Travelog for: Cassandra

Since we have to get packing to go to Tokyo, Jayme decided we could do the decorating today to come home to the apartment being decorated for Christmas. Fun! Jayme put up the tree and put the lights on, then we got to put on the ornaments! Everyone in Jayme's family gets one ornament a year, they usually have something to do with that year.

The first ornament we found was a double... it was two identical Shrek ornaments. Jayme said that's because she and Manuel got each other the same ornament last year! I guess there are problems to this ornament buying thing.


There was a pretty panda ornament. Apparently Jayme's son had a panda stuffy he wouldn't let go of for almost a year. Maybe I can meet him later...


Since Jayme's husband is in the US military there's lots of military ornaments (and you can see the Shrek ones in the background).


There was also a small nativity ornament


At the bottom of the tree we put the non-breakable Sesame Street ornaments so if the boys got ahold of them, they wouldn't get hurt.


And finally we put the star at the top of the tree.


Can you find five toyvoyagers hiding in the Christmas Tree?


After that we put up the two Nativity sets. This one went up high where little hands couldn't reach it.



Then we put up the child nativity set that the kids can play with.


Jayme doesn't have a fireplace, so we put the stockings on the wall.


We also put some lights over the tv where the NFL jersey's are for the NFL season. Jayme said they could use some decorating. #21 is Manuel's favorite team, the San Diego Chargers, but they lost today


Wow. We got worn out decorating... it may be awhile til the next update since we're headed to Tokyo soon and we don't know if we can update there!

Love,
Cassandra

Dear Mommy,
Jayme says it’s time to go! All the bags are packed. We’re ready. We had to get to the airport very early because we’re flying Space-Available so we have to sign up. There was more than enough room for all of us going to Tokyo though! Here’s all of us toyvoyagers waiting for our flight.


It seemed like we waited and waited, but we finally made it onto the plane. And guess what! The plane even had these little televisions for us to watch.

Mmmm. Airline food isn’t that bad. The sandwich was pretty good, and you can’t really mess up water.

When we got off the plane we had to take a two hour (!!) bus/subway/train ride with ALL of those bags! Everyone was worn out by the time we got to the hotel so Jayme tucked us all in for some sleep.


When we got up in the morning we went down to get some coffee. It’s a pretty neat little coffee machine.

Then we drank our coffee while reading more about Tokyo.

Pretty soon it was light out, and we were able to get out first day-time view of Tokyo!

Wow! It looks so pretty… but oh no! Jayme said we’re not staying here; it was just for last night! We’re headed a couple hours out to a place called Hakone… well here we go…

More soon,
Cassandra

Today we took the train to Hakone. We had to get off the train at Odwara. From the train station we could see a castle, but we didn't have time to visit. Do you see it far off in the distance?


Here it is when we zoom in.


From here we took an hour long bus ride to our hotel in Hakone. The hotel we're staying at is called a Ryokan. We were in room 7.

Its was a very pretty room.

And we had a nice little view

We got to sleep on a futon at night!

There were also some pretty decorations in the hallways

After checking in we went out for a bite of Chinese to eat. It was very yummy, but Jayme's not sure what it is!

From there we tried to go see a shrine, but it started raining really badly! Since it was rainy we went back to the hotel and decided to make use of the bathing rooms. First you go in and put your towel and other stuff in a basket.

Then you go into the bathing room. Since multiple people use the bathing tub you have to wash well before you get in. Here's the soap and other things for a shower.

Then you get in the bathing tub. Its filled with mineral waters and very nice.

From there we went back and went to sleep. I hope we get to do lots of neat stuff later..

Write more soon,
Cassandra

Today Jayme said we're going to go for a few rides and try to find Mt. Fuji (apparently it regularly hides). Our first stop was the rope way. Here's the entrance to the ropeway and the cars we were riding in.


Here's all of us tv's sitting and chilling.

Its a pretty view, but unfortunately no sign of Mt. Fuji yet.

After the ropeway we took a cablecar to the boat. Isn't the boat pretty?

There were some pretty sites from the boat.

Jayme said Mt. Fuji is hiding behind those clouds! Can you see the base of it?

Unfortunately we didn't get to see Mt.Fuji on our trip to Hakone, it was hiding the whole time. Jayme was able to get this picture on the way home from the train though, the mountain came out for a bit in the morning! But it was moving too fast for us to pose.

Next we're supposed to go to a museum, more soon!
Cassandra

Today we went to a place called the Open Air Museum in Hakone. It a museum of artwork that is all outdoors. It was very neat. When we first entered there were many statues.


And I liked the row of diamonds.

The egg made me feel a bit hungry.

Many of the art pieces were play areas. The one behind me is a giant series of tubes for children to climb through.

And this is a maze.

I really like this sphere too. You could see your reflection in it.

It was a fun trip! This was our last day in Hakone... we took another bath and decided to head back towards Tokyo. I wonder what we'll see there?

More soon,
Cassandra

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...
Cassandra

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,
Cassandra

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,
Cassandra

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?

And this is a neuron! Its the only complete large mapped our replica in the world.

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,
Cassandra

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!
Cassandra

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!
Cassandra

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! When it was all done it was time for me to get into my envelope and go to my next host. I wonder what I'll get to do there?

Cassandra

Hello Mum,

I wasn't the only ToyVoyager that arrived here today. Here arrived Bruni Lila, Germania and Tiger Lily, too. So we are all new and met Tilda, Thiele and Friendship Bear. So much Toys !

Today we went to a part of Essen that is called Kray. BlackCat needed to get a package from the post office there so we went there all together. On the way back to a bus stop we saw this wonderful church. It is the St. Barbara church. BlackCats grandparents married in this church. Doesn’t it look nice?


The church tower


The front door of the church


Another view of the tower.

That’s us in front of the pitman statue in Steele. Pitmen were really good for the city Essen, because they had a lot of coal mines here. Now there are only a few ones left and no one is still working, but this statue should remind you of the pitmen that did the work to make Essen to such a big city like it is now.