Temple Trip

I've wanted to go to the Tokyo temple for over six years now.  We had plans to go while in Japan last time, but because we got sent home early we never made it.  I thought I probably would never get to go so when we got the job offer in Japan I was excited to go to the temple.  Then, while getting ready I looked online and saw it is going to be closed for up to three years for major maintenance starting next month!  We made sure that we made it out before it closed.

It was quite the journey.  We got up early and made it there relatively quickly, I'd guess around two hours.  It takes us about 45 minutes to get to the train station. Because we don't have a car, we ride the base bus to the gate then walk to the station.  Then luckily we made it on an express train that was about an hour, and then another short train ride and 20 minute walk through town and we were there.

The train was cr-ow-ded!  We were all standing very close to people, the kids, especially Scarlett, were not happy about it.

We really had to book it through town to make it in time for me to feed Calista and go to the session.

It was an adventure going through in a completely different temple where everyone speaks a different language.  I managed to get a name tag type badge that said English on it and that helped everyone to know I couldn't understand them.  I also got to wear headphones.  

Meanwhile the kids and Bob went to McDonalds and played at the park.

After a couple hours I rushed out and Bob went it.  Then it was my turn to play with the kids for two and a half hours at the park.   We found this pond with giant fish.  The kids spent a long time throwing leaves into the fish and watching them try to eat their leaves.  We also saw turtles in the water, something we never see in the wild in Washington.

I like the different manholes in Japan.

The park had all kinds of trails and paths, it wasn't hard to entertain the kids.

I'm not sure what these little shrines are about, but we find them all around randomly.

Tucker was begging to listen to the audiobook so we did that for about half an hour.

Then back to meet Bob.

While walking back to the train we ran into a group of Mario Carters.  I really want to do this!  It's a company that hosts real Mario Cart races through Tokyo, costumes and all.  Awesome.

We saw this little hair cutting apron in the store and I thought of my sister.

The train rides home did not go as well as the ride there.  We ended up on a much slower train and had to get off and switch trains an extra time.  Then it was raining, the base bus stopped running by that time, and the closer base gate was also closed.  So we had a good 45 minute speed walk home in the full out rain Saturday night after our 2 hour train ride back.  Definitely harder than the hour and a half car ride to the Seattle temple but still worth it.

Temple Trip

We had an amazing ward temple trip a few weeks ago.  Its the first one our ward has done since we've lived here and I thought it went really well.  First we got together for a group picture.

Then we kind of split up.  Bob and I went inside while other adults watched the kids.  They spent most of the time in the church building next door, but they also took the kids on a small tour around the temple grounds.  I'm so grateful for that because Calista needs to eat so often I can't leave her very long.

When Bob and I came back they had started in on lunch.  We all ate burgers and different lunch type foods in the gym in the church building.  Throughout the whole thing families were visiting the new discovery center.  Once we finished eating we went to check it out.

Right when we walked in everyone got their own tablets.  The kids were in heaven.

It was pretty cool how they have it set up.  You log into family search on your tablet, then walk around to the different stations.  You doc your tablet at a station and it pulls up all your info.

Some stations pull up your family history while others teach you about your name.  There were stations where you can record a video of yourself that you will get sent to you in like 10 years.  One of our kids favorites was a station where they took their picture and then dressed up their picture in pioneer type clothes.

They had a little hunt thing the kids were doing.  

They whole thing was pretty cool.

Once we finished their we took the kids back to the temple for more pictures.

After we finished there we went to the nearby park.

We also stopped at DQ.  The kids were pretty excited about that!  The whole day went really well, I hope our ward does it every year.

Temple Trip

My Grandma Swift passed away a little over a year ago without ever joining the church.  Meaning she was never baptized and I got the chance to do a proxy baptism for her on Saturday.  In our church we believe that we can do proxy baptisms for people who died without being baptized, and then they have the choice up in heaven if they want to accept that for themselves or not.  So I was baptized in the Temple and when they did it they said my Grandmother's name.  

It was a really special day and I was excited to do it.  Her name was Dora and she was one of the people I was named after.  I even wore her ring for the occasion.

This was also my first time using my new suitcase.  The buckles were a little tough to use because they were so old I felt like they were going to pop open and all my stuff would fall out any minute but they held up.

While finishing up I was surprised to run into one of my college roommates.  She was there because her sister was getting married. Seems like a great day for everyone.

I love the temple.  It is such a beautiful peaceful place.  And the fact that we get to be with our families forever is one of the best blessings we can be given.

San Diego Temple

We drove the kids out to the San Diego temple to check it out.  I think this building is so beautiful I wanted to share it with them.  We had a picnic and took pictures, then headed to church.

I took this same picture three and a half years ago with the kids and tried to replicate it.