Leif and Mt. Fuji - Hakone National Park, Japan - January 1981 - Age 6

We were so fortunate to be able to travel so much with our boys. Japan has beautiful national parks and one we visited in January 1981 when Leif was six years old was Hakone. This park is in a volcanic area, and I remember Leif being fascinated with a place where you could hard-boil and egg in a sulfur spring. The practice was so popular that the area was completely littered with peeled-off eggshells. We didn't know about this before we got there and didn't bring any eggs to cook, but Leif enjoyed stepping on the shells and smashing them. :)

We also got this beautiful, clear view of Mt. Fuji, which is often shrouded in clouds, fog, or, if you are trying to see it from Tokyo, smog. It was a lovely but very chilly day in Hakone. We also ate some wonderful hot noodles at a local restaurant. Leif liked Japanese food, especially tonkatsu (deep fried pork cutlet, much like Wiener Schnitzel) and the noodle soup dishes.

Leif in the Snow - Isiuchi, Japan - March 1983 - Age 8

During the two years we lived in Sachsen bei Ansbach, Germany, we could enjoy the snow right outside our door, walking, sledding and skiing, but in Japan, were we moved in the summer of 1980, there was little snow in the Sagamihara area, and it was flat. We had to travel to the mountains to enjoy snow sports. Peter W. and Peter A. went skiing at the base of Mt. Fuji once. Peter W. went skiing at Zao, and in March 1983, we took a family trip to Ishiuchi, where we all had a great time.

Leif looks so bright-eyed and happy here, obviously enjoying the activity (speed, again) and slippery stuff. I think at that age he liked sledding better than skiing, which requires considerably more practice to be skillful.

He was eight years old in these photos. In the summer of 1983, just a few months later we moved to Hawaii for three years and that was the end of snow until we moved to the north side of Chicago in 1986.