The fourth of July found us driving out to South Haven to spend the day at the beach with our friends- Chris and Joell Van Winkle, Mike and Amy Filary and Jeff and Nicole Sobell and their kiddos. Unfortunately, we pulled up to park and Hanna hops out of the car and proceeds to start vomiting...poor thing. She had told us she didn't feel good, but we thought once we were there, she would feel much better...well, we were WRONG. Not the first time, won't be the last time, right? Poor thing! I ended up taking her back while Scott stayed and played all day in the beautiful sun and water. Maya ended up coming home with our friends, and Scott drove up to Grand Rapids to see Peter Frampton with Aaron Humphrey and Dennis Walker- two good friends from growing up. Scott also went to the two day Electric Forest Festival on July 2 and 3 with Chris and Mark Varney. It was really nice for him to spend some time with his guy friends doing his summer music festival, and I think it made him very happy to get to do both.
We had the chance to visit with a few Tokyo friends and my best friend Marcy and her girls this summer while we were home. My friend Kim has family in St. Joe, which is 45 minutes from Portage. We drove down and spent the day with her and her kids, Marley and Will at the Silver Beach and Silver Beach Splash park. It was great to see them all- they left Tokyo right after the earthquake, and we hadn't gotten to spend time with them since March.
Maya's friend Lauren Vaughn, her sister Amanda (who is now at ASIJ in Kindergarten with Hanna) and her mom Katie also have family in Portage, so we had the opportunity to play with them this summer (and I got the chance to get to know Katie better as well!).
My friend Marcy, who lives in Las Vegas with her family, but was born and raised in South Haven, MI came back to Southwest MI as well. We spent the day with the girls (5 of them!) in the pool, eating lunch and then got the girls a sitter so Marcy and I could spend some quality time catching up. It was a great day - makes me realize how much I miss her and wish she and we lived closer to each other!
I also had the chance to spend a lot of quality time with my longtime friend Laurie Lett and her girls while we were up in the U.P. It was so nice to see her for more than 2 hours and get to know her girls better. While we were both up there, our college friend Leah and her family spent a week in the U.P., so we had a chance to spend some time with them as well!
Scott left on July 8th, and I took the girls and drove up to my mom and dad's in Hancock, Michigan- about a 10 hour drive from Portage. We stopped for a few hours at our friends, Kris and Jason Mau to visit them and their kids, and then finished the drive up (about 4 hours left, so it was a great breaking point!). Jennifer's wedding reception was on July 9th, as was my 20 year high school reunion. We had family in town, and had a really great, if not super busy, weekend. On the 14th, my sister Lori and I flew to West Palm Beach, Florida and spent 4 nights at my Aunt Nancy's condo on Hutchinson Island. We did a lot of not much- swimming, laying in the sun, reading books, working out, shopping in the cute little towns and enjoying a nice dinner with my sister in law Missy's parents, Wally and Joan. It was a great, relaxing girls trip, and hopefully I can do something like that again next summer. :) After our trip, the girls and I spent a few more quality days with my mom and dad, and sister and her family, before heading back to Portage.
Scott came back to Michigan on August 6th (so we only had 4 weeks apart this time), We spent the last two weeks visiting with friends, going to Michigan Adventure and getting ready to return back to Japan. We had a great day with our friends the Filary's at Michigan Adventure- the girls are finally getting to an age where taking them to amusement parks is more fun than frustrating! It was a little frustrating having to ship back and pack up 4.5 months of stuff- it is amazing how fast things accumulate. We ended up shipping back 5 boxes, and let me tell you this- it was NOT cheap.
We flew out to Tokyo on August 20th. We are all still VERY jet lagged, but are really glad to be back home. So far, we haven't felt much shaking, and everything feels pretty normal. The lights here in Tokyo are not on at night for the most part, so the city is very dark. Buildings are using minimal air, so they are very hot and muggy. Luckily, the last few days have been in the 70s so it hasn't been too bad. I don't expect that to last, so it will probably be a very sticky, wet fall.
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