And, We Are Done!

Hi everyone! We are on our way HOME!! We've been gone nearly 13 months, and we are beyond excited to see our people and our home again. Ginny can't wait to lock herself in her room and not see her siblings for the rest of the summer; Baker is eager to adopt his puppy and play with the neighborhood kids; and Lulu will finally have her long-awaited reunited with Cowie, her stuffed cow that she has talked about every single day of this trip. And it's all happening tomorrow.

We want to remember our time in this amazing country though, so here's a recap of our final two weeks in Japan. We ended our stay in lovely Kyoto with a day biking along and playing in the Kamo River.

The kids also got kimonos, but I'm not sure Baker likes his.

Then we hopped the train for Osaka! When we arrived, we ran to the Hanshin Tigers team store to get properly outfitted for the baseball game that evening. After we were kitted out, we dropped our bags at our apartment and headed to Hanshin Koshien Stadium!

We were in the second-to-last row in left field, and it was just SO much fun. The stadium was booming with crowd noise--fans constantly singing and cheering, the opposing team's fan section playing trumpets, and the entire stadium chanting each player's intro song.

The following day we headed to Universal Studios, where we were reunited with Holly and Noelle! I'm going to remember this hug forever.

We were giddy to be together again! Especially these two, who just chatted and laughed together like they'd never been apart.

We had a great day, and it felt good to just be so happy and relaxed with friends.

Ryan took the little kids back to the apartment to rest while Holly and Noelle introduced me and Ginny to Ichiran Ramen. Our lives will never be the same! It was deeeelicious.

After Kyoto, we took an overnight trip to Hiroshima to visit the Peace Memorial Park. The park is somber and beautiful. It was hard for the kids to understand how our country (or anyone) could drop massive nuclear bombs on innocent people and children. And it was hard to explain. But we all did our best.

Then we headed to an Ichiran Ramen shop for some comfort food.

After a year of us pleading and Baker responding with barf noises, he finally ate local food. Sure, it was just the ramen noodles, but it was such a win.

From Hiroshima, we rode the bullet train four hours back to Tokyo to prep for our two days on Mt. Fuji. I had no idea what awaited us on that mountain.

**For those who just want the quick overview, the TL;DR is that we didn't summit because the rapid change in altitude from 130 feet to 10,000 feet destroyed the kids. We are safe, happy, and recovering back in Tokyo now.

Here's the long version. I want to tell and remember this story, because I am so proud of the kids and so stoked to be a part of Team VIA. We left Tokyo around 7 am on the Fourth of July and drove three hours to the trailhead at 7,000 feet. Our plan was to spend the night at the Akaiwahachigo-kan hut and then go for the summit around 6 am. (Most people go for the summit at 2:30 am to enjoy the sunrise view, but we couldn't put the kids through that.)

We got the kids their Fuji hiking sticks, which can be branded at each hut on the ascent. They'd been waiting for these for a long time, and they were excited!

We hiked up to 10,100 feet in four hours. The terrain is challenging. It's just exposed switchbacks up loose volcanic rock for hours.

Baker already was feeling pretty bad, which was surprising because he normally doesn't feel altitude.

We arrived at our hut, got our assigned sleeping spots in the communal bunk, and started resting to acclimate to the rapid ascent.

Baker and Ryan had the expected headaches, the girls felt great, and I had high hopes for the morning. I got one last pic of the peaceful sunset before the madness began.

Baker's headache just kept getting worse. He was sobbing and begging to go to sleep, but the hut was bustling with noise from other hikers, and the generator-fed lights felt blinding to an 8-year-old kid with a raging headache. The girls somehow fell asleep, so Ryan, Baker, and I sat around the small fire and tried to stay calm. Baker finally fell asleep after lights out at 9 pm.

But minutes after the lights went out, Lu woke up screaming. She literally had been doing donkey kicks on her sleeping pad just hours before, so I was surprised to hear that she now felt sick. I took her to the pit toilet to poop, which I thought would be the end of it, but she kept complaining that her stomach hurt. Finally, around midnight, she said she was going to throw up, and all I could do was cup my hands and hope I caught it all. Ryan woke up and tossed me a barf bag we had out for Baker, but she was already done, and I was covered in vomit. She fell asleep, but woke up to barf two more times (thankfully into the bag) before sunrise at 4:30 am.

We woke up (or maybe didn't sleep?) and reassessed our summit plan. Lulu and Baker knew they were at their limits. They had given it all they had, and it was time for them to go down the mountain. Ryan carried Lulu (Super Dad!) and Baker hiked beside them down the mountain. Ginny and I felt good, so we ascended. The day was clear and beautiful, and we were summit bound.

Ginny couldn't stomach breakfast, but she was drinking water, so we pressed on. I could hear her labored breathing, and her pace slowed as we approached 11,000 feet. Finally, she sat on a rock and told me she felt "like she was going to die." And that was it. We reached our limit, took a quick pic with the summit behind us, and headed down.

I told Ginny that I didn't care whether we got to the top, and I surprised myself by actually meaning it. Plans change, and all that really matters is that we tried our best and had some fun in the process. On the descent, Gin and I talked about all the new clothes she'll buy at home and how she wants to decorate her room with Taylor Swift posters. She asked me how I see her as a person, which kind of blew my mind. We had a lovely morning together.

We met with Ryan and the little kids back near the trailhead. Lu was sleeping on Ryan; Baker was feeling better. Everyone was exhausted, but we were all happy and proud. It was a strangely perfect way to end this trip.

Now we're packing and getting ready to come home. I'm sure I'll have a lot of big thoughts and feelings in a couple of weeks, but for now I'm just grateful. I started dreaming of this trip 11 years ago. I was scared I would lose my sense of adventure by becoming a mother, and this trip originated as a promise to find myself again. Over the years, the trip became so much more. It grew into an opportunity to show our kids the great big world, to really look at the lives we've been living, and to ask ourselves what actually matters to us. We have learned more about the world and about ourselves than I ever could have imagined.

Thank you to everyone who supported us this past year. It means everything. And thank you to my Dad, aka Grandpa Greg, who led the way.

I'm done blogging now. It's time to go home.

All my love,

Madeline