Arrival in Osaka

We made it!  We got off the plane quickly and made it just as quickly through immigration and customs.  Then it was out the doors to meet Grandpa and Grandma!  The kids were giddy.  It was so fun to hear them commenting on what they saw, smelled, heard, etc.  For Michaela, Benjamin, and Johanna it was all somewhat familiar from previous visits, but for Elijah it was totally new.  Ami has vague memories of being here when she was not quite three. 

It was so good to see Dad and Mom.  They had to bring two vehicles to pick us up at the airport, but we got everything in and drove the hour to their house.  The cherry blossoms were just starting to pop out over the weekend, so we got to see some here and there.  Beautiful!

Johanna, Ami, and Chris rode with Dad in the compact car.  It was a bit disconcerting to be driving on the left side of the road and siting in what would normally be the drivers seat!

Home at last after about 36 hours!  Dad and Mom have a decent view of their suburb from their house up on the hill.  It's a concrete jungle out there, but at least we get a peak at some mountains, too.

Ami fell asleep about 4 in the afternoon and I could NOT get her to wake up at all.  I let her sleep a bit, then tried to get a few bites of supper in her and gave her a bath to stretch out the time a bit.  We all finally crashed around 7:30, just not able to keep our eyelids open any longer.