Tokyo Disney Sea

Yesterday Miyako and I headed to the other Disney park here in Tokyo - Disney Sea! It is not like Sea World, which is what I thought when I first heard the title. It is so much better than that. I think I am turning into a Disney mom. Do I want Disney themed bedrooms? Not so much. However, do I want my kids to experience Disney World, Land or whatever is closest to us? Yes. It is a place where you truly do forget about the troubles on your heart and focus on your family, friends, and having fun. That is what we did yesterday.

I took so many pictures and am having the hardest time picking ones out to post. To see more, you can check out my facebook page, if we are friends that is. We went with a friend from church who is serving at a nearby military base with her husband who is a PCA chaplain. She has become a dear friend in a short amount of time that I have known her and I am sad they are being assigned back to the US in August. We had rich conversation yesterday, lots of laughs, ate good food, and enjoyed Miss Priss Pooh. Miyako had a blast! She sat through shows and at the end of the Broadway musical did the sign for "more." I think I have a musician on my hands. She LOVED the Mermaid Lagoon. It is an indoor area (aka - AC in hot June) for little tots her age and a bit older. They had these water fountains that shot up water at different spots. You can see from the pictures, we let her run hog wild and she got SOAKED, loving every minute of it. They also had this hill where she walked up and down, up and down...over and over. Here we are at Disney Sea, and she is most amused by running up and down a tiny little hill. She would go to the water area, but always go back to the hill. Isn't that how we are with life...we always go back to what is comfortable? Maybe because the unknown is a bit scary so we tend to stick with what we know. Who knew God could give me some lessons at Tokyo Disney Sea?

We road the merry-go-round in Aladdin's area and had the option of riding camels, horses, or the genie. We had lunch in New York City, dinner in Cape Cod, and gelato ice cream in Italy for dessert. We saw a "Mystery Island" which reminded me of the TV show "Survivor." We literally traveled the world in about 8 hours. They always have an evening show when it gets dark and it was a fire and water show - pretty spectacular.

I really do think the best part of the day, for me, was the company. Our conversation was so natural and easy...such an encouragement to me. There were two things my friend said to me throughout the day that I hope I will never forget. In discussing parenting issues and frustrations of approaching the terrible twos, and just those days when you are tired of parenting, she passed on some advice I hope to implement into my parenting life. One, when talking to your child, remind yourself "Oh, child (insert name) you are acting just like a (insert age) year old." This will remind you that your child is only, in my case, 19 months old and she is probably acting like a typical 19 month old. I cannot expect more out of her nor do I need to get frustrated when she acts age appropriate. She also said she always told her daughter "Child (insert name) it is so fun being your mom." Her daughter is in her mid-twenties and she still remembers this. More lessons learned at Tokyo Disney Sea. Today, after we sang our songs before naptime, I told Miyako it was fun to be her mom. With her head on my shoulder, her body relaxed, she gave me a little sweet sigh in response. Lessons learned. God is gracious to me to teach me these valuable things - all at Tokyo Disney Sea. With that said, I think I should go back more often. :)

Enjoy the pictures.