After leaving USJ, we picked up our luggage from the hotel, grabbed some dinner from a convenience store and hopped on our train. When we transferred to the Shinkansen we ate dinner and enjoyed a smooth ride home.
It was a wonderful trip to USJ! I had such a great time! Thank you Nana and Papa!
But our vacation is not finished yet! I still have a few days with Nana and Papa in Japan!
Good night for now, see you tomorrow!
I woke up in a great mood ready to get going to USJ…after some morning TV, of course.
Since we had half a day yesterday to check out the park, I knew right away where I wanted to go to. There was no need to wander around.
Yesterday, I was urged to drive at Elmo’s Little Drive, but I was a little scared. I think I still remembered last year’s slightly traumatic experience at the LegoLand go kart. I worked my way up and at least sat in one of the model cars just to get a feel for it.
Then we headed to the Universal Wonderland play area again. I played at Grover’s Construction Company for a bit and Daddy made me a cool car out of the building blocks!
Then it was back to Elmo’s Bubble Bubble again. Even the second time it was a lot of fun. The nice thing was that there were no surprises so I could enjoy it even more the second time.
Then it was back to Big Bird’s Nest. I went through the tunnels a lot again, but I also tried out the net as well. I didn’t go all the way up to the top, but I did go pretty high.
Then it was back to Elmo’s Bubble Bubble again, this time with Daddy.
I also wandered around a projection mapping pool for bit.
When I finally left the Universal Wonderland area, I wanted to to visit Hello Kitty. She had her own boutique and fashion museum where she was doing a photo shoot.
I had a great time at Hello Kitty’s Ribbon Collection but at one point during the wait I got in a mood. Even though I was excited to see Hello Kitty and was all smiles before, my bad mood really dragged me down. It was really unfortunate because Hello Kitty was so nice and I really really was excited to see her.
I guess my mood might have been effected by me being hungry. We popped across the street and got a Hello Kitty snack, then I felt much better. But still hungry.
So we got lunch. We had really good timing and found a table without problem and even got our food without much of a line. The food was pretty good and everyone was reenergized.
After lunch we wandered around a bit more and found some other cool parts of the park like the water garden.
I gave the Cookie Monster Slide a try!
Even Mommy and Daddy had fun riding Elmo’s Go-Go Skateboard. It looked a bit too scary for me so I sat this one out but took pictures for them.
Water break.
Then back to the tunnels at Big Bird’s Nest. After a few dozen runs through the tunnels I was finally convinced to give Elmo’s Little Drive a try.
I had a great time driving the car and I was the best driver out there! I’m glad I gave it a try! But when asked if I wanted to ride again, I passed.
I was getting hungry again so we went in search of some popcorn. We found some and a nice spot to take in a musical show. Not only was the popcorn really good, but it was just fun to hang out a bit and be me. Nana and I had fun goofing around.
We wandered past some carnival games and I gave one a go. I did okay, but I did miss the table a few times. I didn’t get the hug stuffie prize, but I did get a cool little badge.
We walked through the whole of the park and I found the buildings and design fascinating! I thought it was all really cool and I had a lot to say about everything. After taking a look at everything I was asked if there was anything else I wanted to try, but I said I was good. We had to leave soon anyway because we had a train to catch home.
On the way out Papa bought me an awesome Hello Kitty bubble wand! As you can see I loved it!
That was a wonderful experience at USJ! I had a great time! Thank you, Nana and Papa!
We headed off to USJ for a half-day! I was both excited and a little anxious. There were a lot of people and I don’t really do well in crowds. Also, it was pretty sunny so I couldn’t help but look a bit angry during the pictures we took in front of the Universal globe.
I cheered up a bit when I saw Hello Kitty! There were other characters greeting us near the entrance, but I had no inclination to take pictures with them. But I definitely had to meet Hello Kitty!
While walking through the park there were some interesting rides, but I was still a bit nervous and hesitant. So my first ride was more low key, but right up my alley.
I rode the Hello Kitty Cupcake Dream with Mommy and Daddy. The cupcakes were cute and looked really delicious! And they spun around and around.
It was a lot of fun and the perfect entry ride for my USJ experience!
As we ventured further into USJ we got to the most age appropriate area, Universal Wonderland. There were play areas, slides, a mini ride, large blocks, and an awesome jungle gym. This is where I wanted to be!
I mustered up some courage and rode Elmo’s Bubble Bubble ride, which was like a watery roller coaster. I have to admit, I was a little scared, but ended up enjoying it a lot.
I visited other areas, but ended up in the jungle gym area. And that is where I stayed.
There were these tunnels at Big Bird’s Nest that I just couldn’t get enough of. Daddy tried to count how many times I went through the jungle gym tunnels but stopped counting after twenty.
We eventually left the Universal Wonderland area and looked at some other areas in the park. There were a lot of other attractions, but a lot of them were for older kids. We finally settled in at the Minion Park. There were so many Minions around! It was so cool and funny. I enjoyed finding them hiding around the park and plastered on so many buildings. While we were there we tried out another ride, Freeze Ray Sliders! It was kind of like the spinning Hello Kitty cupcakes, but with more spinning and sliding! It was a exciting scary that left me not knowing if I enjoyed it our not.
After the ride, we did some shopping and I found an awesome Minion Tomica to commemorate our first half day at USJ!
Then we started to head back to the hotel, since the park would be closing soon.
There were still a lot of cool things to see on the way back. We even caught some awesome performances.
Oh, but the crowds on the way out were a bit overwhelming. Overall, I think we came at a good time of the year when the park wasn’t too crowded, but it was still a bit much for me.
It was a bit too much to even stop to take a picture. We still had a full day to enjoy the park so we saved the picture for tomorrow.
With the outgoing crowds, the restaurants in Universal City were all full. Since we were all quite full from lunch, we did take out and enjoyed some nice sandwiches in the hotel rooms.
After dinner I got ready for bed. Mommy and Daddy headed out for a mini date so Papa came to baby sit me. I had the iPad and TV so I barely noticed Mommy and Daddy were gone.
It seemed like they had a good time. I was still awake when they came home.
Then we all went to sleep to rest up for a full day of USJ fun tomorrow!
I woke up in a good mood and ready to go! We are heading to Osaka today to go to USJ. I’ve never been to either before so I was very excited. I got ready very quickly and even patiently waited until it was actually time to leave the house.
One of the reasons why I was excited about this USJ trip was that I got to ride the Shinkansen again, just like we did last year to go to LegoLand.
After a second breakfast at Mister Donuts at the train station, we went up to catch our Shinkansen.
We had great seats! It is almost as if the Shinkansen was made for us because we had 3 seats on one side for Mommy, Daddy, and me, and two seats across the aisle for Nana and Papa.
I had a great time looking at the scenery speed past us and I had a lot to talk about. I chatted about the cities we saw, the countryside we saw, and even the stations we stopped at.
Before long, we started hitting a lot of tunnels so I became more interested in playing on the iPad.
It was a fun trip on the Shinkansen without any problems. I enjoyed the ride, the conversation, the iPad and the freedom to snack a lot. Before I knew it we were in Osaka.
We had to navigate the station a bit to catch trains that took us to USJ, but things were quite well laid out and we didn’t have any issues or delays.
We got to Universal City, which was just outside the theme park and had our bags held at the hotel. We purchased half-day tickets for today so we had time to eat lunch before we checked in and then headed to the park.
There were a lot of options for lunch, but I wanted a hamburger so we went to get hamburgers. My hamburger was very good, but not as big as Daddy’s.
After some airplane flying around Universal City we checked into the hotel. I had an awesome hotel room.
I really like hotel rooms. It is like mini homes. The bed was huge and comfy. I almost didn’t want to leave. But USJ was waiting for us, so off we went!
We did not have any special events scheduled for today. Yesterday was my birthday party and tomorrow we leave for Osaka to go to USJ. So today was a relatively calm and non-eventful day. But that doesn’t mean we didn’ t have fun. As soon as Nana and Papa came over in the morning, I interacted and played with them. We played with some of my new toys from my birthday party, read books and just hung out.
It was a day full of fun! But it so natural and normal that we didn’t take many pictures or videos. It was just a lot of fun to spend time together. Every visit, either when Nana and Papa come to Japan or we go to Hawaii, it becomes easier and quicker to just pick up where we left off. It gets to the point that we forget that we don’t see each other for most of the year. One thing is for sure, I am much more active and at the end of the day much more tired.
After my birthday party we helped Nana and Papa check into their AirBnb. It was closer and roomier than their first hotel room, but was only available for today. As usual, I enjoyed exploring the new place.
Then we went out to dinner. There was a yakiniku restaurant not too far away so we walked over. We had a great meal! I was also very helpful. I had fun guiding Nana and Papa to the restrooms. It’s nice to be helpful.
After dinner we headed back to Nana and Papa’s AirBnb. I had a lot of fun on their bed and helped break it in for them. I chilled with Nana and Daddy and I pretended to be dead bugs.
Then it was time to say goodnight. I had a great birthday party and Boys’ Day!
Playing with Jiiji.
Pizza and sushi! It doesn’t get better than this.
Thank you for the Tokyo Banana omiyage, Ojisan! Let’s play, Obachan!
Is it present time yet?
What an awesome looking birthday cake!
Happy birthday to me! Now I eat!
Okay, now I’m ready to share. Everyone, dozo.
Office chair fun!
Present time!
Thank you everyone for all the awesome presents!
Time to play.
And reconnect.
Best birthday party ever!
Sending off Baaba and Jiiji.
Hey, Ojisan, thanks for coming all the way from Tokyo!
I had the best birthday party ever! Good food, good people, and good fun! Of course, we can’t forget the delicious cake and awesome presents! Thank you everyone for celebrating with me!
I woke up in a great mood today. Not only were Nana and Papa still in Japan, but I also had my birthday party today! I was so excited! First things first. I had to get dressed. I did that all on my own.
Then I just had to play a bit until the guests started to arrive. Nana and Papa were here for my birthday, and Jiiji, Baaba and Obachan were coming over as well. And also Ojisan was visiting from Tokyo just to see me! I couldn’t wait to get the party started. But as I said, first I had to play a bit.
After a nice dinner I was still hungry and I wanted go for a walk, so we headed over to 7-Eleven to pick up some dessert.
On the way back I ended up racing home with Daddy and we got there so fast that we decided to hide a bit.
Part of the reason we had to go get dessert was that I needed to get a haircut and I usually get a special dessert to eat while Daddy cuts my hair.
Looking good!
Since we hadn’t celebrated Easter yet, because of scheduling conflicts, we decided to celebrate Easter today with Nana and Papa here! First, we needed an Easter Bunny. Done.
Next, we had to go on an Easter Egg Hunt, so we headed to the park. It was a very nice and sunny day. I know I may look angry in the pictures, but I’m not. I’m just squinting because it was so bright. Usually I would be wearing my hat on a sunny day like this, but I couldn’t this time because of my bunny ears.
Before I got to hunting for the Easter eggs, I found some pretty flowers for Mommy.
Then the Easter Egg Hunt began! I did really good! In the end I found all the eggs…I think.., but I needed some help near the end.
It was so much fun that I wanted to Mommy and Daddy to go next. So I went off to hide the eggs while Mommy and Daddy looked away. But I found out that we had so many eggs and that hiding eggs was not that easy, so I ended up dumping most of them in one spot. Nana and Papa thought it was so funny! I started off selectively and strategically placing eggs in nice hiding spots and then, blam, I dumped them in the most convenient spot. Mommy and Daddy did a good job finding all the eggs, but that’s probably because they had a lot of guidance from me the Easter Bunny.
Then we did it again. Next I hunted for eggs with Mommy.
Then I hunted for eggs with Daddy.
What a nice belated Easter! Although the weather was almost too nice and too bright!
Nana and Papa came over first thing in the morning and I was so happy to see them. I had so many things to show them. It had been a year since they were last here so I had to catch them up. Sure, we FaceTime every week, but it is different in person. I spent a lot of the morning showing them all my new toys and my different things from school.
We didn’t have any particular plans today, but it was just nice to be in the same room together. We played together, talked together, read books together, and just were together. At was sitting on the couch watching Papa use his iPad and asking what he was doing. He said he was watching baseball and explained the game to me. I listened and watched for a bit. Then I wanted to show him that I had more interesting things on my iPad.
We decided to go to YouMe town for some shopping and lunch. I insisted on sitting next to Nana in the car and walking with her. But when it came for shopping, instead of walking, I wanted to ride. So Daddy and I went in search of a cart and luckily found one.
While shopping we came past some capsule machines. I asked if I could get one and Mommy and Daddy said yes. I got chose a miniature gas station which everyone thought was a strange choice, but I was quite happy with it.
For lunch we had omurice, which was my choice. Everyone really enjoyed their meals. We were surprised that Nana and Papa finished their whole meals! Usually they can’t. I guess Japan’s portions were the right size for them compared to American portions.
When heading back to the car I had to show Nana and Papa the bicycle pump outside YouMe Town. I like it because it goes pssssshhhhh.
We didn’t do anything special, but we had a lot of fun this morning. Nice!
Nana and Papa were arriving today so we went to pick them up at the airport. I was so excited to see them! I was in a very good mood!
Welcome to Japan, Nana and Papa!
It was so nice to see them again! I had missed them so much. Even though I was welcoming them, they had a welcome gift for me. I was so happy for the gift and to be thought of.
Since they Nana and Papa had a such a long trip, we went straight to check them into their hotel.
After we got to the hotel we dropped off their things and quickly went to grab a quick bit. When we got back to their hotel I helped them break it in.
But it was getting late so we had to say goodnight. I would have a lot of time with them during the rest of their trip.
I like breakfast on the weekends because not only do I get to eat a lot, but I also get to watch TV. As I watch I get hungrier and ask for more food. Not only do I ask to eat more food that I want, but I also eye what other people are eating and ask for a share of that as well. But today, I may have overdone it. I ate myself into a food coma.
Today we went to a vehicle display near Costco. It was very fun to see so many vehicles up close and I even got to sit in a few of them.
My first stop was a garbage truck. I hadn’t realized how big it was.
Next we went to see a patrol car. The line was quite long so we had to wait. Luckily, we had a lot of snacks for me. So much so that some other little kids in line were eyeing my snacks. I made sure to show them how much I was enjoying my snacks as I slowly and deliciously ate them.
When we finally got our turn to see the patrol car I was thrilled, but also a bit overwhelmed. It was so cool!
After that I was quite hungry so I got a special treat for snack! I picked the most colorful fruitful ice cream at Baskin Robbins! Yum!
Changing shoes on my own.
Checking out the schools plants before heading home.
Police car omurice.
Melon bread!
Towel dress!
Like I mentioned, when I get to school I change my own shoes, put my bag in my locker, hang my cup on a hook, and just do a lot of things on my own to get ready.
Tonight I got a treat. Daddy picked up some desserts for Mommy and me. I was a good boy and ate all my dinner so I got to eat my dessert and Daddy and Mommy even gave me first choice. I chose a cream puff and was very excited about it, but I also liked the juice that Daddy picked up for me.
Thank you for the dessert, Daddy! Sorry about the feet in the face while sleeping, Daddy!
Now that I’m nearly four, I’m becoming more and more independent. I can do a lot of stuff by myself. At my new school we take care of our own things in our lockers and go to the potty by ourselves (under supervision). We are given rules and tasks and are shown how to do things on our own. Maybe it is because my new school is so much closer, but I have never asked to be carried to school. I walk the whole way on my own. I get a lot of help to get ready in the morning, but I carry my own bag to school. I like learning how to be independent.
Even when we play at school we are given a lot of freedom. There are a lot of things to do in school like play with toys, blocks, puzzles, read books and so on. One thing we do a lot is coloring. One of the school supplies we each had to buy was a set of crayons. I’ve been coloring a lot at school and also a lot more at home as well.
After my double breakfast I had a very busy day. First I drove my Mercedes around a lot. It was such a beautiful day I wanted to spend as much time as I could outside.
We even took a quick trip to the park before heading back for more Mercedes driving. I also did a bit more Strider practice too.
Since I was practicing with so many vehicles, we did some driving practice too.
There was an even that Mommy and Daddy wanted to go to so we headed to the city on the subway. Daddy was trying to surprise me but it didn’t quite work. It was okay. He wasn’t able to surprise me, but he was doing a good job of entertaining me. While waiting for the subway we did some visualization training for driving.
It was a beautiful day for a beer festival! Even though I didn’t get any beer, I got some juice, candy, and a lot of tasty food!
While at the festival I found a very cool stick. I showed it to Daddy and he told me that it looked like a wand. So we did some magic spell practice. Daddy tried to get his phone to listen to my spells, but it didn’t quite work so we stuck to the wand.
On the way home we still found a way to have fun. We were doing funny walks on the way to the subway.
You thought I was done with my Mercedes? You were wrong. I have headlights so I can still ride my Mercedes even as the sun goes down.
Um…I don’t know what happened here. Moving along.
I spent a lot of time outside, but just because the sun went down it doesn’t mean the fun ends. We wrapped up the day by building a city.
What a full day!
I woke up in a good mood and had a good breakfast. But when I heard that we were going out to breakfast I made room for a second breakfast.
And of course I ate everything. I ate my toast, my hard boiled egg, and some of Mommy’s pastry. I was still hungry, so it was a good thing that Daddy brought a banana as well. It went well with my banana juice.
After eating so much I was not feeling like walking and started asking to be carried. Instead of answering my slightly whiny requests, Daddy just turned into an airplane and flew off. Of course I had to do the same! We had fun flying around the shopping center until Daddy ran out of fuel and needed a rest.
It was a rainy day so I needed my umbrella to go to school. I like using my umbrella and am quite happy when it is a rainy day. Even though it wasn’t really rainy after school, I still used my umbrella on the way home. If I have to carry it either way, I may as well use it.
