day 3 水曜日, also THE birthday!!

after breakfast at the hotel, they made their way back to TSoA for two sessions in the computer lab to work on creating digital animations.

after lunch on their own, they headed to the asakusa district (kanimarimon gate, sensoji temple, shopping)

they went to tokyo sky tree and got to see the city from above.  since today was big sister's birthday, her group gave her a card, sang to her, and got her a small cake.  it's nice to think she was at least pampered a little bit so far away from home.

they enjoyed a traditional japanese hot pot dinner at chanko nabe.  (apparently, this was one of her great-grandfather's favorite meals if he ever got the chance to have it).  she said she did not know what many of the ingredients were but tried to be adventurous.

back here at home, it was weird to comprehend how exactly her birthday was happening 14 hours earlier....at least i was conflicted about when should be the best time to call her, because it just seemed wrong to celebrate on the 30th when her day has always been the 31st....it really makes the world seem very huge and not really connected at all.  at least that is my two cents!

no matter what time zone it happened in, big sister turned 15!!!!

we celebrated with a cake, song, & sleepover on july 20th (just to add to my confusion....)

day 2 火曜日

most of these pictures are from the shared site that the camp created.  here are the highlights, based on the pics posted and the itinerary.

the group rode the subway to the TSoA.  the worked in the computer lab for two morning sessions, drawing pictures for amine.

a special afternoon treat was to attend the robot restaurant show.  the did not eat there but did get to enjoy an amazing show.

next up was a visit to shibuya crossing & balto statue, but according to big sister they dropped this from the itinerary.  so i'm not sure how they ended their day.... ;-)

the first real day 月曜日

big sister's day started with breakfast at the hotel, just as all days will since this meal is included with her room. (doesn't look like she is being too adventurous with her food choices...)

next they were off to the tokyo school of anime - which is where the real fun will begin!!  they had an orientation then anime lecture.

for lunch, they headed to the akihibara district.

then it was back to the TSoA for two sessions of manga basic techniques.

  the day ended with dinner at volks, next door to their hotel.

sayonara, texas...konichiwa, tokyo!!

 it was an early start today for big sister - she had to wake up, get dressed, pack up her dorm room, and be loaded on the shuttle bus by 6:00am.  they were on their way to IAH to catch their 10:40am nonstop flight to tokyo!

after landing (14 hours later at 1:52pm sunday tokyo time....), they took a shuttle bus into the city and checked into their home for the week: hotel east 21 tokyo.  thankfully she was seated next to mallorie on the flight.

 
 

it's so weird to see her so far away!  6,453 miles away, give or take!!!

 after short orientation & then a dinner of tempura & udon noodles at the hotel, it was lights out for their first real sleep since friday night in college station....sweet dreams!! 

いい夢、見てね

camp drop-off

it was this same time last year that we were dropping off big sister for her first youth adventure program (yap) camp....but this time she is adventuring with them off to tokyo, japan!!!

check-in today was from 4:15-5:30pm, during which she met up with her roomie from last summer (mallorie).  we got her bed for the one night made & then went off to dinner at the dorm's cafeteria.  next was a short orientation where we learned who would be big sister's small group-mates and chaperone.  (4 girls + 1 chaperone)  a total of 22 kids (14 girls, 8 boys) are about to have the experience of a lifetime!!

pinstack party

little sister had lots of ideas this year for where to have her birthday party, but she finally decided on pinstack.  she wanted everything except for bowling...and since her birthday landed on a friday - that made when to have it very easy.

she had 13 people attend her party - which was perfect since she was turning 13....they started out in the party room with cheese pizza & mozzarella sticks, then it was time for candles, singing & cake.

then the party moved to the main area where the girls had two hours of unlimited attractions that included the high ropes course, bumper cars, laser tag, and rock climbing - along with two hours of unlimited arcade games.  the girls seemed to pair off and ran around freely doing whatever they wanted to.

after the party, 4 girls came back to our house and spent the night, making sure that little sister ended her birthday surrounded by friends, smiles, and giggles.  here's hoping your teen years ahead are just as sweet as your birthday was!