We've heard there's cherry and plum blossoms in bloom, and we want to see if it's true.

But first we have to find our way to the home which we've heard is hard to get to.

It says one minute...

Is that it?

That looks like it — it is!

I'm not sure... no, that's it right there.

Is that the little house up there? Yep, that's it!

That's the little house! Look, that right up there!

[Life in Japan Theme Song]

I'm going to go look real quick and see if I can go straight up it...

Here it is, ok.

I'm going to climb up this because I want to see if I can turn around up here or not

Or if I have to back up this in the car

Oh man!

OK, that's where you can park right there

And up there is the house...

Oh, I think I'm going to have to back up this thing.

So guys, guess what we're going to do?

Back in. We're going to back in.

No no no! Can I walk up?

Wait, are we going to go down the mountain? No, we're going up the driveway.

Can we do this, Nate?!

It's scary. Scary, scary, scary, Mommy, save me!

I don't know if our car can make it! Yes it can.

This is officially my scariest experience ever!

Ever?! In the whole wide world!

Daddy's going up the mountain backwards!

Well maybe I could let you guys out so that... No!!!

I can't say words right now I'm so scared...

I think he can make it, but I'm scared that he can't.

Oh you can do it, don't go back forward, Daddy. They have the driveway kind of angled

Yeah. And it's a matter of learning the angle — just like our driveway.

Our driveway you have to find the angle too. Good job Dada, but I'm still scared we're going to get out of this place.

No, getting out is going to be easy.

We did it! We did it! Alright.

It's like a staircase up there.

A staircase up that way?

These are big! I can't open it.

You can't open it? I can open it.

Wait..

Oh my! Oh! That's your new office, Daddy!

Very cool! I'm going to go upstairs first.

There's the TV!

You found the fun room, huh?!

There's a dining room, next to the kitchen!

And oh!!

Look at this!

We'll have to figure out how to turn on all the heaters here.

Now I want to go and look upstairs. Is there rooms upstairs?

There's only two.

Well, maybe some of you will sleep up here... I want to sleep downstairs.

I want to sleep in this room though... Uh, I don't think this room is for sleeping.

Why? Oh, look at that view!

That's a high view Oh my goodness!

Oh man, this is scary if you fall down.

Fall! No, you have to plan on not falling.

Oh kids, can I see your room?

Drumroll?

Who's going to open the door? Anna!

Anna, open the door!

[Faint mumbling from inside] Oh, you open the door. You go in now.

Ah! Anna's in the massage chair!

Oh, look the futons are already for tonight

And Anna is busy on vacation. Yes I am.

So Ruth found this place online, it was cheap.

But the nice thing is that you get the whole house and that's good for our family

And you have to bring your own sheets and towels, so that's a little bit more work.

Are we having ramen? My favorite!

In this Japanese getaway house?

Yes we are. It's good.

It's good?

And here are the ladies, getting their ramen on — Nate, your ramen's getting cold...

My ramen's getting cold?! I gotta get it. Gotta get it.

If you know me, you know I like to get up and read my Bible. Oh my goodness, what a place to do that here today.

Look at this room here! Oh my goodness! You got the sunrise over there

The ocean out that way — oh man, this is nice.

You got the little personal heaters here, because it is cold. It is cold.

OK, we're loading up the car and we're going off on an excursion

We're going to see Mount Omoru... Omori? Something like that.

Omuro

Maybe some sakura, some plum blossoms, some fun parks and scenic places along the way

Our first stop will be Mt Omuro, a volcano that erupted a long time ago and created a lava path that went to the ocean.

Nowadays you can take a chairlift to the top and walk around the crater as you enjoy the commanding views of the area.

Since Omuro on the way to the Cherry blossoms in Kawazu, we're going to stop and see it.

OK let's go stand in line. We're going to go up!

Oh boy, I hope it's not too cold up on the top.

It could be chilly! It's chilly already.

Here go the girls! Alright girls!

We go up the mountain.

Here it comes — watch how they do it Joshua, and sit down.

OK

Here it comes! Here it comes! Oh man!

Here we go!

Look at that over there! Mount Fuji behind us.

Whoa there's Momma and Sarah. How is it, guys?

Fun, but scary to look back.

Scary to look back?!

Wow, look behind us though, that's pretty awesome, huh?

Yeah, it's kind of scary.

Kind of scary but fun? Yeah, because the noise.

Be quiet. Do you hear it? Yeah, I hear it.

Yeah, that's so scary!

I feel like I could almost touch my feet on the ground.

Oh - oh! I got it! I got it! I got it!

You ready?!

Whoa guys, look at this! What a view!

Whoa! And there's Fuji san over there.

That's where the volcano came out of?

There used to be a top to this volcano, but it blew off in the explosion.

Are you guys being so careful?!

No, Becca's making everybody be so careful. Becca,kibishi (strict)

What do you think up here Sarah? Uh, scary.

Do it feel like you're at the top of the world?

Yea! But Becca makes sure that all of us are safe.

Guys! Joshua! Don't run.

Becca's such a big sister.

Oh my goodness guys, look, we've got a little bit of a climb now.

Here they come! Up the incline!

Momma chan and Joshua! Here comes Joshua! Alright Dude

There's snow on those mountains up there!

You see this coast right here? We're going to go down that a little more 'cause there's Sakura down there.

So Becca - what do you think?

Well I'm not scared but I'm scared for them. Oh, are you?

What a big sister!

Don't run Joshua!

On top of the world, Dude!

Momma chan and Sarah almost here! We're almost at the top!

Where all those houses are — that's all the lava flow. When the lava erupted, that's where it went.

Echo!! Yeah, I heard it. Are you going to do it?

Waaaaaah!!

That sounds like someone screaming for help, maybe that's not good.

OK, no more yelling!

And w'eve made it back to the chairlift, we can go back down.

Well that's cool.

Did you find a magnet? Oh yep, we did, look.

Oh! We already got a souvenir!

OK, heading back down!

Are we ready, Daddy?

Now we're going down — look at that view though, huh Dude? Oh my goodness!

Where's Mt Fuji? There it is!

Guys look at Mt Fuji over there! On the left.

Next stop - do you know what the next stop is? Yea, the climbing place?

Sakura! I hope it's good, I don't know, we'll find out.

It was another 45 minutes of driving down the beautiful Izu Peninsula coast,

and along the way we saw some promising signs of Sakura, the cherry-blossoms, although we feared that we might be still a bit too early.

This is pretty!

Oh there you go! Sarah start dancing!

That fruit looks good!

So Momma chan, the weather? In the shade it's cold but in the sun it's nice.

The Sakura was definitely beautiful, but only a few trees had bloomed,

so we got a bite to eat and continued on our loop back towards Atami,

climbing up the famous Izu Skyline drive, a highway that snakes along the uppermost parts of the ridge that makes up the Izu peninsula.

We were headed for Himenosawa Park, a huge hilly green space known for its great obstacle course,

and the Izu Skyline drive took us straight there.

What a view of Mt Fuji from here, huh?

Yeah, I know but they did a lot of work to make this whole road

They did a lot of work to make this whole road, you're right.

I don't know how they did this!

This is quite the climb already, oh my!

Easy peasy. Whoa, easy peasy are you sure?

One at a time, guys.

Sarah did it. There goes Becca.

Oh! It's so uphill, huh Dude? Yea.

Oh it's a bridge guys! Be careful, it's wobbly.

Wobbly bridge.

Oh it's like hiking. Mommy, over there is number 7.

Sarah is doing the hiking wall, wow! The climbing wall - go Sarah go!

Whoa! Wobbly wobbly wobbly chair.