Jetlag...again

I am working on the story of our return, but wanted to write a quick update to say jetlag is awful this way too.

We thought we were moving in the right direction. Monday night when the girls and I stayed in Calgary, they went to bed at 5 a.m., I woke them at 11. The night all of us were home, all three kids went to bed at 3 a.m., and we woke them at 11. On Christmas eve, the kids napped from 3-6, went to bed at midnight, and we woke them at 11. So last night should have been great, right?

Oh no. We had a great and happy Christmas, a wonderful dinner with friends (where Olivia fell asleep and had a two hour late night nap), and came home. Jack, Kate and I went to bed at 9 p.m. Olivia and John played with new toys. Such an almost normal bedtime! Jack and Kate woke up at midnight, and all of them were WIDE AWAKE until 5 a.m. We're talking light-sabre fights at 2 a.m., board games at 3 a.m., cartoons at 4 a.m. kind of awake. Jack just woke up at noon, and the girls are still sleeping. This is not good.

John and I are *so* tired. Somehow I feel like I've written that before!

Safe and sound

Just a quick message with the full story to come to let you know we all made it home tonight. John and Jack had narrow misses but made all of their connections. The girls and I faced canceled flights in Vancouver and had a crazy day that ended with the last standby seats on the last flight to Calgary, and staying in an expensive downtown hotel because there were no rooms in the (airport) inns (as we heard 1,500 passengers were stranded). The girls and I took the bus home today and John and Jack even beat us home on the original flight. None of our luggage is here, but I am sure it will be eventually (and we know it made it to Vancouver, so that's a start).

And... no spots! No coughs or sneezes or anything to indicate they infected planes full of people. Hooray!

All three kids were AMAZING. They are such good travelers. And I am in awe of the kindness of strangers (we had a LOT Of help along the way). We are all so happy to be home and see Kaia and our house, which feels so huge.

More to come. Thanks for all the good wishes that helped us through the longest night, and day, and night, and day...

Heading home

Katie, Olivia and I are heading home today, a day early -- we leave in 90 minutes for the airport!

They were exposed to chicken pox at school (and from our friend) and we hope that by leaving early, we'll be traveling in the incubation time, and not the contagious, spotty time. I have been googling like crazy (thank you CDC website!) and it seems we should be OK. Jack had the vaccination, but the girls are on a delayed vaccination schedule after Liv had a bad reaction to her four month shots. This is a disease I had hoped they would get naturally -- just not in the days before a trans-Pacific flight.

So -- it's been a flurry of phone calls, packing, planning, and a bit of panicking (at least on my part). I have not had the time I expected for thoughtful pondering of what this time in Japan has meant, and what we will remember. The goodbyes have been so rushed, unfortunately -- a tearful hug at the door to Hiromi (thankfully one of John's colleagues was here and could explain why we didn't want them to come in the house, or get close to the kids), and a quick goodbye this morning to Tomoko (whose younger son Keita already has the pox) when we pass off our sleds, extra food and toys that didn't fit in our luggage.

There weren't enough open seats for all five of us to travel, so John and Jack will be coming Tuesday as planned. I am slightly worried about customs/immigration in Vancouver, handling six pieces of luggage and tired girls... but I figured I'll just ask for help. We'll look so pathetic, someone will surely come to our rescue!

So keep us in your thoughts from 6 p.m. mountain time on Sunday night until 11:56 p.m. Monday night, when a good friend will pick us up in Lethbridge (thanks Phil!). We'll need all your good wishes and good vibes and love!

Thanks to everyone who has read this while we've been away -- and hopefully I'll be writing you from Vancouver during our long layover, with healthy girls and all our luggage!

So far so good

Everyone is looking healthy! Yay! We`re packing like crazy and excited to be heading home. More photos to come soon from our fun day yesterday...

Starting to pack

I am starting to pack to head home -- lots of sorting and organizing and remembering. We ended up buying two more suitcases so that we don't have any risk of going over the 50 pound Air Canada limit (after exchanging many letters this fall, Air Canada said that they were very sorry, but we had to pay the fine for the overweight bags on our flight here, even the three 53-pounders, and even though Japan Air said they could be up to 70 pounds.) So we will come home with 10 bags and a lot of great finds.

John and I had a LOT of fun yesterday shopping for the kids (and friends and family) while they were at school. He had gotten his last paycheck on Tuesday, as well as the second half of our travel reimbursement (which we had paid for in April... so it felt like "extra" money). We love how people get paid in Japan. Employees sign something, and are handed a thick envelope. OF CASH. John got two big envelopes this time and we quickly put most of the money in the safe (this whole cash-based society thing really explains the safe in every house and hotel room). So we got the kids their Christmas gifts and trip gifts for friends and family, paying cash everywhere and trying to find things that would remind us (and the recipients) of this wonderful time in Japan.

I should get back to that packing, I suppose... more soon!

Last day of school (sniff)

Well, that was hard.

I just picked the kids up at school for the last time (John was teaching so missed out on the cry-fest). They had a great day -- they gave stickers and notes (we did edit Olivia's) and "Canada cookies" we got at the import store (maple leaf cream) to their classmates, and presents to their wonderful teachers. And at the end of the day, after collecting all of their towels, bags, cups, and inside shoes, the teachers gave each one a book with a drawing from classmates and lots of pictures from the year. It's a wonderful gift.

We hugged each other a good few dozen times. Both of the main teachers were crying a ton, as was I (K&O's other teacher had to ride the bus). Jack, Kate and Liv were sad but also had that "itching to get out of school" feeling... ready for the weekend and not fully understanding that they won't see these friends and teachers again. I guess those extra grown-up tears were for them.

I gave the kids the peanut butter sandwiches for the walk home, and just now put in the last box of macaroni to cook. The kids agreed that today would be the best day to eat it.

John and I have spent a lot of time these last weeks talking about what wonderful teachers these are (and not just the three in the classroom -- as Jack said on the way home "all of the senseis (teachers) know me!") They seemed to really know our kids (even with language gaps) and truly seemed to care about them. We hope we continue to be so lucky as they go through school.

Speaking her mind

So... I had the kids dictate a generic note to give to each of their classmates tomorrow on the last day of school (with individual drawings). Jack and Kate's were sweet and predictable -- thanking them for being good friends, mentioning good times, etc.

Then it was Livie's turn. She dictated:

Dear class.
I liked four of you. Three boys and one girl. See you later!
Livie