More to come

I'll try to get on later tonight and share our toilet adventure, our snak adventure and more about the Weasel's Den...but at this point the kids are ready to leave the den...and it's just after noon.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Guess the Meaning....

If you've lived in an Asian country and KNOW - don't guess. It wouldn't be fair. I'll tell you what it means next time I update...

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Tokyo to Misawa

The I family brought gifts for all of us....the Japanese way. Arielle got origami paper, Stacia some Clifford books, Nolan a toy (I'll have to take a photo), Zander some paper balloons, Jared got a book on reading kana, and ME - the goodies I wrote about before.

We had dinner, slept, ate breakfast and all too soon it was time to say goodbye. We headed back to Narita. Then across Tokyo to Haneda, to catch a domestic flight.

Look carefully...you take the luggage carts down the escalators....I did this too...then took the elevator on the next set. LOL Notice Zander watching Ryu.

Disney Tokyo

Ryu and Jun left us at Narita as we boarded the shuttle for Haneda. We had lunch. I saw Octopus pizza for the first time. ::snort:: Kim occupied the kids during our wait by showing them how to make origami fish.

Again, no tipping....and we are a big group by Japanese standards. We boarded the plane. I KNEW we were getting into Japan "for real" when the signs were no longer in Japanese and English.....but we smiled a lot, nodded a lot and looked pathetic enough to make it where we needed to be. ::snort::

Then we watched this sign - which switched between English and Kanji. It was really cool to watch on the flight over. We passed RIGHT by Anchorage, then Russia, North Korea....

One last thought....Tokyo and Haneda airports were both PACKED...and yet everyone was smiling, moving along quickly AND the place was QUIET...quite a contrast to SEA TAC.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Flight to Tokyo

Here are a "few" photos of our blessedly uneventful flight to Japan.

At this point Zander was telling everyone what happened the LAST time we were going to fly, and the rest of us were commenting that we'd made it further than we had in the past. LOL


Zander played very nicely and quietly....but this gentlemen was NOT happy to be sitting next to Stacia, Zander and I.....


This is Zander's new "Pathetic, pitiful, innoncent" look.



Jared wore the hat the boys gave him all the way to Misawa...and he was a sight. There was no other way to safely get the hat to Japan. ::snort::

You can't see all the sign but it says, "Yokoso Japan" - Welcome to Japan.

Customs took a long time for several reasons. The flight attendants had told me I didn't have to fill out a sheet of paper. I needed to have one for each of us. Then I didn't fill out the back. Then Stacia had to go to the rest room - because she'd refused all day long because of the "strange" toilets. We finally made it through Customs.

Again, I cannot express what a blessing Kim, Jun and Ryu were to us. It was SUCH a relief to see a face waiting on the other side of customs.

Tired travelers on the way from Narita to our hotel.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Japanese Snack Reviews

Kim, being a true friend, met me at Narita airport with a selection of Japanese treats. She knew I liked chocoate.....

The Pretz are yummy. The kids rated them a 10 and asked me to find them again. I'm not sure what's IN them, so I won't buy them often, but they are a great treat.

The Pocky are also yummy.....chocolate covered Pretz. A bit like pretzels...but a really good flavor.

My favorite are the ones on the right - and I can't read the name. ::snort:: I know this sounds strange, and I'm the only one who ate them, but they taste like chocolate covered corn nuts.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...