Friday field trip day to Tokyo. Our first stop was a park that had an entrance fee to get in but it was all fenced in and there were nice tables and chairs to have lunch at. There was a large slide, a zip line, a large playground structure with a small roller slide, a sandbox and several other things to play on. We stayed here for 2-3 hours.
Our next stop was in Roppongi at a playground that everyone calls Robot Park. The pictures on the internet make it look great but in person it was actually quite small with no benches and very crowded. We stayed for about an hour and then went on home. I guess it was one more thing to check off the list and at least say we tried it out.
The Ume (pronounced oo-may) blossoms were already starting to fall by the time we made it back to the plum grove in Taura. Chad had to work the whole weekend so he didn't meet up with us until right before the sun went down. The kids played on one of their favorite playgrounds and I met up with a few other people that Chad works with and hung out on the grass.
This was another of our Friday field trips. The park had a small entrance fee and then you payed for individual activities that you wanted to do (like train rides, paddle boats, petting zoo, bicycle rides). However, all the playgrounds were free (and there were many of them). The park was huge and we wanted to make sure we got to spend all day at the park so we left around 7:30 am in order get there by 9:30 when they opened (I had to make a stop at Starbuck's first). The first thing we did was a playground with a very large concrete slide. The kids loved it and I did it once but it was quite scary!
Abby gets air:
The kids also loved the two ziplines here
Then Abby and Tristan and I went on the mini train, which reminded me a lot of the the one at Balboa park
There was also a large net structure that they had fun climbing.
Next we had some fun at a large roller slide. It wasn't very fast but it was pretty long and the kids still had fun. Plus the rollers were all decorated with fun designs.
There was another concrete slide in the shape of a bowl with several warning slides to not run into other riders.
Next we did the paddleboats
Tristan was the driver except for when we got close to something, then he got nervous and had me take over.
Here comes Misty with Hailey and Abby
Next was a neat slide that went fast and the kids had fun going down in all different directions (front, back, upside down...)
It was starting to get late and we still hadn't made it to the bicycle park so we made a quick stop at this block playground.
Once we made it to the bicycle park we stayed for the rest of the day (a few hours). Abby and Jamie both got a big bike and rode around the 1.8 km loop. The kids (and I) also had fun riding the "interesting bikes" together. We did the bike roller coaster twice, and we also did the pedaling helicopter once.
Meanwhile, Tristan rode the "interesting bikes"
He goes to pick out another bike and you can also see the helicopter track above.
The roller coast lifts you up the incline then it's up to you to pedal as hard as you can the rest of way.
Finally Abby and Tristan rode this giant coin-operated panda!
All the videos from the bicycle park are posted on Google+.
