US was Bliss!

Sorry for the long delay (yet again)! We left for the US on June 18th, and I got back on July 23rd. I spent last week recovering from jet lag and adjusting to the Tokyo summer. We had a great time in the US. We started off with a bang. Steve, Lane & Jennifer met us at the airport with Chik-fil-A breakfast...great start to a great trip! Then, we went to meet our precious friends Lauren and Steve for lunch. Then we all trekked to East Texas to watch the Allstar Callie Sparks play in the t-ball playoffs. She had a lot of support for her game! We were so blessed to have most of our favorite people in one place. It was a great homecoming! Then we drove back to Dallas the next day for a friend reunion over Mexican food (we ate so much of it while in the US). The next few days consisted of visiting lots of friends and their sweet babies, doing some shopping, slumber partying it up with the Lauren and Steve, and John had to do some work. The good news about John working was that he got to meet with a lot of people to confirm they needed him back in the Dallas office NEXT summer. We were very glad to hear that! So, this time next summer we will be moving way back West! We will really have to enjoy this next year in Tokyo as it will fly by so quickly.

Then Thursday of that week went went back to East Texas for a bigger get together as that would be John's last time to be in East Texas on his trip. Callie was still playing t-ball, so we got to watch her again as I sweated off my fresh spray tan. I was sweating orange...not a pretty sight! I was trying to get ready for our trip to Kauai the next day. Oh, well! I got the real thing in the next few days. Our trip to Kauai was amazing. It is the most beautiful island! Pretty much any beach you find has great snorkeling, and in some parts you feel like you are in a rain forest. We got to take our first ever helicopter ride! I was hoping for a reality show Bachelorette experience, but it was a little crowded. It was an incredible tour, though. We got to fly over where they filmed Jurassic Park and where they were currently filming Pirates of the Caribbean 4. No sighting of Mr. Depp to my disappointment. Oh, well! What in the world would I do if I did see him? Act a fool I'm sure!

The most exciting/terrifying event of the trip was when I thought it would be a good idea to swim in the rough ocean about 500 or so yards out to a reef to see some sea turtles. Those sea turtles are beautiful creatures. Thankfully, it was about 100 feet down from me or I would have been a little worried. I figured I could outswim it if it decided to take a bite of me. The thing I saw on the way back that I knew I couldn't outswim was a 4 or 5 foot reef shark. I about drowned John when I was trying to tell him that it was down there. The worst part was we saw it right before we had to cross this wide open part of the ocean with no reef below in sight. I was hoping that Momma Shark wasn't lurking in the deep blue. I am pretty sure I swam some sort of Olympic world record to get back to shore (nearly hyperventilating in the process). Most people would have thought a shark siting was cool. Me, I could have done without the experience. That aside, it was a great family trip with many more memories made!

When we got back to the airport, John and I drove 4 hours to Houston (via Waco to see my friend, Alison-so fun) to see his side of the family. Our first night we got to eat an amazing dinner at Brennan's (like the one in New Orleans), which is where John and I ate the night after our wedding. The food is amazing, and the company was even better! To celebrate the 4th (and our homecoming), around 77 people came to the house for BBQ, swimming, and massive fireworks. It was such a fun day, and I realized just how much I missed BBQ (and the family, of course). The next week was filled with more shopping, more visiting precious family, and lots of eating foods we had missed. We had a great time, and then John had to go back to work. Boo! He left that following Saturday for Tokyo, and I went back to East Texas for some R&R from our vacation! Isn't that always how it goes?

I got to spend an extra week and half there, which was so nice. I realized I really didn't lift a finger at Mom's (sorry about that, by the way). I got to babysit my sweet niece and nephew, twice, visit with more precious family (thanks for driving down, Cindy!), and just hang out (oh and more shopping). It was so nice to just be there. But good things sometimes come to an end, so back to Tokyo I went. Mom and Dad drove me to the airport, but we got in one last IHOP breakfast first! It's always hard saying goodbye but knowing that we will be back for good in a year makes it easier to get through.

When I was on the bus from the airport to Tokyo, I realized that was glad to be back. Of course, mainly to see my hubby. But it hit me, again, of how cool this opportunity is! We are exactly where God wants us and knowing that is so amazing. This year is going to be a blast! We have guests coming in August, September AND October. Then we will be home for Christmas. Our families will come visit in the spring. So much to look forward to!

I'll leave you with some Hawaii photos: