Onsen

Okay, so Rachel was talking about an onsen on her blog and how awesome they are.  Let me tell you what an onsen is.  It is a public bathhouse!  I am not kidding!  They usually separate the men and the women.  First you strip down and wash yourself really good with soap while you are sitting on a stool. Then you go naked in a hot springs and sit there.  I'm not sure what you do, but I know you sit there . . . naked . . with other people.  No wonder Brett didn't want to go to the 'mixed gender' onsen.  His friend went and said he was there with a lot of old Japanese ladies.  Gross!

Anyway, it is pretty funny because Marie LOVES the onsens.  This is the conversation I overheard her having with Maysen.  Now, anytime Marie talks, imagine an adorable 'mickey mouse' type voice.  

Marie:  Maysen, do you want to go to the onsen?  

Maysen:  NO  

Marie: (shocked) Why don't you want to go to the onsen?  

Maysen:  Why do you want to go to the onsen?  

Marie:  Because you get to be NAKED! (At this point Marie throws up her arms in the air.)

Oh man that was funny!  Marie then asked Rachel if she could go to the onsen for her birthday.  If you are wondering, Mike, Maysen and I did not go to the onsen.  But we had plenty of laughs as Brett & Rachel explained it to us and as we looked at the helpful Japanese brochures.  

Arriving Yesterday

We left Japan just after midnight Friday morning.  We arrived in California Thursday night.  Haha!  That is kind of fun.  We got to LAX around 7:00 last night.  Our flight didn't leave until 6:00 in the morning today.  We spent the night in the airport Amazing Race style.  I was dreading this part of the trip, but it really wasn't too bad.  We bought some cards and taught Maysen how to play rummy.  I can't believe I have never played that game with my kids before.  I loved it when I was growing up.  One of the Delta workers was really nice and came out and brought us blankets.  Our gate changed four times before we finally left.  The flight home was beautiful.  It was a cloudy day in LA, which made for a gorgeous trip home.  The pictures just can't do the clouds justice.

Steve picked us up from the airport and took us to the car lot.  Both our cars were there.  We drove home, what a welcomed sight!  As I opened the door to come in the house, all three kids were there waiting for us with their arms around each other.  It was wonderful!  I wish I had my camera, I would like to remember that image forever!  It was so good to see them!  My dad was cooking waffles.  What a nice way to come home.  Cute kids that want to be with us and fresh waffles.

Maysen commented several times during the day how grown up Preston looked.  It seemed he had grown a few inches while we were gone.  He seems older to me as well.  It's amazing how much they can change in ten days!

Jorja with frog Japanese stuff from Rachel ~ she LOVES them.

 Jorja with the frog Maysen picked out at the salvage yard

 Jorja with Pokemon figurines

 Preston with an Emolga figurine

 Preston with his new Emolga hat.  He LOVES that!

 Stockton with his robot souvenir that Mike picked out

 Stockton and Preston

 Stockton, Preston, Mike

My dad offered to take the kids to see Brave while Mike and I caught up on sleep.  I decided I wanted to go too.  I took a quick nap and made it to the movie just in time.  I was quite tired, but didn't fall asleep during the movie, so that was good.  Mike chose to stay in bed.  Preston was good through the movie, but was done about half way through.  I had him on my lap and he kept saying, "I don't get it."  I enjoyed the movie, but it wasn't my favorite Pixar one.  It was fun to go to with my kids.  My dad, Cathy and Max were also there.  Thanks for the tickets Dad.

We got the kids to bed by 8:30.  They were disappointed about that.  I heard them bragging to Maysen, "We got to stay up until 10:00 every night and had a milkshake every day!"  I'm glad they had a great time with my dad.  It was nice that I didn't need to worry about them while I was gone.  Especially in Tokyo when we didn't have a way to contact them.  Thanks for taking such good care of them Dad!  Japan was awesome, but I am so happy to be back with my entire family again! 

Good-Bye Japan

We kind of wore ourselves silly yesterday, so we opted for a nice/easy/lazy day today.  One of the things we wanted to do was to go to the gift shop in the hotel.  It opens at 10 and closes at 6.  We hadn't been able to make it yet, so we decided today was the day!  We also had to be checked out of our hotel by noon.  Luckily Brett & Rachel were staying one more day, so we were able to put our luggage in their room.

Brett, Marie, Mike and I decided to walk to a park that is near the temple.  It is called Arisugawanomiya Memorial Park.  It was a short walk and was quite pretty.  As we were leaving we noticed you could see the angel Moroni poking up over the trees.  I took a picture, but it looked way awesome in person.

Mike & Stephanie

 Mike

 Marie

 Brett & Stephanie

 Japanese signs are the best!  Here are some of them I saw today.

 My favorite.  Pink cell phone guy cracks me up.

Maysen wanted to go back to the Pokemon store.  We were really disappointed that we didn't have her ds with us the first time we went. This time we brought it fully charged.  There wasn't nearly as many people here today as on Monday.  The main Pokemon store was there, but the shop around the corner was gone.  We're guessing there was some special even the last time we were here.

Mina & Rachel

 Maysen with lots of other Pokemon players

 Maysen

 Mike & Maysen

After Maysen got her fill of Pokemon, Mike wanted to get his fill of sushi.  He really liked the sushi this trip, but was worried he wouldn't like it once he got back to the states.

Mina, Maysen, Marie, Rachel  (Brett & Mike are there too)

 This is what Mike and Brett ordered.

 Rachel's plate

 Maysen wanted me to take a picture of this guy.

It totally looks like something Stockton would draw.

 Next to this guy was a store that looked like it said, "Duh"

 Mina ~ she loved the camera!

We stopped at a store and got a few snacks.  Rachel gave each of my kids and my dad a chocolate candy.  That was nice of her.  Thanks Rachel!  What was really nice of Rachel was she gave me a 2 piece platter set that I had my eye on in the Kitchen District.  I love it!  It caught me completely off guard.  I was so tempted to get it myself, it was so nice of Rachel to get it for me.  For no reason too.  It's not my birthday!  I wasn't going to complain because I really love it!  I'll have to take a picture of it when I get a chance.  Right now it is all packed away in my backpack.

Ketchup Pringles - Mike's worst nightmare 

 Mina

 Mike's popcorn

 Rachel, Mina, Stephanie, Marie

Brett walked us to the train station.  I wanted to take a picture of him wearing a pink and leopard backpack.

Mike & Brett

Saying good-bye.  I miss you already!  Thanks for letting us come and spending so much time with us.  I hope you can come to the states soon! I love you!!!!!

Brett, Stephanie, Marie

We made it to the airport with no problem.  We are now experts on the Japanese subway.  Well, I wouldn't go that far, but at least we have an idea what we are doing now.  Our plane is about 30 minutes ahead of schedule.  Good thing we made it here in plenty of time!  Good-bye Japan!

Disney Sea

What a fun day!  We spent the entire day at Disney Sea.  It is right next to Tokyo Disneyland.  It is kind of like a couple of the Disney World resorts put together.  They have their own mascot.  Duffy the Disney Bear.  They LOVE Duffy down here.  When we first arrived in Japan, I saw something with the Duffy and Disney logo.  I pointed it out to Maysen and said, "They don't know that Duffy isn't a Disney character."  Well, obviously I was completely wrong because Duffy is EVERYWHERE.  He even has a friend named ShellieMay.  We saw many people pose for photographs with their Duffy and ShellieMay dolls.  It was quite the sight.

Anyway, today was wonderful.  It was quite windy, which at times was bothersome; but I found myself longing for the wind whenever it stopped blowing.  It sure kept the heat away and made for a perfect day.

Brett & Mina ~ now those are fun rings!

 Mike, Marie & Maysen on the monorail

 Tickets!

 Maysen, Mike, Stephanie

 Brett & Mina, Rachel & Marie

 Stephanie (Mickey & Duffy)

 Mike, Maysen, Stephanie

 Maysen & Mike exploring DaVinci's flying machine

 Maysen & Stephanie

 Mike had fun with the cannons

 Mike & Maysen

 Brett with Marie the celebrity

 Marie & Ariel

 Mina

 Marie

 Maysen

 Two story Merry-Go-Round

Brett said they got three rides stopped for them.  They stopped the merry-go-round because Brett hopped on Mina's horse during the ride.  She was on a one-person horse, so they stopped the ride and told him he needed to get down.  The other ride was the bumper boat ride (Aquatopia).  Mina lost her shoe.  They stopped the ride and fished it out.  I can't remember the third ride that was stopped.

Flower Genie

 Stephanie & Maysen

 Maysen

 Mike & Maysen with their milk-flavored ice cream cones

 Maysen & Mike on the flying carpets (kind of like Dumbo)

I wish I had gotten an English Japanese shirt.  Some of them were so funny!  My favorite was one that said, "My name is Tapioca Pudding".  I got a picture of this cute little girl with her "To be happy toy" shirt.

 Disney Sea ~ right next to the ocean

 Maysen & Mike

 Maysen & Stephanie

 Stephanie & Mike

 Maysen & Stephanie

Marie's FAVORITE part of the day was Triton's Kingdom.  She loved it in there!  We went and saw a show in the Mermaid Lagoon Theater. Mina LOVED it!  She has never sat so still before!  It's kind of funny because the show is in Japanese, but the songs are in English.  They changed the show and Ariel decides she should not leave home.  Brett & Rachel like to joke that it is very Japanese ~ trying to indoctrinate the kids that they shouldn't leave Japan.

Marie & Maysen

 Stephanie, Mina, Marie, Maysen

 Maysen & Mina ~ Mina likes Maysen.
Not a big fan of me, but she loves Maysen!

 Mina

 Mina & Maysen

 Maysen, Stephanie & Marie

 Mina ~ what a cutie!

 Maysen & Prince Eric

 Stephanie & Prince Eric ~ we couldn't find a Dinglehopper

 Marie & Mina

 Love those girls!

 Rachel & Mina who is still going strong

 Exhausted Marie

 Mike, Mina & Maysen

 Rachel & Mina

My favorite ride today was The Tower of Terror.  I have never been on that ride, but I remember the Fuller's talking about it years ago!  Again, everything is in Japanese, but we were able to get the gist.  Mike's favorite ride was the Indiana Jones ride.  That was fun and Maysen got to be in the driver's seat for it.  My favorite picture was one of Brett on the Indiana Jones ride.  Mike, Maysen and I were off by ourselves most of the day.  Brett & Rachel would take turns riding rides.  On the Indiana Jones ride, Brett was in the jeep with a group of Japanese school children in their uniforms.  Oh man!  Every time I walked past a group of school children (and that happened a lot) I couldn't help laughing. Brett said he was laughing the entire ride about it!

One of these things is not like the other.

At the end of the day Mike, Brett & Marie went to Storm Chasers. Rachel, Mina, Maysen and I went to watch Fantasmic.  It was really crowded so I put Maysen on my shoulders.  It is not as easy to do that as it used to be.  Maysen enjoyed the show, so it was worth it.  I love Disney.  (Except the time I took all four kids by myself to Disney World during spring break.  That was a bad idea!  I basically paid over $500 so they could ride Dumbo and Peter Pan.  Maysen and Stockton did get to ride the log flume, but that was it.  This trip to Disney Sea was so much nicer!)