tokyo

Since we've flown in and out of Narita airport at least a dozen times but never left the terminal, we decided to have our farewell to Asia (for now) in Tokyo. We held a going away party for Eliot and her friends Friday night and woke up Saturday morning at 4 AM to go to the airport. 

We landed in the afternoon and headed to our apartment. I rented us a VRBO that was two bedroom. I know space is a luxury in Tokyo so I thought I had gotten a great deal, turns out two bedrooms is not necessarily a standard space measurement. Our entire apartment could easily have fit inside Eliot and Violet's bedroom in Bangkok. After finding out that Japan is not tropical and the only long pants Violet owned are pajama pants, we tricked our kids into eating octopus and paid Eliot to try the "tear wasabi" sushi roll. We were off to a stellar start. 

 Eliot was pretty bummed about leaving her friends and disappointed to not be in Utah with her cousins. When I was planning our trip I kept asking her what she wanted to do in Japan and she always said, "Go to Utah." I bet her five dollars that by the end of the trip she would say she was glad we went to Japan. After Sunday she was still not convinced about Japan. Turns out she's not a big Swallows fan. Maybe because after spending a small fortune on Swallows gear, we refused to buy her the celebratory umbrella.

Sunday night we told our kids the next day we were going to an Art museum (what they had picked out to do from the Tokyo tourist pamphlet) and the first one asleep got to pick out the first exhibit we visited. It worked so well--they were excited but not too excited to fall asleep--the next morning as we rode the train over to actual intended destination (Tokyo Disneyland) we were concerned they might be disappointed. So we told them we had changed our minds and we were going to another baseball game. 

Mission accomplished. They were thrilled when our train station had no ball field and even more excited when it turned out to be Disneyland. 

 Tokyo Disneyland is crowded and there are lines. But I didn't mind because it is filled with incredibly polite people with the excitement level of seven year olds. There were at least four parades during the day and they all had people camping out to watch it. Pooh Bear's Honey Hunt sold out of fast passes in the first hour and Mickey Mouse had an hour+ line of adults waiting.

We opted to ride Autotopia way too many times.

 Violet at the prospect of going on Dumbo.

 Violet and Eliot entertained themselves in line with the classic paper, rock, scissors.

 Photo by Eliot of Eliot the dragon.

 Nothing wipes kids out like Disneyland. Rocky carrying Winston and Violet back to our apartment after they both crashed on the hour long train ride. Winston also got stuck wearing Violet's jacket, which in combo with his man bun and beautiful features, made him look like a total girl.

 Sleeping in the second bedroom, which was essentially just a bed.

 The next day we headed out for the traditional activity of finding role-polies before heading to the airport to go the USA.

Overall, we loved Japan. I loved the food and the ease of the trains but my favorite part was every time I pushed a button on a door and it slid open, I felt like I was in the future. A future where everyone has impeccable manners and wears a lot of navy blue.