And last but not least, the guys who made this all possible!!

From the left:

Hikaru, Fukushima, me, Ushida, & Michi

Another view from the top. I think the dude to the left is either awe struck or lost.........

This is a view from the top. A picture can't explain the view I saw, but you get the idea.

God's creation is awesome!

The word for today is "Negative"

Here is another view from the bottom. The ski lift to the left is actually an aerial tramway; in other words it fits 15 people, moves much faster than a typical chair lift, and you stand up. I have never been one before because again, the snow parks in Ohio don't need them.

This also gives you a better feeling of the overall height and length of this mountain.

This picture was taken 180° from the previous picture. Here is Takasu snow park. Granted it doesn't look too big, but the mountain is actually deceiving. It table tops where the top looks to be (in the center) and then to the left is where the actually peak is. Let's just say I have never experienced anything like it! Their bunny hill was about the equivalent to Ohio's tallest point.

Hey everyone, this is Aaron. I know I haven't done much posting, but I thought I would personalize this one.

These next few pictures were taken in Gifu Prefecture, Takasu Snow park. I have to say this is one of the most amazing places I have ever been. The views I saw from the top of the mountain were unbelievable.

The picture you see here was taken when we arrived at the snow park. (The park in the picture is not the one we boarded at!!) There are actually about 10 snow parks in this area. We decided to go to the tallest, longest park of course!

This picture says it all......I'm tired!!!!!!! We had a blast, but we were dead tired by the time we got home! We spent the rest of the weekend catching up on lost sleep. Aaron went back to work today and we resume Japanese lessons tomorrow. We are glad because we have really missed Sasaki-sensei! We hope that you all had a great Christmas and New Years! Thanks for thinking about us and for your prayers.

The view from the temple.

We went to the Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto and while we were walking up the steps, we saw a geisha! Check out her shoes! We watched her go down all the steps and she never fell!!!!

We did a lot of walking!!!

We left very early and drove to Kyoto the next day. We first visited the Golden Pavilion (Rokuon-ji Temple). It is coated in real gold! It was very beautiful.

Our hotel in Hiroshima. It was nice and clean and had a great view!

Castle in Hiroshima.

Don't drop him!!!! We probably should have left the stroller in the car.....

While in Hiroshima, we went and visited this garden! It was so beautiful!

Isn't he just so cute???

A street in Hiroshima.

A closer look at the A-bomb dome.

This is the A-bomb dome. It was very close to the location where the bomb was dropped. They have preserved it as much as possible, so this is what it looked like right after the bomb was dropped.

This is a memorial for all of the children who died as a result of the bomb.

This is at the Peace Memorial Park.

A statue at the Peace Park.

The most amazing part of this whole trip was visiting the A-Bomb dome, Peace Memorial Park and museum. I have been trying to put my feelings into words since we were there, but I just cannot. First, I am amazed that I have even been there. Second, I wish that I would have paid more attention in history in school, so that I would have known a little more about it before going here! In all seriousness, it was so surreal to be there and also very sad that so many people had to die. This is definitely something that we will never forget!

Aaron had the last week off of work, so we took our last big trip and went to Hiroshima and Kyoto. We drove, and it took us about 6 hours. Once we were in Hiroshima, we saw this cool street car system they had there....it just made driving that much crazier!!! Yet another thing to watch out for besides pedestrians, bicycles, motorcycles and scooters!!!!

This is Conner's favorite Christmas present. He loves singing in the microphone.

Go Bucks!!!!!

Here is Conner on Christmas! Actually, we celebrated the weekend before because Aaron had to work on Christmas day. Being so far away from home really made us realize even more that no matter where you are, the reason for Christmas is always the same--celebrating the birth of Jesus!

This is Aaron wall climbing! He and Matt went twice and they had a blast!

This is at the Mt. Fuji rest stop off the highway. We had some ice cream at the McDonald's inside.....that has to be the best view from any McDonald's I've ever been to!

Matt's first visit to the Pacific Ocean!

Mt. Fuji!

We went to this park in Shimizu to view Mt. Fuji.

We took a trip to Kakegawa castle with mom and Matt.