Showa Kinen Park

I think we all agree that this is our FAVORITE PARK ever!!! It's only a 15 minute drive from our home.

Here are some pictures from our two visits. Last month we went with our neighbors, the Barton's, and last week we took Uncle Rick.

It's so huge we rented bikes to tour the park.

Bouncing Domes

These are the COOLEST things in the world. They are large trampoline mountains.

The dad's loved it! Shane again.

The other dad, Bryce.

I must admit...they are a blast!

When we took Rick it must have been a "field trip day". There were kids everywhere.

Jayden also loves to slide down them.

Rick & Jayden catching some air.

Jayden could play on these all day.

Dragon Dunes

This place is filled with huge dragons, slides, and things to climb.

Shane and the kids.

Rick & the kids.

Here's a slide on one of the dragon tails.

Roller Slide

Shane & Jayden "superman" style.

Our family

The Bartons

Rick & the kids.

If you've never been on a roller slide...you have got to find one...they are a hoot! The bigger you are the more fun it is because you go faster.

Misty Forest

Rainbow Hammocks

The hammocks were twice this big, but I couldn't get them all in one picture.

A Sweet Slide :)

I have no clue what this slide is made of, but it was WAY fun!

Rick & Jayden surfing down the slide.

Tia loved it so much she went down it a billion times (well, not really but you get the point).

Jayden was doing all sorts of flips and tricks down the slide.

We've been there twice and still haven't even touched half of it! It's huge! It also has a water park, lake that you can ride boats on, mini-golf course, disc-golf course, bonsai garden, and more. The Japanese sure know how to build great parks

Fun Family Night Activity

Chalkboard Pumpkins

This was so simple & fun! Jayden's favorite thing was that you can wipe the face right off and draw another one. He also had a blast giving the pumpkin hair.

This is all you need to do it!

-a box
-a pumpkin
-chalkboard spray paint
-chalk

Check out this blog to see the instructions:

Toad's Treasures

*note - the pumpkin needs 24 hours to dry

Our 2nd Visitor

Yeah...another visitor! My brother Joe was on his way home from Hong Kong and extended his layover in Tokyo for a day so that he could come and visit us.

This morning we rode our bikes to the donut shop and ate donuts on the flight line. Tia would not smile, but as you can tell by her messy face...she really enjoyed her donut.

And yesterday we took Joe up the Tokyo Tower.

It was a quick visit, but we sure had a great time! Thanks Joe, we love you!

Too funny not to post!

Shane was in the kitchen yesterday and heard a big THUD at the back door!!! He went to see what it was and this is what he saw...

Yes, that is the imprint of a BIRD...with a feather still attached! Shane said that it was a large pigeon, the splat mark is as big as my hand.

It's sad at the same time, but how funny that it actually left a WHOLE body imprint on our window. And, that there was still a feather attached!

The bird did survive. It wobbled around on our back patio for awhile, then eventually flew away.

1st Trip to Tokyo

We took our 1st trip into Tokyo this last weekend. It is definitely going to take MANY trips to be able to conquer that city! We were there for 4 days and feel like we barely touched it. There's so much to do! We hope we can go back again soon (it's only 1 hour away, so I'm sure we will).

Our friend's, the Barton's, came along with us on this crazy adventure. None of us knew what we were doing, how to get anywhere, and what to do when we got there. Sounds crazy, but it ended up being really fun. Thanks Barton's for adding to the excitement.

Disneyland

We made it!

We were all so excited that we ACTUALLY made it to Disneyland. Both our families are new here and are not familiar with the roads or freeways, so this was a big thing for us.

There's nothing quite like Disneyland. After 3 years of having annual passes in California...we still absolutely love it.

Of course we could not pass up the "Monster's Inc" ride....even if it was a 90 minute wait!!! Wow...the things we do for our kids.

They each got to pick out 1 thing from Disneyland and of course they both picked Monster's Inc things. I wonder if they will EVER grow out of this?!

Tia with Adyson & Brinkley.

Polynesian Dinner Show

This was a first for us. Tokyo Disney has a Polynesian Dinner Show. We ate a nice, fancy dinner (we weren't quite sure what some of the items on our plates were) and watched a Hawaiian Luau. Mickey, Minnie, and the Chipmunks were also there.

The kids all got a chance to dance with Mickey & Minnie on stage.

Even Bryce, our neighbor, got to dance on stage....all by himself...in front of everyone!

That made our night...it was hilarious!

Disney Sea

Ready to fight the crazy crowds at Disney Sea (another Disney theme park with rides). It just happened to be a Japanese holiday the weekend we were there, so there were BILLIONS of people everywhere! Lucky us :)

Disney Sea had amazing scenery! I wish I took more pictures of it.

Tia & I on the Jelly Fish ride.

Dad & Jayden.

Here's Tia right before she realized how fast the ride was. I don't think she'll be doing that one again. At least she had Rick to hold her while she cried uncontrollably.

Micky Mouse Apple (Juice) Popsicle--so yummy!

3 Incredible people :)

Tokyo Tower

Tokyo has a tower that is similar to the Eiffel Tower.

This is us at the very top. It was a little freaky being up that high.

Uncle Rick striking a pose :)

Rick squatting on the glass floor from the first level in the Tokyo Tower. It was crazy standing on glass and looking all the way down to the parking lot. It made my knees wobble.

Tokyo LDS Temple

On our walk to the temple we found a really fun park with lots of Americans in it.

Jayden on the zip-line.

Tia enjoying the toys & dirt.

The Tokyo LDS Temple

There's not very much space in front of the temple to take a picture. It's in a pretty tight spot, so this is what we got. It's a very beautiful temple. Shane and I were able to attend the temple together last month...it was wonderful! I love our temples and the peace they bring into our lives!

On our walk home we saw this...

HOW???

We tried to figure out how in the world this person parked in that tight spot. They were backed right up to the door and had only an orange cone between the car and the wall in front. However they did it...they've got skills!

Asakusa

Asakusa is one of the few "traditional" quarters left in Tokyo. We really liked this city. The temples, shrines, pagoda, and small side streets filled with millions of trinket shops made it an exciting experience.

The shopping road in front of the Sensoji Temple (called "Nakamise Dori"). WHAT A BLAST! There were so many random things including...masks, fans, toys, Japanese dolls, etc. It was fun just walking up and down this road looking at everything.

The Sensoji Temple

The Sensogi Temple was actually under constructions (so you couldn't actually see the outside of it). This a picture of us walking up to it. It was behind this building.

To our right we payed $1 and have our fortune told. You shake a box and a stick with a number comes out on it. You then find the drawer on the wall with that number on it, open it, and pull out your printed fortune. If you don't like your fortune you can tie it in a knot around some wire lines and just leave it there. Our fortune was pretty strange, so it is tied to one of those wires right now. Hopefully we'll get a better one next time :)

Rick got a cool fortune, but I don't remember what it said. He kept his.

What a great trip. It was even more fun having friends and family with us. Thanks everyone for adding to a great weekend!

Typhoon

Last week we experienced our 1st Typhoon! Thanks to my mom we had all the gear necessary to hold us out through a storm and anything that would happen afterwards (blackouts, broken windows, etc.). We were very calm because we knew we were prepared! You are awesome mom!

Luckily, the typhoon didn't hit us as bad as we thought! I think we are far enough inland that we were okay. There were some points where the wind was blowing like crazy, but those quickly passed and it ended up being a beautiful weekend. Everyone had to stay home from work and in their homes until the typhoon passed. We helped clean up and around 3:00 p.m. they classified it SAFE for us to leave our homes and the base.

The typhoon blew down tons of branches and shifted a few things around the neighborhood, but that was about the worst we had here. I'm sure this won't be the last typhoon we experience, but I'm glad it didn't do much damage this time.