the day is already an improvement with everyone sleeping until 6 or 7. we’re up, we’re ready, we’re hungry.
we pre-breakfast elsa/sven and go to real breakfast where a glorious western meal is waiting for the kids and me and a japanese meal for derek. they nail it on all fronts. i eat all my sugar for a week in one sitting and am giddy/carb drunk. otherwise known as happy.
my glucose bubble bursts as thing-one throws himself a real humdinger of a, “i’m two, y’all can suck it,” protest about getting his shoes on while all the staff is politely, but detrimentally, trying to stop him by touching and hugging him. eventually someone tries to give him a cookie and i snap something about not rewarding the behavior as the little terrorist makes a fool out of me by immediately shutting up and asking me how he can get that cookie.
we’re now in the car, cookie in hand, and cruising to the Kanazawa Castle and Kenrokuen gardens with our guide for the day. a pretty pleasant hour in the car, to my surprise.
the gardens are pretty perfect. the japanese really take gardens seriously and this may be one of the best i’ve seen. we forgot the baby carrier at the ryoken but it doesn’t matter because the little fish is happily bouncing around and we can strap the chunky monkey into his stroller. (and just let me take a minute here to discuss people’s reactions to our thunder-thighed little guy. they lose it. i’m trying to have perspective and i know all babies are cute and he’s an anomaly here, but people are stopping to gawk, take pictures, hold his hands, squeeze his cheeks, and on two occasions literally squeal, clap, and jump around. he’s single handedly excusing all our faux pas. ok, mom brag over.)
the big fish gets his first ice cream cone, derek eats ice cream covered in gold leaf, and our guide uses an umbrella to cover my shameless public breastfeeding. (to my credit i did try the cover. once. mouse was quite indignant and keep looking at me, after flinging it off, like i was betraying him. until today i’ve discreetly fed him in the carrier, but we didn’t have it. hence, the frantic umbrella shield.)
we toured the castle, derek ate eel on a stick at a pretty impressive fish market, we let the kiddos play at another indoor playground (they’re so clean! and they’re everywhere! what the hell, america? i’d give my left foot for just one of these in the winter), toured the gaisha district and headed back to the ryokan for dinner.
after discussing the massive failure of yesterday we are now prepared for eight courses, trapped in a room with the little monsters. we brought thing-one the tablet and said yes to screen time at the table! you don’t want to eat that, fuck it! we’ll dine on bean burritos, string cheese, and pocky! give mouse (currently working on becoming a human garbage disposal) all bug’s food and walk with him in the ryokan between courses. we fucking crushed it. well kinda. i was hashi-shamed (very politely) for not having them lined up correctly, elsa undid his obi and we were promptly told to re-tie it, and i couldn’t bring myself to eat some of the wiggly tofu (bug’s pickiness may be genetic). but all in all, the larsons came out on top.
Travels with Larson and Co 