Home, sweet home

Our final day in Tokyo was a long one. We needed to check out of our rental, so after breakfast we let the kids watch TV so I could pack everything up. The kids watched the Let's Go Pikachu playthrough that Kai has come to love (future gamer, no doubt), while Jad was very fortunately fixated by a Japanese equivalent of Sesame Street.

We finally got everything ready, checked out, and had the hosts hold our bags so we could explore unencumbered by luggage. Our plan was to go to the Edo-Tokyo Museum. We walked to the museum via a nearby park that we had never explored because of the heat. The park is memorial to those killed during the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923 and the Bombing of Tokyo during WW2. The kids enjoyed the pond and meandering paths. We also walked through the memorial hall which was a sad testament to the devastation caused to Tokyo by the earthquake and WW2.

We then escaped the oppressive heat and humidity by ducking into the Edo-Tokyo Museum. The museum, focusing on the history and culture of Tokyo, features a full-scale replica of the Nihonbashi Bridge and detailed miniatures. Although touted on Tripadvisor as a "good place for kids", I think they must've been referring to much older kids since the museum barely captured our kids' attention. We opted for a few photo ops with the kids instead of really looking at any of the exhibits; it seems like an interesting museum.. maybe we'll try again when the kids are older? :P

Fun photo op in the museum lobby. I have no idea what they were promoting, but the kids enjoyed it!

Impressive full-scale replicas

Transporting three kids in a palanquin is no mean feat

I got angry with Kai after he wouldn't stop being silly.. so pouty Kai is showing us how wood block prints are made

Really neat and detailed miniatures.. I wish I had had more time to look around the museum, but difficult with restless and whiny kids, so next time!

We had lunch at the museum restaurant. I have to say that the fluffy and freshly fried katsu curry that we had at the restaurant was way better than our usual grocery store katsu curry bento. :P The kids were just excited with the big bowl of fries we ordered (which was promptly devoured) and the unlimited juice.

A definite upgrade from the katsu curry bento from the grocery store

On our way back to the hostel, we wandered through a small traditional Japanese garden. It was a nice diversion and the kids enjoyed the numerous turtles in the pond, though we struggled to get Jad to take his afternoon nap. He eventually passed out in the stroller and we rewarded the kids for persevering through 90 degree heat and humidity with a Pocari Sweat.

The kids loved Pocari Sweat. Kai and Sora called it "Poo-cari Sweat" and would then laugh hysterically to themselves. Kids and potty jokes -_-

After that we picked up our bags and it was one last walk down the small road near our hostel and over the bridge that we walked across every day during our stay in Tokyo. It was a relatively short walk, but carrying luggage in the afternoon heat was difficult and both kids were fading and nearly spent by the time we made it to the subway station, but we made it!

Walking across Umaya Bridge one last time.. watch out for bicycles!

On our way home!

We arrived at Haneda Airport relatively early for our evening flight, but fortunately there were ample distractions to keep our kids amused.

There was a 7-Eleven to grab snacks (Jad is graciously sharing his ice cream with Sora in this pic)..

.. photo ops..

.. an expansive observation deck..

.. even a large RC car race track!

We had one final katsu dinner and then it was off to the gate to grab our flight home.

Started digging in before I remembered to take a picture

The flight home was much smoother than our first flight from SFO to Tokyo. On take off I got to see fireworks on the Sumida River. I've never seen fireworks from the air and I was sad that our trip just missed overlapping with a hanabi festival, so it was great to be at least able to see them from the air. The kids fell asleep relatively easily and while Jad was a bit more difficult, he slept relatively well (relative to last time :P) with Nik in the carrier.

Sora started looking tired while she was watching Tangled for the fourth time. She turned the screen off on her own, took off her headphones, and asked if she could go to sleep o_O

Kai was a bit more of a struggle.. I challenged him to close his eyes and be quiet for 10 minutes (taking advantage of his competitive streak) and he fell asleep across my lap pretty soon afterwards 

Which bring us to now. The kids are jet lagged, they've all woken up in the middle of the night for the past two nights and the first day back home, they slept in until 11 am. But we're getting back to our usual routines, we sent Jad to daycare late this morning and we finally have some groceries in our fridge, so things are starting to feel a little more normal now.

As Nik mentioned in a previous post, I'm not sure if we'll attempt another long international trip until at least 2-3 years from now; the kids are still really young. Also, we'll probably avoid travel during the summer months if we go to Asia again.. the weather at this time of year isn't the best and really put off any attempts to do any meaningful sightseeing. That said, I am proud of our intrepid little travelers and I am glad that the kids had a lot of time to visit with their grandparents and extended family in Thailand. I am also glad that our kids had a chance to be exposed to a little bit of Asian culture outside of the States. Although they are Americans, they have Asian faces and I have some guilt about not being able to pass on much Asian culture to them with my own ABC upbringing, so this is the least that I can do for them.

Hiding from the heat..

Our original plan to go to Meiji Jingu did not happen today.  Partly because Jad woke up at 5am and refused to go back to sleep and also partly because..

Yup, it was only actually 93 degrees today but felt like 111 with the humidity and since the Meiji Shrine is all outside, we decided to just keep it indoors.  Also, I think the kids wouldn't get so much out of it if they were sweating and tired.

So, we just took it easy.  I took Jad to the local Lawsons (convenience store) for some bread and milk and when Kai and Sora woke up, we watched some Japanese Sesame Street equivalent for a while in our room.  Amy then took Kai and Sora to the supermarket while Jad lay down for an early nap.  Jad woke up about an hour later and we finally headed out at about 11am.

The sweaty streets of Tokyo.  Early in the day, before the kids are too tired, they will often do things like hold hands as they walk or help each other.  Later this turns into fighting but Amy was able to capture a sweet moment here

We decided to go to "Ramen Street" at Tokyo Station, which is really just a collection of ramen shops in the station basement level.  After two trains and wandering around lost for a bit we finally found it!

How could we miss it?  There's a giant bowl of ramen prop right in front.  But, really, this station is gigantic as the crossing point of at least 5 subway lines and the endpoint of several Shinkansen trains into Tokyo proper.

Utility won over idealism, as we chose the place to eat mainly because there was a smaller line and larger space for the kids.  There were a couple places with lines around the corner and if we were kid-less then we could stand in line for 30 mins but, alas, those days are past

The ramen shop we chose seemed to specialize in anchovy (bonito?) broth.  I wasn't sure about it when we ordered but it turned out to be quite good.

Everyone is really digging into their noodles, even Jad!

We also wandered around the "Character Street" area in the station and found (yet another) Pokemon store and (more importantly) a Ghibli store!  Such cute items from the golden age of Miyazaki.  Amy got a Totoro mug souvenir :)

Then we headed home.  This is likely our last subway ride before we head to the airport tomorrow.  

Great picture, but no Jad..

That baby doesn't always look at the camera anyway :p

This evening, Amy is meeting her college friend, Mina, for dinner while I watch the kids.  I managed to get Jad to bed first while Kai and Sora got to watch a bit of TV, then got Kai and Sora to bed after a couple stories.  I don't know why these kids fight so much, they are so tired, they practically pass out as soon as they lay down for a minute.  So paradoxical these children, hopefully, not just ours.  

Yay to meeting up with old friends!

Tomorrow, our flight doesn't leave til evening so we will have breakfast, pack, leave our bags at the hotel, go to the Edo Tokyo Museum nearby, have some lunch there, head back to get our bags and finally go to the airport in the afternoon.  Jad will nap somewhere in there, likely in the carrier with me carrying him (he's been doing that a lot here in Japan.)  Hopefully the nine hour flight home won't be too bad. 

Traveling with kids is hard!

Just wanted to write a post about traveling with kids.  Don't let previous posts fool you, traveling with the kids is tough!  😒  Especially when they are so young.  They are not very flexible, complain a lot, get irritable quickly, can't walk very far, can't help with luggage (or any tasks really), can't sit still on the plane, get in your and other people's way, fight each other, etc.  There are a lot of great pictures when we can get them but, of course, we're not taking pictures of Sora when she's throwing a major tantrum or Kai when he's pushing Jad down because he's in his way.  Ugh..  This trip was definitely important because I wanted to check on my mom and how she is doing in Thailand with my dad taking care of her and how her dementia is progressing (overall, she's doing quite well) but the kids are honestly a bit too young.  That plus the heat and humidity of both Thailand and Japan on this trip really is hard on them.  They can't walk more than 5 minutes without complaining, probably rightly so because it's hard even on Amy and I.  I think our next big trip probably will be in 2-3 years.  By then Jad will be almost four, Sora nearly seven and Kai probably close to nine.  Then it'll be a whole different ballgame .. though we'll probably try to choose somewhere/time, when it's not so hot 😅. Still the trip, overall, has been worth it.  The kids learned a lot about life in other countries, different cultures, saw their grandparents and relatives, so we hope that they will take something away from this experience.  Anyway, enough ranting about the kids..

Today is our second to last full day in Tokyo.  We decided to go to Ueno Park, mainly for the National Museum of Science and Nature.  Normally, the park itself would be quite a draw as well as there are lakes to boat in and shrines to visit, but the weather remains too hot to spend much time outdoors.  Even walking to the museum, we had to stop several times so the kids could take a break.  Still, when we made it there the museum was pretty awesome (partly because it had A/C and it was only $6 per adult and kids were free!)

This was very impressive.  A big room with three large screens showing an animated timeline of 1) how the earth was formed and life started, 2) evolution of life from single celled organisms to mammals and eventually humans and 3) progression of human civilization.

Kai finally smiling after cooling down near all the animal exhibits.  

Sora likes the colorful butterflies

Jad got a picture with pine cones :p

We did take an ice cream break.  Jad didn't get his own but his siblings were kids enough to share with him.

This plesiosarus was pretty cool

And a life size blue whale at the exit

We had lunch at the museum food counter (this is where Sora had a 20 minute temper tantrum) and then saw a few more exhibits before heading out.  On the way back, we walked by a Baskin-Robbins and got some Pichachu themed ice cream.

Pokemon everywhere around here..

We then walked along the Ameyoko shopping street on the way back to the subway.  We got a little waving Neko cat for Jad (on this trip, he learned to say "kitty" and wave his hand forward and backwards.. so cute that baby.)  

Hmm, all the kids were actually looking at the camera despite their fatigue, gotta give them credit for that one..

We also chanced it at a local food establishment and had a couple chirashi bowls, one with raw fish for us and cooked salmon for the kids.  Overall, it did not go well, the raw fish was warm and too fishy, the kids didn't like the soft salmon, Jad was running all over the place.  We gave up after a bit and came home.  

Our only hope is that we don't get a stomachache..

On the way back, we stopped at 7-Eleven and got some musubi and a bowl of pre-packaged ramen (cold ingredients and noodles, a slight step up from instant dry ramen.)  Of course, the kids loved it and were slurping up the noodles and the soup.  I don't even know why we try to eat different things :p

Loving dinner from 7-Eleven

Jad also tore into the musubi.  

One more full day tomorrow!  The plan is to go to the Meiji Shrine in the morning and then return in the afternoon.  Amy is planning to meet a friend for dinner by herself(!) so I'll manage the kids through dinner and bedtime.  Fingers crossed :)