Last night I couldn't sleep. I read a book called "Japan for Kids" and by the end of it my mind was swirling with all the ideas they came up with. I'm so amped to be here now! And one thing I've learnt quickly about moving between countries is: get out. Staying home leads to cabin fever. And cabin fever is bad. Get out, even if it's hot and sticky. Go and see new things. It's fresh air for the soul.
When I woke up (or let's say, when I was woken up by a friendly little person), I had it clear in my mind that we were going to try and go to Yokohama today. We've made it to Happy Road now several times and that's where the Todoroki station is. We took our time getting ready after Michael had left for work as we didn't want to hit peak traffic. By 9.30 or so, we were hitting the hill outside our apartment, creamed up, water bottles, nappies, the toot in the pram. Evie on my back, Jozie in the buggy. At the station, no one really spoke English. But they understood "Yokohama". So I bought a ticket from a machine (with the kind help of the station master who pressed all the right Japanese buttons for me) and soon we were on our way. Jozie was excited about the train ride and Evie just goes along with things mostly. We had 1 change over, but everything went smoothly.
The reason I wanted to go to Yokohama was because of a rooftop play area I had read about as well as a toy store. I wanted to get them 1 more toy each as we're just really hobbling along with Sassy and a handful of horses. The girls are fighting over the select few! So, just for a change of pace in our playing games I thought it may come in handy to get something new.
We found the place easily and headed for the toy store first. Despite Jozie knowing the purpose of our trip to the store, was overwhelmed with the choice and everything she fancied got put into the basket. She wanted a golden ballgown, some princess shoes, a little bag/wallet, a puppy that walks and wags its tail, some rabbits, a ball, a swimming cap, some more shoes, some earrings. With some of the smaller items, she slipped them in without me seeing, so I just slipped them out without her seeing. Bigger things like the dress, I told her we'd first look around and decide on 1 thing right at the end. The shoes were really very expensive, so I told her that and said if that was what she wanted, we could rather then look for more reasonable shoes (which we didn't find). In the end, she chose the puppy. And a cute little thing it is!! It's a cuddly brown poodle with pink bows in it's hair and has a collar. "We can call it "Lady" ", she said, "like Lady and the Tramp".
So Lady Schmidt has been welcomed into the family this afternoon much to Jozie's delight. Lady ate supper with us this evening and has been on walks and is now sleeping soundly next to Josephine.
The rooftop play area was quite nice. We stayed about 20 minutes but couldn't bear the heat any longer after that. They had a nice "igloo" with several entrances for the kids to dash in and out of. They could also climb over the igloo. The igloo was however covered with plastic grass sheets making it look more like a jungle hideout. But which was rather conspicious on top of an otherwise nearly bare rooftop space.
All in all, we had a great day. Bushed at the end, desperate to cool off in the bath, but happy.
Evie went to bed at 5pm tonight and even Josephine couldn't make it past 8pm.
And now, I'm off to bed too with a happy heart and tired eyes (and legs).
Goodnight!
