Olivia the Observer

In August, Olivia had her first swimming lessons. Well the lessons aren't lessons in the true sense of the word, it was an introduction to the water for a little girl. (We'll wait and see if she loves the water as much as her dolphin Dad or if she prefers higher and drier land like her mother.)

The 25-minute "Learn to Swim" class was held Monday through Friday for two weeks. We were lucky to grab a slot in the 5:30 p.m. class. It was a lot of hustling to pick up Olivia and get her changed and in the pool with a parent by 5:30 p.m. The first day (when it was raining cats and dogs during the class), I didn't plan it well and Olivia wore her bathing suit home and ate snacks in the car.


Then we had to buy a new bathing suit for her because the ones we had were a little too tight for our growing girl.


For the first week, Olivia's instructor nicknamed her "The Observer." Olivia the Observer didn't clap with the other kids. She didn't sing along. She didn't blow bubbles or dunk her head in the water. She just stared at her teacher and classmates. Basically she observed.

Then on Sunday, Benny and I took her to the pool on the Air Force base where they had a children's water feature. It was basically a large water sprinkler where Olivia could run through it on her own. She spotted it first thing and pointed to it.



She was fearless running through the water.





And after that experience, Olivia loved her swimming lessons. She fully participated in the class and was even happy when Benny dunked her in the water.

She was happy until Thursday, the second to last day of class. Olivia had been up late the night before and was super cranky when I picked her at daycare. She was fine for the first 10 minutes of class, but when it was time to practice jumping into the pool, Olivia didn't jump in the water. She turned and walked to her towel. When I asked her where she was going, she calmly answered "All done" plain as day.

Now Olivia talks a lot, but doesn't say much, so this was a big moment in her verbal development. I smiled and said "no, we aren't all done. We are only halfway done."

Again she said "All done" and walked toward her towel.

Determined to get my money's worth, I grabbed Olivia and put her back in the pool, forcing her to finish the class. She screamed and cried and wasn't happy until the class sang the goodbye song. Then she immediately waved goodbye and gave the teacher a big smile. Olivia the Observer was "all done" observing for today.

Definitely have to take the O-Monster Here

I was tempted to join a tour group trip to Hakone National Park, the less than advertised area within sight of Fuji on a clear day. You can even see Fuji-san’s reflection on Lake Ashi on a clear day. But I had flashbacks of the wiki-wiki stops on the Big Island and decided to do it myself.

I picked up the directions from the fleet and family support services, and did a little research the night before. One gentleman did the same trip on his own, but started at 6am. I delayed my start a little bit in order to skype with Michelle and Olivia at 8am (thanks for letting me sleep in Love because I know Olivia was up earlier than that).

I got on the train at 9:30am and heading for Hakone. After changing trains I made it to Ofuna (how long it took I don’t remember, thanks to The World is Flat). I switched trains and headed for Odawara, when I jumped on a cable car heading up to Souzane. It was sometime after 11am I made it to my first destination, Hakone Open Air Museum. Only 100 yards from the cable car stop, I was mesmerized before even stepping through the gate. They had a fountain at the entrance that just caught my eye, and took me a few minutes to figure out it was more or less perpetual random motion that kept in moving.

Once inside I almost pulled the typical gai-jin mistake and walked into the middle of a video shoot that was being taken of the giant buffalo. They setup a little 20 ft track and must have taken at least 15 shots and running up to the buffalo. Next to the buffalo were two huge eggs on the sidewalk – at least 10 ft in diameter – that doubled as benches. How fitting, the paper just had an article about it was the hottest summer on record, and there at Hakone it was so hot they did fry an egg on the sidewalk. Later on I learned that the eggs were a part of a much bigger piece in which the obelisk looking object was actually a frying pan handle and the eggs were inside the pan. How clever.

Olivia and I have some practicing before out debut with Barnum and Bailey


I later wandered over to what looked like a giant set of Lincoln Logs, the Woods of Net. Inside were kids squealing in delight with the super sized hammock and suspended 2 ft diameter balls. One boy was practicing his karate on one of them, but ended his Tai Bo workout before I could get my camera out. I have to admit, I wished I was 22 years younger.

This is where I get home and ask Olivia, “Were you good while Dad was away? Really? Is that what Mom would say?” I’m thinking we need to encourage some potty training soon, and I have just the idea for a reward. But it gets better, there was also a giant space capsule gym unlike any other I had seen. It was like an eight-year-old designed the playground that only kids eight and below could use. Again, bummed. But, I think Olivia would have a hay day out here.



This is the Woods of Net. But I didn't see any nets from the outside.

Eureka, I've found the nets. But I couldn't get a picture of the little boy practicing his roundhouse kicks on one of the suspended balls.

In between were some not as eventual trips inside the Picasso museum (pictures not allowed), where I was reminded that the poor guy just could not decide on a woman to spend his life with. Oh, and his art was pretty stellar too, from the paintings to the ceramics and tapestry. All pretty amazing to see an abstract artist’s perspective, one that I have always had a hard time understanding. But I’ll keep trying, that’s why I love Michelle, she’s always exposing me to new things and getting me out of the engineer’s box of right angles and black and white solutions.

A little relief from the sun outside, and relearning about all Picasso and all of his quirks.
What happens when you have too much fun at the Picasso Museum, or sit in the sun for too long.

From the Open Air Museum, I just barely caught the cable car (almost got my shirt caught in the door as it was closing). Only to be headed the wrong way down the hill. Silly switchbacks, I forgot the cable car switched directions twice on its way up the hill, and this happened to be one of those stations. So I had another good 20 minutes reading my book in order to finish my trek back up the mountain.
Near the top a Souzan, I hitched a ride on the rope way (aka gondola) across Lake Ashi.

Yada, yada, yada, bus back to to the train station, train back to Yokosuka, and home by 10pm.

Coincidence our Little Miss Stubborn was born in the year of the ox?

Besides the Woods of Net, we also have the "Where is Miffy?" activity to wear our our Little O.

And when the day is over, we're stopping by to take our pictures with the Japanese Anamie cutouts.

The Tale of Fuji: Part 2

Now that confirmation was made on the climb, the real planning began. And the time to make choices.

There are several different options to climb the mountain. Timing is not one of them. You have to climb during the months of July and August. That's the only option. But how you get to the mountain is up to you.

You can do a daytime climb. This means you start at 5 a.m. and finish by 7 p.m. and don't do anything at dark. In this option, you don't need a hut, much food, or night gear. But I wanted to do the traditional climb and see sunrise from the top of the mountain. So daytime was out for me.

Another option is an all-night climb. In this option, you start at 4 p.m. and reached the top at sunrise. But you don't have much time to rest and you are climbing in the dark nearly the whole time.

I researched doing the climb on our own (train ticket from Tokyo, bus pass to 5th station, stay at the hut, train ticket back to Tokyo) and soon discovered that it would be the same price as an overnight English tour I recently read about in a American travel guide. So I booked the tour and could relax knowing that we had transportation to and from the mountain, two meals, and accommodations on the mountain at the 8th station.

Climbing Mount Fuji is not the most physical thing you will do. But mentally it is tough. It's long, slow and boring scenery along the way. It's lava rock, lava rock, and more lava rock.

I had this great plan to physically prepare, so I would be in tip top shape for the climb. In truth, I went to a couple of spinning classes, and did the stairmaster and treadmill a handful of times. My friend, Andrea, who bounced like a bunny up the mountain, is proof that if you're in good shape (like she is), the hike is a breeze.

So since I wasn't where I wanted to be physically, I was pretty nervous the weeks prior to the climb. I went to some safety briefs, where the presenter warned about fatigue and injury. I researched altitude sickness prevention medicine and asked my pharmacist sister Colleen for her professional opinion. She said skip it, rest and drink water. Go slow. You can do it, she said.

One of my co-workers hiked it on July 4. I had lunch with her and asked her a million questions. How much money did you bring? How much water? How much does it cost to use the toilet? What was the temperature at the top? How many layers of clothes did you pack? Did you wear them all?

Our summer high school intern hiked the mountain last summer with her dad and brother. I asked her the same questions. I compared the answers with Benny.

I had a dream about being on the mountain, separated from Andrea, Tammy and Nicole. I didn't have any of my hiking supplies or money, but yet I decided to go up the mountain. That was the entire dream. I woke up scared.

My Japanese co-workers reassured me that a dream about Fuji is a good thing. It means I will see the top of the mountain. Any dream, good or bad, is a positive sign, they reassured me.