Japan 21

 

Our trip home was hectic.  We knew it would be long, but between returning the rental car, uber problems, out of service trains, finding an airport shuttle, mechanical problems, with our first plane, having to rebook 7 people on transatlantic flights because of missed connections, etc... kids fighting and us trying to switch seats for everyone's sanity... The first 5 hours of the day were difficult. But we all made it, our luggage made it and Jer still has a few hairs that aren't grey.  We flew over Mt Fuji.  That was fun.

My wonderful parents picked us up at the airport, even though our whole schedule had changed.  It was fun to chat and tell them about our trip on the drive home.  The cats were happy to see us home too.

We wanted to share the different flavored kit kats so we bought bags, opened them and shared the tastes around.  It was fun.

We were waiting for a very long time while they tried to get our bags checked in and print our new passes.  They had us standing in this little box.  We started quoting, "Stay in the pocket, stay in the pocket!"  The kids discovered the joy of pokemon Go again too while we were there.

We had a 6 hour layover in Tokyo.  They had some fun toy stores which included this little electric race car track... and a donut store.

We tried to get a picture with Mt Fuji behind us, I'm not sure you can see it, but it's there.

Seth getting eaten by Godzilla.

Japan 20

 

Our last day started at a church branch that Grandpa served in.  When he was there, only about 6 members were consistently in their meetings.  Today there are a couple of branches, a ward building and a temple.  It was fun to study about the temple at the same time that they had been recently enjoying having a temple of their own on the island.  The bishop stood and introduced Jim and us.  They told the branch that grandpa served there 58 years ago. Every older member of the ward lit up and came to visit with him.  I didn't want to bug them during their discussions, so I slipped away to Sunday school with Ada. They were cute and formed an English speaking discussion group for us to be able to participate.  We met a woman that knows Hannah.  I was telling how we missed seeing her just by a little bit and she in turn told us that Hannah spoke at the temple dedication.  That's really neat!   Then we found out later that Corbin, Aubrey's husband, also knows who Hannah is.  I love how the world becomes smaller when you're a member of the church. 

Last late night food run in Japan

In the American Village, Grandpa and Jer found a jacket that says Provo, UT.

For our last restaurant meal in Japan, I was looking for something that would satisfy everyone's wants.  Yakisoba, Sushi, curry, tempura and ramen.  We found one, got there and they told us that most items on the menu wouldn't be available until after 4... It was about 3.  We ordered sushi and ramen... then at the end of our meal we ordered yakisoba and tempura to round it out.

Ada's shoes were too wet after swimming/tide pooling so grandpa lent her his sandals.

Ice cream after the hot sun.  We went from 65 degrees on most of our trip to 85 and sunny in Okinawa. 

The kids found lots of fish.  None of them were scared of us.  Many of them were nudging our legs and both Ada and Evelyn got nipped by fish mouths.

Ada found this cool crab shell

I love coral.  It's just really cool.

There's a hole in the rock and a plaque saying that if you manage to throw a rock into the hole then you would have a baby.  A boy if you got it into one hole and a girl if it went into the other one.

Straws.

This ice cream place outside our hotel was made with coconut milk so happy me.... I could eat it.  I tried two flavors over the two days.  Ginger Lemongrass was my favorite.

She lost....

The first night that we came by the American Village was just to see if it was worth seeing.  They had this cute little kid performance going on.  It was so fun to watch. 

Ramen on the floor.

The Okinawa temple.

Jer drove but I was on the side that feels like the drivers' side of the car.  

One of the bishopric gave us some snacks after the meeting.  Sam LOVED the rice crackers and it was fun to try the soda candy.

The ward building that replaced the shed that used to be there.  

They have memorials lining the back of the building.

Grandpa and the other missionaries were asked to dig and widen the road.  Now it looks like this.... 

Primary ran a little long.  It was their practice for their primary program.  Seth jumped in and sang along in English.  The primary leader told me after that she thought that he was very brave.  In the first Japanese ward we went to, they asked how many kids were in our primary.... they had about 10 on stage.  I said, "About 60."  He thought I said 16.... I told him no and they were shocked.

Evelyn used the underwater camera to take pictures of all the fish.