But expectation is in the air today as we are at Showa Kinen Park in Tachikawa for their annual autumn leaves viewing.

There's a word for this in Japanese: Kouyou, and as night falls, we get ready for the main event.

Here we go! Look at that.

Oh my goodness!

Yeah, for Christmas.

Oh yes!

What a ride! What a ride.

This is a roller coaster!

All the little Japanese umbrellas

These are very nice.

Wow!

It's so beautiful

I think I see some red over there.

Oh I think we found the place we want to do the picture!

Whoa!

It's so pretty with that bamboo in the back there.

Right like this.

Oh yes.

Where do you want us to stand? Right there.

Oh wow, sugoi!

Oh yea!

Over here, girls!

All the ladies over here.

All the single ladies!

All the single ladies over here!

Where are we looking?

Aw, I got it.

The Japanese gardens at Showa Kinen Park are absolutely gorgeous in the fall

and we take advantage of it to snap some new photos of our crew.

I just want to jump in this water

Do you?! Is that what it makes you want to do?

No!

That would be so cold.

Wow, sugoi.

That's a pretty view, Nate.

Quickly, quickly.

Yea, we're going to get a picture right here.

I just got like three drops on me.

I think it was a bird, honey.

Ooo, look at this here.

That's beautiful. OK all three girls!

My three girls.

One, two, three.

Oh my goodness!

You want to come close?

Oh yes! Look at that right there! That is good.

This tree is nice.

Wow, actually that looks really fake.

It looks just like the fake leaves that I have at Daiso.

Yeah, that's exactly right!

Where'd all the leaves go?

Where did they go? It's like the Fall or something.

The colors of fall remind you that seasons are changing,

and just like one season gives way to another, for our family the seasons are changing once again.

A new season of life is settling in, and change is in the air.

[Life in Japan Theme Song]

Hey Dude, what are you making? Tell the camera!

French Toast.

French Toast?!

As the cold air settles in, we also get settled into our new apartment.

Oh look, Anna Cakes in up and she has got the Kotatsu on...

The table, in case you missed it, is a table with a heater underneath.

Oh yes! It's the best.

Yeah, the kids love this, don't they?

Yea, Kotatsu.

Kotatsu.

Kotatsu with the Mario!

Sarah's awake! Good morning Sarah.

Good morning.

What is today?!

[mumbles]

Natsuhi? (Summer Day)

Ma-tsu-ri

Festival!

Oh fun, at your new school.

And Joshua and mommy made French Toast.

Right next to your Rainbow Origami.

What did you make there?

You do it like this Ok

It's like this

Whoa

Very nice.

What are you working on, Becca?

A card for Evie because she's going to have surgery.

This is the final product to Evie. Oh my goodness.

It's so cute, she is going to love it!

Oh my stinky!

Wait, where is mine?

That is amazing!

OK guys, come eat please.

OK, breakfast time!

What's happening today Rebecca?

My electric drum set is going to come in.

Oo ho ho ho ho ho.

Electric durmast!

Electric?!

All this scaffolding is what they put around building in Japan when they're painting them, or doing any kind of service on the exterior.

They have to build these things around the entire building. So that's why you see it up here.

There they are.

They're under the clock, they're under the clock!

There they go! Have a nice fun day at school not-so-little Reutter kids!

Since we moved in... this has been our dining room table.

But it's going to go out on the balcony, because I think they're done with our balconies now

Even though the scaffolding is still up

So we're going to move it out there

And now we're going to buy a dining room table.

Whohoo! Yes, finally right?

With today's purchase of a dining room table and the prospects of the scaffolding coming down,

we're really starting to feel like life is coming together once again.

My goodness this is exciting! They're finally starting to take the scaffolding down.

I'm a sucker for fall colors, and enjoy seeing them around here.

But if time permits, I'm going to head up to Lake Okutama, near the headquarters of the Tama River

where I've heard they have amazing fall colors.

That's all assuming we can get the rest of our house setup.

Alright I want to take the table up first.

Table first? Put that together and then the chairs? Yeah.

So certainly living in an apartment isn't as convenient as a house when it comes to unloading your car,

But when you do need to unload your car, you can just pull right up to it and that's very nice.

Welcome to the jungle.

The trees...

The chairs... can you tell those are chairs?

And there's Ruth at the end of the hallway, getting ready.

Alright

Becca's helping! Alright!

Let's lift this out

And the kids are over there enjoying their matsuri (festival)

Hopefully Sarah and Joshua are having a great time over there.

Ruth has put together her fair share of furniture in this move.

Yeah.

But, oh, it's going to be nice to have a proper dining room table here.

One step at a time, this is feeling more and more like home.

Hey Dude!

How was it today, the matsuri (festival)?

Good.

Good? Was it fun? Yep.

What was the best game?

Ah, bowling. Bowling!

Did you see the table?

That's right! We got a table and we're putting it together!

What are we making here, Zoot?

Ham and potato soup.

[Talking in an accent] Ham and patater soup.

You get your ham, and you get your taters, and you put them together in some soup.

But I ain't country.

Oh, and I bought a Japanese cook book.

You bought a Japanese cookbook, huh? A bread cookbook.

A bread cookbook?! Nice!

You know people are waiting for you to make your own cookbook.

What do you have to say to that?

I don't know about a recipe book, I might do recipe videos.

Oh there you go, recipe videos!

I don't think I have the patience to write it out.

Open it! Open it! Open it!

Oh my goodness, Rebecster Booster!

Oh my goodness, it's all in pieces.

Oh my!

Watch out Joshua, I got to put this down.

You got this

Yea, you got this

Let me read my instruction manual since this is my first time putting together a drum set.

An electric drum set.

This product is subject to change. Ah! It comes in English.

The girlfriend has put together table, chairs and now a drum set all in the same day.

And this... let's do this one.

Loosen this.

In Illinois, where I grew up, fall is amazing but only lasts like 2 weeks.

And all the trees change at once, boom! it's an amazing show and then boom! It's done.

But here in Japan, as I've mentioned before, it lasts for several months

So Fall is this beautiful, long drawn-out thing that goes all the way to the end of the year.

About the only thing that hasn't changed recently is our life and work at Paz Church.

I love working with Paz and each Sunday is like a breath of fresh air in the midst of a busy life.

And today I'm preaching the message about "Weed Your Garden"

That's right, weed your garden.

So you can check it out on Paz Church today.

After church it's a beautiful day,

and with some free time to spare, I'm heading to the spot I've wanted to go to at Lake Okutama for the fall colors.

I'm not sure what I will see when I get there, but as I drive the expectations grow.

Once I got there, it was time to hike.

There was a trail that led to all the fall colors.

I just didn't know how intense that trail would be.

Soon I would find out.

I'm near Lake Okutama

And I'm hiking here.

A friend suggested that I come out here because of the beautiful red maples that they have.

And I'm hoping to get some good shots here today and enjoy the fall scenes.

I'll tell you what, this sure starts off with a bang — walking up stairs.

Oh yea!

Look at this!

I love it already!

All this climbing made me have to stop and take off my sweatshirt

And just go with my t-shirt.

The trail was golden and beautiful,

but it didn't take long before you could see the red maple trees make their first glorious appearance.

Oh, look at this. Now we're talking.

Oh wow!

There's where we parked. That's my car down there.

We have come up a long, long ways.

Holy cow. Now this is awesome.

Oh boy!

I'm reminded that in life it's the hardest paths that have the best views.

And the path of most resistance will often take you to the heights and a perspective no one else sees.

Oh, I need to take a picture of this. There's just too much beautiful things to see.

As it is with fall, so it is with life.

Seasons change and time progresses.

With each passing year, I'm learning to appreciate each moment as it comes, even the challenging ones.

You may never get that opportunity again.

I'm choosing to live life to the full and thank God for everything that comes my way, the good and the bad,

that way it all works together for a truly fruitful life.

Becca, how was school today? Did you go try a club?

Yeah, it's the brass band

Oh, cool!

Now you're going to practice your drums? Yes.

Dude, they're undoing it guys, how cool is that?!

What are you munching on?!

Oreos

Oh my goodness

They're doing our place? No they're not. Not yet.

Yea look, they're over there.

What instrument did you try?

Double bass

It's the biggest stringed instrument, right? Huge.

It's gotta be taller than you, huh?

Anna, did you see what they're doing out there?

When I was coming back from school I saw it.

No! You're recording!

It's happening!

They're taking it off right now? They are.

Right there, look.

We could just be watching out here.

That is so cool!

Our neighbors above us already have their view back. How cool is that?

Absolutely everything is getting painted here too. Wow, there is a lot going on here right now.

The first look at an unobstructed view.

Here's what we were looking through the whole time here

But now - oo, wow.

Nice.

Yes, it feels like everything is coming together at once.

The move is over, the house is in order, the kids settling into new schools.

Seasons change and an obstructed view becomes clear.