Lazy Sunday in Ikebukuro...also, TGI Fridays!

Today we slept in...and it was awesome!  We tried to figure out our conduction stove top...and failed...so we ended up microwaving our lunch.  Then, we decided to head to Ikebukuro, which was recommended to us by our friend Nathan, who has been to Japan a few times before.  They had the Toyota Showroom, which interested Mike.  We made that our first stop! They call it the Toyota Auto Salon, I guess.  It was 5 levels of Toyotas! There were 70 models on the floor.  Pretty cool!

Took this for my mom, who has driven a Prius since they first came out!

 Here I was in the Prius Simulator...ha! 

 Then after 5 minutes of listening to how to use the gas and the electric motors, I got bored.

 Then, I got so excited when I finally got to simulate driving, that I ran the first red light and failed the game.  Oops.

 There were also "Safety Simluators"...notice the huge line to get into those...

 Mike was in heaven...we were heading to the minivan level.  He's so weird.

Mike trying out the first minivan..."You can just fit so much in these!!"

 Mike behind the wheel of the biggest van they had...

 I was happy because most of the vans had these footrests in the passenger seats...Then there's Mike after I told him (again) I would never drive a minivan...

Below is my mom's car...just a little bigger.  Same color and everything!

I really liked this color of car! Seafoam green!

Above is mike in a Toyota 86...he was excited about it!  I told him that he probably shouldn't get another fast black car after what happened to the last one...he didn't think I was funny...too soon?

Then we got to Sunshine City, which was a 7 story mall.  There were over 120 shops and 70 restaurants. In the middle of one of the rotundas was this...band?? They were doing autographs.  There were a TON of teenage girls watching them.

 We found a really cool store that had all sorts of fun things, including this Bowser Backpack below...Eric Thompson...wouldn't this have come in handy on Halloween??
Then, everyone here has glasses on...which I can't figure out...can they all really have such bad eyesight?? The answer is NO...it's a fashion statement.  There are a ton of glasses here with clear lenses that still offer UV protection.  So, of course, always wanting to fit in (?) I got a pair!  I think they make me look smarter, Mike thought they made me look like a ridiculous hipster. He got a ghostbusters case for his iphone though...so...

 Then we found a Starbucks, and had a mango tea frappucino with Mango pudding.  It was very strange, but pretty delicious.  I couldn't imagine drinking a whole one though, it was really sweet!

 We sat outside of Sunshine City, and enjoyed our Starbucks.  Today was hardly humid at all, so it was perfect to sit outside.  Then we headed out to a few more stores and eventually stumbled upon a TGI Fridays.  We couldn't resist stopping.

 I got a chicken sandwich, and fries...and a beer.  SO GOOD.  It kind of made our tummies hurt though, since we haven't had "bad" food since we got here.  All that fat and starch was a shock to our systems!

 Here's me studying the menu in my glasses...I'm super smart looking, right?  Ha!

That's all for today, now we're just celebrating my birthday eve....I turn the big 24 tomorrow.  I'm not sure what we're going to do, but I really want to go to a baseball game over here...we'll see what Mike pulls together.  Ha! Big shout out to my dad, or papa bear as he's more affectionately known, today's his birthday.   He's in Chicago this weekend, seeing Cheap Trick and Aerosmith with my mom. 30 plus 22 never looked so good!