A Week in Japan

As I mentioned earlier, we recently went to Japan for a little over a week to see my family. We had a lot of fun, especially at Tokyo Disneyland! Here are just some of the 450+ pictures I took over the week...


If you ask my son what was the best part about going to Japan, he'll probably tell you, "I rode the Mickey Bus!" And I will have to agree with him. This was just a bus that took you from the hotel to the monorail station, which, in turn took you to Disneyland, but it was the coolest, cutest bus I've ever been on. Even the interior was filled with hidden Mickeys, including red seats with 2 yellow buttons as well as hand rings (I don't know the proper way to call them, but the rings that hang overhead) with Mickey ears!


Of course, once you go inside the park, there are subtle (and not so subtle) Mickey references EVERYWHERE! We had this chicken sandwich on glove-shaped buns for lunch one day. My son also enjoyed some Mickey shaped chicken nuggets, but when my brother got a bright green "Mike Wazowski" (from Monster's Inc.) dessert, my son exclaimed, "Ewww...Yuck!" I guess somethings just should NOT be made into food :)


While Disneyland was a lot of fun, it also wore my son out. He fell asleep one night without even eating dinner, and woke up the next morning at 5AM with his stomach growling. He found it quite entertaining to watch himself eat and kept making "eyes" at himself!


After Disneyland, we went to Odaiba, a man-made island in Tokyo Bay where you can find the coolest and the newest technologies. Our hotel, which was geared towards business travelers, had Umbrella Vending Machines at the entrances.


Our hotel was across the street from Tokyo Big Sight, a huge building that's made up of 4 upside down pyramids. I went for a walk early in the morning and got a good use of my camera.


You can get around Odaiba in an elevated train called "Yurikamome." Each station was decorated with its particular classic Japanese pattern. This station had a Sakura or cherry blossom pattern on the windows. Yurikamome offers you great views of the strange and unique architectures rising up all over the island.


After Odaiba, we got on a bullet train and went to my parents' home near Nagoya. Unfortunately, at this point, my son developed a fever and we pretty much stayed put until it was time to head home. Ah, the ups and downs of traveling with a child! You always have to be ready to adapt your plans to his own schedule. But when I look back at all the pictures and see the smiles on my parents' and my son's faces, I know it was all worth it!

E x h a u s t e d !

So, vacations are supposed to be nice and relaxing, right? Well, not when you travel with a 3-year-old boy!

My husband recently won a free trip to Las Vegas, so we thought maybe it'll be a nice break from the snow. We flew back from Las Vegas on Tuesday morning at 7:30 AM (Great idea Hubby!), and let me tell you, I'm STILL exhausted!

Las Vegas is tiring enough when you are by yourself. There's a lot of walking from one place to another, and all that noise, smoke, and flashing lights can sap the energy right out of you.

But I also had to share my bed with my son, which meant getting kicked in the head, back, and chest all night long. Then, on top of that, he never adjusted to the time difference, so we were up at the crack of dawn.



I could go on about having to carry around a mountain of extra stuff, but let's just move on to the good. I'm not a gambler, so the highlight of the trip for me was going to Red Rock Canyon. It was just Gorgeous! There's a 13 mile loop that you can drive through, and the scenery changed every minute! One minute the mountains were red, then yellow the next, and then striped after that. There was even a little snow on the ground, which is very rare in Nevada.

My son enjoyed going to the Children's Museum, and he also loved the dolphins at the Mirage. By the way, have you ever seen a dolphin from the front? They look pretty funny don't they? Like a funky starfish! :)

Trip Down to Philly

As I mentioned earlier, my parents came to visit in September, and we took a trip down to Philadelphia with them. I loved that the city seemed to take much pride in its history and culture. Buildings were covered in murals, and there were numerous hints of history interspersed among the new.

Although my son was still too young to comprehend the history of the city, he seemed at home hanging out with George Washington and Benjamin Franklin. And if you have a young one, I highly recommend the Please Touch Museum! He literally ran around all day, until he (and everyone else!) was completely exhausted.

In fact, he played so much that we didn't even get to look around the museum shop, but he got the best souvenir of all at a highway rest area. The Truck Paper! He's mesmerized by all the different trucks, and asks me to "read" it to him every night. At this rate, I'll soon be an expert in spotting different Macks and Peterbuilts, but I can't complain since it's as good as a free baby sitter!