Boys: We traveled again today, this time back to Tokyo. We took the fast "bullet train" again and had a nice quiet discussion about what toy's we were going to bring back for you while we were cruising across the Japanese landscape. When we got to Tokyo, we went to the Tokyo Tower (11m taller than the Eiffel Tower) and took a look around the city.
These three pictures are of Tokyo at night. There are a lot of lights and lots of people here. It gets dark around 5:30 at night so there is a lot of things to left to do after the sun goes down. They like to play soccer and baseball here, just like you do back in America. Wouldn't that be fun to play soccer beneath big lights like that in the middle of the city?

This morning when we got into our taxi cab, our driver told us he loved American movies and sang us two songs from some of the movies that he has watched. He said that he has watched "White Christmas" over 200 times...that is actually more times than you boys have watched "Cars". Impressive, eh? We love and miss you both. Mom will be home in 4 more day's so keep checking off your calendars. Love, Dad and Mom.
WE LOVE YOU!!!

Boy's: here we are again at a Japanese "garden" thinking of you. Hope all is well back in South Carolina and that you are checking off your day's till Mom comes home. She is being good about checking off her day's as well while she has been here. Today, we ate at McDonalds for breakfast and had pizza for dinner, not bad for being in Japan!
Today we went to the top of a mountain just outside Kyoto and went for a little hike. Since we have been here, we have traveled on an airplane, a subway, a train, a taxi, a cable-car and and a Gondola. We traveled in the Cable car (picture above), the Gondola (picture below) and the taxi today.

These are the Japanese mountains that we saw at the top of the hill.
They have big trees in their forests, somewhat like Yosemite. We didn't see any animals while we were out in the forest, we were kinda bummed about that.
This is one of their many gardens. They have many little places to sit and look at the landscape. My favorite was the seat carved out of a tree stump. Love and miss you! Dad and Mom.

The Second Day

Boy's: The Japanese culture here is pretty unique. They like lot's of tree's and vegetation in their cities and castle's. The picture above is cool because that is one big tree, but it seems that there is some sort of different plant growing in the first set of branches. Also, your mom is beautiful. The picture below shows some of the large branches being propped up by sticks so the tree's won't sag as much.
Today, we went to a temple and two castle's. This little guy is one of four holding up a water fountain. He doesn't look all that happy, does he? Poor statue.
Here is the inside of a temple...lots of gold and stuff.

This is one of the gardens in the Imperial Castle. They put a lot of work into keeping these tree's looking nice and the grounds looking clean. Does our back-yard look like this? We might have to get a rake and start working at it, eh! Maybe you can surprise mom when she comes home!
This is one of the gates to get into the Imperial Castle.
Here is mom and I in one of the gardens at the castle thinking of you boy's again. Hope you are enjoying your time with Auntie Lisa, we saw the fun pictures of you all at the beach. Keep up the good work of helping around the house.
We love and miss you boy's. Mom will be home soon with lots of presents!

kYOTO

Jake and Noah, it is our first day in Japan together. We found a little "garden" on top of the roof of a mall and sat down and thought of you guys. How has Aunt Lisa been doing? I am glad to hear that you are doing a good job of helping her around the house while mom is gone.
We rode the "Shin" train today. I think you boy's would like to ride it as it goes really fast through tunnels and cities. Check out the video at the bottom of the post.

When we got to Kyoto, we met crane. He didn't know where Po or Monkey were...he said we might find them later on if we look hard enough. We also went and saw a Japanese castle in Kyoto. It was really big and was made entirely of wood. They don't let you take pictures of the inside or wear shoes while you go in there, but it is a nice building.I took your mother to "sushi-go-round" for the first time. Above is a picture of raw squid that I ate and below is your mom trying the feast. The little conveyor belt brings the sushi around to all the tables and lets you pick which one you want to eat...a rather unique way of serving the food. I was glad that mom was willing to try it; the squid is extra squishy/gooey, but it was some of the better squid that I have had.

And finally, here is your mom being crazy again. Monkey would be proud! Love you boy's and thanks for the monk e-mails. Hopefully we can call you sometime soon! Love, Mom and Dad.

Brothers

The boys have found a new way to give eachother rides on the bikes. Noah always laughs with delight and tells Jacob to go faster! Hehe, I love watching them do this...

Noah's turn!

For a birthday that is. Today he turned 4 years old. Here he is on his new bike - he outgrew the last one. Can't believe how much he has grown up! Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday!

Today is Jake's 6th birthday! He is soooo excited to finally be 6. I am sure this will last until tomorrow when he's starts asking "how long until I turn 7?"! Happy Birthday pal!