Don't worry! We made it!

Cherry blossoms in Yokohama

Whew! I am so sorry for my delay in posting, but we have just been having too much fun here! Ok, ok, I can say that now after the 11+ hour flight, the jet lag, the new everything, the settling into a routine thing and the finding friends thing, right?! So speaking of all of that...

The flight was to be expected... LONG. My motto when flying with young children, is do whatever makes them happy. So, if that means watching Toy Story four times on the Nook, constant candy eating, or, as a Mommy, holding it so that your child can sleep peacefully for a couple of those long hours, then so be it! At one point Jackson told me, "Mom, I want to get off the airplane now." I chuckled long and hard to myself and then said, "You know, everyone else wants to get off the airplane too, but we can't because we're flying over the ocean right now. We only have about six hours left, so let's try to settle in." Oh my goodness. For the most part, Jackson and Jacob did very well on the plane, all things considered. The nonstop flight from Denver, to Narita International Airport, Japan left DIA around 12:30pm local time on Sunday, March 30th. By the time we arrived in Japan it was about 2:15pm local time on Monday, March 31st. The shortest or longest day ever? Hmmmmmm... Then we had to go through Immigration, which took FOREVER since we moved here, and aren't just visiting. Then it was onto Customs. That also took much longer than usual since we had a ton of stuff with us, also due to the move, and we also had to give them special papers informing them of our shipments arriving via air and ocean. Now it was about 5:30pm local time, which was about 2:30am MST. Yes, if you're wondering, the shortest day ever is actually the longest day ever. Then after all of that, we had to get on a bus from the airport to take us into Tokyo. If you're familiar with Tokyo at all in late March/early April, you may know that the famous cherry trees are in full bloom. That being said, there were no hotel rooms available in Tokyo for us. So we were on our way to Yokohama, I guess what you might consider a suburb of Tokyo (about an hour and a half, by train, away from our current apartment). We were all able to sleep a little on the bus ride, but this bus didn't drop us off at our hotel, oh no, it dropped us at a central location in the suburb. So we had to get a taxi to the hotel. Picture Joe and I for a second, with two very tired/cranky (we all were tired and cranky) and screaming kiddos, four giant, and I mean giant, suitcases, one carryon suitcase, two adult-sized backpacks, and two child-sized backpacks trying to get a cab (actually two to fit all of our stuff). Good thing we can laugh about it now, right? Well, we made it to the hotel. This flight schedule actually works well for adults traveling to Japan, by the way. We get to the hotel room, it's about 8:30 or 9pm local time, and we adults are beyond ready for bed. But let's talk about "schedules" for toddlers. Which leads me to my next topic...

The boys playing at a park near our house

Jet lag. Joe and I could have went to sleep after all of that and not have woken up until the sun was up but our two little dudes slept for a couple of hours and by about 1am local time, they were both awake. By awake, I mean up and ready for the day! This sort of behavior continued for the next several days until slowly they started sleeping until 2am, 3am, 3:30am, 5am and then we got to 5:30am and even 6:30am! Yes! I've read that for every hour in time difference, it takes that many days to acclimate. Well, it didn't take us 15 days, thank God!, but it did take us 6 or 7 days. Adjusting to time change can be difficult for anyone, but I feel like that is especially true for kids. That's all I have to say about that.

Dolphin show at the Epson Aqua Stadium

Joe had a week before he had to report to the office here, so we did some exploring as a family then and on the weekends following. We frequented several parks to see the beautiful cherry blossoms, boy, o boy, they were pretty (they're all gone now!), and also so the boys could run around and play. We also went to an Easter Egg Hunt sponsored by the Tokyo Mothers Group last weekend. My personal favorite family adventure thus far, has been to the Epson Aqua Stadium. (Shout out to Marine Life, circa 1992! Rapid City people, you know what I'm talking about!) We saw some amazing looking fish and the largest sting ray I have ever seen, as well as a dolphin show and a sea lion show!

Jacob checking out the fish

In the week or two that followed our arrival here in Tokyo, the boys were particularly fragile when it came to certain things, and I couldn't blame them one bit. Not only were we all tired but if we tried to push them too far when it came to exploring or trying a new food or any other unknown factor, they had complete and utter meltdowns. I felt really bad for them because we disrupted their entire world. It made perfect sense that they were having meltdowns! Children are so adaptable, but we honestly changed every aspect of their world in just a few days. They have a new house (which they still lovingly call "the new house"), a new school, new teachers, and new friends. We also can't drive anywhere; thankfully they love "going on walks", riding the trains, on buses and in taxi cabs. The list really goes on and on when it comes to everything new, although now they are welcoming our new adventures, I think!

Selfie at the aquarium

I was trying to prepare them for their first day of Japanese pre-school in the week leading up to their first day, and every time I said, "...and you're going to have new teachers," Jacob would say, "Hannah, Taffy (Kathy)". You see, Hannah and Kathy were Jacob's teachers at his school in Colorado and as far as he was concerned, teachers = Hannah and Kathy. Well, their first day at Japanese pre-school went great as both boys told me all about it on our walk home that day. While Jackson was chattering away about their trip to the park and about how he was running and fell and the names of their new friends, all Jacob could say was, "Not Hannah. Not Taffy. Not Taffy. Not Taffy." What a revelation in his brain, right?! Jackson and Jacob are now in their third week of school and it is going great. It is such a wonderful fit for both of them. Jackson is already bringing home some Japanese they are teaching him! I couldn't be more pleased.

J&J go to school M/W/F from 9am-1pm, which gives me such a great opportunity to go exploring. Although many of the days they have been at school thus far I spent at home unpacking boxes, I have been able to get out a little bit. I have even met a couple of new friends who I adore! The first friend I met here also has two boys about the same ages as J&J so we have already had a few playdates, dinners, and walks through the park. She also showed me a ton of places to go with the boys including pools, libraries with English books and children's centers. Soon, we are going to have a girls day visiting the Andy Warhol exhibit at Roppongi Hills, which I cannot wait for! The second friend I met, showed me a new place to explore with the children and also introduced me to the buses! They are even more confusing than the trains! Joe has been working long hours, as expected, and is even on his second business trip as of this morning, so I am very grateful for new friends!

Here's for friends! New and old! (I miss you, old ones!)

Thank you so much for reading. I love you.
XOL