First day of conference

Yesterday we had breakfast in our house for the last time. We packed our bags and left for Sendai, a mere five hours drive away. From the beginning of the day we had, "When will we get there?" type questions. But generally the trip went well. Our iPods helped a lot. Yes, we have two. One we bought last year before we travelled away at Christmas primarily because the CD player in our car had ceased to function. Then when we went to buy our new computer, there was a special deal going which included an iPod. It's been interesting getting them both up and running, but it all paid dividends today. Knowing that we had some long car trips ahead of us, I spent some time a few weeks ago downloading free stories from these two websites, Storynory and anther one I cannot remember at present (I have only 5 minutes to do internet access right now, so cannot go looking). We listened to a few stories today, although one of them caused us to get lost at one point and nearly caused a domestic. All because the driver was concentrating too hard on the story and not reading the Japanese road signs :) Very easy to do! Earlier in the drive we had some blissful quiet time in the front seat while all three boys listened to the two iPods using earplugs or headphones. The smile hardly died off the face of our 4 y.o., who obviously thought it was a great activity. We're going to have to do some iPod management education, though, as it was a pretty full-time job for the non-driver to get them fixed up, playing the right songs (they weren't impressed with the bird calls or the Chopin piano piece) and at the right volume. We discovered the last problem when our 6 y.o. shouted every time he had something to say. Yes, he was shouting over the music. Lunch was great. Japanese expressways have a culture of their own. You are pretty much sealed onto the thing until you get to your exit, so they have designated rest stops. The biggest ones have about 300 toilet cubicles and many shopping opportunities. Of course we're always looking for places to 'exercise' the children and not all offer much in that department. The trick is that you cannot tell what it'll be like until you stop there, by then it is too late, everyone is desperate to get out of the car and chances are the next stop is not for 15 or 20 km. Today we were lucky and the stop was gorgeous. Picnic benches (at the same angle as the hill) that were not inundated by smokers AND under established shady trees. Rice paddies in the distance and little nooks and crannies to explore. We spent about an hour there. Made us a little late for conference, but we don't regret it. Probably the worst fight of the trip was within 5km of our destination. Given a mere one small bag of biscuits to share, the 4 y.o. bravely held them captive, not trusting his brothers to share. We were all at the end of our tethers by then (my beloved had barely recovered from being mad at himself for making the wrong turn I previously mentioned). After a nightmare welcome session (where boys who'd been cooped up in a car for 5 hours were required to sit in a large room of people silently), we found out there was a big park nearby. My husband couldn't get the boys there fast enough! Back to the feed and exercise treatise I mentioned here. Well now it is night-time and the two of the boys are snoring softly. I guess I could go to the session that started 1 hr 40 min ago, or I might not. Maybe a leisurely shower and early to bed would be a better idea. I don't know about how easy it will be to access the internet at this hotel, so you'll won't get this in real-time. Nonetheless, it's been fun writing!