Disney Sea and other spring break adventures...

Sorry I have not been around.  The kids were on spring break and hubby even got to take a week of leave.  Woohoo!  Last Monday we surprised the kids with a trip to the Pokemon Center in Yokohama.  We just told them that we somewhere to go that was work related.  But once we got close to the Landmark Tower- where the Pokemon Center is- they got excited.  It was a lot nicer to go on a Monday (as opposed to Sunday).  It was nice and quiet and I could actually walk around without getting run over by an 8 year old.  I am learning that Sunday is not a good day to go to places like the Pokemon Center or any other big touristy spot.  That is like family day in Japan and EVERYONE is out and about.

Thursday we visited Disney Sea.  It is right next door to Tokyo Disney.  Disney Sea is kind of like California Adventure- but smaller. 
We had a blast- in spite of freezing all of our limbs off.  It rained for most of the day- which meant that the park was pretty empty.  We didn't wait more than 5 or 10 minutes for a ride.  My favorite was Journey to the Center of the Earth- it was very imaginiative.  We all enjoyed Ariel's playground- even though it is geared for little kids.  The reason being is that it is all inside- and it is warm!  I can see it being a great place in the summer as well- to get away from the heat this time.

Ariel's Playground.  I have no idea how to take a picture in this kind of lighting- so the picture really sucks.  But you can get an idea of what it looks like- the whole "under the sea" theme.  In addition to the rides, they had different rooms and all kinds of stuff for the kids to climb on/in.  And there is lots of seating for the parents!

The kids like Raging Spirits- which is a 360 loop roller coaster.  It is not really that scary- especially when you ride it over 10 times in one day. (I am not exaggerating either!)  They have the Tower of Terror like California Adventure- but I think here it is not as tall?  Who cares when it's the first couple of seconds in the plunge of death that really flips your stomach!
Oh- I have to warn anyone who visits- do not- I repeat- DO NOT eat at the Mexican restaurant.  Sure- they have the authentic Mariachi band and homemade tortillas.  But everything else- YUCK!! 

There were a lot of school children there- I believe junior high age.  They had their uniforms on and they were all having a ball.  We enjoyed watching some boys trying to push each other in the water (you know those kind of fountains that come up out of the ground at random intervals?)  The girls would occassionally stop to say hi to Sissy.  I am regretting not getting a picture of them (the school girls) with her.  Next time, right?

If I had to chose between Tokyo Disney and Disney Sea- I would chose the latter.   Tokyo Disney does not really have anything new- it is a miniature version of the orginal park in Anaheim.  Of course the food and language is all different- so it is still a must see in my book.

Here it finally stopped raining long enough for some of the characters to come out for pictures.  They didn't make everyone wait in line like they do in Anaheim these days(which I think is totally lame in a way.)

Ha!  Brother thought he was going to get away without taking a picture with Dale.  But good ole' Dale grabbed his arm and pulled me in for another picture!

Some of our other plans were kaboshed due to the very cold and rainy weather.  I really think Mother Nature needs a complaint department- I need to yell at someone!  Friday morning we woke up to rain/snow mixture. WTH??

Here's to wishing for better weather...

update- This was written last week- for some reason I didn't get a chance to post.  I am happy to report that we are enjoying sunshine!!  I have that song in my head- "I'm walkin' on sunshine..."

Rain and Driving School (and yummy bento boxes)

Right now as I type the rain is coming down in mad bursts of wind.  It feels like Washington.  The big difference is that it is not as COLD.  Brownie, our chocolate lab, does not want to go out, even though I know she has been holding it all day.  You would think since she is a lab she wouldn't mind the water.  But no- she practically tip toes out onto the grass when it is wet out.  Silly roggy!
Of course my car battery is dead so I had to walk to the post office today in this crazy weather.  I have one of those umbrellas made for wind and it is very handy.  Today it met its match.  I thought that any minute I was going to catch air and go off flying like Mary Poppins.  Hubby needed me to mail him things ASAP so I couldn't put off the walk.  He is lucky I love him so much. :)

Today I went on a field trip with Brother's class to a Japanese driving school.  Who knew a driving school could be so entertaining?  It starts off in a classroom and a man in a suit goes up front and starts speaking to us in Japanese.  He starts off with "Ohayou gozaimasu!" (prounounced o-hi-yo go-zi-mas)- meaning good morning.  The children understand and return his greeting.  After that most of us are lost because he continues on in Japanese.  We all just smile and nod- or in the case of some of the children- stare at him with a blank face.  In spite of the language barrier we all enjoyed it.  The local police are there to teach the children about bicycle safety and the rules of the road so to speak.  Except the "rules" are referred to as "promises" and traffic violations are called "traffic violence".  I think the kids knew what they meant?  The good thing is that the Japanese are all too ready to laugh when they mess up.  I think it is out of nervousness or embarassment- but it really difuses the situation.  One police officer who only knew enough English to tell us that he does not speak English had no trouble explaining traffic lights and how to perform a safety check on a bicycle.  In fact he is quite entertaining and there are many smiles and laughter.
Down one flight (we were on the third floor), we all gathered in front of the large window to watch a demonstration with a dummy and a bus.  At one point the bus hits the dummy (who was standing waaay to close to the bus when it was trying to turn).  The children thought that was very hilarious.

The best part of the trip- in my opinion- was lunch.  They served us bento boxes for lunch.  They weren't the pretty laquered bento boxes but rather plastic take out style bento boxes with a lid- including chopsticks and the cutest little bottle of soy sauce.  Brother LOVED the food.  We didn't know what half of it was, but it was good I have to agree.  Bento boxes are the BOMB.  We had fried chicken, salmon on rice, some kind of yummy egg custard, a mini hotdog, some kind of yellow crunchy pickled cucumber, a salted plum on top of rice, flaky fishy stuff on rice and then there was the weird kind of jelly that smelled like ramen?  I didn't eat all of that one.  There were a couple of other foods included that I don't know how to begin to describe except to say they were good.

we'll just call it yummy

Did I mention that Brother LOVED it?

As we left the employees all came out and waved goodbye.  The followed us outside when we boarded the buses and waved goodbye to us once more.  I wish I had a picture of that. 

After all the talk about wheel differential- we almost hit a truck trying to make a right turn (remember we drive on the left side here).  Somehow the bus and truck driver managed to squeak by with maybe an inch between them.  I would have been surprised had I not seen this before.