Saturday, October 27, 2012

Second camping trip: Sagami Lake

The first weekend of October we went on a second camping trip! Considering that it had been a few years since we first went camping together this was a big development. It was spurred by our first trip actually. Two of Shimon's buddies decided that they wanted to go camping too and so the trip developed.

This time it was way more low key! We didn't even bring the big backpack for Touma. We booked a camp site at a camp ground that Shimon and I had camped out several years ago. It is on a lake and there's a tiny waterfall hike and you can kayak or rent a boat out, but the main goal is to relax. Also, unlike our earlier camping trip, we could cook over a campfire. That meant s'mores. And hot dog-like sausages. And "boys" playing with fire. It was a good time.

Once again Touma was a total trooper! He actually spent a large part of the evening in a carrier asleep. When he was awake he was pretty happy.

Heading out!

I have to admit that after not having had a car for nearly 6 years of living in the Tokyo area, it is really nice to have a car. Not for everyday things - I still take public transportation for play groups and meeting friends - but for the weekend fun! We can get out and get away from areas where you can't go easily by train. 

The group in front of the waterfall.
 Shimon set up his camera to take a series of 5 (I think) pictures of the group. Each one we ended up posing differently. You will notice that the guys have some funny poses!

Crazy tree... or crazy rock!?
 This tree wrapped around a rock or rock pushed up into the tree was really cool... and good for a picture op. I kind of wish that Shimon had zoomed in a little bit, but it would have probably lost the effect.

Setting up camp!

Getting the tents sorted.
Another great part of this camp was that we had new sleeping bags. After not having proper sleeping bags the last camping trip, Shimon did some research and found some reasonably priced (for down sleeping bags) mummy bags for us. These will last us for quite awhile! But they sure were cozy. The only problem with sharing a mummy bag with a baby? Zipping up! We didn't get to zip up all the way. It wasn't really very cold, but we're going to have to invest in a Touma-sized sleeping bag when he gets a little older.

Wednesday, October 03, 2012

Sunday at the park

There is a very nice park not too far from our house. Lately, on Sundays, we've been having lunch there and we generally take some fun pictures too. This past Sunday was gorgeous (calm before the typhoon whipped in that evening), so we took advantage of the weather and had some nice family time.

The grass is definitely worth some investigating...
Maybe I should eat whatever is in my hand. :-)
Touma's favorite new toy: plastic drink bottles!
Now gimme that bottle, Dad!!

Oze National Park

(We are skipping ahead to more recent news since summer vacation seems like a LONG time ago!)

Over a long weekend in September (17-18-19), we took a mini-vacation up to Oze National Park in Gunma prefecture and did a little camping and some trekking. Now, I call it trekking for two reasons: 1) that's what Japanese people call it and 2) it was definitely not hiking.

Oze is actually in the area of Gunma, Fukushima (very far from the nuclear reactor), and Niigata Prefecture. It is mountainous, but the really interesting part are the marshes that are surrounded by mountains. It was amazing and a perfect excursion to take a baby on. The majority of the walking was completely flat.

One thing about Oze that was astonishing was the wind. It was incredibly windy the entire day while we did our trekking. It made for really amazing pictures when we set out - the clouds were practically racing across the sky! But after a few hours, the wind also made it more exhausting to carry around Touma. That job fell mostly on Shimon, but the last hour I took over. I love having a backpack for the little guy, but we really need to only carry him in it! He's heavy enough without adding any little weight.

We took lots of pictures, but I'll just post a few so you can see what our adventure was like!


The evening before our trekking, we took a short walk. Papa and Touma had fun!
Heading out for the day. Camera bag and baby
Feeling energetic enough to strike a pose!
Slowly getting more tired as the day wore on... but the weather stayed beautiful ALL day!
Family portrait
This coming weekend we're heading out for a family and friends (a couple of Shimon's friends are going to join in the fun!) campout. It's going to be much more low key this weekend. Head to a campsite on a lake, make a campfire, enjoy said camp fire and relax. Should be good fun.