Meeting cousin Kouki/いとこのコウキに会う

On Sunday my sister Sayaka's family came over for dinner and Madison and Kouki finally got to meet one another for the first time!!! Madison was of course jet lagged and had been sleeping when they got to the house so what they saw was the world's crankiest baby... Whenever Dave and I are here visiting and trying to get over being jet lagged, the time between 5:00pm and 8:00pm is kind of like a black hole and it sucks all your will to live and to stay awake once you get caught in it... I wonder how many dinners we have missed by passing out on their living room floor! So that's what she came out of when she first met Kouki and her cry seemed to scare Kouki enough to be hanging on to his mommy for the first 30 minutes, or so but Madison and Kouki both came around by the end of the evening. Here are some pictures of their first meeting...
日曜日に妹さやかの家族を呼んで夕ご飯を食べたので、マディソンはいとこのコウキに初めて会う事が出来ました!!!マディソンは時差ぼけがひどくてとっても眠く３人が着たときはマディソンの気分が最悪の時...いつもデイブと日本に帰って来たときの夕方５時から８時頃は危険ゾーン、そこで横になるとブラックホールに吸い込まれたかの様に眠りに落ちそこから出られなくなるんです...そのせいで何度と夕ご飯を食べ損ねたか...だからさやかの家族が着た時はマディソンがそんな状況に居た時でコウキもマディソンの泣き声にビックリさやかママの側を離れませんでした。でも３０分後くらいかな２人とも周りの環境に慣れて来たみたい。この写真が証拠です...





Kouki spotted Asuka's camera hanging out of her purse and quickly picked it up and somehow figured out how to turn it on... I guess he is going to be a photographer!? That is if he can take a great picture by constantly covering the lens with his fingers!! I'm guessing Asuka had some fun deleting hundreds of pictures he took... of his finger:-)
あすかおばちゃんのバッグからはみ出ていたカメラを見つけたコウキはすかさずそれを手に取って写真を撮り始めちゃいました...将来は写真家!?でも指をレンズの前に置いたまま良い写真が撮れればの話だけどね!!あすかおばちゃん、後で何百枚とコウキが撮った指の写真を消すの大変だったかな：）

日本に帰ります.../Flying back to Japan...

金曜日の朝３時ごろにデイブと起きて準備をした後、寝ているマディソンをそーっと抱っこしながらタクシーに乗り込み空港へ出発しました...
At about 3:00am on Friday Dave and I got up, got ready, finished packing last minute things, got sleeping Madison, got a cab, and headed to LGA for our 6:00am flight...

と～っても辛い大泣きのお別れをした後ゲートに向かって出発...荷物が多くてバガブーがあって心配していたセキュリティチェックも問題なく通過してあっという間に搭乗ゲートに着いていました。今回の旅行は一人で行くことを理由にビジネス/ファーストを取りました！ダラスまでのファーストクラスは成田までのビジネスクラスよりもぜんぜん狭くてやっぱり国内線のファーストって大金払う意味全然無し！搭乗まで待っている時に僕にも小さい赤ちゃんがいるって写真を見せてくれたパパから良いアドバイスを受けました。その人はやっぱりちょくちょく仕事で旅行するみたいで、赤ちゃんは離陸とか着陸中に耳の調整が出来ないからすごい痛くなって泣いちゃうんだって...だからそう言う時に何か飲ませたり食べさせたりすると良いって...そのアドバイスを実行するために出しておいたミルクを乗ってすぐ見つけてしまいそれを今すぐ飲みたがったマディソン、困ったなーと思いながらしぶしぶ飲ませてあげる事に...奇跡的に半分しか飲まなかったから離陸寸前にまたあげたんだけど、それをまた離陸５秒前に終わらせてしまってもうどうしようｰと思っていたら本人は離陸中に眠ってしまいました!なーんだ心配して損した～。そして私が朝ご飯を食べる直前の１時間後までいい子に寝てくれました... After a really hard, tearful farewell at the security gate we were off... I was a bit nervous about going through the security check with all the things I had plus the bugaboo, but everything went smoothly and before we know it we were already at the gate waiting to board. Some of you already knew about this but since we used our mileage for this trip we were able to book first/business class seats to Japan, yay! The first class seat to Dallas was actually smaller than my business class seat to Narita, Japan and did not love it at all... Flying first class for domestic flight is not worth paying big bucks for! While waiting to board a nice man gave me a good tip when he saw that I was traveling with a baby(he showed me his 6 month old baby's picture and he sounded like good daddy so I kept talking to him for a while instead of giving him a "go away" gesture:-) He said that babies can't pop their ears during take off so make sure she is chewing or drinking something... So as soon as we sat down and had to put all our bags for the take off I specifically took out her milk bottle to give her during take off... Well Madison spotted her bottle sitting on the window sill and wanted to drink it so I broke down and gave it to her when I couldn't explain to her that I was saving it for later for her own good... She drunk about half of it so I was relieved and waited until the plane was cruising to take off... I was kind of happy to see that my plan may actually work BUT just a second before the plane started accelerating I heard her bottle make those empty sucking noises... Shoot! Magically Madison fell asleep during take off if you can believe it and took a nice snooze until I woke her up with my not so good first class breakfast smell an hour later...




思ったより早くダラスに着けたので次のゲートにのんびりと到着そして、もうすぐ乗ることになる飛行機が見える巨大な窓の横でおやつを食べながらパパに電話をすることが出来ました。ここではビジネスクラスだったんだけどやっぱりビジネスクラスで子供好きな良い人の隣に座るのは夢のまた夢かもしれない...残念ながらすでに座っていたのはゴツイおじいさん...というかそれ私の席なんだけど...俺、窓際が良いとかブツブツ言っているのを無視しながら私の予約した窓際の席に座って少し神様に疑問...でも他に空いてる席も無さそうだし仕様が無く話し掛けるて発見したのがこの人はこれから成田経由でオーストラリアに帰るらしくなんとマディソンとほとんど同じ年の孫がいるらしい...なるほどそれであのアクセントか～、でも全然子供好きに見えないんだけど...とりあえず、私もオーストラリアに行った事あるよーとか言った後会話終了!一先ず仲良くはなれそうで良かった：-）でも最後の最後で窓際のせき騙し取られちゃったんだけどね～。これから眠るからもう外出れないとか何とかで...でも良く考えると泥酔いの変なおっさんよりこの良くわかんない窓際ラバーの方が良いよね！どっちも嫌だけど...
We got to Dallas faster than I had anticipated so I didn't have to run through the airport trying to get to the next gate like we had imagined and we even got to fit in a snack time by the huge windows with a view of our plane to Japan. So we were taking business class at this time and was hoping so desperately for a nice someone who loves babies and kids but I guess those people are hard to come by in business world... Instead we got this semi-old man(not Japanese!) who looks like Locke from Lost and who actually was sitting in our window seat when we got there. I told hime that he was in our seat and his reply was that he wants window seat.... Well why didn't you select a window seat when you were booking the flight!! then he asked me if I am flying with a kid... well what do you think, I didn't just borrow someone's kid to take on a plane with me!!!! Oh I was just soooooooo disappointed that we are gonna be stuck with this guy!! After I settled in OUR WINDOW seat I noticed that he was constantly looking around I guessed to see if there is another open seat so I kind of got annoyed and decided I don't want to be stuck with this man either and got one of the Japanese flight attendant's attention and asked her in Japanese if there is another seat in business class available... She said she will check and see... So a few minutes later I told him that I just asked that lady to look for another empty seat... To that he answered he wasn't looking for another seat so it's okay... In my head I told him "Are you crazy!! What kind of okay person keeps looking around acting like he just possibly could not be in that seat a second longer!! Grrrrrr!!!!!!!!" but then I toned it down and told him that I thought you were looking around for another seat... Then he told me that he would really like a window seat but it's okay. Well I did not give him our window seat since I was still hoping he will move to another seat somewhere we would never have to see each other ever again. Well it did not happen... So I decided that I did not want to be feeling annoyed the whole 12+ hours and tried to be nice to him... I really can't remember what I said to him first, but somehow I found out that he is from Australia and that he has a 14 month old grand daughter... I could not believe the grand daughter part because I could not pick up an ounce of love for babies from this man, but anyways I told him that I went to Australia for a month for a mission trip and he asked me which part and I said something like Woy Woy(not sure of the spelling...). After talking and getting to know him I felt a bit better and was really glad I did try talking to him. Later on he even showed me a picture of his grand daughter on his Iphone... and told me that he really adores her! Well maybe he should put that on his face all the time then nobody will misjudge him! Oh by the way I think he has some kind of mental issue with not being by the window... Maybe he really was in LOST! LOL!!! Anyways, he actually tricked us into switching seats with him towards the end of flight by saying that he is planning on taking a sleeping pill and when he is deep into his sleep we won't be able to get out, or something... Well I think he closed his eyes for like a half hour at the most for rest of the flight!! Oh well... I guess I will take this strange LOST guy over some drunk person that wreaks of alcohol any time:-)



Two days ago Dave noticed an email from AA saying that if I would like a special traditional Japanese meal for my flight then I need to call to request it so I decided that since it will be a once in a life opportunity I should. Well, I was very surprisingly disappointed... This famous chef(sounded like Bok Choy but I know that's a vegetable...) from Hawaii supposedly created this menu but I didn't eat half the stuff... What I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED about flying business was that I had so many movies and TV shows(pretty much anything you can think of) to choose from!! and I can start a movie anytime I wanted. I did not have to wait for mass movie schedule that economy people have, I picked a movie I wanted to see and started when I was ready and paused or rewinded if I needed to! PLUS they let us borrow Bass headphones that totally cuts off the plane noises so when I put it on I could only hear the movie and nothing else! It was amazing!! Anyways, I watched a lot of chick flick movies that I would probably never see with Dave like Valentine's Day and... I just went blank and can't remember other chick flick movies I watched, but when Madison was awake I just put on Chipmunks movie since I thought she may enjoy watching animals dance on a magic screen... Some movies they had available that I didn't watch were Shutter Island, Invictus, The Book of Eli, Parcy Jackson something, etc...


Madison did mostly great except she was frustrated with how little space she had to move around... Wait till we have to fly back in even smaller space! but she will mostly be sleeping then and that's why we got business for flying to Japan since she would be awake most of the time. Well she was able to go around in circles in a space between first and business class seats where flight attendants prepare foods and drinks and pretty much hang out... Luckily they really liked Madison so we got to go in circles and talk to them and kill time a bit during our long flight... Overall flying business was so so worth it! and if I could I would do it in a heart beat! Seat flattens so I was able to take naps with Madison laying beside me and not on top of me and I enjoyed the free snacks, extra storage on the side of seat, adjustable seat and privacy from people behind me, etc... Only I could have extra 10 grand laying around all the time!

When we landed at Narita airport it was like a ghost town and not crowded at all so we flew through the immigration check, the luggage pick up and the customs in a matter of 10 minutes max! All of a sudden we saw people waiting with "Welcome" signs and I spotted g-ma in the crowd! G-pa got to meet Madison for the first time finally:-) Although Madison must have been exhausted from the trip she did not cry a bit when she saw my dad and even put on a big smile for my parents and some picture moments! Good girl!




P.S. I know we thought we would be fine to be away from each other and plenty of my Japanese moms do that but I NEVER WANT TO DO THIS AGAIN!!! It seemed like a great idea at the time and it is great to be able to save a bit on rent and to be able to see my families, but it's too heart breaking to have to say good bye at the airport on that day... BUT let the record show that Daddy was the first one to breakdown...:-) I was able to put on a brave face for a second longer... Since we are never going to do this again we will make the best of this visit and enjoy seeing each other again:-)

と～っても大変な引越しの日!/Super Crazy Moving Day!!

木曜日はとうとうクライン家の引越しの日...何で木曜日かって言うと家の前にある通りの掃除の日が木曜日だから借りてきたトラックを掃除時間のあと駐車して、荷物を全部運んだ後次の日にデイブがコネチカットまで出発するまで停めて置く事が出来るからです。という夢のような計画だったんだけど次の日デイブが発見したのは駐車違反の切符...なんでも普通車以外の車を夜の９時から朝の６時の間停めて置くのは違反らしい...え～っ!!!　
Last Thursday was our BIG moving day at the Kleins... It had to be Thursday because right outside of our place has alternate side parking on Thursday thus we could park our big budget truck right in front packed until the next day when Dave can drive it up to CT...at least we thought we could, but when Dave went out to start loading the truck the next morning we had a lovely orange present from the city of New York waiting for us...a ticket for parking a commercial vehicle on a city street between the hours of 9pm and 6am...lovely!!!

デイブの元生徒がたくさん手伝いに来てくれることになっていたから、荷物も早く運び終わると思っていたんだけど友達を連れてきてくれると期待していた生徒が急遽面接のために来れなくなってしまっても～ぜんぜん計画どおりじゃないじゃん！ちょうど１０時３０分にトラックを持ってきた時に今日大活躍をすることになるリオンとクリスの到着...本当にこの二人無しでは出来なかったですこの引越し...仕事中に怪我をしたクリスはマディソンのお子守りの担当と外に置いておいた”何でも無料”テーブル係り...作業をはじめてすぐにマディソンはバガブーでお昼ね開始、長～い間寝てくれたからみんな大助かり。私がまだ残っている荷造りを終わらせている間、リオンはトラックを隅から隅までしっかり荷物を積み上げてくれて、勿論デイブは家の中にあった荷物ほとんどを自分一人で運び出してくれました。外でお昼休憩を取った後３時に娘のザリアを迎えに行かなきゃいけないからクリス達とはお別れをしました。
We were confident we could get the move done quick since Dave was able to recruit some of his alumni kids to come help us move, it was a brilliant idea, but one which had a potential for bringing more kids could not come since he found out he may need to go to a job interview... Oh oh... not feeling so confident now! Well we went to get the truck at 10ish and pulled up to our street to park at 10:30am just when Leon and Chris drove up to our rescue! Wow we could not have done it without them... Chris hurt her wrist while at her job, so she got to be in charge of playing with Madison and tending our "Everything Free" things we left outside sale... Madison fell asleep in her bugaboo soon after we started to pack the truck and stayed asleep a long time so that was a huge plus! Leon did such a great job packing the truck so tight and Dave was amazing basically carrying all the boxes out of the apartment while I kept packing more things in boxes... We had lunch outside and it was time for Leon and Chris to head back so they can go pick up Zaria(her daughter) from school at 3.

マディソンが起きた後はやっぱりあんまり捗らなかったんだけどそこにマニｰの登場...残っていた荷物をデイブと運んでくれたりマディソンと私が寝ちゃった後も一生懸命いろんな手伝いをしてくれました！
After Madison woke up it was really hard to get a lot of things done as she was whiny/cranky the entire time but Manny showed up after a long train ride to help us... He helped Dave load up more things into the truck and they kept on working long after Madison and I fell asleep in the basement!

水の公園!みたい.../Water Park! Sort of...

先週近くの公園に寄った時にそこにある水の遊具が動いていたから、着てる服がビチョビチョになる覚悟をした後試してみる事に...マディソンは１秒でお気に入り!髪や体や服が濡れるのも気にもせず勇敢にシャワーの下を歩き回っている様子をフリップでパパとブログ読者の為に撮りました...
Last week when we got to the park to play we noticed that the water feature was working so I decided that I didn't care if Madison's clothes got wet and let her experience it for the very first time:-) She LOVED it! She really don't care to get wet or feeling water on her face! So I got out my flip and started to record it for Daddy and our blog readers...

そして今日のボーナス写真...荷造りをしなきゃいけないからマディソンのジャンパールーを取り外し始めたんだけど上に乗っているおもちゃがなかなか取れなくて、そのまま床に置いといたんです。何と真ん中に入って遊ぶのが気に入っているみたい...超カワイイ!
And here is the bonus pic of the day... We tried to take her Jumperoo apart to pack but could not get those toys to come out of it so we just put the remainder of Jumperoo on the floor. Well, Madison likes to get in there and play... It's' super cute!

１歳と３週間でするお気に入りの遊び/Favorite things to do at 1 year and 3 weeks...

今日は最近マディソンがする事で私達が笑ったり、凄いって思ったり、イライラしたりする事を紹介...
So I wanted to write about some of the things that Madison likes to do that makes us smile, laugh, proud, and be annoyed...

1．これは結構前からちょくちょくしてるんだけどまだな かなかビデオに撮れてないんだよね。デイブの家族は先週たくさん観れたんだけど。何かと言うと、おもちゃを手に取って遊んだり何かをどっかから持って来た りした時に、ママにちょうだいとか言うとちゃんと持って来て私の手のひらに乗せてくれるんだけど、その度に自分を褒めてるのかな!?パチパチと拍手をする んです...それがと〜っても可愛いんだよね。先週末も何でか知らないけどティッシュかナプキンを手に持ってて、それを少しずつ契っては側に居た家族に渡 しては拍手の繰り返し!頑張ってビデオに撮らなくちゃ!
1. She has been doing this for a while but I haven't been able to film it or anything yet. Dave's family got to see this this past weekend as she did it A LOT!! and that is to hand something that she's been playing with or grabbed over to whoever is near her and after that she rejoices and claps:-) I can't remember exactly why but she had a tissue or napkin in her hand last weekend and she was tearing it into smaller pieces and was passing each piece off to everyone and was so proud and clapping herself for doing it! I've got to get this thing on film!

2．いろんな物を変な所に入れたり置いて来たり...これマディソン大好 きなんです。これ最近困ってるんだよね、いつもパシーとかおもちゃ箱に入ってたりして必要な時になかなか見つからなくて。最近は引っ越し用にいろいろと箱 に詰めている時に手伝おうとしてるのかな!?自分のおもちゃとか一生懸命なんでも空いてる箱に入れたりしてくれてるから結構無くしてます...台所に居る 時は何でもゴミ箱に入れちゃうし、だからこっちは生ものが入っている時に何か投げ入れられないように毎日こまめにゴミ袋を入れ替えてます。今日も寝室で何 かしてるな〜と思って入って行ったら何とマディソンのボトルがダイパージーニー(汚いオムツ用のゴミ箱)から突き出てるのを発見...面白かったので写真 に撮っちゃいました：）
2. She LOVES to put things in different places... It's been a bit of a problem because she would put her paci in her toy bucket and we can never find it or since we are in the middle of packing and she would try to help out!? by putting her toys in random boxes... When she is in our kitchen she likes to throw things into our trash can so we are constantly taking out the trash just in case she throws something in there when there is something nasty already in the trash! Today I walked into our bedroom and Madison was doing her exploring as usual and I noticed her water bottle sticking out of her diaper genie... I got a picture of that! It was really funny:-)


3．最 近戸が開けっ放しだと気になって嫌みたいで、ちょくちょく閉じ込められたり...それより悪いのはマディソンのクローゼットに半分入って服選んでいる時に いきなり後ろから思いっきりドアが!大げさかもしれないけど来るって知らなくてぶつかると結構痛いんだよね...
3. Lately it really bothers her when doors are left open... so we are constantly getting locked out of a room or worse she would try to close her closet door while I'm still half way in there picking her clothes for the day! I might be just wimpy but sometimes it kind of hurts especially when I don't know it's coming...

4．デイブの家族は知ってるんだけどクリスマスにおじいちゃんとおば あちゃんからこの本をもらったんだけど、ベイビーアインシュタインの本だと思って喜んでいたのは良いんだけど、これバードって言う変なトカゲがボタンを押 す度に出て来るかくれんぼの本だったんです。だから、赤い舌がペロペロ出てる変なトカゲなんて怖がるだろーなーと思っていたら、最近大丈夫になったみたい で昨日の夜何百回もバードを出したり入れたり楽しそうに遊んでいたよ。
4. Dave's family knows this book that g-ma and g-pa Klein got for her at Xmas time. It's a baby einstein book so we were happy to get it but it has this weird lizard named Bard that would pop out of the book when you push a button... Well, I never liked it because Bard is kind of creepy with his tongue sticking out and I thought Madison would get scared from it... But I guess she is passed that stage now and she was having such fun pushing the button and watching him pop out like a million times last night.


5．昨日これ初めてだったんだけど、ふとマディソンの方を見るとちゃっかりおもちゃ箱に入って誇らしげに一人で静かに遊んでいた事...
5. Something she did yesterday for the first time and was sooooo cute was that somehow she voluntarily got herself in her toy container and seemed kind of proud that she did that by herself...

6．今住んで居 る所って地下に行く意外階段ないし、そこの戸はいつもちゃんと閉めてるからマディソン階段なんて知らないと思ってたんです。でも先週コネチカットのおじい ちゃんとおばあちゃんの所に泊まった時に、階段を発見し上ってみたくなったみたい...まず最初に挑戦したのは家の中にある２階に行く階段。野性の勘なの かちゃんと膝を使ってハイハイの姿勢で上り始めてデイブと私はビックリ!?２段目に着いたのを見て後ろに落ちる前に慌てて駆け寄ったんだけどスゴイ！それ が楽しかったのか２日後に家の入り口からエリーとココが外の庭を走り回っているのを見ていた時に、４段ぐらいあるコンクリートの階段を上りたがったから仕 様が無く挑戦させる事に...っていったいどこで習ったの!?まず両手を着いて片足を上げてって簡単に４段クリア...そして、そこに居た誰かに手伝って もらいながら降りて来てはまた上るの繰り返し！結構感心しちゃいました：）
6. We don't really have stairs at our place except the ones to the basement which we make sure that the door is closed at all times. Well when we were in CT staying with G-pa and G-ma Klein, she kind of had some opportunities to try them out... First she tried to climb the stairs to the second floor and Dave and I were kind of shocked that she knew how to climb!? and just watched her climb two steps before we realized we'd better get there in case she goes backwards... I guess she gained some confidence from that experience and when we were hanging out at front yard two days later she decided she wants to climb the stone steps up... Where did she learn that!?!? She was able to put her hands down on the next step and lift her leg then pull her body up and the other leg... She even kept the other leg away from the stone as she pulled it up so no scrapes! Then with whoever was there's help she would go down on the steps then up again then down for a really long time! It was a proud moment:-)

What a Weekend.../大忙しの週末

Saturday, which happened to be our six year wedding anniversary, was spent with family at the annual Cystic Fibrosis Walk in Worcester, Massachusetts that my aunt and uncle organize each year in support of my cousin. This year the "Tiger Team" was about 75 strong...it was great! Anna and I, never one to "walk," ran the 4-mile, all uphill course in 45 minutes to take the title!! We got passed on the last straightaway, and were quite bummed, but it turned out that girl was just out for a jog, so we were the first to finish, with Madison enjoying the stroll through Worcester in her bugaboo!!
土曜日は僕たちの６年目の結婚記念日だったんだけど、マサチュウセッツ州にいる僕のおじさんとおばさんが嚢胞性線維症のある息子の為に毎年計画する募金活動に参加してお祝いする事にしました。何をするかと言うと、みんなで毎年集まって町中(決まったコース)をみんなで歩き回り市民の人にこういう病気があるから研究に募金をお願いしますってするんです。この病気は治療法がまだ無い平均寿命が３５歳とい病気なんです...毎年いっぱいチームが参加するんだけど、今年のタイガーチームは７５人と大勢参加...すごい！もちろんのろのろ歩きたくない僕とアンナはマディソンをバガブ−に入れて上り坂がいっぱいの４マイル(6.5キロ)のコースを４５分で走り切り１っ等で到着!!最後の最後の上り坂で女の人に抜かれちゃってがっかりしてたんだけど、その人は全然関係なくただジョギングしていただけだったみたい。マディソンも町中をグルリと観光出来て楽しかったみたい最後の坂の途中にお昼寝を始めたぐらい!!

Below are some of the highlights from the Walk...

週末のハイライトを写真で紹介...

Madison's second cousins Brynn and Molly...
マディソンのハトコ、ブリンとモーリー...

The t-shirt that Anna designed for the event...
アンナがデザインして刺繍をしたマディソンのティーシャツ...

From left to right: Grant, Robert, Carter and Holly stroll on home...
左から：グラント、ロバートおじさん、カーターとホーリーおばさん、もうすぐゴール...

Uncle Steve with Anastasia and Trent...
スティーブおじさんとはとこのアナスタシアとトレント...

Aunt Gail and Uncle Scott bringing it home...
ゲイルおばさんとスコットおじさんももうすぐゴール...

Mom and Dad approach the finish line...
僕のママとパパももうすぐ到着...

Carter, who has a future in childcare, played so well with his cousin...
お子守りが得意なカーター、マディソンと遊んでくれてる...

Pay no attention to the screaming...
うるさい鳴き声はどうぞ気にしないで...

Brynn and Molly enjoy lollipops after their walk...
歩いた後ご褒美の飴をなめてるブリンとモーリー...

After the walk we all headed to a hotel around the corner where Grandpa had gotten us rooms for the night...and enjoyed undoing any good we might have done with the walk by eating at Five Guys Burgers and Fries...YUM!!! After dinner Madison enjoyed chasing her cousins...
全部終了した後すぐ近くにスティーブおじいちゃんに予約して貰ったホテルに行って一休みした後、ファイブガイズって言う美味しいハンバーガーとポテト屋さんにご飯を食べに行きました...夕ご飯の後いとこを追い回して楽しんでいるマディソン...

At the hotel Grandma and Madison enjoyed the tire swing...
ホテルにあったタイヤのブランコでリンダお婆ちゃんと乗って...

On Sunday, after worship in Leominster, the ladies headed to my cousin Amy's bridal shower and the boys headed to Kimball's Farm...a very cool place with huge ice cream cones and lots of different games...
日曜日は教会に行った後、女性３人はもうすぐ結婚するいとこエイミーのブライダルシャワーへ、そして男性３人と子供３人はキンボル農場という所でゲームをしながらアイスクリームを楽しみました...

Robert and Grant enjoyed the bumper boats...
バンパーボートに乗っているロバートとグラント...

Madison enjoyed a snack on Grandpa's lap...
おじいちゃんの膝の上でおやつの時間...

Robert and Grant rode the Harley...
ハーリーに乗っている２人...

Grandpa and Madison played "Deal or No Deal"...
“ディールかノーディール”っていうゲームを楽しんでいるおじいちゃんとマディソン...

Here Grant is showing off his slinky belt while Carter enjoys some ice cream...
スリンキーで出来たベルトを見せびらかしてるグラントと美味しそうにアイスクリームを食べているカーター...

Carter worked on entertaining his cousin a little more...
マディソンと遊んでくれてるカーター...

Later on Sunday evening, we met at a park near my parent's place in Glastonbury, CT...
夕方コネチカットに帰った後、公園で待ち合わせをしました...

Madison likes reminding us that she is teething...
歯が痛いって訴えてばかりのマディソン...

Robert liked reminding us that he is five...
ロバートは、僕５歳って...

Mom worked on her forehand...nice form!!
いいフォーム!!　上手の練習...

Aunt Holly with her happy niece...
ホーリーおばさんと嬉しそうな(ウソ!)マディソン...

The sisters-in-law...
義姉妹...

After my brother and I had finished another epic tennis match we left Connecticut at 8:30pm so that Madison could sleep the whole way home...the plan worked like a charm...we were also without our beloved Beans as we decided it best to leave them in Connecticut for two weeks until we move all our stuff up there, but that is a subject for another post :-)
お兄さんとテニスマッチをした後マディソンの就寝時間の８時半に合わせてニューヨークへ出発、予想通りスイスイとドライブして帰れました。またわざわざ２週間後にビーンズを連れて来るのもなんだからと、大きな庭のあるおじいちゃんとおばあちゃんの所で引っ越しが終わってデイブの学校が終わるまで見てもらう事にしました。でも引っ越しの話はまた今度：）

サトコさんとコンラッド君にバイバイの日/Saying good bye to Satoko-san and Conrad-kun

カリフォルニア州のサンフランシスコに来週引っ越してしまうサトコさんとコンラッド君と、最後にもう一回プレイグループをする事が出来ました。マディソン がコンラッド君達と一緒に遊ぶのをせっかく楽しみにしていたのにたぶん乳歯のせいかな、私にくっ付き虫。集合場所に来る途中に予定外のお昼寝をしたせいで 寝むそうなのに寝れないし...困った、困った...仕様が無く私の膝に座らせてピザの耳を齧らせたら良い子にしてくれました。ある時点で赤ちゃん４人の うち３人一緒にそれぞれのピザの耳を齧っていたような気がする...笑！あの２、３分は静かで良いときだったな〜：）
Today we had our last playgroup with Conrad, Masaki, and Sephi in Central Park. Satoko-san, her husband Brian and Conrad-kun are moving to San Francisco next week so this was our last all 8 of us get together for playgroup. I was really looking forward to Madison playing hard with her friends, but she was not having a nice day yesterday probably because of her teething. She took an unauthorized nap while walking to the park and that caused her to not be able to take her afternoon nap even though she was sleepy and fussy. She could not, did not, or would not want to play away from me so she would perch herself on my lap and nibbled on my pizza crust. At one point 3 out of the 4 babies are nibbling their own pizza crusts they got from their mommies and giving their mommies a few minutes of quiet and peace so I thought that was really funny:-)



最初に 言った通り一人で置いてく度にご機嫌斜めでグスグスしていたマディソン、一回写真を撮りたくて赤ちゃん達だけで座らせたらセフィちゃんとコンちゃんを誘っ て赤ちゃん３人で泣き合唱...すごかった...そのビデオをどうぞ！
Like I said Madison got really fussy and whiny every time I left her so when I went to take some good shots of our last get together she would not have it... so she started bawling and in the end she has recruited two other of her friends to do some harmonious crying... Here it is!

セ フィ：困った、困った！
Sephi: (hands on head) "Oh man! I can't take it anymore!"

コンラッド君に最後のプレイグループの思い出をちゃんと覚えて置いて貰おうと密かに計画していた作戦を実行：）
Sephi also wanted to give Conrad something to remember her by:-)

学 校が終わった後セントラルパークに来てくれたデイブに８人のママとベイビー達揃って写真を撮ってもらう事が出来ました...残念ながら泣き疲れてどっか遠 くに行っちゃっているマディソン...でもセフィがみんなの代表で言いたいことを言ってくれてるね、ナンバーワン!!
Dave was able to come meet Madison and I after work and walked up at the perfect timing as we were walking out of Sheep Meadow so I asked him to take our last group shot... Too bad Madison is absolutely somewhere else exhausted from all the crying she did today, but Sephi is making a statement for all of us, We are the best!!

この３ 人のママとベイビー達に会えて本当に良かったです。８人みんなでずっと遊んでいられたらいいけどこれも人生...離れて行くのは辛いけど沢山の良い思い出 と写真があるから大丈夫かな...また次に住む所で良いママとベイビー達に巡り会えると良いな〜！
I am absolutely so happy that Madison and I got to meet these lovely babies and mommies to share and play every week. It will be really sad that this group cannot stay intact, but that's life I guess and I have nothing, but great memories and pictures so I just hope we will be able to meet great mommies and babies like them wherever our next place may be!