A day in the country

I can't believe it's been nearly a week since I wrote something here. Where has the time gone? Mainly on everyday, boring things I suppose, but we did have a nice day out on Sunday.

The last 2 Sundays in June I was working and I will be this Sunday too, so it was nice to have a Sunday all together. H got up with K while I had a little lie-in, and he prepared a picnic too. Then we headed off to a park in the mountains, about an hour's drive from here...

We had our picnic there and then called in to see H's grandparents who live nearby, but there was no-one home. Instead we hopped in the car again and headed over to H's aunt and uncle's place. They lived near Osaka while they were working and then when they retired they built this place as a holiday home. Nowadays they live there most of the time, growing vegetables, taking it easy and getting snowed in in the winter.

After that we went on to a nearby place where you can see horses and Jersey cows. K was really interested in the horses and didn't want to leave them. We found a nice friendly (read, half-asleep) one for him to stroke, while H's treat for the day was a smoked turkey leg to munch on.

Back in the car, and K soon fell asleep...

...missing lots of beautiful mountain scenery:

The main road follows the river most of the way and there were lots of fishermen out there up to their waists trying to catch ayu (sweetfish), one of the few river fish popular in Japan.

We headed back into town, but the day was not over yet. H had booked dinner for us all at a Japanese-style hotel. It has some connection to H's trade union so he gets discount tickets and all three of us ate for a grand total of 300 yen! We had our own room, as if we were staying at the hotel, and our meal was served there. The rooms have their own toilet and washbasin, but no shower or bath. Instead, everyone uses the communal baths (one for men, one for women) where the hot water comes from natural hot springs. After dinner H and K stayed in the room for a while and I went to have a bath. I hadn't been to a hot spring since before I was pregnant so it was a really nice treat.

Yup, that meal was all intended for K. He ate the rice balls, shrimp, tomato and fruit, and H and I ate the rest, in addition to our own of course!

All in all a very relaxing day out, all planned by H. Thank you H!