The Tokyo Science Museum

The kids' had a half day last Friday, so we decided to make it a full day, pull them out of school, and go into Tokyo.  We went to the Science Museum and had a great time with all the "hands on" experiences we got to have.

 Our first exhibit was the "Space Cafe".  Not sure why they called it that because there was nothing "spacey" about it, but Ryan and Chloe were happy there was plain rice, and Callista enjoyed slurping her noodles.

 The first floor was devoted to "The History of Bicycles".  Here are Chloe and Ryan on the bike simulator.  They had to leave their home, obey all the traffic signals, and stop signs, and make it to school.  They both made it there, but not without a few casualties.  They both crashed a few times, and they both ran over the "poor old lady" who was just trying to take in her groceries.

 I am not sure what to say about this one, except that......

he wishes he had one!

 The next floor was devoted to electricity.  The kids LOVED this lightning ball, but watch out.  If you put both hands on it, you will get shocked.....we learned the hard way!

 The 3rd floor was about gases.  There was a great demo where this scientist had a torch and sprayed it with various chemicals and gases.  The kids loved watching it change colors.

However, this was the funniest exhibit. 

Here is the sign above it!

 This was below it.  YES....a statue of a baby with his bottom stuck out, and when you pushed the red button, as Callista is doing.....he tooted.  NO JOKE!!!!  I can not even tell you hard it was to get my kids' away from this exhibit, and to stop laughing about it afterwards!!!

 After the museum, we walked around the gardens and park that surrounds it.  We were on a treasure hunt for what appeared (on the map) to be a very LARGE and important rock formation.

 There were beautiful ponds and trees and walkways we enjoyed while we were on our journey for this LARGE rock formation.

 Training for this very important journey we are on....the LARGE rock, remember!

 And here it is........

What can we say!  The map made it seem all powerful, and grandious, and something of great importance.  Of course, maybe it is.....we couldn't understand the Kanji explaning it.

It was another fun day, on yet another adventure!

Tokyo Tower

 This is the Tokyo Tower. It is 333 m high.  Since its opening in 1958, the Tokyo Tower has been the world's tallest self-supporting steel tower. The Eiffel Tower in Paris is 320 m high.

The views were absolutely breathtaking.

This is famous "Rainbow Bridge".  They even race across it in "Cars 2".  Ryan knew what it was right away.  "Hey Mom...that's the bridge that's in Cars 2".  And who said cartoons couldn't be educational?

This is looking at Tokyo to the North...seriously....it NEVER ends.

Our feet overlooking from 250 meters (820 feet).  It was dizzy-ing (if that is even a real word).

 This is Chloe in front of a 7-11.  No slurpees in Japan though, just sushi, some packaged food, but mostly, a place to pay your utility bills.

A superman phone booth.

The Japanese LOVE their soft serve ice cream.  But notice the brand of the ice cream maker.....

Alfa Romeo obviously makes more than just automobiles.

And finally...heading back on the train.  It was a "sugoi" day!

That means FANTASTIC!!!

Our New Ride

As Dr. Mike Wilhelm (also our Branch President) so eloquently proclaimed:

"Congrautulations Guys.....4 years of medical school, 3 years of flight surgery, and 5 years of residency....and you get an 11 year old mini-van....Great Work!!!"

Notice the small green and yellow magnet on the front.....that indicates that we have been driving here for less than a year.  If it's up to me.....I will be keeping that on the whole 2 years.  It's kind of a

"get out of jail free" card around here, and the other drivers definitely give you more leeway!

All joking aside.....it's in great shape....gets me from one side of the base to the other.....AND...I even ventured outside the gates in it last week, and survived!

The Rollerslide Park at Kanazawa

This is Kanazawa Park!

Can you understand it?  Yeah......us neither, so we just started walking and hoped for the best!

 WOW.....it was worth the walk.  Again, the attorneys would be standing at the bottom of this park to sign people up for lawsuits back in the states....but here.....it's all in the name of FUN!!!!!

There were three rollerslides at this park.  A small one, a medium, and a big one.

Ryan tried out the small one first.

Callista and Dad demonstrated the big slide for all of us!

But this park had much more to do than just the rollerslides...check out this obstacle course built on the side of this hill!



I forgot to mention that it had been raining earlier in the day.....so I am not sure if this picture does it justice.....but these backsides are SOAKED!!!!!!!!

It was a BLAST....and Callista and Ryan have already decided exactly where they want to go for their birthdays in 4 months.....any guesses???



Back to "Gakko" Feast

This year's back to school feast was Japanese Style.  I found this great autobiography of a 10 year old boy named Tashiko.  He talked about how he got ready for school.  How he takes the train by himself and has to carry a yellow card with his name, address, and phone number on it incase he gets lost.  While at school he eats his lunch with chopsticks, and as soon as he comes home he takes off his dirty school shoes, and puts on his slippers.  To try to replicate this, the kids each got their own "yellow cards" with their info on it, a set of chopsticks, and some cute house socks!  I couldn't buy them slipppers because kids' shoe sizes are measured in centimeters, and I have no idea how many centimeters my kids' feet are!

Then we drove over to Kannonsaki Park to look for the roller slides.  Parks in Japan are quite different from the States, mostly because in the States, the attorneys would have a hey-day over the lawsuits they could conjure up over the parks.  In  Japan....it is fun over safety, you'll see why!

 Here is Callista "walking the plank" of the pirate ship play-structure (no railing, and it about 12 up in the air).  Yes.....I was nervous!

 But the Roller Slides are these massively, huge, slides...lined with rollers.  You can go down in just your plain clothes and have fun....OR....

 You can use these little sliding apparatus you buy in the Japanese stores so you can FLY down these things.

   

 For the feast...we went to a restaurant called "Family Garden".  I wish I could write in Kanji so you could see its actual name.  Paul ordered a sushi plate with Octopus on it! 

 He said it was delicious....I say Gross!  Look....you can even see the suction cups on it!

The kids and I feasted on Japanese style pizza which is made from Naan bread (delicious) and Japanese chicken nuggets, which was real white meat, and deep fried.....also delicious. 

We are officially ready for school!