Day 19 - Thursday AGAIN - The drive

We left Tokyo at 3 pm on Thursday and arrived here in California at 9 AM Thursday morning. We decided not to get a hotel but just to get home. Neither Joe nor I slept on the 10 hour flight and 2 hour drive to the airport or 3 hours wait at the airport so we just talked the whole way home to stay awake.

Reagan happy to be going home.
Tyler being silly he is not asleep here!

Beautiful Arizona!!!!

It was so good to be back in our own home. The kids were so excited to have their toys again they just played until bed time!

Day 18 - Thursday - the flight home!

Well we got up ate breakfast and got ready to go the the airport.

Here we are in front of our hotel - The New Sanno - it is a military hotel.



Going into the airport



Eating lunch

Saying goodbye!! We had the best time EVER! thanks soooooooo much Nana and Grandpa and of course Kevin for endless laughs!

Day 17 - Wednesday - Yunessun

Today was AWESOME we went to a spa and pool. They had tons of different pools and spas. I took pics of some but it was too hard to carry a camera when you are wet the whole time. One pool had little fish that you stuck your feet in the water and the fish ate the dead skin off. Joe and the kids loved it but I didn't. We had a great day there but were soooo tired by the time we left.

Day 16 - Tuesday - Tokyo

Today was tons of fun and tons of walking. We drove to Tokyo in the morning and checked in at the hotel. Grandpa wasn't feeling well and so he took a nap while we went for a walk to the temple and through a park across the street, it is amazing how beautiful the park was in the middle of such a huge city. Right next to the temple was the different Embassy's so that is why we have so many pics.

After that walk we went and got Grandpa so we could go on the subway. We went to the Emperors Palace and to Ginza. Ginza is just like new york City but in Tokyo!!!

Day 15 - Monday - Up up and away!

This morning was AWESOME. Joe and I got up early to go flying with Joe's dad. He took us in the smallest plane I have ever seen, when I said yes I didn't know it was that small! He flew us over Tokyo and a surrounding areas. We had a really good time and got to see a ton! Here is a little of what we saw!

For dinner we went to a Yakiniku. You cook your own meet at your table. We sat in a traditional table so it was on the ground and we had to take our shoes off before getting into the booth. It was really delicious.

Here is Joe cooking

It was late that is why I look so AWFUL.

Here is our shoes outside the little booth

Day 14 - Sunday - Church

Today we went to church. The kids with Nana and Grandpa.
The front of the church.
The side view. it looks big but it is not at all. it is so thin the chapel is the width of the 3rd floor.

And of course after dinner we took a walk around the neighborhood again. I love Sunday walks. This time we went up a little hill near by.

The view from the top.

My little Reagan

Day 13 - Saturday - The race

Joe, Kevin and Dad all went to the race! It was a 4 hour bus trip. They left at 5 in the morning and did not return until 8 PM Now that sounds like a fun day but it turned out to be an awful trip. The race was canceled due to track conditions. There was a hole in the track that they couldn't fix becuase it started pouring rain. So they sat and waited for the race to begin and watched people fix, well try to fix, a hole in the rain and cold! But here are some pics.

I didn't do a whole lot today which was actually really nice. We went onto base to get some food for sunday and have lunch and of course run errands. then Nana took the kids and me home while she went and did laundry. The kids all took a nap and then we watched a movie. After the guys got home the adults went to dinner and Kevin watched the kids... well they were sleeping so that wasn't so hard.

Day 12 - Friday - Round 1

Today was another very rainy day and so we decided not to travel much. Around here they have tons of video and play places so we decided to try one. It was called round 1. There was sooooo much stuff to do. They had a huge play area for kids and for older kids there was bowling, shooting, tennis, soccer, roller skating, arcade games and too much else to remember. They also had a spa room with different types of massaging chairs and tables. In these rooms they had TVs that showed the kids play area so you knew what your kids were doing. All over they had massage chairs so you could relax. It was a ton of fun! A perfect rainy day activity!

Day 11 - Thursday - EATING

Today started out a beautiful day. Joe's Mom had to renew her road Tax and his dad had to work all day. So we started our day on base while Nana went in to renew the Tax. There was a playground across the street so we played for an hour or so while she waited in a long line.

On the way home it started to sprinkle but Joe and I really wanted to walk around and have real Japanese food. We have been eating on base most of the time or at the house. So Nana took the kids to a McDonald's (which they pronounce - Mac uh doe nal does. ) It was definilty the teen hangout. There were tons of teenagers in there and they all wanted to look at the kids.
Then by the time we left on our journey it was raining pretty hard. We went into the first restaurants that had pictures so we could point to the menu. I am not sure exactly what we ate but Joe's was really good and mine was OK. They do not refill drinks unless you ask and we weren't very successful at that. So we headed out the door and we found a HUGE shopping center called the Joyful Honda. No cars were sold there. We walked around for a while and ended up spending most of our time in the food section looking at all the different types of food and trying to guess what they were.

Joe eating lunch

The grocery store in the Joyful Honda. This store was three stories high and sold EVERYTHING but cars. One section as called the Joyful liquor you can guess what was there. And the lottery section was called Joyful chance. They even had a whole section just for Umbrellas. which we should have bought because we were sharing and it was raining even harder on our walk home. My pants were wet to the knees by the time we got back to the house.

For dinner we went to a sushi restaurant. It has a conveyor belt that went around and you just picked the plates you wanted. It was pretty good. The kids didn't eat much.

Emma and her chop sticks.

Joe with some gross stuff. he said it didn't taste all that great either.

Kevin and the conveyor belt

Tyler ate tons of these!

The end result!

Day 10 - Wednesday - Hamura Animal Park

Today we went to a local Zoo it was about 10 miles away. It is so crazy how much stuff they can put on one street. All the buildings are right on top of each other and behind each other. This zoo was not very big at all but had as many animals as the Phoenix zoo. They are all in cages and have very little room to roam around. But they did have lots of animals and it was fun to get out. It has rained a lot here.

Emma and Kevin... she is always with her Uncle Kevin!

Joe and Reagan

Emma and Kevin in the petting zoo. They let the pigs roam around and you can brush them. There was also goats and sheep and a few other animals.

Joe and Nana

Emma and Me

The kids on the rhino

My little monkey, Emma

Tyler and Emma

You can't read the sign well but it has a sign just like all the other animals and said Homo sapien and Human.

The best looking animal in the whole Zoo!