Mommy & Daddy in Japan...Again

My mommy and daddy recently took a trip to Japan. Mommy had a tech conference she had to attend and Daddy went along because he had never been to Japan. I decided not to go, because I am not a fan of Sushi. I was going to stay home and get some things done, but my Grandma and Aunt Betty came out to keep me company. I'm glad they did, we had a lot of fun (and it would have been pretty boring with just Halley and I). Every morning while they were away, I would ask for Mommy and Daddy, and Grandma would say 'Now where are Mommy and Daddy?', I would respond 'Mommy and Daddy in Japan...AGAIN."

Here are some of my favorite pictures from their trip...

Walking Around Tokyo

Mommy and daddy were told to go check out the Emperor's Palace, and the gardens, little did they know that you can't actually go and see the Emperor's Palace. There are big guard stations with guns. They did have some cool moats and nice green space around the Palace.


This is a popular spot in Tokyo called Shibuya. Mommy and Daddy said there is a scene in the movie 'Lost in Translation' where they show this area.


Here is a Japanese temple in downtown Tokyo.


Mommy liked this statue of a short stocky guy.

Mommy and Daddy took a walk to the coast from our hotel, this was a very long dike, and there were some fisherman at the end.

They saw these concrete things that are used to break the waves. They look like cat food, and wouldn't you know it, there were cats living in them.

Tokyo Disney

Mommy and Daddy said they did not intend to go to Disney while in Japan, but they said the train into Tokyo from their hotel went right by it every day, so they just HAD to go. That's OKAY, I'm not upset...alright, just give me a minute...

Disney was already decorated for Christmas.

They had a big Christmas tree...

That was much more impressive at night.

Mickey and Minnie winter scene.

And here is my favorite. Mickey's Castle!

Here is the proof Mommy and Daddy at Disney without ME!

Looks like the deserts were just as good as they are at Disney here.

Meiji Shrine in Harajuku

Here is the entrance to the shrine.

Mommy liked the cool street lamps...

and the cool phone booth.

And lots of little Japanese girls dressed in their Kimono.

There was a lot of nice looking flowers and Bonsai trees and other unique flowers at the shrine.

Mommy and Daddy at the shrine.

There was a wedding the day my parents went to the shrine, and yes they were the tourists getting in the way and taking pictures at inappropriate times.

Daddy holding up the shrine wall.

Mommy drinking from the cleansing purification fountain.

Picture of the inside of the Shrine, this is where the wedding ceramony was held.

Back in the hotel

Here is a picture from their hotel room with Mommy going to her conference.


Another view from our hotel. There was quite a bit of polution in Tokyo, but it made for great sunsets.


Also from our hotel, in the morning you could see Mt. Fuji.

Halloween Night!

Well it was a successful night of Trick-or-Treating. I know, I know...everyone has been waiting for the big announcement of what I decided to be for Halloween. Well your wait is over. I am Jonas the Vampire! Here I am all dressed up - and SCARY:









Ready to go:


Trick-or-Treat:


Daddy said it is always hard to buy candy for your first Halloween in a new house, you never know how many Trick-or-treaters you are going to get. Well, he was right, we didn't get a single person looking for treats. So we have A LOT of candy left.


I guess it didn't help that all the houses next to us were completely dark all night long, but don't you worry Daddy, I will help eat the left over candy!

More Pumpkins!

Well, I didn't remember this many pumpkins last October, I think my parents are going pumpkin crazy! First we went to the pumpkin patch in Georgia.
(see my post from October 14th)

Then last weekend in California, we went to Half Moon Bay (in the rain) to buy some pumpkins. One for Daddy, one for Mommy and one for Me!



Then last night, Daddy said we needed to carve our pumpkins, so we cut into the pumpkins, scooped out the gross stuff inside and cut out scary faces on the front, and even though Daddy wouldn't let me near the knife I was a BIG help!

Here is Mommy's pumpkin (Mommy said this was a screaming pumpkin but I thought it was a sad-crying pumpkin, I kept telling the pumpkin it would be alright, but it didn't help):


Here is Daddy's pumpkin (Daddy said his name is Jack, but I have never seen him before...):


And here is my pumpkin (I like lots of scaby(scary) teeth):


And everybody's pumpkins, all together:


It was a really nice day out today, so we decided to go back over to Half Moon Bay to ride bikes. But then, just when I thought all this pumpkin stuff was over, we went to another pumpkin farm and saw the biggest pumpkins!

A couple of big pumpkins:


AN EVEN BIGGER PUMPKIN:


THE BIGGEST PUMPKIN I HAVE EVER SEEN!

Park Activities

Climbing!

Daddy says I have turned into quite a climber. I am always very methodical in my climbing approach. Here I am warming up on the Chain Ladder.




Next was the Crooked Ladder, this one was harder than it looks.




Here was another fun one, the Bendy Bars.





And the most difficult climbing of the day was on the Cork Screw Ladder, Sorry, Daddy had to spot me on that one, so no video.

And last but not least is another one of my favorite activities.

Tennis Ball Diving!

My Mommy Is Amazing!

Marathon number 2 - COMPLETE!


Last weekend, my mommy ran in the Women's San Francisco Marathon. She has been working and traveling a lot lately, so she did not train much at all for the race, I don't remember a single run in the last month. You could say she was well rested. But she did great anyway! The first half of the race was perfect conditions for the runners - cool, cloudy, and mommy had a pace well ahead of her first marathon pace, but then the rain came, and then the blisters - OUCH!

This was the only picture daddy managed to take before his phone's battery died. We saw mommy right after this (at the 11 mile mark), so she is probably in this picture (somewhere in the background).


After we saw mommy, I was ready to go home, but daddy said mommy needed to run a little further, so we went to the store to get some snacks and some chocolate milk. We found a good spot near the finish line and settled in to eat our snacks and watch the rest of the race, but then the rain came and the cold.

We had to get up really early in the morning to make it to the race. I was pretty tired after chasing mommy around the race course all morning, so I decided to take a nap, but since it was raining and daddy forgot the stroller, chairs and the umbrella I had no where to sleep. Luckily my nice daddy held me for my 2 hour nap (hours 3 - 5 of mommy's marathon). Daddy sat down on a curb while I slept. I guess we looked pretty pitiful, because these nice ladies kept giving daddy stuff to keep us warm and dry. This one lady gave us an extra poncho she wasn't using, and another 1/2 marathoner gave us her post race heat blanket, daddy wrapped that around me during my nap, and it kept me nice and toasty.

Daddy thinks the prize at the end was the only thing that pushed mommy to finish the race...


The Tiffany's Marathon Necklace.

Congratulations MOMMY!

I Love October!

Football, Playoff Baseball, Halloween, and Pumpkins!

During my recent trip to Atlanta, I was able to see a lot of my friends and family. I was glad I got to see everyone. I saw all my grandparents, my cousin McKenzie, my Uncle Kris, and some of my Atlanta friends. We were also able to go to the Georgia Tech homecoming game.

On Monday, I also was able to go to a pumpkin patch with some of my friends, for some pictures, Mommy and Daddy didn't want to take any pumpkins on the plane, so no pumpkins for me.

This is my new friend Campbell, Keifer's Sister, she is much more active than the last time I saw her.

Here are all my buddies with our pumpkins.

Just the boys.

My annual - Jonas sitting on the pumpkin picture.

Kiefer and Campbell.

Jet Setting

I have been on the move for the last several weeks, and I have determined 1 thing, airports drive me crazy!



But, sometimes if the pilot is late, you get an invitation to sit in his seat.



I think there was some kind of mistake, because I was really upset when I found out I wasn't actually flying the plane, but it was for the best, I took a good nap on the flight, and the pilot did a good job.