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chiba mini-getaway

This week there were a couple of national holidays and since M and I just had our 2-year wedding anniversary we planned a little getaway celebration. Destination: Boshou - the south of Chiba peninsula. Only a couple of hours drive from Tokyo (Mayra hates being strapped in the maxi cosi car seat), with mountains galore, and beaches at Tokyo Bay and Pacific Ocean coasts. For some reason Chiba is not a popular destination--people tend to go to Izu instead. We’d never really been before either, and figured this would be the time to go check it all out.

Unfortunately Mayra developed a bad cold and got sick over the weekend, with a snot factory up her nose, a nasty painful cough and up to 38.5C fever. All this especially bad during the night causing waking up many many times. ...Thank you, kiddies at the daycare center!
In case anyone wonders: no, we are not afraid it is the Mexican flu and the fever went away after a day.

On Wednesday Mayra recovered enough for us to be able to take off, even though we had canceled the original rental car and hotel bookings (we were lucky because they kindly waved us the 100% cancellation fee). Ended up finding a hotel/spa while on the road, with a super nice ofuro bathing area. I took Mayra there at night and she loved it! We had the whole place to ourselves and the sight of all that water made her very excited. 41C Degree baths turn out not to be a problem for Mayra anymore (she hated hot baths when she was smaller). It was great fun to splash around in the outside tubs together. I think all that steam might have helped the still ongoing process of ridding her cold as well.

It was the first little outing in Japan with the 3 of us. We enjoyed it, although Mamma B and Pappa M still have to get used to the fact that spontaneous getaways are not (yet?) as relaxing as before. Having a child with you means that the whole trip revolves around the kid. Some examples: playing finding accommodation by ear becomes a grander risk (you don’t want to get stuck all having to sleep in the car). Baby has dirty nappy or is hungry: she must be attended to in foreseeable time. That’s no problem since I’m breastfeeding, but outing means new things/sounds/environment, means distraction for curious baby, means baby doesn’t nurse well, means she gets thirsty (read: cranky) again later. Baby keeps on screaming in her car seat because of heat, tiredness or other: very stressful to drive and navigate in Japanese at the same time. You see a nice spot to get out of the car, but fussy baby JUST finally feel asleep and will wake up when you stop the car. We try to not let the little lady rule our lives, but sometimes that back stabs us… haha. Anyhow, it’s all a good practice in being flexible and practicing patience.

Favorite moments:
Walks on the beach, enjoying nice view, space and fresh air. Ofuro bathing times. All clean, warm and dressed up in yukata, cuddling on the big hotel bed. Sleeping with the balcony door open listening to the sound of the waves.
Once you reach Tateyama in the south point of the peninsula, it’s pretty. Nice beaches with clean blue ocean water, and land-inwards there’s lots of lush green mountains that beg to be hiked in. All best accessed by car, and you can reach Chiba in no time via the Aqualine-tunnel. Much faster than going to Izu! We decided Boshou is worth another visit.

Mayra’s developments of the past week:
• sleeps on her belly (after rolling over several times to get comfortable) with one or two legs pulled up and her cute bum sticking up in the air.
• a nasty high-pitched, angry cry (= she is really upset about something and/or really wants something NOW). It could be due to the fact that she’s not feeling well, but if this cry stays on we must get it out of her system. Tantrums are a no-no. Besides that I think the forced pitch is also bad for her voice and probably painful to her throat if persisted.
• new words: ‘taa-da’ (sometimes whispered), ‘maa-ma’, ‘dhee’, ‘bhah’
• clap hands!

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