We Want Snow!!

If you are able to view the above link, you may wonder what ostriches have to do with snow in Japan. We don't know either, but obviously they have trouble getting around without it. There were commercials and posters everywhere explaining that these ostriches wanted snow. And finally, last weekend...

We Got Snow!!

This is the view from our balcony on Saturday morning. It was really coming down. Taking this picture was a cold experience.

So what did we do since it was snowing quite heavily? We put on our water proof hiking boots and our warm winter coats and we went to the Shinjuku-Garden park. And yes, we were not alone. Other people decided to go to the park too. You can see three of them here. Ok, so there weren't large crowds. Most people at the park were doing the same thing we were, enjoying the snow and taking pictures.

We Enjoyed the Snow!!

I made a Snow Angel-a. As I am not terribly graceful when it comes to getting up from the ground, it ended up with some boot prints in it.




I made a large snow ball. The snow was perfect for packing. Of course, when Dan turned his back on me to take his next picture, I threw it at him and oddly actually hit him in the top of the head with it.

The snow was very heavy on the trees and still coming down.

Of course, we wanted to give you an accurate picture of how deep the snow was. So we tried to measure it with a quarter. It promptly disappeared into a quarter-sized snow hole.

So our next plan was to clear out part of the snow to show the depth of it in a clearer way.

We believe that this picture more accurately depicts the depth of the snow as compared to a typical American quarter.




The Shinjuku-Garden park is beautiful in every season. When Rich was here, he visited in the fall. We saw his pictures and were inspired to visit in the fall also. Here is what it looks like during fall and winter:

Yes, that is the Tokyo version of the Empire State Building.



If you decide to visit us, yes, we will take you to this park. They have 2 traditional Japanese tea houses where you can experience a tea ceremony.

After Wanting the Snow, Getting the Snow, and Enjoying the Snow, what did we do next? We went to Disney Land! Ok, well actually we first went to Babies R Us, then we went to Disney Land. At Babies R Us, a helpful sales woman showed and explained to us, in Japanese, how to use a Baby Bjorn. We were impressed and said we would buy it. However, they didn't have any L sizes. Plus, we have a bunch of Babies R Us gift cards that we will use on-line to acquire said L size Baby Bjorn. Deuce said she will bring it to us if we order it. Yea!

Then we went to Tokyo Disney Land which was 2 stops away from the train stop closest to Babies R Us. So far, in all of Dan's work rotations, we have lived in Los Angeles (near Disney Land), in Florida (near Disney World), and in Tokyo (near Tokyo Disney Land). But have we gone to the amusement park? Have we gotten the "Small World After All" song stuck in our heads? No. But we have gone to the "free" part or the "Downtown Disney" part of the experience. In Los Angeles we met Lee for dinner. In Florida we went to dinner a couple of times. In Tokyo Disney Land, we wandered around Ikspiari. Perhaps we are not adventurous when it comes to Disney-related adventures. Perhaps we want to make sure that we don't get sucked in and end up buying our kid silly Disney-related stuff.

All in all, our snowy day worked out pretty well. It was a bit cold walking from the train station to Babies R Us, but we stopped for dinner at a garlic restaurant (very very tasty). We also stopped at a diner for coffee and desert on the walk back.

What is the weather like now here? Don't worry, if you are planning on visiting us, the snow is now gone and it feels like Michigan during the January thaw. I think that Tokyo only gets snow once a year. At least the ostriches were happy for a day or two.

We were happy!