Date Night with Miyako

The sun was bright today and Miyako and I finally made it to the zoo! After taking the train and walking we made it to the entrance after 30 minutes and found it OPEN! The only problem was my little priss pooh was getting tired. And there was a sign at the door "No Giant Panda." What a bummer because I really thought I would have seen a Panda at the Tokyo Ueno zoo. We walked around and saw lions, tigers and birds oh my. There were tons of bird exhibits. Another bummer was after my first picture of Miyako my memory card became full so I did not get any more pictures, and they had a fake panda I wanted to get a picture of with Miyako in front of it. Oh well. I did buy her a stuffed panda and after a short little 20 minute walk through (not a terribly huge zoo and I had an unhappy baby) we left the zoo and took the metro back home for the afternoon nap.

Tonight Miyako and I had a date night since Kan was out late with work. We went to the mall and walked around. I was going to eat in the food court and share a pizza with her (her first by the way) until I saw that Bubba Gump's Shrimp Company was open. The restaurant was connected to the mall and overlooked the Tokyo Bay. Since we were eating at 5, we saw the bay at a beautiful time of day. The sun was starting to go down and the lights were coming alive off the buildings and bridge. I did not get my picture, due to my memory card not getting fixed yet, but I will forever remember it in my mind. Miyako had a kids cheese pizza, and loved it by the way, and I had some popcorn shrimp.

I had never been to a Bubba Gump restaurant before, but as you can imagine they play lots of country music. Now, I am not a huge fan of country. The best time I have had with country music was two years ago at the post Vandy/UK game celebration when my girlfriends and I hit the bars in Nashville. We joked that we were the only ones in the bars singing along without knowing the words considering our choice of music is Black Eyed Peas and Beyonce. So, sitting in Bubba Gump's with an almost one year old leaves little room for conversation and you are forced to listen to country music. I found the songs quite interesting. I was thinking about my friends at home and missing them a little bit when a Dolly Parton song came on about Jesus meeting you where you are at and how you are not lonely with him. What a sweet reminder God used to brighten my spirits and remind me I am not alone because I have Him.

We ended our date with a chocolate strawberry crepe - for mama naturally - but I did let Miyako have a bite or two of the dough part of the crepe. Tomorrow we are having lunch with a Japanese lady and her 11 month old son. She is married to an American so I am anxious to see if our kids look alike. :) My connection with her came from the Dutch missionaries. I am looking forward to getting to know her over lunch at Denny's (they are much better here than in the States) and letting our kids play at an indoor playland. Until tomorrow...

We finished