Nearly 18 months ago in October '09:
This one is funny because that little "hi-ya" sound they make in the Macarena, Jamie interprets as a sort of clearing your throat/coughing up a luigie sound!
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Monday, March 7, 2011
park pics
Back at the park again! It must've been a dry day in Yokosuka because the kids hair got SO static-"ey", they couldn't stop laughing at each other!
Both Abby and Jamie wanted to show off their climbing skills.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Kyoto day 1
For the 3-day weekend in February we decided to take a bit of a vacation. We took a bullet train to the former capital of Japan, Kyoto. There is so much to see and do in Kyoto but we really only focused on accomplishing one thing a day which is about the max you can do with 3 small children. And the main purpose of our trip was to experience the high-speed train, so once we got to our destination we were already feeling accomplished! Our hotel was right across the street from the Kyoto station, and it was called The New Miyako. Across the street to the side of that was a big AEON mall, which I visited at least once a day.
We caught the Shinkansen (high-speed train) in Yokohama and we really wanted to make sure we were there with plenty of time since we had to switch train lines in Yokohama from JR to the subway system (which we had to ask help for). This means that we left about 2 1/2 hours before our train was scheduled to leave. We did end up with a little extra time but we just bought some coffee and donuts.
Once on the train we were pleasantly surprised at how much room we had. We had only purchased 3 seats since Abby and Tristan were free but I was worried we would be cramped. We had so much leg room and the seats were plenty spacious enough for all of us. After the first few stops the train thinned out and we could also move into some empty seats.
Jamie wanted to play his DS away from Tristan so he chose the floor.
Later Abby took up residence on the floor:
Can you see how roomy it is?
After checking into the hotel, we headed out to find the Shrine with the 10,000 tori gates. First we had to ride another train (or was it two?).
The tori gate that lets you know you're at a shrine (and not a temple):
This particular shrine has 10,000 of these gates that lead a path up to the top of a small mountain. Most gates have writing on them, letting you know (if you read Japanese) who (or what company) sponsored each gate (they are replaced at least once every ten years).
There were several places where miniature gates were placed on small alters, I'm not sure what that symbolized.
You could purchase the mini tori gates and I was thinking of getting one (for decoration) but they were not cheap.
We did not walk thru the whole trail, probably only a 1/4 of the way but it was quite the sight to see!
On our way back we found a small neighborhood park with a concrete slide!
And we even went out of our way to see the Nintendo building!
We caught the Shinkansen (high-speed train) in Yokohama and we really wanted to make sure we were there with plenty of time since we had to switch train lines in Yokohama from JR to the subway system (which we had to ask help for). This means that we left about 2 1/2 hours before our train was scheduled to leave. We did end up with a little extra time but we just bought some coffee and donuts.
Once on the train we were pleasantly surprised at how much room we had. We had only purchased 3 seats since Abby and Tristan were free but I was worried we would be cramped. We had so much leg room and the seats were plenty spacious enough for all of us. After the first few stops the train thinned out and we could also move into some empty seats.
Jamie wanted to play his DS away from Tristan so he chose the floor.
Later Abby took up residence on the floor:
Can you see how roomy it is?
After checking into the hotel, we headed out to find the Shrine with the 10,000 tori gates. First we had to ride another train (or was it two?).
The tori gate that lets you know you're at a shrine (and not a temple):
This particular shrine has 10,000 of these gates that lead a path up to the top of a small mountain. Most gates have writing on them, letting you know (if you read Japanese) who (or what company) sponsored each gate (they are replaced at least once every ten years).
There were several places where miniature gates were placed on small alters, I'm not sure what that symbolized.
You could purchase the mini tori gates and I was thinking of getting one (for decoration) but they were not cheap.
We did not walk thru the whole trail, probably only a 1/4 of the way but it was quite the sight to see!
On our way back we found a small neighborhood park with a concrete slide!
And we even went out of our way to see the Nintendo building!
Kyoto day 2
Well, we weren't in a hurry to go anywhere today so by the time everyone was ready, Tristan was due for a nap. Chad and Jamie stayed behind in the hotel room while Abby and I went to check-out the mall that was right next door. Abby and I brought back lunch from the food market that was in the mall, so after eating we headed out to find Golden Pavilion. We ran into a little bit of difficulty and it must've been obvious because two different locals helped us on our way. After we returned back to the hotel, we went out at a restaurant in the Kyoto station. It was just a small restaurant with pretty good food but again they had no highchair so it was a bit of hassle to try and feed Tristan.
Jamie's ruining the picture again!
Now she's happy!
The Golden Pavilion:
A rare moment of peace between these two:
Ice-cream!
Tristan was stuck in ergo backpack for most of our sightseeing so that we didn't have to bring a stroller. He was always craning his neck to look around!
Jamie's ruining the picture again!
Now she's happy!
The Golden Pavilion:
A rare moment of peace between these two:
Ice-cream!
Tristan was stuck in ergo backpack for most of our sightseeing so that we didn't have to bring a stroller. He was always craning his neck to look around!
kyoto day 3
Day 3: Starbucks, Kyoto Tower, Tristan takes nap while I go shopping with Jamie and Abby at nearby mall, checkout, go to train station and catch train home.
Starbucks:
Up in the tower, view of Kyoto:
Another view, the massive building right in front of us is the Kyoto train station. It's huge and we saw only parts of it. There's several shopping centers, restaurants and different train lines. Once we had a hard time figuring out how to get to the other side without swiping our train pass again.
In true Japanese style:
Jamie and Abby loved using the "free" binoculars. You didn't have to put money in them but of course it cost us to get to the observation deck.
There were these tower "people" everywhere.
Abby and Jamie got souvineir coins, you can see Abby's has one of the tower people on it!
The station:
Here's a train that was like ours:
View of Mt. Fuji:
Starbucks:
Up in the tower, view of Kyoto:
Another view, the massive building right in front of us is the Kyoto train station. It's huge and we saw only parts of it. There's several shopping centers, restaurants and different train lines. Once we had a hard time figuring out how to get to the other side without swiping our train pass again.
In true Japanese style:
Jamie and Abby loved using the "free" binoculars. You didn't have to put money in them but of course it cost us to get to the observation deck.
There were these tower "people" everywhere.
Abby and Jamie got souvineir coins, you can see Abby's has one of the tower people on it!
The station:
Here's a train that was like ours:
View of Mt. Fuji:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)