Tokyo Trip 2 - Shibuya & Harajuku

For Mother's Day Shane reserved a few nights at our military hotel in Tokyo. We had a really good time as a family, besides the fact that the kids CRIED practically the WHOLE time. They weren't feeling well (so it wasn't really their fault this time). Our luck was just not with us on this trip...oh well...we still managed to have a good experience.

New Sanno Hotel

The kids get SO excited every time we go to this hotel.

Shibuya

We made a quick stop at the Shibuya train station. It is well known as the Times Square of Tokyo (I wasn't able to get a really good picture of how crazy it was).

While there we had to get a picture with Hachi...

If you haven't seen Hachi yet, it's a really cute, true story that took place at the Shibuya train station here in Tokyo. It's a good, clean movie.

Harajuku

Visiting Meiji Shrine.

Takeshita Street.

This is where teenagers go to see the new hip fashions and other crazy stuff. It's almost impossible to walk down with a stroller. We didn't quite fit in :)

While walking down this street we saw many girls that looked like this...

...I have no idea why (borrowed this picture from Wikipedia)!

Near the New Sanno hotel

(and Tokyo LDS Temple)

We found this fun little ice cream shop that I really like. We went there both nights we were in Tokyo just because I love it. I also love that they have a non-dairy Mango ice cream for Jayden. He was pretty excited to be able to eat the whole thing and not get a belly ache.

Yummy Yummy!

Children's Hall Museum

We went back to Shibuya on the second day because it was raining and we had to find something in doors to do. We found this great Museum that was FREE and we all absolutely LOVED it!

There is a wood working shop in the basement where each kid made 1 craft.

The kids each picked this cool "hooey stick" to make (watch video below).

The kids went fishing.

Played on lots of toys.

Made origami with a cute little Japanese man.

And my favorite part of the day was...

...the Human BODY Maze

Can you see the eyes? You climb up through the "big mouth" to get inside. I'm not sure where the nose is???

You can see the uvula up front after you climb up the mouth. And then you have this little hole near the back of the BODY which is called the "poo poo hole" :)

And...here is my favorite part....

...you exit the whole maze, between the two feet, through the "BUTT TUNNEL" which even has little flaps on it! I just love the Japanese!

The kids had a blast playing in the music room.

And when we left we had to pay an arm and a leg (about $18 for 2 hours) to get our car out of this parking garage. They don't even need your car keys to take your car. Don't ask us where it goes...all we know is that it came back to us when we put our ticket in the machine and punched return. It was awesome!

(skip forward to 0:45 )

Monkey Bars

Every since Jayden was an infant he has loved hanging from the monkey bars. After years of practicing (and being too little) he finally accomplished HIS goal a few weeks ago of going across all by himself. He is SOOOOOOOO excited! I'm a little sad though because his sweet, soft hands are getting ripped to pieces as they are trying to build callus'. I'll miss those baby hands.

Good job Jayden...we are proud of you!

Modeling in Japan

I'm learning a lot about Japan in a way that I never thought of! Apparently Japanese modeling agencies LOVE Americans. It is not uncommon around here to have your kids model. People have been telling me about it for months, but I had absolutely NO interest. We are just normal ol' people--not models.

Well, a few months ago my friend Michelle was telling me more about it and how much fun she and her kids have had doing it. She was going to an audition and asked if I wanted to come along and check it out. I asked the kids and Jayden said he wanted to do it, but Tia wasn't sure. So we went...Tia came and cried her head off, so she ended up not auditioning (oh well), but Jayden did and he was one of the kids that was picked for the job. I figured we'd at least give it a shot and see if he liked it.

We LOVED it! Jayden had an absolute BLAST! It's nothing like I thought. You don't need to have amazing modeling skills...they just want the kids to be kids. I was so happy! Tia even liked it and wanted to do it. They had people there entertaining the kids, making them laugh, blowing balloons up and letting them go, and just being silly. When we left (after 4 hours of 9-10 photo shoots) Jayden said "Mom, that was fun...can we do it again?"

Here are a few pictures from Jayden's first modeling job!

The company he modeled for is called COMBI MINI. They are connected to the same company that make Combi strollers. Here are 2 pictures they have on their website:

You can see more pictures of him in the catalog here.

(pages 14, 15, 16, 26, 28, 29)

Check out the boy with the long hair. He is amazing and hilarious! He's been modeling since he was 1 1/2 years old and was a blast to work with. He lives just down the street from us. It was fun to get to know him.

Here are some pictures from the photo shoot:

When we arrived we realized that one of the other kids that was picked was Jayden's friend from our church. This made Jayden really happy!

Isn't that hilarious...a tank top with a hoodie on it (Uncle Byron-it's a true "thangler"). I must admit...most of the clothes were pretty crazy!

Getting ready for his shoot.

Just a quick video

The staff fixing their clothes.

The funny guy to the left was the one entertaining them. The kids loved him!

They would come out and play with them so that they were happy and having fun.

Tia was awesome the whole 4 hours. I brought a million things to entertain her...surprisingly they worked!

The catalog that Jayden is in.

He and his friends are on the back cover.

I never imagined we'd be experiencing Japan this way, but it has been a lot of fun. It's taught us how to ride the trains (without our Japanese interpreter--AKA--DAD), go to new places (his last photo shoot was near Mt. Fuji), and we've met some really nice Japanese people.

We don't do it much (which is just perfect for me)...only about every 2-3 months. This is enough so that the kids (and I) still enjoy it. Jayden has done 2 jobs....I'm really excited to post the second one, but I can't until his pictures are published in August. It's for a company called MIKI HOUSE. All I'll say is that it was really fun and in one of the photo shoots he was wearing a black leather jacket and had a fohawk :) ...he loved it! However, in his other photo shoot he was wearing a turtle neck and clothes with teddy bears all over them...he didn't like that too much...I'll post a picture later to prove it...this kid cracks me up!

Tia told me one day that she was ready to model, so we took her and she got her first job for COMBI MINI also. The catalog should be out in a month or two.

Who would have thought that we would being doing this here. I love that just any normal kid can do it....and that they are still just normal kids when they are done. It's been a fun experience.

As long as the kids and I are still having fun, we'll keep doing it. Hopefully I'll be able to post the other pictures soon!

"I'm Japanese"

(Just a random picture of Jayden-I couldn't make a post without a picture :)

The other day I overheard Jayden telling Tia that HE was Japanese. I started laughing and moved into the front room so that I could hear what made him Japanese.

Jayden: "Tia, I'm Japanese...I watch Japanese, I eat Japanese Otter Pops, and I speak Japanese"

Mom: "Really??, what do you watch that is Japanese?"

Jayden: Pausing for a moment and thinking..."ummm"

Tia: "Astro Boy mom, we watch Astro Boy....he Japanese"

Laughing I asked the next question...

Mom: "What Japanese do you speak"

Jayden: In a really drawn out..."duh mom" voice he said... "Ko-- knee-- chi-- wa"

And the Japanese Otter pops is my fault. I found some Otter Pops at the Dollar store off base and told the kids they were Japanese Otter Pops...oops...so now my picky little kids actually think they each Japanese food :/

I'm so grateful for moments like this that make me laugh...I love these crazy kids!

"Tia, put some pants on"

One night awhile back I was having a really tough time with the kids. Shane was gone and I was really frustrated and exhausted from a long day. Somehow Tia ruined her pants (which made me even more frustrated) so I quickly and impatiently told her to go upstairs and get some other pants on. I continued to be really frustrated and was busy doing who knows what. I few minutes later Tia came down the stairs and was so proud of herself for getting her pants on all by herself. When I turned around this is what I saw....

At first I was a little confused how her pants had 3 legs until I realized it was her pajama top. I then said "Tia...go get some pants on". In the sweetest little voice she said..."mom, I did". As frustrated as I was I couldn't help but bust up laughing. Thanks for being you Tia!

Easter & Cherry Blossoms in Japan

Egg Hunt

Ready for the big hunt.

Our Branch getting ready to run wild. There were over 800 eggs for our little primary-the kids went crazy!

Jayden scored in the tunnel.

Tia and her 2 best buddies...Briley & Brentlee.

Easter Day

The Kids:

The Parents:

The Whole Family:

What a beautiful Easter. The Cherry Blossoms bloomed just in time.

Cherry Blossoms

Behind our house is a row of Cherry Blossom trees. They were beautiful the week of Easter. They bloomed and were gone all within a week. I had no idea the flowers were only around for a week. It was a special Easter having such beautiful white and pink trees everywhere.

These pictures were taken right out our back gate:

This is what it looked like 1 week later...

...it was like pink snow.

I can't wait till next year!

Shane's 30th Birthday!

We were really sad this year because Shane was gone for his birthday (2 months ago) and we didn't get to celebrate it with him until 2 weeks later. We weren't totally sad for him though because he was in Hawaii for the full 2 weeks---rough huh! He keeps telling me that he wasn't on a vacation and that it was work, but hey...who wouldn't want to go to Hawaii for work?!

Anyways, when he left this is how sad Tia was:

Am I a totally mean parent for video taping it??? It was the only thing I could do to stop myself from going crazy. She cried like this for about 45 minutes. I'm glad I can laugh now because it wasn't so funny and cute when it was happening. Gotta love this girl!

Because we had so much time to think about Shane's birthday, we decided to make some changes in our lives as GIFTS to dad for his big 30th birthday. We also got him some little gifts, but these gifts are the things I want to blog about.

Jayden's and Tia's gifts were both on our "To Do lists". We have both been trying to get them done, but had no luck. Both of these things stressed us out so we kept avoiding them. This is why the kids and I thought they would be perfect gifts to dad.

Tia's gift to dad:

Yep...Tia Potty Trained herself for dad's birthday gift. This girl is amazing! From the first day we started she has gone all by herself...without having to announce it to everyone or ask for help. When she needs to go...she just gets up and goes. She even gets up on her own each night (2-3 times) and uses the bathroom. When I'd praise her for going to the bathroom she would say "me pee pee...daddy's birthday" . She knew exactly why she was being potty trained...I didn't even need to give her treats. Way to go Tia! I must say potty training a girl was a thousand times different than potty training a boy!!!

Jayden's gift to dad:

That's right...he learned to ride his bike for dad's birthday. It wasn't a piece of cake I'll tell ya...there was lots of yelling and screaming...I'm just glad that he doesn't know any cuss words or it could have been worse :)

I'm so proud of Jayden. Every day he would wake up and say "Can we go practice riding my bike for dad?" He was so excited to show his dad when he got back that we couldn't even wait until the morning. We had to go outside at 10:00 p.m. just so Jayden could ride his bike for Shane.

My gift to Shane:

"a box of fabric scraps"

...it may not look exciting, but it sure was to Shane because it meant that I FINALLY mended his 25 year old blanket that he (and I) totally LOVE!

A little background on the blanket:

-his mom made it for him 25+ years ago

-he uses it everynight because it is so darn comfortable

-whenever he is out of town I steal it and sleep with it :)

-he's used it so much that all 4 sides were falling off and there were many holes from where his toes would rub at night

-EVERY time I would sew ANYTHING he would say (in a really sad "pitty me" voice)...

"you can sew______, but you won't fix my blanket"

or "you made that for __so & so__, but you won't fix my blanket"

or my favorite

"my blanket is going to choke and kill me at night and you don't even care (in a joking voice of course)"

...this went on for over 1 1/2 years!

Don't ask me why I never fixed his blanket. I think it just scared me because I knew I would have to cut off a lot and I wasn't really sure what to do. I'm a self taught sewer and I didn't want to ruin his favorite blanket.

Anyways, here's what I finally did...

The choking pieces :(

...cut off all 4 sides, patched holes, and resewed an edge with a funky flower pattern around the whole thing. I usually only straight stitch or zig-zag so this was a big deal :)

Here it is...

The finished product. Just look at those clean edges. Shane will definitely NOT choke on his blanket now :)

Shane's gift to himself:

Who doesn't love buying themselves a gift?! We've never had a lawn to take care of before so Shane was really excited to buy his first weed wacker.

The Cake:

I definitely need help with my cake decorating skillz. It's the thought that counts right?!?!

Birthday dinner to "Gyoza Heaven":

Those were 5 extremely large gyoza's (water dumplings). They were almost as big as my fist. I think we prefer smaller ones, but these were still good. Any homemade gyoza is fabulous!

Happy Birthday Dad!

We are glad we could celebrate your birthday for 2+ weeks :)

We LOVE you!

A little side note:

I was telling my mother-in-law how I mended Shane's blanket for his birthday and how I steal it every time Shane leaves town. I love that blanket. It's the perfect weight, temperature, etc. Anyways, during our conversation she mentioned that she had made 2 of those blankets and that the other one was not being used....WHAT??? I was so excited!!!

A few weeks later I received THIS in the mail...

My new blanket :)

When Shane got home the day I got the blanket in the mail Jayden said "hey dad, mom doesn't have to steal your blanket anymore because she has her own just like it now."

THANKS SO MUCH Suzy...I love the blanket!!!