6/15

We checked out of our hotel first thing this morning and took a bullet train to Kyoto. It was about a 2.5 hr ride.

For lunch, we ate at Steak Otsuka. A friend of mine highly recommended this place and I was lucky to be able to get a reservation. The restaurant is really small and lots of people were waiting outside. The meat was nothing short of amazing!

One of our orders was A5 premium Murasawa steak (aka phantom beef). Very rare, only 80 beef cows are shipped annually. It was so good!

After lunch, we walked around the area. Tyler loved all the vending machines everywhere and got an ice cream from one.

Walking around the Bamboo Forest

More treats

Fushimi Inari. This place was really pretty. We didn’t hike all the way to the top to see the temple. It was warm and humid and the “half hike” we did was long enough. The Inari gates were amazing not mention great for pictures!

Finally, a Hello Kitty store!

At the train station we saw a Hello Kitty train!

Next stop: Gion District and Kiyumizu-dera.

A lightening and thunderstorm came out of nowhere while we were walking. We took cover in an alleyway for a few minutes to let the heavy rain pass.

Yasaka Pagoda

For dinner, we opted for udon. It was a long day and all of us were exhausted. We walked over 22,000 steps today!

Our hotel room in Kyoto

Favorite part of the day:

Nat: eating at Steak Otsuka (the girl knows good food)

Tyler: getting ice cream from the vending machine

David: walking around the Bamboo Forest and surrounding area

Me: eating at Steak Otsuka

6/13-6-14

We’ve kicked off summer vacation with a trip to Japan and Hong Kong. We flew out of LAX since the flight was cheaper and the kids will stay in LA for some extra time since they’re on summer break. We’re traveling on Nat’s birthday (hence the early celebrations). She wasn’t thrilled to be spending her birthday on a plane, but a trip to Japan was a good reason.

Nat and Tyler are getting pretty comfortable traveling

The flight was about 11 hrs. I started to watch Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, but fell asleep.

First inflight meal

We were lucky the plane had a live sports channel and showed Game 6 of the NBA finals! It was painful watching Klay Thompson get hurt and seeing the Warriors lose after such a close game!

Second inflight meal

We arrived in Japan around 4 pm local time. By the time we left the airport, hopped on a train and the subway to Shinjuku, and checked into our hotel, it was almost 8pm. (4am California time!) We were very tired!

Our room

The kids wanted to eat ramen so we found a ramen shop up the street. It was our first time ordering from a vending machine. Tyler was the one who helped us figure it out too.

Thoughts:

I haven’t seen much Hello Kitty yet.

The subway/train stations are organized, intimidating, and chaotic.

Favorite part of the day:

Me, Nat, & Tyler: eating ramen. It was my first time trying dipping ramen and the noodles were really good!

David: experiencing the train stations and watching all the hustle and bustle

Celebrations for Nats birthday started early this week. On Sunday we had brunch with some of her Uncles and Auntie and her friend Katelyn. Then she and Katelyn went to Color Me Mine to paint pottery.

David made her a birthday cake. It was ube flavored. Nat loves ube/taro treats. He hid her birthday present (AirPods) inside the cake too.

Traditional birthday balloon picture

Uncle Tommy and family came up from LA to visit for a few days. This is the first time their whole family came to visit together. It was so fun having Melanie and Kelsie around the house. The two girls enjoyed following Natalie around too! 🙂 Melanie loved Nat’s room and all the fun stuff inside.

The girls enjoyed letting Nat do their hair and dressing up

On our last night together, we went out for a nice dinner at Santana Row

Best quotes this week from Melanie:
“Natalie, do you like to have fun?”
“Natalie, do you have friends?”