Dear Chibi,

Remember the rain I mentioned in my previous entry? It carried over to the next day :’) Views still look amazing though with all the mist.

We enjoyed a delicious buffet breakfast at the hot spring resort. This is definitely my kind of breakfast! I especially loved the onsen egg…and of course we went for seconds..and thirds.

We finally arrive at one of the entrances to Hakone Shrine. Everything is so picturesque, but of course it was still very foggy and a bit wet!

Dear Chibi,

Bye bye Tokyo, hello Hakone!

Look at this stunning view from our hotel room, situated on the slopes of Joyama Mountain. It was such a lovely change of scenery after a few days in the bustling city of Tokyo. Time to relax and enjoy being surrounded by nature.. and best of all… the amazing onsen! This was another highlight for me :D

We stayed in a Japanese-style room with traditional tatami flooring. Very comfy and spacious. P-chan had plenty of space to run around in circles.

Dear Chibi,

We couldn’t take P-chan to Japan without a trip to the “Happiest Place on Earth”~ Disneyland! :D It was our final full day in Tokyo so I was glad the weather cleared up for us (it rained a lot the day before). We went on a weekday hoping to avoid the busy crowds, though it still end up being rather busy with lots of school kids on excursion. We utilised the fast passes where we could. Thankfully P-chan is just tall enough to get on every ride, so we had lots of choices!

Our very first ride was Space Mountain! We queued here around 100 minutes (our longest line) but P-chan stayed pretty excited and patient throughout. We spotted the Green Army guy from Toy Story wandering about. Love how in-character the mascots are.

Dear Chibi,

We did a day trip to visit the famous ‘Slam Dunk’ location, which is basically a scene from the anime’s opening sequence (which appears for a few split seconds). The real life location is a picturesque crossing overlooking the ocean in Kamakura, at Kamakurakokomae Station. It was pretty amusing to check out in person!

Just a short walk from Kamakurakokomae Station…

And here it is!! XD

Dear Chibi,

We’re back from our first overseas trip with P-chan and what an amazing 19 days it’s been! I almost forgot what it felt like to fly since my last trip was 7 years ago, and of course the whole experience is different now with a little one. We had planned this trip pretty last minute, with Hubby doing all the heavy-lifting with research, flight and accomodation bookings and getting us around Japan’s confusing public transport system. Pretty sure he’s a pro now XD. Hubby and I have always been fond of Japan so we knew we had to go again (even though we’ve been warned it’s harder with kids). Plus, the dollar is just too good at the moment to pass!

We stayed at 5 different cities, starting from Tokyo then travelling to Hakone, Nagoya, Kyoto and Osaka. Hubby and I also celebrated our birthdays and Mothers Day. So many highlights. So many delicious food! We had an ice-cream/dessert almost everyday *drools*. I’ll be posting a series of blog entries to share a snap shot of our trip. The first in the series is our time at teamLab Borderless: MORI Building DIGITAL ART MUSEUM. How fitting that Vivid’s on right now in Sydney, since this exhibition definitely had Vivid vibes!

How cool is this entrance? It wasn’t until I saw Hubby’s pictures that I realised how the text is floating on top. Wow :O

teamLab Borderless is a world of artworks without boundaries, a “museum without a map”. So as we wandered around from room to room.. the artworks moved around as well. Kinda gives you FOMO though! There were plenty of hidden rooms also. They say to revisit the rooms at different times to see how the artworks interact with each other. From floor to ceiling each room was filled with so many interesting projections it really did take you to another world (Ironic because I forgot I was in Japan! haha.)

Dear Chibi,

My sweet little P-chan is 5! We sure built some fun memories together :)

Every year for his birthday, I like to throw him a themed party that reflects his current interests. Previously we’ve had The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Thomas the Tank Engine and Taiko no Tatsujin. Although he still loves watching Thomas and taiko drumming, he’s grown fond of building with Lego, so a brick party it was :D

Dear Chibi,