The gang on our last day...

Our last morning...we were to fetch a cab, catch a train and head back to Tokyo... and then get on a plane... Well there was a group of us that thought we had time to get a Starbucks before fetching the cab... I was a big participant in this group... I was even chanting... "Starbucks, Starbucks, Starbucks"... well we ended up getting something for everyone to drink, getting in the cab and at that station with just minutes to spare before the train doors were closed... if we missed this train we were not sure what we were going to do... but we made it...

This past week was Chinese New Years so Jessica bought the kids some red shirts... K-man and Pierce were sporting them on train ride... look at all the smiles to go back home...
We never got to see Mount Fiji... guess we got to go back.. but Jessica took this great picture of a billboard... looks so real.

After a long day we made it to the airport... Daddy went straight to USA from Japan so we had to say goodbye to him in the Japan Airport... but since Daddy was not going back home with us we got his seat to lay Pierce down... Pierce ended up sleeping 7 of the 8 hours back to Singapore...

What a great trip... and wonderful memories... Thanks to the entire gang for making it so special for the Denton Clan. We love you all.

The Custer's...

The Denton's...

The Unruh's...

The girls...

Where are we going next...

The National Treasure of Japan...

The Matsumoto Castle is referred to as the National Treasure of Japan... and what a sight to see... We left the babies at the hotel and the adults went for the tour... it was so could that morning that we stopped for hot chocolate and throughout the tour we did alot of posing...

Here is our gang... it took a few tries to get this one... but it turned out perfect... Thanks Jamey...
As we entered... I went through the peasant door way and Blake went through the door way meant for the KING...

Once we entered we had to take off our shoes/boots and put these on... and carry our shoes around in a little bag... they forgot to build shoe lockers when they made this back in 1800's.

These holes in the walls are were the samurai would shoot bow and arrows from the castle... see all the wear around the opening...

Here is a view from one of the holes...

Blake checking out the armor from a samurai.

The boys bowing at the north end...

And the girls at the south end...

The boys being funny while I am trying to take a picture... but it turned out pretty cute.

Back inside the castle... this is a good shot at how steep the stair cases were... I could not imagine doing these stairs wearing armor.

Gillian is our poser... love this girl...

The ducks got in the picture just at the right time... We paid them big money to do this...

Gillian was posing again... so we had to jump in and take a girl shot... turned out pretty cute.

More action shots... the boys trying to do kung fu...

Ahhhh... so sweet... like a picture you would see in Paris...

Blake and I tried to capture the same moment... but this is how ours turned out...totally fits our characters more than a smooch picture... love it.

And the Unruh's...

This is were we would buy the hot cocoa... from a vending machine and it was so so good...

A great day checking out the castle... we leave tomorrow (blogging world dates)... so sad.

Our last stop... Matsumoto!

After another 1.5 hour train ride... some taxi fares... we made it to Harmonie Bien Hotel... a beautiful hotel but they have a terrible check in time... we made it a little after lunch (but had not eaten) and they would not let us check in until like 4pm (I think that is right... it felt like forever)... so with the kids in tow we hit the town... trying to pass time...

Pierce just being cute while waiting inside the lobby of the hotel..

Come on Violet... hang with me...

Here is just a random cute shot of the Violet and P taking a bath... they have similar bed times... so they got to play together alot.

Off to the town we go....where are all the people... remember it is Chinese New Year... it was dead.

We had lunch at this great little restaurant... I of course ordered sushi....

The Custer's being the Custer's.

There were fish ponds everywhere... considered good luck to have these type of fish at the entrance of your store...

One night we had a dinner just for Blake... he was not a big fan of the restaurants we had been picking.. so our last dinner in Japan we had Italian food... and it was yummy.

K-Man... just love that little man.

More tomorrow on the reason why we came to Matsumoto... the Matsumoto Castle.

Next stop Matsumoto...

Back on the train... and next stop Matsumoto... do we still have all our luggage??? You better believe it.

Travis trying to hitch a ride on the train...

Bye Bye Nagano... we had fun... see you next time.

We never got to see Mt. Fuji but these mountains were beautiful...

All the kids were good on the train as long as we had snacks and lots of them

Are you tired yet? Hang with me... only 2 more days to go.