California Bound!

We're back in the USA! This trip really snuck up on us- there was hardly time to get excited about it. The reason for the trip back so soon was my cousin Hanna's wedding in Santa Rosa, CA. The flight was okay. Not nearly as easy as the last time around (when Connor slept pretty much the whole way), but not terrible either. It was just a lot more work for Andrew and I this time around since Connor didn't sleep much (he just couldn't get comfortable). There were only a few minutes of tears though, guess I can't ask for much more than that! We stayed at a gorgeous place called the Vintners Inn, I could probably live there. What a change of scenery from the concrete jungle of Tokyo!! We got to visit several wineries while we were there, and got to sample so many incredible wines. It was nice having my family there to help watch Connor too! The highlight of our winery visits was to Gary Farrell. My cousin Micah is a "cellar-master" there. He gave us an awesome behind the scenes tour- we learned so much! We were also given Micah's employee discount- so needless to say- we bought a ton of wine from there. THANK YOU Micah!! Gary Farrell is most definitely my favorite label. Their Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc are out of this world. Not just because a family member works there either!

The wedding itself was a gorgeous affair and Hanna was a stunning bride. It took place at De Loach winery. What a backdrop! We had a blast and Connor was so much fun to have with us. He looked so handsome!

On Sunday Andrew headed back to Tokyo (so sad!) and Connor and I headed to Maryland with my Mom and Grandma. We'll be in the US through most of July. Am looking forward to spending some time in the US and avoiding what I can of the hot and sticky (unreasonably hot and stick in my opinion) Tokyo summer.

Half of the family the night before the wedding:

Andrew and I at Passalaqua winery- another one of our favorites!


The Vintners Inn had its own vineyards.

At Ferrari Carano- they had the most beautiful winery (next to Gary Farrell of course).

During Micah's winery tour.

Look at all that wine!

Connor and Micah.

The day of the wedding.

The family with the newlyweds!

Connor hanging out with my Dad.

Andrew and my Grandma Alice- she's quite the dancer!

Four generations!

One of my favorite pictures. Look at Connor making a move for that wine!

Thanks Carter!

Connor's best pal Carter gave him this outfit. It used to belong to Carter but it just wasn't "his style." Looks like it gets a thumbs up from Connor though! Thanks Carter- hope you're enjoying your cruise!

General Connor Cuteness

Friends Larisa and Dana were here visiting this past week (more on their visit to come). Larisa has another one of those super-awesome cameras and snapped some great pics of Connor while she was here! Thanks Larisa!




Don't worry- he's not always an angel...

Happy Father's Day!!

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there! In particular, the Dads in my immediate family- my Dad, my Step-Dad Gerry, Andrew's Dad, and my Grandpa Don. I've said it before but I'll say it again-- I never truly realized and appreciated all the sacrifices parents make for their children until I became one myself. So thank you oh so much! I love you all and am so thankful to have you all in my life!

And of course- an extra special "shout out" to Andrew- a most incredible Dad. I adore watching "my boys" together. I love you!

Smile!

I just can't help but smile whenever Connor does. And he's ALWAYS smiling. So I'm always smiling! It's infectious. Hopefully this will make you smile too!

Look who's sitting!

Connor is now able to sit comfortably by himself these days. He doesn't stay upright for very long- as there's crawling to be done! It's fun to see him viewing the world from his new perspective!


Ok- enough of that. I need to move!

Beautiful Day!

We're in the height of rainy season at the moment. What this basically means, is that most days in June are cloudy and/or rainy. I hardly ever leave the house without my umbrella. It makes me truly appreciate days when the sun is shining and today is one of those days! Here's some pictures I took this morning.

From our balcony:

Andrew and Connor hanging out before Andrew had to get ready for work:

Connor is a man on the move! He doesn't care if he loses his pants on a mission to retrieve one of his stacking cups!

Have a great day!

What a morning person...

One of my very favorite things to do is go in and get Connor when he wakes up in the morning. Our mornings go something like this: I hear Connor wake up because he starts "talking" to the stuffed dog that lives in his crib. Basically, Connor wakes up, crawls over to the dog and then pets and talks to the dog while I get up and get myself together, make the coffee, etc. Then I go get Connor. He's just SO HAPPY to see me when I walk in his room! I swear- no one has ever given me a smile like that before! I may still have my glasses on, or be in my old robe- but he makes me feel like the most beautiful person in the world! I've asked Andrew why he doesn't look at me like that in the morning but he just rolled his eyes. Anyway, I decided a few days ago to take some pictures of Connor's "wake-up smile," just in case he grows out of this- I really hope not!! These are over the course of a few days. The first one is my favorite.

Tokyo Disneyland

For the past month Connor has been begging us to take him to Disneyland. So we were only too happy to accept when our friends Melanie and Jason invited us to join them for a day at Tokyo Disneyland. Jason is an industrial engineer for Tokyo Disneyland, Melanie also worked for Disney before moving here to Tokyo. Melanie and Jason are also the parents of Carter- Connor's best buddy. What a fun day! We kicked off the day with a 9am "character breakfast" at Chef Mickey's. Basically it was a breakfast buffet where the Disney characters all stopped by your table to visit and take pictures with the kids. We met Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, and Donald. Rumor was that there was a shortage of Japanese folks tall enough to play the part of Goofy, wink wink. We think Connor got a real kick out of seeing all of the characters but the highlight of breakfast was the "altercation" between Andrew and Donald Duck. Basically an overly-enthusiastic Donald Duck was trying in earnest to wake a sleeping Connor (sleeping Connors are hard to achieve) and there was a threat (lovingly) made by Andrew to rip Donald's beak off. Luckily- we don't think Donald spoke much English. I was in the bathroom when this all went down so I only got to hear about it later.


After breakfast we hit the park. We felt like VIPs getting to tour around with Melanie and Jason, we learned so much about Disney! It was really fun. The only ride we took the kids on was "Its a Small World" and Connor was mesmerized. Then Melanie and Jason were nice enough to watch Connor while Andrew and I rode Space Mountain. What an AWESOME ride. Two funny things about that- first, seeing Andrew try to cram himself into a ride clearly built for Japanese size riders. His knees were up in his chest and we were afraid to put our arms up in the air during the free fall parts of the ride for fear of losing them (Jason later assured us that this would NOT have happened). And second, I'm not a huge roller coaster person so this ride was pretty scary for me. Therefore, I screamed my head off the whole time (what else do you do on a roller coaster?). We were in the very first car too! Apparently, though this isn't 100% confirmed, the ultra-conservative Japanese do not scream on roller coasters. Or really make any noise at all. So imagine my embarrassment when I realized I was the ONLY one screaming during the ride. I think this is the reason that the Japanese chick behind me was taking cell phone pictures of me on our way out. I'm sure she's posting these pics on her blog, writing all about the screaming gajin (Japanese for "foreigner") on Space Mountain at Disney...

I loved watching Connor as he took in everything he saw around him. And the Japanese loved seeing a giddy Connor in his Mickey ears!

An exhausted Connor as we left the park:

All in all- we had such a fantastic day. Thank you to Melanie and Jason for being such wonderful hosts. We can't wait to go back again!