Today's plan was to do some more tourist things around Kyoto and than train over to Okayama.
We started with the Tori gates, which is actually called Fushimi Inari. These were so cool. I love the red-orange color the gates were painted and there were so many of them. Somewhere I read that they were painted a vermilion color, but personally I think it had more orange in it than vermilion does.
A gate where we were dropped off, waiting for the rest of the group. They went to a different entrance, which was confusing. But the day was nice...warm but not too warm. Grey skies threatening rain but not actually raining.
Joshua wanted a picture with this and since he doesn't ask often it even gets included here.
They had some nice pebble-stay-in-place things. Not really picture worthy, but I have two kids that like rocks and we talked about the rocks more than I expect most people do. The stay-in-place things were not comfortable to walk on. I kind of want to make this a big picture for Isaac.
There were a lot of pictures to be taken. It was so pretty. Although it's a bit hard to see in the pictures I select on the way up the mountain all the gates had the same two words on them: accept on the left and serve on the right.
On the other side of all the gates was the sponsor (left side) and the auspicious day that it was erected (right side).
Around this time Joshua just took my phone and started taking pictures. He had some cool ones. He was looking around and enjoying himself, so he could take as many as he wanted.
The gates come in all sizes.
Do you see all my umbrellas? I grabbed my purse strap and then they were easy to carry.
So there is a first section, a second section, and then you can choose to hike around the whole thing for an additional forty minutes. While I'm sure it would have been a nice hike, everyone decided it wasn't our best choice. Furthermore, we didn't want to be caught on the mountain if it started raining.
I really like this picture. I think someone fell right as it was being taken and so we're all looking that way. (They were fine.)
Not only was it a forest, it was a bamboo forest! Isaac tried to grow some bamboo and was unsuccessful, but he's still intrigued by it.
When we got to the bottom, there were some musicians that were warming up as though they were actually going to do something. One of the instruments was the koto. They tuned up, played for about thirty seconds, and then waited for a long time. It was part of a ceremony going on in the temple behind us, which we didn't realize at the time. Anyway. The stipulation of Isaac not marching at Tulip Time was that he keep his ear out for Japanese music. There were a few other places we heard some, but I was hoping this would be a place with a slightly longer song. (image credit)
Near the end of our walk down the mountain, Isaac slipped and got his ankle. We were all worried about it for a while, but after a minute or so he said it was fine. (Spoiler: it was). Well, then after the music he started complaining that his feet were hurting. I tried to have him keep going, but he kept complaining. We finally found a place to sit while Travis and Scarlet got some food and we got some juice. Joshua was a bit bored during this time, so he asked if he could go shopping. I said that was fine, so he just went in a few of the small stores nearby until he found the perfect lucky cat that he had been looking for. It wasn't too big and the hand moved. After I went with him to see it, I gave him some money and he purchased it...no big deal. And it really isn't, but it also isn't something that he does on his own very often.
Oh, this is turning out to be a really long post and we're only at ~10:30am. I think I'll split it into two.
The day started early again as 1) our sleep schedules were still messed up and 2) we wanted to make sure we made it to the Shinkansen, or bullet train, with enough time to spare. If you did this trip every day it would be no big deal, but we needed to navigate several steps: monorail, local train, Shinkansen, local train. If we missed the correct train it wasn't too big of a deal to switch the tickets, but we didn't want to do that.
Monorail to local train was normal. The local train was packed! Not as packed as some of the horror stories you hear about Japanese trains and we were all able to easily get in with our luggage, but there wasn't much extra room. The next stop a few more people got on, but everyone shifted and the packing stayed about the same. The third stop most people got off. The line to go down the escalator reached all the way across the platform, and some of the platforms are really, really long. (They surprised me a few times. Again, if you did it every day you'd know which side of the platform was the best to get on/off at, but a few times we should have walked for another five minutes while waiting for the train so we didn't have to make the walk at the end.)
We got off at Tokyo station, one of the biggest train stations in Tokyo. There was pretty good signage as to where we needed to go, but it was not all that close at it was still rush hour. We quickly learned to stay on the left of the escalators with our bags also on the left so that people could walk by. It wasn't the largest mass of humanity I've every been in (which is still Disney on NYE), but it was close. We made it to the bullet train with time to spare. Ben and Joshua found some peach juice that everyone ended up getting a bottle of because it was delicious.
We got on the train, and it was rather uneventful. It was exciting to go so fast, but after a while it's just another mode of transportation. Ben enjoyed going by other trains, but Isaac and I said it just made our eyes hurt. Mount Fuji was cloud covered.
After the Shinkansen we had one more local train to catch, and what did we find on the way? More Mog-good! We were all hoping to find peach flavor, but this was pineapple. While not quite as funny as the first one, it was still funny.
We walked to a local curry place for lunch. Just as in Tokyo, the walking directions brought us down tiny alleys that could barely fit a car. But at the same time, they were clean and well lit. The ones in Kyoto had more flowers, while the small roads in Tokyo felt more metropolitan. This curry was spicier than the other curries we had had, but it was still good. Ben likes things a bit on the spicier side, so he especially enjoyed it. Again, it was just a little restaurant with room for about ten people and the total was about $30 for plenty of food. We went back to our hotel and were just about to move on to the next activity (as in an uber had just been requested) when 1) Travis and Scarlet were going to be available soon and 2) our rooms were ready. It was a little annoying since all of our plans suddenly changed, but it was also really nice to be able to get into our rooms and have a plan to meet Travis and Scarlet.
We went to Kiyomizu-dera, one of the famous temples in Kyoto. It was beautiful...and busy.
We tried lifting some of the...yeah, I don't really know what they were. The iron shoes were liftable but heavy and I couldn't really figure out any reason why someone would wear them.
Travis and I were taking pictures of each other at the same time.
The temple is on a mountain side, and you can walk around to a pagoda on the other side (that is just to the right of this picture.)
This is the view from half way around; the tall pagoda is where we took the previous pictures. I thought the old temple and modern city made an interesting juxaposition.
Google Translate/Google Lens was a life saver. HOWEVER, I won't tell you the number of times I translated an important looking sign and it said something like, "no smoking, no dogs" or "exit".
This is the pagoda on the opposite side. I made everyone walk around the whole thing, and we found a different path back! Travis often visits some of these sites with customers, but they're on a much more strict schedule. It was nice to encourage him to do some different things too.
Again, where we took pictures over the balcony earlier.
There is a place with mountain water that you can "get a benefit". Travis told us prosperity, health, and wisdom, although Google says success, a fortunate love life, and health. Anyway, we randomly assigned one to each stream. Isaac and I took wisdom, I think Joshua took prosperity, which would leave Scarlet with health.
For dinner we had been hoping to find a tempura spot, but it was hard with seven people. The person at the hotel's front desk instead suggest this "fry it yourself" place at a mall that she goes to with her friends. While the food wasn't delicious, it was a fun experience and we all had plenty of food. The little sausages were cut so that they looked like octopi after they were cooked. I think they also had a face, but I didn't realize it at the time.
Joshua tried a bunch of new vegetables and liked most of them.
Joshua was getting dessert, and it was a bit confusing. The tongs for one of the items was in water, so he just asked one of the staff how to get it. And then the staff member spoke English well enough, so they were just chatting for about five minutes.
We had a little extra time, and all the kids zeroed in on an arcade as we entered the mall. We had been talking about going to one on Sunday when we arrived, but there wasn't really enough time. Ok, so Ben and Travis took the kids to the arcade. It was rather loud, so Cheryl and I sat nearby.
Ben gave the kids each 800 yen, which he figured would last about fifteen minutes. Forty-five minutes later, both kids still had money. The arcades were amazing! For 100 yen you would get three songs at the games, all of which lasted about five minutes. So you can go to one of these for an evening and spend a reasonable amount of money on your hobby. And there were some people there in white gloves and ear pieces doing an amazing job on the songs. (Note the difference between Isaac and the person behind him in the video.)
Anyway, it was almost time to go and Joshua asked if he could spend his last 200 yen at a claw machine. Ben had previously said no claw machines as they're horribly rigged, but it was the end of the night and he was ready to leave so he said yes. Several minutes later Joshua comes back with a huge grin on his face. He looked over all the claw machines and found the one that he had the best chance at winning. And he won a cat in a banana. Honestly, this is probably the stuffy that suits him the best over all that we had seen throughout the trip. The smile didn't leave his face for the rest of the night.
And that brings us to our hotel room. Joshua and I stayed in this one while Ben and Isaac were on the other side of the wall. It was small, but with only two people it was also plenty large enough.
Today I joined the 7th graders for their field trip to Craig's Cruisers. I went so much better than I was expecting.
First of all, I only had Isaac in my group. There ended up being plenty of drivers, so it was just the two of us. The drive was shorter than I expected. Isaac still interacted well with classmates, and they were happy to have him around. We did a few things by ourselves, and I wasn't in charge of a ton of kids. It was great.
Isaac enjoyed the go-karts more than he did last time, so that was nice. We did a zip-line ride which was rather underwhelming. It did bring us up high, but it did not let us drop in free-fall. The ride up was more exciting then the ride down. We played some mini golf with other classmates, had lunch, and played two games of laser tag. The first game was much more fun than the second, but the first game was smaller and we got first and third place.
We got back to school at 1:30 and Isaac was allowed to come home with me. I was able to take a shower and a nap before picking up Joshua.
Ben had been doing quite a bit of e-Foiling now that the weather is nicer.
In the morning Ben and I put together a storage bin for his e-Foil so that he can get it in the water without help. Well, I told him I was leaving at noon due to other things going on in the day, but he was only about a half hour behind me; we had almost finished putting everything together.
After lunch I took a nap because that was what I wanted to do. Then I finished cleaning the house (the kids did a great job starting in the morning).
Friends came over in the evening. The kids played well - first in the basement and then outside. It was a bit crazy like always, but also fun like always.
Today it felt like I got a lot done. The curry was on it's last simmer by 9:30. I finished unpacking and putting away groceries, so the floor is mostly picked up.
After school we went to get some flowers for the year. We all have things that we like to get along with a random assortment. This year Isaac ended up with a large and small succulent, along with zucchini plants. He was going to try watermelon again, but we were pretty late in getting our flowers and they were all gone. I think he's excited about zucchini bread. Joshua got some (small) strawberry plants; I hope they thrive for him. He also got a succulent and a bright red tall flower and his normal snapdragons. They only had one flat of snapdragons left, so we were a bit lucky. I got my normal dragon leaf begonia, some leafy things, some white things to go with the red flower, and some marigolds. There is no rhyme or reason to what we get, other than it catches our eye.
Well, this would be a good place to put a picture of the flowers but of course I didn't take one.
While today was rather boring, I did finally make headway on the chores. The laundry is almost complete, the entryway has been picked up, and all the groceries are purchased (although not put away). I'm hoping to do some more interesting chores tomorrow, but we'll see how things go.
I stopped by Hope before Isaac's math class to drop off some things for their last day. His teacher is so nice. Isaac had a gigantic final exam, and it would have been nice to have more than a week that didn't include a holiday, but otherwise the class is run so nicely. There are plenty of chances to fix work, the teacher loves math and is excited by it but also can run a classroom. She is also incredibly responsive via email. And she loved having Isaac! The program really does work well for him, in more ways than just learning math. There is a ton of time management and responsibility that Isaac has figured out too.
We went rock climbing right afterwards. Isaac completed the V5 that he's been working on. He hasn't completed many of that level, so it was extra exciting. I didn't get to see it because I was belaying Joshua, but his coach was watching and cheering him on.
I am still working through getting stuff done. I still don't have a clean kitchen, I've barely unpacked, I didn't finish the wash (although that's normal), and it took me until the evening to get half the groceries. It's a big grocery week so I need to go to two stores and I only got to one. I have a bit more time tomorrow, so I'm optimistic things will get done.
The food situation has been 'dire'. Carrots were gone a few days ago. There were three florets of broccoli left for dinner; the lunch vegetable was peanuts. There is no fresh fruit...although I found two apples hiding as I put the groceries away.
A friend brought Isaac back from church this evening and even though it only saved me twenty minutes, I used those twenty minutes well.
Today was Joshua's 4th grade trip to Lansing and I went as a chaperone. While there were many similarities to Isaac's, there were a bunch of differences too.
First of all, we had a bus. I'm not sure I would have gone if we needed to drive. I know it isn't that far, but it isn't my favorite thing to do. Anyway, the bus was really nice.
We were on time! This meant we got to see the whole capital tour instead of just 2/3rds of it. However, congress wasn't in session and so it wasn't as busy or quite as interesting. The docent for the tour kept emphasizing how we had to be really quiet so they don't get complaints. Ok, I get it. At the very end she was looking down a hallway (presumably with actual workers) and said we had to be extra quiet. The fourth graders did a great job. One of the students in the high school class that was with us went "lalalala" and the docent came back and glared at the 4th graders. Kind of funny, kind of not.
Next we went the museum. Last time a docent walked us through a large part of it; this time we were on our own. I tried to keep my group somewhat slow; we had over an hour and the only thing that happened if we went quickly was more time waiting. We ended up being the last group out (just by a bit) and it worked perfectly. I thought the kids did a pretty good job engaging with the exhibits.
Lunch was fine.
We also got to go to the Supreme Court, which wasn't on the schedule for Isaac's trip. I thought the docent did a very nice job and there was some nice interaction on how a court room worked. That being said, the kids were also starting to be a little done with listening.
I realized what a joy it is to have kids that listen. How they ask if they can do xyz and then do as expected or ask a reasonable follow-up question. (Can I get my ball out? No? Ok, can I get it out when we go outside?) How I can expect to go into a gift shop and not have them go crazy. I know some of that is that we know each other, but it is good to be able to trust them.
The other big difference with this field trip is that Joshua interacted with his peers a ton more than Isaac did. He didn't sit next to me on the bus. He didn't eat lunch next to me. He walked by me sometimes, but not always. It was different, but good.
We got Ben out on his e-Foil today for the first time. It was a bit of an ordeal getting it to the beach, but there are plans to make that easier in the future. It was a lovely night.
This morning I went on a walk with Cheryl. There were a lot of ducks.
I went rock climbing with Isaac after his math class. He's had a lot of work lately but has really been doing a great job managing it. During rock climbing he decided to show me something he thinks is a figure 4. It was interesting to watch him move his legs all around, but especially when he decided to do it one-handed. There was a different pink route that we watched a few people do without their feet in the cave (i.e., hands only). So he decided to do it and totally crushed it. Everyone was excited for him.
