I finally took the family to Ise in Mie prefecture for a long weekend. Ise along with Ise Shrine is one of the more famous Japan travel destinations that I had not yet been to. The Ise Grand Shrine is considered the most sacred Shintō shrine in Japan, and along with the top of Mt Fuji is considered a must visit sometime in your lifetime place. Of course we did many of the other activities in the area and made sure to eat all the famous foods:

We took the shinkansen and express trains there and back

Purification stream of the inner shrine

At the inner shrine. There are always lots of people visiting.

The Uji Bridge

The famous shopping street in front of the shrine. There were lots of traditional shops and foods, and we saw a Taiko performance.

Eating ‘Akafuku’ the famous Japanese sweet of the area

Eating the local style Ise Udon

For dinner we had the local style ‘TekoneSushi’

At the fairly impressive Toba Sea-Folk Museum

Melina loved playing in the submarine

Eating Unagi for lunch

Taking a boat ride around Ago bay, famous for Japanese Perl cultivation

A quick stop at a park for slides, running around, and ice cream

We hiked up to the overlook of the bay at Yokoyama

Eating Matsuzaka beef (up there on the rankings with Kobe beef) for dinner along with other things Melina likes.

‘Okayu’ at the outer shrine for breakfast

Finally was Melina’s favorite part of the trip; Toba Aquarium. She got to see and touch a whole lot of sea animals, and a snake. It was my first time to pet a walrus as well.

My second Spartan race was the Sprint, which is only 5 kilometers with about 20+ obstacles. Unlike the first race where it was pouring the entire day, this time we had some nice weather. The obstacles were still challenging and my two teammates did well. I am now debating with myself whether or not to do the next one in Japan this year.

I found a new aquarium right in the middle of Chinatown. It is small and designed especially for kids, but for the location and price it was actually very nice. There is even a kids play room with a slide and jungle gym complete with builtin fish tanks, a small show on how different fish catch their food, and Melina also got the chance to feed the sea turtle.

My daughters preschool has a Fathers Club where the fathers get together and put on events for the kids. It is also a time for the fathers to get to know each other better and also to stay more involved with school activities and their kids. It is a great idea and was surprised to see this in Japan where traditionally mothers still do most of the upbringing. The first event of the year was making popcorn for the kids. The fathers get to play with fire and the kids get to eat all the popcorn they can.

Did I mention that Melina loves popcorn.

This years Easter dinner was another success. I made a big ham, Easter breads, and the traditional Polish Easter soup. Other people in my house made other foods and desserts as well.

A bunch of people from my house went out to a Turkish restaurant. The food was good, they had traditional Turkish clothing you could put on, and there was a giant stuffed camel that Melina liked to climb on.