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

Cherry Blossom Viewing

It is that time of year again. All of the cherry trees are fully blossomed. Its time to head to the park and hang out all day and watch the trees. I think this is the Japanese favorite time of the year. You gather with family and friends and eat and drink all day long. Unfortunately Ethan was sick on Saturday for the viewing party. Randy went to the park early in the morning to hold a spot for everyone to sit. I went later that day so Ethan could rest as much as possible. The day was nice until about 6 pm and it started to rain. We decided it was time to leave about then anyway. I think Ethan had a enough for the day.


























Ethan just chilling



My wonderful teacher. What would I have done with out her:)

Beth and I. A great friend that I met while in Japan. Soon to be close neighbors. Her family will move back to Ohio in August. They are building a house that is 5 mins from us.

First Shipment

Well it is almost over. Our 18 month assignment has went bye so fast. It is so hard to believe we are coming home. We feel like Japan is our home now. Just as we have everything figured out it's time to leave. We are excited to come back to Ohio. We miss our family and friends very much. Our first ocean shipment went out on April 3rd. I think we shipped around 70 boxes. Our last ocean shipment and air shipment get packed up when we move out of our house on the 25th. On the 25th we will stay in a hotel in Utsunomiya the town that is 20 mins away and then we will head to Tokyo on Thursday the 26th to stay in a hotel near the station. Then Friday morning the 27th we get on the shinkansen and head to the airport at 7 am. Our flight leaves at 10:30 am on Friday the 27th. We are so glad we get to ride in business class seats again. There is so much more room. We hope Ethan does well because he will be mostly awake the entire flight since we are leaving so early. Our first week back in the U.S. will be spent in Indiana with our family. The first week of May we will move into an apartment for one month while our house is being finished up. Please think of us as we finish our stay here in Japan and our adjustment back to the U.S. We are excited to see everyone and look forward to our new journey ahead.

Short trips to Tokyo

So in our last few weeks in Japan we tried to make it to Tokyo to finish up any last minute purchases and sight seeing. One weekend we went to the Seibu Lions game since it was so much fun last year. It rained the whole day but we were under a covered roof which was nice. It wasn't to cold. The Kruse family (6 of them) and the Haggerty's (3) joined us as well. Between all the kids running around I don't think we got to watch much of the game but we all had fun anyways. It was amazing I got Ethan to take a nap. All the kids were very good. As we were getting ready to leave Ethan took a nasty fall and scraped his face on the cement. It looked horrible but it healed up very fast. The Seibu Lions lost the game. At the beginning of the 7th inning you blow up these balloons and let them go. I think that was the kids favorite part. After the game we headed to another part of Tokyo to get some much needed Mexican food. It was so good. I think all of us cleaned our plates until nothing was left. Ethan managed to throw his cup across the table and it hit the margarita glass and broke it. That's my son. Monkey boy that he is.

The following weekend we headed back to Tokyo to Yokohama. Yokohama is known for Chinatown. It was mostly all food and the same shops over and over. We got some good Chinese food and wonder around China town. Then we headed to Ueno after that to look at the beautiful cherry blossom trees. It is so amazing how beautiful all these trees are. I am really going to miss this part of Japan.