2025, May 19-25

School's out for summer, and we're off on another whirlwind adventure. 

We spent the week winding out the school year and getting ready for Hallie and Amanda's 50th birthday trip to Japan. In the process, we lost a day, so we're posting from Monday in Japan. 

Because Hallie got a new phone for her birthday, Eliza is getting the use of her old one as a WiFi device. As part of setting up her ID, she took some selfies. 

We got a couple of other photos of E from the BUH even last week. 

As part of teaching TOEFL at PACE, Mike has started playing Wordle as a warm-up. He's normally not into word games, but this one has been fun. 

Hallie got her nails done in thematic fashion for the upcoming trip. Here you can see both a lucky cat and Hello Kitty. 

We live in a community where sometimes the roosters come to roost. Especially when you are at the Barn at 73rd in Benjamin.

Dutch Bros. had themed stickers. 

In preparation for the trip, the kids and Dad got haircuts. Eliza clipped a couple of inches. 

Isn't she adorable?

Packing finally got finished. We're nesting some bags in anticipation of future need. 

Hallie got packing cubes, and things are packed up tight. This means that bags are also quite heavy. 

Alas, Kai and Fergus will not join us in Japan, which means Kai will be over at Brittany's and neighbors will be looking after Fergus. While Mike ran a couple of errands on Friday, Eliza and Ferg enjoyed some time together on the lounge chair in the front yard.  

And then it was Friday night! After Amanda arrived and we packed the car, we started our first leg of the journey. We opted to rent a car and fly out of Las Vegas, as this was quite a bit less expensive than flying out of Salt Lake. We made it to Vegas a little after 2:00 AM Saturday and tooled around town before going to the airport at about 4:00 for our 7:10 flight to Vancouver, Canada. 

We saw the Sphere on the way, decked out in various themes, including a Memorial Day flag. 

Everyone was mesmerized (or maybe just tired). 

We stopped off at Pinkbox to sample some of their wares. 

No, we did not eat all of these. Sadly, most did not make it past the car rental drop-off. What we did eat was tasty though. 

First pic of Tomari, our LEGO mascot. She may not get much camera time, but it will be fun to have her along. 

The girls at Harry Reid Airport. 

Little do these two know that we're due for many hours of travel yet. 

Vegas, baby! 

Hallie thought it would be funny to get snapshots of sleeping travelers. 

We're on the ground in Vancouver! Woot! 

Ours was one of the planes in the middle there. 

The returned missionaries, back in the Great White North (or at least an airport located in a part of it). 

Landon beelined it for a Kinder Surprise egg at an airport store. They're far superior to Kinder Joy eggs. 

He got Iron Man in his egg. Fitting. 

Eliza and Tomari at our gate. 

We had lunch, and then Landon got some more. 

Such cute souvenirs! Maybe we'll get one on the return trip. 

Vancouver International has an open-air terrarium in the international terminal, a bit of fresh air for weary travelers. 

It also had these carved totems. 

We changed into compression socks for the long leg to Tokyo. 

All ready for the next leg! From Vancouver, it's only some 10 hours to Haneda International. Mike and Landon both had to do battle with their seatmates. Middle row seats suck. 

Meanwhile, Eliza and Hallie (who also had middle seats) ended up getting to sit at the windows of their rows because no one was in those seats. 

Amanda was a few rows up and stuck in the middle like Mike and Landon. 

We were delighted to be on our way. 

The food was sort of tasty. Here's dinner. Some of us had beef on rice along with veggies and salad. 

Evidence that (while he didn't feel like it) Mike spent at least some of the flight in the Land of Nod. 

So did Landon. 

Eliza too. 

We finally made it to Tokyo at around 7:00 PM Sunday night, Tokyo time. Greetings from Japan! 

Our final leg involved taking the Tokyo monorail, riding a subway train, and walking to our hotel, the MONday Apart in Ueno. We got in shortly before 11:00 PM.  

We got off in Ueno in a (mostly) residential area. 

After getting settled in our room, some of us went back out to get late dinner from Lawson and 7-Eleven (not this one. Turns out there were other conbinis even closer to the hotel!).

Our toilet has a built in bidet and wash basin. 

It sleeps five on two twin beds, two couches, and a bunk bed. Feels like a cruise ship cabin. 

One wall has a mural based on Hokusai's Great Wave off Kanegawa. 

So far, Tokyo is a visual and sensory delight. There's eye candy everywhere! 

Tomorrow (well, today), we're off to Kyoto on the Shinkansen!