This spring we had a great time with visits from family. Chris came in early March and Sonja and Charles came in late March. Megan, Avniel and family came at the beginning of April.
This is a post combining pictures from all of the fun visits.
Except for Kimball's TERRIBLE allergies, Spring 2024 was awesome!
We had dinner at Aunt Kieko's house and made okonomiyaki. We also visited Kamakura (Hase-dera) and Enoshima.
When Charles and Sonja came we drove through the Aqualine to Chiba. We had a great lunch and then took the Nokogiriyama Ropeway. Saw some huge buddhas and climbed out to the edge of a cliff. We also made a stop at Kururi Castle.
We happened upon a festival at a park near the Edo Tokyo Open Air Museum. Very interesting masks on the dancers!
We spent a rainy day in Kamakura but saw some very beautiful temples - Meigetsu-in, Kencho-ji, Tsurugaoka Hachimanju, the Diabutsu and Hase-dera. Lots of steps that day!
We also had a nice dinner with Aunt Kieko, Sumiko, Chizu, Miki, Ken, and Jun (and the Guisingers joined us too)
When the Naidus arrived they went straight to their hotel near Tokyo Disneyland. We met them the next day in Shinjuku and went to visit the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden. The cherry blossoms were in full bloom!
We took a picnic and ate on the ground (I say ground because it's really not that grassy in most places). You just spread your picnic cloth out on the ground. EVERYONE does it!
We also visited the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building and took in the views. They have a small gift shop and snack bar at the top and Amari and Aliyah wanted to try some ice cream. After the first bite Amari said, "It's got popcorn inside!" We were so confused about what she meant until someone else took a bite. It was the weirdest ice cream I've ever tried - basically frozen butter! The first bite is a surprise, the second bite is interesting, and the third bite is no good! I love how expressive Amari's face is about it.
I stayed with Naidus and went back to the hotel. Grampy went home to sleep in his own bed haha! The next day we were up bright and early to get to Tokyo Disneyland. We arrived at the entrance about an hour early and there was still a huge line in front of us!
Aliyah was just feelin the music - very excited to go in!
Favorite rides were the Merry Go Round, Baymax!, the Teacups, Small World, Beauty and the Beast, and Mickey's rollercoaster (I don't have pics of all of these, but we went on them all!)
Avniel bought Amari a yummy treat, but he got a different treat. After trying Amari's he made the comment that it was really good. Amari, looking at him over her shoulder as she walks away with it says, "Well, shoulda got one!"
The next day we went to Disney Sea. Sadly the day began with a bit of a typhoon. It was pretty dang bad! Umbrellas would not work once the wind started (it looked hilarious to see so many inside out umbrellas). While I was meeting Grampy at the front gate, the rest of the gang discovered the Mermaid Lagoon. It is a giant INDOOR attraction. Megan texted me, "rides, food, bathrooms, we can stay here all day!"
Amari and I discovered a very cool cave in the "underwater" playground. You hold a pose next to the wall and then every few seconds a flash goes off and when you step away your shadow still shows up!
Eventually we headed back out to try other rides. It was still raining, but on the upside the crowds were way down! The rain finally stopped, and there were NO wait times for the kid rides. Amari and Aliyah LOVED Scuttle's Scooters and I think we rode it 5 times! Other favorites were 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Aladdin's Magic Carpet, Flounder's Flying Fish Coaster, and Aquatopia.
Our next big adventure was a drive to see Mt. Fuji. We took the ropeway at Kawaguchiko and had an awesome view of the lake and of Mt. Fuji!
We also went to Chureito Pagoda. Even though it was a weekday, there were SO MANY PEOPLE there. Everyone waits patiently in a line to take "the shot" (Fuji, cherry blossoms, pagoda). We didn't want to wait so I assumed none of us got that picture. But then I saw that Avniel had managed to climb up behind the line (in an off limits area!) and he took it!
Thursday we visited a park that is only a few minutes outside the gate of Camp Zama - Sagamihara Asamizo Park. They have pony rides, a small zoo, and guinea pigs and goats the kids can fee. There is also a great obstacle course (it's too big for the girls, but they did it anyway!)
For dinner that night we invited Chad Guisinger to go with us to eat Okonomiyaki. It was soooo good! We actually had a miscommunication and ordered a couple of extra servings (??? not sure what happened there - Chad speaks Japanese!). We were very confused at the time, but we just cooked it all up!
Friday was Aliyah's 3rd Birthday. We had a very fun morning opening gifts and trying on her White Spiderman outfit! Our activity for the day was a visit to Miyagase Dam in the mountains near Camp Zama. We were able to be there in time to watch the dam release water, which was pretty awesome. Then we had lunch at the restaurant on the top of the dam. They serve the kids "Dam Release Curry" with a rice dam. You can pull out the sausage and let the curry flow through the rice haha.
After lunch, Megan, Anviel and Shaneel were exhausted and they decided to take naps in the van. So for part of the afternoon, I took the girls to an area of the park called the Adventure Forest. Being a partly rainy weekday, we had the whole place to ourselves.
Made it home in time to have Birthday Cake with Grampy!
Saturday we spent the day at Showa Park. They have a huge bike rental shop with tons of bikes of all different sizes and styles. We planned to have Amari rent a bike but when she tried some of the bikes out, none of them fit well. Plus, the park is so big that we feared she would wear herself out trying to keep up with us. We ended up getting bikes with child seats for Kimball, Avniel and Megan - one for each kid to ride in. Shaneel was so comfy in his seat he fell asleep several times.
Sunday dinner before Naidus headed out - well, we thought they were heading out, until they learned their flight was canceled. They decided to go to the airport and try to get on a different airline, but they didn't make it on. Oh well, one more night in Tokyo!
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