So our little Reagan Jo is turning two. Where did time go? We were very excited to do something for her. We thought about having some of the families up from the Ninomiya house but decided to just do a little something just us and the Walkers. So Monday before her birthday we put together a little party with balloons, presents, and cake. The Walkers took her for an hour before and let Matt and I set up the house and finish dinner. Her face was priceless when she walked in and her house had been transformed into Reagan's Party Land. We had dinner and cake and then opened gifts. You wouldn’t have known from the amount of gifts that we were thousands of miles from the family. Everyone was so sweet and sent so much. Thank you very much, it made her day. The party was small and wonderful, but we were all really excited for her real birthday! We were going to DISNEYLAND.

So Wednesday we all headed out for Tokyo Disneyland. You see it was extra special because not only was this Reagan’s birthday and her first time to Disneyland it was also Seth's and mine as well. From the minutes you walk in the door of Disneyland you feel like you are in a fairytale. Such a perfect place for our birthday Princess. We started out by walking around like a lost child in a candy store. Not quite sure where to go or where to stop because everything seems so good. Eventually we slowed down and looked at the map and made a game plan. We started with the USA Apollo rocket ride that had a somewhat short wait time (45 minutes). Seth and Katie held the spots in line while Matt and I took Reagan to Toontown for a little while. Toontown has a bunch of interactive buildings that Reagan was able to run in and out of and push buttons. When we got back to the ride, Seth and Katie were waiting at the start of the line letting people go in front of them. It turned out that the "approximate" time was a little over estimated. Either way it worked out and we went our first ride at Disneyland Tokyo. Next, we headed back to Toontown because there were still other building for Reagan to play in and there was also the Roger Rabbit ride. I was a little worried about Reagan because the ride had strange characters, it was dark with strobe lights, and loud but she loved it. Sweaty and hot we then went to the best show of the day, the water show at high noon. Nothing like being sprayed down when it is 90 degrees and 90% humidity. 

Next ride on the agenda was Splash Mountain. We couldn't take Reagan on this one so we used our Falkerpass (Walker Fastpass) again. They waited in the 110 minute line while we took Reagan to ride Alice's tea cups and see It's A Small World (please never again). We meet the Walkers after they splashed down and they took Reagan off our hands so we could ride it. Being that we planned ahead and are parents (with great friends) we were escorted to the front of the line through a backdoor. While we were riding a log and watching the story of a scared rabbit, Reagan was watching the Disney parade with the Walkers.

 After the parade we had enough time for one more ride so we chose the Buzz Lightyear. While standing in line, Reagan found this static display of the aliens from Toy Story used to take pictures with. The alien by himself is the "photographer" and has a "camera" in his hands. Reagan noticed this so she thought he was taking pictures and she proceeded to pose with them for the "camera." It was really funny and so cute.

Reagan posing with the aliens

We had been super excited to see the, also famous, fireworks that go off every night at the end of the day behind the castle. Problem was the wind had started up and they ended up canceling them. We were disappointed but overall a perfect first trip to Disneyland. So at this point we told the Walkers good night and headed back to our hotel. 

It was the absolute best way to end Reagan’s birthday. We all got in our PJs and enjoyed some family fun. We did capture the moment for you guys to enjoy as well. And to answer my mom’s question, “Yes, we are kids raising a kid!” And we have loved every moment of the last two years and can only imagine what our lives will hold with these crazy, beautiful, loving, spunky little girl we have been blessed with.

Extended video of Reagan's birthday.

High Res Download. You may need Quicktime to play.

Rice fields and more rice fields

The waterpark was a lot of fun and Reagan really loved it. She went down the slides numerous times, floated around the lazy river for a while and played in the pool until she couldn't hardly stand up. After having a couple of American Dogs, aka corn dogs, we mounted our bikes for our trek home. Of course Reagan fell asleep on the bike but we knew she would. About half way home we stopped at McDonald's for some A/C and a milkshake. Some what rejuvenated we loaded back up and made it back to the Ninomiya House. 

Reagan and Matt on the slide

"Hold me tight Daddy!"

Reagan getting her feet wet

Reagan asleep on the way home

So this weekend was a long weekend. Matt had Monday off since it was Marine Day, a national holiday. We had considered going camping but since this is the weekend to kick off summer the camp sites filled up really quickly so we decided a weekend in Tsukuba would be fun. Katie and I started our weekend off with swimming on Friday morning. There is a outdoor pool close to the house so we thought we would check it out. Reagan of course loved it and they have a great kiddy pool. The strange thing is that every 30 minutes everyone has to get out and rest for 5 minutes, for safety I guess. This "safety" break completely contradicts how the life guards conducted themselves. Most of the time they were nodding off, if not already asleep. So maybe this "safety break" was more for the life guards to do a quick check to make sure no one was on the bottom of the pool then back to relaxing. Either way not a big deal since Reagan is always swims right next to us.

Friday night we met some of Matt’s classmates from his Japanese Course for dinner at Takarajima. It is a place where you have a grill in front of you and you order different meats and cook them on the grill yourself. They are pretty cool restaurants. We had been to one in Hiroshima so we knew the drill. This restaurant had a set called “the viking“. It was all you can eat for 90 minutes then you get cutoff. We decided this was a good deal and tried it. By the way we ate for the whole 90 minutes. We had steak, chicken, corn, edaname, pork, potato salad, and I finished up with four different desserts. I wanted to try them all and so I did. Reagan did help me with them. It was a great start to the weekend.

The next day we had a lazy morning and then went to the pool. Reagan loves the pool and we love getting to lounge around in the water. Good family event. After the pool we came home and Reagan took a two and a half hour nap. Matt let me go shopping with Katie and he relaxed. It was pretty interesting and it's pretty fun shopping here. They definitely have different styles but it's still entertaining. Half the fun was just getting to have some girl time. After Reagan’s nap I talked Matt into taking me to dinner. I didn’t feel like cooking. We went to our favorite restaurant which in conveniently located right down from our apartment. We can actually see it from the balcony, I could throw a rock into the parking lot if we wanted to. They have great pad tai and even better naan and even better curry, well everything is great. Dinner was wonderful and after we went to a friend's house and played games. We got home late and since Reagan didn’t go to bed until after midnight we got to sleep in the next day which was really nice.

Sunday we didn’t have too much planned just check out some of the local festivities. We rode our bikes around Sunday afternoon, brought Reagan home for a nap while we watched a movie. Then that evening went to a Arts in the Park thing and it was a lot of fun. The music was good and so was the food.

Monday was Marine Day and the lake that is pretty close was a having a big festival. I got this great idea that we should ride our bikes even though Matt advised it was a pretty long ride. Well, yes, it was a very long ride. It took us about an hour each way. Matt has an odometer on his bike and the round-trip ended up being 22 miles. Nice ride in 90 degree weather with 90% humidity. I think I almost passed out a few times. Anyways, once arriving at the park and sitting in some shade to regain my composure I felt ready for some food. At first it ways a little confusing because none of the venders actually accepted any money. You first had to go buy some tickets then exchange the tickets for whatever you wanted. The festival was pretty overwhelming with all of the people, the loud Power Ranger skits, and the extreme heat/humidity. Yes I said Power Rangers, ok maybe they weren't exactly Power Rangers but it was something close. Of course the skits were way over the top with loud crackled/clipped sound coming out of the PA system. We  quickly moved out of the speaker woofer and down to the water front area. It was a small little cove, no not that cove, where kids could get in the water a play. As soon as Reagan spotted it she started taking her clothes off like they were on fire. We managed to get a swim suite on her before she jumped in. After playing in the murky water and watching a kid play with a dead fish we decided to go play inland.

Made our way to the large park to play on the Zeppelin. This large structure is perfect to let your kid's imagination go wild. It is a spaceship that you take to fight man-lizards, or a super-sonic aircraft that shoots down the enemy, or a submarine, or a fortress, well you see the list can go on for days. But for me, now, it's just a place for your kid to win a ticket to the ER and liquidate your disposable funds. That aside, I went and played on my spaceship and made sure I could be Reagan's parachute if need be. 

After circling the universe a few times we headed back home. Dehydrated and tired I made it back somehow and passed out for a nap.

Of course more than ever, we really missed back home the 4th of July weekend. We both love the 4th of July: celebrating our independence, the fireworks, the BBQs, the fun in the sun, the time with friend and family. And to top off our home sickness it is Seth and Katie’s wedding anniversary so they ditched us for a little weekend getaway. Lame.

We started our weekend out with a lazy Saturday morning and then after Reagan’s nap decided we should check out the blueberry picking right behind the apartment. There is a little farm right next to us and we had read that you could go in and pick blueberries. We knew Reagan would love this. It was like $5 a person to go in and you could eat all you wanted. Since Reagan is only 1 she was free. They didn’t know she would out eat both of us. She just loved it. She would just pick handfuls and shove it all in her mouth.The next thing I knew she wasn’t even picking them she was just putting her face in the bush and eating them right off     the 

bush. After about an hour straight of blueberry picking and eating we were all basically blueberries ourselves and decided we would head back to the house. That night was a friend of Matt’s birthday so we went upstairs and enjoyed a little time with people our age. Of course as always Reagan was a hit and everyone just loved her. The awesome thing was we met some new Americans that were just here for a summer internship, and they were having a BBQ the next evening and invited us to join. At least we had some other Americans to celebrate with.

The next day, July 4th, we also had a BBQ with the hiking club Matt joined. So we headed down with some guacamole and some chips. Everyone loves our guacamole here. They think it is fantastic and every once in awhile you look up and someone is eating it with a fork. The downfall is it is gone so fast and avocados aren’t cheap. Oh well at least they like it. After some great burgers and a little bit of everything else people had brought, we headed up for a little bit of R&R and to get the stuff ready for the next BBQ. It was really awesome to enjoy the evening with a bunch of Americans. And they were even our age. After some more good food and good conversation we headed out to a dirt lot by the apartments and set off some fireworks. Reagan absolutely loved them.

It sure wasn’t anything like home but it was an excellent substitute. We're enjoying our time here, but we miss the good ole US of A and can’t wait to be back in the country we love.