Branden is having his first, overnight school trip next week! : )

It's pretty common in Japan, but it came as a pretty big surprise to me last year. But, I gather for the last class in kindergarten to take an overnight field trip is an actually pretty common thing to do here in Japan. In Japanese it's called, otomari hoiku. Lucky for me, I had a whole year to get used to the idea, ha ha ha. And for the record, I went on a weekend camping trip in the 6th grade in the US with my school class. But for me, being a loving and yes admittedly a bit overprotective at times. Sending my 5 year old on an overnight trip was a bit hard on me and it hasn't even happened yet. Ha ha ha. Branden has never spent a night alone without me except once. Even when I had Noah in the hospital, Branden and Noboru were allowed to stay in my big private room and they did spend every night with me, except one. But at least I knew B was with Noboru, so I felt completely comfortable with it. And now...B will be without me or Noboru, so I feel a bit nervous about it. Oh well. And please nobody pick on me for being/feeling overprotective and worrying a bit. Anyway since I knew it was going to happen at the end of June, I have been eagerly awaiting the list of what Branden needs to bring. The list came to me at the start of last week. And Noboru read it to me aloud, meanwhile I wrote on my own notepad in English, what I needed to pack and make sure B has. Ugh, even reading the note or translating it can be a pain in the butt, huh? Ha ha ha. Anyway, the list was pretty simple and everything we already had.

Just said, stuff like toothbrush and cup and bag for cup. Okay we have that and don't need to buy a new one obviously. What we have is enough already. He needs to go wearing his gym uniform. Okay fine. And he needs to bring a towel since they will be at a public bath/sento and all the boys will be washing while the teacher supervises. So B needs to bring a wash cloth, a hand towel and a body towel for drying up. Okay, check, check and check. We have that stuff and again don't need to buy anything new. What he already has, is what I will pack for him. And it said to bring a regular pair of clothes for the next day and a pair of PJ's. Okay we have that. And it said..."do not pack tooth paste or shampoo or soap" okay, okay they will use what's at the sento. And finally they said he needs his "towelket" I was like...towelket? What's a towelket? Crap, I thought I was done with everything. Stop right there! Ha ha ha. I asked Noboru about it and he said. "you know those great big towels my mom (Mitsuko) uses as blankets in the summer time in Osaka?" and I said yes. He said that is a towelket. I said, okay. I went to the shopping complex nearest me and went into about 3 different shops. They had nothing much. Pokemon, but B isn't into Pokemon. Mushiking, okay B isn't into him either. I asked the ladies at swimming school about it, last week. They told me a lot and helped me greatly with all the advice they shared. I'll share what they told me. If it helps someone, then I'm happy. Again it's their advice, not mine. So, as I sat at the swimming club with 3 other moms, I asked about the towelket. That sent them spinning about a million miles a minute. One translated to English for me, which helped. She said this. "Towelkets" for kids come in 2 main sizes width wise. The 80 CM size. Which can range from 80-85 cm width. But she said, this width is just for naps! And the others moms all clucked back and forth and yup, yupped, each other. Jiminey crickets I didn't know this, I said. I thanked them and then they went on. And I listened ever so closely, ha ha ha. Get the 100 CM widths and more they said. Ranging from 100-110, and even some are 130, CM widths. These are for sleeping at night and also for naps. "Bigger covers smaller", they all seemed to agree. They all clucked in agreement and I listened. Ugh huh! Geeze, again I had no idea. I said, thanks! It helped. Next day I went to Nishimatsuya and checked the towelkets. The ladies words were still ringing in my head as I looked. "Not the 80 cm ones unless it's just for napping." I swear could here them all clucking this as I shopped. Ha ha ha. Good thing they told me, because most of them were 80 and 85 cm ones. So, I didn't buy one. I ended up buying one online. I found Branden one I knew he would like. It's a Stitch one. Stitch is a boy. And they live in Hawaii and Branden is a boy and he came from Hawaii, so it was fitting, ha ha ha! The width was right, thanks to the advice from the helpful yochien moms. Phew, I tell ya, who knew? Ha ha ha! I sure as heck didn't, not until last week! Ha ha ha! : )

Here's the size on this. 110 width times 150 CM length.

It came obviously brand brand new, with tags still on it. It's nice and big. And frankly I am going to let the boys use these all summer long and sleep and nap with them on the couch and on the bed. Summer blanket, I know most of us in Japan use them and/or like them, heck I always liked going to my MIL's and using them in summer! But heck, I never knew the proper name of them. LOL. But now I do, ha ha ha. We will be using them in our house, in summer from now on. I bought one for Noah as well, but his is a different character. But I got Noah's in the same type sizing. Oh and the note from the yochien also said to make sure everything has their names on it. So, I imagine this weekend, I will be stitching or sewing Branden's name on this towelket and then washing and drying it all up. Oh and yes the towelket has to go in a bag. LOL. I don't have a towelket bag per say, but I think I have something that will work and I already have it so woohoo!. : )

The start of my big *big* clean up week! Phew! : )

I want to go up in my attic this week. It's pretty clean anyway. But things do accumulate, it happens to the best of us! But I told myself, before the extreme summer heat hits Japan, I wanna get all my big jobs/tasks outta the way! So, gulp, this is my week. No computer usage for me this week, at all really. Just super tiny snippets here and there. But really no time for it this week, unfortunately, which is why I am now back blogging. Ha ha ha. But hey...I still wanna blog about it, which is why I am late. But hey, better late then never, so they say! : )

These 2 first pics are when we were at "the dump". Doing what? Well, dumping some stuff that we didn't want to wait around 100 years for that certain specific trash day for. If you live in Japan, I'm sure you know what I mean. Because throwing trash in Japan can be tricky! Ha ha ha, so we just headed here to be done with it, in one fell swoop! : )

There is Noboru dropping off 2 of our oldest suitcases. These suitcases had seen better days, I am telling ya! One had a broken wheel. The other had a broken zipper and they sat and sat in the attic forever and a day it seems. But since I do a big attic clean up, twice a year, today they were outta here! Bye suitcases, you were well loved and used. Thanks! : )

What is behind that door with the letter "O"? An incinerator!

This has no deep meaning to be here really. I just snapped it while we were driving to our next stop right after leaving the dump. Around here, we have, Narita and we also have "Narita New town." Same with Chiba and then we also have Chiba New town. I talk about "Chiba New Town" since I mention we go there a lot. But yup, I am not going mad/crazy, lol. There really is a place called...Narita New town and also Chiba New town. Ha ha ha : )

Next stop, selling the clothes Noah-chan outgrew. All the 12-18 mos and 18-24 mos had to go! Otherwise it just clutters up the place. As some of you know. My first thing I do when Noah outgrows clothes is I call up or email my foreign gal pals in Japan with little boys younger then Noah. They get first dibs. If anyone wants anything, I send pics, or just send them a box of stuff. I've usually send things to about 3 girlfriends of mine this way and I prefer this way best. I prefer giving things to friends, because if I can't use it and they got little bubs who could use it, that's great and best to me! However many times, they don't need stuff. They either got their own stuff or have enough which is fine. And then I do this, #2. I sell things locally. Which is what I did today. And if they don't want something, then fine too, I sell online #3. But either way. I get rid of out grown clothes. I do. And of course the stuff Branden outgrows, I save for Noah to use in the future in plastic storage boxes. I had this box of summer stuff to sell today. I called before I left this morning and I also have a box of winter stuff but they said they only want summer stuff. So, it's fine...the winter stuff I will totally sell online this week, then no problem.

They took the entire box! I was sure they would though. All name brands. No staining. They gave me, 8,000 yen. Not a fantastic price, but okay. I have that 8,000 yen put into the boys clothes fund now. It's now in an envelop for their clothes. I will use that towards their fall clothes when October rolls around. Ahhh! It does feel good to recycle this way! It really does. And the money can be used on their future clothing purchases come winter time. Again, might not work for anyone else and I am not advising it to, but heck it works for my family! : )

Hanamasa is literally right next to the kids recycle clothes shop, so I just walked from that store to Hanamasa. And got some frozen broccoli and frozen green beans for obentos. Also good for regular dinner, when I haven't had time to get fresh veggies. Also got a small jar of dill pickles. Sour ones, great for grilled cheese. Yumm! : )

We drove home in enough time to pick up B from the bus stop. And then, I went home. We were all sorta tired, but I made tacos anyway. I made ground beef ones and also chicken ones. Complete with sour cream and everything. It was pretty good. Again not very authentic, I'm sure. But tasted just like Taco Bell, ha ha ha! Yumm! : )

We will be busy all week long with the attic and rearranging of things. Sigh, ha ha ha! Oh well! I'll be happy when it's over! : )

The pre-Father's day, fitness day at our school! : )

You can see the kids hair cuts in the pics above. Noah's is still long and shaggy as usual. But now it's just a bit shorter, ha ha ha. As for Branden's, I wanted them to just clean his up a bit, but not really cut any length but they cut off too much length for my liking. I wasn't too happy about that. But oh well, it will grow in no time I guess.

Anyway, today was that, take your dad to school today thing. The father's fitness day! How did it go? Well, it was awesome actually! About 98% of the dads showed up. A couple of my friends husbands couldn't make it, but it was okay, the mom's filled in wonderfully.

First we all stood outside. The oldest class, the 5 year olds. (this is B's class) we all took pics as a group shot and the dad's were to hold the kids on their shoulders. So Noboru had B sit on his shoulders. Group photo. And then the middle class took their pic and held their kids on their shoulders. And then the smallest and youngest kiddos took a group shot as well. Then all of us, all 3 classes merged and all the dads had to hold their kids and move/spin them around and around like a helicopter. That seemed like a heavy task. I was happy just watching it. But since I was busy watching Noah, I was also doing my part. Dads and kids did a few more moves and then our class went upstairs.

Once upstairs, and I saw all the chairs I sorta thought, "is this musical chairs" Yes it was! Some chairs had green pieces of paper taped on them. Some blue, some yellow and some red. The teacher threw some cards to the ground and all the dads and kids when the music stopped had to go and get a card and find a chair that matched that color of the card. Noboru and Branden stayed in the game until about 3/4 when all the kids were already sitting out. So they stayed in a real long time but yup, they also got the boot after a while. Ha ha ha! It was actually pretty fun! Everyone was laughing. Nobody actually minded being kicked off, because we all just cheered on the rest, who were still in the game! And guess who won??? A mom and her son! Yuppers, not a father at all. A mom won! Right on, huh? Talk about girl power! Ha ha ha! But it was a fun, fun day!

After we finished the musical chairs thing upstairs. We all went down the stairs and outside in the courtyard and we chatted with some friends outside. I was chatting with a few of my girlfriends. And then we left. It didn't last too long. Short and sweet! From 9:30 am. to 11:00 am.

Then after that, we went to go and have some lunch (ramen shop), but along the way we stopped to watch some people fishing. And then we had our lunch.

Oh and the yellow outfit Branden is wearing in the pic above, is his PE/gym uniform for the catholic school he goes too. I love that outfit and hope they keep it the same color and stuff by the time Noah attends/starts going here. Anyway that was how our "father's day fitness went" : )

I've been tagged! Ha ha ha! : )

I was tagged by the very sweet and funny Deenster! This meme looks really fun you guys! Basically, you have to tell 8 things about yourself. Which is fun and also really easy! So, I am *loving* this meme quite a bit actually! : )

Here are the rules copied from Deenster! : )
1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged, and to read your blog.

So without further ado, here's my 8 random things about me! : )

#1) I am a Hollywood celebrity gossip junky! I admit it, I love it all! The whole TomKat thing. The Bennifer thing. The whole Britney shaved her hair off deal and going in and out of rehab, again and again. Cameron Diaz and Justin breaking up. And now the whole Paris Hilton is in jail stuff! I can't get enough! In the US, I watch Access Hollywood, or Entertainment Tonight. But since I live in Japan, I usually stock up on my favorite trash mags like "the National Enquirer." ha ha ha! : )

#2) I spend a good amount of time on Yahoo Japan auctions or Ebay. Either selling stuff or buying stuff. I love doing this. It's like a little known hobby of mine. So mums the word now. Ha ha ha. : )

#3) I sweep my front porch every morning in the Spring and Summer, because spider webs grow overnight. I am in a constant battle with these spiders come summer, ha ha ha. Every morning they make new webs, I tear them down and next morning it starts all over again. So where am I every morning after B goes to school? On the front porch sweeping! Ha ha ha! : )

#4) My least favorite house cleaning task is, doing the dishes. Or I guess I should say loading and unloading the dishwasher. Ugh, I really hate that job the most! Grrr! : )

#5) Some of my favorite actors and actresses are, Drew Barrymore, I really like her, I think she's awesome! I love the movies she does because she seems so down to earth and funny, very easy to relate to her characters. I also really like Ben Stiller, he's pure comedic genius, he cracks me up when I watch his movies. Meet the Parents, "Meet the Focker's" OMG! I also like Adam Sandler a lot, he's hilarious. Renee Zellweger, Kate Hudson, Cameron Diaz, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Hanks. Meg Ryan. Susan Sarandon, Julia Roberts, Sandra Bullock. Morgan Freeman and Emma Thompson. I like a bunch of others but I better stop here. I'm also fond of all the actors from the Brat pack, John Hughes movies from the 80's.

#6) I'm a closet Twilight Zone fan! It's true, I love the old black and white ones. In the US they sometimes have marathon episodes, where they show like, 12 hours straight of them. I have about 2 extended play tapes of old Twilight Zones and I watch them, quite a bit actually.

#7) I was deathly afraid of the dark as a child. I thought something was under my bed ready to pull me underneath at any second. Touch my foot or something else equally horrible. I was worried to open my eyes in the dark, perhaps something was staring back at me (glowing red eyes, I thought). I used to have to sleep with the light on until the end of 5th grade. And even now, when my husband works a night shift, I will keep the light on, in the stairs. This little known fact, I very *very* rarely will share with anyone.

#8) Parents Magazine is my all time favorite magazine though, since I became a mom that is. I read every page twice, I think. I read Parents magazine every month.

Man this was a fun meme! Some memes, can take some work actually, and sorta suck up all the fun of doing one, lol, but this one was pretty cool! So now who should I tag next? Well, I'd love to tag everyone but I know some are on vacation. So, hmm, (thinking) I'll throw out a few names and if you are up for this challenge then by all means go for it! This is a fun one! Trust me! : )

Now you all know I am have yet to know how to work links. Sorry, yup, I suck eggs, ha ha ha! Sorry! : ) So I will just name you all down below! : )

Sarah! : )
Illahee! : )
Tigermama! : )
Coarse gold girl : )
Helen! : )

Tag, you're it ladies! Please play if you haven't done this one yet. But if you don't have the time, that's cool, for sure! : ) Or heck even if you did this one before and you wanna share some more info with the rest of us, please go for it! Anyway I really am digging this little blogging family/ circle we have here and this meme sorta, let's us know more about each other! Have fun ladies! : ) PS, I didn't tag 8 because this way, there's more open/untagged for you all to tag after you all finish with it! : )

Friday

Branden didn't have school today. The reason is because we have to go to school on Saturday instead. It's some sorta pre-father's day thing. All yochien kids at our school, are supposed to bring their father's with them and do some fitness outside with their dad's and do some fitness indoors with their dad's as well. So with a free Friday today. I went first thing this morning and took both the boys to get their haircuts this morning. Just at the cheap haircut place, that's 1000 yen. They open at 10:00 am, and we got there at 10:20 am. Shucks we were 20 minutes late and there were about 4 people already ahead of us, if you can believe that! So, we bought 2 tickets. One for each kid and we waited. Both of the kids got good haircuts now. : )

PS, First week of the rainy season for Chiba (according to Noboru that is) and would you believe still not a rain drop in site, ha ha ha, oh well! : )

Wednesday, while waiting for Branden to come home from school! : )

No rain today. Ha ha ha, for it being the rainy season, we haven't seen much this week, so far. Ha ha ha. Anyway, we went a bit early today as usual and Noah got a good play while we waited.

After spinning a few X's and O's. And going under that make shift tunnel or bridge semi- circle thing. Ha ha ha. Meanwhile I sat on the bench reading my Parents Magazine, talking with Noah off and on. And plus it's enclosed with a locked gate. So he can't get out.

Heading to play with something else.

Aha! He came to sit next to mommy! : )

Noah, you need a haircut pronto! Ha ha ha. Yup, your hair is looking a bit too long and scraggly these days. Hmm but between my schedule this week with B's swimming classes and my usual cooking and such and my big rearranging the attic task, I gave myself, ugh, it will have to wait until Friday or Saturday. Sigh.

Playing in the sandbox. Psst, by the way. Do you ever wonder how unclean sandboxes are? Outdoor kitties could use them for litter boxes etc. Anyway, I always think sand boxes are sorta dirty, ha ha ha. Oh well, I make the boys always use antibacterial soap, when we get home from the park every afternoon when picking up Branden. They both get a good hand cleaning when we get home. Ha ha ha! : )

Blowing on a little flower. Shucks he thought it was the kind that float away, but it wasn't! Ha ha ha! : )

Tuesday

Lately since the weather has been so nice, I've been going to the bus stop, pick up area about 15 minutes earlier, so Noah can play in the little play area in the community where we live. I know, I know, we have our own big play ground in our own yard, but still, it's nice to play on something a bit different every once in a while. So yup, we've been hanging here lately when the days are warm and beautiful. : )

Here's Noah rocking away on the little blue elephant, ha ha ha! : )

Playing around in this little play thing. I like the tic tac toe game. Ha ha ha : )

Gosh just look at that happy face, you guys! He's a very happy, loving little boy! He really is! : )

Just look at those great big ol' eyes! : )

Digging in the sand box with a stick. Ha ha ha : )

And yet some more digging! : )

Now, he's played with all the things in the play area, he is starting to miss B some more. Here's his moping around waiting until his brother gets back walk.

After picking up Branden, we all came home. Unpacked B's obento box and put it into the dishwasher. And with the heat really going into full swing this week. I brought out the shave-ice maker and we made some lemon shave ice/ kakigori! So fast, so good and really yummy especially with the 90 degrees type weather these days. Adding on the humidity as well, and you get the idea. Just think....." sauna type weather" Ha ha ha! You can see Branden in the background a bit. He got his shave ice, first. So he was busy munching away.: )

Ahhh relax time now ha ha ha, after dinner and our regular nightly shower and bath. The boys were scrubbed squeaky clean from head to toe. And in this pic they had just come downstairs for a bit until bedtime. : )

Two silly brothers, just hanging with each other and having fun!

PS, Noboru said this week is supposed to start off the rainy season in Chiba. I'm not sure if he's right, but today.... no rain. : )

A little bit, about our Sunday! : )

On Sunday, we headed to Chiba New Town. Hit the shopping mall. We haven't been in a long time. So a good stroll through the mall was definitely in order! Ha ha ha. I shopped at Baby Gap for Noah-chan. And Gap kids for Branden. Didn't buy all too much really. 1 T-shirt, and sweatshirt and 1 hat for Noah. Noah's sweatshirt was actually marked down twice, so I was happy to get it at such a bargain, I mean who doesn't love a good bargain every once in a while, you know, ha ha ha. And I hoped to get the same sweatshirt for B, but they didn't have his size, which was a bummer. However, I never want to leave out either kid, so we got 2 T shirts for B as well. So they both got some cute stuff and then we went walking around a few more shops. Didn't see anything else we liked or worth buying, so we just looked, yup we were "lookie loo's." Then we stopped off at Starbucks before we left and picked up some iced caramel machiattos and left the mall with Gap bag and iced coffees in hand. We then hit the grocery store near there and got a few things and headed home. Again not exactly the most eventful day, but an awesome day nonetheless! : )

Our quiet, no frills Saturday BBQ at home! : )

Today's plan? Absolutely nothing! Ha ha ha. Just staying home and having a BBQ in the backyard!

Branden washed all the veggies for me in the sink and then I chopped the mushrooms and bell peppers in half and the pumpkin in slices.

Very lightly sprinkled everything, except the sweet potato with a tiny sprinkle of salt. See the salt on the potato in the pic? Makes the potato skins really crunchy and good! Ha ha ha. : )

Chopped up 1kg of all white skinless chicken breast meat and rinsed it and marinated it with this yakiniku sauce. It's sorta spicy but really good. We also had fatty yakiniku beef that Noboru likes. And lean beef, but thick steaks, that sorta looked like fillet mignon type beef.

Gotta add some fresh fruit on a lazy BBQ at home, type day too (kept it cool in the fridge while all the BBQ stuff cooked). But cheap, again I always buy the cheap fruit. Ha ha ha : )

When the potatoes got soft to the touch, is when we added the meat. The steaks went on last, but everything of course got a thorough cooking! : )

The boys played in the backyard while we cooked and sat and just basically hung out.

And we decided to eat inside today. It just depends, sometimes we eat on the terrace and sometimes we eat inside. Today we wanted to eat inside. Everyone was eating. The boys were drinking their ume juice. We love this drink at our house! Perfect for the warmer weather. Nice and tarty! Ha ha ha. We drank our sodas. And dinner was just really nice. And you can see by the sun coming through the windows, it was pretty early still. We actually sat down and ate by 4:00 pm. Very early dinner, I know, but we had made so much, that we nuked some again around 9:00 pm when we got a bit hungry as the night wore on. Ha ha ha. : )

Here's my meal, heaping amount perhaps. But, boy was it great! What have we got here? Well, one crunchy on the outside, but fluffy on the inside roasted potato with butter and salt and pepper. Delicious potatoes! Marinated and grilled chicken.Mushrooms, bell peppers and a tiny slice of pumpkin. And an even tinier slice of sweet potato. And a little rice. Nothing fried, just everything grilled. Well duh except the rice, ha ha ha. : )

Noah-chan drinking his ume juice in his sippy cup. And eating some veggies and chicken and yakiniku. Noboru was actually cutting some of the steak for Branden when I snapped this picture.

And extra yakiniku sauce for dunking and dipping our meats in. I hope my plate doesn't look like a great big ol' mess here! Ha ha ha! But gosh darn it, it was so good! Afterwards we munched about half of the fruit. And then we all took quick showers. Just had to get shampooed up and soaped up from top to bottom. Then we all put on a clean/fresh set of comfy house clothes/play clothes on. And my hair was actually still wet when we left to the video store, but it dried by the time I came home. Ha ha ha. We ran to the Tsutaya to rent us a new DVD rental. We rented the kids 2 UIltraman DVD's. And we rented ourselves the newest version of "the Texas Chainsaw Massacre." We didn't watch this when the boys were awake obviously. When we got back it was barely 6:00 pm. We watched some some stuff on Satellite. And then we watched American idol of course at 10:00 pm. Noah was long asleep by that time. Branden fell asleep around 10:30 pm. And when AI was over, at 11:00 pm. We went to the kitchen and popped some popcorn, grabbed a couple cokes with ice and headed to the couch and started the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Beginning." Oh my gosh! That was so freakin' scary! So gross! This was obviously Noboru's week/turn to pick the movie. Heck it was scary! Anyway, nothing spectacular to share really, but that was our Saturday in a nutshell! : )

Our Thursday at Tokyo Disney Sea! : )

Today our yochien was closed for some teacher planning thing. So since Noboru had today off,and so did Branden which is rare they both have the same weekday off. We decided to go ahead and go to Tokyo Disney Sea! Especially before the rainy season hits and then summer kicks into full gear, we get hit by the intense humid Japanese summer. We went last summer to Tokyo Disney Sea and the heat was just too much, overkill actually! And Noah was a mere 1 year old, last year and it was a bit too hot and for being outside for like 12 or 10 hours straight, it was just too much for him at that age. So this year, we went ahead on a day like today. Still cool still. Very windy and no rain (though we don't mind the rain at all) It's the intense summer heat and being outside under it for like 10 hours straight, is what we worry about most. Oh yeah and the long summer lines, like 2 hours wait for each ride. Yikes! So again today with all the cool wind, it was perfect for us. It was about 73 degrees today, so nice, but not melting hot. : )

We got there as soon as it opened. Not much lines to get in, even though we got there as soon as it opened. But then, Disney Sea isn't as popular as Disneyland.

The volcano in the background goes off every hour or so. And the harbor view is gorgeous. Being at Disney Sea, feels like you are in a different country or time and place. It's really amazing to feel so different by being in here.

Most of Disney Sea, and forgive me, if I muck up the explanation. But it's like 7 or so ports of sea. They have Italy, And America, and The Arabian Coast, that has a few India restaurants and they also have a cool Alladin ride and show, and amazing coconut ice-cream in the Arabian Coast area as well, and then there's like a futuristic area, like 20,000 leagues under the sea and other rides. Mermaid Lagoon the kids area. And so on.

The newest ride that just opened August 2006. Tower of Terror!!! This was the first ride we rode today. Noboru wanted to ride this so much. I didn't want to ride this because I hate free fall rides. Roller coasters are fine for me totally, some parts are scary and some parts are mellow, that allow you to catch your breath, if you know what I mean. But free fall rides? I hate them, because there's no chance to grab your breath at all! Also, I feel, I have zero control on those type of rides. Obviously you'd never catch me jumping out of an airplane with parachute or bungee jumping in my lifetime, ha ha ha! The ride was 15 minutes long. I went first. Poor me! Branden and I waited in line and then we got on the seating, we rode an elevator with about 30 people or so. We were all seated in the elevator and had on 1 seat belt, that's all. No head gear or anything. We went up. Dropped down super fast. My stomach turned inside out! And then we stopped, they went up again and dropped us down once more! Again, now I must have turned red by now. I am usually not a screamer on rides. But I screamed my lungs out! This was actually real terror coming from me ha ha ha!!! They zoomed us up and dropped us right down about 4 or 5 times. I was being free dropped so many times, that when the ride actually stopped I was still wincing my eyes and worried I would drop once more! It was not fun for me. I got off. Noboru was waiting with Noah on a bench outside laughing hysterically. I told him how horrible I thought it was. He was laughing. And he went with Branden. Noboru loved that ride, Branden loved it too. I told Noboru, I will never ride that ride again. Not even for ichi man yen (not that anyone would offer me cash to ride of course, but ykwim! Ha ha ha, that's how much I disliked that ride.

Noah, while waiting for Noboru and Branden as they rode the Tower of Terror ride!

In the American port about to buy some popcorn.

Checkin' out the sites! : )

Noboru pulled his hat way low to be playful. Poor Noah, he could barely see, until I put it back a bit. Ha ha ha. He had his caramel popcorn and Branden had his own as well.

Branden munching his caramel popcorn! : )

Again some more of the American port. I like the lighthouse! : )

More stuff in the American port/area.

Lot's of old cars, the ones that run, will drive you around in a loop for free in the American port area.

Aquatopia! Another area of course and Branden and Noboru rode this. However B and I rode this twice before I snapped this pic. Ha ha ha : )

Port Paradiso! What a gorgeous view! So huge and just.....amazing to be here actually! It's like you really are in a different country or something! Sounds silly to say, I know but really true! : )

You can see the Tower of terror in the background. And also the SS Columbia, I think is the name of the ship.

The NY Deli! This has got to be the best food to be found at Disney Sea and I must admit probably Disneyland too. They have fantastic sandwiches here! We always have lunch here whenever we come here! Turkey sandwich, yumm! Again this is in the American port/harbor area.

I love the fake cheese and meats hanging from the window, ha ha ha! Makes me smile! : )

Here's the menu and a semi sorta reflection of Noboru and I, ha ha ha oh well, the menu might be helpful to give you all an idea of what they have and the prices to give you a general idea. They have reubens here! But, I always get the turkey, with pesto mayo! The prices are like 650 or 800 yen. Sorta high but then again, it's Disney Sea/land the prices are high anyways. : )

Three turkey sandwiches, I was sorta bummed they don't give them with the pickle spears anymore, they did last time. Hmmm. But the sandwiches were just as good. Real turkey, not all processed, in case anyone is wondering. Fries and we all shared 1 NY cheesecake. Oh man was this a great lunch! Branden shared a quarter of his sandwich with Noah and Noboru and I both shared fries with Noah. We all were pretty full from lunch, and with constant snacking of all the different popcorn flavors, we really never got hungry being at the park.

We were on the terrace a bit beneath street level and got to see all the old cars drive by and people walking by. It was really neat!

No one eating outside but us. It was nice and quiet! : )

My sandwich. And I didn't throw my tomato out, you can see my tomato is in my sandwich. The kids put that on my plate, ha ha ha! : )

The kids playing with an old car. A few don't move at all and people jump in them and take pictures. We took pics of the kids in this old time bakery truck. Branden's turn to drive first. : )

Noah's turn to drive next! : )

A view from the train we rode. Below was Aquatopia.

We were now heading towards the "mysterious island" area. Ha ha ha! That's where the "Journey to the Center of the Earth" ride is and the "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" ride is as well.

Just after exiting, the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ride. : )