We're all packed and ready to go today...

Our suitcases are all packed up and we're ready to go and enjoy our family vacation. I'll catch up with you all, when we get back! Bye you guys. : )

Throwback Thursday. August in Denver, Colorado 2008...

August 2008, Noboru and the boys and I decided to skip Hawaii that summer and head back to my home state! Denver, Colorado. 

Inside Denver International Airport. Or as we call it...DIA. Just the 3 letters.

I love this airport so much! I always know, I am home, whenever I see it. Makes me so happy!

After getting settled and stuff. We went to eat. The best thing about going back "home" versus a vacation spot... is the fact that I already know the best Mexican food restaurant...best Italian restaurant, etc etc. Best malls. You know what I mean, I hope. Noboru lived in Denver from age 15 to age 28 and 2 years in Hawaii after that until age 30. So, Denver is a place he feels so comfortable too. Noah and Bran each got a kids plate. A bean and cheese tostada and a side of rice and beans. Noboru a smothered burrito.

A happy Branden...

I had the huevos rancheros.

Just relaxing at one of the amusement parks, Denver has 2. Denver has 1 new expensive modern... wait all day in line... amusement park. And this old amusement park too... this is super cheap, all you can ride for like super cheap and there is no waiting in line and the people are just super chill here. We always go here. The boys having a cherry Icee because well...that's what Denver people do in summer.: ) 

There's my Icee next to my backpack. Having fun kiddos? : ) I went here all the time, when I was Noah's and Branden's age too. I love this place! : )

Is grandpa steering or is Branden steering? Hahaha! And see that ride in the background, absolutely zero wait in line. I love this place!

Stocking up and buying clothes on the cheap! : )

Homemade pasta and ravioli at an Italian place I have been going to since I was a kid. 

I know Japan thinks they are the country of onsen and hot springs! But many states in the USA also have the gift of natural hot springs too. Colorado is full of natural hot spring places! I grew up since I was a wee baby being taken to the hot springs. In Japan...sometimes Japanese people will ask me. Have you ever been to Hakone (famous for hot springs)? I smile and say yes. They will then say..."don't you love Japan for the hot springs?" Yes...I will politely answer...*however* did you know my state...Colorado is famous for hot springs too? In fact I grew up going to soak in hot springs my whole life. With snow all around the mountains while soaking in a hot spring. They are always super *duper* surprised hearing that. But yes it is true. : ) I do come from a fantastic state that has natural hot springs all over it. Granted us westerners... aren't too keen on soaking butt naked hahaha...but hot springs soaking, yes we do that too. : ) 

This hot spring is so hot. Your whole body feels so relaxed after wards. The lobby has a sign with all the minerals in this hot spring that are good for your body and skin. : )

Having gone here since I was a toddler. I know to get a hand stamp before leaving the hot springs. So we can re-enter the hot spring at night. : ) We stopped for some ice-cream and some lunch. Told ya...swimming sure makes a person hungry. : ) Dairy Queen...we sure do love you! : ) 

An early dinner after some sight seeing for the kids. And then back to soak. Pizza Hut and breadsticks are always nice.

Family...let's soak until we're all wrinkly and shriveled like raisins! Hahaha. At night in August the mountain air is cold and crisp and the contrast to the hot water...feels so nice. : )

At my auntie's house. She has fantastic peach trees, apple trees, 2 varieties of apple trees. 

My aunties back porch. See that fire pit in the table there. Perfect to roast marshmallows and just talk and enjoy your family.

Yes we need lots of seats because I have a big extended family. : ) 

And my family is very Roman Catholic. 

Our last night in Denver. We went and ate at my favorite restaurant one more time. 

It's so fun going to Denver. This will always be considered my home. My birth place. The placed I was born and raised. I love Colorado people. Colorado people are so nice. So cool. So friendly. I have a whole lot of family there who love me...love Branden...love Noah and Noboru too. : ) So yes...it is super hard leaving. Arriving in Denver is super easy. It's the leaving part that's hardest. If you have ever lived overseas....you will understand my words. And understand what I'm saying. I rarely get to Denver. Every 3-4 years maybe. So when I land in Denver and the pilot always says..."welcome to Denver." I cry. I cry because it is so good to hear that. So not hysterical psycho crying nonono. Just a few happy silent tears. While looking out the window. So no one else.. can see or know. When I fly out of Denver...I always cry for a minute or two too. Because it's pure heart break for me. I never know when is the next time...I can go back. Maybe 3-4 years. So sad tears. Very very sad tears. Again...not psycho loud hysterical crying. Just a few very sad silent tears during take off. And no...I don't want anyone to know or see. After an hour in flight...my funk goes away. And I am back to my peppy ol' self. But yes...leaving is so hard, isn't it. : )  Anyway...that was this week's TBT of 2008. I have been back to Denver since this. But that was in November 2013. Anyway happy TBT everyone. I will not be able to do my TBT for next week. Since I will be on vacation in the states. We leave this Saturday. Am I happy? Heck yes. I so need this trip you guys. The kids are packed, I packed them up 2 days ago and today I went and bought the kids some snacks for the airplane. I will pack myself up this evening after supper. Noboru is getting excited about our trip too. : )  

Throwback Thursday. Bangkok Thailand, August 2012...

August 2012, our family took a vacation to Bangkok, Thailand. I took these few pics of our hotel room after we first checked in. Our hotel we stayed at was *so* nice. Super nice actually. And our room was so comfortable. The door to the right in this pic is our bathroom, it was nice and big with plenty of space, the blinds you could close if you wanted privacy while in the shower or if you were using the toilet. But honestly, we just kept the blinds like that the whole time. Our room was nice and spacious. You can see the couch the kids were sitting on. And the fridge area on the right of Bran.

Noboru's and my bed while we were in Bangkok. 

A nice smaller-ish flat screen TV. We were out sight seeing every single second of the day while there. So we didn't need a huge TV or anything. And space for our luggage. : )

Just relaxing. You know...that happy feeling after you arrived to your destination while on vacation. : )

Our bathroom. Again super modern. Very cool sink. Super clean. We were so happy with our hotel stay. Nice big fluffy towels. Even a mirror for putting your makeup on. You can see the round mirror towards the left. So many nice toiletries too.

A massive shower. With a seat. This is definitely a shower for 2 people. And robes on the right hand corner... of this pic. Again, our stay here was so luxurious. We definitely felt pampered while being at this hotel. : )

The kids private room. Our suite was really nice. The kids loved their private room. Which was inside our hotel room. We picked the family suite. 

It was bright and cheerful. See the remote on the table. They also had their own phone. 

I was standing in the kids bedroom taking a pic of their own TV. While Noah was on the couch and you can see our bed in the background. So we didn't book 2 separate rooms. We picked a hotel suite with a kids room and a regular adults room inside too. So our room was a suite and it was an actually... really big room.

Breakfast our first morning in Bangkok. Loved the thankful Ronald pose. So had to snap a pic of that.

There were areas like this all over Bangkok. Where you could pray and pay respects and what I loved about it was that. Young people showed respect, old people. Didn't matter rich or poor, young or old. They all had such respect. I truly dug that about Bangkok.

How was the weather? Okay imagine Japan's hottest most record breaking type of hot steamy sauna type day and multiply it by 2. That was the weather when we were there. Bran and the MBK center behind him. We shopped inside there. Wow that was so fun!

Dairy Queen. I come from the land and country of Dairy Queen, so we were very happy to see Dairy Queen. And given the exchange rate. It was so cheap. 

Vanilla twist with chocolate dip and sprinkles. About 35-40 yen each. It was like...wow. With prices like that. We have to get one. : )

We adults picked hot fudge sundaes. About 80 yen. Again, given the price, why the heck not. And given we were either walking everywhere (IE Flintstone-ing it everywhere or training it, everywhere and given the weather, why not cool down anyway ya can)

That backdrop. I had to take a pic. It's truly things you have never seen in your life...and smells you have never smelled in your life. So it's your 1 big chance. So, I took so many pics while there.

Fresh super sweet fruit was EVERYWHERE. And a bag of it cost like 30-40-50 yen. So we ate fruit every chance we got. We had fresh pineapple a few times a day and fresh mango and fresh watermelon. Whenever any of us felt hot or a tad hungry we looked for another fruit seller and there was always plenty of stands all over selling fresh fruit. 

The traffic. The crazy driving. Again it's a different culture, different rules. We must respect. And just observe. 

The night stall/stands selling stuff. There was also day time stalls and stands too. But they did multiply at night. 

This fried chicken. This smelled so good. We watched for a few minutes to see what he was giving to each person before we stood in the line. That is rice in the pot. He made rice and fried chicken. 

We ordered 3 sets of chicken and it came with little bags of rice and chicken breasts. And see the sauce on the pic up above. It was such a good sauce. 

Like 70 yen each of the meals. We were so full after that. It was so delicious. 

Noboru meanwhile was waiting for this. He loved this rice and chicken dish. About 70 yen. 

We loved Bangkok. We learn so many things while traveling. The only "problem" we had while there is....their drinks. Their drinks are so overly too sweet. Insanely sweet. When we went to Mc Donald's we ordered a soda and it was so sweet. Like twice the sweetness of Japan or America. And while walking for days. We of course went into a convenience store many times. First time we all grabbed a Lipton 500ml tea. We have these in Japan and the US. This one was so sweet. Our kids couldn't drink it. I couldn't drink it. Noboru tasted it and said...gross! It was like and no I am not exaggerating...it was like someone threw 5 gum syrups in the 500ml of Lipton tea. It was super weird. We tried various tea brands so it wasn't just Lipton Bangkok. It was at McD's. All over. We went into a supermarket. We looked for unsweetened teas and found none. We looked for jasmine tea. None. Mugicha found none either. Again we're not expats moving to Bangkok, we were just on vacation. I'm sure if we would have spent a week looking we could have found some. But we didn't have the time to look for drinks. But in a nutshell. Don't buy sodas there unless you want to go into a sugar coma. And forget all teas too... unless you also want to go into a sugar coma. So we just drank bottled water the entire trip. And yes drinking plain old water does get boring. Kids were missing their mugicha and I was missing my jasmine tea. But alas....we did drink bottle water the entire time. So that is my only tidbit of info I can share.  So thought, I would pass that along. Which is why you see us at Starbucks in this pic. We were drinking a lime drink or something. It was not sweet at all and we loved these. And actually drank these once a day as a treat while there. Just to break up... the monotony from the bottled water 24/7 our entire time so the drink at Starbucks was a nice once a day treat. If I am ever in Bangkok again...I will definitely pack jasmine tea with me or jasmine tea bags with me and stuff them into the 500ml bottles of water. 

About to catch the train. Their trains are really nice, super clean and right on time.

On a boat. 

Houses.

I can tell you are missing your 2 front teeth Noah-chan!

I can totally see you are missing your front 2 teeth!

So pretty! We got to do all sorts of touristy things. 

This chain ice cream shop comes from America. And Branden's huge hot fudge sundae with whip cream and a cherry on top was about 90 yen or 90 cents US. 

Noah's was about 30-40 cents. 

Mine was about 170 yen or about a buck seventy five $1.75 US. Again given the exchange rate. I clearly remember Noboru telling/whispering to me..can you believe all our ice creams cost about 350-400 yen total. He was so happy about how cheap things were for us. : )

We ate lots of ice cream while in Bangkok given the cost/price. And we ate tons of fresh fruit daily. And drank tons of bottled water. Hahaha. : ) We also ate many street foods. And our hotel had an excellent dinner buffet that we enjoyed one or two of our nights...while there too.

I am so glad that our kids have the gift of travel. For them to be able to say I've been to New York. California, Hawaii, Washington state, Oregon, Minnesota many times. Denver tons of times. Utah. Wyoming, Nebraska. South Korea. Bangkok Thailand, Guam, Saipan, Japan and the list goes on. To see and know... there is not 1 specific way to live, but many ways to live. And that there are many languages on this earth. And everyone matters. Everyone is important. To respect and love all people. Travel teaches those things.  Giving our kids the gift of travel. And the gift of *experiences* that they will remember for a life time...truly so important. : )

This was the boat locals rode. They had boats for tourists too. The difference? The cost. Also the tourist boats were in English too. So it helped. And the tourist boats were still like a under a dollar, so super cheap too. 

More houses.

Gorgeous.

Going back to our hotel room to freshen up. 

In Bangkok there are 2 extremes. And it's impossible to pretend and act like you don't see it. It's there. You see it every day while there. There were people begging on the street daily. A woman and her baby wearing only a diaper begging. Another was a child Noah's age and she begging and it really touched a nerve in Noah because he's so sensitive you guys. He worried for hours thinking of that little girl who was the same age as him. So while you see extreme poorness, you also see extreme wealth. In America or Japan it's sometimes harder to see the differences, do you know what I mean...I mean... even though we know there are differences there, it's harder to see but in Bangkok it was an obvious gap.  Here we were at the mall getting dinner one night. I snapped all these pics to share with you. Here we have Krispy Kreme. 

See Subway at the left back and Hagaan Dazs on the right. The wealthy or middle class Bangkok folks are in here. 

Mos Burger... perfect if you are on vacation from Japan. : )

Noah had the KFC. 

I had a footlong veggie and cheese sandwich. No chips or anything else. See that large lemonade from Auntie Anne's pretzel shop. See...we didn't want any sodas or tea. Bran had a Subway sandwich too and chips and a cookie.

And Noboru had a local meal from a very nice restaurant in the food court. All our meals combined were half that of what we would have paid in Japan. 

Uniqlo. 

This mall was huge and beautiful. We had been inside quite a few malls while there. We walked back to our hotel.

At the airport before flying back to Japan. Again, I'm so thankful and grateful for this experience of going to Bangkok, Thailand. And checking it out. Seeing it with my own two eyes. And so happy the kids could see, visit and experience another country. And see the very cool people who live there. And eat and try new foods. And just...gain some new experiences. Very cool! : )