A Taste of the Far East

We greet the day with such mixed emotions!   It will be so difficult to leave;   but I will be so happy to get home and see my guys!!   And sleep in my own bed!   First, though, there’s the thirty-six hour day ahead of us as we hop over time lines!   Ginger gets all those bits and pieces into her suitcase with just a little left over for her new bag. And she doesn’t have as much in her new bag as I do!   Andy comes over to check on us and Sachiko offers us cold green tea and Japanese cookies that are delectable!   We go next door to brush our teeth and say good morning to Tae and the kids and it’s just about time to put everything in the van.   Everyone is going to the airport with us and we’ll have lunch there, Grandfather’s treat. It’s quite a long way to the airport;   but we’ve left in plenty of time.   Tae drops Andy, Ginger, and me off with the luggage and goes off to park the car.   We learn that, although we are traveling internationally, we need to check in

It’s here!   Field Day!   We’re up and dressed and present ourselves next door just in time to set out on foot for breakfast at SunRise Café.   Sachiko is with us and, since her dear friends own the place, she winds up doing some of the serving!   I order the set which comes with a hard-boiled egg, salad, banana, toast, and what I finally figure out is corn soup.   And coffee!!   Sakurako gets my banana and a bit of toast, and she is also munching from Ginger’s breakfast.   That’s what grandmas and aunts are for!!   Iori and Tae leave first so that he can get to Field Day on time, and we follow after shortly.   The event is staged in a large park and there is no parking, so we’re doing everything on foot.   Happily, it’s not too far and soon we are treated to the sight of about two hundred preschoolers, all in their brightly colored caps. Each of the seven classes has their own color and it makes it a little easier to spot your own munchkin in the vast herd!   Each grou