2013 Annual Leave Part 2 - Japan

We survived the long 10 hour plane ride to Japan!  Although Megumi did an amazing job on our long flight, it is just mentally (and physically) exhausting for the parents to fly that long with a two year old.   But we'd do it all over again in a heart beat to spend the quality time we did with our family.  We had an incredible time together and I miss them SO much already.
Here's a quick photo recap to give you a taste of the amazing three weeks we spent in Japan!

Squatting like a froggy on our morning walk around the rice patty.

Neighborhood!

Great grandparents!

Oh how we've missed Japanese food!

A park! Another thing we miss when we are in St. Kitts!

Cousin time!

"Anpanman!"

A giant bubble...!

She loves udon noodles...

Copying grandma's hairstyle in the morning!

China town

Meeting my cousins for the first time!

Celebrating daddy's 30th!

Birthday meal

Our first fireworks together

Family :)

Love my parents!

A beautiful Sabbath afternoon

Our walk back from church

The nearest Japanese castle to my parents' house

Daddy's girl

Mike's last meal in Japan...a HUGE bowl of soba and udon noodles!

My grandparents came to the airport to see us off!

I didn't cry when I hugged good-bye to my parents and grandparents.  But I admit, my eyes were teary when I walked away from them to go through security.  I've been doing this for a long time, but it gets harder and harder each time.  You can't focus on how much you miss them.  Instead, you just have to focus on what a blessing it was to spend three weeks creating more wonderful memories together. Don't worry, I was smiling by the time we boarded our plane for our 8 1/2 hour flight back to Seattle, Washington...