Spring Break in Japan: HEDGEHOGS

One month ago today, we left for our Spring Break vacation to Japan…and today, I’m finally finished recapping it.

Ha!

We absolutely loved our time in Japan.  Thank YOU for indulging me as I reminisced and recapped.  It was fun to experience it again with you all.

Alrighty, before we get to the final recap, let’s make sure you didn’t miss any of the other blog posts on our trip to Japan starting with OUR ARRIVAL AND DAY ONE.  I followed that post up with OUR EPIC DAY IN KYOTO . Next, I shared the day we saw PUNCH THE MONKEY + ST. PADDY’S DAY + A DINNER FOOD TOUR.  After that, we divided and conquered.  I shared THE GIRLS’ AMAZING DAY AT TOKYO DISNEY and also THE BOYS’ DAY SNOWBOARDING.  We followed that day with SHIBUYA + GOLDEN GAI.  And I hope you didn’t miss this truly fabulous and fun day visiting SENSOJI TEMPLE & SUMO (E-P-I-C!).

Those were the first seven days in Japan.  Here was our final full day…

…we started at a Hedgehog Cafe.

Yup.

You read that correctly.

I mentioned in the DAY ONE post that animal cafes are a HUGE deal in Tokyo and something my kids “had to do”, so we made reservations and visited a hedgehog cafe…

…it was as weird and random as you might imagine.

We had two hours to spend at our “table” which was basically this big bin with chairs around it.  They gave us instructions, gloves and a little food to feed the hedgehogs and off we went.

Here’s a pic of the “cafe”.  No food or drink was served, so I’m not exactly sure why they call it a “cafe”.  Let’s be real though, I really didn’t want to eat around hedgehogs anyway, so it was fine.

This place randomly had two owls as well.  I mean…I don’t understand, but my kids thought it was crazy fun.

Smith feeding the hedgehog Andrew was holding…

…are hedgehogs cute?  I’m undecided.

How many pics can I take of my family messing with these hedgehogs?

Apparently, I can take a lot…

They told Smith he could pet the owls…it was a wild and weird little time.

Next up, we had to finish checking things off the teens’ “to do in Tokyo” list which included…

…walking across the road and doing Shibuya Crossing.  It looks like a normal crossing until the light changes…

…and then all of Japan crosses the street at the same time…

…this was a “must do” 🙂 .

We’ve never enjoyed a street crossing more. Ha!

This Shibuya area is very popular and cute and there were stores there my kiddos wanted to check out, so we spent the rest of the day exploring…

…March in Tokyo was oh so lovely.

We wrapped up our trip with one final teppanyaki dinner…

…this time at Atelier Morimoto XEX…

…delish!

And then we headed back to the hotel for one more night of sleep.

The next morning, we slept in, had lunch at the hotel and left for the airport at 12:30.  We departed Tokyo at 5:00 PM and arrived back in Dallas at 3:00 PM the same day (I love a little backwards time travel!).

And that was Spring Break in Japan 🙂 .

You guys, we truly had such a wonderful time on this trip.  I will remember all of the tours and excursions and yummy food and beautiful places…but I will also remember all six of us piling into our room to watch The Office at night, trying so many new foods (hello dried lemon fish!), so many monkeys, the world’s best bathrooms (seriously, Japan has the NICEST bathrooms!), and so much laughter.  Being away from the world and hanging with my family of six is my very favorite thing.  Man, I love them.

Thank you for letting me share these memories online with you.

Don’t forget, I also have RANDOM THINGS WE TOOK TO JAPAN should you be interested in that post too.

As always, you guys know that I have a HUGE heart for traveling, and I want YOU to travel too.  My travel agency would love to send you to Asia…or Africa or Australia or Antarctica or Europe or South America or North America…we want to send you on cruises, to Disney, to the beach, the mountains, and more.  We love planning luxury vacations, but we also know how to get the biggest bang for your buck.  Whether you need a lot of hand holding or only the bones of your trip booked, we’re your travel team.  Connect with us today!

Happy Monday, friends! xx