We made it to Disney!!!

We were able to catch an evening flight which took us to a base about 20 miles outside Tokyo, but on the other side from Disney. We spent the night at the base, then took a series of trains to get us to where we needed to be. We then spent THREE days between Tokyo Disney and Disney Sea. The kids had a great time, and we stayed close enough that we could take a bus to the hotel for naptime, then return to the park for the evening. We all had a great time. The teacups were a hit for everyone

and had many repeat visits, as did Small World.

Jeff and I agreed that this was a much better small world than Disney World or Land and we rode it three times, and would have ridden many more if Sean had his way!

Here’s Catie jumping up and down going “Whee hooo!” after her first little roller coaster ride. She was tall enough, but I lied and said she was three years old so she could get on (shhh).

Disney Sea was beautiful, recreating different seaport areas of the world, but it was much larger than Disney, more difficult to get around because of the water, and more distance between rides. We were able to pack more rides and shows in at Disney than Disney Sea. But there was a cool and airconditioned indoor kids area at Disney Sea…

After 3 days of Disney, we did a local aquarium in the morning, then an evening ride on a giant ferris wheel and a trip to a sushi go round for dinner. It’s the one place where we can count on the kids to eat something when we are traveling. That day we had been calling around looking for flights for the next 2 days (Mon & Tues) both bases had flights going out Monday morning, but they were earlier than we would be able to make it there. Monday morning I called around again and was told no flights for the next 72 hours, but on one of my calls they mentioned that there might be an evening flight, but it was having difficulty getting there. Since it was the best (and apparently only) possiblility, we headed to that base. On the way there, I called and apparently the plane was indeed on it’s way, and we were told to call back later to get roll call times. So we continued on our way. Once at the base we checked our bags at base lodging, grabbed some lunch, let Catie take a cat nap in the lobby on the couches and waited. When we called at the appointed time, the roll call had been moved up, so we grabbed some food for dinner and headed to the terminal. We were loaded on to the plane, a HUGE C-5 galaxy for the ride home. Sean was unhappy that there were no windows, but it did the job to get us home! This weekend we are off on a trip to the beach, then Jeff gets back to work

Okay, all the photo’s are in the gallery from the summer festival.

As I said, there was alot of dancing, and Sean was a little tired by the end of the night! But he had a great time and was asking when the next summer festival is the same night.
We weren’t able to catch a flight yesterday, so we’ll try again today. You literally go down the the terminal with all your bags before a flight leaves and wait. They have a tentative number of seats, and there are different levels of priority for travelers. Yesterday’s flight that we wanted only had 16 seats, and 30+ people wanting to fly. So we’ll try again today, flying into a base a little farther away from Tokyo, but we will still be able to take a series of trains into the city. Our fingers are crossed!

Sorry life has been busy, almost too busy for pictures. Jeff is back and we are going to try to get a space available flight up to Tokyo to go visit the mouse with the kids. But check out the gallery to see pictures from the summer festival at Sean’s school. All the kids were in their summer kimonos, called yukatas, there was much dancing and eating, and even fireworks. Not all the pictures are in there, they will probably have to wait for after vacation, sorry. Now it’s back to last minute packing!

We have been really blessed with some new, great, next door neighbors. They have 3 kids, 2 girls and a boy. Sean is almost obsessed with them. If I make a dinner he likes, he says we should make some of it for the new neighbors. If we’re going out to eat, we should take them out to eat too. Their dad is always mowing my lawn now, so Catie and I baked brownies to say thank you and Sean delivered them today. Which got us invited in to play, which Sean was thrilled about, and very disappointed to go home for nap time. This evening, after eating dinner (which Sean didn’t think was neighbor worthy), he got to go outside and play with the boys. Daniel is 10 yo, and was excellent with Sean and the other boys out playing. Sean was by far the youngest and the goofiest, and he just played along with him. Plus, somebody lent him a skateboard (!), so Sean was on cloud nine to be included.

And here is Sean chasing after Daniel, somehow it was determined that Sean was an alligator and catching and eating all the boys.

Like I said, Sean was goofy, and they played along.

And does this girl need a pink helmet or what

And here is a picture that Sean wanted taken as they were procrastinating going upstairs for bed. It’s so nice I can still get pictures like this, we have so many of them when they were little like this…

And I have to say, they have really been pretty good lately. Catie has her moments when she puts the terrible in two, but overall they have both been fabulous. Sean has been good helping with Catie when I really need it. And this morning I took them to the opening brunch at a newly renovated restaurant on base. It was really crowded and busy, but they both behaved quite well. Their eyes were bigger than their stomachs, Catie only ate 1/2 a donut, but Sean had a cheese omelet, an apple crepe (which he though was good but too messy) and1 1/2 brownies. He was excited to try the fried chicken, but you could tell it was japanese cooks, because it had NO flavor and was overcooked. So was the prime rib. Hopefully they will improve, but it’s nice to have a Sunday brunch option close to home now.

Sean had a sleep over with his school on Friday/Saturday. Friday morning the 4 yo class and the 5 yo class went to a park and played in the water fountains and a stream. They also picnicked there. Afterwards they went to another school for nap time. It was uncomfortable, according to Sean, because they only had tatami mats to sleep on, not their sleep sets, which showed up for bed time.
That evening the lunch ladies made dinner and the children made mochi dango which they had for dessert, then they had a campfire. Sean said they told a scary story for bedtime, but he couldn’t tell me what it was about because it was in Japanese. In the morning they had a breakfast buffet “We could eat anything we wanted to! I had little hotdogs (sausages), tamago, bread, grapes and cherries!” Then it was playtime, clean up time and back to their own school for pickup. Sean had a wonderful time. This is certainly something that an American preschool would never do. But the flyer came that came home from school said that “The purpose of stay over care is to nurture children’s spirit of independence through a life experience that differs from day care or home life. It also give the children memories at kindergarten that they will never forget”. Sean had a great time and is looking forward to next year’s sleep over already. Of course, at any big event that the school does, the kids get sent home with a little gift, usually just something from the 100Yen store, but that doesn’t matter to Sean, he just loves that he gets a gift. Yesterdays was bubbles and a little ball blower…

Right now, with daily swimming lessons and school, lazy days are far and few between. But when we have one, here are some of the things we do…

That’s Sean with a football helmet his friend Ryan gave to him. It’s still pretty big. Sean entertained himself and us, by having us throw a ball at his head, and then was hitting himself with the bat. What can I say, he’s a boy. And Catie licked all the frosting off her cinnamon roll then declared that she was done eating.
And Sean had a very creative idea to end the argument of who got to sit in the ‘lifeguard chair’ He told Catie she could sit in his lap, then they could both sit in the chair. Very good problem solving…

We are keeping busy here, but sorry, no pictures to show for it. For the 4th, Sean got to stay home from school. Even if he tells me he’s Japanese sometimes, he can be an American for the 4th. The kids were in their pajamas until the afternoon, then a quick change and over to the neighbors for a cook-out. Sean was very excited because this was the first time we let him stay up and play flashlight tag with the older kids. And also watch the fireworks in the distance. I regretted it afterwards, because he was a bear to get into bed, but he had a great time while he was playing.
This morning I dragged the kids to the beach. They had a great time once they got there. Sean dug deep holes in the sand to get to the water below. Unfortunately low tides are during nap time this week, so there were no tide pools to play in. Catie came up with the brilliant idea of leaping face first into the water, whether I was standing by to catch her or not. She was sputtering and asking to go home each time I dragged her from under the water, but she did it more than once, so it must not have been that bad. As we were talking before nap time, I asked her if she had fun at the beach, she said “yeah, put me face in the water!” Hopefully her life jacket will arrive next week. Now I just have to hope she doesn’t float out to sea, but at least she would have a fighting chance!

Sean has moved into the level 1 swim lessons and is doing great.

He was really upset that he was moving up classes last week, because I told him that the would need to put his face in the water. Well, he’s doing it. Not alot, but a whole lot more than before. He’s blowing bubbles in the water, and as he pushes off to the swim instructor, he bobs his head into the water, then pops it back out. He’s supposed to put his face in a blow bubbles until he gets to her, but it’s still such an improvement. He’s so proud of himself. And so am I.
I pulled Catie out of swim lessons. This session she was the only one in her class. Yesterday, the instructor was very kind, but in her face the whole time, asking her to blow bubbles, and float on her back, two things that Catie hates! She cried nearly the whole class, including big, huge alligator tears. Catie was pretty content to hang out today, have books read to her, and cheer on Sean.

The next 2 weeks the pool is open in the late afternoon/early evening rather than closed for swim lessons, so we were down there yesterday after I picked Sean up from school. They have some old swimvests and lifejackets that Sean and Catie love to have on. They were both in the big pool for a total of an hour and just love kicking their legs and floating along. It’s so nice to see Catie excited to get in the pool, rather than asking to get out all the time, which is the point that swim lessons had come to for her.

This is really for Kitten’s kill count, but she is still busy and that page is getting long…

Last night I intercepted her on the stairs with a frog. He was leaping up and down stairs and on to the wall to get away from her. I tossed a bathing suit I had in my hands over the frog, and threw Kitten in a bathroom. Then took the frog outside to the jungle. The kids were already in bed, so I didn’t have Sean to help me open the door. This frog was kind and stayed in my hand, (the frog the night before squirmed and jump while I was opening the door. He landed on the doorstep, and while probably a highrisk area for being recaught by Kitten, I left him there) then I released him into the jungle.

Later in the night, I intercepted her again on the stairs, this time with a gecko. I chased her up the stairs and into our closet. I picked her up and shook her until she let the gecko go, then it was into another bathroom for her. I went back and couldn’t find the gecko. I did see it this morning as I was going through the closet, but I covered it and left it there since they are hard to catch. Also, it had already been traumatized enough, it had a fresh tail stump, and it was a house gecko after all.