Super Angie...hello from Tokyo

After literally traveling and being awake for 40 hours, we were able to go to sleep last night, in a bed, at got 7 hours of sleep. Take that Jet Lag!Our adventure started Thursday when we met my dad at the airport. He was coming to watch Tan while we are gone. He showed up and Tan got really excited. She was dancing around and smiling. When it was time to say goodbye, she actted a bit strange--had her finger in her mouth, which isn't usual, and then we all hugged and kissed her goodbye and my dad held her up so we could wave as we went through TSA. The she told Pop, she wanted to "go", so off they went before we had even been in line for 2 minutes! She skipped away, happy with life!Over all, the big flight went great. Our flight crew were AWESOME and they loved the boys. We sat, RICK, DALLIN, ME, BRENNAN. Brennan and I did some teacher time, where I helped him with a Kindergarten workbook. He did GREAT until he wanted to do some dot-to-dots. By then, I wasn't feeling patient, and he was very tired, although he didn't know this. So I read to him and then he went to sleep...on my lap. He slept for 4-5 hours. It made it hard to get up and use the bathroom, but I'm glad he slept. Dallin played his DS for most of the time and watched a few movies. Over all, a great flight!We landed in Tokyo full of energy and wanting to get some good stretch in our legs. We had an hour and a half before our next flight. Rick changed money, bought water and took the boys to the bathroom. Everything was fine.Our next flight was un-eventful and we all napped for the first 3 hours or so. NICE! This time I sat by Rick and Dallin and Brennan played nicely with each other and watched movies.

Landing in a new city always makes me excited. It was the middle of the night, so we couldn't see outside. I was a bit stressed about Brennan sneezing or sniffing because of Allergies. They passed out all this information about being sick and blah blah blah. I was nervous that he might sneeze or something as we watched by all the immigration people, but he did just fine. No one was taken away to the hospital and put in Swein flu quarentine, so we were happy.As we were getting our luggage, we could see Mark and Fenny through the class. The kids waved and Mark took pics. Eventually I let Brennan run out to Mark even though we were still getting our luggage. Dallin helped Rick get the bags (hes such a big helper!) and then he too ran to Mark. It was great to see them again and to introduce Fenny to Rick. Hugs were exchanged and last minute reminders about clothes and such (although I completely forgot to give them the bag of emergency clothes I had taken on the flight--the "oops, Brennan spilt all over himself and I need to change him" clothes). Oh well.

We said goodbye and all went our seperate ways. I was sad to leave my boys. :(
Singapore airport ROCKS...just not at 1am. Everything was closed including the ticket counters, so we had to lug around our luggage until they opened at 4am. We ate at a fun little coffee shop, got a good workout walking briskly with our luggage and window shopped. We were first in line to check in and then go through security. Thats when the fun began...the other side of security was full of great shops and resturants, including a Hard Rock Cafe! BUT nothing opened unti 6am and thats when we were boarding. :( But we had fun window shopping, found some things we want to buy on our way out (for Christmas and birthday gifts) and dreamed about the new Burburry purse I saw. Oh yeah, and we ate. :)

Our flight back to Tokyo was fine. It was relaxing to just sit by Rick and not have to take care of anyone. No food to cut. No napkin to place on laps. No reminders of not fighting and all that. But I missed the boys and missed Tan and started crying when my mind played tricks on me that the plane was going down and we would all die and the boys and Tan would never see each other again. :( I took a nap for the first hour until the VERY RUDE flight attendent dude woke me up. He really did not like me the whole flight and was so rude to me. I'm sure glad I don't walk around my life with that sour look on my face!

I fell asleep again the last 5 minutes before touching down. Seriously, I was looking out the window and saw the ground getting closer and suddenly BAM...I was asleep!I was mostly awake after we got our luggage and were out in the main terminal. Then I got wide awake with excitement. WE ARE HERE! We took the train into town. The first 30 minutes I was giddy. I LOVE this train ride. I remember it so clearly from last time we came. The country side is gorgeous. Such pretty hills and farm land. The villages are darling. It was a bright and sunny day and so nice. I w as very very happy to be in Tokyo. Then there were all the super fun people watching to be done. I LOVE Japanese school girls. They crack me up. One thing...its not fair that Japanese ladies look gorgeous 24/7, no matter what they are wearing or if they have their hair done or makeup on. I think they are just stunning.

After 30 minutes, I couldn't make my eyes stay open. I would sleep for 2 minutes and jerk awake. Look around and dooze off. 2 minutes and repeat. I needed food badly. I couldn't function and the train was actting like a baby cadle...rocking me to sleep!

We arrived at Ueon Eki station where we needed to change trains. I woke up as soon as we got off the train and was hyper. The people. The fashions. The Japaneses written everywhere. I LOVE IT!

We had to walk outside and cross a street with about 100,000 other people and go to the connecting trainstation. First on our list...bathrooms. While Rick went, I people watched. Now, I'm not sure was what going on yesterday, but almost every girl was dressed in a Kimono and the boys were dressed up too. Some fancy. Some just a cheap kimono (like my halloween one). BUT SO FREAKING CUTE. We knew that at dark, there were going to be a HUGE fireworks show over the river. We were planning to. Maybe everyone was dressed up for some holiday?

After I used the bathroom, we decided to go to the Hard Rock Cafe at the trainstation. YEA! The food woke me up and I was full of life again. Yummmm....

We then took our train to Shinjuku. Now Shinjuku is the busiest subway station in the world, seeing more then 3 million people daily go through it. And guess what...all 3 million were there last night when we arrived!!!!Now, for some reason, God has blessed me with a really good sense of direction and an even better memory for places I have been before. I can visit a foreign city once and then come back years later and know where to go. So was the case mostly for the Shinjuku station. But take into account both of us being tired and sore, grumpy and having read conflicting things and well...it was pretty. Words were exchanged and bad looks given. Rick and I were not happy with each other. Then suddenly a scary thing happened. This guy came up to Rick to help with directions. But something wasn't right. It wasn't just another nice Japanese fellow wanting to practice his English. He was telling us info that wasn't correct. I walked away in the hecticness, but Rick wasn't able. In the end, he got away from the guy and we went to our hotel. Eventually we stopped fighting and enjoyed our evening. We were both soooo tired.

We went out for a walk and heard some drums. We found a HUGE festival happening with all these dancers and drummers and it was so cool. Then at one point, audience members went on stage and started dancing...so of course I joined them! It was awesome!!

We finished our night at AM/PM buying some drinks. I have bad luck with Asian chocolate milk. In Singapore, I bought a carton with a brown cow on it. Looked like chocolate milk. Nope--chocolate coffee! Then last night, i bought a carton called MILKITTY. It had Hello kitty sitting in a cup of chocolate milk. NOPE. It wasn't chocolate milk--it was chocolate black tea! And finally, I bought a cartoon of chocolate mint. It was actually chocolate milk with mint flavoring...not too bad, but not what my taste buds were wanting. Oh well.

I feel alseep as soon as I laid down and didn't wake up until 5am. Good deal!

HAPPY TRAVELS!
--Super Angie