The Adventure Begins

As we headed neared our exit off of Hwy 84, Ethan spotted the IKEA. "Hey, we're close." He said. We MAY go there when we take Eric to the airport on business trips. The kids love the play land and I get to shop. =).

Once we got to the airport, we quickly discovered one luggage cart would not be enough. Eric worked his magic and got everything to fit on two carts. Check in went as fast as it can with two carts of luggage (thanks to Eric's "Platinum" status we got priority treatment everywhere from checking in to security and boarding as well as with our luggage. We even got Economy "comfort" seats free.). We were concerned that some pieces would go over the 50 lbs limit, but we were good. One was 49 lbs. I would also like to point out that Eric's suitcase was heavier than mine. Ha! He might point out he had almost all the toiletries ;-)

The flight was almost 11 hours and the kids did great. Once we got settled in and they could look at all the secret fun in their backpacks, the kids were happy. The leapsters and games and movies on the ipod/iphone helped a little too ;).

The kids waiting and looking at airplanes while Eric got us some coffee beverages.

Ethan was excited about flying, but is not a huge fan of take-off. He wanted to hold Eric's hand and my hand too. We pretended we were on the Dumbo ride at Disneyland. Once we were up, he felt much better.

All smiles now

Striking a pose for the camera

Surprise! Imagine our delight when ice cream sandwiches came the aisle! Yippee! That's me enjoying my treat and watching one of THREE movies! When was the last time THAT happened. =)

We were a bit tired, but we made it through immigration! Somewhere in Japan they now have my digital fingerprints and retinal scan. No mischief for me! A worker must have seen how tired the kids looked and motioned us to skip to the front of a special line and we got right through!

In our last post we mentioned we had some "travel mercies". After about 16 hours of traveling with the kids (and our bodies telling us it was now midnight at home) we loaded up the luggage. In our tired state (and with so much luggage to count up) we missed one suitcase which was full of books, games, crafts, and such. As we walked away a kind worker jogged up to us asking us (in Japanese) if this was our suitcase. We were SO thankful to have all our luggage after narrowly avoiding missing some for the second time in one day!

We ended up with all of it and after Eric loaded up two carts again, we headed for customs. We were wondering if they might give us a funny look, but they saw we were there for a month and didn't hassle us.

And We're Off

Once upon a time, there was a family that was blessed with the opportunity to go to Tokyo for a month. How does one pack for a long trip you say? Well I started about two weeks ahead of our flight. Target became my second home as well as a few trips to the dollar store. Whenever something came to mind, I'd add it to the list. I also laid out the suitcases a week before and slowly added to them. It consumed most of my mind for two weeks and I was SO glad to zip up each suitcase and bring them all downstairs. Is this all the luggage? Actually there is one more regular sized suitcase not pictured.


There were a few moments we felt like God was looking out for our trip (thanks to many of you for your prayers!) My eyes were randomly drawn to two picture books to help kids learn Japanese words. I asked Eric if he wanted to bring them and he thought for a moment before racing up the stairs, coming back down with Ethan's suitcase. He had wanted to pack the books in one of the few remaining available spaces among all our luggage and knew E's suitcase had room. "I'm not sure we would have remembered this if you hadn't asked me about those books!" he said.

Thankfully we got off to a great start with ALL our luggage in tow! More on other blessings and mishaps to come!

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

For this year's all school field trip, we headed to Lakeview farms.

Taking a picture for Ethan's teacher

Our first attempt at a group shot

Kaitlyn checking out the goats

Don't forget the "exotic" cats ;) These were a favorite by the way

Cute!

If she looked at me like this, I would give her whatever she was asking for

Hitchin' a Ride

Showing of her baby punkin

Abby admiring her choice

Another highlight was the worm. Everybody got a turn

Adorable!

More Silly Faces

Two kids are smiling

Hmm...

Maybe it's time to head home =)

One Happy Girl

A few months ago, the four of us headed to Disneyland. Trip was full of a lot of fun memories including a visit with the princesses. We knew Abby wanted to see the princesses, but didn't want to have to wait in the long line for that. So towards the end of our trip, we decided to take the plunge. It was SO worth the wait to see the excitement on her face.






Sweet big brother waiting in line too

What better way to kill time than to be silly

While in line, Eric got a tip from one of the cast members. After the Princess Coronation show, the princesses come back out and you can get your picture taken with them. Not many people know about this and there are no lines.

I stayed in line with Ethan while Eric and Abby waited to see if they could meet a princess or two.

And here they come

One of Abby's top princesses is Cinderella!


They made it back just in time to see some more princesses. First up was Ariel .

Abby is so excited to meet the next princess. She is another favorite.

When she saw Belle, she gave her THE longest hug. In fact, Belle had to gently lift Abby up. Abby would have gladly spent the day with her.

One of my favorite pictures

Sweet Girl

Let me begin by saying I love my little niece. She's adorable in every way. There's this one picture of her that makes me smile everytime. In fact, I even chuckle a little. I was just going to post that one picture, then her cuteness got to me. So here is a few for you.

Flying Her Own Kite

This is the one. How can you not smile at that grumpy face.

I guess somebody was done with picture time =)