Tokyo part 2,3,4

the Rainbow bridge, view from somewhere.

yes, Tokyo doe have giant monsters!

Street Fighter vs. Something? 

Lots of cool light up buildings at night, this one had rotating lights in the shape of hearts. 

some random street? notice jace though. 

While not willing to remove himself from the picture, he was definitely not a happy camper, despite the dabbing by his sister. 

I think Suzy caught the dabbing disease as well

I'd be scared too Brighton!

This was on the way to the Natural history museum As you can see, there are a few other people around. 

the kids really liked the place! from the Rocks, to the Plants to the bones. 

Here's a rock.

And some Snakes. 

Also, here is Japanese Michael Jackson.

I thought this was a cool looking set of bones, a Biceratopts

Yes, this one was a wee bit large. 

A true Triceratops. 

here is Shibuya, the busiest intersection in the world. 

On your mark, get set...

our lives are now complete! 

yes, this is the cup o noodle museum. 

In Japan, the driving age is 6, 

Brighton wearing the cup o noodle hat she got. 

Here we got to color our cup o noodle cups. 

Ninja Suzy flavor. Coming to a store near you. Soon. 

better view of Ninja Suzy flavor

Here's the machine to get the noodles in the cup (that's Kate's cup). 

here we got to choose the toppings! there were some interesting combinations chosen!

And yes, we saw our friends, the Sumsions. 

Here we are playing that game with the cheek retractors. The 

Here is the pillow I got. I will probably go back just for this pillow. Christopher and Aaron are probably really jealous right now. 

Watching Grant play some B-ball! 

We went to the beach! 

It was not warm, as you can see by the lack of other peoples. 

Now you see some Garrets! yes, that's Suzy and Nelsa digging for sea glass!

It was extremely Windy!!

I don't know that Brighton had to take more than two steps on her own the entire weekend. 

I a bit of Island hopping ensued. 

Did I mention it was windy

Yes, this is some kind of seaweed. So delicious. 

Sea Glass. 

Here's Brighton and I eating at Harbourland in Kobe I believe. Bonus picture. 

Some of our Kids had growth spurts. 

They had a bunch of rooms to encourage you to "think outside the box" at cup o noodle. 

And yes, we puzzled over this sign for a while. 

More of Grant's B-ball game.Kate made Brighton a dandelion crown. fitting for our little princess. 

Island hopping part duex. 

Post Wind Blownness.

More cup o noodles

We're starting the shrink wrap process

The heat is applied! Final step.

Here's the park by the Imperial Palace. Which we arrived at 4:55. Which closes at 5. 

At least we got to see this park.

Look, growing not only flowers but families!

nature next to city. 

Shibuya crossing!

All the people all the time. 

Hachiko! Wikipedia it!

A statue of Hachiko! Wikipedia him. 

our Air BnB. Mostly just Bs. 

Here is a replica of the shed that 

Momofuku Ando did his Cup O noodle work in. 

Tokyo golden week day 1 (Wed)

We drove up to Tokyo for Golden Week (a week with 3 official holidays, lots of businesses give the whole week off).  We were not too confident in our decision since things can get crazy crowded at times like this.

It did take an extra 2hrs due to traffic.  Also, one of the kids was in charge of the audio books and DVDs left the bag at home.  We later discovered that it also had Kate and Faiths Toothbrushes inside.  What fun! Luckily a rest stop had DVDs for sale for 500¥ ($5).  We are now proud owners of Japanese Dumbo and Micky Mouse and friends.  Luckily Goofy and Dumbo are mostly visual humor.  

We went to Lego Discovery right off.  It was fun, but would be more fun I think if it weren't Golden week.  The lines were pretty long for most adventures. Suzy would stand in line while the kids were playing at one attraction so they were ready for the next one.

We went to eat at "Bills".  I didn't know Papa English had a Tokyo based restaurant named for him, but clearly his time spent in Japan for his business was not without impact.

It was tasty but expensive (kids meals were 1500¥).  

We made it to our AirBnB place which sleeps "6" easily.  It definitely sleeps 6 if one person is willing to sleep on the floor.  5 people had beds.  Brighton had a small chair to sleep on, but we should have woken her up to go potty before letting her sleep.  Yes, that is forshadowing. My blessed Wife took care of the mess at 2:30am.  

Mochi Making!

There was a Mochi (Mochi= smashed cooked rice) in early January this year. The Akashi Ward invited us so we could learn how to make traditional Mochi. It was pretty awesome. 

here's President Kojima (Stk. President) showing us how to make the Mochi into something tasty (by adding stuff. if you're a Garrett not named Faith you like to add stuff to your mochi)

Here they are steaming the rice

Suzy with some folks learning how to add the red bean paste (and sometimes a strawberry) or roll it in dried bean stuff. 

Kate got into the action as well. Hiroyuki would get his gloves wet and rotate the rice just before kate would hit it. 

Jace got to try as well, although he could barely lift the mallet. 

Suma Beach Park

We went to the beach yesterday. Still Chilly, but the kids obviously had fun. Lots of sandy fun. at one point, I said to Suzy, "could Jace get any sandier?"

Suzy replied, "yes, he could get completely wet then role in the sand." Which he then proceeded to do.  

Brighton had a lot of fun as well building sand castles, finding seashells and being cute. 

Ka-Ra-O-Ke

Faith and her Ganstahness

Kate and Brighton on Vocals. Backup dancers, Spider Jace and Handjive Faith