Exploring Tokyo

Our second day in Tokyo we set out that morning to explore a bit. It was a rainy day and we were glad we had our jackets!! We headed off to the subway station that was about a 10 min. walk from our hotel. We bought a full day pass. I am not sure if it really saved us any money or not but it was well worth it even if we didn't save money because we saved a lot of time by not having to stop at the ticket machine each time we entered the subway station. It was so easy getting around on Tokyo using the subways. We have now used the subway system in New York, Paris, and Tokyo and I think Tokyo was the easiest. The only hard part was that they are not designed for strollers. We were so glad we were using our small stroller. We went a few places where even it wouldn't fit through the gate and had to be lifted it over. And I don't even know how many times Dustin had to carry the stroller up and down the stairs in the subway.

Our first stop was Asakusa Shrine

Then we hopped back on the subway and visited the Imperial Palace Gardens.

And then to the Tokyo Tower.

And then we decided to stop by Roppongi Crossing before heading back to the hotel.

Once we walked out of the subway we were so glad we stopped because this is what we saw:
So, of course, we had to enjoy a little treat!

Tokyo Disney

On our way back to the U.S.A we got to make a stopover in Tokyo for a couple of days.
On our first day there we headed off to Tokyo Disneyland. Grace was so excited to meet some of her favorite characters.

{At Disneyland!!}

We didn't realize just how crowded it would be. The line to buy our tickets was about an hour long!

We tried to see a couple of the shows and after waiting for a while they announced they were canceling them due to the rain. So we started walking around and ran into a parade!!

Grace really enjoyed seeing Mickey and all of his friends riding by.

We saw the princesses castle but only saw the princesses during the parades. I think maybe this has something to do with the fact that most of them are white and could not be portrayed by the Japanese. During the parades the characters in full costume (Mickey, Pooh, etc) talked in Japanese. The princesses all spoke English.

We found Grace her first souvenir from Disney - Minnie Mouse ears!
And she got to eat some Honey popcorn. I bet her friend Pooh would love it too!

We found Mickey's house which is where she had the opportunity to actually meet Mickey Mouse. However, the line was about 2 hours long. We took turns waiting so that Grace wouldn't have to wait in line for the entire 2 hours. We also found Minnie's house! So we went in there while we were waiting for Mickey.

Grace loved the mailboxes in front of Mickey and Minnie's houses.

We finally made it inside Mickey's house!!

Once we got through his house there was another smaller line to meet Mickey. They let about 5 families go into a room with Mickey at time. We ended up being the last of the 5 families which turned out to be nice because Grace got to spend more time with Mickey than the other kids.

We tried to ride a few rides but the lines were so long that we passed on most of them. Around noon we grabbed a fastpass ticket for one of the rides and our time frame to come back to ride was 9:10-9:50pm. The only ride we ended up riding only had about a 30 min. line and was a train ride which we found a little funny because the Japanese were going wild over the Indians and their teepee's!

We were able to hold Grace up so that she could watch one of the shows. To get a seat you had to be there at least 2 hours before it started.

Since Grace's favorite part of the park was meeting the characters we decided to just head to the entrance area where several of them were walking around.

She met Eeyore, the Three Little Pigs, Pluto, and POOH!

For dinner we stopped at a waffle place and had Mickey waffles!

They were very yummy!!!

Then we decided to find a seat and wait for the electrical lights parade. We took turns sitting in our spot for 2 hours but we had a great view!!

Overall we had a really good time. I am sure it would have been even more fun if we were able to ride a few more rides or meet more characters (it was hard to get a picture with the characters because the Japanese were practically climbing on them!). But Grace had a wonderful time and still talks about meeting Mickey. They had a fireworks display but we were walking to the train station and missed part of it (and Grace slept through the entire thing) but it didn't really compare to the ones we saw our last weekend in Okinawa.

Moving!!!!

WE ARE MOVING!!!!!!!!!!

We finally got an RFO (request for orders) last Saturday. Then it was off to set up a meeting to get the official orders. After we got the RFO everything else has happened QUICK. Dustin went to a meeting to see when he would get orders and the lady was prepared to type them up right then and there. However, since we are taking a little vacation in Tokyo on our way back there was a memo he had to get and have signed but his commander. So he went back with the memo the next day and had orders in hand by 9am!

Then it was off to set up plane tickets. Which, again, take a little longer since we are going to be stopping in Tokyo. We have to wait for an airline to approve a free stop-over.

And then we had to set up transportation for our household goods (HHG) and unaccompanied baggage (UB - a smaller shipment that is somewhat "express"). CHECK. Then I went to set up government appliance pick-up. CHECK. Then to give our notice to the housing agency. FAIL. With the time frame we have everything else set up they housing agency would not sign off on our papers so we can clear housing until the day Dustin is scheduled for his final out. Major fail! So it was back to square one. We changed every single pack-out date. Everything had to be moved up by 2-3 days. This means we also had to extend our time in lodging by and extra days. So as is stands now we will be living in a hotel for over 2 weeks. But on the brighter side, we MAY get our stuff (or at least some of it) before Thanksgiving :-)

So right now we have been trying to organize and sell things that we aren't planning on taking with us. None of our curtains will fit in our new house. The Japanese have some really neat rods with eyelets and the curtains have hooks that hook right on. They are SO easy to open and close. I really wish we could take them but I know I would have to find someone to alter them to fit our windows and then I would have to find a place to special order the rods. So now we need to sell 7 sets of sheer curtains and 7 sets of the decorative curtains. There are also lots of other things we are trying to sell or have already sold - AFN Dish, Dehumidifiers, rugs, recycling bin just to name a few. So now our house is starting to look a little bare (we have already taken down a few sets of curtains!) I have been keeping my calendar withing reach. There are only a couple of days between now and when we move where we have nothing scheduled. I am sure that will change!

But we are really excited about getting back close to family! I know Grace is going to LOVE having her cousins to play with too. And she is also very excited about meeting Mickey Mouse! Yes, that is right. We are taking Grace to meet Mickey before we come home. We are spending a few days in Tokyo on our way back. One of those days will be spent at Disney Land. We really haven't planned out too much of the rest of our time in Tokyo though. We do know we want to see the Tokyo Tower and the Imperial Palace. I am sure Dustin will come up with more to see and do, that just might have to wait until we get on the plane though since we are going to be BUSY from now until we leave.

I think this picture that we took of Grace last weekend at Mona Kids Jungle shows just how happy we are to be moving back to the US!