Sunday, June 7, 2009

A bit of bliss...

I wish I had a picture of the riverside park we stumbled upon yesterday. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and we decided to drive around so DS2 would take a nap. 45 minutes into the drive and DS1 is sound asleep, but DS2 is still fighting it.

We looped around a rural area north of Kudamatsu. Lots of dams and reservoirs and finally DS2's eyes shut and the older one opens his. He and daddy get out to look at one dam while I stay in the car. We drive down the mountain and wind our way past the Nakasu Grand Hotel which looks like the haunted resort in the anime Spirited Away.

It's at a bend in the road that we notice kids playing in the river. A small driveway leads down to a six car parking lot. We park and, once again, I stay in the car with the sleeping toddler while Daddy and DS1 go exploring the park. I savor the quiet, the gentle breeze, the tall evergreens climbing up the far bank of the river. The river chatters down the little valley and children splash in the shallows. I'm totally in a zen moment. I don't think about dinner or dirty diapers or yesterday's disasters. I savor the beauty of this area.

Of course, a whiny child and his father come tromping through the parking lot moments later and the child's shrill voice wakes up my sleeping toddler. But I'm even okay with that. We climb out of the car and go exploring. We see snails and irises and big brother's soggy shoes. We find little waterfalls and stepping stones across a man-made pond.

Our trip is a success and capped off with soft-serve ice cream on the way home.