JAPAN, Tokyo - Imperial Palace

The palace guards :).

The palace grounds are HUGE

and required a lot of walking

in very hot weather.

The Imperial Palace was built in 1868

and has been the private residence to 

the Imperial Family ever since.

Because the Imperial Family is currently

residing in the Palace, much of

the property is not accessible by the public.

We LOVED what we were able to see.

JAPAN, Tokyo - Our RIDE!

To get from our hotel to the

train station we HAD to ride

the DISNEY BUS and TRAIN.

Disney does such a good job of

getting you excited even if your not

going to spend the day at one of their parks.

What a FUN way to begin and 

end our days in Tokyo!

JAPAN, Tokyo - Our Hotel

It was a challenge finding a place to stay

in Tokyo.  Everything was too small

or too expensive.  The best rate we

could find was at the Sheraton Grande 

at Tokyo Disney's Resort.

It was a beautiful place.

With great restaurants

and fun things for the kids to do.

This is a built-in computer table

set up with video games.

It has a view of Disneyland

and the Ocean.

The grounds were beautiful as well.

With waterfalls at the outdoor pool

a chapel

and a mini golf course.

Ammon and I played a round for

PE hours for school.

It's going to be a very pleasant stay!

JAPAN, Tokyo - Narita and LUNCH

We landed at Narita, Tokyo Airport in the early afternoon
of Wednesday, August 7.

We hired a driver to take us to our hotel

and stopped for a REAL Japanese lunch along the way.

Display windows in front of Japanese restaurants

display the items found on the menu

in realistic wax form.

--Dining in TRUE Japanese style.-- 

Shoes OFF as you enter the booth. 

No chairs! 

 The table is low to the ground and 

we are sitting on tatami mats with cushions.

The Lewis Family's favorite 

page of the menu - TONKATSU

Here's LUNCH!!

 Large square plate in the middle: 

Tonkatsu and shredded cabbage

Left front:

A bowl of white rice.

Right back:

Pickled daikon (Japanese radish)

Right front:

Miso soup

JAPAN - First Class Flight

As we boarded our flight from 

Hong Kong to Japan 

 Caleb was the first of us to

get his ticket scanned.

When the attendant handed him

a new ticket with "UPGRADED"

stamped in big red letters he

began jumping up and down like 

it was Christmas morning.

The day we had been waiting for 

had ARRIVED!  

All our miles of travel had paid off!!

We would be spending our

four hour flight in FIRST CLASS -
FULLY EQUIPPED with the following ...

Full sized, REAL blankets and pillows.

Your own entertainment system.

Large, PLUSH seats.

Many convenient storage compartments.

Haleigh lost her passport in one of 

the compartments just after boarding. 

 First class gets great service as well.

Adjustable seats that FULLY recline into a bed

 -- If you so desire --

Excuse me while I put my feet up and ENJOY my flight!

A DB Dragon

On Friday, September 2 

Ammon started playing football 

(better known as Soccer to us from the U.S.)
He plays for the DB Dragons!

The 'pitch' (field) is located at DBIS primary school,

just down the hill form where we live.

It's also where we attend church.

Direct quote from Ammon "It was AWESOME!"