Fireworks, Fans, Frustration- Part 2

On the Wednesday of Chris's week off, the day after our Toko-Toko outing, Chris woke up with a well-timed sinus infection. This man, you guys, is the king of sinus infections at the most inopportune times. I know thats insensitive because the poor guy is miserable but seriously, I just want to tell him to get it together, man! They always come when he has time off, which is rare in itself, and usually when we have some bigger plans made. For example: Our Disneyland trip that we took last year he woke up the day we were driving to Disney with a sinus infection. We had two nights stay at the hotel near the parks and the day of he was sick and was MISERABLE the whole trip. We were in CVS after the late fireworks show the first day looking for drugs to help get him through the rest of the trip and Chris isn't a fan of Disney as it is, so the sickness didn't help in the slightest. So he woke up sick and I made him call in and see a doctor to get a Z-Pac or something to clear that up quick so we could go to the Miyajima Firework show the following day. He went and got some Flonase and came home telling me that people with high-stress jobs getting sick on their leave time is a thing. That because the body is able to let down it's defenses during relaxing, it's not as on guard as it is during the high-stress working hours. Mind blown...and here I thought he somehow controlled it to get out of things all these years. Wednesday was a down day for him to recover.

Thursday morning, Chris woke up still not great but good enough to make the trip. The Miyajima Fireworks are a really big deal. People come from all over the world to see it and photograph it. You're only allowed to stake out sitting areas at midnight the day of....only, because if people could they would literally camp out for days to get a prime spot. There were photographers in those fishing overalls in the water as the tide came and went all day in front of the iconic Torii Gate for the shot of a lifetime. We drove to the local train station and took the train to the ferry station to get to the island. This was no walk in the park. We knew it would be super crowded, and hot, and probably miserable. Why on Earth would we still go with three small kids in tow knowing those factors? Because I have seriously lost brain cells in the last six years, thats why.

We arrived about 3:00pm and my grand idea was that we would walk to the aquarium on the island for a few hours until they closed to entertain the kids and have a bit of AC to help break up some of that horrid heat. The walk was a bit far for little legs in the heat and the whining from the one whose name starts with an R, was relentless. Unfortunately, I'm not the only genius and the Aquarium was so packed with other like-minded people that you could hardly notice that there was AC at all, let alone enjoy it. We went to some sea lion show and snagged some seats and right as the show was about to start, so many people came out of the woodworks! There were like 4-5 rows deep in the back standing section that could maybe comfortably fit 2 rows of people standing. It was so crammed it felt like we were in an incubator...and we had seats! We left early because of the lack of personal space and convinced the kids they would be able to use the opportunity to see the other sea life less crowded because all of the people were surely crammed in the dollhouse version of a stadium compared to a Sea World one. Nope. Another wrong assumption as the rest of the aquarium was still crowded. People were actually sitting on the benches and on the floor asleep!
The island was pretty crowded when we arrived but still manageable. When we walked out of the aquarium at about 5:00pm, there was barely room to walk. On the main drag back to the food vendor tents and ferry station area, we were crammed in and moved along like cattle. That is no over exaggeration, friends. My steps couldn't even be the length of one whole small foot length in front of the other. Chris and I had the kids sandwiched in a line just to make it through together until what seemed like forever, we were able to break free from the crowd and find something to eat. We got pineapple on a stick for the kids and then ice cream because in that heat you have to get your priorities straight, ya know. There were tons of food vendor tents so there was definitely not a lack for food. The problem was the lack of appetizing, palatable food. We ended up finding glorified chicken nuggets...the only "normal" food in a sea (no pun intended) of octopus tentacles, small squid on a stick, some other fish stuff, etc.

Every square foot on the banks of Miyajima facing the Torii Gate was claimed with tarps, blankets, picnic mats, the works. We decided to sit as close to the ferry station as possible so we could bail quickly after the fireworks. The best seat we could get was behind a tree sitting on a short stone wall right in front of the trash and recycling bins. Glamorous. It did beat having to stand for 2 hours until the fireworks were scheduled to shoot off and continue standing with antsy kids that run off. When, at last, the fireworks started almost two hours after bedtime and after many more hours that we had been enduring the heat and crowds, we saw a glimpse of the fireworks through the branches of the tree. Great. The kids started crying because they had an obstructed view and we literally had no where else to go to improve the view. Because the fireworks lasted an hour and had a couple breaks in between, we decided at "half-time" to just go wait for the ferry in hopes we could see them in line or on the ferry boat. Well, once again, we weren't alone in this thought and to make matters worse, they decided to tarp all of the openings in the ferry line so people couldn't just loiter there for a good view. The tear saga continued and we were crammed together yet again, fellow cattle comrades once more, to wait for the ferry to start loading again. The sound of fireworks taunted us and the kids knew they were missing out- just added fuel to the overheated and over exhaustion.  Even after dark, it was so unbearably hot. If I was never terribly claustrophobic before, I certainly was then. We had our same Schaub train in place with a plan to get a spot along the ferry railing so the kids could watch. "Ok guys, hang on, do not let go of me or daddy and move as quickly as possible." Valiant as our efforts were, we were vastly outnumbered. We had about 150 people crowded ahead of us, all of whom surged toward the ferry railing and obstructed our view once more of the fireworks. More wailing, more disappointment. Then the boat turned as it left the dock and the crowd shuffled from one side of the boat to the other for that view. The boat felt like it might tip with all of those people on one side.

The ferry ride wasn't long and once we reached the other side of the water, there were more crowds on that side and more tarps blocking the view. We managed to catch a bit of the finale and then ran with the other tourist lunatics to be shuttled like cattle into the train station. Another pep talk was given to the kids, and we made our way to the Southbound train for Iwakuni. Chris held Finley and I stood in the doorway that led to another car, Rylan and Quinn both sitting on the floor asleep on the way to our last stop. At each station, the train was rid of more and more people...the advantage, I suppose, of living in a smaller town.

Good. God. Almighty.

Now do you know why I waited to retell this experience? I feel like we should get a marathon medal or maybe a cold bucket of water on the face to say, "What the heck were you thinking?!" Probably the latter....the cold bucket would have felt good that day.

I bet those fireworks were incredible. I bet those people wading in waist-high water got some amazing shots. I bet those people standing 4 deep on that little stone stairway about 2 ft wide that scaled a mountainside had a great view despite their dangerous proximity to each other and the cliff-edge.  I bet people with young children are smart enough to not attempt such a day trip no matter how reputable the display- lesson learned.

The beginning of our trip on the train when we still had our optimism

See the people standing over there in the back?

All the people in the background...

Our sweet spot in front of the trash bins

 Terrible picture quality, but those are the people on that narrow stairway up the mountain: Diehards

The best view we got behind the tree

On the other side of the ferry for the finale

Squeezed into the train headed back home

All tuckered out

Fireworks, Fans, Frustration- Part 1

This is over a month past already, but I needed some serious time before reliving some of our Summer sight-seeing extravaganzas. Chris came home from Fuji the weekend before his birthday. He had already been approved for leave for that week following his return and during that week, there so happened to be several big festivals in our area of Japan. One included the Miyajima Fireworks, one of the world's most spectacular firework displays. If you remember an older post about Miyajima, it's the island that's overpopulated with deer. There was also the Goldfish Lantern Festival in Yanai that boasts a small-town parade and small firework display. Because we never know when Chris will be traveling, I decided we would experience as many things possible when we can and not put them off for another year.
That Monday we celebrated Chris's 29th birthday with bowling and a massive cake in the evening. I always laugh that he somehow manages to be home for his own birthday and gone for mine and our anniversary just about every. single. year.

On Tuesday we decided to go on the Toko-Toko Train which is more local attraction known for the one long tunnel that has florescent rock art. We drove about an hour to get to the station that does that particular tour to find out it's not actually a train, but actually a tram--like the kind you take from the parking lot of Disneyland. Talk about a serious let-down; Finley was beside himself because there was no train. Was the tunnel cool? Yes, yes it was. But after that was over in less than 10 minutes, we had a more scenic tram ride for the remaining 30 minutes one-way and then turned around and did the 40 minute ride back on the same path. One tunnel had bats in it, which had some cool-factor for a hot second. If it were a cool day, it would have been a decent attraction, less so for the kids even then. Unfortunately, the heat and humidity combined for months on end in Japan make even walking the 20 feet from your front door to your car unbearable, let alone a near two-hour tram ride. Since the cicadas had begun singing their Summer song here, I have a full understanding and knowledge that the ever-popular Japanese fans that are sold and seen every where aren't merely ornamental; they are crucial to having even the slightest chance of not cooking alive while outside.
One pleasant memory from our experience on the Toko-Toko Train Tram, that slightly overshadows the less-than-pleasant part, was our brief conversation with an older Japanese woman who was with her young grandson. In the best English she could manage, she was interested to know what we were doing here and how we liked Japan. She was very generous in welcoming us and glad to hear us say we think it's beautiful here. She even shared her grandson's candy with our kids which helped Rylan stop being such a crabby-pants.

Potty Training

So Chris took the week off after he came home and I had every intention of using that week to potty train Finley together. I had done two kids already and was adamant that Chris help me out with the last one! Well, the more I thought about it, the more I decided I would rather spend his week off doing fun stuff instead of being stuck at home potty training. Plus, he bribed me with is spending money and that just sealed the deal! We suspected that Finley was ready for quite some time but after potty training Rylan, I wasn't ready!

Two weeks before Chris came home, I got down the potty chairs, and stocked up on juice and bribery treats (don't judge). His treat of choice was mini oreos...I'm not sure how he ended up getting to choose but after two kids, you really have to let go of a lot of things. The other two got a chocolate chip for going pee and this kid gets a cookie. Whatever works, okay? You know I never stock that kind of junk on the regular anyways.

Quinn was in summer camp and I sent Rylan to his school for aftercare hours so I could have uninterrupted time with my semi-naked baby and the quacking timer that went off every 3 minutes. It started out like this:

He was furious to have his diaper taken off and left for naked. He was crying for about 5 minutes wanting his "Mickey" back on. I had to bribe him with a mini oreo just to sit there....as you can see his mouth full of it. After about an hour and the first successful "pee-pee-in-the-pottay!" he was good to go. We stayed off the living room rug and he got to sit on his potty or on a folded towel for about three days. He refused underwear and pull-ups and I had to fight to get some cotton shorts on him to go pick up the other two. 

The first day he only had 4 accidents and even pooped in his potty. He didn't expect Oreo payment by the second day either. It's been almost 4 weeks now and he has yet to wet his bed during nap or bed time or in the car. He has no problem going on a regular toilet in public places too. This kid was more than ready and basically handled it by himself. Hallelujah to an easy experience and no more diapers!! Does that make me sad....NOPE! 

While the Husband is Away

Usually when Chris is gone, I find ways to busy myself and that usually involves something creative. I added touches to the kids' rooms including doll bedding, hanging dress-up organization, a basketball hoop for Finley, and book cubbies to the wall. I also took on a reading challenge for myself to read again...a luxury I haven't enjoyed really since Rylan was born. I have been on a classic literature kick. It's amazing how dull your vocabulary becomes when in the company with toddlers for 6 years and it has been so refreshing!

I forced myself to participate in more kid-centric activities on base to break up the monotony of indoor play and TV watching during this awful heat. I took the kids to the indoor pool a couple of times, to the movies, made some cookies together, and took the boys to the fire station ice cream social (Rylan refused to have his picture taken- as always).