I could easily write a thousand words or so about our latest 3-day camping (and sightseeing) trip—but I’ll let the pictures do most of the talking.

We began with a one-day driving trip to get to Noto-Hanto, a large, very beautiful peninsula in central Japan.

We stopped in Kanazawa, one of the few traditional cities in Japan not destroyed by the bombs of WWII.  We enjoyed shopping in the downtown market for fresh fish to grill that evening, as well as – fresh sushi for lunch. Olivia enjoyed the whole fish experience a bit TOO much, and didn’t make it to the restroom (extra outfit #1).

On the peninsula, we drove along a famous beach with the rain pouring on both sides.  The elements didn’t ruin our fun—our kids were the first to plunge into the Sea (extra outfit #2).

The first night it poured and poured through the night, but I had such a wonderful sense of being secure with my family in this tent off the Sea of  Japan.  There really is something special about being as close as possible to a huge force of nature (like a rain storm) without getting wet.
The next morning was quite ominous, so we put off our beach outing and went to a great aquarium nearby.  Just as we were out petting the penguins, the rain starting pelting on all of us (extra outfit #3).

We had a wonderful afternoon on both Sunday and Monday at the beach – swimming, collecting shells, playing in the sand.  And, we discovered, you can’t have a real outing at the beach without — cup ramen.

(Did you know that in a recent survey Japanese voted this the best invention of the 20th century?  Truth).
During our time at the campsite, the kids went bug-hunting… Owen made great friends with the boy in the campsite next to us… we talked and laughed and shared with our friends the I. family…. And of course you spend a lot of time preparing, cleaning up, and talking about the meals.

At night, we did fireworks and roasted marshmallows (extra outfit #5)—and of course made S’mores, which has become a favorite of the I. family now.  (This time we used coconut cookies because we can’t find graham crackers here anymore!).
I tried to do one load (extra outfits #1-5) of laundry at the campsite but the dryer never really worked.  We’ve spent the last few days catching up on laundry, drying out our damp tent/sleeping bags, and continuing our busy summer schedule.  But how wonderful it is – laundry, clean-up and all–to stop our normal lives and allow the silent witness of God’s Creation to touch us. (The last photo is Owen’s essay for summer homework of the camping trip.)