2016 Japan Vacation, Day 3: Pokémon, Owls, and Good Times

Our first full day in Japan started early. About 4:30 in the morning, I heard Kai's voice coming from the next room. I went to check things out and he was showing his grandfather the Pokémon he had caught in the Pokémon Go game. I told him it was too early to being using electronics and told him to go back to bed. He did, but I don't think he fell back asleep and we were all up about an hour later.

We relaxed at home for a few hours.

My wife was dressed up as she would be seeing her high school friends that day.

Then we went out for the day. Unlike our last trip to Japan, the weather so far has been pleasant. We have yet to experience the extreme heat and humidity that is the norm here during the summers, and that I understand is happening back home. On this morning, as we walked around, it was perfect for walking around (though it did warm up some by afternoon).

Our first stop was a Sega game center where Kai tried out several claw machines in an attempt to win a plush.

Alas, it was futile.

But no worries, our next stop was a Pokémon Center where there would be plushies galore.

My wife had left to see her friends, so Kai's grandfather and I had Kai for the rest of the day.

Kai enjoyed seeing the wide selection of Pokémon plushies.

His grandparents had given him gift cards to use while in Japan, and Kai filled a basket of Pokémon.

Then it was time for lunch... pizza!

We had a little time to kill before a 2PM appointment, so we went to small aquarium in the same shopping mall as the Pokémon Center.

They had some unusual creatures, like this white octopus.

Kai enjoyed this miniature desert island.

And then it was time to go for our appointment at an owl cafe. Yes, that's right, an owl cafe. Apparently cat cafes are very popular in Japan, and now a cafe is attempting to out-do those with cats.

The "cafe" is a room filled with about two dozen owls of all sizes and colors. By appointment, you can visit this place along with about a ten other people.

Kai enjoyed going around the room and petting all of the owls.

You can even have an owl perch on your arm.

Or your head.

The owls were somewhat docile, though some pecked at you.

This was one of my favorite owls.

We had done so many of the popular tourist things the last time we were here; we wanted to try something very different this time... something that you would only find in Japan. And what is more unique than an owl cafe?

After that, we went to the Tokyo Dome and looked around. There is an amusement park outside the Dome. Kai wanted to ride on this water ride, but the line was 40 minutes long so we only took a picture of it.

And then spent time catching more Pokémon.

It was another fun day. We'll have one more day in Tokyo before we head out for our next destination.

2016 Japan Vacation - Arrived in Japan!

We are now in Japan!

Our flight over here was smooth, though I was surprised how much my butt hurt from sitting for 13 hours straight. :) Kai enjoyed the flight, though, as he stayed awake the whole time so that he could watch movies on his iPad. My wife and I tried, mostly unsuccessfully, to take a couple of quick naps.

We were happy when we finally arrived, and very happy to see my wife's father who came to pick us up at Narita Airport.

Jiji drove us to his apartment in the Tokyo area, where Baba was waiting for us.

After settling in for a little bit, it was time to go for a walk. After all, Pokémon Go was just introduced in Japan and Kai had Pokémon to catch.

Kai was thrilled that there were many Poké Stops, and a lot of Pokémon to catch. He caught several that he had not seen back home.

While he was mostly just engrossed with Pokémon, he did enjoy some of the other sights. Here he is amused by a new flavor of soda at McDonald's.

While Mom and Baba went shopping, Jiji, Kai and I went to a game center when Kai tried his hand at the claw machines.

He was unsuccessful, but I think he wants to play many more times on this trip. I will be keeping a limit on this... does anyone ever win at these things?

We made a quick stop at the neighborhood shrine.

And then it was time for dinner. We went to a local shabu shabu restaurant.

Shabu shabu is a style of Japanese cooking that involves cooking thinly sliced meats and vegetables in pots of boiling water. It was an all-you-can-eat feast that we enjoyed very much.

By the time we went to bed, we were all exhausted. Even Kai looked a little tired.

But it had been a good start to our vacation. We are looking forward to the rest of our adventure.

Japan 2016… And We’re Off

We’ve had this trip planned for months. It seemed like it was far off into the future, but in the past week or so it has sunk in that we would be leaving soon. And now the big day is here.

We are returning to Japan!

There are a lot of places around the world and here in the United States that we have not yet visited, but after enjoying our last visit to Japan two years ago, and with my wife's parents living in the Tokyo area, it was an easy decision to make a return visit.

We will be traveling to some different parts of the country that we have not been to before. And going to places in Tokyo that we did not see last time.

My wife did most of the research and planning for this trip, and she’s found some interesting places to go.

My job has been to put together the PowerPoint deck that presents our itinerary day by day. Kai is still a boy who likes to know the plan, and doesn’t deal well with surprises.

We have tried to set some expectations for Kai.

And to make him aware of what each day will be like.

We used to get pretty stressed about our vacations but as time has gone on and Kai has shown that he can handle these trips fairly well, we are, not exactly relaxed, but more comfortable. We are looking forward to seeing the sights, and Kai's grandparents. Oh, and we heard that Pokémon Go was just released in Japan which Kai was excited about. Hopefully that will help motivate him to go see more sights.

So we're at the airport, and soon will be boarding our flight.

Wish us well! :)

Kai's Latest Obsession: Pokémon Go

So apparently Kai is not the only one obsessed with Pokémon Go.

Kai has had an interest in Pokémon for several years now. He was collecting the cards though he hasn't added new cards to his collection in a while, he plays with a Nintendo 3DS game once in a while, and occasionally plays a Pokémon game on the Wii. In addition he does enjoy "studying" them on the internet.

Now, though, his interest in Pokémon is going to another level.

Pokémon Go was released last week and Kai has been looking forward to playing it since last Thanksgiving when one of his older cousins first told him about it. You play on your mobile device... players walk around in the real world and encounter Pokémon. It seems to be tied in with Google Maps as it displays the street you are on, and shows pictures of buildings, signs, and even significant park benches. When a player sees a Pokémon, he may view it in either Augmented Reality (AR) mode or with a pre-rendered background. AR mode utilizes the camera on the player's mobile device to display an image of a Pokémon as though it were in the real world.

And so when it was released last Thursday, Kai downloaded the app on the first day and started to play right away. Here's a photo of him when he caught his first Pokémon after going out in his pajamas the evening of the day the game was released.

This weekend, he actually asked to go for a walk at our local nature center, something that he never does, so that he could go walking and look for Pokémon in a different area. Here he is on the trail of a Pokémon.

And here showing Mom what he sees.

I must say that I liked that this app actually got him to go for a walk; we all got to enjoy the outdoors on a very lovely day.

But I know that we need to put limits on this as he tends to obsess over everything.

Though judging by all the news articles, Kai is not the only one going gaga over this game. I read that Nintendo stock increased in value by $9 billion on this first day of trading since the game was released. Oh my!

First Sleepover

For many kids, a sleepover at a friend's house is a part of growing up, and the first time it happens is a rite of passage of sorts.

It is something we thought that Kai may never experience.

For one thing, he doesn’t really have any friends. Not the way typical kids do anyway.

In elementary school, there were some kids that he liked and played with, but it’s hard to say that they had a lot of truly interactive play. And since he started middle school a year ago, things seem to have gotten worse in that he doesn’t get along with most of the kids in his class.

But in late May, we reconnected with a family who have a boy a year younger than Kai who is also on the autism spectrum. Back when they were both in preschool, our mutual ABA therapist had helped arrange some play dates and the boys, while not exactly playing together the way most kids do, did seem to bond and enjoy each others’ company.

In the last month and a half since we reconnected, Kai has had a couple of Friday afternoon playdates with Timothy.

Yesterday, they took it a step further.

Back in May, Timothy’s mom first suggested that Kai could sleep over at their house one day. Kai latched onto the idea right away. But we weren’t sure that he would actually go through with it. After all, this is a boy who clings to Mom whenever he has to go to a therapy session that is a mere 45 minutes long. How would he ever survive a whole night without her?

But he kept asking when the sleepover would happen.

And so my wife worked out the details with Timothy’s mom, and this Friday was the big day.

My wife dropped him off at Timothy’s house. She said that Kai barely said goodbye to her, as he was anxious to get on with the fun.

Over the course of the afternoon and evening, there were text messages back and forth to see how he was doing. We found out that they first went to a nearby beach, then came back and had a picnic dinner out in the backyard. The boys played with plushies and Wii and Kai wanted to play the new Pokémon GO app. Timothy’s mom reported that everything was going very well.

My wife and I took advantage of the rare childless evening to go see a musical, Man of La Mancha, which was being performed at a local suburban theater. The play tells the tale of Don Quixote, a noble and idealistic man who does not see the world for what it really is, but rather lives in a world of his imagination. The most famous song from that musical is The Impossible Dream. It was great to have an evening to ourselves, and we enjoyed the show very much.

This morning I went to pick Kai up. He had slept well but had gotten up early. Timothy and his older brother Benjamin were still asleep when I arrived.

Kai said that he had fun, and Timothy’s parents said that the boys had a good time together and that Kai was very well behaved and listened to them. They said that Kai is welcome to spend the night again.

And so this is a rather big milestone for Kai. With the help of Timothy’s awesome parents (who are super autism parents and we felt very comfortable leaving Kai with them), Kai took a step forward toward growing up and being independent.

Perhaps I am like Don Quixote, and not seeing the world as it actually is, but on this day I feel like impossible dreams are worth dreaming.

“To reach the unreachable,
the unreachable,
The unreachable star
And I'll always dream
The impossible dream
Yes, and I'll reach
The unreachable star.”

4th of July... Cherries and Fireworks!

After attending the National Cherry Festival the previous two days (click to read about Day 1 and Day 2), we wanted to visit a cherry farm and pick our own cherries to eat and take home. We found a great place about 20 minutes outside of Traverse City.

We have experience at pick-your-own farms for strawberries, blueberries, peaches, apples, and raspberries, but had never picked our own cherries before.

This particular farm has over a dozen varieties of cherries (who knew there were so many kinds?!) and we picked a dark sweet variety that was perfectly ripe right now.

Cherry picking is much easier than picking strawberries. There's no need to bend over or squat, and ripe cherries come easily off the tree. The trees at this farm were loaded with cherries. We could have filled up several large buckets at just one tree.

Of course, we sampled a few (okay, maybe it was more than a few) cherries while we picked. Oh man, I had never tasted such delicious cherries before!

Kai enjoyed getting up on the ladder to pick some from higher up.

We filled up a large bucket and a smaller one, but I kind of wish we had picked even more.

It was certainly a fun time. I only wish that we could find a cherry farm closer to home as it is a long way to go just for that.

After the cherry picking, we got in the car and started the long drive home. It seemed much longer coming back than going. :)

We had to get back as we had things to do at home, like going to see the 4th of July fireworks!

We drove to the viewing area not far from our house and got a spot in the closest parking lot to the action.

We played cards while we waited, then Kai passed the time playing with a self-winding flashlight.

Most people walked over to the grassy area but we liked sitting right in front of our car as it looked to be close to the fireworks with unobstructed views.

And when the fireworks started, we saw that it was indeed a great spot. The following photos were not taken with a telephoto lens. You can see how close we are to the fireworks... they seemed right on top of us at times.

Afterward, we went back home and lit some sparklers. Kai wanted the whole thing videoed for his YouTube account.

And so ended our 4th of July weekend. It was really really enjoyable. And that is not something we say all that often. Usually we have qualifiers, like it was fun "except for..." or "all things considered...". But no qualifiers this time. It was a fun weekend. Period!

National Cherry Festival - Day 2

We had all enjoyed our first (partial) day in Traverse City and Kai did very well. But we had a full day of activities planned on Sunday, our only full day at the festival. How would Kai do with all the walking and waiting we had in store?

We had breakfast at a little cafe that overlooked the river. Then we walked over to a craft fair.

My wife loves going to craft fairs, but it is not something that Kai particularly enjoys. This was a particularly large one, spanning several blocks down Union Street. I think Mom tested Kai's limits, but while he got a little grumble-y toward the end, he did not get overly agitated. He even smiled for a photo as we were leaving.

He was really happy, though, when we found a splash park.

He ran around like that for about 20 minutes. It was a perfect way to cool off, both physically and mentally.

After that, we returned to the motel for a pool break. And then it was time to head out to the lakefront to have lunch and watch the air show.

The US Navy Blue Angels were the featured performers. Growing up in Chicago, I had seen the Blue Angels many times over the years, but this would be the first time my wife and Kai would get to see them.

My experience in Chicago has been that the lakefront is extremely packed with literally a million people jamming the area for air shows like these. So I was pleased when we found that there weren't nearly as many folks here in Traverse City. We were able to find a spot to sit on the grass right at the heart of the action.

There were other performers before the Blue Angels would appear. Even these "opening acts" were quite impressive.

Kai wasn't particularly interested, though. After about a half hour, he went into the lake while we waited for the Blue Angels. In the middle of the next photo, you can see him and my wife looking up at some planes while cooling off in the water.

I was a little disappointed that he didn't take more interest in the air show, but not terribly surprised. And going in the lake turned out to be perfect. Kai had a ball swimming and looking for rocks while my wife and I had great, unobstructed views of the airplanes from our position in the water. It was also comfortably cooler standing in the water than sitting in hot sun on the shore.

After the air show, we finally found the open area space of the festival and had our first taste of cherries. Tasty!

We then made our way back to the carnival area. Kai wanted to ride the ferris wheel. He tends to be scared of amusement park rides, even ferris wheels, so it was a sign of progress that he wanted to ride it. He clung to Mom the whole time, but I think he enjoyed it.

We had a great view from the top.

After a short break back at the motel, we went out for dinner and then went over to the cherry store for some scrumptious cherry pie. I had cherry blueberry, my wife had the cherry crumb pie, and Kai had cherry rhubarb. All were very delicious and earned thumbs up!

When we returned to the motel for the night, I checked my phone and saw that we had walked nearly 19,000 steps that day or nearly 7 miles. Kai did not complain at all about all the walking, quite a big change from when we walked around Boston last summer. So it was another great day at the cherry festival. A big thumbs up, not just for the cherries and the pie, but for Kai as well.

National Cherry Festival - Day 1

We had a rare holiday weekend without any dogs so we took the occasion to drive up to Traverse City, Michigan to attend the National Cherry Festival.

Traverse City is up in northern part of the lower peninsula of Michigan, about a six hour drive for us from the Chicago area. We arrived there about mid afternoon on Saturday, and after we checked into our motel, we walked downtown.

We saw a fun art gallery. Among the pieces I enjoyed the most were a few fish made made from the tops of aluminum cans, including the one on display here above the doorway.

A little further down, we came to a store that sold all sorts of things made with cherries - salad dressings, salsa, chocolate-covered cherries, cherry pies, cherry ice cream, among others. We enjoyed three different flavors of cherry soda.

We went back to our motel and then went to the beach for a little while as that is something Kai always looks forward to. (We forgot to take a camera so no pictures, but Kai enjoyed the cold water).

After getting cleaned up, we went out to dinner and found a modern Asian restaurant. I had Vietnamese Shaking Beef, Kai had Indian curry, and my wife had seared Tuna Chirashi.

After dinner, we walked around downtown some more. Traverse City has a river flowing through it.

We came upon a carnival that was going on in conjunction with the festival. Kai enjoyed playing a few different games. Here he is hauling up a fish.

While the games themselves were fun, Kai really loved that he could win some new plushes.

We wrapped up our day by walking along the waters of Grand Traverse Bay. While we missed the exact sunset, the sky was still lit up as we headed back to our motel.

It was a very nice first day, and we hadn't even seen any fresh cherries yet.

Kai’s 4th of July Video

Kai’s obsessions the past few months have been plushies and videos; specifically making videos with his plushies and then posting them onto YouTube.

While most kids start to get into plushies when they are toddlers, Kai never showed much interest in them until this year. But like with most things he takes an interest in, his interest quickly became an obsession. Mostly with the money he’s been earning for his allowance (for doing assorted simple chores), he’s assembled a fairly vast collection of plushies.

For a much longer time, he’s enjoyed watching various silly videos on YouTube. But recently he’s started to make his own videos that have been partially inspired by the videos he watches.

He asked that his own videos be posted on YouTube. I think he has aspirations of being a YouTube star with a million views. I’m not even sure I like the idea of him making these videos let alone having them viewed by millions of strangers.

With a bit of trepidation, my wife and I have been his cameramen and helped him make the videos. I can rationalize it as a modern form of imaginative play of sorts. But I insisted that the videos be loaded as Restricted, not Public (which means that only the people that have been provided the URL or link can view the video).

I won’t be sharing most of the videos, but he created one specifically for the Fourth of July that is not too long and will give you a small taste of what he’s been up to. (You may want to skip ahead to the 4:30 mark for the exciting part).



By the way, we do not permit him to drink caffeinated soft drinks (and rarely any soda of any kind), but after we were done filming and when I went to get the hose to clean up, he took several big swigs from the leftover Diet Coke. That night, he woke us up a few times complaining that he could not sleep. No more Diet Coke for this guy!

Hope you have a very happy Fourth of July!