We finally had time to upload a bunch of photos from our trip and put a few words on paper. We were able to get a few good pics in December of the girls at home. Diana is quite the little ballerina and loves dancing and wearing dresses – although I don’t know how she can be such a tomboy and girlie girl at the same time. Helen has started to really love reading books, and loves seeing pictures of animals and is especially interested in elephants since our time Bali.
We started our vacation in Ann Arbor where we had a wonderful Christmas and New Years. We did end up getting pretty horrifically sick twice, but in between we managed to go to a few fun play places, and even remembered to take a few pictures. In Vermont we stayed at Naulakha, Rudyard Kipling’s house where we stayed when we were married 5 short years ago. We were a little disappointed that our trip hadn’t had much snow, but we got a lovely snowy day our second week, just in time for all of Em’s friends. That meant we got to do lots of sledding and snow angel making, and just in time too – I think everyone had read Diana dozens of stories and needed a little break. On the cold days the kids found all kinds of things to keep them occupied, like wearing mixing bowls for hats and playing with their many Christmas presents. We did have a minor tragedy in Vermont when Helen fell and knocked out a front tooth, but she recovered quickly, and we’re in to process of having the tooth gold-plated for her.
After Vermont we headed to Japan for a 4 day stay in Tokyo. The weather was a bit colder than we had anticipated, so we had to buy some extra scarves and gloves for Diana, which made her look like a little old Russian grandmother. The girls enjoyed some little trips we managed to an aquarium, the “Children’s Castle,” and a large toy store. Diana ate lots of sushi (although she only likes the rice and seaweed), and Helen discovered that she LOVES salmon roe. Our hotel looked out over the bay and had a very cute set up with a kid’s room and bathroom in our suite with kid slippers and toothbrushes, so the girls had fun just playing in the room. After Tokyo we had an 8 hour layover in Cairns so we went to the lagoon pool for some sun and swimming. Then back home. Both girls seemed to realize we were almost home and had a wonderful time just playing on the bed at the Rimba hotel in Timika our last night of vacation.
Now we’re happy to be home at last!