Tomita Farm at Furano in Hokkaido

Summer holiday for my family was in Hokkaido in the middle of August.  We visited Furano where it's famous for lavender.  We had a lavender ice cream and a lavender juice but there were no lavender any more at Tomita farm in Furano.  It was too late to visit!  We should have got there by beginning of August.  Food in Hokkaido like seafood, curry soups and noodles were really nice!!

Travel to Nasu

Breakfast

We can not go to my home town Fukushima where my parents live in, and the nuclear power plants have exploded and been not quite safe yet, taking Kana on this long summer vacation .
If my parents don't visit us in Yokohama, they can't see their grandchild for time being.  So we arranged to be able to see each other in Nasu.  My parents were looking forward to seeing her and also Kana. 
It was great time that we visited Numappara-shitugen and Nasu garden outlet.  Nasu is famous for summer resort but it was very hot like Yokohama at the time.  Unluckily, a air condition at hotel Matsuya we stayed was out of service for 4 hours, and even after repairing it was weak.  All other rooms were full in that day and we got the price of hotel refunded.
A cheese cake bought at the cheese garden was full of rich taste and a cafe there called Shirasagi-tei which is modern interior and has nice view of verdant garden, was great to pop in on the way.

Haneda Airport

It's nice place to go to Haneda airport.  That's not far distance to drive and you can feel something exciting atmosphere.  Kana also loves to go there and have a lunch at the food court in terminal 2 which has many different kinds of designed chair, especially at the Indian restaurant to be able to eat naan.  We had curry lunch and had some rest by sitting Kana's favorite sofa that is fanciful but very cozy to sit down or lay down on it, small children might clamber onto the top of it like Kan did so.

Le Soleil

It was like nice early summer in the morning, rainy season though.  We visited "Soreiyu no Oka" which the south of France is used as a motif in Yokosuka.

The park is located on hill and along the sea. So it's always windy.  We were not wearing long sleave shirts to prevent strong wind.  You should take any cloths to put on with you, if you go there.

Kana had fun with sleighing on the lawn and tomato picking in the plastic greenhouse.  She picked 4 kinds of tomatos in a basket and the fee was only 170 yen based on the weight of them.  After that she ate one of them with nice smile. If we could go there 2 months erlyer, we could have enjoyed strawberry picking too.

Minakami hot spring

We stayed Minakami hot spring for a night a week ago last Friday, after Kana came back from school.  Minakami is in Gunma where it took over 3 hours by car from Yokohama through Kanetsu highway.  There is a heavy traffic jam on Kanetsu highway on weekends,  so we could avoid it and obtained a price of Matsunoi hotel at the lower price.  The special pricing plan included dinner and breakfast.  The dinner was beautiful traditional Japanese and delicious.  Our family were full up and satisfied with it.  The picture is the dinner we had for one person.

Hakone - Fujiya Hotel

Fujiya hotel my mom had requested for long time and we stayed luxuriously is in Miyanoshita where it takes 30 mins by Hakone Tozan train going through fabulous vista and switchbacking some times.  It is constructed by 4 buildings built in the different age, and many famous people such as the current emperor and empress and Charlie Chaplin and Helen Keller stayed in this historical hotel.

We participated the tour that the hotel organize it to show some part of area of the building and to introduce their history. And then, Kana enjoyed swimming at the pool with her grandfather.

Our stay plan included breakfast at the main dining "The Fujiya" I was awaiting for having it in the classic and graceful atmosphere I had never been. We were able to chose from American breakfast, and French toast accompanied by hand made strawberry jam was really delicious.

After having breakfast, We headed out to see Mt. Fuji that is one more main event for my mom who had not seen it every time when she came to Hakone.  We went back and forth around Motohakone by bus to find a nice view spot, then finally we found out nothing is better than Ashino lake in Hakone to see Mt. Fuji.

Hakone - Yumoto Fujiya Hotel

 

We spent a great time at Hakone last week that my parents gave it as a present for Kana who will go to school from April .

We took JR Tokaido line From Yokohama to Odawara and then changed it to Hakone Tozan Tetsudo line in Odawara.  An hour and a half travel to Hakone Yumoto is not too bad to have a fun in a train, actually my daughter was enjoying it with her grandfather.  I had made a reservation for lunch buffet at Yumoto Fujiya Hotel located just in front of Hakone Yumoto station as we supposed to arrive around lunch time.  It costs 2500 yen per each, but our group of 4 people were discounted to 2200 yen with a coupon of GOURNAVI (English, Japanese).  It was absolutely delicious from appetizers to desserts and better than I had expected.  My stomach was full utterly and then definitely my dinner of that night was skipped.

Hawaii - Kahala Mall

After bathing in the sea at Waikiki beach, we had shopping time at Kahala Mall not Ala Moana Center where we often popped in last time. 
There are many nice shops such as Whole Foods Market in the mall.  I just wondered that why vegetables  are piled up on a shelf at Whole Foods Market.  Looks good and a cool shot, but lower vegetables must be pushed and go off.

Hawaii

I stayed in Hawaii for holiday with my family last week.

At this time of year, it's rainy period.  It was fortune that we had only shower once and a lot of sunshine there.  It was not too hot to be outside. There was nice breeze and I felt a little bit cold without a long sleeve shirt blouse at morning and night.