Our New House in Belgium

After about 6 weeks in the hotel, we finally found a house to rent in Belgium. It has five bedrooms and a nice little loft that just fits our most comfortable couch fro reading books and making blog posts! The backyard is huge with two tire swings for the children and a nice little fire pit for "campfires". We couldn't have happened upon a better suited place for our family here!!!

Our New House in Belgium

After about six weeks in Belgium we finally found a new house. It's in a very nice neighborhood. We have five bedrooms and, for the first time in a long time, a wonderful kitchen. It has a big back yard with two tire swings for the children and a neat little fire pit for "campfires" in the backyard as well. There is a comfortable loft on the second floor for reading books and making blog posts!

Kumamoto

(April 17-18)

Suizenji Park in Kumamoto was just wonderful! Suizenji-Jojuen is a spacious, Japanese style landscape garden in Kumamoto. It was built by the Hosokawa family in the 17th century.

Mount Aso is the largest volcano in Japan, and one of the largest in the world. An erruption that took place from 300,000 to 90,000 years ago created a huge caldera (crater), 25km across north to south and 18km across east to west. Its circumference is estimated between 80 and 120km.

Kumamoto Castle

October/November

We have been so busy this past month, We've hardly been able to keep up with our pictures, let alone our blog. Here are some highlights:

Yosakoi - October 25th

Every year we love to see the performances at Yosakoi. Here's a snippet from one of our favorite groups at this year's festival.

We really wish we could share how wonderful this festival is with our friends and family first hand (this video does not do the festival justice). Yosakoi is a local festival in Sasebo (and it's outlying areas) celebrating the fall harvest. The dancing, music, and costumes are just amazing.

Aiden's Birthday - October 28th

For Aiden's Birthday our family had a new addition. Stella is a 5 month old miniature poodle. Nope, that's not a stuffed animal in that pic, that's a real puppy!!!

Aiden also had an awesome birthday party on

Halloween night; fully equipped with costumes and a Trick-or-Treat excursion immediately following it.

Unchi Festival - November 2nd

We also made it to Karatsu for the Unchi Festival (an awesome "parade" where antique floats are pulled through the narrow streets of downtown).

Karatsu Kunchi is an autumn festival that takes place annually over 3 days from November 2 to 4 in Karatsu City, located in Saga Prefecture, Kyushu in the south western part of Japan. In 1980 the festival was designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property.

Karatsu Kunchi is an epic event in which local people, in time with rhythmical music, pull large floats through the town, to sound of flutes and drums, shouting the traditional prompting, "Enya! Enya!". Huge helmets or lions decorate the base of the floats, known as Hikiyama, which are 5 to 6 m (6 yd.) high and weigh from 2 to 5 tons.

The basic structure of each Hikiyama is made from wood, and topped with a large decoration made from clay or wood over which, along with hundreds of sheets of washi paper, linen and other materials are laid. The surface is covered with different types of lacquer and finished with gold and silver leaf. It is said that each neighborhood spent enormous sums of money on the floats that took 2 to 3 years to complete. The 14 Hikiyama that are still used today were offered to Karatsu Shrine between 1819 and 1876.

The first day of the festival is the eve event on November 2. A special mood prevails as the 14 Hikiyama, decked with paper lanterns, are pulled around the town. Lit by lanterns on an autumn evening, the Hikiyama create a magical scene.

On the second day, with the portable shrine of Karatsu Shrine leading the way, the Hikiyama are pulled to Nishinohama, a sandy beach. The sight of people hauling the huge floats through the sand is an epic spectacle.

On the third day, teams dressed in the traditional uniforms of Edo Period (1603-1868) firefighters pull the Hikiyama through their neighborhoods. This is the day on which these floats are returned to their storage building, the Hikiyama Float Exhibition Hall. Regretful that the festival has ended, the participants playact as they are reluctant to put their floats away and a sorrowful feeling fills the air.

Saga International Balloon Fiesta - November 3rd

Most recently, we made it to the 30th annual Saga International Balloon Fiesta. During the night, many balloons lit by their burners loom up in the darkness. They are fired on and off to the live music at the launch site and joined by fireworks at the end of the evening. It's a really impressive scene! Unfortunately, this year, we pulled up just in time to catch the very end. (Darn those faculty meetings!!!)

Isanoura Lake

Lake Isanoura

This past weekend we got out for one last camping trip. We had perfect weather! We set up our camp on Friday and sat back to watch the kids ride their bikes. The campground at Lake Isanoura is nestled right up against the lake and just breathtaking in the evening. There are many trails for hiking all over the park. Even a 5 kilometer paved trail around the lake for pedestrians and cyclists.

We did a nice hike Saturday morning after

packing up camp. It was highlighted by a super bouncy suspension bridge. Ilana and Michael really got it swinging. Barbara was not impressed!!!

After our hike we

rented a paddle boat for a cruise around the lake.

With Aiden at the helm we were in for an interesting ride.

Another Hanmoto Camping Trip

Well, we couldn't help it...We love the Hanmoto campground so much we returned for another 3-day/2-night stay. That's just about all the sun our pastey white bodies can take!!! This time the weather was wonderful, aside from a 1am downpour during our last night.

We had a little bit of a delayed departure from the campground

while waiting for our tent, shelter, and some other items to get dried by the sun. However, it was a great excuse for another dip in the ocean.

This time we got a little smarter and played Hirado Island tourists during the "sunburniest" parts of the day! Aside from the Hanmoto Campground & Beach, we ventured out to walk across a bridge built in 1702.

The Oranda-Bashi (Dutch Bridge) was actually built in 1669 out of

wood; but, when the Dutch came to Japan, this bridge was rebuilt by the Japanese in 1702 using Dutch building techniques.

Another thing we were able to do was check out Kawachi Mountain Pass in Hirado. The pass is quite a hike!!!

We made it over the the first two mountains and then

decided to call it quits. After all, the goal of being tourists

for the afternoon was to stay out of the sun, and we weren't doing a good job of it!!! But, we got several choice pics on the peaks. If you can distract your attention from the imperious display of manhood on the picture to the right, you'll see the beautiful cascade of rolling mountains fading off into the distance. Simply breathtaking!!!

In addition to these adventures, we were able to make a trip to Tabira Park and the Tabira Insect Museum on the way home! Both of which were outstanding spots that we will have to visit again!!!

All in all, an outstanding and fun-filled 3 days!!!