Lovely day in the park

To balance out the negative post on our weather last week, I'll tell you about today's beautiful autumn day. Today was a public holiday, which CAJ also allows teachers and students to take (this doesn't always happen). Actually it is called Health and Sports Day by the government.

It began with a leisurely sleep-in. Particularly noteworthy is that our 12 y.o. set the table and prepared breakfast for his brothers (porridge). He's made breakfast for himself before (when practising basketball last winter), but not for everyone.

Later, after some Lego play, a short trip to the grocery store, and gathering a basic picnic lunch (PB sandwiches and bananas) we headed off for a park. This one (Sakuji) is only about four stops from here and is centred on two large ponds/lakes.

The last time we visited here was in the height of summer last year, just a month after we returned to Tokyo. We were exhausted and hot. It was lovely to be there today when the weather was perfect (about 24 degrees and no wind or cloud). We had enough energy to walk all the way around the whole park. We also went looking for the alleged castle. Disappointment: its remains are fenced off with a lot of Japanese signs posted with information. You can see nothing amidst the trees and grass.

After walking around the whole thing plus stopping to allow the boys to play at the playground, we still had enough left to spend half an hour on the boats. You can hire paddle boats or row boats for a small fee which, of course, the boys love. We went out on one paddle boat and one row boat. 

David (at a couple of inches under 6 feet) has trouble with the paddle boats – his legs being the wrong length. He figured he might have more luck with the row boats, but no, somehow the floor was too high (there were "floor boards" above the bottom to keep our feet from getting wet) and he kept hitting his knees with the oars. But we did have fun and got some more exercise – rowing or pedalling these boats isn't to be taken lightly! 

It's been nearly two years since we had a holiday on a farm with a dam and a row boat. The boys haven't had a go at rowing since then. It took some time to get coordinated again. Fun to watch!

Finished off, not by hopping in a car, but by walking several hundred metres to the railway station and catching a train home (including two long flights of stairs and a walk home from the station). Again it comes home to me how active a lifestyle in Japan really is!

On the train home we saw a lady with her two daughters. From the plastic bags they were carrying, they'd been shopping. A Girls Day Out, you might say. I commented to David that had our children been girls rather than boys (although I know that is generalising, I was an active girl who would probably have enjoyed a park more than a shop), that could have been us. But instead we get to explore parks on our days off. Thankfully we had a lovely day to do it today.