We are home!

I wanted to update quickly and let everyone know we made it home safe and sound. It was a very long day. Miyako did fairly well on the big flight from Tokyo to Detroit. We went through customs and were pushing it to make our connecting flight, only to board and find out we would have to deplane because a bird flew in the plane and got stuck in the cockpit. We boarded a new plane and had to wait for what felt like an eternity for them to come and fill up the gas tank so we could be on our way. These small delays added to mere exhaustion and a state of hunger I had not known in awhile, made us all very happy to land in Lexington. Our homecoming meal of choice for dinner - McDonald's. I know that sounds like such the typical American - coming home from a foreign country (who has McD's BTW) and eating McDonald's, but it just sounded so good. Jet lag recovery has been very rough coming back, a lot harder than going to Japan. The last two nights Miyako has been up from about 11-2/3 crying and upset because she wants to play, not sleep. I wish the job description of mom had included paid time off for recovery of jet lag, but no such luck. As a mom, even if you could sleep, you do not get to when your child can't. Oh well. Hopefully it will be better in a few days.

I have really enjoyed keeping the blog updated. I am sure stateside I will not be as regular, but we do have fun things to post about coming up - this coming weekend is our first Trick or Treat with our little Pumpkin and her first birthday party is on Sunday! Be looking for more updates with these fun activities!

Heading "Home"

Tomorrow we are heading back to Kentucky. The bags are packed, for the most part, and I guess you can say we are "ready." I have had a great last week. The weather has been fantastic and I have continued to meet new people while being here that friends back home connected me with. Today Miyako and I met a new friend and her son (who is one day older than Miyako) at the indoor play area we have grown acquainted with. The ladies were so sad to see Miyako-chan returning to America. They loved her there, but who wouldn't right? We also took a long walk and took some end of the trip shots of our neighborhood.

As I contemplate returning back "home" I definitely have things I look forward to...sleeping in my own bed, watching football all day on Saturday, visiting with my family and friends, and being back at church. However, as I sit here looking at the bright lights of the skyscrapers and Tokyo Tower, I know I am going to miss it here. God has really provided me with some great new friends during my month here. What a blessing. And, the big city has so much to offer. One lady I became friends with has been here for 6 years and said she still has not seen everything yet. I will miss too the public transportation...although it was sometimes hard with Miyako in the stroller during rush hour, it was so much easier just to hop on the metro. I forgot how much I enjoyed public transportation from my time in Belarus.

I can tell you though what the best part of the month was for me...our family was not thousands of miles apart. I think this was the first four weeks since March where we were not separated via a trip to Japan. Since March Kan has flown about 150,000 miles. You can do the math, but that is a lot of trips to Japan. We basically try to have him home for three weeks and then he is gone for 10-14 days. It was so much fun to be here together as a family and to not be separated. There were times when we did not see him much due to his busy work schedule, but to be in the same apartment and know he is coming home each night was a blessing for our family. I do not know if Miyako even realized she was so far away from her "home." Home for her is being with mama and papa so she was pretty content while we were here. I guess we can learn from her too. I feel so fortunate to have this little family, to go home to extended family and friends, and to know one day I will be in heaven with an even greater extended family with my Heavenly Father. I have thought a lot these four weeks on where "home" is, and firmly believe home is with Jesus. No matter where I go or what I do, He is the one constant in my life who never leaves me or forsakes me.

If you think of it, please pray for us tomorrow as we fly back to the States. Miyako has a bit of a runny nose and my throat is a little scratchy due to some fall weather coming in the past couple of days. Pray for us to stay healthy and for Miyako to do well on the plane as we travel back.

A Relaxing Weekend

This weekend has been very relaxing. Friday night Kan had a dinner with work so a lady whose fiance was with Kan came over to our apartment and we made Japanese curry together and hung out. Saturday it was a family day and we did not do much. We relaxed and I watched Midnight Madness on the Sling! WHOO HOO! GO CATS! They sure did look good in the dunk contest. Kan's friend came and took us to Shibuya. So you know in all the movies of Tokyo that you see there is this major intersection where it seems like thousands of people are crossing? This is Shibuya. I had wanted to go there but not by myself with Miyako because of all the people, so we went on Saturday. It is everything and more that you see in the movies. Swarms and swarms of people. I am glad I saw it but do not think it will be a place I frequent. I did cross the major intersection with Miyako in her stroller. I think she had sensory overload from all of the people and bright lights.

Today we had a lovely time meeting with the Dutch missionaries I mentioned earlier. It was so refreshing as Japan can be a dark place spiritually. They are strategically working to bring the Gospel to Tokyo and have great support through Redeemer Pres in New York City. Kan really enjoyed talking with them as well and we simply had a wonderful time.

This afternoon Kan's friends took us to Odaiba. There are two big shopping malls here with lots of places outside to walk around. One of the malls reminded Kan and I of Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. Tokyo has more shopping than any other place I have been to. I enjoyed the kid store and got several Hello Kitty gifts to bring home for my friends and their little girls! The Japanese are wonderful hosts. One of Kan's co-workers with a car rented a car seat for the month we are here so he could take us sightseeing on the weekends. So thoughtful. Overall it was a wonderful weekend. And how about those CATS? Pulling out the win at Auburn. That was great news to wake up to this morning.

Date Night with Miyako

The sun was bright today and Miyako and I finally made it to the zoo! After taking the train and walking we made it to the entrance after 30 minutes and found it OPEN! The only problem was my little priss pooh was getting tired. And there was a sign at the door "No Giant Panda." What a bummer because I really thought I would have seen a Panda at the Tokyo Ueno zoo. We walked around and saw lions, tigers and birds oh my. There were tons of bird exhibits. Another bummer was after my first picture of Miyako my memory card became full so I did not get any more pictures, and they had a fake panda I wanted to get a picture of with Miyako in front of it. Oh well. I did buy her a stuffed panda and after a short little 20 minute walk through (not a terribly huge zoo and I had an unhappy baby) we left the zoo and took the metro back home for the afternoon nap.

Tonight Miyako and I had a date night since Kan was out late with work. We went to the mall and walked around. I was going to eat in the food court and share a pizza with her (her first by the way) until I saw that Bubba Gump's Shrimp Company was open. The restaurant was connected to the mall and overlooked the Tokyo Bay. Since we were eating at 5, we saw the bay at a beautiful time of day. The sun was starting to go down and the lights were coming alive off the buildings and bridge. I did not get my picture, due to my memory card not getting fixed yet, but I will forever remember it in my mind. Miyako had a kids cheese pizza, and loved it by the way, and I had some popcorn shrimp.

I had never been to a Bubba Gump restaurant before, but as you can imagine they play lots of country music. Now, I am not a huge fan of country. The best time I have had with country music was two years ago at the post Vandy/UK game celebration when my girlfriends and I hit the bars in Nashville. We joked that we were the only ones in the bars singing along without knowing the words considering our choice of music is Black Eyed Peas and Beyonce. So, sitting in Bubba Gump's with an almost one year old leaves little room for conversation and you are forced to listen to country music. I found the songs quite interesting. I was thinking about my friends at home and missing them a little bit when a Dolly Parton song came on about Jesus meeting you where you are at and how you are not lonely with him. What a sweet reminder God used to brighten my spirits and remind me I am not alone because I have Him.

We ended our date with a chocolate strawberry crepe - for mama naturally - but I did let Miyako have a bite or two of the dough part of the crepe. Tomorrow we are having lunch with a Japanese lady and her 11 month old son. She is married to an American so I am anxious to see if our kids look alike. :) My connection with her came from the Dutch missionaries. I am looking forward to getting to know her over lunch at Denny's (they are much better here than in the States) and letting our kids play at an indoor playland. Until tomorrow...

We finished

A Quiet Day

Today was a quiet day for Miyako and I. Mama did not feel like sightseeing so we went to the indoor play area. I am not sure how to describe it. It is about 4 rooms with toys for different ages of kids along including a lunch room, nap room and changing table area. The workers were so excited to see Miyako-chan. Today it was not very crowded, only about 4 kids there while we were there. I met a lady who is Japanese and is married to an Australian. Her little boy was born exactly one week after Miyako. I enjoyed talking with her, in English of course. She comes to the play area about twice a week and had been there for 2.5 hours when she left. I told Kan I guess women enjoy these play areas because there is lots of room and lots of different toys for their kids to play with. Most apartments are small and do not have a lot of space for a lot of toys. Miyako and I stayed for a hour before we headed home for her afternoon nap.

Miyako ate homemade spaghetti for the first time tonight, leftovers from last night. I have been hesitant in giving her big people food but felt like I needed to expand and give her more variety. It makes me nervous because I am afraid she will choke. I guess it is the first time mom worries in me. She loved the spaghetti and peas for dinner.

Kan has a late night tonight so dinner was on my own. I picked up a kotsudon from the supermarket - this is one of my favorite dishes here - it is egg, onion, and fried pork in this brown sauce over rice, of course. It is really delicious and I thoroughly enjoyed it while I watched the local morning news in Lexington on our computer. Let me just say I am not missing the weather you are having back home. Tomorrow in Tokyo it is going to be sunny and a high of 64 (and one of my friends here said that it is starting to get cold here:). We are going back to the zoo tomorrow in hopes of it being open! Pictures will come next post.

Kyoto

This past weekend was a national holiday in Japan. Since Kan was off work on Monday we made the trip to Kyoto to see his parents and let them meet Miyako for the first time. We took the shinkansen (bullet train) from Tokyo to Kyoto and saw some beautiful countryside along the way. We were in Kyoto by lunch time on Saturday (a 2.5 hour train trip would have taken 6 hours in the car) and Miyako got to meet her ojiichan (grandpa) and mommychan (grandma).

Of course they were smitten with Miyako - who wouldn't be right? I was worried that she would not warm up very well since she had never met them before, but after a couple of hours playing and interacting, she did just fine with her Japanese grandparents. We did not do any sightseeing while in Kyoto. We basically just spent time in their home, eating and chatting and letting them get to know Miyako. Oh, I did forget her sippy cup and had to buy one at the local department store for $11. Yes, I could not believe I spent $11 on a plastic sippy cup, but I did not have any other options.

Sunday Mommychan took Miyako shopping and bought her some lovely dresses. Kan's mom is also a wonderful cook and we ate some lovely dinners, both in their presentation and taste. The national holiday was a field day event for elementary age children. Nobody works on this day and parents go to watch their children in the field day event. It turns out that Kan's parents' house is across the street from a school so all day long on Sunday we heard through the loud speaker an announcer calling the events and then kid music playing. It really was all day long! Thankfully Miyako still took a good afternoon nap.

We came back on Monday to lovely weather here in Tokyo. Supposedly it is going to be nice all week! Today Miyako and I ventured to Ueno park. This park has the zoo and several museums including the National Museum of Tokyo. It was a HUGE park and I found where all of the homeless people in Tokyo lived. Up until this point I had not seen a homeless person here and was surprised considering we are in one of the largest cities, if not the largest city, in the world. Well, walking through the park, we saw lots of homeless people and it was quite sad. It was also sad to come upon the zoo and see it was closed today. My friend from Nagoya told me some museums close the Tuesday after a national holiday so I guess this is the policy of the Ueno Zoo. We will try again tomorrow. The National Museum was also closed but the Art Museum was open. I decided to venture in and try it. Turns out you do not pay one price for all of the exhibits, but you pay individually for each exhibit. So, I decided to pick one and since we are in Japan I did the Japanese paintings for 700 yen, a little more than $7. The man who I paid for my ticket was an artist and had some paintings in the exhibit. He proudly walked me to his paintings of Italy. Miyako did great as we skipped her morning nap to venture out. And of course, she made lots of friends on the metro ride to and from the zoo.

A highlight today was my Skype call with my friend out in Arizona! So fun! I love Skype and we decided even when I am home we will Skype so she can see little Miyako.

Here's to tomorrow...let's hope the zoo is open!

A Visitor from Nagoya

As you can tell from my lack of posting this week, we have been busy!! So much fun to be had the last couple of days. Wednesday I went with a Dutch lady to a Western grocery store. They had everything from Campbell's soups to salsa and cheddar cheese. I was hoping to find Gerber baby food but no such luck. I did splurge and get Miyako some goldfish and myself some cheese and wheat bread. However, the prices were outrageous. A box of Betty Crocker brownie mix was $8. A Sam's size bag of m and m's was $22. I am not kidding. More than gocking at the types of food in the store, I was gocking at the ridiculous prices.

Wednesday afternoon our friend Darlene arrived from Nagoya. We met Darlene through Kan's American family and she has been in Japan for 9 years now. What a blessing her visit was to me and Miyako. On Wednesday night Darlene and I went to eat at a restaurant near our house. We had okonomiyaki. It is a pancake like dish with egg, cabbage, a meat of some kind (we chose pork) and ginger. Typically you cook your own dish at your table, but since we were gaijin (foreigners) and the only people at the restaurant they cooked it for us at our table. It was delicious. I even ate mine with the fish flakes they put on top and enjoyed it. We also set up a Skype call with Kan's American mom. The crazy thing is his sister and brother-in-law were also online. So, we were skyping with Momma Di on one computer and Kim and Tom on the other computer. It was a lot of fun and Darlene enjoyed being able to catch up with Dianne.

Thursday there was supposed to be a typhoon so we thought we would be housebound. Instead, it rained in the morning and by noon Darlene, Miyako and I were out and about. We went to Asakusa which is considered the Old Town of Tokyo. It is well known for the Asakusa Kannon temple (also called Senso-ji) which is the oldest temple in Tokyo. The Buddhist goddess of mercy sits at this temple and is protected by the god of wind and fire (I think). This area also housed a Shinto shrine called Asakusa Jinja which was built in 1649. The main gate to the temple was hard to miss with the gigantic red lantern (called Kaminarimon). We enjoyed walking around the area and feeling like tourists with all of the other foreigners. After this we took Darlene to Ginza, the big shopping center with Prada, Tiffany, etc that I referenced earlier. It was nice to walk around on a beautiful day and really get to look at everything.

For dinner Thursday night we ventured to Roppongi, another area known for foreigners. Once I got there, I understood why. We saw Outback Steakhouse, Hard Rock Cafe, and TGI Friday's within blocks of each other. Our mission though was a Mexican restaurant we found on a side street. It was delicious. It did not come with free chips and salsa which is probably a good thing because you did not overeat, but the chicken burrito, Mexican rice and refried beans tasted just like Rincon from home. After dinner we stumbled across a Coldstone Ice cream and inevitably had to stop for dessert. The area we were in is called Roppongi Hills. I read in my tour book that it gets an estimated 100,000 visitors each week day and up to 300,000 people come here on the weekend days. Amazing. Being in Roppongi felt like what you see of Tokyo in the movies - lots of people, hustle and bustle, and lots and lots of lights.

I was so thankful to have Darlene with us as I did not see many elevators on the metro system so she helped me carry Miyako in the stroller up and down stairs. I do not know what I will do next week when I try to go to the zoo. I am praying for divine appointments with elevators or else I might get a little discouraged.

After breakfast today at a restaurant across the street from us called Jonathan's (no it is not like the fancy Jonathan's in Lexington but it did have pancakes!) Darlene went back to Nagoya. Miyako and I ventured to her indoor play area after lunch and the workers were so happy to see us back. The lady I met last time was there again today and I enjoyed talking to her while our kids played. Miyako likes having all of the different toys to play with and watching the other kids. Let me just brag a little bit too on Miyako. She is a big hit here. Everywhere we go, people smile at her and she smiles back. One man on the train was making funny faces at her and she just laughed. She is a big hit and people keep saying "kawaii" which means "cute." I think she is a little star over here and people have been so nice to her. It is fun to watch.

We are heading to Kyoto tomorrow for Miyako to meet her Japanese grandparents for the first time. It is a holiday on Monday so we will be back in Tokyo Monday evening. I will update the blog once we get back.