Friday night was a night of joviality as the company Bonenkai, aka “end-of-year” party, was held. If you remember last year’s (and I certainly don’t), it ended with a black eye and a missed daycare event. Much to my surprise, I was told that Layla’s big daycare event this year fell on the 5th, coincidentally the day after the party. Again. This year, as difficult as it was, I was determined not to miss Layla’s big event. It was through sheer force of will that I was able to tear myself away and not go to the second bar. I was tempted, as it wasn’t the last train yet, but I knew if I’d gone I never would have left.
So it came as a bit of a shocker to find that the daycare event wasn’t actually on this Saturday. Somehow the lines of communications got crossed somewhere and it is actually next weekend. Hangoverless, shinerless and in my own bed – what an unexpected way to wake up.
We ended up heading down to Harajuku, to check out the Christmas lights… and also another big toy store. 6 floors of toys was time well spent. Unfortunately, 6 floors of crowds as people, strangely, did their Christmas shopping (strangely, because they don’t even celebrate Christmas here!). The weather might have forced more people into the stores than normal, as it was pouring down rain for most of the day and night.
After shopping, we took a brief look outside at the lights before ducking into Omotesando Hills shopping centre to escape the rain. The lights were nice, but not as nice as being dry. Instead of braving the elements, I took my hungry girls to get some grub in their tummies. It was off to Shinjuku for supper, a meal at a restaurant Tamie had been looking forward to all day.
| It didn’t take long to get to the restaurant – a Chinese dumpling place at the top of Takashimaya (another huge shopping center… as if there’s any small shopping centers here, but this one is 13 floors of consumer-y goodness!). Unfortunately, it seemed like half of Tokyo also had a hankering for dumplings as the line stretched around not one, but two corners in the hallway. As ridiculous as it sounds, we waited. And waited. and waited. And after more than an hour of waiting, we waited some more. And then, we got a table. |  |
Dinner was actually quite good. Even Layla enjoyed the meaty, soup-filled dumplings. We ate several kinds of dumplings, until our bellies were full and our appetites satiated.
After eating, we looked around Shinjuku a bit – luckily the rain had stopped by then, before taking the 22:00 train home. Layla was in bed before midnight, which meant that we were lucky enough to sleep in on Sunday. Win-win, I’d say.
Sunday, we weren’t so adventurous, deciding to stay more local. Layla opened the laptop and wanted to talk to Nonni and Chinni, so we called Mom and Dad, via Skype. The first time we tried they were out casino-ing, so while we waited for their luck to run out, Tamie went jogging while I showered Layla, did the laundry and cleaned the house. Yep, you read that right. An hour later, we tried Skype again and Layla left a message for them. Of course after Layla calls, they call back almost right away.
After chatting for a while (ie. until Layla got more interested in a puzzle than the webcam), we let the grandparents go to bed and we headed out to Machida for some lunch, some ice cream and, of course, some more shopping. We picked the kid up a new jacket for daycare, one that actually fits. Strangely enough, the store that we bought it from were selling Yogen Fruz candies. I haven’t seen a single Yogen Fruz store in this country, but I’ve never seen candy in Canada. Weird, eh?
Layla got sleepy before we got around to getting ice cream so we ended up in a coffee shop instead while the poor kid snored on my chest. When she finally came to, she’d all but forgotten about ice cream. She got her mom to fix her ponytail, as it got a bit messy as she slept… and then I fixed her hair in the front. Pineapple hair, as it’s affectionately known as, at least in this house.
As the lunch we ate was fairly late and sizeably big, we headed back to Ebina for a nice, quiet(ish) night at home. Tamie prepared salad and then we watched the movie “Up”, which was a decent flick, before putting Layla down for the night.
Saturday gallery
Sunday gallery
And, for those not counting the sleeps, less than two weeks until Canada.
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