Family Vacation to Japan over Chinese New Year

We spent Chinese New Year this year in Kyushuu, Japan.  Steve's parents met us over there, and we spent a week travelling around the southern most island of Japan (mostly by train and bus).  We travelled around on our own and not with a tour, which meant it was more expensive and had to rely on my so-so Japanese.  But it also meant that we had more time to do some exploring in each of the four towns/cities we visited.  

It snowed on our second day there, enough snow so that Tyler got to experience making his first snowball and do some tobogganing.  I haven't seen snow in four years, so it was a real treat for me too.  Kurogawa and Yufuin are towns famous for their hotsprings so we spent quite a lot of time soaking in their mineral baths.  Some of them were outdoors so you can actually look up and see the stars.

We had a wonderful time-- Steve said that this was probably one of the vacations in a long time where he was a bit sad to leave.  

On not such a positive note, Tyler developed a cold towards the end of the trip.  When we took him to the pediatrician back home, she said he had developed a ear infection-- I really hope the antibiotics will do the trick this time.  Otherwise we will need to reinsert the tubes all over again!!  Wish us luck...