Trip to Japan: Wednesday in Sapporo

Sayu made us a yummy breakfast on our last morning. I loved the banana drink she made us.

 We drove through Sapporo on the way to the airport. We stopped at the mission home which is now the old mission home. Marshall has eleven months of memories here. It just happened to be the day they were moving to the new mission home so most the rooms were vacant. Marshall enjoyed showing me around and taking some pictures of the office and apartment.

We went to this grocery store Tuesday but I forgot to post it. After you pay for your groceries you take them to a separate table and put them in bags.

 There is a beautiful park that is many blocks longs and one block wide. We took this picture standing at one end.

This tower was at the other end.

We were sad to leave the Takahashi's. They are such wonderful people and took such good care of us.

Our flight from Sapporo was delayed for plane maintenance. We didn't get to Tokyo in time to make our connection to LA. I was pretty sad about this because I was missing my kiddos. I also knew they would be disappointed when they found out we weren't getting home Wednesday at dinner time but Thursday, early in the morning.

The airlines rerouted us through Hawaii. It was vacation for Japan and so there were a lot of Japanese families on our flight. It was fun to see how excited they were when we landed in Hawaii. I was jealous. I've always wanted to go to Hawaii so I hope to go back when I can stay longer than two hours.

This was our breakfast on our flight to Hawaii. Such a strange mixture of food: Lemon custard, pancakes with tuna fish and a boiled egg, edamame, eggs on rice and mushrooms and sea food.

We had a long day of flying going from Hawaii to Seattle and then to Salt Lake. The flight from Seattle to Salt Lake had at most twenty people. They upgraded us to first class without us even asking.

We a late night snack in first class.

We landed in Salt Lake at 1:00 am Thursday. Our luggage got lost but luckily they found it and delivered it to us Thursday night. We were so happy to be home. Thursday morning our kids were so happy to see us. I'm so grateful for all who watched our kids so we could go to Japan!

Marshall put together a fun slideshow of the pictures from my phone. If you click here you can watch it on YouTube.

Trip to Japan: Tuesday in Sapporo

We've only been home a few weeks and I'm already getting the mornings confused. We had this meal from Sayu on Tuesday. It kept me filling full through going to the temple until we ate lunch.

The Sapporo Temple had a special opening on Tuesday with a limited number of sessions, initiatory and baptisms for the dead. We got there early hoping to get in the first session. Sayu and I were so grateful for the sweetest sister who got out of line so we could both attend the session together. Marshall and Tsutomu barely made it in too. It was the best going through the session with them. We enjoyed sitting in the Celestial Room with them after.

This is the view when you come out the doors of the temple.

A closer view of the waterfall and pond.

View to the side. This would be a beautiful temple for wedding pictures.

I walked around and took pictures.

I loved experiencing Japan with Marshall. Our day at the temple was so special and it was great to help him fulfil his goal. We joke that his is the year of Marshall because he went sky diving and now to Japan which were two huge items on his list. I've enjoyed the journey as well and it's the least I could do for all the marathons he has supported me through.

Temple store and temple housing on the left.

I slacked on food pictures from lunch. We were pretty excited that the restaurant had a soda Marshall liked when he served there. It has a marble in the top that you pop down to open the soda. It is pretty unique design.

We went shopping to a few dollar stores on Tuesday. The dollar stores like I said in a previous post, have everything. I had to get some pics for the memory books.

The store is huge!

We tried out lots of sodas and flavored water. My favorite were the two grape drinks on the right. They tasted like Hi-Chews but in liquid form.

Sayu made us dinner and I thought we had taken a picture. She cooked lamb and mutton on a skillet at the dinner table. Also bean sprouts and onions. We ate them with a soy based sauce and rice. I was proud of myself for trying it because I'm normally not a mutton eater. As a picky eater I came a long way this trip. Who would have thought that the girl who wouldn't eat hamburgers for fifteen years would be eating so many unique foods.

Trip to Japan: Monday in Sapporo

Monday we started out with a delicious breakfast made by Sayu. It was a traditional Japanese breakfast. Miso soup, rice, fried pregnant fish, and some others but I'm not sure the name. She also served a bowl of salted fresh apples and pears. It was very filling. I tend to get low blood sugar a lot on an American diet but I didn't have a problem in Japan. The foods also helped me feel full longer.

The man hold covers are all different designs for the different cities. 

It was a rainy day but still beautiful sights as we drove up the mountains to Lake Shikotsu. We went to Tsuruga Resort Spa. It was very fancy.

We ate a traditional Japanese lunch. It was very nice. I can't even name all of the different foods but it was very interesting to try all of them.

For dessert we had chamomile tea and cream and lime gelatin. It tasted like my mom's green jello.

This is an area around the resort. After lunch we went to the spa which was like the bath house we went to Friday night. It was much fancier though and the water was from the hot springs.

We walked around the lake after.

I really wanted to go on a swan boat but it was too rainy and the shop was closed.

The water at this lake is so clear. It is also very deep. It has an average depth of 265 metres (869 ft) and a maximum depth of 363 metres (1,191 ft), making it the second deepest lake in Japan.

This is an old railway bridge.

This was the view as we left.

Sayu treated us to all the best. These cream puffs were definitely the best we've ever tasted.

We drove past the Olympic ski jump which was built for the 1972 olympics.

We went to a roman noodle restaurant for dinner and I'm sad I forgot to get a picture. We also did some shopping at the mall to look for souvenirs.

Late that night we got to Skype our kids. It was the morning of their first day of school. It was so good to see them and talk to them!