Railway Museum

Tim went skiing. I knew William would be upset dad was going without him, so I made plans to go to the Railway Museum.We had a great view of Fuji from Tokyo.
The train enthusiasts discuss how fast we are going on this 'shuttle.' It was only one train-change to get to Omiya. Then, we got on this nice little elevated tram/shuttle to the museum.
Outside, they had the date and a train to take a picture of. The year is Heisei 21. Emperor Heisei has been such for 21 years. So, instead of 2009, we're in Heisei 21 over here in Japan!
The museum is world-class. VERY well done. The turn-table in the middle is operated twice a day. It was exciting to see, and very loud, as they blow the whistle.

Each exhibit had a little bar code for cameras to read (it's all the rage here in Japan, and easy to use... use your camera to 'scan' the barcode, and the information shows up on your screen!). We borrowed a scanner from the museum, and all you did, was at the bottom of the description in Japanese, were these small bar codes, and we'd do the one for English. There were other languages, like Chinese and Korean. Cool, huh?

The diorama was amazing, and they had video, as well. Only after the show could you go up and look at it.
We loved this very Art deco train. Most trains you could go inside, except the Royal Carriages, which you could look at through glass.
This is a stairway down, to look under the train. It was neat, as now I know how they seal up under a shinkansen, how a cog train looks like underneath, and a few others.
The first few shinkansens are in the museum. The first shapes were like 'bullets.' Ergo, 'Bullet Trains.'
Although this small ride's shinkanen is shaped more like the modern ones, it was definitely not as fast. I think we hit the incredibly high speed of 3 kph as we trundled down the track.
These are all the boys on the trip, minus Ian (3 months) on Hallie's lap. On the way back, we took a real shinkansen ride between Omiya and Tokyo. The boys loved the rides at the museum.
Even this popular ride. If you hold on to the escalator, it pulls you down a 'slide' on the side.
While we had to get tickets to ride the other specialty rides at the museum, this one was on a first-come, first served basis.
William's favorite authentic 'ride' was being able to drive the mini-train. They have these cool little tracks, and a miniature train. The controls are like the ones for real trains. Thank heavens William had plenty of experience on the Japanese train driving game. He was an ace. You had to not go over a certain speed limit. You have to be 6 to drive the train. WOO HOO!!!

Tim (wherever he was) had the good video camera with him, so I used my cell phone. Pretty chunky video, but you get the idea!

Tape Conspiracy

Okay, here's my problem: A child development specialist sent my son tape and a tape dispenser for his birthday. Okay, so it's my best friend/sister-in-law (friend before brother Arnold married her). I know Arnold would love to bug the heck out of me, since it has been my main goal in life to be the most annoying little sister since I was very small. (wink) So, I have to wonder if this isn't a secret plot against me.Oh yes, tape is very cool. It does wonderous things like become bridges, which suspend cars.
But the darned stuff is nigh impossible to get off of some of the things William has stuck it to. I swear Scotch Tape has stock in Goo-Gone.
Oh yeah, pose with it. He thinks he's so smart. But I, too, can plot. I have now banned double sided tape, as he sticks things with it to the door, floor, wherever. That stuff is just plain annoying, as you can't find an end, and try to gently coax it off with an even pull. I guess I should be glad it's not duct tape. Once the roll ran out, I scuttled the cute orange slug tape dispenser away from site (you can see it behind William in this picture).
He tried to tape the door shut. Well, the first opening broke it, so he tried taping it again. If I took a picture of this door right now, you will find remnants of the tape. It is so obnoxiously stuck on! This door is to his closet, and made of metal (hurray for the refrigerator magnets he can put on them!). This tape LOVES to adhere to metal.

Notice how it's used it to help stick Hot Wheels track together. The good news is the tape easily comes off of plastic.

Which reminds me. Mattel is evil. Hot Wheels take so many batteries to run these days. What happened to gravity and arm muscles? I think Mattel owns Duracell, and they're hooking the kids young. It's all a devious plot.

And there was more than one shooter on the grassy knoll.

Gift Sorting

We have a 6-year-old in the house, and that means an obsession when it comes to the Christmas gifts. He is totally focused with how many gifts he's getting. Apparently it doesn't matter what's inside or what it costs. It is just all about the number in the stack.

The bows have been hopelessly crushed from other gifts being put on top, over and over again.
William has refused to write Santa. So he gets to live with what Santa gives him. I think it's a 'test.' The boys from school and he have been comparing notes, and Will is now seeing if Santa has ESP. Of course he doesn't. Everyone knows that the elves are the spies who monitor the naughy/nice quotient for the kids. Santa just wants children to learn to be polite and request things.

At a recent children's Christmas party, William was so disappointed with what Santa brought him. I'm a bit miffed at Santa myself, as he chose a train (not a Shinkansen or Bullet Train, that was the rub) that has annoying sounds. Nothing normal or cute. Just annoying. What's up with that? There's some sick, twisted elf making these gifts. I swear it.
The stacks have gotten bigger, and are growing as things get wrapped. Also, noting the inequity of the piles, I've had to add some to Tim's and mine. Nothing like a little healthy competition. :)

Beatles Night

Well, if I can't have Paul (the cute one), then Tim is my favorite Mop-top. Last year we went to this really great venue called 'Beatles Night' in Tokyo. It is a cover band, the Parrots, performing Beatles songs. They are really good, and they speak with a Liverpoolian accent when they speak English. It's a hoot!

So, we went back this year. I borrowed an orange peace sign necklace from a friend (my real one is in storage) and bought me some orange hoops, and I was set to scream with the best of them!
These are all really great friends of ours. Standing, from left to right: the Strands are the funnest family, and we're blessed to have them as neighbors (and drinking buddies!). Connors are next, and our closest neighbors, as our driveway comes out in front of their house. She's my RS President (Mormon thing). Aldridges live just a few blocks over here in Mabori Kaigan. They live on the ocean-front and have a great view. Then there's the Murphy's. They live a bit further away, but Christy and I are the same age, and William loves to boss her daughter, Jaz around. Tim and I. The Church's were our sponsors and solid-rock type of friends. Kneeling are Casey and Rich. They are a fun couple who actually invited us over to their place for dinner, even though we come with William in tow! Rich likes the Ice Age movies, so William watched those. Ken and Jandi (sitting). Jandi is the one that turned us all on to this fun night. She's the cook of the neighborhood. The Rourke's are our closest neighbors. I think there's about 10 meters between our beds, if you had an imaginary straight line. But we never see them! Our house has all frosted privacy windows on the back, and so even though their house is kitty-cornered, unless I open up a window and lean out, it's like their house isn't even there.
The deal comes with buffet (and it's a spread) and entertainment. You do have to buy your own drinks.
They give you free hats, sunglasses and glow-sticks. What more can you want? A conga line? Got that! It got so bad trying to get up to the dance floor, we started heading to the back and dancing there.
I was being silly and dancing the swim and the like, and this Japanese man grabs me, and pulls me over to dance with his wife (who had been sitting down)! Luckily, Tim snapped a picture. Kind of odd, but I rolled with it! She was a really good dancer, too! The Japanese man had been dancing with his buddy. He had obviously purchased enough beverages.