When summer break comes, we take extra time with the kids and go on special trips, making new memories along the way,
like a day trip to go swimming near Mt Fuji.
Oh yeah! Oh yeah!
How cool is that! You're learning to Kayak right by Mount Fuji!
Keep coming, are you going to go park it then?
Oh my! Look at them.
Oh my! There is a lot of people on there!
Look out!
Being not quite an hour and half drive from us, we love coming out to Lake Yamanakako,
and today we’re here with a number of friends.
Hey Sarah, are you going to jump in?
OK! Three, Two, One!
That was awesome!
I have summertime memories at my Uncle Bruce’s cabin on a lake in Wisconsin.
We would swim out to the raft in the lake and swim for hours on end.
But I don’t remember the lake ever being warm like this!
Here’s to new memories with a new generation.
3, 2, 1
We love coming to Yamanakako, but this is one of the first times we're out here in the middle of the summer.
And the lake is a great temperature, there's water sports,
This is completely different from the way that we usually visit.
Rebecca! Alright!
As fun as this is, this is just a warmup for next week,
when we plan on taking several days to go camping with friends in the mountains.
When we camp, we enjoy lots of extra time together, cooking out, playing, telling stories and dreaming about the future.
That's a lot of meat on there. A lot of people here too!
An onigiri! Is it good?
Is it replenishing that energy?
Mmm hmm.
So here’s to the summer in Japan, and all over the world for that matter.
It’s a time to break the routine and change things up.
It’s a time to relax, reset and refocus for the end of the year.
But summer break didn’t start here, for just a few days ago, life was completely different.
How? Just watch and see.
[Life in Japan Theme Song]
A few days ago the sky was ominous for a change was in the air.
Something that only comes once a year was on the way and the anticipation around the Reutter household was palpable
Sarah! What's the breaking news today?
Breaking news: it's the last day until na-tsu-ya-su-mi! (Summer break)
What?!
Dude, it's happening, huh? Oh yeah.
But how exciting — when you come home today... I get to sleep in!
Summer Break!
Yea!
But before break could really get started, Ruth needed some help with a special project.
She was getting concerned about tit unit the perfect solution came along.
So I just got an email that I need to renew my driver's license in the US,
So I went to the website, I cannot access that website being here in Japan.
So I had to install a VPN
And I installed NordVPN, which is super easy,
Easy to use, even for me who's not a techie,
And I was able to access the driver's license site from Japan,
They think I'm in the US because of the VPN
And now I can renew my driver's license.
It opened it!
Congratulations, I have been approved for safe driver renewal
Another great feature in using the VPN is that you can save so much money in booking hotels and in booking flights
Because you can check flights from different countries,
So if I'm flying from Japan, I can check as if I'm buying tickets from the U.S.
And I can check via buying tickets from Japan.
And I have saved so much money buying them from different countries.
And hotels, same thing.
So thanks NordVPN for sponsoring this video
And you can go to www.NORDVPN.com/LifeInJapan and get your own exclusive offer
And with that link you get 59% off and an extra month free,
You just download it, install it, and it's up and running.
Super easy.
Ah! That was fast.
Go check it out.
We had some special surprise plans for the kids with when they got back from school,
but first we would have to break some news they didn’t want to hear.
Summer break!
Oh my goodness! Summer break!
So, did you get any homework? Yea!
More than more than more than... More than— tons of it, huh?
You know what we say every summer?
We should work on it a little bit each day, and then it won't be so bad when we get to the end.
Oh, I just finish as much as I can the first day so I don't have any more homework.
Oh that's smart! Did you do that too, Anna?
We're going to do it right now. Oh, right now?
Let's do that. Let's work hard on it, alright?
You have what? Tests.
Tests to work on?
Yea but there is some tests — like 5 tests.
Ow!
Oh! What? Easy Dude!
Ow! Bonk! Ahhh!
OK, cut it off!
Just because we’re on break, doesn’t mean we take a break from cleaning.
We actually work harder at cleaning now that everyone’s home.
Cleaning the room and what did you get?
4 balls in our room! 4 balls!
2 volleyballs and 2 soccer balls.
No!
Diving into the homework, way to go!
We're going to get it done!
With the first round of cleaning and homework done, we treated the kids to McDonalds and made our first surprise announcement.
And inside it's time to celebrate!
Celebrate! With McDonalds.
With McDonalds, it's what everyone wanted.
Yes Becca, there we go.
Munch munch time, celebrating summer vacation.
Such epic clouds tonight, look at this!
All day long. All day long, epic!
But it wouldn’t just be the clouds that would be epic tonight.
Hey guys, what if because... We watch the Mario movie?!
It's Natsu Yasumi we watch Mario Movie now, would that be cool?
Now?! Now!
Perfect!
Words don't come out, I'm so happy!
This is my dream come true!
Do like this.
I could play the drums on this.
It's so cool to hear it with an orchestra.
And so our first viewing of this year’s Super Mario Movie finally commenced, and everyone was glued to the action.
Oh my goodness, things look a little bad!
What did you think Joshua? Good!
Sarah? It was better than I expected!
Momma chan! Way better than I expected!
I wish it was longer!
You wish it was longer?
It was good?
I loved it, it was my favorite movie.
Your favorite movie! Whoa!
Summer Break had officially begun and the next day we would take it to the next level
Whoa!
Nice - way to clean, girls.
And you're doing your homework? Yea.
It's better to finish it before than later. I agree.
But Anna, you're just chilling huh?
Chilling's alright too. I'll do it in the afternoon.
Is that so?
But the best way to kickoff our epic 2023 summer break is not with homework, but with a fun outing at the park with friends.
You know what I want to do? Ride on the bikes.
You want to ride on a bike? We're going to.
He can already ride on his own bike. He's can ride on his own bike?
It’s summer at Showa Kinen Park in Tachikawa, and we have big plans for today’s visit.
Becca & Anna’s good friends are along with us, and we’re going to hit the highlights of the park in fun fashion.
This is absolutely amazing.
I don't know if we've ever been here when there's been so few people.
Right girlfriend? There's like no one here.
I don't know if I've ever been here this early in the morning!
Let's go rent some bikes.
I can't stop! I can't stop!
The twins and their friends are going to put all the excitement of being on summer break to good use:
they are going to ride tandem bicycles for the first time.
Daddy, which way is the big bouncy park?
OK, so you have to go that way and then keep going up, ok?
You girls got this! Be careful, ok?
Have a good trip!
Until later!
Those tandem bikes look like a lot of fun. I want to try it a little bit later.
We like to rent bikes here, but this is the first time Joshua is riding his own bike.
We’re all on our own bikes now.
Riding our bikes! Alright, here we go.
Let's follow Momma chan! Alright guys.
So Anna, how was the two-person bicycles — tandem bicycle?
It was really fun! It was really fun?
How were the tandem bicycles? Good?
Good everyone? Good! Fun!
Whoa!
Oh Sarah chan!
Did you find a nice place to swing? Yeah.
Yeah?
This is what Summer break should be about: spending time with friends and family, enjoying the summer.
The change of pace from everyday life is both refreshing and exciting,
and what better way to celebrate the start of summer break than some time together at one of our favorite parks.
Even Ruth and I found a bit of time for ourselves.
Oh my goodness! We have just seen something the likes of which we have not seen before here.
We have just seen something the likes of which we have not seen before here.
Alright Dude!
How's it going? That was a lot of uphill there, wasn't it?
Daddy, we have a favor. OK.
Take a picture? No.
Slow motion? No.
Yea you do this while while we keep going higher and higher... OK.
Soon I found myself giving each person a turn to bounce to the sky.
But all that bouncing got us hungry and ready for a snack.
For me this is the best ice cream!
What's the best ice cream for you?
Chocolate mint. Chocolate mint!
It's the tastiest?
Uh huh. Oh nice.
Oh, you can even lick the wrapper huh, that's how good it is?
I'm going to get this off.
What kind is it?
I don't know! It's like a rainbow confetti, huh?
No! It's sprinkles.
It's sprinkles? Vanilla and sprinkles.
Vanilla and spinkles! Mommy only got sprinkles.
After ice cream we were right back into the action again,
and Joshua did not want to be left behind by his older sisters or their friends.
Whoa Sarah chan!
But at last it was time for a most special quest: tracking down where we could find a bite to eat
and that meant hopping on the bikes again.
Go ahead!
Alright Sarah Bear chan.
OK go, follow Joshua, he's way ahead of ya!
Sarah, what's your big request?
I hope there's air conditioning in there!
I hope so too!
Whoa, look at the fountain! I've never seen this before!
Nice, right?
How am I going — I want to swim in there!
There's the restaurant, right over there!
Restaurant, here we go! It looks air conditioned!
Oh my goodness, look at this! It's like a camping place.
Are you guys eating in there? Yeah.
No way!
Can I see?!
Cool!
And tasty?
Oh good.
Oh I like these camping tables.
These are fun, aren't they. Don't lock it. Don't close it please.
Oh, well should we go see what we want to eat guys?
Oh look guys, our food came!
Sarah, what did you ask for? A waffle.
Waffle. A chocolate waffle, huh? Yea, and a leaf.
And you too?! How's the leaf taste?!
Good or not so good?
It might just be for looks!
It's a mint.
It's yucky. Sarah's going to try it?
It's not necessarily for eating.
No, it's just to make it look pretty.
After enjoying the air and some over-priced waffles, it was time to enjoy the last bit of the park before taking off.
Whoa!
It went blazing by your head!
Right?!
Summer break is officially started,
so make sure you subscribe to see all the fun things that will be happening on Life in Japan
as we spend this summer in Japan.
You never know — we might even end up at a place near you!