Kofu Wine Trip - 10th Anniversary

For our 10th wedding anniversary, Greg and I took a day trip to the Kofu wine region about 90 minutes outside of Tokyo.  We hired a local guide to take us to several wineries during the day.  He was great (did not know really anything about wine), but he had lived in the area for about 20 years.  He was from Michigan weirdly enough!   The area was beautiful, and the wineries we went to were really cool.  We went to about 6 wineries -- a few very old, traditional wineries and a few very modern ones.  The first one we went to was actually on a hill overlooking the valley.  Stunning views!  It was not a vineyard, but essentially a winery that had dozens of wines in a cellar from all over the region.  You paid a set price and got to drink all you want!  They had all the bottles open on these barrels, and they gave you these medal dishes around our necks that we drank from.  If they wine had actually been good, that would have been trouble!!  A few of the wines were OK, but all-in-all, not that great.  The only other time I used the spittoon before this trip was for Georgia wines!  Many of the wines were of the koshu grape varietal -- not so yummy.  Even though the wine wasn't great quality, it was such a great time!

Spashin' Around Town

I've managed to track down a bunch of little splash and wading pools in the public parks -- the boys can't get enough of them.  The one we went to last weekend was more of a kiddie pool with a water slide -- they literally went up and down that slide for almost 2 hours -- they've never done a single activity for that long before!

Date Nights

Greg and I have managed to find a few great babysitters (at a normal babysitting rate), and we have a standing Saturday night out, which has been amazing!  We didn't go out this much even back home!  It's been great to get to know new friends, try out restaurants and bars and just experience Tokyo at night.

Shibuya Crossing

Mado Lounge in Mori Tower - Roppongi Hills

Two Rooms in Omotesando

Karaoke Nights

We've had a few good karaoke nights with friends so far -- one was in our neighborhood at a place called Smash Hits (Western-style and has every English song ever made) and the other time, we went on the 4th of July in Akasaka to a more traditional Japanese-style (with our own room).  I, of course, rocked my go-to Salt n' Peppa both times.  On 4th of July, we felt somewhere deep down inside that we had to sing some Bruce.  Great times!