Its Not The Destination...

 ...It's The Journey." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Early April, I left stateside to finally meet my 2nd grandson. I sort of met him while he was still baking back in 2019. Fast forward to 2025, Because of the pandemic and time I had not met him sooner until now. My son Tevin and I decided we'd make it a plan last year to do a road trip to South Dakota from Texas. He notified me late last year we could do it by April. So, I made the journey leaving early April just before Easter break to Texas where our drive would take us through several states to finally meet him.

Flight overlooking Guam.

 

Dinny made by my son and his partner. Yum!

 

By April 3rd I made the 16 hour flight from Guam, through Japan, then Denver and into San Antonio. BTW, it was snowing in Denver!! As soon as I got out of the airplane, I felt the cold temps of Colorado from the jet way. Once inside the airport, I made my way to my next gate and final leg! It was just amazing to see, we even had to wait a bit as they de-iced the plane before take off!! 

Breakfast at Cracker Barrel!

Once in Texas, we spent the weekend going shopping and eating at some great places like Golden Corral, Cracker Barrel, and JapanPot! Yummy! My son and his partner even made dinner for me! Awww!  By Tuesday morning, Tevin and I started the road trip. We would take about 18 hours from San Antonio, TX to Rapid City, South Dakota with a rest stop overnight at a hotel halfway through.

Popular restaurant in San Antonio.

You cook your food at your table, wow!

So much good food at Jpot!

 We drove the first 10 hours our first day and stayed in Dumas, Texas halfway through. Tevin and I spent our drive talking about memories of the past, life, and current goals for him and Monica. Gosh so much has changed for him and I was proud of the man he has become. We even listened to music he grew up from the CD's I would play for us on the roads of Guam. Ahhh those good songs of the 90s! Most of the places we passed through, were flat land and rural areas with farms and small towns. It was quite the adventure and I enjoyed every moment of it. The drive didn't even feel that long either!

It was warm and sunny in southern Texas, but as we continued north, it started to become a bit more cloudy and overcast. During the drive I saw a lot of cows, and farmlands as well. Even some tumble weeds rolling along in front of us. When we arrived in Dumas, Texas, we made our way to the hotel, Spark by Hilton and got dinner at The Burger. We showered, relaxed and rested before driving the last 8 hours into South Dakota.

Scholtzskys for lunch.

Lots of windmills along the route.

Check out this vtg car on a pole! LOL

Dinner from The Burger!

A pic of our hotel, Spark in the morning.

Cows grazing early in the morning.

By morning we left Dumas early and headed out to complete our last leg of 8 hours. It was a lot more of the same but with a bit more rolling hills. We went through Colorado for a very small bit, and then Oklahoma and mostly Nebraska.

In this pic, the long straight roads and a bit of a chill in the air.

Chadron, Nebraska

We got dinner at Culver's a chicken burger joint. Rested and the next day my grandson would arrive. It was bitter sweet to finally meet him and for him to see his Dad. He is quite a character and smart too! He looks a lot like his Dad for sure! And for a bit, we enjoyed having him in our hotel room to play with his toys.

We had a full schedule of events to come. My grandson, was to have his "Naming" Ceremony by that Saturday. So since it was only Thursday, we decided to take him to the movies. We watched "Minecraft" at the local AMC theaters. It was a good film and he definitely enjoyed himself along with Tev and myself. By Friday, we planned to take him to the Reptile Garden.

Whew, to be continued...

Thank you for reading! ~ ggsdolls

Taby's Birthday Trip!!

Sam decided we would take Tabytha to Japan for a 2 day trip. It was definitely what we all needed. Just a break from the island life...

We got up at our usual time and relaxed a bit before our flight. This time we had a noon flight to catch and not some ungodly hour! Yay! Once on the plane we relaxed and were excited for this trip! We arrived into Narita, Japan by 3pm. Tried to catch our shuttle bus to our hotel but missed the first one. Oh well, so instead we took a taxi and got to the hotel to check in, put our bags, change clothes and set out to get some dinner!

We caught the shuttle bus to the Aeon mall and made our way to the restaurants. We chose a nice Japanese sit down restaurant and it's was definitely delicious. With our bellies full we headed out for a bit of looking around...

There was a cat cafe, but because of the time we found it, it was closing up. Oh well. Just look at these two adorable kitties. Just made me think of my dear friend Heather and her cutie, Smoosh!! We also enjoyed playing our favorite games, the gatcha machines!! LOL

By the time we got back to our hotel we just grabbed some desserts from the little convenient store downstairs and I got this yummy Sherbet style melon ice cream. It even has a really cute melon shaped container! It was very light and refreshing too!

The next morning we got up early had breakfast at our hotel and took a taxi to the Narita-san Temple. It was early enough that we got a chance to see the monks come out for prayer. It was beautiful and very calming. It was very humid though we were all surprised at how hot and humid it was and decided it was time to head back to the mall for more shopping and the airconditioning. But it was lunch time too!

This time I tried the shrimp burger at Mcdonald's there. Very delicious and sure it hit the spot. Afterwards, we went shopping, while Sam enjoyed a massage for an hour. The girls wanted to play at the arcade and try their hand at those crane machines. We spent the day there just relaxing and enjoying the sights and desserts too! By the time Sam was done, we got desserts at D's and I ordered a refreshing shaved ice and vanilla ice cream with sprinkles treat! While Taby and Sara had crepe desserts, yum! 

We did more shopping at Daiso, and Book End. So many cute things, but I just got some easy to carry things to bring back home. I saw a caramel apple kiosk the day before and this time they were open so I was able to pick up one and the shop was called, "Pariparingo Narita". The one I got was a cinnamon flavor candied apple. Very unique for sure, and cinnamony also light tasting too! Yum! Cherub Chubs enjoying some with me when we got back to the hotel. I also found those edible crystals I've seen on TikTok!!

They are called, "Unicorn Tears". Basically, crunchy jelly candies at Patty's shop. I also found a bunch of Swimmer Brand products! I didn't notice it til' I was sitting outside of the shop waiting for Sara and Taby to finish looking. I immediately got up and ran towards the shelf area with Swimmer products! I saw a cute gingham red print bunny pillow and it was large. I was thinking I should get it, but decided not too because it was just a bit too large to carry on the plane. Then, while my eyes headed down the shelf...

I found this lovely adorable Bear tea cup, tea pot, and even a dessert glass with the adorable blue bear! I could not resist it and bought the tea set!! OMG! Just look at that cutie bear!! Swimmer surely knows how to get us to buy their products!! I was very happy with finding this set and bringing it home too! I did not get the dessert glass though. By Tuesday, we were ready to go home. We got up early, ate breakfast at the hotel and caught the shuttle bus to the airport. We got home just in time for afternoon tea! LOL

It was a very sweet little getaway and the trip definitely inspired us. Below are most of the goodies I bought for family, friends and myself...

We always enjoy visiting Japan! My home away from home...

Thank you for looking! ~ ggsdolls

Lotte Pretty Lady Big Bubble Gum News!!!

 PLEASE READ!! This is a Vintage item and is SOLD OUT!!

@ggsdolls_vtg Lotte Pretty Girl Big Bubble gum packs!! Mint and available in my shop soon!! 🛍️🎀💗 #ggsdolls_vtg #ggsdolls #ggsdollsshop #vintagekorea #vintagelottegum #prettyladygum #childhood #memories #gumpacks #paperdoll #fashions ♬ Kanon music box - kachiwo

 

 I was recently contacted via my ggsdolls website page from a seller who came into possession of a partially full box of Lotte bubble gum unopened packages!! Of course I was super stoked by even being contacted. Thanks to Jeremy of DigitAllVintage Canada on Etsy!! He found me via searching up Lotte bubble gum and saw my blog post on them here. He asked me for further information on them and if I was interested in buying the box?! Of course I was very interested and in the end we came to a decent price. The box arrived to me safely the other day and I just had to share these amazing pieces!!

On the front as shown above, "Lotte Pretty Lady Big Bubble Gum, transfer film with a card." Inside the box is supposed to hold 60packs. But, there are only 44 packs inside, still that is pretty awesome! There are three styles of the packs that I could see, a girl on the phone, a girl holding a teddy bear, and a girl holding a bag of bread or groceries. In each pack should be a paper doll card, transfer film with doll fashion on it and a sealed rectangle piece of Lotte bubble gum. This box was made back in October of 1994 and says that the gum expired on October 1996. So that tells me that Lotte Pretty Lady gum was still being made and sold around the early 90s. Wow, how cool is that?! You see I bought them with my sister in the late 70s early 80s if I recall right. But to know that they were still in production around the time my son was 3 years of age. Whoa!!

I don't recall them being in our local Mom and Pop stores after the late 80s, but I could be wrong. It may have been our distributor for Guam. Gosh, to think it may have been sold still around the 90s. Darn. Oh well. I opened one pack for myself to see what paper doll I got and her fashion?!

Inside, I got the short bob hair anime girl and her lovely 70s long floral skirt with adorable lime green top. Now, to remember how to put her fashion on her...

 

 Okay, to transfer the fashion onto the doll...

1. You will use your nail or a coin to scratch the transfer onto the paper doll.

2. Remove the wax paper backing to the transfer film. You will be able to match

the paper doll up with the item you will transfer. Let's start with a shoe.

3. Once you have the shoe positioned properly onto the doll's card and her foot. Begin

to rub gently with your nail or the coin over the film and only on the spot with the one shoe. *Be careful

because if you rub on any other parts of the fashion it can and does easily transfer to the doll and you

can and will tear the outfit. 

4. When you feel fully confident that the entire shoe is rubbed off the transfer film, very carefully

and gently remove the film off the card. The reason I say carefully is because you want to make

sure the entire part of the shoe you are doing is completely done. Sometimes you may miss a spot

or two. Darn. If this happens, just try to put the film exactly where you had it and rub again.

5. You will do this with all parts of her fashion and TADA! She is dressed and ready to be showcased

or added to your fave scrapbook or framed!

Ahhh, the memories. Trust me I always had a hard time doing the transfer as a kid, but I was lucky because my sister would always help me if I messed up. Haha!

I have several of the unopened packs available in my Etsy shop! You're welcome! Updated: These are now SOLD OUT.

Thank you for looking! ~ ggsdolls