National Lampoon's Japanese Vacation!!!!

Ever since we moved to Japan, many friends and family have expressed interest in coming to visit, and fortunately, a few have actually made the long journey East. My parents and little sister bought tickets to come out here back in March, and now the time has finally come! I have a whole itinerary planned out - even down to the meal, in some cases. They landed on Saturday, and here are some highlights of what we've done thus far...most things have gone according to plan, but I may have underestimated the amount of stuff I have crammed into each day - on more then one occasion, the girls have gotten a bit tired from all the walking and we've had to adjust schedules a bit.

Here we are having dinner at our favorite Ramen shop right after arriving from the airport - it was their first experience eating Japanese style on a Tatami matt - and judging from the back pains Mom and Dad suffered, probably their last!





Of course they would come during the start of the rainy season - does that stop Megan from heading to the uber-exclusive Ginza (similar to NY's 5th Ave) shopping district in Tokyo to see her beloved Tiffany's? Hardly.








Here's Dad and I spending some quality father/son time at a baseball game. I actually bought tickets for the girls too, but they were too tired and stayed at the hotel instead. While at the game, Dad imparted some of his wisdom on how to be such a great Father - the key? Having a perfect Son to begin with!


Here's the whole Augustine clan in front of the Imperial Palace - which is as close as we could get, because not until we got there did we find out that they're closed on Mondays! I guess I need to brush up on my travel agenting skills.





Since the Imperial Palace visit was a lot shorter then expected, I improvised and took us all to the Meiji Shrine...when we got there, the main Tori Gate was completely covered in scaffolding and canvas for preservation work! Fortunately, this one was ready for pictures - it's smaller then the main one, but still pretty cool.




We finished off the day with a night cap in the hotel lounge - at least until my little sister got told to leave since she was underage...so she and Cicely took their Virgin Pina Colada's to their room for some girlie time - while I bought Dad a well deserved beer.



Finally, on Tuesday, the weather cleared up, so we headed to Tokyo Disney - Cicely's been wanting to go for the longest time, so I figured Megan would enjoy it too. Here we are on the monorail heading into the park (which of course here in Japan, you have to pay for, unlike in Orlando).






That's pretty much it for now; we've returned home from Tokyo, and will be recuperating for a few days. On Friday we jump on the bullet train to spend the weekend in Hiroshima - we'll update again after that!

Note: Cicely was able to enjoy the last few days thanks to a gift from her friend Michelle; these things called Sea Bands - they're wrist bands that do some sorta pressure-point trick to reduce nausea - they work like a champ! Thanks Michelle!