A Tough Life

In the news this week... Tomoe got back from Sakae the other day and has found us a great house. Its not the exact home we dreamed of because it doesn't really have a yard and field, but given the abundance of forest, mountain and field in the area, I guess we can live with having another house just ten meters away (at leastfor the winter). But I will write more about that later with photos.

While Tomoe was in Sakae, I was having a blast with a group of kids and their parents from nearby Tokyo at a family camp pt on by Evergreen (the company I work with now) and Gateway International. The camp is aimed at families, offering a chance for the parents to focus on their own well-being (yoga, tai chi, etc...) while Evergreen teaches the older kids about the water cycles:

Water Wizards is a learning module/summer camp for children that examines each phase of the cycle of water. This five-day programme in Hakuba combines standards-based classroom education with practical hands-on experience in the Japan Alps.

Today we spent the day travelling from nearby the start of the Hime River, to where it empties into the Japan Sea where we built a drift-wood fire and cooked homemade and took time to take a dip. Tomorrow we take the kids on a paragliding adventure to "simulate the feeling that rain must have when falling from the sky". Whatever the reason, it will be fun and I cant wait.

I want to write more, but I didn't get home until 1:30 am (the parents were quite anxious to stay up and chat around the fire once the kids were asleep) and it is now 3 am. I have to get up at 6:30 tomorrow totake the kids for a dip in the lake and get them ready for paragliding.

Life is tough.