Finally...the link is available

My Head Coaching Debut

So here it is, the first article that was written in regards to the swim team that I am the head coach of.
The Iwakuni Approach is a weekly newsletter that is put out, and they did a little article regarding the swim team.
I was just sent the link to the article, and it was published back in September. The military does everything SLOWLY!

What's New

There is not a whole lot new to share. We are both really busy, yet somehow Tracy has become busier that Jon. Tracy has been substitute teaching for the past few weeks, and recently was hired for two different jobs, and had to turn one down. Tracy was hired as a Sales Associate at the Golf Course, and one week later, was hired as an RN for WIC Overseas. The WIC job does not begin until December, but with everything else that she has going on, she does not have the time to work at the Golf Course. The school has been keeping her very busy (everyday), and then on top of that, she still coaches the youth swim team.
Jon has been busy trying to keep up with his new work schedule. He continues to work 24 hour shifts, and has only a day or two off in between.
This weekend, we will hardly see each other, with Tracy going out of town for a swim meet, and Jon working back to back 24's...we may see each other in passing, but that is about it.

Hopefully I will have some pictures to post from my trip to Sasebo with the Swim Team!!
Happy Reading!

7 Falls Hiking Trip

On Sunday, October 2, we decided to head out into the great outdoors and do some hiking. We picked up the directions to 7 Falls, and headed out. 7 falls is about 90 minutes away from the base, and up in the mountains.

It was a pretty easy drive, with a few scary moments along the way. There are several areas where the road goes from 2 lanes to 1-at that point, who ever is going uphill has the right of way!

The weather for the day was cool, and the higher we climbed in the mountains, the cooler it got. When we left base, it was 72 degrees, and when we got to 7 Falls, it was a cool 68. Perfect weather for hiking!



Trees on the way up-really can not tell that they are changing colors, but they are



Typical mountain road...a little windy!



We followed this river all the way up into the falls

Reminds me of the Kern River....too bad its not, and it is in Japan!

One way road

Yea we made it!
Map of 7 Falls

Small river that runs through the campground section of 7 Falls

More river in the campground

This faux "fall" is actually water that pushed through the wall

Waterfall at the base of the mountain



We tried, but this was the best we could do



Another waterfall...the water is cold

Pool below the fall...we were trying to figure out how deep the pool is

Another fall
The red bridge is the pathway through all of the falls
This was an easy one to get to!

Top of the falls...so we thought.
When you get to this point, you can choose to go left or right. Both paths take you through long dark tunnels, that lead one of two ways. To the left, you can start hiking down the mountain, to the right (the way we went), you can continue to hike to the summit.

After another 15-20 minutes of hiking (all stairs and all uphill) we made it to the summit.
This is the view from on top of a huge rock we decided to climb as well.
Nothing like hiking and rock climbing-all in a days fun!



On top of Japan...sort of!



The hike back down...straight down too!



Cool Buddha statue at the top of the mountain
People have left tokens of Yen for Buddha



So we decided that we wanted to do this hike, as it is one of the hikes to prepare people for Mt. Fuji.

Jon and I have decided that Summer 2012 is when we are going to hike Mt. Fuji. This hike is rated moderate to difficult, as it deals with steep terrain, as well as altitude changes.

While hiking, we also decided that this would be a great place to go camping at, so we plan on heading back up there in the next few weeks to do some camping with friends. The weather is changing, so now we have to decide if we are tenting it, or if we are going to get a cabin....we are both leaning towards tenting it!