Momentary Reflections

We have been home from our vacation for almost a week now. It just took some time for me to write up all of the adventures. I spent about an hour and a half to two hours on each entry. Because it took some time to write I would write on a night or so. I thought that tonight I would take a moment to reflect on some of the moments that we want to remember and treasure from the trip. I think that it is only fair that I should be honest with you dear reader that most of these are going to be some of the precious and precocious things that our three year old little boy did. Yes these will be the long awaited "Logan stories".

I have already stated how much logan loved staying in the hotel, and that is true. There were many things about the hotel for Logan to enjoy. One of the procedures of this hotel was that they asked that you check your room key at the front desk when you left the building. This presented Logan with the opportunity to ask for our room key each time we returned to the front desk. The desk clerks all loved it when Logan would walk up to the desk and ask, "Our key please." The clerk would lean out over the desk in order to see the diminutive three year old who would dare and ask for the room key. Then they would hand it over to him. Logan would grasp the key in his hands, holding tightly as not to drop it. He would walk to the elevator and press the up button. When the elevator doors would open we would all file in, Logan first, then Jenny and finally me. Logan must have remembered the incident in Otsu. Each and every time we got into the he would grow very irritated and anxious. He would ask in an urgent and pleading voice, "Is everybody in? Hurry up Daddy! Get in! Get in!!" He was very insistent that we all be in the elevator quickly and in a timely manner.

Riding up the elevator was not a problem, but the exit from the car was the same procedure repeated on the way out. Logan would then carry the key down the corridor to our room. Once at the doorway he would reach the key up to the door and attempt to unlock the door. He never quite managed to unlock the door, or even get the key in the lock for that manner, but still it was cute to see him make the attempt. Once in the room it was a new world of fun for this three year old little monkey. The bed, the lights, the tiny refrigerator, the TV, each and every knob in the room were all things to experiment with and test out. When we entered the room Logan would pull the chains and turn on the lights, on and off, off and on. He found the radio controls that were mounted on the wall and spent some time twisting the dials that control the channel and the volume. Amazingly he then found the on switch. He gave it a quick flip and scared himself to the point of tears when the whine and static of an empty frequency at full volume greeted him. It was the one and only time that he flipped that switch. He became very concerned however when he could not find a remote control for the television. He scoured the room high and low trying to find it.

My favorite story comes from the day before we went to Miyajima Island. Logan and I were talking about how much fun it was going to be to ride a boat. Logan got very excited and began to chant, "We're going on a boat ride!" over and over. As he made his exclamation he began to bounce on the bed. He continued to bounce, I can't say he was jumping on the bed 'cause truth be told the kid can't jump, until he bounced right of the bed. He bounced off the wall and landed on the floor. That scared him quite well and brought his mother running. We had to go and get some ice from the ice machine down the hall to create an ice pack for his head. After that each and every little bump and scrape and Logan wanted to go and get some ice from the machine.

Logan was also very careful with his belongings. Each and every time we entered the room he would remind everyone to take off their shoes. Once we had our shoes off he would then place them in the little coat closet nest to the door. He would also place his bag and some of his toys in the closet too. When we would leave the room Logan would always spend about five minutes of our walk asking, "Where is our luggage?" We would reassure him that the luggage was safe in the hotel room only to have him ask once again, "Where's our luggage?" He was also very concerned about our bags and baggage as we rode on our various forms of transportation. Often as we rode I would have to keep at least one hand on a strap of the backpack. The closer we got to our destination the more insistent he would grow, often placing my hand on the carry strap of the backpack if I tried to place it any where but. On the trip there and back having several bags was almost enough to drive the poor kid nuts.

All in all it was a great time and we enjoyed each others company. We had fun and that is what is the most important. Logan has talked all week about going back to the hotel. Sometimes he refers to it as "the other Omihachiman". Now we will have to start planning for our next big trip. Tokyo here we come. Just, not yet.