[Parenting Live Report] #1 Trying out a cottage camping trip with kids, an amusement park, and hot springs

Friday, October 3, 2025

Starting today, our family of four is on a trip to a cottage that comes with a wood deck for barbecuing and a simple kitchen!

This is our first time at this location.

It's a facility that also has an amusement park attached, so we left home early this morning, finished our pre-check-in, and spent about half a day exploring the park.

It feels like it was carved out of a part of a mountain, so there are quite a lot of ups and downs, and we were carrying the stroller here and there.

There are quite a lot of attractions, but since we only have a day pass for tomorrow, today felt more like a scouting trip, and we had a blast in the zones that you can enjoy for free.

It might rain in the Kanto region tomorrow, and there are quite a few rides we wouldn't be able to go on if it rains, so after consulting with our eldest daughter, Icchan, we decided to pay extra to ride just one. I'm glad she seemed to enjoy it.

They said that if you book at least one night without meals, the accommodation fee for everyone is halved for that night, so we're trying out the room-only plan today!

For dinner, we went to the restaurant at the hot spring facility that is also on the premises, while we were there for a bath.

Well, you know, it's fun for the kids (a 5-year-old and a 1.5-year-old girl), but it's tiring, isn't it?

Especially for our second daughter, Tsu-chan, she was suddenly brought to a place she didn't know without understanding anything, so of course she got excited, her nap time got shifted, and since she usually eats while strapped securely into her chair, making a mess to her heart's content, there's no way she could enjoy eating in a completely different style...

I had anticipated that something like that might happen, but tonight really exceeded my expectations, you know.

We did consult with Mom and thought, 'Maybe Tsu-chan can eat this,' so we ordered a black vinegar sweet and sour set meal with vegetables and chicken, and we also ordered a stone-grilled bibimbap, thinking, 'We don't get many chances to eat this, and it looks delicious.' Plus, a kids' plate for Icchan that included her favorite fried shrimp.

Everything was delicious. Yeah. That's right.

But, especially regarding the stone-grilled bibimbap, it was piping hot at first, so while the three of us were trying to restrain Tsu-chan, who was going wild, we mixed it as quickly as we could, but it ended up with some scorched parts, or rather, some parts were burnt.

And, we were able to eat it quite deliciously at the beginning, but about halfway through, Tsu-chan's tantrum got even worse, and she even got off the tatami mat seating and ran toward other tables.

There were very few customers, so it was fine, but the bibimbap was already dried out.

From burnt to dried out.

I learned well that one shouldn't be greedy. Understood!

And then, there was one more difficult thing that happened after that. Oh right, the hot springs.

Icchan is already 5 years old and getting big, so she goes to the women's bath with Mom.

So, it automatically becomes a case of, 'Tsucchan, why don't you try going into the men's bath with me!'

We take baths together at home every week, so in that sense, I wasn't really worried about it.

No, well, he was just sleepy. In the end, he was completely exhausted and sleepy.

Since the rule was that children who aren't potty trained should use a baby bath, I sat in the hot spring (I was so busy I don't even remember the name of the bath) and used a washbasin to fill the baby bath with hot water. I managed to get Tsucchan in there right next to me, and I poured water over him while I was soaking, so we somehow made it work.

But you know, he started crying as soon as I stopped holding him, saying things like, 'Where am I?' and 'Come on, hold me, I'm sleepy.'

I decided to head back to the changing room about 10 minutes after entering the large public bath.

In the end, he just kept crying even when I held him.

Of course, I stayed completely naked while I quickly moisturized Tsucchan and put his pajamas on.

After that, I managed to wipe myself off while holding him with one arm, and even though I had to put him down a few times, I got my own pajamas on and then quickly put on the baby carrier.

While I was drying my hair with a hairdryer, Tsucchan fell asleep... I'm sorry, you must be tired. Thank you!

There were a few other small things after that, but that's how the first night came to an end.

Saturday, October 4, 2025

Even though it was a bunk bed in a cottage they weren't used to, both Icchan and Tsucchan slept pretty soundly until morning.

They must have been really exhausted. Thank you.

In the morning, while it was drizzling a little, we all went for a walk. Everything was going well up to that point.

Hmm... I'll skip the details, but I decided that I should be the one in charge of the time schedule for how we spend our time, including things like how we spend the time until departure.

Even though we had talked since last night about 'The rain looks like it will get heavier before noon, so let's be ready to play as soon as the amusement park opens!', my wife suggested various plans for what to do after the walk. I was just keeping everyone updated every 20 to 30 minutes, saying things like, 'It's 7:40 now,' but about 30 minutes before we were supposed to leave, I realized, 'Yeah... we're not going to make it in time,' and from there, I started doing things differently from the plan my wife had suggested, and it became a huge rush.

Because both my wife and I started rushing in a way we hadn't anticipated, small disagreements kept popping up and we kept clashing.

Icchan is really good at sensing that kind of uneasy atmosphere. She kept a little distance from us two parents who were making a racket inside the cottage and played by herself on the deck. Sorry! ...And, thank you so, so much.

Tsu-chan stayed the same inside the cottage, if anything, she was smiling and giggling, and while she did hinder our progress in getting ready, she was in a good mood, which was a big help to us.

As a result, we arrived at the amusement park a little over 30 minutes after opening. Since it's raining today, we used a baby carrier instead of a stroller.

Putting the mental training from yesterday's preview to good use, we headed toward our target attractions, trying to minimize walking back and forth as much as possible.

However, the rain started to get a little heavier shortly before we arrived there, and one after another, attractions were unfortunately suspended due to the rain. The feeling of disappointment when the park announcements listed the names of the attractions one by one was something else.

Well, we had anticipated this kind of situation yesterday, so we decided to go around to the attractions that could still be ridden in the rain.

We rode the lift and the Ferris wheel, and while we were all chatting things like, 'That's scary~' or 'Huh, this is surprisingly okay?!', we checked the weather forecast again and found out that the rain might stop for about an hour and a half right around the time we got off the Ferris wheel!

While holding onto that hope, we got off the Ferris wheel and took a little break to have some snacks and hydrate, and then... it stopped! The rain stopped!!

As we were heading to one last remaining attraction that was okay in the rain, located a bit further away, we heard, 'Ding-dong-dang-dong. We are resuming operation of [Attraction Name], which had been suspended due to rain.' ...Yesssss!!!

Following that momentum, we conquered one attraction after another that we wanted to ride, and we were actually very satisfied!

There were a few we couldn't ride, but given how much had already built up to this point, the whole family was having a blast!

Thank you for the fun time, we said as we left the amusement park.

I am writing this now from a sofa at the hot spring facility.

Taking advantage of the mistake we made at the hot spring yesterday, we decided that Tsu-chan wouldn't go into the hot spring and would just use the shower near the cottage, so Mom and Icchan are currently enjoying the hot spring together first.

Tsu-chan is fast asleep while being held in the baby carrier.

You must be tired. It was a time filled with intense emotions. Thank you.

After this, I'll get to enjoy the hot spring by myself, and after that, we plan to go back to the cottage and have a barbecue on the wood deck. I'm looking forward to it~~!!

That's all from the scene.

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