Travel, much?

February and March have been very busy for the Rutledges! Yes, even I, Cayce, have been busy. It is pretty amazing that John and I really weren't able to travel much in the US, but always wanted to. Well, things have definitely changed! I was able to go to Kyushu, which is southern Japan (see map below). I got to visit Fukuoka and Nagasaki. A friend of ours, Kristy, that works with John asked me on a Monday if I'd like to take a trip with her that Friday. Normally, I would say no because of the short notice. Then I realized that I don't have a job or any excuse not to go. I hated that John couldn't go and had to work, but he encouraged me to go.

We flew into Fukuoka and stayed in a hostel. It wasn't too bad, the beds were comfy. I did have to listen to someone puking in the hall, but other than that, it was a good location for us. We had lots of rain, though, so we ended up going to a movie to see Invictus (good movie!). We had a fun night, meeting a guy from New York that owned a bar called Off Broadway. They had some really good nachos, which was random, but worked on our budget for sure! The next day we left for a 2 hour train ride to Nagasaki where the second atomic bomb hit in WWII. It was a beautiful, little city with lots of charm. It has a heavy European influence in some areas. We visited the Atomic Bomb Museum, which was really well done but emotionally hard to see. It was very sad, but the message through the museum is about peace. I would totally recommend this stop to Nagasaki to anyone. It has a park that is right in the harbor, and it was beautiful. We were also very lucky to catch the Chinese Lantern Festival (they have a large Chinese population here). The lanterns were amazing, and I especially loved the river lined with lanterns. So pretty! We had a great trip. I may even go back before we leave Japan or take visitors there. Click on the picture below to see the photos from our trip:

The very next weekend, John and I took a group trip to go see the Snow Monkeys, which are located near Nagano (1998 Winter Olympics). It was an amazing site to see the monkeys loving life as they hung out in the hot springs being checked for bugs by their friend. To no one's surprise, I was a little more than freaked out by them. You could literally touch them (if you were completely insane) and were standing probably about 2 or 3 feet from them the whole time. There was one monkey that was moody, and it seemed like he wanted to pounce on this lady. Good rule of thumb: NO EYE CONTACT! They also advised us to get everything out of our bags that we would need and not rummage through them, because the monkeys might think that we have food. About 20 minutes in, John asks me to get the camera bag out so he can change lenses. I wanted to cry, and I moved at lightening speed trying to get the bag opened and closed again. It's not that I wasn't glad to see them, I totally was...truly amazing sight. I just would've like to been a bit farther away from them. I was afraid they could smell my fear, but most of them could have cared less that we were there. That night we drove on to the place where we would snowboard the next day, or so I thought. We went with a big group trip, but our smaller group was us and our friends Shawn and Brandy (I refer to them as the Disney couple because that is where he works). After dinner, John and Shawn decided it was a good idea to go night snowboarding. Does anyone remember that John and I have only snowboarding ONCE?? Brandy and I decided to go but we kept just walking up and down this hill to practice rather than taking the lift (I tend to fall hard every time I get off the dumb thing, so I thought I would save it for the next day). As a bonus, walking up the hill was a great workout for my rear! The next day of snowboarding was really fun. I was getting the hang of it more and more. I wasn't doing it "right", but I wasn't falling down either, so it worked for me. I don't need to be the best snowboarder. John, on the other hand, does, so he fell a lot! But he loved every minute of it. It was good for him to get away from Tokyo and have fun since he had been working 80 hour weeks. Here are some pics of the monkeys (click on it to see more):

These past few weeks have involved John working like crazy, having lunch with friends, a few charity events, small group bible study, BSF, toe surgeries, and rushing a friend in labor to the hospital. You know, every day stuff! :)

Okay, the toe surgery was John getting his toenail removed. It started with an ingrown toenail that went unattended a little too long. If you want details, you'll have to ask him because I feel a little faint when I think about it. Thankfully, he says it didn't hurt as much as we were both (yes, both) scared it would. It doesn't feel so great as he is trying to walk on it while it heals, but he is a trooper! Not 2 minutes after we walked in the door after his toenail removal, I got a call from a friend that I met here that was going into labor and needed help getting to the hospital. She lives close, so I decided to take a cab to her place then to the hospital...with the help of our concierge. She spoke to the cab driver, so he would understand to wait on us then get us to the hospital. He was sweating that a baby might be born in his cab, but she didn't have him until 2 am the next day, so his cab was spared. He was really sweet, though, he called our concierge to let her know we got there okay...only in Japan! Mom and baby are doing great! And we are all glad that Cayce didn't have to attempt to deliver a baby on the way to the hospital! :)

Next up, we have Thailand!! We leave Thursday (March 25th) and get back the following Thursday and are so excited. John is proud of me because I pretty much booked this trip 100% on my own since he has been working so much. We will stay for 2 nights in Bangkok, 3 nights in Phuket (gorgeous!), and then 2 more nights in Bangkok before we fly out. So excited to go to a country where things are crazy cheap instead of crazy expensive!! Stand by for amazing pictures from our trip.

Also, a random side note. My wonderful friend, Lauren, got me a cookbook called The Pioneer Woman Cooks - it is fantastic! I was talking to someone in Japan about it, and she mentioned her blog. I am 100% hooked on it. If you don't have at least an hour to look through it, then DO NOT go to it...it will suck you in! For those that want to throw caution to the wind, here is the link thepoineerwoman.com. She has a book that is going to come out next year called Black Heels To Tractor Wheels...she is too cute.