Japan

Hi! We made it to Japan! Did I mention we were going? I forget. I meant to make a few schedule posts for while we are gone but I got too busy packing/working/etc. I will try to update a little since we have wifi at the hotel. 

TBT

A little throwback Thursday to Oct. 2012 in Japan because we go back in less than 2 weeks!

 

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Japan 6

Our second to last day we went to the Asakusa temple. It was packed! Outside of the temple there was a market. It was just opening and wasn't as crowded yet so we were able to get a kimono for Elinor and a couple of gifts for our family. 

 we walked a little bit away from the temple to take a family picture. Then I realized behind us there was a wedding party taking pictures too.

 Then next to that there was a monkey show. We woke Elinor up for it. We felt torn about watching this. We felt sad and sorry for the monkey but his relationship with the woman seemed sweet. 

 a little girl from the wedding was walking around and we asked to take their picture. How adorable is she??

Our last day we did more shopping and looking at shops. Our trip was so much fun and traveling that far with Ellie was way easier than I thought it would be. The only thing that was awful was the jetlag she had! Coming home it was even worse. She is just now starting to get back into her normal sleep schedule. 

Japan is so amazing. Everyone is so nice and happy. Everything is so clean. When our flight got to LA for our layover, I was immediately sad how rude people here are. There is more respect there for babies and elders. There are special seats on the trains for pregnant woman, people with babies, injured people and elders. No one ever gave us dirty looks on the train if Ellie yelled out. Here I get death stares just by walking on the train in the mornings. 

After a couple days of being there and feeding Ellie (covered) in public I started to realize no one else was nursing in public. I got nervous that I shouldn't be doing it so I googled it. I read a couple places that it is fine to do but many people don't. There are feeding rooms in every place we went. At Disney, the museum, at the mall, the airport... Everyplace had dressing room type rooms. Some were small with a curtain between each seat. Some were huge with cribs, changing tables, comfy seats for moms and soft music playing. It was kind of nice especially for a nosey baby like Elinor. She could eat and not be distracted. 

I would love to go back again sometime and go to the country. I can't wait for more vacations and adventures with this little family of mine!

Japan 5

We wanted to go to a museum while we were there to see some Japanese history and culture. I didn't know how it would go bringing a 10 month old but she did good. I let her crawl around a lot and try to walk which kept her entertained. 

 watching a sword tricks

model of Tokyo in the Edo period

Samurai armor and reading to Elinor 

Model of an upper class estate from the Edo period

 portable shrine used in parades

Model of an Edo period bridge into Tokyo

Life-sized recreation of a Kabuki show

 She met a new friend. Elinor is used to being around kids so she went right up to the little girl and grabbed at her. The little girl cried. 

Only one more day of Japan pictures after this! Sorry it is taking so long. It has been easier to go through all of our pictures day by day. 

Japan 4

Hope everyone had a great Halloween! Now back to our Japan trip...

Again we woke up super early but I was too excited to care. We were going to Disney!!

 I was so excited it was decorated for Halloween

 We were worried it would rain a little but realized when we got there that Main st was covered. We were lucky though and it didn't rain all day.

 For their parades, they have people sit down. How smart is that?? They ask everyone to fold up their strollers and sit for the first few rows. 

 She loved the parade! and we still can't get the song they sang out of our heads. 

 They had vacation bears there. It was hilarious. They went on vacation to America and the songs (like achy breaky heart) were mostly in Japanese. Then we found another parade. This time we were in the back but with the first rows sitting we didn't have any problems seeing.

 Only guy we got to meet

We got to go a a couple of rides but It's A Small World was closed for some reason. Elinor had so much attention and loved it. People were taking her picture anytime we sat her down again. Right before we left we made it into the castle. Inside was artwork all about Cinderella. Some of it was so pretty. At the end you came into a room with a huge princess chair and the glass slipper. 

One sad thing was they didn't have 1st visit pins like world and land. She has one from each and we were hoping for a Tokyo one to add. We noticed they had birthday stickers though so we got her one of those. Besides that and there being barely any vegan food it was a perfect day!