Vaillant Family Blog: Adventures in Japan

April was a fun and busy month for us! We returned from Okinawa to see beautiful Cherry Blossoms starting to bloom. Cherry blossom (Sakura) season lasted about 2 weeks. We have two streets right by our house on base that create a beautiful canopy of flowers above. The Cherry Blossom trees here are much larger than the one's we visited in Washington, DC. We asked a friend to take some family photos of us while the trees were just starting to bloom. They only got prettier from here....

Spring in Japan!

Brothers

Cute Linc

Handsome Hayden

The school year in Japan ends in March. Lincoln started a new school year the first week of April. He is in a new 4 year old class called Momo (Peach). His first official day he had to dress in full uniform for opening ceremonies.

Ready for my first day!

We also learned about the Japanese tradition of Hanami. Its basically having an outdoor picnic under the Sakura trees. We went to our favorite park near base for a family bike ride and enjoyed a Hanami under the Sakura Trees.

Linc's first ride on the back of a Japanese bike

Hayden ready to ride

Hanami with Mommy

And Daddy!

Lincoln had two weeks of half days when he started back to school. We had many picnics under the trees. Lincoln has a special prayer he says before bed and before meals. I finally caught it on video. He said it so fast it is hard to understand but he finishes with "Thank you for this picnic." :)

For Easter we attended a small egg hunt on base and the boys dyed eggs Saturday night by the fire. The boys had two baskets ready for them on Easter morning (thanks to Nana and Grammy). We also had a neighborhood egg hunt...

Dying Eggs

Thank you Easter bunny

Hayden going through his baskets

Happy Easter!

The boys ready to hunt

We gave the little one's a head start

Bo in action

Eric took off a weekday and we surprised the boys with a trip to Disney Sea! This park is unique to Japan. I enjoyed it more than Disneyland. The crowds were not too crazy and the weather turned out to be perfect. It was only about an hour and 45 minute drive from base (we left at 5:30am to miss traffic). We waited near the front of the line for the park to open and then it was a mad rush to the popular rides and fast pass machines. While Eric was fighting for a Toy Story fast pass the boys somehow tricked me into riding the Tower of Terror. I was nervous for myself and Linc but he was a champ. We went again with daddy while the line was still reasonable. Most lines were not more than 15 minutes except for a few that Lincoln could not ride anyway. Eric and Hayden went off to do those while Lincoln napped in the stroller.

Happy boys at the Disney Sea entrance

The park is on the water and very impressive!

Lincoln and his Easter bucket of popcorn


Under the Sea...Mommy's favorite Disney movie! We enjoyed the Little Mermaid area which was great for younger kids.

My Prince Eric

Toy Story! Glad we fought for that fast pass. Two hour wait without it!

Family pic in front of the Indiana Jones ride...Lincoln was very upset he could not ride the volcano ride.

Later in the month we booked a weekend at Tama Hills Lodge. It is a military recreation center about 45 minutes from base. We enjoyed mini golf, pony rides, hikes, and exploring the grounds which include old WWII structures. We had a cute little cabin where we stayed for two nights. We cooked out the first night and ate at their restaurant the second night due to rain. We'll definitely go back for an easy and inexpensive weekend getaway.

Our Cabin

Ready to Ride - Lincoln was a little nervous the first day

It wasn't Hayden's first rodeo

Day two we went back and Lincoln was much more confident and cheesed the whole time

Hiking

Brother cuddles which quickly turns to wrestling.

We ran into a friend who let us borrow her golf cart for a couple hours which made exploring more fun!

Checking out the old buildings and bunkers along the way

The Tama Zoo was a short drive from the Lodge so we headed there on our way out on Sunday. It was a great zoo with lots of fun animals.

Lots of giraffe's

About a week and half after Easter I hosted my culture group for Easter Egg Dying. They had asked to do this activity and they seemed to enjoy it. We did a potluck lunch after and I have a new record of how many people I can fit in my house at once!

Moved the couches back to fit two tables

Dying Eggs with the Japanese ladies

The whole group

We finished out April with a family day to watch Lions baseball. Hayden had a baseball game in the morning and then we took the ITT bus to the Seibu Dome. This was our first game of the season. We miss going to see the Orioles play but we are glad baseball is just as big in Japan!