Summer Vacation - Week 1

I can't believe that we've been in the US for about a week now.  It's gone by so fast.  We had a few rough days of jetlag when we started our days at 2:00 am, but one did lead to an impromptu trip to watch the sunrise at the beach and an early morning trip to the 24-hour WalMart.


We've had a great time so far.  Savannah has been remarkably cool (for Savannah), although that's about to change.  We've gone house hunting and placed an offer on a house, and are dealing with that right now.

We've been to the new Children's Museum in Savannah.

Hung out with Gigi, Grandpa Jim and Papa and have spent a lot of time at the pool.

And already checked off some of our "must eats".

We're off to the beach in the next hour and we're excited for some friends to visit us next week.

Father's Day 2012

This is a little late to write a sweet little message to John about how great he is as a dad.  And now that Maximo is SO vocal, it's better to get it straight from the mouths of his babes.

We're keeping up with the Father's Day book, with the exception of when I forgot last year because I went to the US early with the kids.

 "I love to play legos with Daddy" and a picture of Maximo and John playing legos at the table.

 With the exception of Lola, it looks just like when they play legos together:

Maximo's lego creation, "Look, Mommy.  It's all of us, and Lola is bowing".  (She does bow for konnichiwas and thank yous!)

Today we're off to the US for our summer vacation.  We can't wait.  It will truly begin after our 24 hours of travel.  Let's hope we survive with Lola on our laps!

At last, Summer is here!

It has been a hectic month, actually year.  Going back to work full time, in a demanding job as a mother of two has been rough, but we made it!

The past few weeks has been a whirlwind... It's always exciting to be able to end a school year, have an extended vacation with the kids, then start fresh in the fall, but the end of the school year as an International teacher, well, kind of stinks...   There are always a lots of goodbyes (despedidas, sayonaras, depending on our locale), there are always report cards and those time consuming comments.  We have to clean up our classrooms... there are a lot of end of year parties for different things.  I never think I'll get everything done, but it all gets done...  although I have a to-do list to tackle over the next two weeks while we're in Japan and then other things to finish over the summer... like cleaning up my work email inbox!

Anyhow, the highlights of the last few weeks have been:
Maximo's end of BBP party at the River Mall with his teachers and friends.


Our family trip to the zoo.

Maximo's end of year BBP Play (where he played the headmaster).

Our trip today to Arashiyama - I can't believe we hadn't been there before!

I've put a lot of photos in the May-June Picasa Folder:

May - June 2012

Practicing for the Summer

I should be totally working on my report cards right now.  T-minus 1 week for school and 3 weeks until we head to Savannah.

We have the kids on a rigid practice schedule so they will be ready for our summer adventures:

Lola:

Maximo:

Maximo @ Swim Class