This weekend was like any other weekend with the exception of an early(ish) checking of the status of a server at work. Everything looked okay, thank goodness, or this weekend would not have been nearly as good as it was!
Saturday we called my folks, who just returned from a trip to Calgary, and they seemed quite happy. It was a rare Friday night that they were home and not out gambling (or something). Auntie Gina was there so we got a chance to talk with her as well. Layla impressed all by folding laundry for the webcam — you got to start them young!
Tamie had a dentist appointment so I chilled with Layla while she headed off to get her teeth checked. We met up afterward at the train station and headed off to the park for a day of letting Layla play, and play she did. Hours passed before we finally headed off for “lunch”, which ended up being an early dinner at the Outback — hamburgers all around! Even Layla had a Joey burger and ate almost most of it, earning a balloon out of the deal.
Sunday, we Tamie’s sister came to pick us up and head in to Tokyo to see an aquarium. The plan was to leave at 8:30~9:00, but as is often the case, we didn’t get away until 10ish. After a long drive but a quick nap in the car later were arrived at Tokyo Sea Life Park! The nearly full parking lot was a bit intimidating, but thankfully, it wasn’t so bad inside the aquarium.
Overall, I’d say the aquarium did provide some entertainment but it was a bit lacking compared to the Enoshima aquarium we frequent. After being impressed with the shark tank that greets you, the main tank (judging by size) was nearly void of fish. There were a lot of smaller tanks with interesting creatures to see, but none of them really interested Layla — she got it in her head she wanted to see penguins… so off we went to see the penguins! The poor penguins… as we approached the penguin pen, the smell was a bit off. We quickly realized it was because they were doing some kind of maintenance on their pool so they didn’t have anywhere to swim! 10 days without a pool! They should have dumped them into the main pool.
We spent a lot of time around the touching pools where Layla tried hard to be brave. She did make progress though – she touched the water on more than one occasion. Her penultimate achievement for the day was after a presentation about star fish, they offered to let kids touch them and she actually got in line, went right up to the front and poked one! Once! It was a crowning achievement and one she looked so proud of.
Right before we left, I saw the fish in the shark tank were swimming about, all over the place. When we first arrived all the fish were at the top of the tank while the sharks were at the bottom… I was hoping to see some feeding but the sharks seemed to be on a diet or something. As I was busy taking bad pictures, Layla got mad because I wouldn’t let her play with my camera… I told her to wait a minute – her response? “Time to go!” before grabbing her Mom’s hand and heading for the exit. She’s soooo cute, eh?
On the way back to the car, we stopped to catch a show by a street juggler, Sobuki. He put on a good show for the large crowd and had my camera batteries not died I’d have a picture of him juggling knived while balancing on multiple boards/blocks on top of a cylinder on a trunk. Hard to explain, but there are pictures from right before the batteries died so take a look. =)
Back in the car, it was another long drive/short nap before we were home putting together the 108 piece puzzle Layla insisted she wanted from the gift shop.
 Playground Fun |
 Tokyo Sea Life Park |
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