Camping at Lake Ashinoko

Josh and I enjoyed a beautiful Memorial Day weekend in Hakone National Park. It was so crazy to think that for most of my life I had spent this weekend traveling to "the cottage" (my family's cottage on the Sassafras River in Maryland) - and NOW how sort of normal it seemed to be driving to the foothills of Mt. Fuji for the same long holiday weekend! (never could have seen that coming!)

We were able to pack up our things and head off by mid-morning on Saturday and arrived at Lake Ashi in the early afternoon. It was a very scenic drive (though it was very traffic-filled too) and very easy to figure out, so we were glad for that.
The campsite was right on the water and we had easy access a cooking area and bathroom. We chose the cheapest of the sites that they offered, so we were quite pleased to find these amenities. (The cabins there cost about $300 per night and the campsites where you can drive your car and park right beside your test cost about $70 - it cost us about $15 for our site because we had to park our car and pull our things in a cart for about 200 meters! Thanks Josh!)

Well, we set up camp and decided to head out for a short hike before it got dark. Unfortunately, all the hikes in the area included lots of steep ups and downs, but Josh was wonderfully patient with me while I took little breaks to catch my breath from time to time! (yeah, yeah, I'm totally blaming that on being 32 weeks pregnant!) This first night we ended up hiking up from the lake to the ridge line where we could see the whole valley on one side and Mt. Fuji on the other side - it was beautiful!
We returned to the campsite and made some dinner and then headed to bed - for a cool and quite comfy night of sleep in the great outdoors!

On Sunday morning we got up and prepped for the day of hiking that we had planned out. We took a cable car to the top of Mt. Kamagatake and began our trek from there. One of the coolest things we got to see was the 50K race that was happening all around the lake. From our camp site to the top of the area's highest peak, our path crossed with the racers all day long! I can't even imagine how they made it that far while passing up, down, over, and through such difficult terrain (though I must say that a high percentage of them managed to oooh, and ahhh at my large stomach as they passed..so I guess I impressed them too!)

We ended up hiking a 10K loop which took us along several ridge lines, through a cedar forest, past a "sulphurous vapor erupting" area (boy, did that smell bad!), and up Mt. Kami - the highest peak in the area. The only bad part of the whole day was when Josh pointed out to me that we had ONLY 30 minutes to hike the last part of our trip and STILL make the last cable car down to the station. YIKES!!!! How we made it back to the station with 15 minutes to spare, I will never know...but, wow, were we thankful!! We arrived back at the station at about 5:30 and decided that we would take the scenic Hakone Skyline Driveway to catch some views of Mt. Fuji while the sun was setting. As it turns out, Mt. Fuji is only clearly visible a few days a year, so we mostly just got glimpses of its silhouette - but it was still quite impressive.

It was a great weekend with wonderful weather and amazing scenery. Wish you could have been there!

Disappearing Belly Button...

Josh and I noticed yesterday that my belly button indentation is now nearly extinct. What a strange and unusual sight to behold! Yesterday marked the beginning of week 31 of our baby adventure and now that we're nearing the end of May...July 27th seems to be right around the corner. (Ready or NOT?!?!?)

Unfortunately, I did have my last appointment with our midwife Capt. Smith - who will retire this week and move to Washington State. If you can imagine your doctor hugging you hello and kissing you good-bye and telling you stories and jokes as well as listening intently to every detail and concern that you want to share about being pregnant...that about sums up Capt. Smith. She's been so fun and great to see each month that we are very sad that she won't be here to deliver our little one, but we're hoping that our new midwife will be just a great!

That being said, we are so very thankful for a relatively easy and uneventful 31 weeks so far! Considering the fact that we've gone camping, biking and bowling this week, I guess a little extra weight and some unwelcomed heartburn haven't slowed us down too much. (btw - I've gained 17 pounds...which sounds dreadful, but seems to be pretty good...and I'm told that my belly button will return some day!)

In June we'll take a few baby classes that the hospital offers and continue to get things clean and ready for baby Arthur to arrive.

In other news...Josh was so inspired by our camping trip last weekend, that we're trying it again this weekend in the National Park that surrounds Mt. Fuji. (air mattress included!) It works out really well to celebrate American holidays in Japan, because nothing is crowded and we miss all the traffic!

Have a safe and relaxing Memorial Day weekend!

Campout!

This weekend we hit the "wilderness" with our friends Diane and Brian and their little girl Sydney! (and their dog Mitch!!)

Now, you must understand that in our local area, "wilderness" does mean that you are surrounded by nature, but it also means that you're only 3 minutes from civilization (and a mini-mart!). We were actually camping on another local base that has tons of housing for Yokosuka sailors as well as a large wooded area with camp sites and paintball and a hiking trail.

Since we are usually surrounded by traffic and urban sprawl, it was actually really nice to go to bed without ambulances driving by all night and with the sound of tree frogs singing us to sleep. (though I'm pretty sure we all agreed that we could have done without the noisy crows who visited around 5 a.m.)

The campsites are designed to hold up to 20 people, so they are very spacious and also come complete with a fire pit and charcoal grill! Diane was afraid that it might be too "wimpy" to bring air mattresses on our camping trip, but I quickly assured her that - being 30 weeks pregnant - I was going to make sure that I had a comfortable night sleep, even if I had the bring the mattress off of our own bed!! Though I really like the idea of people thinking that I am ultra-super-rugged, I do have to admit to bringing a few comforts of home along on our camping escapade. (including our air mattress!)

The meals we planned worked out really well! We enjoyed hamburgers and hot dogs along with grilled veggies and corn on the cob. We even saved enough room for s'mores and campfire blueberry cobbler. (a recipe Diane got from her brother's old boy scout days!) For breakfast, we had baked oatmeal with all the fixin's and that was yummy too.

All in all it was a fun and relaxing time out in the wilds of the city!! (and we had just enough time on Sunday afternoon to start another house project...more on that later!)

Visiting Friends!

Hooray! This weekend we enjoyed a visit from our friends Shannon and Alan and their little boy Cameron. They were passing through Tokyo on their way back to the States from Southeast Asia. They were supposed to have an 8 hour layover, but we ended up getting to spend almost 30 hours with them which was an unexpected blessing!!! Of course this was the result of them having missed their connecting flight (we won't say who's fault that was...oops!), but we thoroughly enjoyed the extra time we got to spend with them.

In just 30 hours we managed to have two picnic lunches, ride about 25 different trains, visit an international Baptist Church, watch a mikoshi (Japanese shrine) parade, stop by Ueno, Ginza and Akihabara (all popular tourist Tokyo stops) and walk through the Imperial Palace Gardens...oh yeah, and we got to travel back to our house for 6 hours of sleep too!! I think we were all exhausted at the end of our "big day" but it's not that often that super cool people happen to pop by Japan...so it was worth it!

In other "Visitor News" - Josh's dad and my mom and sister Lydia have all purchased tickets to come and see us during the month of August and we are sooooo excited. Though we hope our baby will be cute in the "virtual world" for all of you who will first meet her on our blog or via webcam, it will be especially fun to have some people here soon after she arrives! Hopefully some other family members will be able to make it over in late summer or early fall - we'll see!

Tomatoes, storage units, and rocking chairs, oh my!

Okay, so here are the latest newsy bits from the Arthurs of Japan...

We've enjoyed a warm and sunny week and our little garden patch continues to burst with blooms and new growth. My herb patch is growing like crazy and my tomatoes even have blooms on them (They didn't manage to make it THAT far in Norfolk last year, so this is cause for great celebration!!)

Josh has continued to lead our "nesting" stage by insisting that we spend every evening painting, building or organizing the house! I'm trying to keep up with his never-ending supply of energy, but with my ever-expanding stomach it's proving to be a bit of a challenge!

Yesterday we assembled a small storage unit to have in our back yard. Since our house is quite small and has no attic, basement or garage - we've found ourselves lacking in storage space...and gaining more and more baby gear by the minute!! Josh can't wait to fill it up with several of the storage bins that have been clogging up our closet space for the last 9 months. Gotta make room for little pink dresses and stuffed animals!

Our friends Paul and Stacy also gave us a glider rocking chair that they were finished with so that became our most recent painting project. We sanded down the old finish and painted it black to match the nursery furniture. We still have to find a way to re-cover the pads for the chair, since they look like they came from a hospital room in the mid-90's...so if any of you like to upholster furniture in your spare time...please send along all the wisdom you have to offer!! (We can't seem to find the right pads on-line or else we'd surely be taking the easier route on this one!)

In other news, we're looking forward to meeting up with some UNC friends in Tokyo this weekend. They are missionaries in Southeast Asia and are on their way home for the summer! They managed to get an 8 hour layover at Narita, so we're going to steal them away and enjoy Tokyo for a few hours together. Hooray!