Tokyo Disneyland

We had been talking about going to Disneyland before Japanese school let out for a summer break on July 19th, but after a few VERY hot weeks and some huge crowds at the park we thought it probably wouldn't be worth it. I imagined pushing the double stroller through the park with 2 hot, sweaty sunburned girls with lines too long for any sane person to wait in.  So, I had sadly resigned myself to the fact that we would have to wait a few months before trying it out.  But then on Thursday morning while I was getting the girls ready to head to Tokyo American Club and Joe was getting ready for work, he looked at the forecast (highs only in the upper 80s!) and thought that crowd wise we might actually have a shot at getting on some rides.  Lines for attractions, character greetings and even popcorn have been known to be as long as 7 hours at Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea.  I knew it would be a disaster if we took the girls to the park and weren't even able to get on any rides so I was keeping my fingers crossed!  It worked out well that day because Joe's morning meeting was cancelled and he could go in a bit later than usual, so we quickly got packed up and loaded into our new Prius to ride with dad to work. Joe wasn't able to take the day off but planned on meeting us for lunch and picking us up on his way out that evening.  

Bottom left: A view of Tokyo as we left the city. Tokyo Disney Resort is about 10 miles from the downtown.

Traffic on the way wasn't too bad and Joe dropped us off in front of the Disneyland Hotel and rushed to make a meeting. We walked through the hotel and out the back where the entrance gate was located. We got there right around opening time and the line to get in the park looked pretty crazy, but it only took us about 10 minutes to get through the gate. Main Street was also packed and we quickly made our way to Fantasyland. I didn't get a chance to grab a map but from my initial assessment of what I could see while standing in front of the castle, it seemed to be laid out basically like Disneyland in California.  We quickly found Fantasyland and jumped in line for Dumbo with only a 5 minute wait! As it got closer to our turn, I panicked for a moment worried that I wouldn't be able to ride with both girls in one car and they are both too small to ride by themselves. Luckily we were all able to ride together and Dumbo was a hit. After Dumbo we ran Birmingham style over to Peter Pan which had a 20 minute wait prediction - I usually never do anything over 10 with the girls but decided to press my luck. It ended up only taking 12 minutes to get on the ride, and even though Annie was very excited she covered her eyes for a lot of it. Next we headed over to Snow White's Scary Adventures and walked right on, but again Annie covered her eyes for a majority of the ride. I found it to be way better and more updated than Snow White in California. Oh, and one major difference that for some reason I didn't expect: all the audio on the rides is in Japanese. Funny to hear the familiar voices of the Disney characters speaking and singing in Japanese. We hopped on the carousel after some confusion about whether or not the girls were allowed to ride on horses by themselves, and then Joe texted me to try to get on Pooh's Hunny Hunt ASAP. The line for Pooh was already 70 minutes when we got there (still not even 10:00 am at this point) so we got a Fast Pass to return at 1:00 pm. 

It was just about time for a snack and there was a Honey Popcorn cart right outside the Pooh ride so the girls chomped that down and took a little break in the shade.

Had a few people ask to take pictures with Annie and Lizzy. I promised them candy if they would cooperate but as you can see here it didn't seem to work. 

Having a great morning so far!

We then headed into Toontown, an area of Disney specifically designed for small children.  We went to Minnie's House (big hit!), climbed up into Chip n Dale's tree house and found a boat to explore.

The girls had a great time in Minnie's kitchen! 

We spent about an hour playing at Toontown and we were hot and ready for a break, so we went into a store to do some browsing. Every single time I turned around Lizzy had a pair of Minnie Mouse sunglasses on despite me telling her to put them back each and every time.

"Mom, can we get one of these?"

Disney chopsticks, a cheese selection and a t-shirt. 

After Annie and Lizzy had touched just about every single thing in the store I had to practically drag them out of there for a stop at the Baby Center.  We had a bathroom break and some cold water and then were on our way to meet dad for lunch. 

We met up with Joe, who must have been DYING in his work clothes while walking around the park. I actually felt sorry for him, which rarely happens. There are tons of food choices at Tokyo Disneyland, but it takes some searching to find something, er, Western. We stopped for pizza in Tomorrowland and it was pretty good. Out of the 3 choices of pizzas I picked "double sausage" which was the only one that didn't include seafood or an equally questionable topping, and ironically contained no sausage. The slice came with a side of mini cream puffs drizzled with chocolate syrup and a drink for around 800 yen.

After lunch Joe had to go back to work and it was time to use our Fast Pass at Pooh's Hunny Hunt.  The line by this point was over 100 minutes and even the Fast Pass line was winding out into the park. I'd say it took us around 15 minutes of waiting before it was our turn. Pooh's Hunny Hunt was definitely my favorite ride of the day, and one of the best ones I've been on in a while! It's a trackless ride system that has not been introduced in the US (too expensive) so each individual Hunny pot moves independently all over the floor, making for a different ride every time. Hard to say who enjoyed it more, me or the girls. Annie kept saying during the ride, "This is awesome!"

Sad the the Hunny Hunt is over!

Next up we had planned to take in a live character show but missed it by 1 minute so we tried out Mickey's Philharmagic instead. The girls didn't mind the wait, thank goodness it was indoors, as it was getting pretty hot by this point. They both really enjoyed the 3-D cartoon show which included some of their favorite Disney songs.

Sharing a seat because sepeartely they weren't heavy enough to keep the seat from folding up! Annie kept her arm around Lizzy for the entire show. So sweet.

It was well past 2:30 and the girls both fell asleep in the stroller.  I walked around and did some window shopping while they slept, and enjoyed a mango/vanilla swirl cone (no dole whip in Adventure Land, boo!) that I didn't have to share :).

Sleeping sweaty angels.

Time for a cool treat!

I took some pictures of menus as I walked around during naptime just to give you an idea of what they are serving.

What is Char Siu? Do I want to know? Guessing it probably doesn't belong on a pizza.

Fake food displays are BIG in Tokyo. Almost every restaurant has one of these displays outside.

Hungry Bear is one of my favorite restaurants at Disneyland in California. They don't serve curry. 

Really wanted to try this Green Tea shaved ice with Red Beans but I had just polished off an ice cream cone. Next time!

Menu from a table service restaurant on Main Street.

So many different flavors of popcorn!

The girls ended up sleeping for a LONG time, and a few minutes after Annie woke up we decided to wake up Lizzy to ride Pirates of the Caribbean. Even though it was her idea in the first place, Annie immediately started crying and saying she didn't want to go once we walked into the ride (there was no wait.) Mean mom made her go anyway since we had already woken up Lizzy for this ride.  Annie straddled me on my lap with her head buried in my chest for the entire ride. Lizzy was a little bit braver, but stayed pretty close to my side the whole time. A little bummed that we had to leave on that note, but Joe was done with work and our babysitter Vicky was coming over at 7 to watch the girls. 

All in all I'd say the trip was a big success and I am looking forward to many more days spent at Tokyo Disneyland!

Until next time!

Blue Steel

So, I signed the girls up with a child modeling agency. I know it sounds very "L.A." and before you classify me as a stage mom let me give you a little background. A few of Joe's co-workers mentioned that we should try to get the girls some jobs after seeing pictures of our blond haired, blue eyed beauties. While they may blend right in in California, here in Tokyo they get a lot of attention while out in public and apparently can be a commodity in the child entertainment biz.  My friend Susan, whose husband works with Joe, has a son Annie's age and he has gotten a few catalog jobs.  Susan said it was a fun experience, made a few bucks and if nothing else, is a good story.  

I filled out an online application at Sugar & Spice, a modeling agency here in Tokyo representing international children up to age 18.  It was a basic application and I had to include 2 recent photos of the girls. Despite the thousands upon thousands of digital pictures I have of them, it actually took me a long time to find anything decent where they were smiling "normally" at the camera.  (That doesn't bode well for any future modeling jobs...)  I was contacted by Takako-san from Sugar & Spice a few days later to set up a time to come in and officially register them.  She told me the girls were "actually very adorable!" and that she would like to get them signed up right away. Obviously something she tells all the suckers.  I was told to bring the girls, all of our passports, our alien resident cards and the registration fee of 1,000 yen per child. We ended up getting a 50% discount on the registration fee for liking the Sugar & Spice Facebook page, booyah! So as of now, Annie and Lizzy owe me 1,000 yen in addition to the large percentage of their career earnings I will be taking. :)

I set up the appointment for Friday at 4:30, figuring that would still leave the morning open for us and we could head over after naptime.  I had grand plans to put them in some adorable brand new dresses Grandma Susie bought them at Nordstrom, but per the usual we were running late so I pretty much had to grab the girls out of bed, wrinkled dresses and all, and pop them into the stroller. I did take a minute to try to smooth out Annie's sweaty post-nap bedhead with the blow dryer, but she wasn't really into it. 

We walked the 1 mile to the agency in the Hiroo neighborhood, and thanks to the map on the website it was pretty easy to find. The office itself was kind of in an odd location, tucked away inside a covered parking area.  Really hard to describe but probably totally normal for Tokyo! 

We went inside and the girls played with some toys on the floor while I filled out some paperwork and signed their souls away. The contract said the pay for jobs can range from 10,000 yen up to 35,000 yen.  That is the take home pay for the model, it does not say what percentage the agency makes.  Jobs can range from magazine and catalog work up to fashion shows, commercials, TV shows and movies. I should mention that although I probably sound VERY into this by giving such a detailed account, I am having a hard time keeping a straight face as I type this.  The thought of either of my girls being cooperative for a television shoot is pretty comical. 

Playing with toys while mom gives away passport and visa numbers. Wait a second....

After the paperwork was finished it was time to get a few quick pictures of the girls.  This went mediocre at best. :) I wish I could have been taking some pictures with my iPhone at the same time but I wasn't sure what the rules were, and I was pretty busy trying to get Annie to do a NORMAL smile for the camera. Bless her heart, she was really trying (she's been talking about "being a model" for weeks now), but every time I would say "Give a big smile for the camera!" she would hold her forced smile and just open her eyes as wide as she could.  If we told her to not open her eyes so big she would do a ridiculously large smile while almost squeezing her eyes shut. Modeling gold, I tell you. Takako-san took a good number of pictures so hopefully there is something decent that showcases Annie's natural beauty. :)

Next up was Lizzy's turn.  Lizzy can be VERY clingy sometimes, so as soon I told her she had to move 2 feet away from Mommy to get her picture taken her eyes began welling up with tears.  She quickly changed her tune when I told her we were getting ice cream after, so she immediately cut the waterworks and cheerfully said "OK!" and marched over to smile for the camera. I have to say that Lizzy probably did better than Annie, giving her best smile right off the bat, although I'm sure Lizzy's "smile" probably isn't what most childrens catalogs are looking for :)

Later in the day, Lizzy flashing her smile.

After the girls had their pictures taken Takako-san took some measurements and they were done. Perhaps as an act of flattery, she then asked if it would be ok to take some pictures of me, as sometimes clients are looking for mothers for a shoot. She had also mentioned multiple times that I was very slender (for an American??) so of course I ate this right up. I was really wishing Joe had been there because I knew neither one of us would have been able to contain our giggles. It was particularly funny because a few hours earlier I had emailed Joe a selfie with some jokes about how I had to be ready in the VERY likely case that I would be scouted.  In my head I was already planning how every conversation with him for the next few weeks (or eternity) would include the fact that I was now an international super model.  

After all the shenanigans, we cleaned up the toys, got lollipops and Takako-san told me she would hopefully be contacting me soon. Until then, the females of the Becherer household will have to live with being really, really, ridiculously good looking. 

The girls enjoying their hard earned treats.

                                 

The pic I sent Joe beforehand. Didn't want him to get me confused with Gisele.  

Tokyo American Club

Thought I should write a post about the Tokyo American Club, or "TAC", since we have been spending so much of our time there.  



The Tokyo American Club is less than a mile walk from our apartment and pretty close to the Tokyo Tower.  You can read a bit of background about the club here.  They just rebuilt the entire club a few years ago and the facilities are beautiful.  The company provides membership as one of the benefits, but we are of course responsible for our other expenses at the club.  And holy cow, can those expenses pile up! I know I am somewhat spoiled by the Burbank YMCA where we paid $48 dollars a month for me and the girls to use all the facilities, including some classes for the girls and free childcare.  Once I started working there our monthly expense was ZERO, so I guess it really is not a good comparison for a private club.

I think we have been to TAC almost everyday since getting our membership cards.  Usually I take the girls in the morning, drop them off at child care (cha ching), workout (taking a class? cha ching), pick them up so we can all go for a swim (free! hooray!) and then eat lunch (cha ching). There are a ton of recreational activities available, for an additional expense. Things like a ballet class for Annie are almost shockingly expensive, so we will have to pick and choose where we want to spend our money.  All that being said, so far we are loving the club, and to me, it's worth the cost. I think it will be a nice place to escape to during the hot summer when all the other expats fly home and we are all by our lonesome. Believe it or not, I have not met a single other wife so far who is staying in Tokyo for the summer.  Uh oh! With all of the time I've been spending here, it feels a bit like I'm "cheating" and living in my Western bubble, but right now I think it's important to do what makes me happy/comfortable during this huge adjustment of living in a foreign country. I figure we still have plenty of time to really immerse ourselves in Japanese culture.

Besides the pool, fitness center and family friendly restaurant we've been frequenting, there are too many other offerings to list: a children's water play area, full service spa, beauty salon, basketball court, bowling alley, library, movie rental shop, and at least five other restaurants ranging from the casual poolside cafe to a fancy steakhouse.  The restaurant I've been taking the girls to is called Rainbow Cafe, and it's one of three kid friendly restaurants at the club. They have a delicious salad bar and an extensive menu with all kinds of American classics like salads, sandwiches, wraps, pizzas and pastas as well as some ethnic dishes. There is also a solid kids menu and prices are reasonable. In the middle of the restaurant there is even a children's play area for the little ones to burn off some energy if they can't sit still for an entire meal.

Before we became members we had to attend a two hour new member interview session. There were about 30 other perspective members there, and only one other couple. Everyone else left their spouse at home, but I was excited at the excuse to get out of the house without the kids! They served drinks and some delicious food and we chatted with some board members who basically asked us why we were interested in joining TAC.  In addition to the interview night, I also had to attend a two hour orientation session to learn about all the offerings of the club and rules and regulations. Dress code, parking, guest fees, billing etc.

Here are some pictures of me and the girls enjoying ourselves at the club!

Lizzy working on some skillz in the gymnasium

Enjoying a swim at the sky pool, which has a great view of Tokyo Tower

Rooftop kids pool

Just lunching

Rough life, eh?

This weekend TAC had a few activities planned to celebrate Independence Day since the 4th fell on a Thursday.  I took Annie to a children's event with face painting, balloon animals, games and crafts. It was fun, but not the same as being home for the 4th of July! Joe was travelling on the actual holiday so it was just another day here for us. First time I have been a little homesick.

Annie in her Statue of Liberty crown. Apparently it gives her crazy eyes

Helpers

We heard a little bit about "helpers" on our house hunting trip and since we've moved here have learned they seem to be a big part of most expat's lives.

To give you a little bit of background, here is an excerpt from one of my guidebooks:

"Domestic help is abundant in Tokyo. These resourceful and hardworking individuals come from the Philippines, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Nepal and India, often leaving their own families and children behind in order to work to send money home to support them.  Many hold higher degrees and were once teachers in their home countries, but by working in Japan they can have a consistent job and earn four to five times the salary they would back home. You will find that many helpers are well qualified and that they will cook, clean, babysit and manage the household."

Basically, a helper is a babysitter/nanny that goes above and beyond. The going rate seems to be around 1,500 yen an hour (around $15 US) which seems reasonable.  You can either hire someone part time or "sponsor" a helper full time, which sounds like a complicated process involving visas and contracts.  If you decide to sponsor a foreign worker, you are guaranteeing their employment and wages. You also need to provide them with paid vacation, Japanese health insurance and typically one trip home per year. The minimum wage in 2008 (when my guidebook was published) was 150,000 yen per month ($1,500).  Some people have their helper travel with their family and I've heard of people leaving their children with their helper so they can travel as a couple.

So that is some background for you. Having full time help sounds like a real luxury! Since I am not working and able to stay home with the girls we won't be sponsoring a helper.  A friend who is leaving Tokyo kindly passed along the information for their helper, Vicky, who has grown to be a part of their family.  We have had her watch the girls twice now and she seems great.  She comes prepared with fun activities to do with the girls like origami and balloon animals, and seems to 'get' Lizzy's firecracker temperament. So far we have only used her in the evenings, once so Joe and I could attend a new member mixer at the Tokyo American Club and once for date night. It's nice because after she puts the girls to bed she cleans, does laundry, irons, etc.  I know it is the norm here but I just cannot get used to that!  So nice to come home to a clean house after a night away, and only be paying ONE fee versus paying a babysitter AND a cleaning person.

We don't have her regularly scheduled, but I think the plan for now will be to have her come over twice a month for date night and then maybe once or twice a month during the day so I can run some errands kid free.  We feel lucky to have found someone we like right away, Annie was so tired tonight but wanted to stay awake to see Vicky.  They also made me a bouquet of origami flowers that Annie said "would be a good present for mommy." :)  I miss my Burbank babysitting co-op but this is a good trade!

Manrikiya

We went out to dinner last night for our first real meal in Japan as a family.  We decided to go to Manrikiya, a noodle shop in Azabu Juban on the recommendation of Stephanie.  Joe is going to be replacing Stephanie's husband Jay at Disney in a few weeks, and Stephanie has been so helpful showing me around Tokyo this last week. She has been so friendly and generous with her time considering the fact that they are moving across the world in less than 2 weeks! 

Joe got home early from work last night and I was at the ELC playground with girls so we decided to walk from there. We didn't bring a stroller so it took us about 10 minutes, but it's an easy walk down the hill into Azabu Juban. 

We were seated right away at a table by the window and got some menus, which luckily had english translations. Since this area has a pretty heavy concentration of expats, most restaurants will offer an english menu.  

The inside of the restaurant was very cute and pretty small, maybe 8 tables or so and a bar with some stools.  It was all probably less exciting to Joe but I was the super dorky first timer taking lots of pictures of everything.

We decided to order the spicy sesame ramen noodle soup, spicy pork fried rice and an order of fried dumplings. I'm sure there were some less spicy things on the menu but I had remembered Stephanie telling me the sesame noodles were her favorite so I went with that.  I also hastily ordered because Lizzy was already being an unpleasant customer less than 2 minutes after sitting down.

A dumpling and spicy pork fried rice

Spicy sesame noodles. Believe me, super delicious.

The verdict: Delicious!! I usually don't like super spicy food, and while it was hot, it was not overwhelming at all and the flavors were so well balanced you almost didn't notice the spiciness. I've been known to cry while eating spicy pad thai from Pei Wei back in the US, but there were no tears here. Lizzy ate an entire (giant) dumpling which we *think* had some pork and veggies in it, a whole plate of rice and some noodles from the soup. Annie complained that the noodles were too spicy, but also ate a small plate.  We ended up ordering a bowl of "extra" noodles to put in the soup because we had so much delicious broth left over, and extra noodles were a nominal cost. 

Not to jump the gun but I really loved the food and could see myself eating at this restaurant regularly! It was also very relaxed and felt like a good place to bring kids. Most restaurants in Tokyo have lunch specials so maybe we will have to check it out mid week sometime. 

Annie had to stop and see "her hamster" at the pet shop on the way home. Lizzy kept squatting down and yelling , "Hi Doggy!!"

Walking home after dinner.

First Days in Tokyo

We've been in Tokyo about a week and a half now and things have settled down a bit. The girls got on time after only a week and we've been out walking exploring our new neighborhood everyday. I'm going to try to start posting things as often as possible because I would really love to keep these memories and experiences for the girls to look back on since they may not remember much.  My goal is to post weekly at a minimum, with updates and small snippets of Tokyo life. We'll see how it goes! And most of you have probably seen a lot of the pictures on instagram, sorry about that. 

So far we have been VERY pleased with our apartment choice, mainly because of the location. The girls and I have been frequenting Robot Park, right next door as well as the playground at the American School in Japan downstairs, which is only open to building residents. 

The girls love the big slide at Robot Park! Conveniently located next door to our apartment.

View of our building from the playground.

Domestically, it's been a little challenging but nothing too horrible. I had my first hurdle at the grocery store on the 2nd day trying to purchase detergents for the dishwasher and washing machine. Every single thing was in Japanese (imagine that!) so it was pretty much impossible to decipher what was bleach, fabric softener, detergent etc. I ended up just making some educated guesses and our clothes and dishes seem fresh and clean so I think I got it right!

Challenge one of many. Luckily the concierge from downstairs came up and put English labels on most of the buttons, but it still doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.

As far as groceries, I've been doing most of my shopping at 2 Japanese stores, Gourmet City in Azabu Juban, a cute little shopping area near our apartment, and LINCOS, a more upscale store located in the Roppongi Hills complex. Both are very short walks from home, and the prices are reasonable. But, it's easy to lose sight of the cost difference from the U.S.  10 eggs for about $2.50 doesn't seem like a lot until I realize I usually paid $1.50 for a dozen back at home. At the same time, it doesn't help to analyze the cost difference, because it is what it is and we have to eat! 

The big challenge with grocery shopping is navigating the small aisles with a stroller AND a shopping basket. They don't make big carts that fit kids, and in Gourmet City I have to leave the stroller outside because the store is SO small and there is only an escalator itto access the 2nd floor. LINCOS is a bit easier because the aisles are wider and there is an elevator. So, shopping trips are small and daily since I can't carry much while pushing the double stroller.  For now, it works, and helps control the amount of waste.  Back home we were constantly dumping high chair trays full of uneaten food down the garbage disposal, forgetting about those half eaten boxes of cereal in the pantry, or those frost bitten chicken breasts in the back of the freezer. Here, we buy what we need and eat it pretty much right away.  We'll see if it continues that way. 

Gourmet City in Azabu Juban. Open 24 hrs.

 

Tiny shopping basket full of expensive groceries! This trip was $14.  Think I got a small head of broccoli, a can of mandarin oranges, a small bag of pasta, some garlic, some cucumbers, a small package of kraft cheese and a chocolate bar (how did that get in there?) 

Dinner! Bowtie pasta with broccoli and grilled chicken.

I haven't been brave enough to take the girls out to a Japanese restaurant by myself yet, saving it for our first dinner out as a family. Joe has had a work dinner almost every night since we've been here so maybe I will have him share his expertise on Asian cuisine, he is a big fan!!

So far we are really enjoying ourselves and the girls seem to be adjusting well.  Food wise, it's been a lot of pasta and grilled cheese at home, and maybe the occasional fast food meal, but we are really hoping to expand our culinary wings soon.  Well... maybe not too wide based on this article from CNN: 40 Japanese Foods We Can't Live Without .

L.A. to Tokyo Flight or 12 Hours with Pingu

The 15 passenger van picked us up right on time at 8:15am for the 40 minute drive to LAX.  We had so much luggage that the van was the only car available that could fit it all.  Joe got most of the items loaded while the girls had breakfast and ran around a bit.

We had the skycap help with the luggage and ended up checking 12 pieces.  Having this much stuff was a big mistake and in hindsight, we should have tried to have only three or four suitcases with us for the trip.  It was really difficult moving around the 600 pounds of junk.  Auntie Julie showed up while checking in all the luggage, which took about 20 minutes.  That was fine by us because checking in next to us was the US Men's Water Polo team, all of whom I found more attractive than my husband.  Julie and I kept trying to make comments that they would over hear about how we were single and just helping out with these kids, but they didn't hear us I guess. (Just kidding, I love Joe.) :)

Just the essentials!  Water Polo backpacks on the right. "Oh hey guys, I'm normally much prettier than this when I have makeup on and my relationship with my husband is purely a business arrangement."

 We hung out with Julie before security for about 20 minutes and said our tearful goodbyes.  It sure was great having Julie to hang out with the last two years and the girls will really miss getting to see her every week.  We can't wait for her first visit!  We cleared security quickly as there was basically no line and then headed to the United lounge for a bit to grab some snacks and some drinks.  It was pretty crowded but we were able to get four seats together.  The selection was pretty weak but the girls had a couple of mini doughnuts and some juice and were happy.

After about 30 minutes we headed for gate 77 in terminal 7.  We gate checked the umbrella stroller we had with us and made our way onto the plane.  We were in Business First, which is United's business class offering on their 777.  It is a 2-4-2 configuration, which is normally not great, but as it turns out, it was just about perfect for our needs.  We had the middle 4 seats and the girls settled right in.  It was nice that the in-flight entertainment was turned on as soon as we boarded and Annie settled in watching Monsters Inc and laughing very loudly for most of it. She definitely does NOT realize how loud her voice is when she has her headphones on and kept yelling questions out to Joe.

Getting ready to takeoff! Please keep the champagne flowing.

Lizzy was a big fan of the warm nuts.

Annie the pro flier explaining to Lizzy how things work

Food was pretty good! I actually liked a lot of it better than Singapore Airlines

Miss Independent

Girls got kids meals. Apple sauce, chicken strips, baked fries

Lying in Lizzy's seat with her

The girls were really good during the flight, and it was definitely the easiest 12 hour flight we have done with them.  That was largely due to the fact that this was the first long trip we have done since Lizzy started watching TV.  They each slept for about an hour at different times and keep themselves busy with the movies, stickers and snacks on the plane.

Lizzy started a meltdown with about 8 minutes left in the flight when she realized Annie had finally fallen asleep on me (great timing, Annie!) and she just HAD to sit with Mommy right NOW. So we had to wake Annie up and move her to her own seat so I could hold Lizzy and calm her down. She did calm down but after we got off the plane she started a meltdown that would last until we were through customs, baggage claim and in our car to our apartment. All in all about an hour and a half but it felt like an eternity. I was feeling pretty mentally drained by that point and was ready to be at our apartment and get some sleep. It was around 4:30 pm Tokyo time when we finally got ALL the bags loaded into the van, which was only a little past midnight LA time but I was exhausted and the girls were DONE. Staying up past midnight with barely any naps.. not a pretty sight. I know people were staring at us in the airport as Lizzy flipped out in the stroller and I just stood there with glassy eyes.

We made it! Playing dress up before bedtime

We finally arrived at our apartment and Mutsuko-san from Joe's office was there to help us get our luggage up to our apartment and get us settled. I think she showed me a few things regarding the hot water and light switches, but I was feeling very much like a zombie and still had to deal with 2 cranky girls so it was kind of a blur.

Since Joe and I couldn't decide on furniture during our pre-move trip, Tokyo Lease just put temporary furniture in, as well as basic kitchen supplies, linens, appliances, etc. We had everything we needed including some food items to get us through our first 24 hours. We all went to bed around 9pm and woke up around 1am the next morning ready to start our first full day in Tokyo!