That's a really big apple.

So the other day we had a wedding at BH and the bride's parents paid us at reception a visit the following morning because they were early for breakfast. It seems that they own an apple orchard in Aomori (that place is famous for it's apples) and they brought us some apples for Megumi and I. We were really excited. Even more exciting is the fact that these are the biggest damn apples I've ever seen in my life. Ever. It was like, the size of my face. Here, have a picture to demonstrate:

Seriously, they were MASSIVE. And delicious. Possibly the best apple I've ever had. Megumi and I were so excited to receive them! I was flabberghasted over how big they were. Like, for real. If I held it in both hands, I couldn't reach my fingers all the way around it. Amazing.

So we had another family field trip, this time to Tatsuru's parent's house for some pottery and handmade soba noodles. It was fun. His Dad's a potter, so he showed us how me makes some pieces, then he got us to all have a go. It was the first time using a potter's wheel for all of us (except Tatsuru, obviously) and I don't think we did...too...bad. Lol. Here's some pictures of us using the wheel.

 Tatsuru's Dad and George

 Tatsuru and Mike

 Suzi and Shinta

 George being a goofball and taking a billion pictures and Keira

 Ash and Tonya

Me

Want to see the fruits of our labour? Well as it turns out, we didn't do too bad. I made a mini-vase...thing. I wasn't quite sure what I was making, but apperently that's what I made.

Mine's the one circled in red in case you couldn't tell. Lol. Apparently it'll take like 2 months for us to get them back because they're firing them in a special kiln. Before they put them away we all got to decorate them a bit, so I scratched my name in katakana on the side of it and made lines come out of the top. Lol. After that, we went inside and Tatsuru's Dad handed all of us a chunk of clay and let us make whatever we wanted. I suck at using clay it would seem, so I made some amazing, totally real looking, bunny paper weights and a plate.

One bunny is for me, one is for Ashley. She made me a fish chopsticks rest with googly eyes. It's really cute.

After clay fun, we cleaned up and had soba and tempura for lunch. They made the soba noodles from scratch so they were really good! I didn't get a picture of the tempura, it was yummy so I blew through it too fast. Lol. The amount of soba they gave us was massive though! So much! I couldn't finish it! Most of us couldn't...except George. He had seconds, and then finished all of ours. Tatsuru went around all of us collecting our plates, then just scraped it all onto George's. Ahaha. His parents were amazed at how much George could eat. And since he can speak Japanese, he was able to tell them that he loved it.

 They gave us a mug of tea and a cookie when we first arrived. It was nice. That bowl was FILLED with soba! That's how much I left over. I couldn't finish it! So much! It was so yummy though!

Took some pictures outside as well. Tatsuru's family has some cats at their house. We all wanted to pet them so bad. @__@ They kept running away though, so we didn't get to, until we saw them in the garage. Then one came over and we got to pet it. It was so soft! It was so nice to be able to pet a cat! There are no pets on the mountain so it gets kinda lonely.

After lunch, we packed back into the green British Hills mini-bus and Tatsuru drove us to a National park to look around. It was quite pretty. Unfortunately though, my camera's batteries were dying so some of my shots are blurry and not pretty.

Now, that bridge. It was quite terrifying. Seriously. There was no rail along it to hold us in. And everytime someone walked over it, it felt like an earthquake. So I very cautiously walked onto it, and then freaked and grabbed Ashley's arm. And what does George do, being the gentleman that he is? He proceeds to jump and skip on the bridge around where I am, making it wobble precariously and then run away before I can severely hurt him. Later in the program, we came upon a very narrow, very high, VERY STEEP flight of steps. Being the idiot that I am, I walk up them (slowly and cautiously and without looking down), clinging to the loose(!) chain railing that was barely at the height of my knees and thinking that there must be another way to get down. I was wrong. OMG. Going down those steps was a nightmare. I was absolutely terrified. I had to inch down the steps sideways because I was afraid of falling down. It was terrifying. Seriously and totally.

After we got back to the car (George and Keira wandered off to take pictures of a cute little train station and while Keira ran to get to the car, George waddled along, so we drove off and made him run beside the car for a bit, lol) we drove to the onsen. It was my first experience and it was AMAZING. We went to the outdoor section and it was heavenly. I totally want to go again.

After onsen, we went back to British Hills and ate a very fast dinner. (Tatsuru gave us 15mins to eat and change) Then we went to karaoke! We thought Tatsuru was going to have to fit all 7 of us in his car, but fortunately, Shinta came with and he drove too! Ash, Dave and I went with Shinta, and everyone else with Tatsuru. We had a lot of fun. Ash and I did a bunch of duets and Tatsuru and Shinta  sang some songs together. Their last song was hilarious. xD