was 8:30 pm and we were getting ready to leave my SIL house and head back to Matt and Kate's house (where we were staying). Sam had been laying all over me and refused to play with her cousins. When I told her to go play and stop being such a whiner she started saying her tummy hurt. Whatever Sam. Go play. Two minutes later she came up to me, took one look and projectile vomited all over me, the floor, the couch, herself, everything. I felt like such a bad mom. I asked her why she didn't tell me she wasn't feeling good and she reminded me that she did and I just said "go play".

She puked 6 more times between midnight and when our flight took off at 6 am. Then she puked again in the plane. At 4 am Emily started puking. She also puked on the plane. Jamie told me Tuesday that her oldest kid started puking in full force on their drive back and the lead story on the news is the flu in Illinois.

Since then I got sick as well. And the lead story today on the NC news was the flu epidemic. Apparently this strain was not part of the flu shot and it is everywhere.

Chris and Matt so far are fine. Thank goodness because Matt leaves with the chickens on Saturday for Japan. The girls are much better and back at school. And I think I am finally coming off my Imodium overdose. Lots of Lysol, antibacterial gel and air cleaners going on here.

I hope to get caught up with everyone's blogs soon. I promise.