Wow. As if the first home cooked meal on the day of arrival was not enough, the family pulled out all the stops for the grand clan gathering — sashimi, sukiyaki, and shabu-shabu. It was great to see Kai playing with his cousins — an event sure to be repeated. And while it was a bit old-school, it was relaxing to sit at one end of the table with all the fathers to have drink and food and try to translate English jokes to Japanese (in general, miserable failures but fun trying anyway).
Nothing like a 7 hour time change to help your son sleep until 9am. But it was a great start to the holiday with most of us already on the new schedule. Even though the family offered to take Kai, we decided that going to the aquarium was something for the family. And a great day it was. We saw, played, ate carmel popcorn, flavored ice, crab claws and snow crab legs. Finally around 4pm Kai finally went into his nap (allowing him to stay up late for party with Chika’s family.)
