osaka for a day

Well...it's the Holidays and my parents are visiting.
The kids are out of school and with no major engagements, Mitch and I thought...what the heck?!
I decided to once again, accompany Mitch on one of his trips to Japan.
This time to Osaka!
So, we left our three girls in the care of my sister Elika (and of course, my parents) and packed up Kaden and a small duffel bag and headed out!

While waiting at the gate...Kaden kept trying to hop through the window!
Why?

I think he saw Mitch doing his pre-flight!
Making sure our plane is safe and ready to fly!

Kaden and I got our boarding passes!!
We made it on the flight!

On the plane...getting ready for take-off!

And on the ascent...he fell asleep.
Yay!


Mitch was first to take his break amongst the pilots...so he came back (even foregoing his First Class seat & meal) to visit us and have some lunch.
Or, at least hold Kaden while I got to eat some lunch. :)

This would be around hour 7 or so...
Trying to get more and more creative with keeping Kaden occupied on the long flight.

We made it!!!
+/- 10 Hours on a plane and Kaden is surprisingly all smiles!
He really did fly great!
Got antsy here and there...but didn't fuss all that much.
Of course, I did spend quite a bit of time in the back galley area...but not having to deal with a crying and fussy baby?
Totally worth it!
Here we are...on the express train to our hotel.
Thankfully, the train runs directly from the airport to the hotel.
NO walking or transporting our luggage long distances.
And NO having to deal with the freezing outside air!
Double Yay!

Finally in our hotel room.
Here's our view.
Nice!


After off-loading and changing clothes, we headed out for dinner.
Felt more like a late-night snack (2 AM Hawaii time, 7 PM Osaka time).
Here Kaden is getting his "dinner" while we wait for ours.

Ramen!
And gyoza.
Seriously... food in Japan is SO good!

Kaden kept taking this chopstick (that Mitch gave to him!?) and proceeded to poke everything!
Our ramen, the gyozas, the gyoza sauce...etc.
I don't know why, but I thought it was the funniest thing ever.
Probably because my brain was still on Hawaii time...

Walking back to the hotel after our ramen.
Brrrr...it was COLD!

Me and my baby boy...in front of the large shotengai.
Did I mention it was cold?
Definitely not like Hawaii!


My late night snack...
Oden from the convenience store.
Brought me back to my mission days in Sendai...taking out some hot oden from the nearest Lawson's and eating it while sitting on my bike.

It tasted just as good!

After heading back to our hotel and sleeping for a few hours, Kaden decided to wake up at 3:30 AM. With little to keep him occupied in the hotel room, we decided we were awake enough to head outside and do some shopping.

Yes, at 5 o'clock in the morning.

Found a 24 hour grocery store near by so walked over and did some shopping.
Kaden charmed the girl at the check-out and scored this balloon.

Which he LOVED!
And thought it was the funnest thing ever!

He kept hitting Mitch with it on the way home.
Did I mention it was 5 o'clock in the morning?
It was still dark out...

Here I am in front of our hotel.
It was pretty fancy.

We walked around the eki a little.
Most all stores were still closed, but with the near empty station, Kaden got to wander around for a bit.
Recognize these lines on the ground?
They're for leading the blind/vision impaired.
Another bit of nostalgia for me...and my time in Japan.

Our breakfast.
Japanese oranges (look how it peels in one piece!!) and some aloe yogurt.

And this!
It's chocolate french bread.
Whoa, very yummy.

Kaden took another nap here.
Like our makeshift crib?

And then...after resting ...we headed out the ATM to pull out some cash for the "REAL" shopping expedition!


Here's my 2nd breakfast of the day.
An egg & teriyaki burger from Lotteria.
Oh wow, delicious.

And then took a picture in front of this Glico guy.
Don't ask me why this is so famous...but since everyone was snapping pictures here, thought we would as well.

Walking through the Shinsaibashi arcade, bought myself a nice cup of hot chocolate.
This nice little sticker prevents spills prior to drinking.
How so very polite, huh?
And the hot chocolate?
Yes, it was delicious.

Half way through our walk through the LOOONG arcade, Kaden fell asleep.

And woke up in time to join us in enjoying some famous gyoza at Osho's
We didn't eat ramen...only Gyoza and fried rice.
And yes, it was yummy.


After gyoza, we headed back to the hotel.
But not before tasting some yummy karaage (fried boneless chicken) at a stand along the way.
Ah, street food in Japan is the ONLY reason I decided to brave the 10 hour flight!


Mitch and Kaden inside the shotengai.
It stretched forever....and ever and ever...

Our snack for the afternoon was this.
A freshly made baumkuchen.
They made this inside the train station...and it was DELICIOUS!
Half chocolate and half Crème brûlée.
With fresh whipped cream for dipping.
Oh wow...it was heaven.
We ate half and brought the rest home.
Which lasted less than a day.

Our last few hours before heading home, we were wandering around the mall when Kaden fell down and hit his eye on a chair.
It looked pretty bad...and he was NOT happy.
But there wasn't any blood.
And he seemed himself after a few minutes so we were thankful it wasn't worse.

Gah, boys and their restless energy!

And finally, here we are...at Kansai International Airport...waiting to board our plane back home.
Found this little play area for Kaden to move around in before getting confined to a small seat in coach.
Look at that poor puffy eye...


And lucky for me...Mitch didn't have to fly on the way back home so with him sitting next to us and holding Kaden (for most of the flight...) it turned out to be a relatively quiet flight home.
And since it was a much shorter just-shy-of-7 hours flight...Kaden did great!
We were all exhausted! But glad we went and had a fabulous time.

Even though it was New Year's Eve.
And after taking a short nap, headed out to my sister's house for the Eve celebration which lasted till midnight (look out for that post later)...it was definitely worth it!

Next time, though...I think I may wait a couple of years so we can leave ALL the kids behind!
We'll see...

And to see more of the pictures from our short one-day trip, click HERE!!

merry christmas x 3

This is it.
The Christmas Post.
All three celebrations into one long post.

I sense a pattern developing here with the 3 part celebrations...

Anyway...to start off...let me just say,
Merry Christmas!!

On Christmas Eve, my parents flew in from Seattle to spend Christmas and New Year's with us here in Hawaii.
We were sad that my brother and his family were unable to fly out, but were also thrilled that he seems to be enjoying his new job out there!
Maybe next year, we can have a reunion with the ENTIRE Sakuma family.

As per our annual tradition ( it seems...), my Mom made pajamas for ALL the grand kids. Well, minus the three babies and Jonas (because Jonas got a pillowcase instead of PJ's. Picture to follow)...but still, that's 18 sets of pajamas.

The three babies got outfits instead.

Here's Kaden opening his VERY FIRST Christmas gift of the year!
Or, eating it, I should say...

Yes, very fitting this shirt...

And here's Jonas's pillowcase.
Snoopy and rainbows. Awesome!

Kela and Hugo showing off their new PJ's!

And with SO many kids, my Mom had to find some way to keep track...
Not pictured are the names my Mom wrote with gel pen on each pajama.
Also not pictured are the numerous misspellings of said names.
Hahaha...with 21 grand kids, most of which are pretty unusual names...it's really no big wonder that correct spelling isn't forefront on my parents list of priorities.

I forgot to mention, Christmas Eve celebration was at my house.
At my tiny, little house.
Dinner was pot luck...and NOT a quiet affair.
But I don't think we would have it any other way.

I'm pretty sure our neighbors would disagree...and by way of an apology, we delivered treats to them the following day. :)

Here's the kiddos in their brand new pajamas.
Not pictured is Jolee...who had a MELT DOWN due to tiredness and an unwillingness to don her pajama with the rest of the kids.

To round out the evening of the Eve...we had a bit of caroling by the kids...

Followed by our white elephant gift exchange.

And with so much going on...the kids didn't even get to bed until well after 10 PM.
Which left Santa with very little time to get all the presents ready for "delivery!"

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And then...onto CHRISTMAS DAY!

Poor kids had to wait until 9AM for mommy to wake up to open their presents...but hey, Santa's helper had a late night!

Wrapping presents, that is!

Here's Kaden with his first present of the morning.
Enjoyed playing with the wrapper....didn't quite have enough patience to get through the wrapper to the actual toy inside.

Here's his second present.
Which moves and lights up and makes sounds.
I think he was pretty weary of it...

Jolee's gift from Santa.
Which she LOVED!
And wore pretty much the whole morning.

Anna and Kela got marshmallow guns from Daddy.
Personally, I think Mitch got it for HIM.

The casualties...

Merry Christmas morning!

The remainder of the morning was spent playing bumper cars with their RC cars.
Yet another toy Mitch picked out.

I consider myself forewarned as to the type of presents Mitch will undoubtedly be getting Kaden when he gets older...

Christmas being Sunday...we headed out to Church in the afternoon per our usual time.
This time with Ojichan and Obachan!

Sakumas taking over Pearlridge Ward!

Our family

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And finally...Christmas Evening, we spent it at my sister Elika's house in Hau'ula.

The Sakumas...minus Makoto.

Elika has finished her downstairs and so with the new open plan, there was plenty of space for the kids to run around and play...and ride some toys.

Atau...taking a nap amidst the chaos.

The dinner spread.
Turkey, ham, mashed potatoes & gravy, corn, green beans and a green salad.
It was like Thanksgiving dinner all over again!

And it was delish!

After dinner, we busted out the Secret Santa gifts.
Well, it wasn't really a secret...more like a gift exchange with everyone.

Jolee was quite happy with her frilly skirt and bathing suit.
Anything with tulle or frilly lace is a winner with this girl.

Anna's gift came in this iPhone box.
Her response prior to opening it?

"I GOT AN IPOD!!"

hahaha...no...it was just the box.

Elika had two of these ride-on scooters.
They were a huge hit with the kids.

...and some of the adults, too.

I've mentioned we didn't put up a Christmas Tree this year.
So, Kaden seemed fascinated with Elika's tree.
Or, more specifically, the ornaments.

WHEW!
Two days and three separate celebrations and we were all beat!

Hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas with their loved ones as well!

As usual, I took tons more pictures that can be seen HERE.