My work place has some great views. Today we had an Art day and the kids all went outside and drew pictures. My job was to sit there and make sure that no one came and hurt the kids. Had a good time just sitting on my arse for 3 hours watching them paint and laugh. The view of the local mountains isnt bad either. Mount Jonan didnt want to pop out of the clouds but it was still nice.
Yuji on of the best baseball players at school drwing a tree and laughing about it for 3 hours.
Aoikiko Lake it cleared enough to get this shot, went for a short swim after this.
What a day! Went riding with Steve from 6am to 8am up and down Minagata. Great ride almost prefect course. Then came back and chilled with my 2 girls before they went back to Kyoto.
After the Downhill I wanted to take a swim. The weather wont be nice for much longer so I jumped in. still about 25 degrees so nice temps. On the way home I did Bennett's old trail from the side top of Sanosaka. Didn't ride well but after 50ks of biking Im not surprised. On the way home I saw/met Troy, Sakiko, Albert and fam twice Stewart and family twice. I saw a good portion of gaijin in town!
Another ride with Steve the man I envy for retiring so early in life. He had kid duty fro 8am so we went out for a fast climb to slick downhill ride. I was beat at the top of the course man was that a climb! The sweat was pouring off my cap! We didn't have time so a phone call to get Hiro to cover Steve's kid duties in case we were late and off we rode. The first picture is of Steve dropping into the downhill course. We choose this one to link up with the old cross-country course and get a 25 minute ride.
Steve flying into the meadows 90% finished the run
The top of the meadows it was slick!
After a good ride and 5 hours painting it was time to head to the community BBQ. With the manager of spicys chefing up a feast of pretty much anything we all feasted like pigs. With draft Ichiban beer to wash things down it was a good time. Got to chat with many neighbours which is good of course too, but man do they get drunk!
Its going to be hard driving down to teach in the middle of winter but thems the breaks. At least I have 50 days of skiing to look forward to.
After coming home Hannah was a little restless so I thought id get out with here and play. We are just so busy and she is a bit stressed with nobody to play with. We gave her a 30 minute bath. The girl loves baths, she loves the water. Hannah scares me cause she loves the water too much. We had a fun time playing in the bath making funny faces.
Paint and Biking that was the name of the weekend. Steve the keen biker that he is was ready to go on 2 early rides. 2 early rides that saw me brake chains 2 days in a row.
After that Steve ad i Hit up the Tsugaike to Iwatake Trail. The access is to hard to fine but its a great trail. For about 100 meters there are steps. Freaking hard riding on a hard tail. That said I suck at biking.
Sunday saw us head to Sanosaka to hit the improved Downhill course there. First had to the wife to bring another bike as I snapped chain number 2 for the weekend. Steve looking into the course saying fukc that is steep.
get to 
Me crossing the bridge on the way back. A good weekend ride for sure.
After spending about an hour trying to get Mitch to wake up we finally got it on and went up Minegata for a Little Downhill action. We had my wife drive us up to save time and off we went.
Mitch knew about 5 trails up at Minegata and I only know 1 or 2. So Mitch took me to the start of a few trails to give me some beta. Mitch riding past with Goryu in the Background.
Mitch up at the Lavendar farm showing me how to get to one of the harder trails up at Minegata. He says that there are stairs of rocks on that trail. Might not be ready for that but I am willing to try.
Mitch at the main trail head starting point at Minegata. You can se the trail from the parking area.
Mitch flying down the trail. Mitch is such a better biker than me. My bike is way better than his but its not the bike its the rider. I love the start of this trail cause its a nice sloping single track for about 1km. You get really warmed up before the steeper Downhill sections.
Lake Aokiko has been in fine form as of late. Prefect hot weather has really warmed up the lake. The day before I was down at the lake with Mitch and thought that my little girl Hannah would love the water. Hannah loves water, she loves water so much that it is scary.
The lake is super clean but a bit rocky on the bottom. It is hard for me to carry Hannah without my water shoes so we used here blow-up sit toy. We swam and played spin the Hannah! LOL
Hannah looking at mama on the dock. The dock isnt used anymore and the person that used to use it left 3 complete (old) wind surfing kits.
There is my little girl loving life and trying to swim. I might have a National champion.
Everyone had the same idea as us as well. Jason and his girl were there., Steve and his kids for the second day in a row, Andy, Dan plus 4 friends and Timmy his better half and daughter showed up. In all I spent about an hour in the water swimming and playing great day.
