Snippets from our camping trip last weekend

Last Friday we went camping for three nights with another family with three boys. Yes, that's right, six teenage boys for three nights (well actually our eldest is now 20, but...). By another almost accidental connection on Facebook, our pastor gave us access to a cabin he and his wife look after for a friend of theirs. You'll see later why that made a huge difference to our weekend.

From the start it was a bit complicated because our friends don't have a car or licences, so we borrowed another eight-seater van from other friends. Both "dads" had to work part of Friday at school, so the plan was for the mums and boys to leave early and set up what we could, with the dads following with the rest of the gear. Oh, and just to make things "worse" I decided that it would be fun to stop at Costco on the way (it was truly not out of our way to do this) and get a few supplies for our long weekend.

We had the usual sort of fun navigating with Google Maps, but got there in good time, though only beat the dads by an hour or so. In that hour, though, we managed to meet both the resident neighbours (there were several currently unoccupied houses nearby), clean up the cabin (including what seemed like hundreds of large, mostly dead ants), and get our two tents erected.

Here are some photos:

Such greeness can't be ignored by an Australian. We tried to explain to our
north American friends that the predominant green in our land is quite different
to what you find practically every time you leave any city at this time of year in Japan. 

Interesting fungi too. Yes, we planned a trip in the middle of a particularly wet rainy season.

Just down the hill was this little stream.

The view on our first day and second days. Actually in this case the cloud is hiding an ugly quarry that covers a lot of the side of this mountain across the valley. 

A bit to the right of the above photo, looking down towards the township of Chichibu (only about 50 km from our home in Tokyo).

Looking down at the tents from the cabin.

Looking back up at the cabin before the boys put the tents up.

Meeting the neighbours was an experience. Our pastor had told them we were coming, but I think there was a few more of us than they'd expected. I also don't think they had had much experience with campers...they wondered if we had any food with us! Town was about 10-15 minutes down a very windy road, so yes, we had lots of food with us. However, they brought this beautiful platter with freshly cooked potatoes over, along with a big cabbage. Later we returned the platter with some homemade baked goods that we'd brought with us and they followed up by giving us a loaf of bread. You can't out-give Japanese people!

First night sunset, and the only night we saw anything resembling a sunset!

The house in the picture is that of our generous and friendly neighbours.

 Wonderful hydrangreas in the "wild".

The stick insect the boys found and "played with" for a while. Nicknamed "Synestro" I think.

This camp turned out to be a level above our usual camping style. A coffee machine! I don't even have one of them in my house!

This cabin looks bigger than it actually is. There were two floors, upstairs was open and seven people slept there one night. Yes, one of the tents leaked and was evacuated at 3am Sunday morning. I was selfishly thankful that it wasn't our new tent! Downstairs contained a bathroom and toilet, small kitchen, and a room off the verandah that was our dining room and became the adult hang-out (or "reading room").

On Saturday there was rain forcast for later in the day, so we did some outside things while we could. I proposed a stroll, but that turned into a mountain climb! The photo below is of the easy bit on the road. We climbed the peak of the mountain we were camped on—only 200m higher than where we were situated—but a bit more than a stroll. We were definintely looking middle-aged when contrasted with these six young men!

Another view of the valley, looking back towards Tokyo. This land truly looks like God did origami with the ground!

After midnight on Sunday morning the rain really closed in, not super heavy, but constant. It rained for 24 hours, so on Sunday we were especially grateful for the cabin. 

We volunteered the boys to set up a roof over the balcony for the Sunday night dinner. Most of our meals we could cook inside, but what we'd planned for that night needed coals (in the absence of an oven inside). It worked really well and held up overnight until the next day when the rain stopped and we were able to get most of our gear dry before packing up to return home on Monday.

I didn't get any inside photos, but our friends brought a bunch of Lego sets that the boys spent quite a lot of time putting together upstairs. We also played board games, did puzzles, and read. 

Our families are similar in ages and our boys have been in a number of the same sports over the years, so we've gotten to know each other and spent many hours at events and travelling to and from events together. The mum of this family is the lady I travelled to Korea with in 2017 to watch our son's last high school competition. Our eldest boys both graduated together that year and have barely seen one another since then, so it was a great opportunity to catch up.

Overall it was a good weekend away. Quite different to a usual camping trip for the Marshalls, but overall very relaxing and a great getaway. 

We're now preparing for another getaway on Monday, this time for two weeks in a larger abode on our own. David and I have been looking forward to that for many months. The boys are not so convinced that it's a good thing. Hopefully they misgivings will be unfounded and we'll have a great time away recharging.

A bit of a breather before a doozy

The boys rushed around
finding food samples, that
Costco is famous for
providing. It cut our lunch
costs down—they were al-
ready half full before they
got there!

Today and tomorrow we're taking a breather. A non-weekend breather. It is the four-day long weekend called Winter Break at CAJ, which means everyone, even the teacher in the family, can be home.

We went to Costco this morning, and the much anticipated Lego Shop at the Outlet Mall next door (to get our free new year's catalogues—a family tradition).

Costco wasn't too crowded i.e. we found seats straight away for the five of us to sit together for lunch at their "restaurant" afterwards. And the boys were better behaved than we've previously seen at Costco (are they growing up?).

What made it a less stressful trip was that I could relax and leave most of the shopping and lifting to my husband, who does a fantastic job at these sorts of things.

Eating afterwards at the
Costco fast food "restaurant".

What isn't so good is that I'm fighting off a cold. It hasn't been too bad, but my energy is a bit low. Plus, I know that I'm leading up to a big week!

This week is the week of the Writer's Workshop that I've been planning for several months now. To avoid the dramas of the last Writer's Workshop I led and taught at (in which I arrived nearly 2 hours late), I'm driving up the day before. That way I can't be late, can I? Surely some other drama will happen (like snow, for example...).

So, everyone goes back to school on Wednesday and I gather myself to drive up to Sendai (about five hours). Thankfully I have two companions, one of whom will help with driving. Hopefully I'll be past the worst of my cold by then.

The other writers arrive on Thursday morning, and if everyone turns up we'll be a nice group of six. My responsibilities, not only includes hostess, but schedule keeper, teacher, driver, and chef! I'm providing breakfast and lunch on Friday (simple, mind you!). But I'm not planning to do any writing myself, surprised?

That is not my only challenge. My executive editor has challenged me to be more confident in my teaching. We'll see if I can muster more boldness. I wonder if my trouble last time, though, was related to the humbling experience of getting lost on the trains and being late!

We'll see how well it goes, but I predict I'll be worn out by the time we get back on Friday night. Thankfully what follows is a quiet weekend!

But as for the rest of our long-weekend. It's looking to be cold (5 degrees forecast tomorrow) and wet. Thankfully we've planned a quiet "in" day tomorrow. Two DVDs planned, including The Karate Kid (original)!

Sleepover party and an anniversary

Today we're having a bit of a chilled-out day.

Last night we held a party for my new 10 y.o. It is the first non-family party he's ever had. There's a variety of reasons for that, one being that he's never asked for a party and so, typically, it's slipped under the radar and never happened. There are lots of things like that in a multiple-child family. I notice this particularly as I interact with smaller families. Particularly families with only one child.

It also happens to be the first every party-sleepover that we've ever hosted as a family. Our children's personalities have a bit to do with that, as do our personalities. Not to mention that with three fairly highly strung boys, our life runs on a thin wire anyway. It doesn't take a lot to push the stress over the top.

Playing Heroica, a Lego game.

Possibly another reason is that as children we had almost no experience of party-sleepovers ourselves. I haven't checked with my husband on this, but I suspect he never had one, nor went to one. I never had one and the only sleepover party I did attend ended badly. This is a story in itself.

I'm not sure how many preteen girls were at the party, but considering we were at a small school, it was probably all the girls in our year level: between a dozen and 15. Brave parents! We did all the usual things, food, stories, we may have even watched a movie (though not guaranteed, that may have been before videos were standard equipment in homes). And we were late to bed.

When we woke up early in the morning there was a rush to use the toilet and I ended up in a line. I leaned up against the door frame and mistakenly put my hand in the hinge-space. My friend shut the door on my fingers and, in her semi-comatose state, couldn't figure out why it wouldn't shut. I remember her saying, "I can't shut the door. I can't shut the door." While repeatedly trying to do so. In the moment I couldn't spit out, "My fingers are there." until significant damage had been done.

I lost both those fingernails, painfully, over the following weeks. Man that hurt!

I can't remember ever being invited to another sleep-over. I don't know if they just weren't in fashion, or I earned a reputation?

In any case. Our excursion into sleep-over parties last night went well. We kept it low key and small (only two guests). We were helped by a present that our son received for his birthday, a Lego game called Heroica. My boys are enthralled by Lego and games that include a fantasy story, weapons, and where you create your own board. This game has all of that. Our son's guests were equally enthralled. I think the other thing that appeals in these sorts of games with this general age group is the huge number of rules. I struggle to understand it all, but they love it.

Dinner table set for seven.

End result: we provided very little entertainment. Mostly just supervision.

After a simple dinner (hot dogs and veggies) we ate a calculator cake. Then showers followed by settling into a movie (Garfield 2). The movie didn't end until nearly 10 o'clock. I was wilting. Thankfully my husband has more stamina and patience and he waited another hour downstairs while the boys gradually settled. Though they tell me that they didn't go to sleep until after midnight. By the time I came down for breakfast at 7.15, they were already well into more rounds of Heroica.

Our grand team effort Calculator Cake.
The numbers melted in the heat!

The boys both left mid-morning and now we're left with a holiday-day to fill in, with, guess what? More Heroica!

Meanwhile, my husband slaves away at Professional Development (yes, that's why the boys are home on a Thursday), learning how to teach EAL students. This is the new ESL. It stands for English as an Additional Language. And certainly is a more accurate label for many of the kids at CAJ. The two guests last night speak at least one other language. One has a Singaporean dad and Japanese mum. The other has a Japanese dad and American mom.

15 years ago today we made vows we've never regretted.

But for now, I'd better go and prepare some lunch. Oh, and remember to wrap my wedding anniversary present for my beloved. Today marks 15 years since we tied the knot! Wow, a lot has changed since that day!