Tokyo ~ Day 3 & Day 4

Woops! I totally forgot to finish posting the rest of our vacation to Japan! Sorry for all [2] of you that were on the edge of your seats! Didn't mean to keep you waiting so long. ;^)

Okay. Day 3 was spent just walking around nearby the hotel. Since it poured on us the night before, we decided to make the trek up to the Hard Rock Cafe so that we could get a good picture and pick up a collectors pin for AJ (we had gotten one for Kami on Day 2...I talked Drew into starting a collection for AJ as well). We took our time stopping off at the Arisugawa Memorial Park. It was absolutely beautiful. I only wish we could have explored more, but it was limited with the two strollers.
I found the perfect spot to set up Kami for a photoshoot. This is what I got. Sometimes 2 years olds just don't care! ;^)


HRC is located in the Roppongi District of Tokyo. We walked threw the oh-so-posh Roppongi Hills. I totally had my eyes out for any Hollywood movie stars that might be in town, but alas, I never saw any.

And saving the best for last, we stopped off at the LDS temple grounds (about this size of my living room...maybe even smaller). And lucky for us while we were "touring" the grounds (standing in one spot and turning around), some "mission-berries" were going into the temple and offered to take our family picture.

And...Tokyo Day 4 was really just spent trying to pack our bags, mail stuff off to ourselves and traveling back to Korea. Thanks, Tokyo...for making four people (and one cat) very, very happy and rested! We'll miss you! (And your kitty, too!)
(Okay, quick explanation on the cat. We're pretty sure it's the hotel's 'guard cat' because it would sit with the guy checking ID cards on the way into the hotel. We in the Air Force employ dogs. The Navy must know something the Air Force doesn't. Anyway, the highlight of Kami's day was to go and see the kitty. All was right in the world when she did!)

Tokyo ~ Day 2

All day Wednesday was spent playing at Disneyland! We had originally planned on going Thursday, but after checking the forecast, it looked like it'd be a little bit warmer spending the entire day outside on Day 2.

This is the day Kami had been waiting for. For the last two months we've been telling Kami that we were going to Japan to see Mickey and Minnie Mouse; and nearly every day she was asking us about it. As you can see, she was in heaven!

We fibbed her age just a little bit (though no one asked us anyway). Most of the rides she had to be at least 3 years old to ride...she's a couple months shy, and she did fantastic with most of the rides. Rides that were a success: StarJets, Buzz Lightyear's AstroBlasters (did you know Buzz Lightyear is fluent in Japanese???), Dumbo, Castle Carousel, Grand Circut Raceway, It's a Small World and Alices Tea Party. Rides that I was afraid she'd have nightmares for the next week: Roger Rabbits Car Toon Spin and Haunted Mansion. And I made sure to keep her clear of anything Pinocchio. That dude really creeps me out.

I took her on the StarJets ride, which she was super excited to ride because it was "just like Space Buddies". Drew took her on the Grand Circuit Raceway and put her in the driver seat. When Drew asked her where they were driving to, she said, "We go BX". Seriously. We need to get her out of Korea. ;^) Apparently she also kept running into the wall. She got a little frustrated after a while and finally said, "Dad, you drive."

And the cast members were out in abundance. This is where Kami's blonde hair come to our advantage. She stood out. So she easily caught the princesses and other characters attention and were able to get her pictures taken with them quite easily.

Tokyo ~ Day 1

Okay, so technically this should be titled 'Tokyo ~ Day 2', but, since the real 'Day 1' was mostly a travel day and we were pretty much exhausted to do anything but eat dinner at the hotel, we'll call the next day, 'Day 1'.

Our adventure in Tokyo first began trying to figure out the subway system, which, was actually fairly easy! Our mission today was to find dish stores with blue & white dishes. I had started a collection the first time I visited Japan; however, 7 moves within 11 years, some of my dishes have seen better days and others have bit the dust completely.

Of course, 11 years is a long time and at 19 years old, I wasn't really paying attention to demographics, so, I did some online research as to where I could find said stores and as a last minute thought, I enlisted a good friend of mine from high school that I recently reconnected with (Facebook is awesome!) who lived in Tokyo herself for a few years for help in finding the illusive "Dirty Dish Store".

We also asked the concierge at the hotel for suggestions on where to find dish stores, and she directed us to Kappabashi, which is the Kitchen District of Tokyo. She also suggested stopping off at Asakusa Buddhist Temple, which is within walking distance of Kappabashi. We were actually considering a bus tour that would have taken us to Asakusa, but, after we figured out the subway system, we thought we'd save ourselves a couple 100 bucks and take our own tour! I always enjoy doing things on our own time table. Especially with two little ones in tow. So, here's a photo collage of our stop off to the temple:


For the most part, the Japanese people weren't as fascinated with Kami's blonde locks as the Korean's are. However, there were a few exceptions (and actually, as I write, I'm wondering if they might be another nationality?):


And then we were off to find some dishes! Navigating ourselves around the streets of Tokyo was also fairly simple. It's always nice to see a posted street name that corresponds with what's on the map. So, we found Kappabashi and we found blue & white dishes. But, I just didn't find what I was looking for. I did, however, find the same dishes that I had bought 11 years ago!

By the time we got back to the hotel, I found that I had a couple of emails from Linsey for directions to the dish store. But, it was late in the day and my two little ones had had enough adventure for the day. My hope was this could be an adventure for another day, but, alas. It turns out it'll have to be an adventure for another trip. :^(

So, after a little resting and getting Kami & AJ down for naps, we decided to venture out to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. And though it was a little cloudy and threatening rain, we decided to take the 30 minute walk to the HRC. It was beautiful going...

...but by the time we were finished with dinner, it was pouring down rain! And with two umbrellas between us, Drew and AJ tried the best they could under one umbrella, and the other I gave to Kami to hold. The result of my motherly instincts of making sure my children were taken care of before I gave thought of myself:
All in all, it was a good adventure for our first day in Tokyo! Stay tuned; day 2 coming soon!

Jeju Island

Drew's parents were in town this week (they just left yesterday), so we took them to a really cool resort Island here in Korea called Jeju. It was a little chilly, but you can tell that it usually is pretty tropical. Anyway, we spent a couple days there and toured ourselves around. We found a cool waterfall, a lava cave and a Teddy Bear Museum. We arrived at the Teddy Bear Museum nearly as soon as it opened and thought we had totally avoided the crazy tour buses of Korean teenagers that seemed to be all around the island. Unfortunately, no more than 10 minutes after we arrived a huge group of teenagers came bounding down the steps. Knowing Kami sticks out like a sore thumb here in Korea, I knew all of there attention would immediately be on her and I was so bummed out because I wanted her to be able to enjoy the Teddy Bears instead of posing for pictures and having these cute, well-meaning teens in her face. So, I had to be a big meanie and step in between many cameras and Kami and stand so close to Kami that the girl's knew that their hovering advances were not welcome. Awe well. A mom's gotta do what a mom's got to do for her babies, right? Anyway...here's some pictures of what we saw!

Gyeongju Trip

Hey Everyone! Here's a quick post from mine and Kami's trip this past week to Gyeongju. It's a beautiful town in Southern Korea, near the coast. We went with a bunch of people from our church (13 kids, 5 teenagers, 7 adults) and had a wonderful time at some Buddist Temples, the Beach, riding bikes through the town (which I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to do when you're pregnant....but....it was too much fun to pass up!) and enjoying the cherry blossoms which are now in full bloom! I'm so excited for spring in Korea! This is when things start to get totally beautiful with the trees getting some green on them and the farmers planting barley and rice. I am so ready for the yucky brown-ness to go away! :^)

Saipan?

Okay, so. If you're anything like me Christmas morning, you would have opened one of your presents, looked at the airplane tickets and said, "Where the heck is Sai-p-an?" Hum. Who know such a place existed! And come to find out that the place is a US Commonwealth! Holy Smokes! For those of you who are geography dummies, such as myself, Saipan is an itty-bitty island that is part of the Northern Mariana Islands. Look it up on Wikipedia or something if you want to know more!

So, anyway here are some random pictures of our vacation this last week! We all had a ton of fun. Kami could have spent every waking hour in the pool, if we let her. Unfortunatly, she got the brunt of the sun. In fact, I feel like such a bad mother! She came home with a sunburned head, face, back and arms. I promise you that I put sunscreen on her and reapplied it! Anyway, enjoy the pictures!

Me, Drew and Kami going down the Lazy River at the resort we stayed in.

Is Kami's Mommy cool, or what? And, no, Kami's feet aren't on backwards, that's just her shoes!

At the Beach! I LOVE B&W beach photos! They're the best!

Here are a couple of cool sunset photos from our room! It was so beautiful!

A big wave came in and splashed all over Kami. She loved it, of course. Unfortunatly, mom didn't bring a change of clothes!

Here's a sample of what Saipan looks like. The pretty parts anyway. Most of the cities look pretty poor and run-down.

Does anybody else remember their dad's doing this with them?

First golf lesson.

Another picture from our hotel room.

So many times since we've been in Korea, Koreans love taking pictures of Kami. This mom that we ran into was determined to get a good picture of Kami with her daughter. Since she was snapping pictures, I though I'd join in, too. I dunno. This just looks like two mom's forcing our kids to be friends or something. Hmm. Anyway, I hope that mom got the picture she was wanting!

Cute Cousins

So, just before returning to Korea, Kami and I made a stop in Seattle to visit my sister, Rachel and her family! While we were there we hired one of her photographer friends to take pictures of our girls together! They turned out awesome! Here's a sampling of one and the rest you can visit her website at: http://carriestroudphotography.blogspot.com/

Disney

And of course we did Disney! I so thought that Kami would be afraid of all of the characters, but she was quite the opposite! She loved them! Which made waiting in line for nearly an hour all very worth it! And she even learned a new word. "Mou?" Everything she says sounds like a question. Her latest is when she does something naughty and I make her say sorry, she says, "Arey?" That makes everything she says super-cute. Anyway...this days was a lot of fun. She didn't sleep a wink until we were in the car on our way back to Tampa. She was taking in everything she saw around her her at Disney World. Very, very fun!