Moppy Goes to Florida Part III: Orlando Science Center

This summer we decided to get a membership to the Science Museum of Virginia, and we were happy we did because we found out that it gave us a reciprocal membership to other museums, including the Orlando Science Center in Florida! 

This was fun- they had an area where you could make your own paper airplanes and then use a special launcher to shoot them at some targets. 

Here is Tyson working on making some tsunami-sized waves in this big water tank.

This was a platform that shook to simulate an earthquake. Christine held Moppy tight so she wouldn't get scared!

Here are Christine, Moppy, and Charlotte in a hurricane simulator. Boy, did it get windy in there!

Peekaboo! Moppy loved checking out this super cool geode.

Moppy loved this giant graphic all about how to be a good engineer: imagine, plan, create, improve, and ask!

Charlotte, Christine, and Tyson did some engineering of their own to design this neat place for Moppy to relax.

We loved the windowed elevator and the cool trees in the science center's atrium.

Christine and Moppy "dig" for fossils in the dinosaur room. That material isn't dirt- it's actually shredded tires!

Moppy really got into it- she even tried on this cool archaeologist's hat!

The kids played with some iron ferrite and magnets. It made some cool effects!

In one part of the museum they had a machine that would take your picture and then use a computer program to change your image to a different race or gender. Since Moppy is joining us from Japan this summer, I changed my image to Asian. I loved how it turned out! Not quite as beautiful as Yuki's mom, but close! ;-) 

Charlotte decided to give it a try with Moppy.

Yikes! This program clearly wasn't designed for little pink monsters!!

Audrey gave Moppy a ride by pulling on this rope and lifting them both up using a pulley. What a great machine a pulley is!

I tried it too- it was pretty tough!

The lower level had all kinds of plants and animals. It was like walking through nature!

Here is Moppy with a mangrove tree. These are very common trees in Florida, and they are known for their prominent roots. They are very protected as well- we found out on our boat tour that some homeowners were fined over TWO MILLION dollars for clearing some mangroves off their property! Wowsa! 

Here is Moppy checking out some neat fish in this aquarium. Look at all that beautiful coral.

Later, Christine had a chance to "pick" some oranges from this pretend orange grove. Oranges are a huge crop in Florida. They grow really well in the tropical climate.

She and Moppy took their orange harvest to the "factory" where they got to send them through some machines that pretended to wash and sort them. It was really fun!

We took a photo on this rainbow bridge on our way out. See all those hearts hanging from the ceiling? They're made of paper- origami, in fact!

And this doesn't have to do with the Orlando Science Center, but just consider it a bonus- this is where our room was at the resort:

Can you see the kids and Moppy? They're on the second balcony from the top!

We had a great view from up there. We had a blast in Florida but we were happy to get home, too. We look forward to sharing more of our summer adventures in Virginia with you.

Moppy Goes to Florida Part II: Pool Play and Polynesian Revue

One of our favorite things to do at the Marriott Grande Vista Resort in Florida is to play in the POOL! They have 2 main pools that we like to play in. This year we noticed that the pool near the reception area was warmer than the pool with the water cannons, so we spent more time at the warmer one.

Here's the rest of the gang- Chad's parents are the ones who own the timeshare at the Marriott, so it's thanks to their generosity that we're able to take such a nice vacation there. His sister also came with her two kids.

Audrey loves the pool!

Tyson spent most of his time underwater.

Charlotte takes a jump off the side.

Tyson goes for a cannonball.

Christine preferred to splash around with her floats on.

And Moppy preferred to take in some sun! Again, problem with the pink fur...sure hope she put on sunscreen!

Here's a view of the other (chillier) pool. We played there a few times when it was hot enough outside!

This is the main pool again, but at dusk. We went there one night for their special Polynesian show.

The kids' cousin, Ollie, made sure Moppy got plenty of cuddles (and kisses) during the show. They really seemed to hit it off.

Here are the hula dancers.

And this guy played with fire! The kids were watching from the pool- I don't think any of us would have been brave enough to get that close if we hadn't been IN the water! We could feel the heat from the flames!

After the show, Charlotte and Christine and Moppy got a picture with the dancers. They were amazing!

And here are a few more pool shots from the next day:

Group jump!

Christine doing some tricks with the help of her dad.

And, the most exciting part of the trip for Charlotte- when she got to become a mermaid!

They have mermaid tails for rent at the resort, so she was able to use one for an hour.

She said it was a dream come true!!

Stay tuned for more Florida adventures...

Seeing Carnivals without any fence at Himeji Central Park! :O

Konnichiwa, Tyson, Audrey, Charlotte, and Christine!

This past Saturday, we went to "Himeji Central Park" in Himeji City, Hyogo Prefecture with Yuki's Grandpa!

This park is basically a zoo with an amusement park next to it. But what makes it very different from other zoos is that we can go through a part of this zoo in our car with animals right outside the car without any fence between us!

It reminded us of the movie, Jurassic Park.

Zoo was divided into little sections, such as the section for tigers, the section for cheetahs, and the section for lions, etc., etc., and each section is double-gated. Only one gate opens at a time to make sure the animals inside do not escape. There are guards in cars watching at each section.

Tiger:

Female lions:

Rhinoceros:

It was very different to see those animals right outside our car windows without any fence between us. When we first saw them, we were a bit afraid they might come attack us. But they all seemed very well fed (the guards in cars threw meats at them once in a while), and they were just lying down.

Herbivores had a bit more action going on. Some of them were crossing the street as the cars were passing and they came very close to our car!

This park is also known for their White Lions and White Tigers.

Can you tell what this animal is in the photo below...? It is actually a female White Lion! You could feed her a piece of meat on a stick through the fence. Yuki did not feed her, but people feeding her were saying she was very strong!

White tiger:

We also got to take a photo with one of the twin White Lions, born on May 22nd of this year at the park! We think he was getting tired... He seemed upset and was roaring! It got us a bit scared! He was little... but he was a lion after all!

This photo did not come out good, but we also got to feed some bears! They knew we could give them foods, so they would wave at us asking for foods! :O

We could also go up very close to giraffes and feed them. They had some grass and carrots. Can you guess which their favorite food was? The answer is... carrots!

We also came across this very lazy chimpanzee! But he was catching everyone's attention!

After the zoo, we went to the amusement park. It was a good old Japanese amusement park. Yuki's mom cannot ride anything that falls, but Yuki loves roller coasters!

Yuki has ridden all the rides at Tokyo Disney Resort and also at Universal Studios Japan, but this ride in the photo below... he says it was the most scary ride he has ever ridden! Yuki was happy he had Tag to go on this ride with this time!

We also found a fun vending machine inside the park!

It was a long, hot day. But we had so much fun!

Staying Home Alone

Konnichiwa, Tyson, Audrey, Charlotte, and Christine!

So, our family consists of Yuki's mom, Yuki, Sunshine, and Cuddly Bear. Yuki's mom is an accountant, and she works full-time.

During Yuki's summer vacation, Yuki's mom tries to take days off from work as much as possible so she can spend time with Yuki and go to places with him to enjoy his summer vacation. Yuki also visits his Grandma in Kyoto and his Great Grandma in Okayama during his summer vacation and spends several days with them.

But guess how he spends the rest of his summer vacation?

Well, he spends it home alone.

In Japan, it is okay for kids to be alone without their parents' supervision just as long as their parents make sure it is safe for them.

When kids enter elementary school, they are expected to go to school and come home from school on their own. Up until Grade 3, there are after-school daycares, which are run by the government that kids can go to if both their parents work. However, after Grade 3, kids are generally on their own after school until their parents come home from work.

This day, Yuki and Tag came to visit Yuki's mom at work during her lunch break. Yuki's mom works 40 minutes away from home by 2 trains.

 We all had lunch together. We had some Korean foods!

After lunch, Yuki's mom went back to work. Yuki and Tag went to watch Pokemon movie before he went home.

In Japan, they have free movie flyers for movies that are coming out in theaters, and Yuki has been collecting those flyers since he was 5!

Tag says he really enjoyed this new Pokemon movie... Yuki and Tag couldn't stop talking about it when Yuki's mom came home!