Friday, June 27, 2014

Kidzania - FUN!

We went to Kidzania for the first time yesterday. Kidzania is this indoor play area in the mall near our apartment. In it, children can have different jobs throughout the city. You can make money and open a bank account. The jobs are things like a fireman and putting out a fire, making pizza (that you get to eat), working at a make up and nail salon, making dougnuts, dentist, a surgeon, a nurse, a package delivery service, ambulance workers, driving a tour Hato bus, a mechanic, a magician, a fashion designer...you get the picture. You can save your money for each time you go and try to buy something at the Mitsukoshi department store inside Kidzania. You also have to use your money if you want to get a service provided - like if you want your make up put on or if you want to ride the Hato Bus. 

Last summer, I took Miss M to Kidzania for a date with mama. She did not like it at all. I did not realize that the children do everything on their own, without their parents. So she was quite scared going by herself. Thankfully they gave me the money back because she did not do anything. We waited a year before trying again, and this time, went with friends. We had so much fun. Miss M started by making a pizza for LA pizza. After eating her pizza, we rode the Hato bus, which the K Man loved! We signed up Miss M and her friend for the nail salon, where Miss M was the worker and painted her friends' nails. I thought it was funny when they had Miss M look at herself in a mirror and make sure she looked nice before her customer came in to the store. We signed up the K Man to be a fireman. At first he did not want to go without me. But finally, he went, and I am so glad he did because he had so much fun. He got to wear a fireman outfit, ride a fire truck and put out a pretend fire with real water. Unfortunately my phone died right when he got to the house so I could not get a video. It was really cool. We ended with Miss M and her friend baking doughnuts, that we ate when we got home. The K Man rode the Hato bus again. There was so many things you could do or try. Unfortunately we only got to a few. Hopefully next time we will try some new things. Miss M wants to do the pizza place again for her food, a doughnut for a treat, and go with the K Man on the fire truck. 

If you have a chance, google Kidzania Tokyo and check it out. There was so much to do and I would highly recommend it for families visiting Tokyo, if your kids are ages 3 and up. Younger ones may have trouble if they do not like to be away from mama, but the K Man did just fine when he went with a little friend. Just be prepared - it is loud and crowded, so if you can, go during a weekday morning session when school is in session. We will try that next time. 




Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Annual Beach Trip to Shimoda

We went back to Shimoda this past weekend. On the train down there, we realized this was our fourth summer going. It has become a nice little tradition for the kids and we once again had a great time. We got there around 4:30 on Friday and went to the beach immediately. The kids were still in their clothes and it did not take long for the clothes to get wet! On Saturday we went back shortly after breakfast and enjoyed a nice play in the morning. After lunch we went into town and visited a park where the hydrangeas were in bloom. They were beautiful. We walked along the Perry Road, saw little crabs and enjoyed a historical area. After buying some sparklers to enjoy on the beach, we headed back to the hotel. After dinner we did fireworks on the beach. Our kids were not crazy about them but they did enjoy watching from a distance. On Sunday we woke up to rain, which was unfortunate, so we headed back to Tokyo a bit earlier than we normally do. All in all it was a great weekend and we had a lot of fun.