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!!