Ben and Violet visit just in time! Oct 2025

 We weren't sure Ben and Violet and family would come to Japan while we were living here, but then just in the nick of time them made it - October 2025.

It's definitely not easy to travel around the world with 2 toddlers, but they were all champs and we had such a fun time. 

Arrival


October 23 - Pokemon Center, Sensoji, and Skytree





October 24 - Ghibli Museum and nearby park/zoo (jetlag is real, man)






October 25- TeamLab Planets and Odaiba











October 26 - Shinkansen trip to Osaka and stay at Air BnB (love Leo's train riding style)








October 27 - Playland and Kyoto (We split up - the kids had enough of trains and needed a break,so grandma and grandpa took them to play at an amazing playland while mom and dad went to Kyoto for the day)

















October 28 - Osaka Aquarium






October 29 - Osaka Castle and travel back to Camp Zama We had a nice view of Mt Fuji on the way home. (First pic is just keepin in real)










October 30 - Disney Sea (Erina was super sick so grandpa stayed home with her)


 








October 31 - Asamizo Park and Halloween fun. We kept it low key and took Leo to a nearby park where he could ride a pony and pet guinea pigs and climb to his hearts content. Sadly it rained that evening but we still managed to trick or treat!















November 1 - Mt Takoa  Now it was Violet's turn to be sick, so she and Erina stayed home. We missed them. We took the cable car up the mountain and the chairlift down. We saw the monkeys and a special monkey show (kind of made me sad in a way) Best of all, Mt Fuji was visible at the top!












November 2 - Family brunch with the Takases and Shijuko at the New Sanno Hotel (separate post) and the Owl Cafe. Leo LOVED the Owl Cafe.















November 3 - Showa Kinen Park Since everyone was feeling better, Violet wanted to get a nice family pic so we headed to Showa Kinen Park. It was a perfect fall day - crisp, with sunshine (most of the time -we got rained on just a bit). The leaves had started to change. We rented bikes and rode all around the park and had a picnic lunch. I LOVE this park, its just beautiful in every season, but fall is the BEST.






Leo is the kid laying flat on his stomach in the middle of the picture. It was mayhem out there!


Erina is the little one in the pink coat.




November 4 - Last day:( We had a pancake breakfast and one last sushi lunch before heading to the airport. Also included here are some pictures from time at "Grammy's house"













Goodbye, so glad you made it to Japan!


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