Mini Vacay to Texas!!

     Sara and I went on a mini vacation to visit my son and his family in Texas! We got there without any issues from our flight and the first night we actually stayed up and had a lovely home cooked meal by Monica and Tevin. Yum! We rested the next day and just relaxed. On the third day in Texas we did headed out to Daiso, Five and Below, and than Miniso at Ingram Mall. 

Some unique items at Daiso for sure!! Like these laundry carriers? Not sure I thought they were for catching butterflies, but Sara says they are for laundry. LOL Still cute!! Then next photo is my haul from the store! I just had to get these!!

The cute mini masks I had to get. I haven't seen these styles. The teal bear purse was just too adorable for words, and I found a different to me bath bomb with tiny pearl style princess miniatures. Great for your dolls! I ended up getting two tiaras. Darn. I wanted the tea cup or perfume bottle, oh well. Miniso had so much cute stuff too, but I was good and didn't buy anything, whew! It was very hard to resist, trust me!

By that Saturday, my son took us to Dave & Busters for lunch! We had a blast at Dave & Busters. I just got a simple meal and the kids had burgers and pasta. We even got the all day pass to play in the arcade. The kids had so much fun! While myself and baby strolled around watching them play. It was our first time going to one and it did not disappoint. Great memories made for sure!

On the 23rd of July we went to the San Antonio Aquarium and enjoyed seeing the various fish, and wild life there. Sara really enjoyed it and even took home a souvenir... It was a small aquarium and even had feed for the animals and petting areas. Lots of summer camp kids were there enjoying the place as well. It was a relaxing stroll and I think Ivyn enjoyed it for sure. Did you notice?! 

In my photo below of the aquarium's sign, right in front there were Flame Trees just like on Guam!! I was truly surprised to see! Ha! We also went to North Star Mall and saw a lot of great things at Hot Topic, and other shops. We left there with a Build A Bear plush for my grandson! Tev & Monica had fun putting it together for their son! Great memories!

There were some really big Koi there! I was surprised how large they were! Haha! Afterwards we went to a Japanese BBQ Hotpot restaurant and enjoyed lunch there. It was really good and Tevin and Monica did the cooking. I am being spoiled!! Haha! Yummy too!

I got a Miso soup base and mixed in a lot of veggies, fish cake, bean sprouts and ramen. It was delicious! We also had some meat and chicken that they barbequed! Definitely a great place to relax and enjoy with the family with good food! The staff were so helpful and always checking on us! I would definitely go back there again!
 

On the weekends while Monica went to work, Sara and I babysat and just enjoyed the San Antonio atmosphere. It was quite humid, with some rain and thunder. But overall we enjoyed our little getaway. Tev & Monica really spoiled us while there. Every night we either watched a horror or anime movie, played board games or Karaoked!! Haha! It was a blast for sure! On the last few days of our trip. They took us too The Japanese Tea garden, which was a beautiful place for sure and lots of locals and tourists there as well.

I was surprised that there were so many places with Flame trees as well, just like the ones we have on Guam!! For lunch we at at Mr. Juicy! I thought it was a small place, but my goodness it was very popular for sure! The food reminded me of Mr. Kraut's on Guam. Definitely worth the try! We also went to Ironside Antique Mall. I saw a lot of really interesting things and enjoyed seeing vintage again! But left the place not finding a good buy and that was okay. It was just nice to check it out though.

 

But two weeks went super fast Darn! It was time to head back to Guam. We truly appreciated Tev & Monica's hospitality and making memories with my grandson. He turned 8 months while I was there and learned to clap his hands and use his outside voice!!  Our trip back to Guam was less straight through and more slower with time to relax and take a breather between flights, Whew! Below, I had Sara use my phone to take a photo of the mountains leaving Texas. Then, while in Denver, we enjoyed a cup of S'mores Frappe from Star Bucks! Yum, Haha! Definitely a memorable summer for sure!

 Thank you for reading! ~ ggsdolls 

One Week in Japan!

 We had planned a family trip Stateside, but plans changed due to health reasons... So instead I had to take my daughter and her little family to Japan. Sara tagged along and we stayed for a week!

We arrived into Narita and made our way to our usual Hotel. We ended up just staying in. Mostly because everyone except me got sick! So, we all just rested and by Wednesday morning I had breakfast and we got ready to ride the Limousine Bus to our stay at Hilton Tokyo Bay Hotel. No fussing with trains and carrying our luggage as we changed stations, Yippee! Just one shot loaded our luggage, got onto the bus and we rode for an hour and a half.

If was definitely a nice ride. We got to our hotel by around 3pm. My grandson, loved the play area! Other kids were having fun there too, while parents were checking in. We got our rooms and both faced the Tokyo Bay. Sara even noticed that we could see just a glimpse of Mt. Fuji in the distance. It was overcast, but you could definitely make out a silhouette. Wow!

 

Our room was nice and the beds were so comfortable. I loved the window treatments, they were Tatami style too! So you would just slide the gold style divider and than the white rice paper shade. We definitely felt excitement in the air!! New adventures await!

 

We decided to eat at the buffet restaurant in the hotel for dinner. It was definitely a feast with many choices for sure! Just look at my dessert choices! Haha! Sara and my grandson were not as hungry as the rest of us, because they were still battling a cough and cold. So we just ate our fill and than decided we'd call it a night so that everyone could rest for our day of fun at Tokyo Disneyland!

 From Sara and my room we could see downtown Tokyo and all the skyscrapers with lights. Every so often airplanes were leaving Haneda Airport. A dreamy place for sure at least for those of us who live in a completely different atmosphere from the city life. By Thursday morning, we ate breakfast and made our way towards the Disneyland Monorail. It was already crowded and the park hadn't even opened yet!! 

By the time we got to the park there were loads and loads of people in line. The park was decorated in a Halloween theme and was just as magical as ever. We took photos of the decor and made our way to shops for some souvenirs. Than we decided to eat some ice cream, drink hot cocoa and a marching band played as they came through. The main reason we came to Tokyo Disneyland was to help my daughter's partner propose to her. So I had the ring hidden in my purse. I made the request of taking photos in front of the castle. 

While Brenavin and Taby posed for a photo, Taby began to walk away and I had her turn to him and he was already knelt down and he proposed to her! It was a dreamy proposal and to see her say yes was even better!! Mission accomplished! Now, on to more fun!

We went through the castle and just took our time going through the park. We took TJ to his first time at It's a Small World. He enjoyed it I think! Haha! Toontown, than also to Mark Twain River Boat, just to name a few of the rides. Lots and lots of people. There were even people already sitting at certain spots for the parade route. But we heard from a teammate that the 1pm parade was cancel due to the wind, and perhaps the Halloween Parade may also be canceled too. UGH!

Just some quick pics of the Small world ride...

By the time we were done it was lunch time. We decided to eat at the Queen of Hearts Banquet Hall. There were set menus available. I got myself the Hamburger steak dish and salad. Which was pretty good actually and the nice surprise was that if you had ordered a dessert in a Alice theme ceramic dish, you got to keep it! So cool for sure!!

Taby got to keep the mug and heart shaped plate! So she had one set. I kept the one heart shaped plate as well! So cute and small too and perfect as a candy dish! If I had known that I would've bought more desserts!! LMAO! 

By the afternoon, we just decided to buy some popcorn buckets and do a bit more shopping and head back to the hotel. It was overcast most of the day with temps in the early 70 degrees with winds at 9mph. Sadly, both Sara and my grandson were exhausted and fussy. So we called it a day and went back to our hotel rooms. 

I did get a cute Nightmare Before Christmas charm bell and I played this cool Fortune palm Ready Machine at the Penny Arcade. 

My view from our hotel window. Made me think of the cool anime or mangas with Tokyo's concrete jungle. But this was just so amazing to see! Sara took some meds and we fell asleep early. Poor baby, but I made sure she rested as much as she could.

By Friday morning, Sara was still not feeling well. So I opted to watch my grandson while Sara rested and Taby and Brenavin went to the Tokyo Skytree and downtown! Sara slept in and Baby slept not long after as well. Which was good because by the time the two got back, they decided that later they'd go to the Disney Mall for a bit of shopping! So Sara felt better to go with them.

That evening, when the gang got back, B got me these two too cute to eat bear donuts!! One strawberry and one in mint chocolate chip!! Sara ate the mint one and I had the strawberry one. I saved the pink bear for my coffee in the morning! 

By Saturday, we had to check out and catch our bus back to Narita for the remainder of our trip... It was a rainy day. We had actually lucked out, because our Disneyland day was overcast but not rainy! Yay! It was raining most of Saturday. I can't complain because there was a typhoon close by. Just so thankful it didn't really hit the areas we were in. 

Once in Narita, we headed to Aeon Mall for our fave shopping fix. I tried the Sankaku Choco Pie at Mcdonalds. It was like eating a Chocolate Lava Cake! Yum!! The bun was flaky like a croissant too, Oh My!!

We spent most of Saturday and Sunday at Aeon Mall, shopping, playing the arcade, dining in, etc. On Monday, we caught our flight back to Guam. It was a really tight flight too! Whew, we made it home safe and sound. Now, hopefully everyone can get well asap. So far, I am thankful for all we've experienced. 

I hope you try to get out of your comfort zone and live! I truly appreciate you my friend! 

Thank you for reading! ~ ggsdolls