Qualifications.

Well here we have it... 2 out of the 10 Tokyo blogs. I'm really quite impressed myself. Two days in a row I've gotten a blog up, I'm not too far behind on here, I've managed to have a relaxing day at home with the animals and Zach, but was still able to get loads of work done. What a day! I'm exhausted and ready for bed. It's only 8:30pm on a Saturday night... what an old lady I am! lol Anyways, in tonight's blog we're attending the qualifying round here in Tokyo. There were hundreds of teams (and individuals) competing to earn there spot into the team finals (or event finals). From there, the team (or athlete) has to qualify again to earn their place into the 2012 Olympics being held in London! Here we go... day 2!!

I tell ya, waking up to this view never gets old. You can see how thick the fog was that day.

Times Square and beyond.

Getting our signs and bags together for the competition! Let's go USA!

Japan apparently doesn't believe in breakfast because not ONCE could we find anything that resembled breakfast... this lead us to our American ways and had starbucks (almost every morning) and some days even McDonalds. Yes, it's true lol Isn't this an awesome starbucks though?! I love it!

We also had a Krispy Kreme conveniently located behind our hotel and we did get a dozen or two here and there to keep our tummies full on those days where we ran into some really interesting foods...

Whoa. Mom was going a little crazy and my poor little camera couldn't handle it lol

In the elevator headed down to meet with the rest of our group and head over to the meet! Team USA!

Starbucks in hand ... he's ready for the day! lol

Out front of our hotel was the subway station. Pretty easy access and the cleanest, easiest, and most well lit subway I've ever been in. It really was a pleasant experience and had no issues learning my way around on this. It became a vital means of transportation. That and our feet. Ouch.

Going in!

Shin-ju-ku Station.

We're on the Pink line... the one marked with an E. The one thing we did learn is that there are MANY exits for the same stop.. for instance this is A1. If we came out of A2 or 3 or 4, we'd be a few blocks away. They pop up all over the city. So, learn your exits (with the convenient maps they place with attractions) or you better have a good map lol

Here is were we begin the real journey. It was about 3 stories down (I've never thought about it much just figured that it was like a train station with many different tracks and lines running, but it's not at all. A few of these subway lines run deeper than the rest!)

After figuring out which stop and how much to pay, we were able to get our ticket and head down to the E line. It's really cool because depending which direction you're going the numbers count up or down (seems silly to write, but as an outsider it really was helpful lol). We're going to stop 25 so we'll stick to the side with the numbers that get smaller. Click the image. Can you spot the numbers dropping?

Can you believe that my dad is on the subway?! Ahh... he's getting wild. Better watch all... he's on his way to being a world traveler!

We've made it to stop 25 and exited on A4 which leads us right in front of the venue. Check it out! Isn't it amazing. It's beautiful and the gardens are so green and can we talk about how awesome the weather is?! Seriously, t-shirt and jeans and about 75 everyday. I could get used to that!

Welcome to the 43rd World Championships.

Pro shops lined the entry for all the younger athlete to purchase items from this big event. If I were still a gymnast, you bet your bottom that I would have had a new leo that say Worlds lol

A cool arch thing that the line had to walk under in order to enter the venue.

A helpful sign not to mention that it said what the name of the venue was (since we hadn't seen one yet)

We were there about an hour early and still... check out this line. Men's gymnastics is a much bigger deal here in Tokyo.

There was a line SO long. It snaked around 3 times. Luckily, it moved pretty quickly.

We wanted these posters and were trying to figure out how we could get one home lol Later we found out you could purchase a poster, but only if you purchased 2 other products. No thanks.

A very very large banner. Smaller versions of this were hung around the city. Way to promote your event Tokyo! It was on the subway, posted at attractions, streets, seems like pretty much everywhere.

Almost inside...

(Left) Alex Naddour's dad, Mike. Alex trains at OU with Jake. (Middle) Alan. He's from the travel agency that coordinates these event with USA Gymnastics. Thank you Alan! (Right) Mom and dad.

Ah ha. Finally get a clear shot of the name of the venue.

Inside the venue! Beautiful arena.

Mom and I getting our game faces on! USA ... USA... USA

Speaking of USA... here comes Team USA! WOOO

There goes Jake.

USA was up first on floor.

Up on the big screen.

Played with a funny mode on my camera. I love it. That's Jake about to go on floor.

Well, the boy have finished competing, but there was still the rest of the day (they competed at 11am) and the day after of men's qualifications so we won't know if Team USA has qualified (but we were pretty sure they would). Top 8 teams qualified to the Team finals. The boys had to catch their bus back to the hotel while we were forced to walk, we ended up taking the subway back to our hotel and walking the few blocks to the boys hotel. Here you have it. They stayed at the Keio Plaza. Pretty snazzy place (but so was ours!)

Hanging with my bro!

Heading to our hotel from Jake's when I spotted this crazy building. Check out all it's satellites!

We didn't stay long because the boys of meeting, early mornings and such that they have to do so we headed home pretty early. I'd say around 5:30pm because it gets dark by 6pm and bright as day again at 6am. Check out our gorgeous hotel.

 There you have it! Day 2 in Japan. Still have 8 more to come so stay tuned! I hope you have enjoyed it so far and had a great Saturday!!


xoxo