Our travels are finally coming to an end and reality is about to kick in. We are currently in California visiting my parents and are getting ready to drive back to Utah this afternoon. We had a really nice vacation here. My mom and dad took care of Sophia and Grace all week while Lane and I just sat back and relaxed. It was very nice. Here are some pictures highlighting our journey back to America.

Our Last outing in Tokyo with the Griffins. We went to Ueno park in Tokyo on the hottest day of the year. The kids were so miserable by the time we took this photo.

On one of our last days in Japan I was able to order my two favorite Japanese dishes in the same meal. Curry and Soba noodles. MMM so good. This picture is for Dave really.

And of coarse we couldn't leave Japan with out going to Tokyo Disneyland one more time.

We finally got to meet mickey mouse this time around. The girls were so excited.

After leaving Japan we went directly to Hawaii. Here are Grace and Sophia with plumeria flowers in their hair at the United States most southern bakery on the big Island of Hawaii.

We got to go see the live Lava flow from Mauna Loa volcano. Although we couldn't see the red Lava flow it was neat to know that we were so close to it.

After a few days of the big Island we went back to Oahu and when we checked into our hotel the girls got Lei'd. They loved the flower lei. They did their own version of the hula dance for us.

This became our favorite beach on Oahu. The beach was empty and the water was so warm. Much better the Waikiki beach I think.

At the beginning of our scary flight to Minnesota.

Blue berry picking in Canada. Sophia would put one in her bucket and then eat one. She loves blueberries.

Grace was wrapped up in Aunt Jenny's shirt for bug protection.

Dave, Kenny, Katesy, and Grace swimming in the cold Moose lake.

Everyone who went to Canada this year.

Back in America!

Wow, I am just going to say it, I am so tired. We just arrived in Mainland America two days ago and this is the first computer time I have had since the 10th of July. We moved out of our apartment on the 10th and headed to Tokyo the next morning. We spent four days in Tokyo before catching our red eye flight to Honolulu. Lets just say, Tuesday July 15th was the best day ever. First of all we spent it at Tokyo Disneyland which was so much fun and then when we arrived in Honolulu the next morning it was still Tuesday July 15th. We had two Tuesday. We spent the second Tuesday swimming at the beach in Hawaii. What could get better then that. The second day in Hawaii we boarded another plane and went to the big Island of Hawaii to catch a glimpse of the volcano there. I didn't realize how diverse the big Island is. We started calling it the Continent. It had every climate you could have. From the rain drenched coast of Hilo, the freezing cold volcano basin to the black sand desert beaches of the south. It was quite the trip. We went swimming at one of the most beautiful beaches on the west side. The water was so warm. After spending four days there we boarded another plane back to Oahu. Since it was July it was so crowed in Honolulu and thankfully Lane's cousin lives there and she took us to the most beautiful beach in Kailua(I hope that is spelled right). Waikiki beach was just too crowed. We had a wonderful relaxing time in Hawaii. Then tuesday the 22nd we left Hawaii to head back to the mainland where we had a over night lay over in Seattle. Our plane got in late, but we were on Hawaii time so we were not too tired. The next morning we had to catch to separate flights to SLC where Lane's flight terminated and Grace and Grandpa Shepard caught a flight to Minnesota. While Sophia and I left later in the morning from Seattle to SLC and had a nice 5 hour lay over. By the time we landed in SLC, my Jet lag finally kicked in. I couldn't keep my eyes open. By the time we boarded our flight in SLC to go to Minnesota, I was ready to sleep and low and behold, I fell asleep. This never happens. For some reason I can't sleep on a plane. Then about an hour into the flight we got drinks and I woke up to get one and I finished right away. We then hit really bad turbulence. So bad I thought we were going to die. The plane jerked really hard and it immediately dropped 200 feet in elevation. It sent every one's drinks and other stuff flying everywhere. People screamed and I got into crash position along with others around us. I was so scared, because when planes crash I don't think that anyone ever survives. The rest of the flight was so shaky and nerve recking. I was just great that this was the last flight of our trip. Sophia who was with me was just fine and didn't realise that it was a pretty scary situation. After the flight the pilot told everyone that we were flying through a lighting storm and that the plane which is flown on auto pilot the whole duration of the flight, switched to manual drive and she had to take over. I am just grateful she knew what she was doing. We are now safely in Minnappolis visiting with Lane's older brother's family. We are going up to canada in a few days. So I probably wont post any picture until we get home from Canada. I am happy to be back in America and I can't wait to see all of our family and friends. We will be back in Utah on the 5th of August. I am sorry if something in this blog doesn't make sence, My jet lag is really bad right now.

Saying Good-bye

With just two weeks left until our departure from Japan we have started to say our goodbyes. Our first farewell party was last Friday the 27th at our Japanese class in Kawasaki.
We had a nice dinner of building your own sandwiches. Our class only consisted of about four students, but there was a hand full of babysitters to watch Grace and Sophia each week. While this party did make it seem that we were leaving so soon, the party we went to next day made the whole reality of leaving Japan so real. On saturday the 28th Grace's Yochien class had a going away party for her. It was the sweetest thing that nearly brought tears to my eyes.
(Grace's whole class and in the picture below is Hitomi Sensei from last year and Grace's current teacher Yumi Sensei.)
All the kids participated in group games and then we had snack time and learning how to make Onigeri time. Grace and Sophia had lots of fun. Her class also made her the greatest present ever. They made a photo album. Each child had one page in the album to put what ever they wanted in it about them self. It was the perfect memory book. As I am sure Grace wont remember much about her school days in Japan in a few years.
Then tonight we went to a dinner hosted by Murata High School (where Lane teaches english). It was at the Italian restaurant in town. The teachers that attended where ones that have known Lane well over the last two years. We had a very nice time with them. Even the kids from the English club showed up.
Last Sunday we also took some picture of some of the people that I know Grace and Sophia will miss. While this was not our last sunday, it was our last time at our church building. They started construction on it this week to expand it.
This is the our church building. We attended the Nagamachi ward which is just south of Sendai.

Sophia with her Nursery teacher. She was so great for Sophia. She learned a lot of english for our little girl.

This is Grace and Sophia with Chiba Kun. He joined out church about 1 1/2 years ago at the age of 16. Sophia and Grace just loved him. He would play with them after church each Sunday. And even though he can't speak any English, the girls always got him to do what they wanted him to do.

This is Mion (Me-ohn) on the left with her sister which I can't remember her name. The girls would play with them after church as well. Mion was so nice to them all the time. She would take them to their classes and pick them up from their classes when church was over and would play with them until we went home. She is also the one who watched our little girls while we went threw the temple in Tokyo. She was almost like an after church babysitter, better yet, like an older sister. We will really miss her.

I also got to say goodbye to my Japanese class. I stopped going about two months ago and I came back Thursday to say goodbye to my teacher and there were only two students there that I knew. Luka is sitting on the left and Menchi is on the right. They both were very good friends to me and they spoke English. Kawamura Sensei is the one standing and I am so grateful to her for putting up with my horrible Japanese. I will miss these three dearly.

I still have next week to say some more goodbyes. I am not looking forward to it.
While I am very happy to be entering into a new chapter of our life, I am very sad to end our chapter in Japan. I have really grown to love the friends that We have made in Japan and I am very sad to leave it all behind. I know we must move forward, so I am glad I am leaving Japan while I still love almost (I will never love natto- fermented soy beans) everything about it. I just want to say thank you to all the friends who have made our stay in Japan wonderful.
We have a song in our Hymn book at church that is called, "God, be with you till we meet again." I feel so strongly about that statement. I know I will see all of the friends that I have made in Japan sooner or later in this life and If not in this life then the next.

The Real Office

I saw this clip on saturday night live the other day and I think that it is the funniest skit ever. First of all I love the television show The Office and two I live in Japan so it makes it even more hilarious. I just had to share this with everyone.

Nikko

This last weekend we had the opportunity to go to the Historical town of Nikko. Nikko is situated in the mountains about 2 hours north of Tokyo and 2 hours south of us. Nikko is considered a world heritage site and so we had to see it before we left Japan.
I am so glad we did make the drive to go see Nikko, it was absolutely beautiful. I have been to lots of famous sights in Japan and I think that this was my favorite sight by far. Nikko is surrounded by the most beautiful forests and rivers. And all the temples and shrines are surrounded by huge red wood trees with moss all over them. The stone walls around the temples and shrines are aged and blend in with the surrounding forests. Its just absolutely gorgeous. We stayed at a little b&b called the Hatori Turtle Inn. It was along the river at the end of a street. It was in a very secluded spot and they had a private onsen (naked hot tub). This was the girls favorite part. I would highly recommend staying there to anyone traveling to Nikko.
Besides the great B&B we enjoyed the hiking around the rivers and around the temples and shrines. We were told before we left on Friday that it was going to rain, but we lucked out and we had sunshine on saturday and mist on Sunday, but no rain or at least the need use an umbrella.
On Sunday we drove up the mountain to a lake town called Chuzenji. Unfortunately, the batteries in my camera died that morning and so I didn't get any pictures of our day at the lake. It is home to the beautiful waterfall called Kegon (one of the top three water falls to see in Japan). And since I didn't have my camera we paid to have our picture taken in front of the waterfall. The lake and waterfall were formed from a volcano that erupted a long time ago. This town was just as beautiful as Nikko. It was really cloudy that day, but it created a mist that lingered over the lake and made the atmosphere very peaceful. Overall it was a great two days.

The first thing we saw when we arrived in Nikko was this beautiful Japanese garden. I love the style of Japanese gardens so much. I want to create one in my backyard some day.

The girls are praying at a shinto shrine or at least pretending to pray.

This is the most colorful pagoda that I have seen in Japan. I imagine that most of them use to look this way.

Hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil. You've got to love this famous Buddhist teaching. These monkey's were carved into one of the buildings at the world heritage site.

Trying to recreate the monkeys. We were missing Sophia monkey.

Its the amazingly ornate buildings like this one (which was built in about 1630) that they made Nikko into a world heritage site. Some powerful man back then had these buildings made in honor of his death before he actually died. I think that is the correct story.

We had lots of walking to do that day so Lane did a lot of this. We do have a stroller but with millions of stairs its more of a pain to bring it. And the girls love to ride on Lane's shoulders.

Lane is a good sport to carry the girls. I believe that their combined weight is about 70lbs.

As we climbed a ton of stairs to get to the last temple, Sophia kept turning around and saying ok mom take another picture. So I took advantage of that.

This is one of the many demons that guard the gates of the shrines and temples. This one didn't look so scary to me. To me he reminded me of a mad dance teacher trying to teach a cool dance move that the students where just not getting.