Slept pretty good and got up around 6ish. Had coffee
and toast and the kids had cereal, eggs, juice, and milk. After we
had our breakfast and headed over to Alice's brothers.
Forgot to mention one thing about last night. Even
though we were less than 1 mile from our cabin I managed to get lost
and we drove around the mountain for an extra 10 minutes. No street
lights or street signs. In the end we made it of course.
Ok back to day 5. We hung out at Alice's brother's as it was
still raining out and we were not sure what the weather was going to
do. I think I could just sit and stare out Alice's brother's dining room all
day as the view is just indescribable. Mountains, forest, jungle all
surrounding a pristine lake. Alice's brother's house sits quite high up so it
just adds to the beauty.
It got to be lunch time and we got
to eat at a genuine authentic Japanese lunch. Very simple, very
healthy and very inexpensive. We had Noodles, seaweed, wasabi, and 2
kinds of dressings. One was soy sauce, water, sugar. (Japanese) and
the other one was Chinese. And it was oil and some other ingredient
that Alice doesn’t remember but she said it was good. All of the
Bertelsons were starting to get the hang of using chop sticks.
After lunch we decided. OH WAIT- Once again I forgot a big
highlight. I am writing the past 2 days on the 6th day as I left my
journal at the food store after the shop. Alice's brother rung them up at 10 am
and to my good fortune the journal had been found and turned in for
safe keeping. Alice's brother's wife has said that you could leave your wallet and
some one would turn it in almost all the time. Alice's brother even said that
you could end up with even more money then what you started with. No
really, the people here are just not thieves in general.
Ok,
got my journal back and we are back to present. Cleaned up lunch and
we decided to go to the 100 YEN store. AKA Japanese dollar store. So
rain or shine you have plenty of fun at the 100 yen store. The kids
all got 1000 yen each ($10.00) and Alice and I spent just a little
more than that. I got some big tongs, a broom, extra long cooking
chop sticks, some tooth picks and some rice bowls, and some really
sharp knives. Not sure what the kids and Alice got but I guess it
doesn’t matter as this is my journal.
It is still grey out
so we are going to Justco to look around and take funny pictures.
Actually pretty nice pictures. Apparently the picture booths are a
big hit in Japan. In fact most of the bigger stores have at least 3
or 4 machines set up. The cost is about 4.00 and you can get up to
30 pics pending on the size.
Prior to playing with the
picture booths the guys sat down in these amazing
chairs. They cost around $1500.00
and I wish I could mail one home. First you had to learn how to use
the remote control that I think you could launch the space shuttle
with. They massaged you from head to toe. And I mean they squeezed,
chopped, tapped, vibrated, and rolled over every part of you body. I
did not want to get out of the chair. I almost fell asleep. I sure
wish I could get one of these home.
Speaking of wishing, I
wish I had my video cam with me today as I could be getting some
good footage. Hope we can do a remake of today before the holiday is
over. The girls looked
around for a bit and Alice's brother
and I snuck off for a little sushi snack. Yea sushi at K-mart so to
speak. Fresh made and very cheap. We picked out what we wanted, paid
for it, got our chop sticks, soy and wasabi at the check out and
walked over to the food court to enjoy.
The rest of the gang
got a box of frozen fruit pops and came over to the food court. We
finished our snack and headed up to the game
room. Lots of different games for
the kids and
adults to play as well. We played
for an hour or so and took the pics in the booth’s and headed home.
I have been driving today and it has been quite fun.
Steering wheel is on the right and you drive on the left side of the
road. We went to our separate cabins tonight and made our own
dinner. I cooked some Japanese mac and cheese for the girls and I
also cooked up some wontons that we bought at the grocery. Matt, Alice and
I had a smorgasbord
of sushi that we bought
pre-made. I am going to make sushi at home next time.
WHEW,
I am caught up and going to bed. Actually I am going for a run as
this is day 6. Happy B day GAN GAN. Kenzie and I are going for a
run.