It's a Small World

We took our boy to meet The Mouse!  For months, Price had been asking to fly to Japan and go to Tokyo Disney.  Don and I were both surprised with how patiently he waited once we arrived in Japan  (4 whole days) before we actually made it there.  Although, he asked daily if we were going.  I think riding the subway every day helped divert his attention a little.

Once he realized we were there, his face lit up with such a huge smile!  He ran ahead of us, not knowing we'd have to stand in line for almost an hour to buy our tickets.

Can't Wait to Get In!!

The thing about Tokyo Disney, it's almost exactly like the Magic Kingdom in Orlando.  The same lands, the same rides, the same crowds, pretty close to the same expenses.  The same Magic, just most of it is in Japanese, and some of the food is a little strange.  Like the pizza with corn and onions or the meat steak which was really a thick slice of grilled bologna.

Price enjoyed the chicken nuggets, and since he's a ketchup fanatic, he was intrigued with the ketchup packet.

Both boys were super happy about the popcorn obsession at the park.  In fact, Don remarked after seeing all of the people wearing buckets of popcorn around their necks like feed bags, "I think I was born in the wrong country, I really feel like I am supposed to be Japanese."

Because two of the three of us totally dig popcorn, we got ourselves a bucket of caramel corn. Our other choices were chocolate, curry or buttered soy sauce.

Our first line of the day

The park was very crowded and all the fast pass tickets were distributed before 1:00, so we were only able to use the fast pass once.  But it was worth it and many of the lines for the more juvenile rides in Fantasyland were fairly short only 30 minutes or so.  

We were at the park for almost 11 hours and got to ride:  

 Dumbo!,

The Tea Cups,

Haunted Mansion, It's a Small World (twice, it was Price's favorite and both of my parents said it was retribution for it being my favorite when I was his age and insisting on riding it 20 times in a row), the Race Cars, Jungle Cruise, and the Train (of course, we can't go anywhere and not ride a train).  Our boy is fearless, he liked every ride he rode.  His least favorite was probably Haunted Mansion, which was narrated entirely in Japanese, so Don and I just made up non-scary stuff to tell him.

We also got to watch both parades.  This face,

Was a result of this float,

Although he didn't get up close and personal with too many of the characters (we couldn't find them, but we weren't looking too hard) he did get to hug Goofy and Pinocchio tried to take him with him to be in the parade.

And because he saw Mickey and Minnie and Donald and all the others during the parade he felt like he saw them.

We had a good day!  And we left with one tired little boy.

If you get the chance to go, prices are similar to the US.  It seemed more crowded to me than the Magic Kingdom even though we were there on a weekday.  There is another park, Disney Sea, that we did not visit.  I was pleasantly surprised that Price would have been able to ride on almost every ride, there were only a few rides with an age limit or height limit.  If you want to ride the super popular rides, go early and get fast passes. We missed out on riding Buzz Light Year, although Price thought these guys were cool. 

I love the pic on the far right, Price posed as if he were an alien for a group of girls.

All of the rides we went on were narrated in Japanese (except It's a Small World), but it didn't affect our enjoyment of the rides- fun is universal.  we didn't watch any shows because people line up for them far in advance and we didn't want to spend our time in line for a show we wouldn't understand.  Both of the parades were excellent!  We left before the fireworks started, but got to see part of the show from the train station.

Post EQ Info-

The area around Tokyo Disney was significantly damaged (apparently the parks were built on a landfill so a lot of water came up as did some liquid earth).  However, the structures inside the parks were reportedly ok.  The parks have not reopened yet and no opening date has been released.  This is probably more about the services that are required to run the parks and transportation than anything else.   Also, I have seen several YouTube videos of the eq at Tokyo Disney and although most of the rides and shows are in Japanese, the emergency alert system is in English.  That wasn't something I even thought about while we were there...

On the Loosa in Asakusa

Today was much different than yesterday.  Mainly in the fact that we were greeted by sunshine and not snow.  And also because we knew how to get on and off the metro without making too many people mad.

It was somewhat a typical day as I made a major airhead move and left the SD card for the camera in my computer.  Which was back at the hotel.  An hour train ride away.  But we figured in one of the most technologically savvy cities in the world, it would be no problem finding a store that sold memory cards.  Of course, we forgot that we were in one of the oldest parts of the city, dedicated to the ancient times.  But after walking around looking lost and doing our best (via sign language and the always effective point and look method) to ask people where to find camera memory, we finally were able to get busy documenting our day.  I would also like to go on the record and state that my husband didn't even lose his cool with me when he realized what I had done... 

I was really excited about today's destination: Asakusa.  All the guide books I read somehow made me think we'd be visiting a quiet, small, off the beaten path type of place.  With narrow streets lined with ancient shops.  Well, there were narrow streets.

Although I knew there was a major temple, the Senso-ji, somehow it didn't click in my head that thinking this place was off the beaten path would be like thinking people would only know about the Vatican if they read it in a guide book.  The whole area was quite charming and felt more like what I thought Tokyo would feel like- crowded, bustling, old, imperfect- than what we experienced yesterday.  It was very interesting, a little touristy, but enjoyable.  

The Kaminarimon.  Large gate that is the entrance to the temple.

Nakamise-dori, the shopping lane leading up to the temple (think Chamorro Village or French Market type wares)

Before entering the temple, many worshipers drink water from the fountain pictured  above and also inhale the smoke and rub it over their bodies from the fire pictured below.  They believe this will heal what ails them and make them wiser.

The inside of the temple

The temple grounds were quite lovely.  Price enjoyed chasing the pigeons.  Everyone enjoyed watching him.  In fact, he is on several videos, camera phones, etc.  Don and I are pretty sure we're going to see him on a commercial here pretty soon.

He even tried to make a new friend, but she and her family were in a hurry to be somewhere.

Pretty sure this will be my favorite picture from the trip.

There are some neat things to see around the Nakamise-dori.  We enjoyed wandering up the narrow streets, getting away from the tourists.  

We saw noodles being made here.  I wish I could tell you we ate here, but to avoid a colossal meltdown a few hours after this picture was taken, we ate at Mc Donalds.  Foodies, I will accept your shuns.

Bicycles in front of a grocery store.

A button store.

After spending a good portion of the day in Asakusa, we decided to head back to the hotel via a water bus.  It was a really relaxing, 35 minute ride through the city by ferry.  

The ferry deposited us at Hamarikyu Gardens, which was once property owned by a Shogun family.  Several of the teahouses in the gardens date back to the family.  It was a nice walk and gave Price a chance to run off some energy before we got back on a train.  This field helps you imagine how beautiful the rest of the gardens must be in the spring when things are in bloom.

Bride & Groom

Ancient Tea House with modern Tokyo in the background

We probably walked 400 miles today, our legs are T-I-R-E-D!!  But we enjoyed just about every step.  And are off to bed because tomorrow we take the little man to the land of the mouse.  Yes, we're going to Tokyo Disney!

ps-  don't have any good pottys today, but I can tell you I had my first experience with a psuedo open air squatty potty.  If you are wondering what that is, well it's a public toilet that is open (literally) to the public. Like when I saw WAAAYYY more of an elderly woman than I EVER would want to, my initial reaction was, "poor thing, the door must have opened on her."  Until I tried to go into the "regular" stall (I originally was going to use the handicap one b/c I was going to try and change Price) and walked in on someone else.   Then I realized they were squatting.  And I was outta there.  Thankful that we stuck with super absorbent diapers for Price. (And both of these "rooms" were on a main walkway by the temple, and you didn't have to go into a main room and then pick a squatty potty. It was like two outside gas station restrooms without doors, just a little half wall).

pps- sorry about the title of this post, it's late, I'm tired.

Yeah, So I Probably Wouldn't Survive the Amazing Race

Today was a good day.  And even though I'm about 100% sure I wouldn't make it on the Amazing Race (I DEFINITELY wouldn't win it).  It started a little crazy as Mother Nature seems to have forgotten that we are visiting from Guam.  Where we wear flip-flops and shorts. Everyday.  Coming up with clothes that would keep us warm in 50 degree weather was a bit of a challenge, it's not like you can buy a ton of winter outfits on a tropical island.  But thanks to my mom and some amazing sales at the BX, we made it here with several long shirts, pants, socks, a jacket or two.  And now, thanks to the snow that we got to experience today, we also now own gloves, hats and scarves.  That we probably won't need again for at least 2 years.

Yes Mother, he had gloves.  At first he wore sock mittens until we found a pair of gloves for him.

We were prepared to brave the snow and were positive that ALL the museums we wanted to go to were closed, because that's what they do.  They close on Monday.  Which was PERFECT since we wanted to be outside as much as possible.  And brave the snow we did because we had to find a 7-11 to get money.  (Note to anyone with a MasterCard issued debit card, 7-11 is one of the only places that will accept MC in the ATM.)  And then continued our trek to the Metro station.

This is where going to a foreign country with someone who has been there before you would be helpful.  We knew what train to take and which stop to get off on, but knew nothing about buying tickets, or the amount of stairs required (with no elevator available) or how rushed people are to get into and out of the 4 turnstiles and how mad they get when you block two of them trying to get the kid out of the stroller and the stroller folded.  It was intimidating!  But we did it (although while trying to get on the subway and get out of the station, I knew I could never be successful at the Amazing Race), and we didn't even get cross with each other!!  We successfully found our way to Don's mecca- the Sony Store which just happens to be located in the heart of Tokyo's shopping district- Ginza.

Looking down the main thoroughfare in Ginza.  Shops include: Burberry, Van Cleef & Arpel, Ferragamo, Tiffany, Yamaha,  Gucci, Prada.  All my usuals.

I happily put up with an hour plus of browsing 6 (yes, that is a SIX) floors of Sony technology. Since there would be a trade off of window shopping and going into at least one of Tokyo's famous department stores.  But, after visiting the Sony Store, I would have happily gone there without the lure of all the other stores nearby.  It was free, it was full of hands-on computers, cameras, TVs and video games to try out.  Price was even entertained most of the time.  He especially loved the high-def touch screen computer.  He also loved flirting with all the showroom hostesses.  He is becoming quite fluent in saying ,"konichiwa" (hello), "sayanora" (good-bye), and "arrigato" (thank you).  He also tells everyone, "My name Pricey. I am 2."

After the Sony Store, we were hungry.  So we headed over to the Mitsukoshi Department Store (yes, for all you Disney fans, this is the same store that is in Japan at Epcot).  Oh my goodness!!!  This store was incredible. Beautiful, luxurious and EXPENSIVE!  Had it just been me, I would have spent hours wandering on each of the twelve, yes twelve, floors.  I had read that most department stores have to-go food in the basement and sit down restaurants on the upper floors.  We asked at our hotel and it was recommended we eat at one of the upstairs restaurants.  Of course, we ignored that and headed downstairs to see what was available.  And I'm so glad we didn't take the advice.  The selection was amazing, picture a football field worth of Central Market Cafes on the Run.  From very traditional Japanese food (picture the eight legs of an octopus with a hard boiled egg on top) to French pastry.  Price fell asleep as Don and I walked and gawked at all the choices (and again, I didn't take pictures), so we were able to look for over an hour before finally settling on some type of noodle, gyoza dumplings (potstickers) and the most amazing chocolate croissant I've ever eaten.  All the food was presented beautifully.  It was a feast for the eyes and a literal feast for the palate.

P enjoying our cold noodles.  I have no idea what kind they were.

After lunch, we went to the Apple Store and then took Price to Hakuhinkan Toy Park.  It's a neat toy store spread out over four floors.  It's very interesting to see how children every where like the same types of toys (and also that world wide marketing is effective).   He was instantly drawn to this toy.

It's a pig/dog looking creature that kind of rolls around on what we have termed "bumpy wheels."  They "like" to go around objects.  He was fascinated and watched this thing for many, many minutes.  So, that was his Japanese toy souvenir.  We are now the proud owners of "Pal, the Special Thing" (my kid has some creative naming skills doesn't he?)  The only way we were able to get him to quit playing with Pal was to have Price put Pal to bed.  He also got to play with trains, and race cars.

He started out racing a Mustang, but once he saw a Mario Kart, that was his car of choice.  There were two much older gentleman racing as well and they had fun slowing their cars to let "Mario" pass them and then speeding up to pass "Mario."  I couldn't tell who was having more fun.

After the toy store we headed back to the Metro station and navigated ourselves (and the stroller) much better!  My highlight of the day- the department store and looking at all the food.  I think Price's favorite thing was the subway and pretty sure Don's was Sony, but he really liked looking at all the food too.

Bathroom of the day- there's a tie!  Both at Mitsukoshi. 

1.  They have infant changing rooms (no, we are not agressively working on potty training while here in Japan.  I don't want to traumatize Price into  NEVER going to the bathroom).  It's an entire room, with 6 full size tables, each one with paper to put down, an adjoining table to place your bag AND diaper disposal systems that make Diaper Genies seem antiquated.  Oh, and they are clean.

2.   The ladies' room.  It was spacious, easy to get into and out of.  The toilet was self-flushing.  But my favorite thing....  The baby seat.  It was a booster seat attached to the wall.  I was able to plop Price in it and use the restroom without worrying about him pressing buttons and spraying me with warm bidet water.

Well, I'm off to bed!  Not sure what we're doing tomorrow, but I'm sure it will be an adventure.

Going to Japan

Dear Tokyo,

I may be falling a little in love with you.  I wasn't sure that I was even going to like you when we stepped of the plane and were greeted by a swarm of mask wearing, hazmat suit clad, body scanning people. Next, when I got chastised by an unhappy immigration person because I couldn't seem to get fingerprinted correctly (You know it's bad when they actually have to STAND up and touch you to make it work.  Odds that my passport have been flagged- 100%), I wasn't feeling the love.  And then after that, I got trapped in the first bathroom that I attempted to use.  Don't get me wrong, I've been doing my research, I knew I was going to get to experience some funky pottys, but I wasn't ready to do it so soon.  First, I had to push a button just to open the vacuum sealed room, and then push another button to reseal the room.  When I walked in there were three toilets(?).  Well, there was a toilet, a bidet and something that looked like a dog washing station, but I'm pretty sure that wasn't what it was for.  Of course, I used the western-style toilet and all was well and good, until I couldn't find where to flush.  I thought it was maybe an automatic thing- nope.  All I could think about was everything I'd read about cleanliness, especially in the bathroom is so important to the Japanese culture.  And then I felt like I was going to be stuck in my space capsule of a bathroom forever out of shear embarrassment of being "that American" who couldn't even flush the toilet.  So, before I got kicked out of the country by the etiquette police, I decided to go for broke and push the buttons on the wall until I got a flush.  Luckily, the big silver button, which was nowhere near the toilet, was the magic button!  And I was able to escape the bathroom with my dignity (but not my humility) intact. So, my dear Tokyo, I was concerned that if the toilets were any indication of future flummoxing, we were not going to get along.

Once got on our shuttle to a hotel.   And as we drove into and through Tokyo, I began to feel intrigued.  Everything is so different here, especially compared to Guam.  It's clean, but it's not beautiful, but you can tell how important beauty is.  Because no, you may not look out of your window and think this is beautiful, as you walk around you see beauty every where.

We FINALLY got to our hotel and were very fortunate to attend brunch, even though we didn't have reservations.  It was nice not to go hunt down food in a foreign land so soon after arriving.  After brunch we attempted to take naps, and although all three of us were exhausted, only one of us (guess who? and it wasn't the 2 year old) was able to sleep.  So we decided to take a short walk around the hotel.  But we were so absorbed by what we saw, we walked for more than two hours.

It was on this walk that I saw the attention to beauty.  There isn't a lot of room to spread out here, but the space seems to be used efficiently.  In the neighborhood we're staying in there are small restaurants, patisseries and florists every few feet.  They are small, but beautiful in how a little can go a long way (I can't describe it, but I'll try to get brave and take pictures, it's just very clean in form and simple in presentation yet warm).  We haven't seen a restaurant yet that I would be scared to eat in, ok, I would but because I wouldn't know what I was eating, but not because they look dirty or scream out food poisoning.  And then in the midst of all these tiny modern, urban jewels there are ancient shrines, in the shadows of skyscrapers.

We're pretty sure this isn't actually a shrine, but someone's home and it may not be old.  But it is surrounded by skyscrapers.

And thank God for the parks.  We fell in love (other than with the construction, it appears that the waterways are being drained and cleaned) with this one at the Tokyo Library.  I loved it for it's charm, but mostly because it gave the little man a chance to run and climb and be a boy and burn off all the energy he had stored up after being confined all day in various modes of transport.

Tokyo, I'm pretty impressed with you so far.  You're making me want to live in a city again.  I'm excited to get to know you better over the next few days.

p.s.  I couldn't think of a good title for this post, but Price has been saying we're "going to Japan" for several months.  I'm not sure what he'll say when we're back home...

All Aboard the Potty Train

Shortly after finishing breakfast this morning, Price walked over to me, took off his diaper and said, "No diaper, I want underwear."   After picking my jaw up off the floor (because just yesterday I was telling a friend that Price was no where near ready to potty train), and being impressed with my son's ability to express his desires both verbally and through action, it hit me that I really might have to potty train my kid. Before he goes to college.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a fan of the diaper.  I don't like how much they cost, I am bothered by all the space they take up in landfills (I swear if we have more children, I'm doing cloth diapers), and the little absorption gel thingys creep me out.  Because I want to see exactly how much the gel thingys can actually absorb  am cheap and eco-conscious, I tend to be a little lax in my diaper changing frequency.  Not poopy diapers mind you, those come off as soon as the smell arrives, but the wet diapers- well, he's not a girl, they don't bother him and they hold a lot.  So, most days he often goes several (and by several there have been days when several could mean as many as four) hours without a new diaper.

Until today.  Today when he decides, that since he is now sleeping in a big boy bed, he must also wear big boy underwear.  Today, when I had a meeting and several errands to run.  Today,when we are just a few days away from leaving for a long awaited vacation to a foreign country where I may have some difficulty asking where a restroom is since I don't speak the language.

Thankfully (I think this is a good thing, except when she tells me stuff I know, but don't want to do), my mom is a potty training master.  She could (and should) write a book on the subject.  And thankfully she was home every time I called her today to ask if it was normal for my child to pee everywhere, except in the potty, every 20 minutes or so.  And she assured me that it was and I just need to, for the next few (overly scheduled) hundred million days or so, take him to the bathroom often and reward him whenever he tinkles on the potty.  Hence, the jar of M&M's on the back of the toilet.  Yes, candy in our bathroom-  I find it oddly disturbing and cheerful at the same time.

Once we finally got home after he made a giant puddle in the middle of the BX food court at lunch and I had changed him into his fifth pair of (hastily purchased because the three existing pair we already owned obviously weren't going to cut it) new underpants and fourth outfit and second pair of shoes and cleaned up tinkle in my kitchen, living room (yes, Don if you're reading this he pee'd on the couch-but not on the cushions because he took those off so he could jump on the springs down on to the cushions), laundry room and all around his potty chair for all the poor aiming- we actually made it 3 whole hours without an accident!  Thanks in large part to the kitchen timer going off every 15 minutes to remind me it was time to go tinkle.

I never thought I'd miss changing a diaper, and we haven't even started working on pooping yet!

A Mother's Day

Friday I had a list a mile long of things I needed to get done.  I needed to run several errands, do some stuff around the house.  I had an agenda, I was going cross these items off my list and head into the weekend with a clean house, a stocked pantry and diaper drawer and no need to do anything I didn't want to do.  Then I woke up.

And, the day got away from me.  But not in it's usual way- there was nothing on the dvr containing a certain high school glee club doing a mash up that had to be watched, there was no endless hitting of refresh to see the latest Facebook updates, no friends who had dropped in.  Nope, Friday it was all about this...

Life has been busy lately.  I know, I live on a little island where there isn't much to do and I only have one kid and I don't work outside of the home, but it just seems like we are always doing something (which is fine and a big preference to being at home all day, never leaving and doing nothing).  But even when we're home thanks to my dynamic time management skills it doesn't always seem like I spend good, quality time with Price.  I encourage him to play in his room while I clean the kitchen, or I let him watch 30 more minutes of TV so I can empty the fridge of the leftovers from Thanksgiving Christmas.  But we don't always do stuff together, and I sometimes (a lot) feel guilty that playing trains for hours on end isn't my favorite thing in the world and he ends up getting my very divided attention (perhaps this is good life training for him?).

Friday, when I was roused from bed before Reveille by my chirpy alarm clock saying repeatedly, "Hi Mommy!  Mommy hi! Hello!  Mommy pick you up."  I dragged myself out of bed and thought, "Well, at least we'll be able to get everything done today."  Then 7:00 rolled around and I had already put my two year old in time out once, and I thought, "This is going to be a very long day."  And I hadn't even figured out what to have for breakfast, but knew it couldn't be cereal, because that's what the kid got for dinner the night before.

So, being of sound mind and I body, I thought biscuits would be good and P wanted to help me make them and I thought that would be fun.  Suddenly, it was after 9:00 and the biscuits were just coming out of the oven.  Where had the previous two hours gone??

We sat down for biscuits and I had some legitimate stuff to do on the computer and Price wanted to color.  Great, I can do my work while he makes art work.  When I looked up from what I was doing, I realized he wasn't coloring, he was peeling all of the paper off his Crayons.

Notice that getting dressed was not something that occurred in the mysterious two hour period

When I saw that mess, it reminded me of a craft we used to do all the time when I was young and had recently seen on a blog where they bumped it up a notch- melting broken Crayons together to form large multi-colored colors.  And I thought (once again, my AMAZING sense of timing rears its ugly head), that won't take long.

So we commenced to de-paper some crappy Crayons and break them into small pieces.  Of course, once the objective was to actually remove the paper, it was no longer fun and became my job. But it was fun for both of us to break the Crayons and place them in the molds (thank you $1 aisle at Target, and thanks to my mother-in-law for spotting them and sending them to us Target deprived folks).  It was a good counting and color identifying activity for Price.

Once all the molds were filled,

We placed them on a cookie sheet and put them in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes.  We (I) talked about how heat can changes things from hard to soft, and I let him peek in the oven about half way through so he could see the changes.

When all of the Crayons were melted,

We put them into the fridge for about an hour, and I explained how sometimes cold can change liquids to solids, but the whole concept was a little advanced.

And finally, we got this-

Multi-colored heart shaped colors, that work.  I forgot to take a picture of the art that ensued from drawing with a heart.  But somehow another hour and a half disappeared.  And then it was lunch time and then it was nap time and I just gave up on getting anything that I needed to get done done.

And then it hit me, that I actually did accomplish what I needed to.  I spent most of the day with Price, listening to him, talking with him, playing with him.  We hadn't had a day like that in so long and it was needed, but it's hard when to the rest of the world those accomplishments aren't tangible.  It wasn't on my to do list to spend quality time with my kiddo and maybe it should have been, so I could have checked it off and not felt like I was being unproductive.

And Then It Was 2011....

It's amazing how a stomach bug sweeping through the house, followed by a birthday, then Christmas, then recovering from all three followed by one of the best New Year's Eves (is that grammatically correct?) our little family has celebrated in a long time (actually the first one our family has actually celebrated since becoming a family of three) can get a girl off track and keep her away from blogging.  Well, there's all of that coupled with the fact that since I spent so many years in college, that my brain automatically goes on semester break this time of year. I promise to be better- I really do.

Notice I didn't say resolve.  I don't actually believe in New Year's resolutions.  The year is new for only so long, (and if the past week is any indication, the rest of it is going to speed by) so I don't quite get the whole I'm going to do this while the year is new and then more than likely let it just fall by the wayside.  That's why I save up all my self-bettering for Lent.  But that's another topic for another day.

2010 was a pretty good year.  I was almost sad to see it go, but I'm excited about what 2011 holds (Do you say twenty-eleven or do you say two thousand-eleven?  I don't know which is right, which do you prefer?).

Hope your New Year is off to a wonderful start!