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We had 5 days off last week here in Japan, and we and my parents and little brother took Linc on his first trip to Nagano. This was actually UltraBob’s idea; He thought it’d be nice to visit and spend time in his most favorite area in Japan. We wanted to avoid traffic jams as much as possible, so we left about 5 in the morning, heading down to Yatsugatake area in Yamanashi prefecture first.
Linc enjoyed seeing cows and sheep on a farm (Japanese) there, walked all over, and had some licks of a really tasty soft cream cone.
In the afternoon, we visited a café in the same area called Yatsugatake Club (Japanese) which is owned by a famous Japanese TV personality. He was the MC for a quiz show that my brother and I used to watch. This cafe (or should I call it a restaurant) serves great fruit tea which I’d definitely recommend anyone who’s in Japan and has a chance to come down near by. The restaurant is surrounded by a huge garden which the owner created with his friends taking a few years. There are lots of trees and flowers all over, and you can see he takes good care of it now as well. Also he has an art gallery right next to the café part, so you can enjoy some art at the same time. I just loved the fruit tea. UB had a glass of sangria (editor’s note: meh.), and others shared the tea and some cakes.
We stayed at a pension located in front of Shirakaba lake in Nagano that night. Linc was worn out and slept pretty good.
Next morning we had a very nice long walk around the lake. It was a peaceful morning by the lake.
Before heading down to a hotel (Japanese) for the second night, we stopped by the Maruyama coffee shop (Japanese) which was one of the main things UB and I wanted to do in this trip. If you are a coffee lover in Japan, you might have heard of this pretty good coffee roaster. We tasted the coffee and brought some beans home. The hotel room was interesting; it had two stories: the upstairs had futons and tables, and downstairs there was a private bath with a garden attached and a massage chair. We also rode a mountain cable car that leads to a public hot spring located up on the hill next to the hotel. This was quite exciting.
Next day we walked around the streets of Karuizawa and drove to an American styled diner (japanese) in Nagano city just to try their hamburger that UB had seen in a magazine and wanted to try. The burger was pretty alright, but the service was really good. The manager was passionate about American culture and talked with UB and me for a while. Already it was time to go back home, we got into a terrible traffic jam and it took us about 7 hours to get back (usually it is about a 3 hour drive). Linc was again very cooperative. Where to next?
Wishing today a VERY happy birthday to one Jessica McDonald, my beautiful new daughter in law. I believe she is a whopping 21 today...perhaps 22?
Anyway, I hope it was a day of being spoiled, which is MY favorite way to spend a birthday!
Also, hoping a very happy birthday was had by Heath Christensen, soon to by my handsome son in law on Sept 22nd. September is getting to be a month to remember!
Happy birthday kids, I just realized I hadn’t known Heath’s last name until this very moment.
Happy Birthday to both of you!
Thank you! And happy belated birthday to Heath! I turned 22 this year.
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: Johnny has passed the Idaho Bar! He only had to wait about 2 months to find out, a piece of cake, right? The funny thing is, he said the night before he was due to find out that he slept very poorly and kept waking up after dreaming he had passed. He told me he almost wished he had been dreaming he failed, so he could have been relieved when he woke up! Wait, I just had a thought; maybe THIS whole thing is a dream…..NAH! Congrats, Johnny. I always knew you could do it, and as always, I was right☺
Ultra fans, what can I say? So much going on, so little time to write! Even now I should be doing so many other things: studying for my current test, cleaning up the kitchen, getting some sleep, but instead I’m using my precious time to catch you up…you’re welcome!
Let me back up to two weekends ago, Labor Day weekend. As you all know, in America we celebrate this day by decidedly NOT working. Lucky us, UltraDad and I got to celebrate by going on an overnight camping trip with the recent-weds Jimbo and Jessica. We loaded our gear in the kids’ new Scion SD and headed for Great Basin National Park, and, more specifically, for the legendary Lehman Caves. We were snug, what with all the gear, but we all fit. On Friday night we pitched a group tent, built a campfire and roasted bratwurst and marshmallows. UltraDad stumbled across a huge, but well disguised hornet’s nest while gathering firewood and got stung on the face, but it didn’t affect him much. I’m not sure about anyone else, but I slept like a rock. The next morning, we had another fire and attempted to roast poptarts before packing up camp and heading off for our pre-booked Lehman Caves tour. The cave was amazing; stalactites, stalagmites, helictites, flowstone, popcorn, and clam-shell shield formations, which, we were told, are pretty rare. Our park ranger guide was pleasant and informative. Well worth the effort and fee. We next took a walking trail to a bristle-cone pine grove, and then to a small glacier; according to our guide Jimbo, the hike was over 6 miles long. This was encouraging to me as I was planning quite a long hike in a week’s time, but more about that later. We had a quick picnic with what was left of the lunchmeat and made the long, long drive back to Carlin. Jimbo and Jessica spent much of the next day working on my flowerbeds/yard, and they got a pile of work done. It looks amazing! Jessica weeded and transplanted scores of Irises, while Jimbo shored and leveled up the broken down flower/retaining bed outside the back door. Instead of a mass of unruly weeks, it now sports transplanted raspberry bushes and iris. Thanks, kids!
Now, you may remember that UltraMom has been getting up really early nearly every weekday morning to walk with some friends. A month or so ago, Tonya, one of those friends had an idea: “We should do Race to the Angel this year!” She passed out downloaded applications forms, and when the time came, booked us a motel room in Wells, where the race would begin. Your $30 gets you a T-shirt and the opportunity to walk, run, or bike the 13 miles to Angel Lake, gaining 2800 vertical feet as you go. Sponsored by the Wells Chamber of Commerce, there are water and fruit stations along the way, as well as a roving ambulance and police car to pick up the quitters. Tonya, Rachel and I made the walk in just under 5 hours. We were outpaced by the other walkers, and passed by runners and bikers, but unlike some of the participants, we were NOT quitters. Tonya tried to keep it fun and motivating. Our daily walk is usually just a little over 3 miles, so when we passed the 3.5 mile mark she informed us that ‘Monday’s walk was done and we were starting on Tuesday.” Tuesday wasn’t too bad and soon we were on Wednesday. The road got steeper and steeper as we got nearer the end. Finally Tonya informed us we were starting on Thursday. The good news was that we were taking Friday off. “Thursday,” said Rachel with feeling, “is a bitch!” As we had planned, we linked arms and crossed the finish line together; what a great feeling! We were very glad that we had a ride back down. Soon we were joining the others at the post-race picnic.
In between all of this, UltraMom has been busy with the first few ‘fun-packed’ weeks of Nursing school, as well as working. VERY reluctantly, notice has been given at the job, but I get to keep working a couple of days a week until my replacement has been interviewed and hired, which is probably a couple more weeks. School is every day, and is intense. One of my classmates is Kim, who attended high school in Carlin and learned Calculus from my smart sister-in-law, Pat. After attending college in Reno, Kim is again living at home a few miles outside of Carlin so she can attend nursing school at Great Basin College, and we have been doing some carpooling, which has been very nice. Today, all 22 of us first-year nursing students loaded up in cars and vans and headed to Twin Falls, ID for some team building activities. At the CSI Challenge Course, we were led in activities by a young man and a young woman, whose names I have forgotten, or perhaps never knew. We took turns being blindfolded and trusting a partner to walk us around. We played partner-tag. We planned our best strategy to quickly complete a number challenge; we lined up on a log and sorted ourselves from shortest to tallest without stepping off the log. But the most fun was the ‘flying squirrel’, where we strapped into a harness and got to fly into the air with the aid of our teammates pulling on a rope. I was nervous about that one, but ended up loving it. Next week it’s back to crazy, can’t get it all done, but for this one day, school was really quite fun! See you next time I come up for air.
UltraMom, still not sure about all this, but determined to do the thing!
Congratulations Johnny, we never had any doubts that you would pass, we guessed that your skills at law were probably in line with your skills at Dr. Mario, and those have certainly improved greatly.
UltraMom, it sounds like you’ve really been having a flurry of activity! I know you’ll do great at school, hang in there! Bob, Linc , and I are in your cheering section!
Also in your cheering section here. And grateful you took the time to post an update.
Congrats Johnny. I, too, never doubted.
Congratulations Johnny!!! Very proud of you, but never doubted you would pass. Heath and I decided you need to become a judge and have one of those judge shows on T.V. You are so funny I think it could be pretty entertaining.
Congrats Johnny! I think you were the only person who doubted you’d pass.
Sounds like you’re busy UltraMom!! I hope you’re not getting burned out or too tired.
Thanks, UltraJessica; I’m getting just a tiny bit of both, but I’m hanging in there!
Thanks for the kind words people. Mom, nice to see you posting again. Best of luck in school, I’m sure you will do great!
Johnny, I was VERY worried about you...seems everyone else had great confindence in you but none of them shared a home with you right before law school (JUST KIDDING!!!).
Kathy, I am very jealous of your hike and girl friend group. John and I did a little hiking of our own this past week in Glacier and at Lake Louise in Canada. As beautiful as I remembered when Daddy took us.
Apparently I am the only one who is absolutely shocked that John was able to pass the bar. Really never saw that one coming.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard a better cover of Puff the Magic Dragon. Way to go Linc!
I love this! Especially the ‘ta das’ and the no pants!
When does he go on tour?
Its official! My little girl is getting married next July 10th, place yet to be determined. She has only known Heath for about 8 years, so I hope these kids know what they are doing! Actually, we are all more or less inwardly thinking “It’s about time!” aren’t we? Here are the details as related to me: Heath took Heather on a long hike, at the end of which he pretended to hurt his ankle. As we was bent down on one knee, she concernedly asking “Are you all right?” his answer was “Will you marry me?”
I am VERY happy and VERY excited. Finally I will get that 4th son!
UltraMom the professional mother in law and long distance grandma extraordinaire
Photo taken at Jim and Jessica’s wedding
Congratulations to the young people in question. It is, indeed, about time. I do have to ask, who is it that is paying you for your mother-in-law services?
Perhaps “professional” was the wrong choice of words. Maybe ‘seasoned’?
Yes, you do have a bit of a hickory smoked air about you.
Congratulations!! Heather, I missed your Skype chat with Bob, but I read it later. Soooo happy for you and Heath.
Whoopee!! I’m really excited for you guys!!
COngradulations Heather and Heath!!! It was SO great getting to know Heath better at Jim and Jessica’s wedding week and we are really looking forward to this event!!!
Wow! So excited to hear this news a little disappointed that the professional mother in law made a typo with the date though. I believe, she meant October 7, 2010. 7-10 vs. 10-7 so easy to get confused.
Thank you everyone. We are pretty excited to get married on 7-10-10:)
Let’s see how many different video services we can test out shall we?
I love this! He looks so happy and excited. I especially love the scream/laugh. Where is this place? Were there other things for kids to do?
That is SO cute!!! Kathy, would that be your worst nightmare to be in a place like that?
Actually, not unless someone was popping them! Otherwise, it would be fun!
Wow! That sounds like a great time. Nice pictures, but I am not used to seeing Motoji in glasses! Linc seems to really be enjoying the farm animals. Did you use his new stroller? It sounds like a LOT more fun that studying all the time:(
UltraGirl, you should post more often!
you can see the steering wheel of his new stroller in the photo of Linc’s view of the lake. It is working out really well for us.
I wondered if that was his steering wheel. So it was worth all the trouble to lug it home from Boise! Has your back healed up?
It looks like such a beautiful area! I am very intrigued by the little heat source for the tea--very cool looking.
Sounds like a lot of fun and looks beautiful. I also might add that that tea and the burger both made me want to try them. Bob, you make a very beautiful Mona Lisa. Linc seems to be a one handed Mona Lisa.
Those pictures are beautiful!! It sounds like you all had a wonderful time.
Nice post Tomo. Isn’t that where the Olympics took place several years ago? Bob, I am having to type the password once again. What did I do to get kicked off the easy post? Love AD
Yes, aunt Debi. It is the place the Olympics were held. Bob says you just need to click the link above the comment form to log-in, type your username and password, tell it to remember you, and you’ll be good to go for another long while.