Well, we're back! We just spent two weeks in the US visiting family and had a great time! Lots of love and thanks to Grandma for having us over! Grandma finally got to see her new grandson Noah, and Anri and Sara had a blast at the pool, on a boat and in the mountains!



The trip out was long and tiring, but we finally arrived in Farmington and were able to see almost the whole family. Best of all, Anri and Sara got to play with their cousins. The house looked like a nursery school from day to day and it got noisy.

We also took a day trip or two. We went to Lackawaxen, PA to see the Zane Grey Museum.



We also went to Plymouth, MA to look at Mayflower II. Anri wanted the ship to sail out to see with her on it, but she had to wait until the next day, when we took the slow ferry to Nantucket. We spent a day on Nantucket, walking around town, looking at all the pretty houses and letting Tomomi take a look in all the little shops. Tomomi LOVED Nantucket. Very few Japanese know about this place.



In between, the kids went to the Feild Club a lot, and Anri had her first swimming lessons there. We all ate way more than we should have, but we are making up for that now that we are back in Japan.

We took a lot of photos, of course! I'll put up the link to these soon!

For the first time in 2 years, we spent Christmas in the US in 2007, taking the long journey to Farmington to Grandma's house and visiting family for 2 weeks.

Anri and Sara had a great time playing with Grandma, Grampie Bob and Duffy (although Duffy's antics occasionally freaked out Anri!) The kids also loved playing with their cousins. It was our first time seeing Nicholas and Matthew, and we were very happy to finally meet them. Anri had a blast with her cousin Emily. The two were inseparable during their time together and Anri's English ability was noticeably improving by the hour. Isaac was great to see too, and I sat there marvelling at just how much he looks like his Daddy. During our stay, we did a ton of shopping for supplies we can't readily get in Japan. We went to the States with two suitcases and returned just within the baggage limit with 6. Anri had her first experience skating and took a ski lesson for the first time. We all had a great time and now that we're back, we've been busy unpacking and getting back into our usual routine. We have over four-hundred photos from our trip, whcih can be viewed here.

Thanks and lots of love to Grandma for having us and to the Fishers for their wonderful dinner the night before we left!