So on floor 25 in Osaka, Japan, this was the view out our windows. I'm not sure if I've told you, but the beds in Japan are just doubles, if you are lucky. Therefore, every night except for the spa night, we had 2 rooms. This made showering and stuff a little awkward because we only had on set of "stuff", so we all showered in one room or the other and just transferred the towels. Another interesting thing is that when we got to Osaka (after a 3 hour bullet train ride ~ take motion sickness tabs!) it was like a whole different world. Up until this time, we had to walk on the left side of the stairs or stand on the left side of the escalators for everyone else to be able to pass, but not in Osaka. They were the opposite. In the other cities we stayed in, they all had shampoo/conditioner/body wash dispensers in the showers to cut down on waste and plastic bottles ~ not in Osaka. And we thought it was hot in Tokyo ~ Osaka is even hotter. Despite it only being a train ride away from the other cities we visited, the salesman we spent most of our time with in Osaka said he doesn't go back home only 2 times a year and he is from Nikko where we went to the hot spa. I think of visiting relatives in the US and the worst part is having to drive, so you would think that just hopping on a train would be much easier, but perhaps it's not when you have 2 little ones (his are 3 and 1) because on the trains, they might as well line the walls with books because it's similar to a library as far as the noise level. Actually books wouldn't be a bad idea because then I wouldn't have the option to look out the windows and get sick. . .
Since we didn't spend the money to go to Disneyland and Sea, we'd promised the boys we would go to Universal Studios. Despite Chris having a pain in his chest all week, he graciously went along with a half-smile on his face (it was fake, of course, but I think I'm the only one who knew~ he was in pain). Brayton was excited to see Snoopy because a few years ago he got a Snoopy doll and he claims it's his favorite (I'm not sure how he could have a favorite because he has a banker's box at home overflowing with stuffed animals ready to move. . .)
I'm sure you all know this, but just in case ~ this globe spins around and there is fog like/dry ice floating around it the whole time.
This was in one of the gift shops we looked in for sunglasses. Don't forget them in your hotel room because once you are in Universal Studios, the only glasses we found were pink hearts and had pink lenses. Brayton was really into the movie part of Universal. Someone in Japan had mentioned their favorite ride was Jaws. Of course the boys don't know about Jaws, so we tried explaining it. Brayton asked so many questions we were getting sick of them when he finished with "I'm just asking this because I really don't understand. In the movie, do they tell the people it's a machine and not a real shark?" LOL
I'm pretty sure I was not supposed to take pictures during the Backdraft ride, but I couldn't resist (everything they said was in Japanese, so we didn't get the full effect of all the things, but the boys had fun nonetheless). Brayton thought for sure that the barrels of oil were going to explode in this one. Even the women next to me were laughing because of his reactions!
We happened to be walking down the street when this float went by, playing Wonderful World.
Brayton was watching the float and characters go by.
We ate some really bad chicken at some place, waited in line for 30 minutes to ride the Jaws ride (Bray was on the side of the boat that Jaws came up on and he couldn't believe they were shooting when people were on a ride!) and then waited another 20+ minutes to go on a water slide and then we were ready to go. Before we left, we had to get some popcorn like the stuff the little girl spilled on our seat as we were getting on the Jaws ride and right by the entrance, there were some characters taking pictures with people. Brayton wanted his picture taken with the Penguin (Chilly) so I grabbed him to get them taken because I know how they only take photos for so long and then they're gone. Bray barely walked up to Chilly and he got a big squeeze. :~)
Betty Boop was standing there too and I thought that would make a cute picture!
Of course as the characters were leaving, (practically in the building) Brayton tells me he really wanted a picture with the two woodpeckers! Well, too late now! I'm sure the people in the costumes were roasting and that's why they don't keep them out very long. We were extremely hot and had shorts and t-shirts on!
The boys thanked Chris for coming with us, despite his ailment (they are always so polite) and on our way back to our room, we picked up some items in a convenience type store in the train station (the Osaka station was at the base of our hotel). One thing Chris wanted to find were chocolate covered strawberries. We never did find them, but he did buy a cream puff and it was shared, though Bray enjoyed it the most I think. Now that I think of it, he might have just got the biggest share because after he was done, no one else wanted any. . .
By the time we had ridden in our bus ride the next day to the airport, I was ready for a nap and the flight home, so this is the end of the pictures. We flew out of Japan at 6 pm on Saturday night. We arrived in Seattle at 11 am (flight was about 10 1/2 hours) and we arrived in Minneapolis at 7 pm with the time change. It was a long day and I have to say Taite started the flight out of Japan in the worst way. He spilled his full OJ on Brayton when they were still boarding the flight. He felt terrible, but I felt even worse for Bray because he had to wear sticky socks and shorts the whole way home. I had some pants for him, but no other socks so we just put the pants over his shorts and he was okay. I don't think it could've happened to a better person, meaning that if Chris or I had OJ all over us, it would NOT have been good because we had checked all our bags and only on the flight over did we have extra clothes with us! We picked Baby up at about 9pm in Byron and couldn't wait to get to bed that night. In fact, it makes me sleepy just thinking about it now ~ oh, wait, that's because it's after 10 and I've not been sleeping well some night due to the pending move. . . Guess I should get going and I'll update you soon on the house situation.
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