Kyoto, Japan

I am so far behind on the blog that I almost decided to give it up but I know Mimi and Nana need to see pics of their grand kids that are so far away! Plus, I need a place to look back at this time of our lives and the blog is our family scrapbook so I will vow to do better once again;)
We have done a lot of traveling in the last few months so I am going to pick up when Mimi came to visit for a week during Thanksgiving. It was so fun having her in Japan. I hope we didn't wear her out with all the places we dragged her too. Its hard to experience Japan in only 10 days but we did the best we could. The girls loved having Mimi here to spoil and play with them!
 Our big trip while she was here was to Kyoto, Japan. It has been on our "must see" list and we booked a trip during the peek time of the autumn foliage. The red leaves on the Japanese Maples and the night illumination we saw were worth battling the crowds for me! The Japanese celebrate the change of seasons and the beautiful colors that go along with it and I truly enjoy that aspect of the culture. We took the bullet train there and then packed a lot of amazing Kyoto attractions into three days and it seems like we only scratched the surface.

Our bullet train got us to Kyoto in record time!  Bonus was seeing Mt Fuji from the train!

I love this picture of Mimi and the girls. This was our first outing to see colors of Autumn.
At this shrine they were so vibrant and the pictures can't do them justice!

This was at a Zen temple. The grounds were really pretty and peaceful. 

This is the Yasaka Hall on Gion Corner where the Geisha dancers perform.

This beautiful temple is Kinkaku-ji which is also known as the golden pavilion. It is covered in pure gold leaf and on sunny days its hard to look at because of how bright and shiny it is.

The girls shopping!

 Fushimi-Inari-taisha Shrine

Up the hill there are about 32,000 tori gates. Walking through it was an amazing experience! Aubrey loved counting them but I made her stop around 100 -- it was taking forever!

Night Illumination at Kiyomizu-dera 

Mimi took the girls back to the hotel for a sleepover party and Nate and I went out for a sushi date night. It was delish, best sushi we have had yet! That is our personal sushi chef we sat at the counter with.

Ninja training for the whole family!

 Arashiyama Monkey Park mountain overlooking the city

Feeding the monkeys peanuts and apples.

We took a train through the hills and mountains and then got on a boat to take it back down the river. It was gorgeous and everyone really enjoyed it! Aubrey and Reagan would get so excited when the rapids came. 

I have so many pictures but these will have to do! We loved exploring Kyoto and having Mimi with us to experience it!