Abroad With The Schaubs: 2018

Snow!

This year we went to the snow on the last Saturday of February. We had heard wonderful things about a different place called Momineki Park. I was able to check out all of our snow pants and even got the kids skis and a snowboard to try. Quinn and Finley wanted to try skis this time and Rylan wanted to try snowboarding. It was so beautiful there and so expansive compared to the place we went last year.

We stopped on the drive up to stretch our legs

Chris talked me into strapping my rain bots into Ry's board

February Round-Up

February started out great! Chris had a Monday off and we were able to try out a cute cafe, YuCafe, that makes fancy cappuccinos. We then putzed around town for a bit before grabbing some lunch at a new favorite of mine, G. Labo Noodle. It was flurrying almost the entire time. We don't get many moments to spend one on one time during the day, so it's always a nice treat!

The commissary randomly started carrying Blue Bell ice cream! It's just vanilla for now, but I'll take what I can get.

The kids prepped for Valentine's Day making their card boxes. Of course, Rylan made a squid with some help and Quinn made a panda box. Quinn was thrilled to finally get to wear her Valentine's Day outfit.

Chris was gone to a conference for a week prior to President's Day. Finley had his yochien parent day that weekend and we spent the Monday relaxing once Chris returned.

On the 26th, I turned the big 3-0 and Chris had duty. We got to celebrate a few days later together going on an excursion to find the Starbucks new line of annual sakura mug collection.

Boys' Birthdays

Despite going on vacation for their birthdays, Rylan was desperate to have cake with friends...and not just any cake. He had to have a squid cake. I'm pretty sure the idea to go on a getaway for birthdays came about by my inability to find pre-made squid party decorations and the lack of energy to go full Pinterest on a party. Disappoint he couldn't invite school friends, I caved and allowed a small gathering for snacks and cake only- no decorations!

This is year #2 it was a fiasco getting pre-made cake from the commissary. Last year they couldn't offer vanilla or chocolate cupcakes and this year I wanted a basic sheet cake with blue frosting and they ran of sheet cakes. They apparently don't actually make them here, they only frost them here. So I had to make last minute box mix cupcake cakes and while they turned out fine, it wasn't what I wanted and it didn't go with my plan to make this small celebration effortless.

For Rylan's actual birthday dinner we went to get his favorite Japanese dish, Okonomiyaki. For Finley's birthday dinner we went to the restaurant JD's on base because when we asked him what he wanted, he just said French Fries!

Watching the Okonomiyaki being made

Rylan is 6! 1/14

Finley is 4! 1/22

The boys put some birthday cash together to get this game

Osaka Trip

This year, I decided that we would go places as a family for the kids's birthdays instead of throwing parties at the same limited places on base every year we're here. I can only handle so many birthday parties at the bowling alley where the kids don't actually bowl. Since the boys have birthdays so close and it's hard for Chris to get time off, we combined their birthday trips and spent the weekend in Osaka to visit the large aquarium there as well as Universal Studios Japan.

We rented a car from base and drove the nearly 5 hours to Osaka, stopping only twice for food and bathroom breaks--our kids are troopers in the car! We went to the Osaka aquarium which was less than 15 minutes away from our hotel. Rylan was so thrilled to see squids- his favorite, and Finley was also thrilled to see his favorite sharks. It wasn't a super expansive aquarium but did have some great features.

I had unknowingly booked a luxury room at The Park Front Hotel in the Osaka City Walk. It was about a one block walk to the front gate of the park and attached to a street of shops and restaurants similar to Downtown Disney is SoCal. We ate at a Wolfgang pizza restaurant our first night and TGIFridays the second night. Quinn and I did some shopping at the Gap outlet store that first night after the boys went to bed for a moment of girl time.

The park was a lot of fun. We started out at an interactive Elmo show that nobody wanted to go to but they all ended up loving at the end. It was so cold waiting to get into the park that we caught the first show so we could be indoors and warm up a bit. Then we wandered over to the Spider Man area and waited for the ride there. All of them were thrilled to go and only Finley walked out with a smile on his face- the other two were crying and upset! We spent a good amount of time in the Minions area, mostly waiting in line for a ride they all loved so much they wanted to go again and again (but the line was just too long). An indoor play area and ride inside a Snoopy themed area warmed us up again and Quinn got to see some Hello Kitty fashion displays. We briefly stopped in the Jurassic Park area and Harry Potter areas but the kids were so cold and tired we couldn't stay too long.