Tokyo Disneyland

On the second day of our trip, we went to Tokyo Disney.


Another view from our hotel balcony. As you can see, the sun was not shining. We had about a 5 minute drizzle, but that was it. For us fair-skinned, red-headed freckle people, it was a nice overcast day. No sunburn. The Ferris wheel in the background is the tallest in Japan, so we were told.



Closer view of the Ferris wheel.







The family on the bus from the hotel, to the Disney monorail. It was only a few minute walk to the monorail, but we decided to wimp out and take the bus. We figured that the kids would be on their feet all day so no need to make them walk further.



Just outside the entrance, they had characters from movies. We ran into the Robin Hood characters. Robin Hood is my favorite Disney move so I was happy to get my picture taken with them.




As you can see, they have Disneyland dressed up for Halloween. It was really interesting to see all of the Halloween decorations.










As soon as you walk through the entrance, you can see Cinderella's castle. This is similar to the volcano that you can see at Disney Sea.





Denny and Savannah receive allowance every week. They did a great job saving up for Disney. Denny bought Mickey ears and Savannah bought Pooh ear barrettes.








The castle just inside Disney.












And another a little closer.











We rode the Snow White ride. We had a hard time keeping Savannah from reading this sign. Luckily, Denny cannot read yet or we may not have made it on this one.









Savannah with her Pooh ears.











Picture of Denny that was taken some time during the day. I can't remember when but I had to put it on the blog based on the look on his face.












Part of the Halloween parade. I have a clip of the parade below as well.







They have a Roger Rabbit Toontown as well. It looks like Roger made his way 'through' this door at some point.











Savannah and Elin sitting near the 'Dip'. Dip is used to melt cartoon characters. The villain in the movie used it.







For those would-be villains out there, here is the recipe. If you get caught, don't tell them I gave it to you.







Savannah trying to pick up the Acme dumbbell in Toontown.







We ate lunch at the Queen of Hearts restaurant. They had roasted chicken which sounded like it was one of the better choices in the entire park. We were glad we chose this place because the food was actually pretty good.

This is Denny and Savannah with the 5 of hearts.









Denny with the Ace of hearts.











This is the train and paddle boat at the Tom Sawyer area.







We had to cross a barrel bridge. I thought this was a good idea and it looked interesting so I took a picture. The bridge moved a LOT as you walked over it. The barrels moved up and down with your weight.











The family under what we think are Casper's uncles. Again, a good example of how decorated the park was. They really do a good job. We heard that they do the same thing for Christmas. Savannah has already planted seeds about going back then...








This is a pagoda in Adventureland.












The man behind us offered to take our picture on the train. He noticed me trying to get a shot of the rest of the family. He proceeded to fall asleep just after the train left the station. It was a relaxing ride. Most of the rides are literally between 1 and 2 minutes. The train was the longest ride that we took that day.



Savannah in front of the castle. It was lit up, but it was difficult to get her lit up and still get the castle light correct in the background.










View of the castle lit up. We sat in the spot for a solid hour waiting on the light parade. If you didn't get a seat early, you were about 20 rows back. We were an hour early and still about 5 people deep.










The family walking into the park.




Part of the Halloween parade. Turn your speakers down... it was loud. It seemed like everywhere we went there was noise and people. It was a little stressful.




It's a small world fans, eat your hearts out. The song is a mixture of Japanese and English, but it is hard to hear.



This is the 'Raft' in the Tom Sawyer. I thought it was interesting that they had outboard motors on them... We stood in line for about 15 minutes to get on the raft... that literally took you across the river. We thought it was a ride, but it was just a ferry.





The family coming down the stairs from the Swiss Family Robinson tree house. Elin told the kids that they were a real family. I disagreed thinking it was a story or a book. We agreed to disagree. She looked it up later (just couldn't let it go, could she?) and now she thinks it might have been a book after all.




Pete's Dragon in the Light show. They had upwards of 20 of these floats. I want to say that they were claiming over a million lights for the whole parade.




Another float in the parade.



This is out of order, but you can see how you have to weave through the crowds. If you listen, Savannah looks for me at one point thinking I was lost. This went on all day long. She is a worrier.

General Pictures - Before and after Disney

We had the trip to Disney planned for about a month so we knew we had to watch what we spent through the month so we have not done a whole lot. We have had a few weekends spent at home. Here are a few pictures from the last few weeks.

Before we went to Disney, we had friends come over for dinner. One of their daughters is Savannah's age so it is nice for her to have them over. Denny really likes their middle daughter so they all get along well. We went to 'Big Meat' butcher shop to see what they had. There is no breakfast sausage or bacon as we know it back in the US. We were hoping to find both of these, but no luck. We saw the frog on this statue and Savannah snapped a picture of it. You can see the Red Lobster in the background. This is the only one I am aware of.

Yes, you read correctly... the name of the shop is 'Big Meat'. It almost made it to the 'PIC of the Week' section, but I added it here.










While we waited for the Padgets to get to the house, we all hung out near the grill. Japanese people do not grill at home much. Usually, they go to a park to cook out. I am sure they think we are weird because we grill a lot. It is a little difficult because we don't have a gas grill, but we try to cook out as much as possible.







The family by the grill. That's my sweet ride behind Elin. People at work think I am crazy for riding to work every day. Only having one car is a good incentive to ride my bicycle. I also have an option to ride the Honda bus or walk (which I have done a few times).








Elin warming up by the fire. We noticed a big change in temperature as we got into October. I am sure you all at home are also feeling the change in seasons. The house is starting to stay cool to cold all day. We have held out so far and have not used the heat yet.








After we left Disney, we decided to go to Costco. It was supposedly close to Disney. We tried to punch the phone number
into the navigation system with no luck. We then tried to enter Costco in Japanese. It came up with 4 or 5 hits - in Japanese which we could not read except for 'Tokyo". This is a picture as we were coming into the city.

We just had an earthquake as I was writing this... Not too bad, but it shook the house pretty good. The kids are having quiet time... no word from them yet so I am not sure they noticed.

Another picture on the bridge.








We never did find a Costo in Tokyo... SO we called Elin's sensei for help and she got us back to the one close to Disney. So we wasted about 2 hours in the car, but we got to see some sights.









Picture of mountains on our way back from Costco.







You can see Mt. Fuji in the background of this one if you look closely.









We bought pretzels at Costo. I brought my vacuum sealer to Japan so I made this large bag into smaller bags so they would stay fresh. We thought it was funny that the bag was just about as tall as Denny. We thought we could punch a few holes in it and make a Halloween costume out of it.








Elin asked her friend Fukami san to help her get some pumpkins for the party we are throwing this Friday - 10 adults, 14 kids. She got us these rather large pumpkins - for free. I think the farmer was happy to get rid of them since they are probably worthless to him. We are hoping to set up stations on our street for the kids to go trick-or-treating. Trick-or-treating is not so popular in Japan so we are going to try to spread some American culture around. Hopefully, the weather cooperates.


Picture of our neighbor's flowers. I don't know if I have ever seen these before. Thought I would share it with you.







Denny is learning to jump rope. He puts a lot of heart into it, but he just doesn't have it yet.




Savannah is getting better each day. She learned the 'double hop' and backwards jump roping this week.




There is an air show soon. They have been practicing on Sunday mornings. I heard them fly by and took a quick movie of them.

General Pictures and Denny's Undoukai (Exercise Day)

This weekend, we had Denny's undoukai. A few friends and I went out Friday night bowling until about 12:00 and then we went to eat. I did not get back until about 2:00 in the morning. Our friend Toshi Mitani san was at our house at 7:00 to pick me up to set up the camp equipment. Needless to say, it was a rough morning.

At least the weather cooperated a little more than Savannah's undoukai. It was mild temperatures with some cloud cover which helped block out the sun a little.

I added some general pictures below. They don't always fit into the activities that we do, but they are more like family/friend pictures.






Last weekend I made 'mousecakes'. They turned out so well I had to take a picture. At the grocery store, they have English muffins (different than Thomas's, but better - chewy), ham, eggs and cheese. We figured out a few months ago that egg muffins are easy to make. Savannah turned her nose up to them at first but she now asks for them every morning.





Savannah eating her mousecakes.














Denny in his Hugh Hefner robe chowing down. I was actually able to take his picture without the peace sign...












And here is the peace sign... I think we snapped a few pictures before we went to the rice field last week. We have two cameras so sometimes these pictures don't find their way to the blog right away.











Savannah posing before the rice field harvesting.














Before we went to Denny's undoukai, we were goofing around in the yard and I took a close-up of the kids' eyes. Denny is first, Savannah is second.

We went bowling last Saturday with the Mitani family and the Fukami family. Afterward, they invited us to their place for a Bar-B-Que. We took out monster grill up and cooked out. I had been wanting a burger all week so that is what we brought. Toshi Mitani made ribs and they also bought some skinny chicken wings. Wings are EXPENSIVE here. Dark meat is the preferred meat so you can pick up chicken breast cheap. Thighs are about ^ a pound. Needless to say, we usually eat chicken breast.

Picture at the Bar-B-Que.

Denny's undoukai.

Opening ceremonies... There are three pre-school grades - three year olds, 4 year olds and five year olds. Denny fits into the four year old group so he will go to this school next year as well. He will catch about 3-4 months of elementary school.

I have the bad habit of taking movies instead of pictures so there are not many of them. I added about 10 movies below to supplement.

Denny with his pom-poms.

There are a ton of dragonflies in Japan. If you hold your finger up, chances are, one will land on it. We saw a pretty one with a red body and Savannah was able to get it to land on her finger.

Denny with Elin after he received his medal. He was so proud of the job that his school did. It was really touching.

Elin, Denny and Ema. Ema is Mitani san's daughter. She is in the same grade as Denny.

Denny being picked up by one of the girls in his class.

Denny's turn at the relay race.



Adult tug-o -war.





Elin and Denny in the hula-hoop relay race.




Denny during his dance.




Denny during his running race. We think he came in second, but after the final turn there was some bumping going on. Rubbing is racing, I guess.

The first graders at the elementary school got to run in a race as well. Even though Savannah did not attend this pre-school, typical to Japanese style, she was allowed to run in the race. She came in third. She had the outside lane which typically meant that you had a hard time winning.




Savannah waiting for her race.



These are actually the three-year olds. I thought their costumes were cute so I took a movie of them.




Four year olds marching out to the track area. Denny is third in line.