Hirosaki Lantern Festival

This is our last half year in Japan and it's met with mixed emotions. My family and I will be forever grateful for the experiences and adventures we've experienced in our time here and amazed by the people we've met. We've truly felt this is where God has wanted us the last three years. Leaving will be hard but life is going on and we know we're not meant to live here forever. One thing we will miss about Japan immensely is their festivals. There are festivals all the time, in every season, in every weather. Yesterday we went to one of the winter festivals. On the grounds of Hirosaki Castle is the lantern festival. It was cool, and I love the way the Japanese embrace every season.

Hirosaki is a couple hours drive away, we got their about an hour before sunset.

In the springtime it's a cherry blossom filled moat, in winter a frozen moat.

Tubing hill.

snow sculptures.

We will also miss the festival food at the festivals.

Hirosaki Castle is in there somewhere.

Lots O lanterns!

This was a pretty area with lights on the trees and lanterns everywhere. They were giving the lanterns for guests to put out to display. I wish I would have asked what the lanterns represent.

My sweetheart and I! I'd say we'd be back to this one but we wont, we're moving before we would get the chance. Lots of changes coming up, we're going to enjoy our last bit here. We love Japan!

Winter Wonderland

Now that our winter wonderland is melting at a rapid pace I need to share my pictures from when it wasn't.

A couple of week ago we had a pretty big storm. It snowed for the better part of two days. I get a little antsy when I don't take pictures or blog for a while so I took some of the beautiful snow.

Then the sun came out and wow!

Winter in Misawa is pretty darn pretty.

Dance Time

Danielle had her winter formal tonight. She looked so beautiful!

Since she's on the student council she helped plan the dance and decorate for it. She's pretty impressive all around, can't believe she's mine sometimes.

Growing up so fast.

Flashback

So on our trip to Bali we took an old camera to let the kids take some pictures. I thought it was a good idea, right? Wrong! They ended up fighting over it most of the trip and I ended up taking it away several times throughout our stay, and forgot about it completely until we came across it the other day. The kids took some great pictures and some goofy ones too, here's some of their snapshots.

Avie is the photographer here and she has a very eager subject.

I love how in this picture Avie kept telling us to move back! She's an artist, very avant garde.

Our friend the frog.

Whoever took these got some great shots of the rice terraces!

The Bali Zoo

This was nice to find this camera and relive this fun trip, I might even let them do this again, maybe just make a camera schedule for the sake of peace!

Pinewood Derby

This past Saturday was the Pinewood Derby! Rayce did awesome, he had a design in mind for his car and did a great paint job. He ended up taking third place for the bears, and the surprise of the day, Avie Jo took first place in the sibling race!

Waiting for his turn.

Rayce with his pack.

Avie getting her trophy.
As the mom of a scout I'm trying to have a better attitude about scouts and not grumble about one more thing to do. It really has been a good experience for Rayce and hopefully it helps keep him on track spiritually. He's a great kid!