Day 14: uchi!

Today, we took one last tour of the ramp at roppongi hills and the sculpture at Tokyo midtown, purchased our last milk tea and $4 kiwi, thought about trying to fit in a round of our favorite taiko drumming game but couldn’t wait for the game center to open, received our last notices about phone calls under our door, picked up a final convenience store nigiri, and headed to the airport. We catch the airport bus at the ANA hotel down the street. It is apparently THE place to get married on a Saturday morning, which meant we got to watch a parade of finery (kimonos, hanboks, gowns, tuxedos) while we drank our milk tea and waited for the bus. Not to be outdone, we had dressed up in clothes laundered in the hotel bath, I’m surprised no one mistook us for part of a wedding party. We got to the airport plenty early so toby could tire himself out. Narita has a kid’s playroom where toby insisted on hugging one boy slightly older than himself. The boy just wanted to go down the slide, but whenever he would approach it, toby would run over to hug him and so the boy would jump back onto a bench with his parents, and toby would go down the slide. And that’s about it. I really should end there. But, you’ll say, how was the flight back? Well, not surprisingly, the flight was long, very, very, very long. So incredibly long. There was the “turbulence” which required us to stay seated for the first 4 hours. Toby did not like this much. And then there were the curmudgeonly flight attendants, one of whom accused toby of breaking the plane when, after finally being released from our seats, he discovered a piece of rubber molding that was coming loose from the bulkhead. Jon and I did not like them much. I mean really, if a 2.5 foot tall, 24 pound toddler can “break” the plane, I’m not sure I want to be flying in one. As it is, I’m not sure that we’ll be stepping on a plane any time soon. It was very tiring. It’s two weeks later, and writing about it makes me tired. And to top it off, on our way out we lost one of toby’s new shoes. I’m pretty sure one of the surly flight attendants stole it off his foot as we passed by. bitch. Hmmm, that seems like the wrong way to end this last post. because, those 9 hours aside, it was a fabulous trip. and while spending 24 hours a day with a toddler sure is exhausting, it was awesome to get to hang out with him for 2 whole weeks. But still, it’s good to be home, where everyone can sleep in their own bed. And if some of them, I won’t name names or anything, but if some of them wanted to sleep perpendicular to the normal sleeping axis, they could do so without putting their feet on my head or crawling into my armpit. Unless jon decides that’s his new thing. But that’s what the extra bed is for. See, it’s great to be home. Phew!

here's a taste of some of our homecoming celebrations.