Our 17 hour Tokyo Disneyland Trip

In February we went to Disneyland in Tokyo. We decided to go with ITT, which is a tour group on base that specializes in bus tours. John and I know that we are not bus tour people, but we priced it out and weighed the options of driving ourselves and how lost we just might get. We decided to go for it. We woke up at 0430 and took the kids to the bus, the kids did really well on the bus and we arrived around 0930 at Disneyland just in time for all the Disney Characters to greet everyone at the front gate. We have been to Disneyland in Anaheim, Euro Disney and now Disney Tokyo and NEVER have I seen older women vying for the attention of Cinderella and Buzz Light Year. They were pushing to get through and did not care what 4 year olds they took out. It was pretty comical, some of these women were in their 60's and 70's. Most of the characters had 3-4 body guards and would continuously say back-up, back-up, to the adults I might add.

After the Disney Characters we decided to get our first fast pass, we weren't really knowledgeable on the fast pass and how it works, but it was now 1000 and the first available fast pass for Buzz light year was 1420, so we went to Space Mountain, first available was 1500. This was not how we expected Disney to be on a Monday, also a non-Japanese Holiday Monday. Next we went to the Pooh Honey Ride, that ride was available on a fast pass at 1400, we thought we better take that, but there was a 15 minute line just to get the fast pass, we took it and decided to go back and get the fast pass for the other rides. For those of you familiar with Disneyland you already know you can not get another fast pass until you use the pass you have. We did not know this!

We decided on Pirates of the Caribbean, one of our favorites, the line wasn't too bad, 45 minutes and everyone enjoyed it. Next was Small World, sung in Japanese, we went on that ride twice. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs scared the kids to death and the tea cups everyone, but Mommy loved. I don't do well with spinney rides and I just about got sick and had a tough time standing after the ride, but I looked around and found everyone else in the same boat. It was cold and windy so I thought Splash Mountain would be a shoe in, but it was closed for renovation. We did a few rides in Tiny Toones Land. We went back to the Pooh Honey Ride and used our fast pass, which was cute for the kids, but........why would anyone over 10 want to do the ride or wait hours to go on it if you didn't have kids. I have to say most of the people did not have kids, why? It should be mandatory, kids only. We also flew on the rockets, but sadly, I told Lexi we would get our next fast pass for Space or Thunder Mountain, because she wanted to do the roller coasters. I figured all the fast passes would be for around 1900, it was now 1430. How wrong I was! The fast passes were sold out and the wait was 3 hours long. Lexi was a good sport as I apologized profusely since we weren't able to do any roller coaster rides. We did manage to get a pass for Buzz Light Year around 1930. We had dinner at Pirates of the Caribbean Restaurant, which was a really nice break from the hustle and bustle. That is where we had our first meltdown, 12 hours later with no naps. I thought that was pretty good for Anika and Alexander.

Mom thought it would be a great idea to go to the Haunted House after dinner, since there wasn't ANY line, must not be a popular one in Japan. I figured the voice of reason, my soothing voice telling Anika it wasn't real would do the job, John would have Zander and Lexi was fine. Well............Anika never cried, but she had a death grip on me and buried her head in my hair and shoulder. Alexander, well that is another story, he cried the entire time, it sort of blended in with the screams of the ghosts. I know some of you are thinking how could you! There was NO line and we rectified the situation at hand with another dose of Small World.

Everyone had a great time and we went on many rides, but NEVER expected it to be so busy for a Monday. It was crazy, busy and it was really hard to maneuver the double stroller through the crowd. We found out later that week this was the day that many of the Japanese Schools in the Tokyo area sent the children to Disney for a field trip. Who would have thought.

That night we got home around 2230 and put 3 tired munchkins to bed, they had school the next day. Now the next day was a fun day! LOL.

Our next adventure is Disney Sea, we can't wait to go and see what it's like.

Basket Weaving 101

My blog is acting strange and won't let me add the photo to the previous post, so I will try it this way.

I made a basket!

Anika's Yochien has started a fellowship for the mom's so that we can get to know each other better. It has been fun! I actually NEVER thought I would check basket weaving off my list of accomplishments, but that was our craft last month. It was difficult on our hands and not easy to remember what the steps were or even when you just did it. My friend Lisa and I had some good laughs. We thought maybe we couldn't remember the steps, because of our age, but the younger mom's were having trouble too, phew what a relief. We finally finished our little 3x5 baskets after 4 1/2 hours of work, now I know why baskets are so expensive. Our hands were raw! I don't know if it is a craft I will take up in the near future, but it was nice to make one.

A day at the park with Anika's school

2 weeks ago our entire family went to Showa park with Anika's yochien. It was a lot of fun and we were glad the weather held out. We brought a picnic and listened to the little ones sing songs in Japanese and then participate in rely races. The parents participated in several games as well, we played a giant round of rock, paper scissors and Lexi and John did a rely race and and Anika and I did a rely race as well. It was a great family day and afterwards we raced back home to get ready for nine 4 year old princesses to come to Anika's birthday party.

Shimoda, Japan

Our girls in the sea cave

Our beautiful view from the Phillip's home

Inside was a renovated, traditional Japanese style home.

Very comforting signs posted all over the beach.

This would be a difficult place to live, but I suppose I could adjust:) I mean it isn't base living, I would sure miss the base housing.

Mommy and Lexi.

I love just listening to the tide rolling in.

Lexi giving sand sledding a try, they really flew down the hill. We had some girls flip a few times.

Inside the sea cave

How gorgeous is this!

Capturing a whirlpool

Cherry blossom season


We were so close to the mammals

Mt. Fuji from a different angle.

The first week in April I went with Lexi on an overnight Girl Scout Trip to the beautiful Izu Peninsula, Shimoda to be exact. It was absolutely gorgeous, if you are in Japan and have not been to the Izu Peninsula it is a must. We had a great group of parents and girls combined and the Phillip's Family was kind enough to let us use their beach house which was nestled on a hilltop overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It took us about 4 1/2 hours to get there and was a very pretty drive, thanks to the Pacifar Family for driving. The kids went sand sledding on the beach and we explored a beautiful sea cave and we walked a beautiful , white sandy beach with a brillant green forest.

The following day we went to a wonderful floating aquarium and watched a dolphin and seal show that was really well done. They also had many interesting fish and I had a nice conversation with a dolphin. I actually got it to talk to me.

Lexi and I loved exploring a different part of Japan together. Although it took 7 1/2 hours to get home and we had to go up a corkscrew bridge, which was rather nauseating and scary.

and this is why haven't blogged.......

The past month has been so incredibly busy, I feel like I am drowning at times or at least barely keeping my head above water. Between Girl Scout Bridging for Lexi, a wonderful ballet recital for Lexi and Anika, Lexi's graduation ceremony and the drama that went with it, Family Day at Showa Park with Anika's school, Anika's birthday party just a few short weeks ago (wanted to celebrate German style), John's office is having their 5oth Anniversary Gala this entire week, hosting book club and other various events, it doesn't leave much time for blogging.

We are planning on taking Military Air out of here next weekend to Travis or Elemendorf AFB, but let me tell you my friends, it doesn't look promising. There are 2 flights leaving Saturday, one for Alaska the other for California. 20 seats available on each flight, school ends on Thursday and I know many families PCS'ing and flying out on that day, families of 5 and 4. They have priority of us, we are category 2 so we shall see:) If you do the math it doesn't look good. It could be weeks before we fly out, but I am going to remain optimistic and have John add up all of our frequent flyer miles with the various airlines that we have points with and they are not all Star Alliance Airlines. If we can get to the west coast we can rent an RV and explore or better yet hope for a mil air flight to the east coast, Pope, Shaw or Charleston AB would be ideal. Expect some more posts, I am trying to catch up. I still need to post our trip to Durango, aghhh!!!