Getting the kids ready to go out.
Our hotel room comes with free breakfast buffet. 3 meal tickets everyday,
Jadynn eats free.
But to get her all nice and cozy is not a fun job
She especially dislikes the hat and the neck scarf
Mommy looks like she has been battling with Jadynn for hours
Looking down to the buffet restaurant.
Looking down from 7th floor.
Weather looks good today.
Daddy is taking pictures while Mommy finishes up with breakfast
We are out and about now, after a satisfying breakfast
This trip to Japan has been different from previous trips because we actually had a few nice meals for breakfast
Not waiting impatiently for places to open
So pretty this morning.
Everything Everywhere is covered by snow.
City tram is covered with ice and snow too
We saw a taxi get stuck in the ice but driver was able to free the car.
We avoided that taxi of course.
二條市場
All tourist trap
just like 海味街
And of course you can buy the frozen seafood and they will pack it with dry ice for you to fly home with.
Looking back doesn’t seem like we ate enough of this
Hard to decide what to eat
We walked up and down the street a couple times before deciding where to snack
Good thing it’s not a long street
They mostly had the same food
Which made it that much harder to decide
Every store has these heater at store front to keep you warm.
Look at these 大大抽 roe
We will be back here for dinner.
Everything looks so good and fresh.
We ended up walking in here for some morning snacks.
That’s some expensive cantaloupe section. A little less than $5!
Amy is excited.
The lady store owner speaks super fluent english.
Grilled huge oyster.
Aiden of course got his own salmon sashimi
He just doesn’t like anything else.
Scallop sashimi, so good.
Grilled Hem Clam, 即係北極貝. The juice still boiling.
Sapporo TV Tower.
Daddy wondered off to take some pics on his own
As he didn’t want the rest of us to be too tired
Or we just slowed him down?!?!
Someone is excited and someone looks shell shocked.
鬼手
Don’t know why she looks so confused
We take selfies often
Aiden finally got over his little tantrum
And got in on some selfie fun
Red Bean Soup! Nice!
I asked her to make a 好飲紅豆pose
This is what she showed me.
Amy has been a Mommy for too long.
Jadynn can finally do a little walking on her own
Where the floor is not wet or covered in snow or ice
But she did learn the word snow
But has probably already forgotten since we have been back for about a month now
She would walk and point to all the places that had shoes
She finds them even when it’s like hidden in a corner
I wonder how she sees with that covering her eyes
Odori station area map
Daddy is the one who is using it
The rest of us just tag along! Thank goodness for Daddy
Many times Aiden didn’t want to wander of with Mommy as she knew Mommy would easily get lost
This one doesn’t know any better
Guess where we going?
Big hints already.
Maruyama Zoo
Time to take the bus
Daddy gave us a quick summary on what we needed to do
Smooth bus ride
They really do a good job of clearing a path in the middle of the night
And of course because there wasn’t that much snow
We were very fortunate
We didn’t really have much delay.
Aiden really wanted to go out and play with the snow
It’s a shame we didn’t stop to let him have some fun
It must be a lot of fun!
It would be tough because of the schedule we were on
As we needed to make it to lunch after the zoo
I wanted to come back to take picture, too bad we always run out of time.
So beautiful and peaceful
Aiden was pretty much upset the whole bus ride
As he felt like he wasn’t getting his way
We weren’t doing anything he wanted to do
So it took him a while to get over being upset
Good thing, sometimes he moves on quickly
One of the naughtiest kid I’ve seen in Japan.. hahah… you will see later on.
Princess has her personal carrier
剷雪中
Jadynn calls this water
So empty yet so pretty…
It’s not a very big zoo
But it’s a pretty good one
It was a Tuesday and kids have school.
Who would be going to the zoo on a weekday when it was snowing…
No crouching tiger here
Jadynn liked to try and climb there stools
When we were indoors Mommy got a little rest
Well, at least her arms
The animals are more active than the ones in California
It was cold
We stayed here a bit to watch them do nothing.. just so Mommy can rest a little
More stool climbing
The stool was too high for her though
More alert now
Another one
Saying bye to another friendly kid.
It’s time to see another animal
Mommy didn’t realize we were on a tight schedule
If we don’t keep going, we won’t be able to see much
Besides not wanting her to slip on ice, another reason she isn’t walking outdoors is to reduce the dirt/grime she puts on Mommy’s jacket
Red Panda
They have these open cage for the Red Panda and let you see them real close over the fence.
Daddy is waiting for it to do some real exercise
Finally he goes up
The red pandas were fun to watch
They were very active
Gross! Poop!
and inside the Red Panda habitat, there are ladders and walkway up in the ceiling for them to roam around, just watch out for their poop when you walk underneath. see my video.
Skies seem like it is clearing up
This one won’t climb yet
Good job Aiden!
Glad he is willing to climb after his previous fall at the Discovery Cube’s Wall
Dad instructed him on which steps he should put his feet on
And he did a good job following those directions
Mommy saw kids go barefoot here, maybe Aiden and Jadynn were supposed to wear shoes!
What is Aiden in the Red Panda habitat?
hahah… trying to peek inside.
you can go inside and see the Red Panda running around above you.
And as much as we wanted to stay longer, we had to continue through
Black bear
he looks bored and tired
Slimmer bear
He’s having fun with a ball
That grabbed Jadynn’s attention, as she loves playing with balls.
I knew pandas were playful, but who knew bears can be too
Someone is sleeping comfortably
But not us!
Otherwise we would miss out on too much
It feels like there is so much we couldn’t do.
Looks like the sun is coming out.
And the weather will be nice
So let’s enjoy the snow in the meantime
It’s nice when you don’t have to deal with the complications and problems snow can bring.
The reptile habitat.
But it smells so bad.
I didn’t want to stay any longer.
The contrast makes it so lovely
Amy felt like a kid “wow-ing over everything
Everything deserved a second glance
Can you find the animal?
Aiden walks so fast!
He doesn’t want to let the snow slow him down.
haha. first time I see Japanese kid throwing tantrum in the middle of the road.
That is definitely a rare scene
Daddy thinks very highly of Japanese kids
Sometimes this trip was quite stressful
Being able to look at some calming snow, is quite peaceful.
Take away one’s mind from these things
Good thing it was calming snow and not a snowstorm
Don’t think we, Ma’s, had enough energy to deal with that.
Polar Bear is sleeping.
Another one is sleeping too.
Wolves!
These animals very lucky, have plenty of space to move.
Very thoughtful of the animal’s needs!
Respect for the animals! Love that!
Even though Mommy wanted to come to the “Africa” exhibition, it was the worst one.
Lion isn’t sleeping
Big hippo
Wow!
But didn’t quite capture Jadynn’s attention.
I rather be in the cold then at the Africa exhibition
Definitely more comfortable
Especially since we are dressed for the outside environment
They are playing comfortably too
So definitely recommend to come to this zoo to check it out
Many suprises
Many different animals
Look at the Joeys
Almost time for us to go
Goodbye!
One last look
Taking taxi back to town for lunch.
Do they take the credit card?
Not all the taxis do…
Or some don’t even know how to use it, even if they have the machine
Time for curry
Mommy didn’t find eating environment to be very comfortable
Because Jadynn didn’t want to sit down
Mommy is getting settled in while Daddy takes a look around
wash hands before eating
don’t forget to stop by the toilet
They are busy prepping food
Daddy is getting short time away from the family
the place is very small
Aiden is checking out the menu
Jadynn is having a fit
Soon Mommy will have a fit too
Ready to eat now
Let’s have some curry
kid meal for Aiden
Oyster curry for Amy
this is their special
time to dig in
interesting
little hungry monster
always being silly nowadays
Jadynn loves curry too
It’s not her first time, she had some on Halloween.
Daddy prefers Mommy’s normal curry
Mommy was ready to get out of there
Not because the food was bad
But it was a bit cramped
We went outside to wait for a cab
But they saw us waiting outside and asked us to come back inside and called a cab for us.
Streetcar – 市電. We got a chance to ride it around town while the kids were sleeping.
We missed our stop and had to walk a little extra
Aiden was super tired and cranky
Sapporo TV Tower
But at least he got to rest a little bit
We are hungry again and ready to eat
The place we are going to was completely empty
We made reservations
And they only served us….
These bowls were too tiny to fill our stomachs
We ordered the small…
but didn’t realize it was that small
We are too used to the portions in USA
Something for Jadynn to eat
She is stuffing herself
Messy hair
She was cranky so sat with Mommy most of the time at the restaurant
Mommy couldn’t eat in peace
More stuffing
Icy
Red bean soup in a can… yummy
Aiden likes it until the red beans appear
and then of course he is very willing to share with us afterwards
Jadynn loves it as well
Of course she is reluctant to share as well
Jadynn has been calling that “animal” every time she sees it.
and saying SHOES every time she sees shoes at the shops.
No ice – Mommy can finally relax
Let Jadynn roam free
No need to hold onto her and make sure she doesn’t “escape”
When she is willing to walk that is
“Don’t mess with me” look
It’s a good idea to take a pic here for memory’s sake
After all, Jadynn kept on calling to it
look she is copying his pose too
If it was a real animal she wouldn’t be touching it.
Even Aiden decide to join us
Should we eat some more?
don’t think we can eat that much more…
Isn’t it too cold for mini skirt? (words of Galen)
Cheesetart.. just so so.
the real BAKE cheese tart is much better.
didn’t try this one.
if it’s still there next time, maybe we will try
肉食女子會Dinner
We got this for 宵夜, very fresh uni, bought it on 11/21
Who knew there was another purpose other than eating the uni
and some scallops as well
Daddy wants to perform for us
and gotta eat them just like 森美
成板一次過鯨吞