The Week #287

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  • 🎅 Christmas came and went. Leo woke up at 6am with excited to find that Santa had brought him Super Smash Brothers for Switch. He immediately played it for an hour (video games before school are usually a non-starter) and really enjoyed himself. Mere minutes before it was time to school (booo 👎), he got a stomach ache and was unable to attend. Silver lining, at least he had Christmas day off as it's meant to be.
  • ♨️ We drove up to Saitama to visit Moomin Valley Park. The last time we went was during covid using GoTo Travel (a government program during covid that subsidised travel costs / gave vouchers for spending at localities (the opposite of what people were meant to do) –  I wish we had used that more).

    Compared with last time we were able to enjoy the park a lot more. Leo is older, so he could see and do more. He was too small to ride the the big slide at the jungle gym in the forest before and this time he could. The park had a winter wonderland attractions setup as well with (man-made) snow in a few different places, a small sledding incline, and ice skating.
  • 🛷 Watching Leo ride sled gave me some mixed emotions. On one hand, he had a blast sledding the 3-4 meters at a go.  On the other hand, when I compare it to my sledding experience in Colorado (with snow from the sky!), it doesn't compare at all. All that matters is that he has a good time (which we both objectively did!), but I should find a place where we can go sledding here in Japan and take him.
  • 🚗 The car made the trip without issues. We left the house at 100% and after a quick stop by the in-laws to drop off Sophie, we made it with about 33% remaining  – bang on what the navi was saying it would be.

    Based on our trip at the start of the year to Tsukuba, I got a charge card to make charging when out and about easier. I opted for a card from Eco Q-den, as there isn't a monthly fee (unless I am traveling, I always charge at home). But turns out it doesn't work with all chargers. It'll work at the ones along the highways and probably Eneos, but not with e-mobility power, the largest network. Which is a shame because emp is the largest network, but all of the cards require a monthly fee. However, it's far more cost effective for me to just pay the higher visitor charging fee. I wish public charging in Japan were like it is in Europe: open and based on actual usage, rather than being segregated into different networks and based on time (my little battery takes a fraction of the electricity but still I pay the same).