Maze Hill by the Lake

Today is a Saturday here in Japan.
Last night we let the kids have a late night with Brandon and Lumin. They played at our house then watched Open Season in the livingroom on our pullout couch bed. Trying it out for the first time.
They had a lot of fun and we sent the friends home before 10pm.

Then today we had a video game online party with Roundys. Travis, Hannah, Stewart and Trevor got together at Dad and Mom's house to play online with us. We played Mario Kart.
The little cousins were there and it was fun to see them while we played online.

When that party ended Ster and I took our kids off base for a hike and park play. We hadn't been to the obstacle course park in a long time. And I really wanted to go hiking. So we planned to hike from the park and play afterward.

When we arrived we were sad to find that the park was crowded. So much so that every parking spot was filled and there was a bunch of cars waiting for a new spot to open up.
So, Ster drove up the street hoping to find a different place to park but we just went further and further away until just walking to the park would have been too much of a hike. And it wouldn't have been a pretty view hike either. It would have been walking along a fairly busy street.

So I told the kids they had to wait to play at that park...until a school day when the Corona Virus is no longer keeping all the Japanese kids from attending school. When the weather is warmer...we will try again.

We did find a parking place...by a lake. So we paid to park.
We walked the park that had a view of the lake...but you couldn't go near the lake. There was a serious fence blocking you the whole way...until we came to a dam.
We walked on the dam and it was a much prettier view of the lake. It was a long stretch and the wind was a bit chilly. But once we got across we found some new adventures. A hill with a maze! A mini maze. Lots of different ways to go but easy to find your way out of.
In the center was a small start of a castle, a cool giant tree and a pavilion of some kind.

We walked back to the car and drove home. The outing had started out disappointing but turned out to be a lot of fun.