Disney Sea

We weren't in too much of a hurry to get to Disney Sea so I got some coffee, we went downstairs to the hotel restaurant for breakfast (which was not great), then headed out to the train.  It takes 2 trains to get there from our hotel.  The first ride we went on was just a boat ride that took us to the other side of the park.  It was quite crowded and only got worse throughout the day.  We did get a fast-pass for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ride.  The line for the roller coasters were always around 180 minutes!  However, we spent a fair amount time in Mermaid's Grotto and the two littlest had fun on those rides, and the lines were not as long.  After that, we ate curry at Aladdin's palace and went on the carousel there.  We then headed to the flight simulator ride, which ended up being kinda scary for Tristan, and then to the 20,000 leagues ride.  By that point it was already getting late (and very cold) so Chad took the littles back while Jamie and I went on the Indiana Jones ride through the singles line, which only took about 20 minutes!  We thought we might have luck with another singles line on the other roller coaster but no, it was much longer and we were freezing so ducked out of that line and headed back, viewing bits of the firework show as we headed out of the park.

Mermaid's grotto was a bit dark inside.  I took Tristan on jellyfish ride (he picked the green one, of course)

We went inside here for the flight simulator ride.

Abby is holding our reusable popcorn container.

They have all different flavors around park - some had very long lines as well!

Another day in Kamakura

The city of Kamakura is only 3 train stops from us and has so much to offer that we headed back there on Sunday Jan 4th.  It also happened to be the last day of the Japanese New Year holiday period so it was really crowded (especially since Kamakura has plenty of shrines and temples, which is a big part of their New Year tradition).  But we ended up trying some street foods, visiting a shrine and temple, and finding a quick hike.

Note: blogger loaded these pictures in reverse order!

We found some awesome homemade type donuts!

Crossing a creek on our way back from the hike.

Group shot at the end of the hike!

Tristan is pointing to the ruins of an old temple.

The hike was on a ridge so we had some great views.

Having fun!

The temple where we started our hike.

Temples often include cemeteries on their grounds.

A shrine with lots of extra decorations for New Years.

The streets were crowded, we're stopping to the side to eat some food we bought.

And Chad's beer from Kamakura brewery.

I love these fried purple potato cakes!

Favorite books from 2014

I read 24 books in 2015, here are my top 3:

1.  How could I not put the long awaited new novel from the Outlander series?: Written in My Own Heart's Blood. Laura and I even went to the book signing event.

2. If you're a fan of Outlander, you should read the The Bronze Horseman.  It was as amazing (and almost as long).  The only downside is that the following 2 books of the series aren't as good, but that really shouldn't hold you back.

3. Finally, another epoch of a story, The Thorn Birds.

Obviously I love long novels, these 3 are 825, 656, and 692 pages, respectively.

These 2 are my runner-ups: The Stand and The Boys in the Boat

        

Happy birthday Jamie and Happy New Year!

Jamie is 10!  We got him some handsome new clothes from Tokyo (the Gap, no less).   On the morning of his birthday we went out to the Daiei to pick up some stuff for his birthday, including a cake from the French bakery.

He's so tall that he wears size 14-16 boys in Japan!

That evening after dinner he opened his presents (or most of them as some are still in transit - shipping to an APO address is extremely slow).  Then we sang Happy Birthday and ate cake.

Jamie thought is would be funny to switch the candles and pretend he was one.

The cake was yummy!

 After that we decided to head down to the park to see how the festivities were progressing.  It was still pretty early so there weren't many people yet but there were vendors set up and we got a snack and some drinks.

All sorts of meat on a stick.

Chad got the squid.

There were lots of food tents

And a stage

A Tori gate with a bell to ring in the new year.