St.Lucia

Randy and I went to Sandals in St. Lucia for a nice relaxation vacation without Ethan. Ethan stayed with grandma and grandpa and got spoiled. He did good while we were gone. Our vacation wasn't as relaxing as we would of liked. My sister just got married and went to this resort for there honeymoon so we were at the same resort for 1 day together. We had a few bumps during our stay. We were not happy with our room for what we paid for it. The paint was peeling off the wall, the floors were dirty, and the furniture was out dated. Our first morning we had a dog barking at 6 am. The second night we had ants in the bed. They moved us room. Our new room was a little better because we now how our own plunge pool. However the pool was ice cold and we couldn't use it. The air conditioner was leaking and it took 6 hrs for maintinance to come to fix it. That same night we had a cockroach in our room. Of the 8 nights we had hot water for 3 of those nights. One night we didn't get to eat dinner after waiting for 2 1/2 hrs. The week we stayed was the week 80 travel agents were staying as well for some conference. My travel agent was there and I told her all about it. We had a meeting with the owner of the resort and they offered us a free two night stay at any Sandals. My travel agent said that we needed to write a letter and argue that we wanted a 4 night stay. We wrote a letter and are waiting to see what comes of it. We still made the most of our trip and enjoyed the warm weather. We also meet some great couples during our trip. We got a nice 1 hr couple massage that was so relaxing. The food was really good. There is a total of 3 Sandals in St. Lucia so we were able to go to the other two resorts when ever we want. We had a total of 15 resturants to choose from. One of the resturants even made us a anniversary plate. We were kind of celebrating our 5th anniversary.

My sister and I

Halloween

Ethan had a blast trick or treating. He wasn't sure what he was suppose to do at first but once he got the hang of it he kept saying more candy mom. He wouldn't let us carry his pumpkin bucket. He said mine. The weather was perfect too. We went to my boss house so that her little girl and Ethan could trick or treat together. We always cut out pumpkins. Randy had to buy the biggest pumpkin, 70 pounds.

Yard Work

This past weekend we did a lot of yard work. We decided to rent a tractor with a tiller so we could plant grass. We were going to try and use a hand tiller but that didn't go so well. Randy walked by the tiller in the garage and sliced his leg open about an 1 inch deep and 5 inches long. He had to get 10 stiches. He got lucky too because he was about an 1/2 inch from hitting the nerve that operates his foot. That's when I said we are renting a tractor. The best time to lay grass seed is early fall and late spring. We worked from sun up to sun down all weekend. Randy started Friday night on the tiller. We got up at 7 am on Saturday and started again. I painted the front porch which took about 6 hrs. After that my mom and I walked about 1 acre of grass seed. Yes you read that right, we walked the grass seed. It wasn't to bad just time consuming. Randy finally got finished tilling at 4:30 pm on Saturday. After we tilled we drug and rolled the dirt. Then on Sunday we planted the rest of the grass seed. I think it took about 5 hrs of walking to spread the seed. We were so tired. Then I checked the forecast to see when it was going to rain so our grass could grow. Our luck isn't in our favor, no rain for 12 days. There is now way to water 3 acres of land. On Monday morning Randy rented a straw shredder and we strawed most of the 3 acres so the birds wouldn't eat the seed and if we get lucky this will help our grass grow. I think we had to buy around 120 bails of straw. Last week we bought our own tractor. We were both very excited about our new toy. We wanted to wait until the spring to buy a tractor but we came across a good deal on this tractor that we couldn't pass up. Ethan loves riding we daddy on the tractor too.

Here are some before and after pics of us tilling

The Straw Shredder

Our new Tractor

My lovely paint job of the front porch

July

The month of July seemed to fly by. We had a couple of weddings this month. We still have two more to go before this years out. My sister's wedding will be the last and I can't wait. My first month back to work went really fast. I am enjoying being back to work. I missed the adult interaction. I still miss being home with Ethan. He is doing good in daycare. He has finally stopped crying when I drop him off. He has two really great teachers. Our town had their county fair. We went to the tractor pulls and Ethan got a kick out of that.

Last weekend we went to Lake Erie to visit our friends Jim and Laura. They live down the street from Lake Erie and have a boat. Jim does a lot of fishing and Randy couldn't wait to go. This was the first time Ethan was on a boat and he had so much fun. We even let Ethan try to fish. It was funny. When we threw the bobber in he said, go get it. It was cute. He caught two fish and thought it was so cool. Randy and Jim left early Sunday morning to go fishing but didn't have much luck. I believe they caught 5 fish. Jim dressed Ethan in a cowboy hat and boots. Doesn't he look so cute. We had a great time with our friends and hope to go back soon.

Getting Settled

Sorry everyone for not updating this any sooner. Things have been so crazy lately trying to get settled into our new house and new routine. We moved into our house on May 25th. We have been spending the last few weeks trying to un pack. Besides un packing we have been trying to grow grass which hasn't been so much fun. We do have some grass now so our hard work has paid off. We weren't sure if we were going to be able to get the Internet but we got it on Thursday. A little more expensive but living in the country you seem to have to pay a little more for certain things. Randy has been very busy at work. He is on a project right now that is working a lot with Japan. So he is using what he learned while he was there. He is going to New Zealand the first two weeks of July. Ethan started daycare last week. I am only taking him half days until I go back to work. He is doing good. He cries when I first leave but the teacher said he only cries for about 10 mins and then is fine. I hope he continues to do well. I have a 2nd interview next week and should hopefully know something at the end of next week if I got the job. For the time being I am enjoying my time off. It is a good thing I am not working. There is more work building a house then we realized but it has been worth it. We love our house and glad we choose to build. Ethan loves his new room. We are decorating his room in race cars. We bought him a big race car bed but he can't use it until we get his crib mattress. Which is in the 2nd ocean shipment that we haven't gotten yet. We will start that battle with him adjusting to a toddler bed. Not sure if we are ready for it or not. We are adjusting a little better to the U.S. culture. We didn't think it would be so hard but it is. We miss Japan a lot and wish we could come back. We miss all of Japanese friends, our teachers, and of course our American friends still there. Its funny how you miss the little things that annoyed us in Japan. When we go out to dinner here we want to say excuse me we are ready to order now:) We are just taking one day at a time. Some of you asked for some updated pics while we have been home so here you go.

Ethan loves putting on adult shoes

Still eating on the floor, we get our table this week

Our little helper

I thought I had more pics but I guess not. Once we get the rest of our furniture this week I will take some pics of the house and post them. I hope everyone is doing well.

Our New Home

We finally have a place to call home. Or should I say at least a piece of land for now. We bought almost 3 acres of land in Marysville, Ohio. We choose Schumacher as our home builder. We are suppose to break ground in January and it should be finished around the beginning of June. If you would like to see what our house will look like go to http://www.schumacherhomes.com/floorplan/at2512.aspx?schumacherlocationid=8. If you click on interactive floor plan and select exterior that is what the outside will look like. You can also take a virtual tour of the inside too. I will keep this post updated as we move along with the building process. Here are some pictures so far. They will start framing on the 31st. More photos to come. Thanks to our great friend Rebecca who has been taking these pictures for us. Thanks Rebecca. We really appreciate it.

Great room and study

Kitchen