A trip we won't forget (OK... Caeden might not remember it)

We had a great time yesterday going to Tokyo to the US Embassy for Caeden's passport. We decided to take the train and use the mass transit system in Tokyo rather than drive. As nice as it would have been to drive (somebody would have driven us), it only took us about an hour to get to Tokyo by express train. The subway system in Japan is nothing short of amazing (click here if you are curious about a map of it). Our train left Kasama (our home town) at about 8:50, and we were through with everything at the embassy by 11:30. I was very surprised at how fast and rather painless the process at the embassy was. Of course there was a lot of security to get in, but once we were in, the whole process only took about 45 minutes. The security was a mix between going through airport security, and security at a jail. We had to empty our pockets, let them check our passports, and they didn't want us to bring in any liquids (although they let us take in some water because it was "for the baby" and Caeden's milk). We then went through a series of remotely locked doors and a metal detector. I guess I shouldn't really be too surprised at the security this day in age.

Our original plan was to go down there get the passport stuff taken care of and come straight back home (after all, Caeden isn't even 2 weeks old yet). Once we got there and got done with the process at the embassy, Elissa felt really good and Caeden was fast asleep (as he was for about 90% of the trip), so we decided to go look around a cool area in Tokyo called Roppongi. There were a lot of American restaurants and fast food chains there (Subway, Wendy's, TGIF, Outback, and Hard Rock), and hence our draw to this area. We really have been craving American food lately I think partially due to the fact that we are only a month away from being back to the states. We ended up eating at Subway... and then Wendey's... and then took the subway back to the train station. We ended up just barely missing the train we wanted to take, but it wasn't a big deal as the express train back home runs every hour. It ended up being a good thing because in the train station was a baby lounge area where they had changing tables, and a curtained off area for feeding. After we changed Caeden and he got some food from mom, we headed back home. What a fun first family outing with Caeden!

Below is a short slide show of our trip! Enjoy!

If you want to see bigger pictures, you can click on any of the pictures, and then click on slideshow in the upper left corner. The last two pictures on the slideshow are actually videos, and you have to click on the picture to watch it. I hope this works for most of you!