Tokyo Day #2-Disneyland

Time for Disneyland!

Except that Hazel woke up just after midnight, due to crazy time zone changing. I tried and tried to get her to go back to sleep. No go. Finally, we made the deal that I would read her a chapter and then she would go to sleep. Success! Until 4:30am. That was it for sleeping. Disneyland didn't open until 10am. Breakfast wasn't until 7am. Our room was tiny. It was a long morning.

But, we survived.

Finally, it was time for Disneyland! But first we had to cross this bridge. It was long.

 We made it!!

 Then we had to wait in line for tickets. Hazel was very excited. Not about the waiting.

 Woo!!

 The creepiest character I have EVER seen at Disney. Or any park. Seriously, why do they need such a creepy mask?!?!

Fairy Godmother of DOOM!

Friar Tucks

Robin Hood

Wilde Family

 The first ride we went on was Dumbo. It was very exciting. This was also our first interaction with the Japanese public. Hazel was, as you saw, dressed as Jasmine. She is also tiny and blonde and very pale. This was not the norm. She got a lot of tee-hees (with the hand in front of the mouth), and "so cute!" and "I picture your daughter?"

Dumbo

 Next up, teacups!

Meadow does not do teacups

No pictures, but then we went on the Haunted Mansion. It is very similar to the Haunted Mansion in California, except in Japanese. I stopped to take a picture and Hazel and Geoff were ushered into the room and the door shut. And every person around me turned, in unison, and said, "ooooohhhhhh". Awkward. They all then ushered me to the front of the queue, right in front of the closed doors. Geoff, in the meantime, loudly remarked that his wife was missing. Since we were three of six Caucasians* in the park, they knew we belonged together. The ride employee reopens the door and lets me in. I immediately trip over the chain right at thigh level. Shame was brought upon the entire family.

Next up: Toon Town!

Scariest ride at Disneyland

 The big snack in Tokyo Disney is popcorn. The first one we tried was soy sauce & butter (seen below). We also tried; strawberry, curry, black pepper, and caramel. They were all delicious. I should try to replicate them at home...

The Jungle Cruise is not as funny in Japanese. Unless you speak Japanese. Which we don't. But, we know, "The back side of water!!!"

 Still terrifying, in any language.

 Captain EO is in English, with Japanese subtitles.

 Mom is smart enough to pack a change of clothes. It is exhausting to be in character all day.

 At this point, Hazel was exhausted. We spent way too much on a sub-par meal, which she ate almost none of. Hooray for Disney! Thankfully, there were clean restrooms (who am I kidding, those are everywhere in Japan and Disney), comfy places to sit and air conditioning. Totally worth it.

 The parade was fantastic. Disney loves cute stuff. Japan loves cute stuff.

 So. Much. Cute.

 Hazel's foot did not fit in Cinderella's glass slipper. This attraction was pretty awesome and had all sorts of tech tricks.

 Best part of Autotopia (or whatever it was called, too lazy to Google). Fifteen minute wait! Boo-yah. Tokyo, FTW!

 Back to Toon Town to play on the kawaii playground.

 See those eyes?!?! That means someone is getting tired.

 Geoff too.

Electric Light Parade!

 Hazel's first time on Space Mountain. Probably also her last.

Thumbs up!

 Long, long day. But so much fun!

*I am aware that we were in Japan. But, seriously, there were practically no Caucasians. We saw a couple of white guys with Asian women, but that was about it. Saturday was a different story, we saw a few families, mostly military (based on clothes, haircuts and bags) and one stereotypical obese American couple with fanny packs.

Japan Day #1

A few misadventures before we could start our trip.

Meadow had to work before we left, and Hazel had kindergarten testing first thing. This means we were SUPER late getting out of the house. We also discovered Hazel's raincoat was way too small, and we had rain predicted every day. Geoff thought we could just "pick one up in Japan". Meadow thought we should stop at Target. Meadow won, luckily. We never saw a raincoat our entire trip. In and out of Target in FOUR minutes! I am very proud. I think that is a record.

We get to the airport maybe 31 minutes before our flight leaves. Geoff drops Hazel and Meadow off at the terminal and goes to park. Everything is going smoothly until we get the "Please see agent for assistance" message. Not good. The line is long. Our INTERNATIONAL flight is leaving. We still have security. Bogus. Turns out, you have to check in like an hour before your flight leaves. We don't make the LAX flight, no double-decker plane. 

Luckily, there is a PDX flight in just over an hour, and the PDX to Tokyo flight is wide open. Perfect. We do that, get checked in and mosey to our gate. Unfortunately, SLC-PDX is pretty full and we barely squeak on the plane. But we get on and everyone is happy. Hazel sat by two strangers (strangers!) who were super nice and helpful.

Portland is lovely and has a great airport. We buy a Japanese phrase book and some pretzels with fondue and wait for our flight. Hazel and I also raced in a deserted part of the airport. She would run on the moving sidewalk and I would run next to it. I am sure this was not safe, but it sure was fun.

Finally time for our flight and we all get Business Class! This was Hazel's first big Business Class trip and she did great. She says she likes coach better because, "you can put the armrest up and snuggle." Snuggling is great, but I would rather sleep. 

Business Class!

We watched some movies, ate some food, had some tasty beverages and napped. When we woke up, we were in Japan! And it was the next day. So technically, this was day -1 or 0. Depending on your method of counting.

My memories of arriving and security and luggage are all pretty vague. We were completely out of our element and the only way we found our bus (and deciphered how to get tickets) was a helpful kid from our flight.

Our bus ride to the hotel. FYI, this bus ride cost as much as our RT plane tickets.

We found our hotel, dropped our stuff off and went to find food. The guy at the table next to us was teaching English. He was born in Provo and raise in Hawaii. Small world.

Mister Donut

 Hazel and I shared a giant ice cream.

We wandered around. Found a little convenience store (claiming to be a grocery store, pshaw) and stocked up on snacks. Wandered more and then decided we needed to sleep.

To be continued....

Random 2011

I know it is 2012 but I still had pictures from 2011. 

Feats of strengths. (not pictured: the airing of grievances) Happy Festivus, everyone!

 Geoff went to Hazel's school field trip to the zoo. She sat on the top of the rhino.

 And the top of the safety mat. Which doesn't seem that safe. But, safer than the pictures where she is standing on the top of it and waving.

 Hazel was a witch for Halloween. We went to the costumer parade and she was adorable and awesome and witchy. She has no idea about the whole Witch Hazel thing...

 I was Medusa. And terrifying.

See you later, 2011!

The house

All I wanted for Christmas was progress to be made on the house. And, lucky for me, I got what I wanted!

Earlier in the month, just after we got home from Hawaii, we had insulation sprayed on the walls. You can kind of see it on the back wall. It is the white/yellow stuff. It was sprayed on the north and south exterior walls. We also have six of the nine new windows installed.

Geoff and Duffy got also got the two bathrooms and the laundry roomed framed in! Hooray!! And part of the ceiling done (enough to get the rooms framed)

Yeah, this doesn't look like much, but trust me, this is a pretty big step.
Another view of the same thing. You can also see the south wall with windows and spray foam.

My dad also came up this last week to install a duct and heater vent for our kitchen (and Geoff moved the world's most dangerous outlet while they were down there). Combined with the draft guard I made for the back door, the kitchen is no longer tundra-cold, just arctic-cold. Still cold, but I don't have to wear a parka when I am in there.

Now, I am just hoping the momentum continues....

Happy Birthday, Hazel!

My baby girl is six! SIX! The longest, and shortest, six years of my life. I can't imagine what my life would be like without her. I adore her and I am so happy to be Hazel's mama.

Hazel originally had crazy plans for her birthday, including a sleepover for everyone and people dressing like witches. But, then she remembered how much she loves unicorns and rainbows. And the rainbow unicorn birthday party was a go!

We had rainbow fruit. And yogurt dip clouds.

Hazel and I shopped all over for all the colors of fruits.
And rainbow vegetables. This was even more difficult than the rainbow fruits. There are NO blue vegetables. Plus, we had a lot of green veggies, per Hazel, and then I kind of ran out of room. Whatev. It is still rainbow-tastic.
Rainbow waffles! With whipped cream clouds! I originally wanted to do all six rainbow colors, but sanity prevailed. Frankly, I think three was plenty. The birthday girl agreed. She preferred extra clouds, however.
Rainbow unicorn birthday cake! Thanks to our friend and neighbor who ran home to get another candle when I only had five. Doh.
We also had plenty of rainbow decorations. This lovely rainbow in the doorway, which stayed up they entire day (and will probably stay up for quite some time). Notice the secret unicorns?

Oh, and Hazel picked some rainbow flowers. And by "picked" I mean, "at the store". She loves them and they are so on theme.
Rainbow balloons in the doorway (more secret unicorns). Balloons and streams on the ceiling. Fancy!
Hazel also created this awesome game, Pin the Unicorn on the Rainbow. One of the older (nine-year-old boy) guests asked me, "what is the point of this game?" Obviously, he does not understand small girls because they loved it and played multiple times.
Another shot of the decorations. This was all Hazel. I was just there to provide height.

And now we are spending the evening playing with the loot. And eating cake and rainbow waffles.
Hazel also got this awesome card that is perfect for the theme! So cool.
The fun and chaos of the party was awesome. Hazel has a great time, I think the other guests had a good time and, well, it only comes once a year. Thank goodness, because we are all exhausted.