Hamamatsu

We live about 17 miles from Hamamatsu and go there a lot but this was the first time I actually remembered my camera.  It is an easy train ride but we usually drive.  We park near Zaza City, which is a  little mall with a Toys R Us and some nice shops, Mos burger and BaskinRobbins.  We decide to go to Hamamatsu Castle which has a great park to hang out in and lot of trails.  Unfortunately, it was quite cold and windy so we only hung out for about an hour.  Afterward we went to our favorite pizza place and it was gone. It had moved and we tried to follow the map but alass, all in Japanese.  We did stumble upon another pizza place and it was very nice, warm and excellent food. The menu was all in Japanese with no pictures but since Jeff has gotten very good with his Japanese, we were able to order.

 It was actually windy and cold today.

 Stairs to where?  Not sure.

 Julia running down the path.

 Hamamatsu Castle

 A little guy.  Julia was very suspect.

 Check out the sweet mustache on the face mask.

 A little shrine at the castle.

 Flowers bloom even in the winter here, very pretty.

 Statue of the shogun of the castle.

 Looking at the ducks.

Awesome salad at lunch.  Check out the little quiche.

Super Jungle Gym

This Saturday was such a nice day, 50s and sunny.  We took Julia to a park about 15 minutes away.  It had a nice small track around the park with a small place for kids to play.  Then highlight was the supersized gym.  It had about 5 slides, mirrors, rock climbing wall, and tons of climbing things.  I was a little scared moving around on this thing but Julia was fearless and had a blast.
The start to a wonderful day....

 Yes this is a sign that tells you to watch out for poisonous snakes.  Does that snake look scary, not.

 Trees around the park.  They are so cool.

 The super sized gym.

 Running through the tunnel.

 Down the slide she goes.

 Julia is jogging on the track.

Then off to Mos burger for lunch.

Mt. Akiha

Well back from the holidays and we decided to try out the new backpack.  We drove about an hour and half to Mt. Akiha to do a short 3.2 kilometer hike.  Problem #1:  all up hill. Problem #2:  I am in bad shape for up hill hiking.  Well I thought it would ok, as we started off, it was very quiet and nice weather.  Up the hill it became more windy and chilly.  I hear a rustling the in the woods and here comes a white dog.  It freaked me out a little until I saw it was wearing a collar.  We made it about half way and Julia lost her patience and my knees started to give out.  It was a nice hike but I need more exercise before we can attempt this again. Then we finished the day off with hot Ramen.  Yummy:)

 A map of the hikes.

 Headed to the top on a beautiful day.

 Up through the town to the trail.

 Trees down and a little damage right from the start.

 So quiet and peaceful.

 Right about here is where I started to lose my knees

Now the is one tired baby.

 On the way home we found a cool little tree house.

 With a built in xylophone.

Great first weekend back.