Travelog for: Guss Elephant

Today we went back to Tokyo. After a long bus and train ride we arrived back at our first hotel and then went out to sightsee. Our destination today was the Tokyo Metropolitan Building (TMG).  Here it is.

The TMG allows visitors to go up the North or South towers for free to get a beautiful view of Tokyo. We took the elevator up to the top floor of the North Tower. Look at that view of Tokyo!

Because it was a clear day, we were able to see Mt.Fuji from the tower though not too clearly. This is very rare.

Here it is when we zoomed in.

It was time to head back to the hotel, but on the way we got to see some Christmas lights! Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas.... I hope we'll see some more!

More to come, tomorrow we're going to see a mouse? I wonder what's so special about a mouse...
Guss

Today we went to one of Tokyo's Disney Resorts parks. This park is called Tokyo DisneySea. Its called that because it has different ports that you visit and ride in. It looks like it'll be fun today. When you first enter you see a globe.

Then you walk through and you can see all the ports of call, and the centerpiece of the park, Mount Promethius.

We headed to Discovery Port first. He we are waiting in line for Storm Rider. It was a neat ride where you were a plane in the middle of a storm.

After that we went to Aquatopia. See the little boats behind us we ride in?

After that we went inside Mount Promethius! Its called Mysterious Island in here. Here we are there waiting in line to ride 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. You can see a pretty good view of Mysterious Island.

After that we took a break and went to Mermaid Lagoon. Sorry this picture is so blurry, but its all indoors and very dark.

This was the kiddie area, so while the kids went to play and ride we rested on the stroller.

Finally it was getting late so we headed over to American Harbor to see the Christmas lights. Isn't the tree pretty?

After that it was time to go get our seats for the night show. A picture of us wouldn't have worked, but doesn't the show look pretty? It was about the Spirit of Water and the Spirit of Fire falling in love.



Unfortunately we didn't find any mouse. Maybe we'll have to look some more tomorrow.
More soon,
Guss

So we're off again to find a mouse... still not sure why though. Hmm. Today we're going to Disneyland! We had to get up bright and early to go in. Here we are at the walkway to Disneyland.

And here's the castle!

This is a different view from FantasyLand while we were waiting in line for a ride.

Hmm. Mouse clues. Look at this sandwich, maybe its pointing the way?

Next we went to ride on the Haunted Mansion, here we are waiting in line.

Mmm. We stopped for more food. We stopped at a restraunt that was decorated like Alice in Wonderland. Here's our lunch!

Can you see the decorations? The Chesire cat is hiding behind us...

From there we went to Toon Town. It was a funny place.

After that it was time for the parade! Everyone here sits down for parades to sit and watch them. Here it goes...


And THERE is the mouse! Woo! We knew we'd find him eventually!

After the parade we got to do one more ride about Winnie the Pooh.

After that it started raining really, really hard so we decided to go home. Jayme did get one more picture of the Christmas tree on the way out though! Merry Christmas!

Our last day in Tokyo next,
Guss

Today was our last day in Tokyo! Since I haven't shown a picture before, this is what a Tokyo Subway looks like up top. This is Shinjuku station. There are at least 6 different subway and train lines here!

Our next stop was the National Museum. Isn't the building pretty? I wonder what's inside...

First we got to see some very nice swords.

There were some other carved things with the swords as well. Do you like this dragon?

At first we thought we'd found some ancient toys, but then found out these dolls were used for rituals.

We also got to see some very pretty paintings.

There were two rooms just filled with ancient kimonos!

Ahh, here we found some real toys. This was a game children used to play.

This guy is kind of scary huh?

After the first museum we headed to get some lunch. We stopped at the Hard Rock Cafe. The children split a kid's meal, and look what came with it! A new friend for us!

We all shared a yummy meal.

Then we headed to the science museum! We got to learn about the planets.

Here's our planet, this is a globe that changes as the earth changes. Its very large. Isn't it pretty?

We had fun at the science museum. This was the view on our way back to the hotel.

We went to sleep that night and had to get up very early to get to the airport the next day. We were all quite sleepy. Then we took the same plane back to Okinawa, but because of delays we didn't get there til after midnight! Yikes! But everyone's safely here now, and its almost Christmas! I wonder what we'll do for Christmas?

More soon,
Guss

Merry Christmas Eve mommy! We had such a fun Christmas Eve! We started out by heading to the botanical gardens for a light show! We got there early, so the lights weren't quite on yet so we chilled out at the playground.

After that we went to see the stage where the light show would be.

Finally the lights came on and we got to go walk around! There were two themed areas, one was a forest

And the other was a sea! How pretty.

Even the lake in the botanical gardens was lit up!

We stayed for a laser light show (unfortunately none of those photos came out!) then headed home. We helped Jayme put the kids to bed then did some last minute wrapping of gifts for the children.



Hmm. Maybe we should've helped more. This is the one Jayme wrapped.

We left out the cookies for Santa, then headed to bed ourselves.

Merry Christmas Eve!
Guss

Dear Mommy,
We woke up on Christmas morning to a surprise! Santa had come to bring presents for the children! He had filled all the stockings


And ate all the cookies Jacob left for him.


The children of course dug in and started unwrapping. We helped a little bit.


Then we went to help Jayme make breakfast. Mmm.


We got to hang out at the house and relax all day and watch movies. We also helped Jayme make a turkey for Christmas dinner. She said this time we'd have plenty of leftovers!


So we got to have potatoes and turkey for dinner. Yum!


After dinner we went outside to see Jayme's building, its all lit up!


Merry Christmas!
Guss

Dear mommy,
What an exciting New Year's we had! We started it out with a trip to Comprehensive Park on New Year's Even so the kids could ride their new scooters. We went around this small pond.

And found some flowers on the trees.

And this small monument area with flowers.

After that we went home to get some rest then went out for a walk at Camp Zanpa. We walked a little ways, then got to see the lighthouse!

Here's the view in the other direction.

There was also a monument here.

After that we headed home to prepare for New Year's! We played some games to pass the time

And had some grapes, since Jayme's family believes they're lucky for New Year's. One for each year. You're supposed to eat them as the clock strikes, but Jayme didn't want anyone choking!

Finally we got to ring in the New Year!

The next morning we got up very early and headed to Okuma Campgrounds.

Here's the cabin we stayed in.

They had a go-cart raceway nearby!

And we tried to get to the beach, but it was very windy and the sand stung.

Finally we made a camp fire so we could cook some hotdogs for dinner.

What a fun New Year's Eve and Day we had! More updates soon I'm sure!
Guss

We had a fun day for the last day in Japan. First we went to the Ferris Wheel in American Village.  Here's the ferris wheel.

Here's the view from the top!


They still had some New Year's decorations inside the ferris wheel.

When we came down we got to ride on a couple of the children's rides.


Then we went home to decorate for Jacob's birthday! I helped with the streamers.


And I put the candle on the cake.

Does it look fun? We got to sing Happy Birthday to Jacob and have cake.

After that it was time for me to get in my envelope to go to my next host. I hope its fun!

More soon,
Guss Elephant

Hi Mom, Here I am in Chula Vista, California with Margaret. I am helping her with her computer and meeting some of her friends. This should be fun! More to come.

Here I am with some of Margaret's friends.

Hi Mom, We are getting behind in our updates but we have been busy going to Red Hat Meetings. Will tell you more about them later and send pictures. You will not believe hos many cats live here at Margaret's house and there are many cat pictures too.  I have been having fun meeting everyone and looking at the stuff.  There are two dogs here too and they are very nice to me.

Hi Mom, Today I am outside looking at all the scenery outside Margaret's house. Still having fun!

Hi Mum, Margaret made me a RED HAT! We went to a Red Hat Society Meeting. It is the Queens Quarterly meeting for the Queens of all the local chapters.  Margaret is a Countess but we went as guests of Queeny Carolyn.  Here are a bunch of pictures we took. Don't you just love my red hat?

Hi Mum, We went to another Red Hat meeting!  This one was at a Mexican restaurant called Casa Dan Diego.  Ole! We had a grand time. I got to sit on the bar and meet some more of Margaret's group called The Red Rhinestones. She even brought another guest, a giant Lady Bug. Here are our pictures.  Still having fun!!!

Hi Mum, Happy St. Patrick's Day.  I am on my way to Palm Desert, California. Sorry to leave Margaret and her family but it should be fun.